14 replies to this topic

[Mushlikeahusky]

Unity technologies has announced a partnership with Nintendo for Wii U development. As announced today, Unity has entered into a worldwide license agreement with Nintendo for a version of the Unity engine that supports Wii U, which will allow Nintendo to distribute Unity to both first and third-party developers. A Wii U add-on for the engine will also be made available to current Unity users, allowing the current 1.2 million registered users to bring their existing titles to Nintendo’s new platform.
“The rapid growth of incredible games coming from the experienced and talented developers in our community makes Unity the new development platform of choice for AAA console developers,” said Unity CEO David Helgason. “Nintendo’s unfettered access to Unity will produce a wealth of insanely good games from knowledgeable Nintendo developers and the Wii U deployment add-on will create an amazing opportunity for our massive community of developers to showcase their incredible creativity on one of the most anticipated and innovative gaming platforms to date.”
I really don't know much about this but it seems like more third-party support? The more the better.

[jono]

I think it means better indie support. Not positive, though.

[Soul]

That's great this means a lot more E-Shop games.

[Tricky Sonic]

Epic. Nintendo is yet to let me down in the Wii U sector

[BanjoKazooie]

Well thats interesting

[SPG]

this basicly means i can put my games on the wii u xD ya im kidding, but that would be cool

[Mignaga]

This is great. Unity if probably the best engine for indie developers, so we will see a lot of support for them popping up soon.

[Fiery]

I used Unity before it really isn't good for anything except for indie games.

[Nintendustin]

Nothing wrong with this. Indie games? Sure, I'll take an extra helping.

[LaserSWE]

Hopefully the plan is to bring this for eShop games and not for retail games. That would been lame.

[Noonabites]

eShop Indie game hopefuls... I like the sound of it. eShop looks like it'll be getting some love. I wonder if first party titles would run on Unity as well...

[Socalmuscle]

Unity is a "good" engine.

It's not Unreal 3-4 and it's not CryEngine 3, but it's very capable.

This isn't the kind of news where Nintendo fans would be excited in the same sense as the Fox engine or anything.

What makes it exciting OS that Nintendo is not only removing any and all barriers and excuses for developers that may have any trepidation about the console, but they are literally rolling out the red carpet for any and all developers to ensure the largest opportunity for game creators and game players to enjoy the wii u console.

This is a very hungry Nintendo.
Theyre after the championship here.

[Noonabites]

Unity is a "good" engine.

It's not Unreal 3-4 and it's not CryEngine 3, but it's very capable.

This isn't the kind of news where Nintendo fans would be excited in the same sense as the Fox engine or anything.

What makes it exciting OS that Nintendo is not only removing any and all barriers and excuses for developers that may have any trepidation about the console, but they are literally rolling out the red carpet for any and all developers to ensure the largest opportunity for game creators and game players to enjoy the wii u console.

This is a very hungry Nintendo.
Theyre after the championship here.

Yeah, I think that's the general consensus here. It's definitely opening doors for developers and it's quite exciting at the idea of gates being opened to a slew of games that may have not been on the Wii U.

[Desert Punk]

When I looked at the unity engine site I wasn't very inspired by the titles there to say the least but the graphics generally looked ok. I can live without 'Jetpac Brontesaurus' for example. I'm not really thinking of buying many eshop type games. I want a wii u for the premium titles that come on an optical disc. If there is a really good exclusive wii u title on eshop at a reasonable price I will consider it but have never purchased any such games for my wii or DS range previously. I will be tempted by Zelda Windwaker if its enhanced but not if its unenhanced as I still have the gamecube disc and a gamecube compatible wii.

[SolarLune]

Unity is a "good" engine.

It's not Unreal 3-4 and it's not CryEngine 3, but it's very capable.

This isn't the kind of news where Nintendo fans would be excited in the same sense as the Fox engine or anything.

What makes it exciting OS that Nintendo is not only removing any and all barriers and excuses for developers that may have any trepidation about the console, but they are literally rolling out the red carpet for any and all developers to ensure the largest opportunity for game creators and game players to enjoy the wii u console.

This is a very hungry Nintendo.
Theyre after the championship here.

I am a wannabe game developer of my own, and I feel like adding my comment to this topic. Whilst I don't use Unity, I can firmly tell you that the choice of engine does not dictate the graphical quality or style of the game created with it. A game can be created with the best engine in the world and look absolutely horrid, while a game made with a 2D engine like Game Maker can look quite impressive. Great graphics are about using what you've got and using it well, not grabbing an engine that was used to make graphically impressive games and using that. Even then, a good-looking fun game is better than a great-looking boring game any day of the week.

While what Nintendo's doing - making it easier to port Unity games to the Wii U - is good and definitely should help to encourage interesting game development, they and Unity are not, to my knowledge, removing any and all barriers for developers. It still will probably take a load of time and cash to develop a game for the Wii U, as it will almost certainly require an additional development license (I can hardly imagine that it currently costs an additional $400-1500 for an Android license, but a Wii U license will be free, or even similarly priced).

Even then, it probably wouldn't be as simple as "purchase the license, register your Unity executable, drop your game onto your Wii U SD card, and boom! ~You're now developing on the Wii U!~", though I'm sure that a quick workflow like that would be greatly appreciated by developers, indie and otherwise.

Finally, even if you purchase that license or become a licensed developer and make a great game, there's no guarantee at all that it will actually make it to the Wii U eShop, and if it doesn't, that's it. There won't be any other way to distribute a Wii U game. So, that risk will remain for indie developers.

Edited by SolarLune, 24 September 2012 - 07:45 PM.