| Mr Khan said: It would make sense, anyway. Most of what happens on PS360 is not fundamentally impossible on Wii. Usually, it's just the graphics, rarely enough do developers really take advantage of the other technical capabilities of the PS360. Developing a scalable multiplatform engine could solve these problems
But the big western development houses like to be resource hogs. They like to make games that take advantage of powerful hardware, and to work in an environment without limits. However, the people saying the audiences are fundamentally different are right. People who want PS360 games buy them on their PS360, if they make PS360 type games for the Wii, they are going to fail, by and large.
It is not the case that a Wii game has to be casual or kiddy, but it does have to be different. Less focus on depth and cinematic experiences, more focus on fun. Simple mechanics that can be expanded upon, rather than complex worlds. This is why Japanese developers have been in the lead on the Wii from the start, and that trend is only growing more apparent. |
The trouble with a scalable multiplatform engine is that it limits you to the lowest common denominator. And "scalable" sometimes is not enough when instead of a quantity issue it becomes a quality issue for the experience.
Towards the end of Heavenly Sword there are these scenes where you aquire the power of a goddess and fight with the enemy king, literally sweeping away hundreds of simple soldiers who run around in the process. It's a majestic set piece. Scale that to a fight scene where five soldiers are killed an it's not "the same thign but with less graphic", it's an entirely different scene.
And I don't know where you get this idea that "big western development houses like to be resource hogs". Western as in opposed to what? Japanese? We are far from wringing the 360 and PS3 for the last drop of power, but for example on the PS2 and Xbox the most technically impressive games were western (Riddick, GoW 1 and 2...)
And resource hogs? Consoles are so limited when compared with PCs that the software has to be much more highly tuned to the specific hardware. Which also explains why for example Valve is so against porting to the PS3: its architecture is very different from the abstracted PC one that they are familiar with. And you think that they would bend backward to scale their engines to an exotic and below-lowest spec hardware?
What you are asking is more Wii exclusives, completely tailored about its strengths and weaknesses, but that's entirely different from what the article is about.
