10 replies to this topic

[Feld0]

Link here.

It seems that Eric Nofsinger of High Voltage Software (the guys behind The Conduit) loves the Wii the way it is, and thinks more RAM and HD output is enough to warrant a successor. Note that this is coming from a very experienced developer from a very well-respected studio, so I find it a little surprising that, you know, he doesn't want some awesome new control gimmick or something to play with.

Your thoughts?

[Wertville]

I think he was mostly just summarizing
I guess he's saying that the Wii already has so many followers, it's become the goto console for people who know little about gaming. Booting up the specs to something that developers would be happy with would be a cheap and easy way to conquer the console gaming market.
Through in a little more 3rd party support from Nintendo (As in, "hold off" a bit) and there's nothing stopping people from making what PS3 and Xbox 360 get on the Wii(2).

That's the theory, anyway. Because that's how developers see success. By making the best game possible with the resources they have. And that's why they ask for more resources.

However, the Console makers see success in the opposite way. They get more success the cheaper it is, and that means less resources. Instead they have to sell their consoles via a gimmick, so that people will buy a product that has less resources than the others. As soon as they try to supply more resources they start to lose money on each console, and sell less. That's fine for Sony or Microsoft, who make money in other ways, but that would be suicide for Nintendo, who are purely Video Gaming.

Anyway, that's just my 5 bucks (My thoughts are expensive- Have to buy that 3DS somehow ), so take it with a grain of salt.

[Jikayaki]

More RAM and HD may be all High Voltage Software wants, but from statements from Satoru Iwata and other big names at Nintendo more RAM and HD isn't enough to warrant a successor to the Wii. Nintendo isn't stupid. Satisfying the wants and needs of developers is one thing, but they have to make sure gamers would want to buy the system first. A Wii with more RAM and HD would be in my opinion a complete failure on the market. A large portion of the Wii's current market simply may not reliably upgrade regardless and hardcore gamers outside Nintendo fans would have little reason to buy the product.

[Play4Fun]

He may be a dev but he wouldn't be able to run a hardware company if that's how he thinks. Just adding HD and more ram isn't going to make consumers (especially Nintendo fans) want it. I wouldn't.
Nintendo needs to do much more than that. A better online system, more power than PS3, improved controllers, etc.

[Mukkinese]

I think high voltage have invested a great deal of time and money in developing software that pushes the Wii, so might well be a bit disappointed at having to start all over and loose much of that investment.

[Guest]

I think high voltage have invested a great deal of time and money in developing software that pushes the Wii, so might well be a bit disappointed at having to start all over and loose much of that investment.

I don't really get the point of this post. Why would they be disappointed if they got a console with better hardware?

[AMAC]

I think high voltage have invested a great deal of time and money in developing software that pushes the Wii, so might well be a bit disappointed at having to start all over and loose much of that investment.

I doubt he'd be disappointed. He was just saying that he'd be satisfied if the console only had more RAM and HD, not that he didn't want anything else.

[Mukkinese]

Didn't high voltage develop specific software tools to optimise their engine running "The Conduit" on the Wii, with features and effects others hadn't been able to create on that machine? In fact they garnered several awards for this work didn't they? If Nintendo moves to a more powerful console, on a par with the Xbox and PS3, where such effects are commonplace, then any advantage such work gave them would be lost.

Basically they invested heavily in getting more out of the Wii's limited processing power by doing what other devs could or would not. This new machine means that High voltage have little time to reap the rewards of all that work.

Edited by Mukkinese, 24 May 2011 - 10:17 AM.

[AMAC]

Surely a more powerful console would mean they would simply be able to make even better games though?

[Mukkinese]

No doubt, and I am not saying they would be disappointed with access to more power, merely with, having done all that work now finding that it has a very limited shelf-life.

[rob_shadows]

To be fair he did mention that you'd also like to see a faster processor, etc...I took it as he was just saying he wants to see performance improved and could care less about gimmicks and "innovations". Which isn't surprising, developers usually don't care about that sort of stuff, if anything they'd probably prefer not to go through the obvious wave of innovative control and display schemes that is to come. 3DS having 3D display by default, Cafe having the touchscreen on the controller, NGP having...well just about every control interface possible (traditional d-pad/joystick, multi-touch display, multi-touch real panel, gyroscope, accelerometer, recognition and tracking capabilities in the cameras, rumored Move support (though I question how one would play a handheld while using handheld motion controllers...but what do I know), kitchen sink, etc...), all of the above featuring built in cameras, etc...that just means there is more stuff for them to implement in the games and thus more time and money to develop them, lol.