Post by kelvin on Dec 12, 2008 10:41:05 GMT -5
arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081211-ubisoft-capitilizes-on-the-wii-weve-got-advice-for-others.html
Ubisoft capitalizes on the Wii; we've got advice for others
By Ben Kuchera | Published: December 11, 2008 - 07:20PM CT
The Nintendo Wii is easily the most successful console of the latest generation, but the monster hits on the console come from Nintendo. There is money to be made on the system, but Nintendo seems to be taking the lion's share; every month when we look at the NPD sales numbers, Nintendo owns the top slots in hardware and multiple slots in software. It's often the same Nintendo games month after month, leaving other developers wondering how to cash in. Ubisoft has some ideas—and so do we.
"We saw that at the end of this year there were not so many Nintendo products, and we thought there was a window of opportunity, especially on the Wii [Balance] Board," Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez stated at the UBS Global Media Conference. Ubisoft has two products hoping to capitalize on that opening: Raving Rabbids TV Party and Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip. Both have strong advertising campaigns, both make use of the balance board, and both are expected to sell over a million copies.
We'll see if those games see the level of success Ubisoft expects, but both Ubisoft and Nintendo agree that the only thing keeping third-party developers from seeing more success is poor quality. While there are a few third-party games that shine on the system, the vast majority have been quickly and cheaply made cash-in products. Nintendo isn't taking part in any anticompetitive practices—Ubisoft has stated Nintendo offers help with their games—it's just that the first-party games are simply much better than the competition.
So what do third parties need to do?
Nintendo knows that to succeed on the Wii you need two things: interesting controls and a strong art style. Most third-party games are content to deal with art the way they do on the other systems, and that's a mistake; the Wii is simply not powerful enough to deliver graphics that instantly impress. You have to adapt to the standard definition graphics, and that means striking art, strong shapes and design, and characters and settings that make sense even with limited visual information.
Take a look at games like Mario Kart and Metroid Prime 3. These games look good, and that's due to characters and levels that give you information using color and easily recognizable shapes. You don't need 1080p graphics to be able to see enemies at a distance; you need an artist who knows how to make them stand out.
You can't start working on a game for the Wii the same way you do on the PS3 or 360, because you need to be thinking about the graphical limitations of the hardware before you make the first sketch. Nintendo has this mastered, its first- and second-party games are all attractive and make sense on the hardware. They look like they fit, instead of looking like they've been crammed onto the hardware begrudgingly.
A great example is Mad World, Sega's upcoming mega-violent brawler. The game is made of strong blacks and whites and reds, and that's it. It looks beautiful in action and proves my point: the Wii is an artistic challenge, not a burden.
Get rid of the waggle
Here is a short video of Star Wars: Clone Wars I took at PAX 2008. Does that look fun? Of course it doesn't. The Wiimote just doesn't have the capability of doing a real 1:1 light saber until the Motion Plus add-on is released. Does that waggle add anything that can't be done with a button press? This isn't just a trap that third parties fall into, either. After the great tech demo of what baseball could be with Wii Sports, Nintendo fell back into waggle with Mario Super Sluggers. Disappointing.
Mario Kart, again, knocks it out of the park. The racing action using the Wiimote or the wheel is great, and you, your child, and your grandmother can all enjoy it. Games like Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 mix the controls of a light gun game and a first-person shooter, and do it well. This is a game that is made better by the Wiimote; you're not just waggling the controller at the screen. No More Heroes used a few motions to add to the experience, and in that case, a little bit went a long way.
It's not enough to make a shake equal the "A" button; you have to think about what actions your game has and how to make them work with the controller. The different slashes in No More Heroes are perfectly done, and you go from using the Wiimote like a controller to swinging it like a sword. It's a neat effect, and adds to the experience. Boom Blox is a game that understands the Wii: it's a game where you throw things at other things. That's it. It's also one of the best games on the system.
Every time I hold the Wiimote in my hand, I imagine all the cool things that can be done with it, only to be let down time and time again by lazy developers.
The Wii could be the most interesting system on the market
The inability to fall back on brute strength for graphics gives developers an excuse to play with art, and the Wiimote allows designers to think about control in their games from the ground up. In the right hands, the Wii could be more than just a system for your grandmother, but we rarely see games that embody this. What we do see is endless whining about how third parties can't win on the Wii or how Nintendo dominates the system.
If you're in the game industry and you're reading this: the only thing holding you back is a lack of imagination. Nintendo games show up on the sales charts over and over again not only because they tend to be better games than what you're putting out, but we have very little else to choose from other than collections of minigames. You need to prove that you understand the Wii instead of fighting it, and until that happens nothing will change.
