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[BurntPork]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

It only took five weeks for them to port the game to a console they've never developed for before? Wow! Looks like Nintendo hit a home run in terms of ease of development!

 

[phosphor112]

It only took five weeks for them to port the game to a console they've never developed for before? Wow! Looks like Nintendo hit a home run in terms of ease of development!

With only 3 people to boot. Though, at this point, using weird architectures are pretty much out of the picture... sans Sony, so it'll only get easier for developers.

I wonder why Nintendo didn't show the Darksiders II footage. I'd be personally mad if I were those guys, work 5 weeks in crunch time trying to get this thing to work. Have it working, then Big N says "Nah."

If you didn't want them to use the same assets from other games, why not give them a dev kit before that point? Let them make a tech demo or something?

EDIT: Great video piece by the way, nice to say that the actual coding to get the render on the handheld screen is just "a few lines." I was in computer science for a while, and having that sort of thing implemented directly is just awesome, saves the devs a lot of hassle.

 

[Vinci]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

That was a good interview.

 

[BurntPork]

With only 3 people to boot. Though, at this point, using weird architectures are pretty much out of the picture... sans Sony, so it'll only get easier for developers.

I wonder why Nintendo didn't show the Darksiders II footage. I'd be personally mad if I were those guys, work 5 weeks in crunch time trying to get this thing to work. Have it working, then Big N says "Nah."

If you didn't want them to use the same assets from other games, why not give them a dev kit before that point? Let them make a tech demo or something?

It's probably that a bunch of the other games weren't even as far along as DSII, and perhaps even looked worse than the other versions. Hopefully Nintendo will let them have the game up at Gamescom.

 

[phosphor112]

It's probably that a bunch of the other games weren't even as far along as DSII, and perhaps even looked worse than the other versions. Hopefully Nintendo will let them have the game up at Gamescom.

I'm not expecting much at Gamescom, I think TGS will have a lot more footage... I hope we won't have to wait until E3 next year to get some real footage of what this thing can do, and I'm not talking about tech demo's either.

 

[fabricated backlash]

With only 3 people to boot. Though, at this point, using weird architectures are pretty much out of the picture... sans Sony, so it'll only get easier for developers.

I wonder why Nintendo didn't show the Darksiders II footage. I'd be personally mad if I were those guys, work 5 weeks in crunch time trying to get this thing to work. Have it working, then Big N says "Nah."

If you didn't want them to use the same assets from other games, why not give them a dev kit before that point? Let them make a tech demo or something?

EDIT: Great video piece by the way, nice to say that the actual coding to get the render on the handheld screen is just "a few lines." I was in computer science for a while, and having that sort of thing implemented directly is just awesome, saves the devs a lot of hassle.

I really hope that this kind of support and dedication is spent along all departments when it comes to this console.

 

[BurntPork]

I'm not expecting much at Gamescom, I think TGS will have a lot more footage... I hope we won't have to wait until E3 next year to get some real footage of what this thing can do, and I'm not talking about tech demo's either.

I'm mostly talking about DS2, which probably wouldn't be at TGS anyway.

 

[Forsaken82]

I wonder why Nintendo didn't show the Darksiders II footage. I'd be personally mad if I were those guys, work 5 weeks in crunch time trying to get this thing to work. Have it working, then Big N says "Nah."

I didn't watch the video... did they say that Nintendo asked them to have a build ready?

If not, I am pretty sure they didn't spend any sort of crunch

 

[jacksrb]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

That was really interesting without saying too much. First developer talk I have heard about guys working with the new system.

- Easier to dev for than PS3, about as easy as the 360
- Only a couple lines of code to get the game running on the controller alone once they had it running on the hardware in general

EDIT: Got pulled away from my desk and forgot to post (sorry for the repeats of above)

 

[Penguin]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

Listening to the interview

Dollar to donuts, a website will run with the headline

"Nintendo Doesn't KNow how the Wii U works"

or something like

"Nintendo Doesn't Offer Answers to Darksiders Team"

 

[Mr.Squirrel]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

Obviously these guys are liars. All of the Senior Armchair Analysts on GAF told me how much the Wii U sucks and is the worst thing to happen to gaming. What do these guys know about anything.

