Game Developers Prefer Wii Platform- More Planned Than for Other Platforms

[zippyjuan]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20071010074633.html

Game Developers Switch to Nintendo Wii Game Console – Analysts.
More New Games Incoming for Wii than for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Combined

Category: Multimedia

by Anton Shilov

[ 10/10/2007 | 07:47 AM ]


Thanks to unique game controller, low price and massive installed base, Nintendo Wii will see more new game titles released in Q4 than Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 combined. The situation reflects massive sales of Wii across the world and means that game developers have changed their development priorities.


Analyst firm Screen Digest predicts that 86 titles are scheduled for release on the Wii in Q4 2007, compared with 47 for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and just 38 for Sony PlayStation 3. Moreover, about 20 games for Nintendo Wii will be exclusive for the platform, whereas only 8 and 5 will be exclusive for Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, respectively.

“While Wii and Xbox 360 are likely to look back on 2007 with some satisfaction, the same cannot be said for Sony PlayStation 3. Given the platform’s release schedule this Christmas, it is not a surprise that Sony is focusing on lowering the cost of entry to PS3 platform to maintain parity with its rivals this Christmas,” said Ed Barton, Screen Digest games analyst.

Still, Mr. Barton finds that the new generation game consoles will be massively adopted by gamers going forward, meaning that sales of consoles like Sony PlayStation 2 will slowdown dramatically shortly from now.

“Given present publishing activity levels and hardware sales rates, we expect 256-bit gaming [the latest, seventh, generation of game consoles is sometimes referred to as 256-bit game consoles – X-bit labs] to have moved out of transition and squarely into the mass adoption phase by year end,” said the analyst.

Armed with the most exclusives as well as the release of Super Mario Galaxy, Screen Digest believes that Wii is likely to lead the new-generation game console market in the final quarter of 2007.

The Xbox 360 platform will be driven by an increasingly well established U.S. user base enjoying a combination of strong multiplatform releases and a persistent Halo 3.

Given the competition, Sony’s release schedule lacks the firepower to command consumer attention during this crucial trading quarter and it is difficult to see how the catalogue will drive hardware sales in such a competitive environment, believes Screen Digest, who did not rise its estimates for the PlayStation 3 sales following Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s announcement of low-cost PS3 40GB claiming that the impact of affordable PS3 had been “already built into forecasts”.

[redcolours]

he he he... THAT is good news.

cheap and easy (to write games for) - thats the wii for ya. and EVERYONE has it, or is looking for it still.

[Cubsfan]

I'm probably not the only one, but I'm tiring of the Wii a little. That should be helped by better games coming out, but there certainly seems to be a glut of "crap" games for the Wii (Carnival games, 800 movie tie ins, etc...).

Also, and I realize this is intentional, I quite often feel like I'm playing Saturday morning cartoons when I play Wii games. MLB power pros is a good example of this. Decent game, but feels very cartoon-y.

That being said, I'll have a 360 and a Wii soon. That should give me a good combination.

[mcs328]

Yeah the titles for the Wii aren't that great. Mario Party was a big disappointment for me. My favorite is still Wii Sports.

[gear02]

Yeah the titles for the Wii aren't that great. Mario Party was a big disappointment for me. My favorite is still Wii Sports.

Which is sad since it's the free launch title.

There are some great games for the Wii, but most if not all of them are developed by first party studios (metroid, zelda). I have to agree that a lot of the third party games just plan suck.

[zippyjuan]

Sounds like the novelty is starting to wear off.

[chrissy]

While, yes, I think the novelty is wearing off, I also think that there is still potential in the system to really kick butt for game developers. They just need to get their ideas developed...

I also think, in a small way, Nintendo is allowing almost anyone who can write a game to do so. Because with the GC, they were bashed for not allowing enough 3rd party development of softwares. Over compensation?

[Cubsfan]

While, yes, I think the novelty is wearing off, I also think that there is still potential in the system to really kick butt for game developers. They just need to get their ideas developed...

I think you're exactly right there. I completely hate games where a 'gesture' does nothing but replace a button. For example, in MLB Power Pros, you can quickly move the Wiimote down to swing. This is just irritating to me. I don't want them to put motion in for the sake of just putting motion in.

What I love is when I'm emulating something I'd do in real life, which is what Wii Sports is terrific at. Hit a ball with a full swing, play tennis with full swings, bowl, etc... If I have to wave my arms around, I at least want to pretend like there's a bat in my hands or something.

[Memo]

They prefer it because it's easy to write games for.

The platform is not much different than the GameCube so I'm sure the coding hasn't changed much. The system can't handle a lot of flashy graphics which make game coding hard. On top of that, it seems like people are still amazed by the novelty of the motion sensor and are happy to buy crappy games filled with a bunch of boring mini-games.

For me, the novelty of the Wii wore off long ago. This coming year we'll probably see some good titles. Even Nintendo took their sweet time coming out with Mario Galaxy.

[DarkFury]

Heh... I guess there ain't many games that proclaim.. "FINISH HIM!!!!" on the Wii huh? :heh:

[DaFunkyUnit]

Heh... I guess there ain't many games that proclaim.. "FINISH HIM!!!!" on the Wii huh? :heh:

theres this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Midway-Mortal-Kombat-Armageddon/dp/B000NDFFFE/ref=sr_1_1/105-3755052-5202024?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1192659855&sr=1-1

[DaFunkyUnit]

oh, and the increase of games for the Wii? most are actually cross-platform releases so I don't think its the Wii getting a different treatment from the devs, its more like, "great, lets now tack on Wii controls for this game".