This post was from another thread that was directed towards a post made by hanafuda, however I don't think it will get the eye views that it needs within that thread, and it does deserve a new thread of it's own. If anyone still doesn't agree that Wii is cheaper to develop for after this then i'm spent, because this is un-refutable evidence and brings brilliant arguments (shines sunshine up my own arse). I'm not a Nintendo fan either, I'm just stating it how it is and providing you with the explanation that you need. Before we actually get into all of the details I want to point out that I believe that lower development costs are not necessarily a good thing, low budget movies are generally crap, so can low budget games... the HUGE budget games generally are the ones that turn out to be the best (see Gears of War, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Sold etc etc etc x infinium) - they get the big budget because they are being developed by a skilled developer with a talented development house. Personally I prefer the more expensive games, i'm simply pointing out the reasons and the facts behind the developers preferring to develop games for Wii because it is cheap. KAPISCH. Thanks. ACTUAL hardware Devkit Costs Nintendo Wii Devkit costs only $1,732 from my sources. PS3 Devkit costs between $30,000 and $50,000 depending on the source and the developer, I don't think they all get the same price. That as your starter is a massive difference JUST to get started, and each major developer doesn't have just ONE devkit per game... they have hundreds. Information - Quotes from developers re: cost of development. You don't need to click the links i've just provided my sources so it's not like i'm talking shit. 1. Ubisoft - http://www.n-sider.com/newsview.php?type=story&storyid=2337 Ubisoft's Red Steel game for Wii will incur a development cost of approximately $12.75 million, according to a report by JeuxFrance.com. Wii is considered to be the cheapest next-generation console to develop for. In May, THQ president Brian Farrell estimated Wii development costs are in the range of a quarter to half of that required for PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 development. What does this mean for developers? A game such as Red Steel could cost them between $24 - $48 million on PS3 or 360. Ubisoft NA Head - Laurent Detoc - http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=14497 The lower cost of development and unique motion sensing controls seem to offset the fact that the console is incapable of gorgeous hi-def graphics 2. THQ CEO Brian Farrall - http://www.cnet.com.au/games/wii/0,239036428,240062644,00.htm "One of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That's something that's quite encouraging. As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be." "[The Wii] wasn't a whole new programming environment," Farrell said. "So we had a lot of tools and tech that work in that environment. So those costs--and again, I hate these broad generalizations--but they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half." 3. Majesco - http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=19669 Publisher Majesco has praised the lower development costs of Nintendo's Wii console, and intends to refocus its business to take advantage of the system's potential. 4. Midway CEO David Zucker - http://www.neoseeker.com/news/story/6299/ "When you talk about the PS3 and the Xbox 360, ramp-up costs are significant. You don't have the same ramp-up costs on the Wii because you have the tools already," 5. Sony CEO Ken Kutaragi - http://www.ps3focus.com/archives/127 Developing software for the PS3 from scratch will require an initial investment of at least 2 billion yen [US $17.6 million] [not including development costs]. There are not many software companies that can easily afford that kind of money.†Hardware is more difficult, therefore more expensive, through time consuming development and graphics development The most expensive part of developing a game is the graphics, the rest of the game can run fairly well, but the graphics are what takes all the time and effort. Simply the construction of the Hardware Architecture between the PS3 / X360 and the Wii is a major effect of development times. Lets say the same scene needs to be developed for a PS3 game and a Wii game. The PS3 game will require much more programming time for the different lighting, texture and in game effects. Definitely this makes the PS3 games look better but the development time of the same scene is extended greatly. I'm not going into any more details because you're an ANUS for making me do that as it was... I can go more into the technical hardware 'this pipe has this much room' type arguments but i've spent an hour on this post already. If you don't believe it now then you'll never be convinced and you can just live a lie.
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