 

[phosphor112]

I didn't watch the video... did they say that Nintendo asked them to have a build ready?

If not, I am pretty sure they didn't spend any sort of crunch

They said they were asked to get something working on the Wii U. The also said they worked on it for 5 weeks, up until the day before E3 to get the thing running.

So yeah, there was definitely crunch time during that.

 

[BurntPork]

Listening to the interview

Dollar to donuts, a website will run with the headline

"Nintendo Doesn't KNow how the Wii U works"

or something like

"Nintendo Doesn't Offer Answers to Darksiders Team"

And then someone will make a thread here, and hilarity will ensue because people don't realize that game development is something you learn with experience and that no one has all the answers right away.

Oh, also:

"Porting Games to Wii U Takes More than a Month to Do"

 

[Jorok Goldblade]

I wonder why Nintendo didn't show the Darksiders II footage. I'd be personally mad if I were those guys, work 5 weeks in crunch time trying to get this thing to work. Have it working, then Big N says "Nah."

I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo wasn't satisfied that the demos looked exactly like 360/ps3 games, and wanted to wait until developers had more time with fully-clocked dev kits before showing any software.

 

[hellclerk]

I remember reading somewhere that Nintendo wasn't satisfied that the demos looked exactly like 360/ps3 games, and wanted to wait until developers had more time with fully-clocked dev kits before showing any software.

Well, it wouldn't be JUST the Darksiders port, it'd be all the other games. If they chose not to show Darksiders II, then it's probably more to do with a parity with other games that didn't look up to spec.

 

[walking fiend]

Well, it wouldn't be JUST the Darksiders port, it'd be all the other games. If they chose not to show Darksiders II, then it's probably more to do with a parity with other games that didn't look up to spec.

I am not really sure what they were upto, as if they intentionally wanted people NOT to talk about how Wii U games looks, whether good or bad; they didn't showed the Zelda demo, the Japanese Garden was cut, a video with multiple angle video got only behind the closed door show; Ubi soft showed ghost recond and killing floor, but just like the rest of the games nintedo showed, they were heavily focused on the controller; I believe the reason they didn't show DS2 was because it didn't take advantage of the Controller at that time.

of course here and on many forums, this strategy didn't work, but I believe the rest of the world focus DID gathered around the controller.

 

[cyberheater]

The Story Behind The Wii U And Darksiders II

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featu...story-behind-the-wii-u-and-darksiders-ii.aspx

May even make pancakes!

Thanks for the link. It was interesting but yet another dev that didn't talk about the power of the console.
Still. It's impressive that they managed to get it running that quickly on an early dev machine.

 

[brochiller]

Thanks for the link. It was interesting but yet another dev that didn't talk about the power of the console.
Still. It's impressive that they managed to get it running that quickly on an early dev machine.

What I'm impressed with is how easy it was for them to get the game onto the controller screen. It only took them ten minutes! That is ridiculous and it's great that Nintendo's making it easy for developers to get their ideas for the controller into motion from the get-go.

 

[Penguin]

Thanks for the link. It was interesting but yet another dev that didn't talk about the power of the console.
Still. It's impressive that they managed to get it running that quickly on an early dev machine.

I honestly just think Nintendo doesn't want to focus on the power, which makes sense.

 

[cyberheater]

What I'm impressed with is how easy it was for them to get the game onto the controller screen. It only took them ten minutes! That is ridiculous and it's great that Nintendo's making it easy for developers to get their ideas for the controller into motion from the get-go.

As long as Nintendo mandate that the devs have to offer that option then it's all good and a day one sale for me.

 

[[Nintex]]

I honestly just think Nintendo doesn't want to focus on the power, which makes sense.

I think there's quit a miscommunication between NCL and NoA about what this system is and what it can do.

