"Cheap" and "shovelware" are not synonyms.

Lots of niche games are cheap, because their tiny market doesn't justify huge investments.

Lots of creative, original games are cheap, because their fresh ideas are too unproven for publishers to risk big budgets on them.

These are the games I'm after, and they're the ones the Wii is giving me, too. Bring on more cheap games, please, and let your game designers go crazy! Don't waste budget on production values when you could go exploring new game ideas.

Not needing high-resolution textures is cheaper to make.

If you'd made GTAIV from the ground up for Wii it would be cheaper than for 360/PS3, because the designers don't need to make that whole game in HD, which obviously saves time and therefore money.

Using the "Wii games are cheap because they are all shovelware" argument is crap, as is always the case when you argue extremes. No one says that Wii games cost pennies to make, game development costs have been rising since the inception of the industry and with complexity of hardware.

If you want to play the shovelware card then you need to compare apples with apples, and yes shovelware does exist on the HD systems, just in smaller numbers. Shovelware exists on the Wii in larger numbers than the PS2 because of the co-existence of two factors; large install base and cheaper development. The PS2 had the first factor but not the second.

Here is a recent statement from one of the largest, and lately one of the more promising third party developers out there.

"EA's John Riccitiello has made a strong argument for why EA is looking to increase its Wii development. It boils down to the fact that developing for the Wii is a lot cheaper than for other current-gen consoles. Riccitiello said during EA's Q3 2009 earnings call that "development is typically a third to a fourth as much for a Wii game than it is for a PS3 or an Xbox 360 game." When put like that, it's a wonder anyone develops high-definition games at all.

Riccitiello went on to explain that this is largely due to Wii developers "producing less art than for high-definition games." As a result, EA will be giving the Wii as much developmental emphasis as the 360 and PS3 enjoy collectively, seeking to "rival Nintendo on their own platform." If the announcement of Dead Space for the Wii is any indication, more emphasis will also be put on bringing more hardcore experiences to the console, rather than ports of the latest Madden or block-based puzzle games."

(sorry, close the link, will track it down later if anyone wants it)

People have now provided several articles showing that Wii development is GENERALLY cheaper than development on the HD consoles, i am yet to see a single article from a developer saying that costs are equal or even close.

Isn't the most expensive part of any game development the creation of the artwork? So HD art is more expensive to make. So HD games are more expensive.

Ask the guy who made Braid. He made the whole game alone, and then paid another guy over half the money to make the art.

No, I did not read all what UE3 does. Did you? It all depends on the engine, some game engines do less than others. That is why I asked that do you really think that an engine which does _the same_ cost more on Ps360 than on wii.

Of course if you have worse animation, effects and physics like most wii games then yes. Wii engines cost less, because they offer inferior results.

They just need lots of artists working at the same time (and I suppose some cars are similar to other ones).

No.  It does not.  No game engine costs the same on both systems.  Not one.

You haven't a point to stand on.

Every game engine at the least has a rendering engine.  That is it's core.  A rendering engine as you might imagine is more expensive to make on an HD game then a Wii game.

So yeah.  You haven't got an arguement to stand on.

Using epic as an example really is that great as they own the friggen unreal engine. Of course they'd be able to make things very cheaply with it.

It has to hold some water... I want my Free Radical back damn it. Don't forget Flagship games, Factor 5 and what was that Microsoft studio that made Ages?