Archive for February, 2010
Special guest Greg Tito from The Escapist
This week, special guest Greg Tito from The Escapist joins a full panel consisting of Ian, Mike, Andrew and Scott to discuss the news of the week, including Miyamoto's comments on potential new Nintendo hardware, Sony's viewpoint on developers moving to the PS3, new details on Sonic 4 for WiiWare, Netflix HD streaming labeled "underwhelming", Nintendo fines a gamer $1.5 million for uploading a game, and much more, plus your listener mail! You won't want to miss this - download this episode today!
Topics covered in this week's episode:
Runtime: 1:20:55
THQ CEO Brian Farrell confirms de Blob 2 sequel going multiplatform in 2011
THQ CEO Brian Farrell has confirmed the publisher will be launching de Blob 2 for multiple platforms in fiscal 2011.
"de Blob started its life on Wii. We've not announced anything yet, but obviously with a great brand like that -- people love that character -- taking it to other platforms, the game mechanic can be done. Actually, I prefer it on a normal controller. We'll be branching it out to other platforms -- that's a great brand to build." Farrell said in an interview with IGN.
THQ originally announced a de Blob sequel was coming to Wii during an investors conference call on February 3.
This marks another lost Wii exclusive for Nintendo. Recently, High Voltage Software announced their upcoming monster/zombie shooter, The Grinder, will no longer be a Wii exclusive.
When asked just what gamers should expect from a de Blob sequel, Farrell had this to say:
"You'll really like what you see. It's being developed by our Blue Tongue studio down in Australia. I was down there probably about three months ago and they've just taken it to the next level. The first one is always the first one. And now having all the technology built so that they can work solely on the creative side and production values -- you're going to love what you see."
Initially developed by a small group of college students, de Blob puts players in control of a ball of color with the mission to jump around and repaint a barren city.
THQ's unique action puzzler took home five awards at the annual Games Developers' Association of Australia (GDAA) Awards in 2008. It received "Best Console Title", "Best Gameplay", "Best Graphics" and Best Audio" along with the coveted "Best Game" award.
For more info, check out The Wiire's de Blob Impressions.
Sony executive says publishers are leaving Wii for PS3, has data to prove it
In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, Sony Senior Vice President of Publisher Relations, Rob Dyer, said publishers are leaving Wii for PS3 and that the Wii platform has little innovative new IP.
"What publishers have said is they're not going to spend the resources on Wii... In my job, we compete against Microsoft and Nintendo, and we're competing for resources. So when I walk into a publisher, I ask, 'Where are you guys pushing your resources?' In the past, it was 'Look how hot the Wii is,' or 'Look how hot the DS is,' and 'We should put resources there.' They did that and realized, 'You know what, third-party product just doesn't sell on that platform.' So now they're taking those resources, coming back to us and saying, 'Sony we're going to be able to provide you with that exclusive content,' or 'We're going to put more engineers on it and figure out to maximize the Blu-ray and get more out of PS3.' That's what we're seeing now," Dyer said.
Dyer went on to explain that the Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service (TRST) data for top 10 titles is what is driving publishers to leave the Wii in hopes of a brighter future on PS3.
"And I don't even have to fight for their hearts and minds; I just show them the TRST data with regards to how many top 10 titles are third-party titles on the Wii, or how many top 10 titles are third-party titles on the DS. Not many. It's not a hard story to sell, and they get that. Unless they've got a particular franchise that's worked well on the Wii, you don't see a lot of innovative new IP coming out on that platform."
With High Voltage Software's recent announcement that their upcoming monster/zombie shooter, The Grinder, will no longer be a Wii exclusive as one example, it is clear that Nintendo must do something to maintain third party support for the Wii platform.
Do you think Nintendo has a third party problem? If so, how should they fix it? Let us know in the comments below.
High Voltage's monster/zombie shooter The Grinder is going multi-platform
High Voltage Software President Kerry Ganofsky and Chief Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger revealed their upcoming monster/zombie shooter, The Grinder, will no longer be a Wii exclusive.
During an interview with IGN today, the company executives confirmed The Grinder would be coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. This announcement comes as a bit of a surprise as High Voltage has previously been a strong Wii supporter, creating such titles as The Conduit and a variety of WiiWare games.
"Bringing our third internal IP to all the current-generation systems allows us to show off what our company can really do and get it into the hands of the most gamers" said Nofsinger.
High Voltage confirmed that PS3, 360, and PC versions will be shown at March's Game Developers Conference.
New details on single-player mode were also revealed:
"We have a large gameplay experience planned which includes a lengthy story mode, planned DLC, and an experience system that promotes replayability. I don't want to give too much away, but we are very excited about the release of Grinder as well as providing future support of the game with regular updates" Ganofsky said.
A new trailer for the game can be viewed below:
The Grinder is set to release Halloween 2011. When asked why such a distant launch date was chosen, they explained by saying:
"With the move to all of the current-generation systems, higher resolution art content needs to be created which takes a bit longer than our previous games."
Ultimately, however, that does not explain why the Wii version could not launch first, giving it exclusivity for a time before the higher resolution artwork for the other versions is ready.
Nintendo's first Japanese M-rated game is about to launch, after 3 years
Producer Hitoshi Yamagami revealed in an Iwata Asks interview that Nintendo's upcoming gory action game, Zangeki no Reginleiv, took over three years to develop.
The game, formerly known as Dynamic Slash or Dynamic Zan, is scheduled for a February 11 release in Japan. However, Zangeki no Reginleiv originally began development between the summer and fall of 2006, prior to the Wii's release in November.
Yamagami also spoke about the debate surrounding just how violent the game would be. Ultimately, the development team justified chopping off limbs because it was of mythological giants, not real people.
Due to the violence in the game, Zangeki no Reginleiv is Nintendo's first CERO D (ESRB M) rated game in Japan. Nintendo is shipping the game in the first Wii black box, with perhaps the best box art ever. The hope is color coded boxes will help parents find appropriate games for their children easily in stores.
Zangeki no Reginleiv will launch in Japan on February 11. No North American, European, or Australian dates have been announced yet.
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