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Forums - Nintendo - EA: we don’t make ports, Wii U games will be unique

lilbroex on 22 August 2012

EA is bringing several key titles to the Wii U this year. Mass Effect 3, Madden NFL 13, and FIFA 13 will all be coming to Nintendo’s new console at launch. But according to EA, those titles aren’t just “ports”. In fact, the company believes they don’t make ports any longer. EA’s Patrick Soderlund was recently asked in an interview if EA will port games to the Wii U, and Sonderlund’s reply wasn’t what many expected. He said:

“I would say EA doesn’t make ports at all anymore. We try to make games that are ideal for each platform as much as possible. Obviously for PS3 and Xbox 360 the systems are similar, so we cross-develop. But we will always try to take an approach about what is unique for that platform. Wii U has many unique capabilities so you have to embrace the unique elements of the platform otherwise there’s not much point doing it at all.”

While a quote like that is expected from one of EA’s top dogs, some of EA’s Wii U games we’ve seen so far would suggest otherwise. For example, it was revealed last month that Madden NFL 13 on the Wii U won’t feature the new physics engine (which will be available on the older PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms). Nor will Madden 13 on the Wii U feature some of the online modes. The development team simply didn’t have enough resources to complete those features. So in one way, it’s not a straight “port”, since key features are missing. However, other EA Wii U games such as Mass Effect 3 show a lot of promise. The recent Mass Effect 3 Wii U gameplay walkthrough shows some innovative use of the Wii U GamePad controller. One recent rumor from EA suggested that its top selling Battlefield 3 was canceled on the Wii U, instead, the team is working on bringing Battlefield 4 on the console in 2013.

Not everything has been cool between EA and Nintendo regarding the Wii U. Earlier this year, EA reportedly wanted to deeply integrate Origin into the Wii U, and completely run the console’s online system. Nintendo declined the offer, which some believe led to decreased support from EA for the Wii U. The rumor suggests the exact opposite of what Soderlund says: reportedly, EA will only release ports to the Wii U without any real budget.

We’ll have to wait and see how Ea supports the new console in the future. So far, it doesn’t look that bad.

http://wiiudaily.com/2012/08/ea-wii-u-games-will-be-unique/

 

 

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Crono141 on 22 August 2012

I can't stand EA anyway.



Check out my Youtube Let's Play channel here.

mike_intellivision on 22 August 2012

What I read --
We call them cross-developed games.

Mike from Morgantown



      


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Gamerace on 22 August 2012

Well considering Wii needed different development from PS360 and EA also supports portables, tablets, social games, etc. each of which needs it's own separate development team he is correct in a way.

However Madden, ME3 and Fifa are still clearly ports with WiiU modifications made to them. What EA does going forward remains to be seen.



 

DRAE_nmhar on 22 August 2012

I'm happy that Mass effect 3 is coming to Wii U. I skipped it on 360 just for this version. And two sport games I'm not interested in...that's it? How about Medal of Honor Warfighter? Need of Speed? Rather have those two than the inferior Madden and Fifa.



Wii U Demos in *FPS* View  ;)
http://www.youtube.com/user/PxDxI

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DieAppleDie on 22 August 2012

Is that supossed to be a joke?
Because its not funny EA, not at all...



flagstaad on 22 August 2012
DRAE_nmhar said:
I'm happy that Mass effect 3 is coming to Wii U. I skipped it on 360 just for this version. And two sport games I'm not interested in...that's it? How about Medal of Honor Warfighter? Need of Speed? Rather have those two than the inferior Madden and Fifa.

Both games use the Frostbite 2 engine, if EA is not willing to spend money (or time) to port the engine to the console those games will not come to Wii U. The ports we are seeing are related to Unreal 3 (Mass Effect 3) or smaller engines (Madden, FIFA) that are either supported by the manufacturer or are not fully functional (new collition/physics engine in Madden Wii U version), small investment releases. Very cheap EA support as you can see.



Mr Khan on 22 August 2012

The truth will out September 13th.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

lilbroex on 22 August 2012
Mr Khan said:
The truth will out September 13th.


That will only be for NIntendo. EA is never going to outright say that they are shafting gamers on Nintendo consoles.



Mr Khan on 22 August 2012
lilbroex said:
Mr Khan said:
The truth will out September 13th.


That will only be for NIntendo. EA is nothing going to outright say that they shafting gamers on Nintendo consoles.

Right, but it will be shown whether EA has anything more substantive up its sleeve.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.