Ubisoft capitalizes on the Wii; we've got advice for others
By Ben Kuchera | Published: December 11, 2008 - 07:20PM CT
The Nintendo Wii is easily the most successful console of the latest generation, but the monster hits on the console come from Nintendo. There is money to be made on the system, but Nintendo seems to be taking the lion's share; every month when we look at the NPD sales numbers, Nintendo owns the top slots in hardware and multiple slots in software. It's often the same Nintendo games month after month, leaving other developers wondering how to cash in. Ubisoft has some ideas—and so do we.
"We saw that at the end of this year there were not so many Nintendo products, and we thought there was a window of opportunity, especially on the Wii [Balance] Board," Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez stated at the UBS Global Media Conference. Ubisoft has two products hoping to capitalize on that opening: Raving Rabbids TV Party and Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip. Both have strong advertising campaigns, both make use of the balance board, and both are expected to sell over a million copies.
We'll see if those games see the level of success Ubisoft expects, but both Ubisoft and Nintendo agree that the only thing keeping third-party developers from seeing more success is poor quality. While there are a few third-party games that shine on the system, the vast majority have been quickly and cheaply made cash-in products. Nintendo isn't taking part in any anticompetitive practices—Ubisoft has stated Nintendo offers help with their games—it's just that the first-party games are simply much better than the competition.
So what do third parties need to do?
Nintendo knows that to succeed on the Wii you need two things: interesting controls and a strong art style. Most third-party games are content to deal with art the way they do on the other systems, and that's a mistake; the Wii is simply not powerful enough to deliver graphics that instantly impress. You have to adapt to the standard definition graphics, and that means striking art, strong shapes and design, and characters and settings that make sense even with limited visual information.
Take a look at games like Mario Kart and Metroid Prime 3. These games look good, and that's due to characters and levels that give you information using color and easily recognizable shapes. You don't need 1080p graphics to be able to see enemies at a distance; you need an artist who knows how to make them stand out.
You can't start working on a game for the Wii the same way you do on the PS3 or 360, because you need to be thinking about the graphical limitations of the hardware before you make the first sketch. Nintendo has this mastered, its first- and second-party games are all attractive and make sense on the hardware. They look like they fit, instead of looking like they've been crammed onto the hardware begrudgingly.
A great example is Mad World, Sega's upcoming mega-violent brawler. The game is made of strong blacks and whites and reds, and that's it. It looks beautiful in action and proves my point: the Wii is an artistic challenge, not a burden.
Get rid of the waggle
Here is a short video of Star Wars: Clone Wars I took at PAX 2008. Does that look fun? Of course it doesn't. The Wiimote just doesn't have the capability of doing a real 1:1 light saber until the Motion Plus add-on is released. Does that waggle add anything that can't be done with a button press? This isn't just a trap that third parties fall into, either. After the great tech demo of what baseball could be with Wii Sports, Nintendo fell back into waggle with Mario Super Sluggers. Disappointing.
Mario Kart, again, knocks it out of the park. The racing action using the Wiimote or the wheel is great, and you, your child, and your grandmother can all enjoy it. Games like Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 mix the controls of a light gun game and a first-person shooter, and do it well. This is a game that is made better by the Wiimote; you're not just waggling the controller at the screen. No More Heroes used a few motions to add to the experience, and in that case, a little bit went a long way.
It's not enough to make a shake equal the "A" button; you have to think about what actions your game has and how to make them work with the controller. The different slashes in No More Heroes are perfectly done, and you go from using the Wiimote like a controller to swinging it like a sword. It's a neat effect, and adds to the experience. Boom Blox is a game that understands the Wii: it's a game where you throw things at other things. That's it. It's also one of the best games on the system.
Every time I hold the Wiimote in my hand, I imagine all the cool things that can be done with it, only to be let down time and time again by lazy developers.
The Wii could be the most interesting system on the market
The inability to fall back on brute strength for graphics gives developers an excuse to play with art, and the Wiimote allows designers to think about control in their games from the ground up. In the right hands, the Wii could be more than just a system for your grandmother, but we rarely see games that embody this. What we do see is endless whining about how third parties can't win on the Wii or how Nintendo dominates the system.
If you're in the game industry and you're reading this: the only thing holding you back is a lack of imagination. Nintendo games show up on the sales charts over and over again not only because they tend to be better games than what you're putting out, but we have very little else to choose from other than collections of minigames. You need to prove that you understand the Wii instead of fighting it, and until that happens nothing will change.