NoA wants/thinks:
- Full HD high end all that stuff
- Online like Xbox 360!11
- All blockbuster things
- Ready to take on MS, Apple and Sony!!11
- Tablet controller, oh yes this'll do well

NCL wants/thinks:
- Mario, Zelda in HD - $$$$$$
- Fun stuff with Mii's and new controller - $$$$$$$
- Trying to make console gaming cool in japan again - $$$$$$$$
- Tablet? no, just a screen
- $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[TunaLover]

If they were able to get the game running on the console in such short time that means they probably couldn´t apply any code optimization, it´s great when you think what developers will deliver with final SDKs, and more development time!

 

[Father_Brain]

From the Shareholders' Meeting Q & A, Iwata seems to be hinting at some much-needed moneyhats:

Regarding the Wii, the lack of software was extreme only in Japan, and the situation is a little different in the overseas markets but, at first, we thought that time would solve the issues for the Wii just as it had done for the Nintendo DS, but this was not the case. As a result, the software publishers put some effort into creating some titles, but the sales did not reach their expectations on the Wii, which made them think that they could not have high expectations for business on the Wii. At that time, a title called "Monster Hunter Portable" was selling well on Sony's handheld gaming device, PlayStation Portable. Only one title changed the whole momentum of that hardware, and because this all happened at the same time, the software publishers who were considering developing software for the Wii changed their minds and decided to make it for the PlayStation Portable. Because of this, when Nintendo failed to seamlessly provide software, there were no other titles to fill up the gaps.

In that sense, and this is common to both the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U, we think that it is important to encourage the software publishers to think "This is a platform on which we can perform our business" in the very first stage of the platform. We think it very important to make several hits from the third-party software publishers within the first year from the release of the platform, while offering Nintendo software seamlessly. In order to achieve this goal, we have shared information about the new hardware with the software publishers earlier than we did previously and built a cooperative structure, and we are developing several titles in collaboration with these publishers. I cannot talk in detail about the names of the titles, or with which publishers we are currently collaborating, because we have not announced this information yet, but what we are aiming for with the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U is, platforms which have much more software and a wider variety of software than the former Nintendo DS or Wii. Therefore, we are thinking of creating an environment where software from other companies will become hits. Please understand that Nintendo is prepared to invest in order to make this a reality.

The complete Q&A is here, though that's probably the most newsworthy bit (much of it has already been translated and reported by other sources).

 

[guek]

I don't think moneyhatting has ever worked all too well for nintendo in the past (Capcom 5, FF:CC), but I'm glad they're still willing to do it. Get some exclusives on the Wii U in the first few years to really showcase the hardware and they'll be ready for the big showdown once their competitors hit the scene.

 

[TunaLover]

From the Shareholders' Meeting Q & A, Iwata seems to be hinting at some much-needed moneyhats:



The complete Q&A is here, though that's probably the most newsworthy bit (much of it has already been translated and reported by other sources).

Yeah, now we are talking =D

 

[BurntPork]

From the Shareholders' Meeting Q & A, Iwata seems to be hinting at some much-needed moneyhats:



The complete Q&A is here, though that's probably the most newsworthy bit (much of it has already been translated and reported by other sources).

Good. This is really necessary to get the core gamers to take them seriously.

 

[guek]

I'm going to be pissed if the games they're working on together are shit though, some bullshit like Resident Evil: The U Chronicles or Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Party Bash.

 

[walking fiend]

does he actually use "please understand" in his talks? he seems to use this exact same thing alot.

 

[Axkil aka StabMasterArson]

I think there's quit a miscommunication between NCL and NoA about what this system is and what it can do.

NoA wants/thinks:
- Full HD high end all that stuff
- Online like Xbox 360!11
- All blockbuster things
- Ready to take on MS, Apple and Sony!!11
- Tablet controller, oh yes this'll do well

NCL wants/thinks:
- Mario, Zelda in HD - $$$$$$
- Fun stuff with Mii's and new controller - $$$$$$$
- Trying to make console gaming cool in japan again - $$$$$$$$
- Tablet? no, just a screen
- $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Really? You are saying Reggie doesn't talk to Iwata on a regular basis? I think a president of a company would keep his ear to the ground and not report BS to the public in interviews NCL is developing the system and what they know Reggie knows. I'm mean come on, how the hell can you run a profitable business on misinformation?

