120°

Nintendo keen to make Wii U “The Console That Every Developer Wants To Publish On”

Wii U is still getting some high-profile third-party titles, but there’s still a notable absence of a few high-rollers. Still, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales & marketing Scott Moffitt has underlined the company’s “strong” relationship with third-parties, and hopes to make the format more attractive to developers moving forward.

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Austin483845d ago

It would be nice if all publishers did that but i highly dought it

iamnsuperman3845d ago (Edited 3845d ago )

They need to sell more. It doesn't matter what policies Nintendo adopt (unless it is throwing money at developers) these other develops will not want to put a game on it as the install base is very low for a console that has been out for a year. Problem is if developers do not want to develop for it consumers will be less likely to buy it as their favourite games will not be on it (vicious cycle)

I am glad I am not in a Nintendo senior position as this is a vicious cycle and quite difficult to get out of. This is why the first year of any device is so important. If you hit start great these issues are fairly non existent. Similar situation is happening to the Vita. Sony's approach seems to be using other devices (Vita TV and PS4) and paying for indie timed exclusivity to get people to buy a Vita. I am not sure what Nintendo could do (except drop the price to make it ultra cheap for anyone to pass up and get their finger out of their arses when it comes to Zelda. Could sell more that way and hope for a resurgence later on in its life which could get more developers on board as the install base will be sufficient)

Thepcz3845d ago

they should have thought about that before making it so feeble in the specs department.

R00bot3845d ago

Third party has never had anything to do with graphics.
PS2 was least powerful, but had the best 3rd party.
360 was less powerful, but had more 3rd party than the PS3 (at least early on).

deafdani3844d ago

Sorry dude, but those examples you mentioned are extremely poor. The PS2 was weaker than Cube and the original Xbox, yes, but it was still roughly in the same level, meaning it was still capable of running pretty much any game that ran on its more powerful counterparts with little compromise.

Same goes for the Xbox 360... and I LOVE how you used that as an example instead of the Wii, which was much weaker than the 360 and PS3, and therefore, it was simply uncapable of running a lot of games that did appear in the other two consoles.

I don't know for a fact if we will see a repeat of the Wii scenario with the Wii U. For all we know, the power difference could be much smaller this time around than it was in the Wii vs 360/PS3 case.

I guess we'll have to wait a bit and see, but to say that "third party has never had anything to do with graphics" is just plain ignorant. It actually does.

R00bot3844d ago

There were some 3rd party Wii games that sold better on it than other consoles, but the Wii was targeted at an audience that only bought a specific type of game.

The Wii U isn't any less "on the same level" than the PS2 was to it's competitors, either. It can actually compete quite well if programmed correctly and it has been shown that the on-paper specs don't tell the full story with it's CPU outperforming anything that it should be able to do, and the GPU is quite close to the PS4 and ONE's GPU's anyway. The Wii U will be capable of running pretty much any game that runs on its more powerful counterparts with little (maybe a bit more than with the PS2 situation) compromise.
The power difference is much, much smaller than it was last generation (also note how many games are running in 1080p on the Wii U, as opposed to the many ONE and PS4 games that have had 1080p stripped from them since their reveal).

I think we probably will see a repeat of the Wii scenario for third parties, but not AS bad as with the Wii (ok, the Wii scenario may have been about power, but if a dev wanted they could still get their game onto the console (COD)).

Third party has never, and never will be, about graphical power. There are many more examples such as the dreamcast, which was much more powerful than it's competitors and failed miserably in the 3rd party department, or the Sega Master System, which had over 8 times the graphical power of the NES but still stalled when it came to quality 3rd party games.

You were very quick to judge me as ignorant because of a post based solely on fact.

I would call you ignorant or a troll, but your comment history says otherwise.

Good day sir.

