Need for Speed: Most Wanted Wii U Demo!Dat EA support.[Alex Ward of Criterion Games]

Funny to think back to last fall when they announced the Wii U version was coming in the Spring, and there was at least one guy shouting all over a thread about how the U version was already DONE as he had heard from "sources", and the delay was just EA being assholes to Nintendo. lol

Now we hear right from the developers mouth that they didn't start serious work on the U version til October of least year.


Why is Criterion the only developer that ported a game from the PC VERSION ???
Or were there more 3rd party developers that did that for example mass effect 3 ?

It seemed pretty clear the PC version was the lead platform from the beginning. At E3 last year that was the only version of the game that was shown playable.

So it seems all the console versions were ported from the PC in this case, but I think they're just saying that in the case of the Wii U version they were able to "turn some settings higher" than they could on the 360/PS3, mainly due to the extra RAM.

Watching the two videos it looks very similar to the 360/PS3 version to me, but the ground textures do look a bit better.

This is how Criterion does things. They don't slack, and they don't crap out bad ports. If they put their name on something, you can be sure it's going to be solid work. I expected nothing less for the Wii U version. It's one of the reasons they're one of my favorite developers.
 
Well, it seemed pretty clear the PC version was the lead platform from the beginning. At E3 last year that was the only version of the game that was shown playable.

So it seems all the console versions were ported from the PC in this case, but I think they're just saying that in the case of the Wii U version they were able to "turn some settings higher" than they could on the 360/PS3, mainly due to the extra RAM.

Watching the two videos it looks very similar to the 360/PS3 version to me, but the ground textures do look a bit better.

This is how Criterion does things. They don't slack, and they don't crap out bad ports. If they put their name on something, you can be sure it's going to be solid work. I expected nothing less for the Wii U version. It's one of the reasons they're one of my favorite developers.

The one thing that bothers me about Criterion or actually EA games in general (exept EA sports) is their lack of split screen local multiplayer. This should be a standard function in every racing/ snowboard / shooting game. I dont know if its official EA policy of not including it or what it is.
 
Load times should be much better since the moment the blu-ray reader of the Wii U is around 2,5 times faster than the 360. Online population, I won't discuss that but if people start talking good about the game in Miiverse, it won't take long to get to healthy levels.
Online population is not a problem because this game has horrible online. Unless you prefer doing retarded jumps and donuts over actual racing, don't touch the online. Criterion fucked up horribly with the online and refuse to fix it. Your Criterion playlists fucking suck, fuck you Criterion.
 
you know. i just thought of this, why has nintendo not BOUGHT a license for all the major game engines, unity, unreal 3 & 4, cryengine etc(they have the money) give all of them to a team of software engineers and have them optimize each engine for the console- make sure everything works for the WiiU how it is supposed to work, sound calls go to the DSP correctly, lighting calls go correctly to whatever fixed lighting effects they have baked into the silicon etc etc etc. so that the engine is utilizing as close to "100%" of the gpu/cpu they can get.

then when a dev licenses an engine and is making a multiplatform game with say Unreal 3, go to said dev and go, you know we have that engine optimized for our console, and -free of charge- they send over the modified engine to said dev- with complete documentation.

In a general case, it isn't really feasible for Nintendo to do that. A game engine will have updates all the time by the company offering it; Nintendo would have to continually update their own branch of the code, and develop/test against any new changes that are made.

Besides most major releases will be rolling their own engines (such as this one for example). Developers like to roll their own engines because they get better support that way (no waiting days/weeks for support, when the dev is sitting next to you). Even for EA with the frostbite engine, it's used for many games across many studios, but it's still internal to EA, so they have a vested interest to support their internal studios, they don't need to hold anything back.

Unity and other smaller engines are great for start ups/Indy's, but won't get you the same place as an engine like what you see in the AAA games. AAA engines like Unreal are great, but you're just one of many licensee's that have to fight for support.
 
I'm picking this one up, skipped the PS3 version + I have the $60 Ubisoft didn't want.

THIS x 1000000!!

I like racers but not crazy about them, I have S&S All Stars Racing. Will wait for more info but if all turns out to be true then all Wii U owners should support this kind of effort. I am IN!!

