By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - One of Spores developers says "Wii is a piece of..."

fooflexible on 07 March 2007

HappySqurriel said: I suspect the reason neither of these systems is as powerful as it could have been is because most third parties aviod risk and Nintendo would have difficulty convincing them to spend the money to produce an unconventional game ... At the same time, I think Nintendo realized that people would be willing to pay only so much money on a console which was untraditional ...
It's possible, but remember Nintendo lacks two big things Sony and Microsoft both have, money(I'm talking crazy money), and alterior motives. Sure sony don't care much about losing on ps3s when each one they sell is another blu-ray drive out there, another score in the battle against hd-dvd which in turn is another win for their blu-ray consortium, and blu-ray films there selling and the whole nine yards. Microsoft has software, online services, now they have ads on Live, rentable movies for their Media player, I'm sure their music service and the Zune will soon play a role. But the cool thing is is that Nintendo is so insanely focused as a company. You can talk games up all you want as immersive, realistic, art forms, but the bottom line is they have to be fun, you have to enjoy that time. That is the botom line. And more importantly for a company it all comes down to making money. Nintendo figured out how to make cheap profitable hardware, low budget games that are fun and sell well. They basically have their cake and are eating it too.
Ben Kenobbi88 said: Uh, well, Spore is definitely high up there...pretty sure it's in the top 10.
Let's go by sales, I'll state for the record that in my opinion in America it will NOT be in the top 20 best selling games for 2007. I'm including pc with console and handheld sales btw.



Around the Network
jman8 on 07 March 2007

Sieanr is pretty much the only one on this thread that I think understands what Hecker was trying to get at. Hecker's pissed that Nintendo games are simply about "fun" and have little artistic aspirations. Nintendo has set the precedent for the Wii (since they are the lead developer on the Wii) of making games appeal to a base sense of pleasure. Furthermore, they've managed to push this identity for the Wii through inferior graphical quality and general processing power that handcuff developers. Miis and Wii Sports also further this agenda. Sieanr, I'm sure Nintendo's execs would welcome artistic games as you say. However, Nintendo has fashioned their company and more importantly their console into a machine that represents, indentifies, and defines itself as something meant for just "fun." That's why Hecker mentioned wii.com's lack of references to art. It shows that Nintendo doesn't want their system to be viewed that way. They have a very specific and deliberate identity that they're trying to create for the Wii. And again, because they are the lead Wii developer, they are the ones who set the standard for everyone else. That's what Hecker is afraid of. That's what I'm afraid of. If the Wii does in fact dominate this generation and it becomes a "Wii Planet," the vast majority of games would be defined by "fun" because that is the way the console has been defined. Therefore the "games as art" movement would be threatened significantly by the Wii.



My Top 5:

Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger

My 2 nex-gen systems: PS3 and Wii

Prediction Aug '08: We see the PSP2 released fall '09. Graphically, it's basically the same as the current system. UMD drive ditched and replaced by 4-8gb on board flash memory. Other upgrades: 2nd analog nub, touchscreen, blutooth, motion sensor. Design: Flip-style or slider. Size: Think Iphone. Cost: $199. Will be profitable on day 1.

Blip on 07 March 2007

Yes! These sort of rants are what is making this console battle so much fun to watch. I hope this guy gets stuck working on Wii games for the rest of this gen. I have both a Wii and a 360 and find all the games on the Wii much more fun than the ones I have for the 360 except for maybe Geometry Wars. I know it has been beaten to death on this forum, but it doesn't matter how good games look, they have to be fun. As someone who is somewhere between a casual and hardcore gamer, I really have not seen anything beyond graphics that set this gen apart from last for the 360 and PS3 (I could care less about the online play and features). Anytime I play a game on these consoles, all I can think is pretty but boring. I have a feeling a lot of casual gamers or potential new gamers are going to feel the same way - particularly with the price tags on both. I am so happy that Nintendo has made gaming accessible for the casual gamer again - both in price and ease of play. I say tough 'sh*t' to people with this mindset.



r2007 on 07 March 2007

Hecker? Let's read what Will Wright ('the' creator of spore) has to say about the wii: I know the actual budget figure for developing Spore is a confidential number, but it's not small. Is that influencing the design? "In the industry that has a huge influence on design. People saying 'OK, we're going to put tens of millions of dollars behind A or B. A is a sequel to something that we saw sell before, B is some weird thing we have no idea what it is.' Getting people to roll dice on B is very, very hard. Which is why we've seen, I think, this dearth of innovation recently. But it seems like it's swinging back now toward innovation. Nintendo is a good example, on the DS and now with the Wii, we're seeing innovation being rewarded with market awareness and excitement relative to just pouring lots of money behind evolutionary progress. At E3 every year it's always 'what have you seen that's new, what have you seen that's new,' and there are these multi-million-dollar productions, really beautiful, HD, etc.,. etc., and still they're not that impressive to us because it feels like a natural continuation of what we saw last year and the year before and the year before. Whereas things that are truly innovative, as long as they can rise above the noise level, people are genuinely excited about them." http://www.popsci.com/popsci/printerfriendly/technology/f1a18906612a0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html



euclid on 07 March 2007

r2007, thanks for the quote! I searched the site playstation.com (official site for the ps3?) and I didn't see anything really about games being an art form. Someone correct me if I am wrong please.



