Everybody Loves the Wii

1up is reporting on Ubisoft's enthusiastic adoption of the Wii platform. They'd previously only had two titles announced for the system (Red Steel and a Rayman game), but now claim to have seven different titles in production. From the article: "Ubisoft North America President Laurent Detoc ... praised the Wii several times during the panel, stating that he expects it to have 'a large audience and market.' He also stated that he personally felt that in a time when fewer and fewer games appeal to him, the Wii offers plenty of enjoyment. 'The first time I picked up that sucker I couldn't stop playing it.'" Ars Technica is also reporting that EA is gung-ho about the system. From that article: "EA not only indicated that they are taking the Wii and DS seriously, but the company also hinted that they will follow Nintendo's guidance and release games at or near the $49.99 price point. Nintendo has urged developers and publishers to respect the $49.99 price point, believing that it reflects a value advantage over other consoles. EA did not offer a firm commitment to that pricing, contrary to reports elsewhere."

Re:Lotsa games... now what?

[trdrstv]

Don't forget Progressive Scan output, and at least Dolby Prologic surround sound.

Also that it can communicate with the DS, and send DS demos to it. That's just another cherry on top, but something I'll get some use out of.

Re:Maybe not everybody

[hal2814]

No, not "some developers." A developer as in the singular tense is all you've linked to here.

Re:Feedback Loop

[trdrstv]

The Wii games we've seen so far are almost painful to look at

Metroid Prime 3 ?

Twilight Princess ?

Madden 07 - looks at least as good as the X-box version, and will support progressive scan & 16:9 mode.

These games look great so far, and there's a few months to go before launch.

Re:If gameplay is your thing..

[snuf23]

"Cute graphics doesn't appeal to me, nor does choppy PC framerate."

Wow you must have a shit video card! Or do you really think 2 7900GTX cards in SLI provide crappy framerates? The PC is hands down the best platform for simulation games.

Re:Lotsa games... now what?

[trdrstv]

According to Nintendo, there will be no First Party 720p or 1080i titles.

Fixed that for you. Nintendo's Graphics standard for making Wii games is the same as the GameCube (480p, and to support progressive scan they need to offer component cables). The hardware can support it, unless they change their specs and it ends up weaker than the PS2.

Re:The freedom of nothing to lose

[grapeape]

Did you bother to read what was posted. The point wasnt that MS was making money hand over fist..it was that even if the Xbox360 was a complete failure it wasnt going to hurt MS's bottomline too much they could afford a flop. Sony however has been loosing money in almost every market they are in, they have put all their eggs in one basket and the PS3 has to at least be moderately successful or it could be disasterous for the entire company.

Re:Bluetooth AND infrared

[FleaPlus]

From what I understand, the infrared is going to give the "pointer/mouse" capability (communicating with the locator bar that you set up under the TV), with bluetooth handling everything else (buttons, gyroscope, accelerometer, etc).

Where did you get that info from? According to the wiki article [wikipedia.org]: "The controller communicates wirelessly with the console via short-range Bluetooth radio, with which it is possible to operate up to 4 controllers as far as 10 meters (approx. 33 ft.) from the console."

Of course, it's quite possible that maybe the locator bar emits infrared, which the Wii Remote then uses for localization, and then transmits that information back to the console via Bluetooth.