Thepcz3844d ago

it has everything to do with power now. nintendo underestimated the importance of HD last gen and the wii went to an early grave as a result.

nintendo pitched the wiiu as the answer to all the problems the wii had, therefore, one would expect a nintendo console that was future proof, technology wise. but instead, what we got was another 'half-step' by nintendo, this inbetween 'thing' that can give us quasi next gen experiences, but not the real deal.

again, nintendo will suffer greatly for this mistake. dont believe me, check the sales figures. look at the charts. go to a store and look at the wiiu section- it either doesnt exist, or has very little meaningful presence on market. so, you can disagree until you are blue in the face, but the facts and figures speak for themselves.

one might turn blind eye to the fact the wiiu is barely more powerful than a ps3, if nintendo offered highly original and qulity titles, as it did with the wii. but wait, none of the aforementioned experiences can be enjoyed on wiiu, only rehashes of decade old games (wind waker) and pointless games like game and wario.

add to that the lack of convincing third party support and you have a console that nobody really wants to buy, and as a result, no devs will publish.

deafdani3844d ago

"There were some 3rd party Wii games that sold better on it than other consoles, but the Wii was targeted at an audience that only bought a specific type of game."

And they were the exception rather than the rule. And you said it yourself, they were third party games made with a different audience on mind.

As for your second paragraph, I said it already: we'll have to wait and see. I hope the disparity in power isn't as big this time around, for the sake of the Wii U regarding third party multiplatform titles. That, in itself, is an admittance of the importance of power parity if you want these kind of games to appear in your platform. Again, this is why the Wii missed out on the vast majority of multiplatform titles.

"The power difference is much, much smaller than it was last generation (also note how many games are running in 1080p on the Wii U, as opposed to the many ONE and PS4 games that have had 1080p stripped from them since their reveal)."

Er, resolution isn't an argument here. If the Wii U can run a game in 1080p, you can bet that the PS4 and Xbox One can do run the same game at that resolution, too. They're more powerful, after all. Like I said, we won't be able to judge how big this difference actually is until all three next gen consoles are out, plain and simple. Numbers on paper aren't the same as real life results. Again: I hope it's not that big of a difference this time.

"I think we probably will see a repeat of the Wii scenario for third parties, but not AS bad as with the Wii (ok, the Wii scenario may have been about power, but if a dev wanted they could still get their game onto the console (COD))."

Call of Duty was an exception. The Wii was simply incapable of running games on Unreal Engine 3, so things like Mass Effect, or the Batman games, were out of the question. Same goes for Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and other big multiplat games that the Wii simply didn't have the power to run.

"Third party has never, and never will be, about graphical power. There are many more examples such as the dreamcast, which was much more powerful than it's competitors and failed miserably in the 3rd party department, or the Sega Master System, which had over 8 times the graphical power of the NES but still stalled when it came to quality 3rd party games."

Considering everything I said above, yes, power matters for third party. The Dreamcast was the first console of its generation, and it was considerably weaker than the PS2, Gamecube and original Xbox. And the Sega Master System was indeed more powerful than the NES, but at that time, there were practically only two major competitors, Sega and Nintendo, because everyone else was of very little relevance. On MODERN TIMES, now there are THREE major players: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, both with similar market shares... and if any one of the big three makes a console considerably less powerful than the other two, then that console will receive the least third party support. Last generation was a clear proof of that, and using 25 year old consoles to try to prove your argument is falacious, because today's circumstances are very different than they were decades ago.

So, I stand by what I said. Your post wasn't based on facts, but opinion. A fact is, the Wii missed out on tons of third party games because it wasn't on par with the other two consoles, power-wise. So, again, stating that third party isn't about power means IGNORING the actual state of things in the gaming industry.

In the end, I personally don't care too much if the Wii U is underpowered compared to Xbox One and PS4. As long as it has fun games, I'll keep playing it. :)

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3844d ago
lilbroRx3845d ago

Its a fools errand. When the Wii U launched last year, it was the strongest console on the market and still will be until next month. Made no difference to devs.

We've entered the age of developer terrotiralism and bought exclusivity. Devs go to the console of the manufacturer that wipes their anus with the most money more often then not.

The PS3 was the hardest console to develop for last gen but devs still flocked to it(ignoring all of the bankrupcties is brought).

It was never about the hardware. Its about the devs prerfence.