Take note UBISOFT!!

Was Rayman Legends + Lego City
Now NFSMWU + Lego City
 
They put emphasis on the Assist mode and I truly think they are on to something.

First WiiU game I will buy. But Ninty, up your game now.
 
I think that this "assist mode" might be a good selling argument for parents or people who live together with others that are not gamers.

Edit: I mean generally for the Wii U, if more games will go this way.
 
I'm confused. The other day lack of Tiger Woods for Wii U meant EA had abandoned the system. Now this.

WTF is going on?
 
I'm confused. The other day lack of Tiger Woods for Wii U meant EA had abandoned the system. Now this.

WTF is going on?

According to a guy in that thread, he was hinting at Tiger Woods 15 coming to Wii U.

As for this, this was confirmed months ago, it's just this is the first time we saw any footage of the Wii U version and nobody knew if it would be a lazy port or a good port, from what we see here, it seems like a better port than most of us expected.
 
It looks nice. Loading in any car that quickly and changing day to night like that is impressive.

Pop-in is noticeable. I'd like to know how the draw distance was "tweaked" for Wii U.
 
From the ign movie the guy implied/said that they did not even have the wiiu hardware(dev box?) until christmas.

so umm a month and a half to do the port?
 
From the ign movie the guy implied/said that they did not even have the wiiu hardware(dev box?) until christmas.

so umm a month and a half to do the port?
christmas 2011

Not necessarily. He has insider info yea, but he could work at another co and have his own contacts. I dont think John Harker works at multiple companies, but hes aware of goings on at several.
That's true though harker is much more cryptic than Arkam.
 
From the ign movie the guy implied/said that they did not even have the wiiu hardware(dev box?) until christmas.

so umm a month and a half to do the port?

They seemed to be talking about owning consumer units, not dev units. That, along with reading the Iwata Asks about the hardware, helped them to understand the philosophy behind the platform and how to take advantage of it.
 
Have any other developers talked about owning the system and understanding what people would like as consumers? This is the first time I've ever heard that mentioned. Also acknowledgement of the Iwata Ask and how they helped.
 
They seemed to be talking about owning consumer units, not dev units. That, along with reading the Iwata Asks about the hardware, helped them to understand the philosophy behind the platform and how to take advantage of it.

Well they said they got the hardware about then, and also they didn't come back to work on it until around the new year, but doesn't matter, if it's good, it doesn't matter how long it took them to do it.
 
Can you modify your car, a la previous NFS games?

In all honesty, I just want another Underground 2.

A little bit.

When you find a car it is stock. Then, you have a choice between five races to complete, if you come in first or second you unlock a mod, which are Nitrous, Racing/Off-road Wheels, different body mods, and different gear ratios for top speed/acceleration. You're able to change upgrades on the fly though.

It's nothing like the way Underground treats it.
 
Off topic: It seem two more ports are coming to the WiiU according to EB games. I can't post link because it is from a banned site.

Watch Dogs and Rainbow 6 Patriots
 
Off topic: It seem two more ports are coming to the WiiU according to EB games. I can't post link because it is from a banned site.

Watch Dogs and Rainbow 6 Patriots

Question is do we call them ports if they release at the same time as the other versions or just versions?
 
Sounds good. Looks like it's replacing Rayman's purchase to me.

About damn time somebody actually decided to not half ass a port. If this is the reason for the delay, my answer is yes, you may have my money.
 
Awesome, I'll be buying this game :)

Looks like me too. Burnout 2 remains my favorite race game on a Nintendo platform, and i've never been interested in NFS... But since this is made by the same people and seems to be a crossover between Burnout and NFS, and is one of the first ports that got a decent effort, it looks like i'll be on board. I also got the student license of Renderware (by Criterion) for a postgrad project, 10 years ago.
 
A little bit.

When you find a car it is stock. Then, you have a choice between five races to complete, if you come in first or second you unlock a mod, which are Nitrous, Racing/Off-road Wheels, different body mods, and different gear ratios for top speed/acceleration. You're able to change upgrades on the fly though.

It's nothing like the way Underground treats it.

That's unfortunate.

Thanks for the answer though.
 
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