 

[AceBandage]

I'm going to be pissed if the games they're working on together are shit though, some bullshit like Resident Evil: The U Chronicles or Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Party Bash.

So far we've seen an exclusive FPS (Killer Freaks) and what could be an exclusive Assassin's Creed.

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

I'm going to be pissed if the games they're working on together are shit though, some bullshit like Resident Evil: The U Chronicles or Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Party Bash.

Nintendo didn't moneyhat those sorts of games on Wii, why would they on Wii U? When Nintendo moneyhatted it was for stuff like Monster Hunter 3, Fatal Frame 4, Dragon Quest X, etc.

 

[Plinko]

From the Shareholders' Meeting Q & A, Iwata seems to be hinting at some much-needed moneyhats:



The complete Q&A is here, though that's probably the most newsworthy bit (much of it has already been translated and reported by other sources).

All they'd have to do is moneyhat GTA V. Instant sales.

Seriously, though, it's interesting to see them acknowledge the idea of moneyhatting.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

I haven't been keeping up with Wii U threads lately, mainly because I've been spending time playing my newly acquired PS3. Anway, is there any word on the July dev-kits yet ?

 

[BurntPork]

I haven't been keeping up with Wii U threads lately, mainly because I've been spending time playing my newly acquired PS3. Anway, is there any word on the July dev-kits yet ?

Nope. Not a peep.

 

[Gravijah]

I haven't been keeping up with Wii U threads lately, mainly because I've been spending time playing my newly acquired PS3. Anway, is there any word on the July dev-kits yet ?

Did you get a PS3 during the 100 dollar giftcard deal?

 

[antonz]

I haven't been keeping up with Wii U threads lately, mainly because I've been spending time playing my newly acquired PS3. Anway, is there any word on the July dev-kits yet ?

Nothing yet but they were still referred to as protype kits so while they may offer a better idea whenever they come out we will still be left with no firm foundation

 

[guek]

Nintendo didn't moneyhat those sorts of games on Wii, why would they on Wii U? When Nintendo moneyhatted it was for stuff like Monster Hunter 3, Fatal Frame 4, Dragon Quest X, etc.

Yeah I know. It's just hard for me to imagine 3rd parties not giving nintendo the shaft.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Did you get a PS3 during the 100 dollar giftcard deal?

Sadly, no. I got mine last Friday, the $100 off deal ended at the end of May

Nothing yet but they were still referred to as protype kits so while they may offer a better idea whenever they come out we will still be left with no firm foundation

I hope we hear something soon. I still hold out some hope that Wii U will be 'significantly' more powerful than current-gen HD consoles.

 

[AceBandage]

Yeah I know. It's just hard for me to imagine 3rd parties not giving nintendo the shaft.

Well, the Wii U is at least easier to develop for than the Wii or GC ever was.
And if developers are getting money and time from Nintendo, then we should be seeing some interesting stuff.

 

[lednerg]

Yeah I know. It's just hard for me to imagine 3rd parties not giving nintendo the shaft.

The majority of Wii owners were casuals, so that's who publishers ended up making Wii games for. It wasn't about giving Nintendo the shaft as much as it was basic market research. Iwata seems to be determined to not let this happen again, to the point where he's explaining what a money hat is to investors. That's a very good sign.

 

[BurntPork]

Funny how when Nintendo comes up with a cryptic statement that might possibly mean something bad, a new thread is made, but when something good is said, it's pretty much ignored. :lol

 

[AceBandage]

Funny how when Nintendo comes up with a cryptic statement that might possibly mean something bad, a new thread is made, but when something good is said, it's pretty much ignored. :lol

Hmmm...

Edit: It is done.

 

[BurntPork]

Hmmm...

Edit: It is done.

lol watch it drop like a rock

 

[snesfreak]

Funny how when Nintendo comes up with a cryptic statement that might possibly mean something bad, a new thread is made, but when something good is said, it's pretty much ignored. :lol

thisisneogaf.gif

 

[BurntPork]

thisisneogaf.gif

More like this is a gaming forum.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Did this get posted yet?