You can't make a console that "every" dev wants to publish on. Devs want money, and that is what its all about.

krazykombatant3845d ago

"The PS3 was the hardest console to develop for last gen but devs still flocked to it"

LOL yeah they flocked to it and released poor ports, which were riddled with problems in comparison to the 360 comparison.

The easier it is to develop for and the one that can capture the biggest audience is what the devs and more importantly their bosses (the publishers) will flock to and support.

You're confusing devs with publishers.

ThePsychoGamer3845d ago

That is pure fanboy conspiracy theory BS.

1: Yes Microsoft and SOny will pay for third party exclusives, but guess what, Nintendo douse the same thing. It really pathetic that you are not only trying to spin this into a bad thing, but trying to paint this narrative where Nintendo is innocent of it.

2: You try to paint a picture where developers only ever lost money because of the PS3, but we know that isn't true, developers worked on the PS3 because there games sold, especially the niche games.

LOL_WUT3845d ago

"It really pathetic that you are not only trying to spin this into a bad thing, but trying to paint this narrative where Nintendo is innocent of it."

Lilbro always does this he tries to masquerade as a PC fan and on the side damage controls for Nintendo.

Anyway, regardless of what the fanboys might say Nintendo needs 3rd party more than they need them. If they weren't too busy with the Wii catering to the all casuals and soccer moms then they would've had a nice footing in the HD scene instead of being left behind by publishers and the competition.

I hope with this nice little boost in their hardware sales things turn around for them but as far as publishers developing for the Wii U I don't see much changing unless they pay up. ;)

MEsoJD3845d ago

Devs care about sales and the Wii U at the moment is a bad investment. Not just that, but the majority of Nintendo console owners haven't been as consistent in buying software compared to owners of 360/PS3.

Knushwood Butt3845d ago

Devs go to whichever publisher is giving them a gig.

You know, like Platinum developing games for Nintendo...

Considering how the majority of games these days are multiplat, your post is close to being nonsensical.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3845d ago
ReesesPuffs3845d ago

I hope that the Wii U will one day be that console. It would be awesome if all the next gen consoles were like this aswell. In the end only time will tell. We'll see.

GamerRising3845d ago

Wii U is just a big disaster. Nintendos in a bigh whole reasons why im afraid to buy their products

Show all comments (27)
80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."

280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple10110d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref10d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde10d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander197210d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville10d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff21839d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos9d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 9d ago
isarai10d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref10d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan10d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis0079d ago (Edited 9d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander197210d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

10d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197210d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

10d ago
10d ago
Zeref10d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde10d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander197210d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander197210d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier10d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto10d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff21839d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto9d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 9d ago
Hofstaderman10d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts10d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate10d ago (Edited 10d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts9d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic9d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

Show all comments (43)
90°

Nintendo's War Against Player-Made Content Will Hurt The Company In The End

Danish from eXputer: "Nintendo has historically gone against player-made content and emulation of its games. This has done much to harm the company's image."

XiNatsuDragnel17d ago

I agree nintendo hire some these folks to help in your games it'll help imo.

banger8816d ago

They need to stop announcing these mods and fan remakes until they're finished. Finish it, upload it, and then if Nintendo dmca's it tough shit. Once it's online, people can share it around, even if the original download gets taken down.

Jingsing16d ago

True, but most modders need constant admiration during the process to motivate them.

PRIMORDUS15d ago

Yup, once it's a torrent nothing can be done Nintendo is helpless at that point. But it would be wise if they just had a site on the dark web, it's also easy to use with Tor and no one will bother you.

mastershredder15d ago

This is all coming from the mouth of short-sighted fandom and grifting madness.
No.... it wont. There is a clear defined reason why they don't. This is nothing new. Make your own shi7 from your own original ideas especially if you are trying to capitalize of it it. Duh.

Yeah, hire people that have zero respect or understanding for an established process. Wow. Yep. Totally makes sense.

shinoff218315d ago

Those guys that made that sonic game got a gig from sega or something along those lines and that game was dope as hell. One of the best sonics as of late.