Around the Network
toyz on 07 March 2007

Nintendo have always been about having fun and innovative ways of doing so. To say that Nintendo don't care about the art form is the biggest pile of shit I have ever heard. Art is not just about graphical representation, it's about expression. INNOVATION is where Nintendo excel. they think of different ways to enjoy gaming, they don't get caught up in producing a high powered machines that cost too dam much, with over styled graphics. They concentrate on the story and content of the game; this is what makes a game great. To stand up in front of a crowd and say that Nintendo are a pile of shit is not only anal but completely immature. It demonstrates his complete lack of intelligence and forward thinking. If he wants to make another game with supposedly great graphics and shit story line… fine! His games are not worthy of the wii console anyway.



fooflexible on 07 March 2007

jman8 said: Nintendo has set the precedent for the Wii (since they are the lead developer on the Wii) of making games appeal to a base sense of pleasure. Furthermore, they've managed to push this identity for the Wii through inferior graphical quality and general processing power that handcuff developers. Miis and Wii Sports also further this agenda. Sieanr, I'm sure Nintendo's execs would welcome artistic games as you say. However, Nintendo has fashioned their company and more importantly their console into a machine that represents, indentifies, and defines itself as something meant for just "fun." That's why Hecker mentioned wii.com's lack of references to art. It shows that Nintendo doesn't want their system to be viewed that way.
First off Sony and Microsoft don't call their system art either, sure they like pretty graphics, but calling a game art really doesn't sell it. nonetheless I think saying nintendo only cares about fun is a silly thing to assume too, I really think he's annoyed that Nintendo didn't push graphics harder. Because art direction in Twilight Princess was praised by every review I read. If you check out Super Paper Mario videos that have popped up from GDC the game is beautiful, it is a testment to just how much an artform the old platform titles were. So you can't really knock Nintendo on this notion. In fact Nintendo is the only company that actually attempt to turn their console into an art medium, ala Mario Paint. But of course he's not really talking about art, he's talking about graphics. But of course saying "art" just makes you sound more sophisticated.



Kwaad on 07 March 2007

r2007 said: Hecker? Let's read what Will Wright ('the' creator of spore) has to say about the wii: I know the actual budget figure for developing Spore is a confidential number, but it's not small. Is that influencing the design? "In the industry that has a huge influence on design. People saying 'OK, we're going to put tens of millions of dollars behind A or B. A is a sequel to something that we saw sell before, B is some weird thing we have no idea what it is.' Getting people to roll dice on B is very, very hard. Which is why we've seen, I think, this dearth of innovation recently. But it seems like it's swinging back now toward innovation. Nintendo is a good example, on the DS and now with the Wii, we're seeing innovation being rewarded with market awareness and excitement relative to just pouring lots of money behind evolutionary progress. At E3 every year it's always 'what have you seen that's new, what have you seen that's new,' and there are these multi-million-dollar productions, really beautiful, HD, etc.,. etc., and still they're not that impressive to us because it feels like a natural continuation of what we saw last year and the year before and the year before. Whereas things that are truly innovative, as long as they can rise above the noise level, people are genuinely excited about them." http://www.popsci.com/popsci/printerfriendly/technology/f1a18906612a0110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
I mean, still to this day it's remarkable to me that nobody's come up with a really good competitor to The Sims, seven years later.
That is in the same 'statement' as the one you quoted. That amuses me because ALOT of the Sims games are CRAP. So... yeah...



PSN ID: Kwaad


I fly this flag in victory!

sieanr on 07 March 2007

Kwaad said:That is in the same 'statement' as the one you quoted. That amuses me because ALOT of the Sims games are CRAP. So... yeah...
Is their a good competitor to the sims? One that eclipses it in every way imaginable? But whatever, the sims suck just like Final Fantasy 7



Leo-j said: If a dvd for a pc game holds what? Crysis at 3000p or something, why in the world cant a blu-ray disc do the same?

ssj12 said: Player specific decoders are nothing more than specialized GPUs. Gran Turismo is the trust driving simulator of them all. 

"Why do they call it the xbox 360? Because when you see it, you'll turn 360 degrees and walk away" 

r2007 on 07 March 2007

Kwaad said: I mean, still to this day it's remarkable to me that nobody's come up with a really good competitor to The Sims, seven years later. That is in the same 'statement' as the one you quoted. That amuses me because ALOT of the Sims games are CRAP. So... yeah...
and what does your subjective take on The Sims has to do with the objective fact that there's no real good competitor to The Sims? and what that has to do with the wii? so if he says something you don't agree than everthing he says is not valid? and we should consider valid something a guy we don't know nothing except he's working on Spore said? seriously Kwaad, sometimes you act like a small kid.