| Groucho said: I'd like to put forward that, until a Wii game requires 500K (or so) to break even, it really won't have the production values and draw of the HD titles that require the same. You get what you pay for, and what you invest in (usually). The fact that Wii games don't get much budget is the problem. Its not some sort of "boon" to the Wii. |
In a sense you're correct. Higher-budget games are often the AAA games that Nintendo is accusing third-parties of not bringing to the Wii. The fact that developers' A-teams are naturally assigned to the high-budget projects exacerbates this dilemma.
The last sentence in your post, however, is wide of the mark. The fact that Wii games can be made with smaller budgets is a massive boon for the Wii. It permits developers to make quirkier games, without having to worry as much about getting bankrupted as a result. A game like Boom Blox or Little King's Story, for instance, is less likely to have been made for the HD consoles, because of those consoles' high price of entry.
We also know that several developers have literally been priced out of HD development because of the prohibitive price tag. Hudson has been completely open about the fact that it can not and will not pay for the price of HD development. Marvelous and Majesco have hinted similarly, and acted accordingly. In fact, as far as I can tell the bulk of the small and mid-sized studios who are making console games are now focusing primarily on the Wii, likely for just that reason. So in that sense, it is indeed a massive boon to the Wii, and to gamers in general.