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18393379?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Did this get posted yet?

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_18393379?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

No idea but might as well post some of it:

After the announcement, Iwata spoke to this newspaper about his vision for the Wii U, the console's hidden capabilities and the Wii's flagging sales. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Q: How will the Wii U better appeal to game enthusiasts than the Wii?

A: When we considered what to do with the graphics capability of the Wii, we put more attention and focus on the ability to create new experiences rather than the quality of the graphics. For popular genres in

The Western world such as the shooter games, the picture quality is actually very important. And as a result, we have not been able to provide hardcore video game players with the option they really want with the Wii. That sort of picture-processing issue is going to be solved this time around.

These hardcore gamers are the ones that are looking forward to something brand new, some brand new entertainment. With Wii U , we will be able to provide them with that.

This new controller is going to be very intuitive, but at the same time it can be very sophisticated. And together, I think we will be able to offer a new form of entertainment that can satisfy the needs of the core gamers.

Q: Is the Wii U going to support 3-D?

A: If you are going to connect Wii U with a home TV capable of displaying 3-D images, technologically, yes, it is going to be possible, but that's not the area we are focusing on.

When it comes to 3-D, we already have the 3DS, and each owner of the Nintendo 3DS is capable of viewing 3-D images. However, when it comes to the home console, it depends upon the availability of 3-D TV sets at home, which, unfortunately, is not expanding enough. And rather than pouring a lot of energy into that kind of area, with the Wii U we'd like to focus more on each Wii U owner being able to have an equal opportunity to enjoy it.

Q: What is the significance of your partnership with Electronic Arts for the Wii U?

A: I understand that the reason why (EA CEO John) Riccitiello was kind enough to come up on the stage is probably because EA thought that with Wii U they'll have a better opportunity for software creation.

When we approached EA and provided them with the concept and the possibility of Wii U, I believe they thought, OK, with this machine, they'll be able to do something that they really want to do.

Q: Are you worried in the short term about sales of the original Wii? They've been weak lately, and now you've announced a new console, which could depress them further.

A: Well, of course, no single entertainment device can enjoy eternal popularity. And when it comes to Wii, we have to understand that any potential sales are going to be affected by the seasonalities much more than before.

If we cannot sell as well as we expect to during the holiday sales season, it's going to be a grave concern for us. But right now, I think it's premature to say, in terms of the current sales, what the one-year sales (result) will be like.

It's nothing new. Last year and two years before, many people were very much concerned about the future of the Wii around this time of the year. However, the fact of the matter is that it ended up being the top-selling home console hardware of the year two years in a row, each year exceeding the previous record. That's simply because the Wii was able to enjoy great sales during the holiday season.

It's clear Wii U will need a steady steam (no pun intended) of both internal and 3rd party games in order to avoid the late-gen fall off of Wii. I'm optimistic with what Bethesda said recently that they would support Wii U if it's powerful enough.

 

[bgassassin]

Q: What is the significance of your partnership with Electronic Arts for the Wii U?

A: I understand that the reason why (EA CEO John) Riccitiello was kind enough to come up on the stage is probably because EA thought that with Wii U they'll have a better opportunity for software creation.

When we approached EA and provided them with the concept and the possibility of Wii U, I believe they thought, OK, with this machine, they'll be able to do something that they really want to do.

Translation: You pretty much have free reign with the online component plus we'll try to give you the dedicated servers you want.

 

[Wolfie5]

"Right now we're still finding out what kind of final tech specs the Wii U is going to have," said Martel.

"But we like the system a lot; we think it's going to be a really cool stop-gap in between this generation and the next generation. We think it's really smart of Nintendo, and the fact that as a platform it's a lot more capable for hardcore first-person shooter-style gaming – for us that's fantastic."

"We've got the [Aliens: Colonial Marines] engine running on the Wii U, and as far as the console goes, you're going to see textures at a resolution that you haven't seen on [the current] generation"

http://wii.ign.com/articles/118/1180954p1.html

 

[guek]

i'm more than happy with it being a half generational leap because it'll likely lead to most (not all) multi-plat games coming to the wii-u as well.