Skiesofwonder
Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Interview here.
More information on ZombiU and the Wii-U in general is at the link. ZombiU will be at Nintendo's press conference tomorrow and playable on the showfloor. It will be a launch title.
Poix said:So just to introduce myself, I’m Xavier Poix, I’m the managing director of the French studios. We have three main studios in France. The biggest one is in Paris, where we do the Just Dance games, we do the Rabbids games, and we just finished Ghost Recon recently. We have another studio in Montpelier dedicated to action-adventure games. In the past, that’s Beyond Good and Evil, King Kong, Rayman, the Rabbids as well. They’re developing Rayman Legends, which will be shown at E3 this year. And another title called Zombie U, dedicated for Wii U, I’ll speak again about that. And the last studio is in Annecy, where we are developing the multiplayer for Assassin’s Creed, four years now. Each studio has its own specialty, but this year, what brings us to E3 is the Wii U. We have developed for two years now, working on a few titles. Game one is Zombie U that we’ll announce tomorrow I think, at our conference. That’ll be shown at the booth obviously. It’s dedicated for the Wii U, dedicated for the new game pad of course. And on the mature level, dedicated for adult gamers. We then have Rayman Legends, which is a Wii U exclusive title on the Rayman brand. Just Dance won’t be specific to the Wii U, but we have specific features for the Wii U, later on we’ll explain exactly what we will have. And the Rabbids, which is an exclusive game also, Rabbids is a party game, this is a party game for the Wii U. We also have other titles, coming from other studios. We have eight titles for the Wii U.
Poix said:So Zombie U is really dedicated to that. It’s what the second screen can bring to the experience of a zombie survival game. We like to say that it’s two screens, twice the feel. So we’re getting a lot of what this new screen can bring to the tension, bring to the game. We have many features, it will be hard to describe them without showing it, but basically… It controls the inventory, the tools for snipers for instance, it can be more accurate on the firing. You can use it as a scanner, you can use it for some exotic gameplay when you need to enter some codes to move some stuff on your screen while your character is on the screen surrounded by zombies… So many features are for the main character. We’ll be showing it at the booth. It brings some new experiences, such as… It’s an asymmetrical experience. One of the players uses the usual controllers, the other one has the game pad. Of course, if you were playing adversarial on the same objective, then it won’t be fair, because one player has the tactical screen and stuff. So we decided to go for adversarial where… It’s very funny. One person with the classic controller plays FPS against the zombies. The other one is the zombie master, selecting types of zombies and, by pressing on the screen, making them appear on the maps. It’s very interesting. You’re the computer, so to speak, and the other player is playing against you. It’s a really new way of playing, it’s very interesting. The Rabbids game is totally dedicated to that as well, we have 20 mini-games dedicated to this activity of asymmetrical gameplay. It’s very funny, because once you have played one side, you can play as the other side. It’s two kinds of gameplay in one. That’s really what the Wii U can bring to players.
Poix said:(ZombiU is) Realistic, totally realistic. And the horsepower of the console is really there to push the limits........No, it’s totally hardcore. Yeah, sorry, totally hardcore. Oh, we have a really nice mechanic I can mention… You start with the camera in front of you on the controller. We’ve implemented a system of tracking, so it watches your face, and then it applies to your face a mask, a zombie mask. You’re able to still move, and the mask exactly follows your moves. It’s really interesting, seeing yourself as a zombie. It’s a gimmick, but it’s really nice.
GamesBeat: Is the zombie title going to be a launch title, most likely?
Poix: Yes. We have huge support from Nintendo on this title, huge support. You’ll see something tomorrow at our conference, and then something else at the Nintendo one.
GamesBeat: How many players can you get on the Wii U at once? Is it four or is it two…?
Poix: On the controller it’s just the one. One person. But you can still play with the four Wiimotes if you have four. So it adds up to five players.But you can still play with the four Wiimotes if you have four. So it adds up to five players.
GamesBeat: I think a lot of people want that second tablet controller to work at the same time. That would be great, right?
Poix: I don’t know, honestly I don’t know. What the asymmetrical gameplay brings, it’s really interesting. But I don’t think it’s totally necessary.
More information on ZombiU and the Wii-U in general is at the link. ZombiU will be at Nintendo's press conference tomorrow and playable on the showfloor. It will be a launch title.