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[Aquamarine]

Deathknell guys. This is the stake in Wii U EA support's heart.

No Frostbite support = No core EA games on the Wii U. Simple as that.

 

[i-Lo]

So basically no

Frostbite
Fox
UE4
Luminous

And we can probably rule out Capcoms new engine.

Didn't Joakim's account confirm that MGSV will come to WiiU?

Anyway, EA can keep their shitty games. Nintendo's pride and joy lies with their first party. People ought to buy WiiU for Nintendo games not some micro-transacting money grubbing company like EA destroys good IPs.

 

[NateDrake]

UE4 is on the WiiU. Nothing stops frostbite or Fox from being on it either besides funding and desire.

Wish people would stop the hyperbole when they have no clue

UE4 is confirmed Wii U now? I thought it was still one of those in limbo situations. You are right; all this article confirms is Dice has no interest in getting Frostbite 3 to work on Wii U. Not that it cannot be done.

 

[Hiltz]

July 2012 interview

Q: "At the moment of the Wii U’s launch it’s likely that it will be most the powerful console on the market – Wii U being a much newer system than either PS3 or Xbxo 360. Are Nintendo looking to take this opportunity to release a game which takes advantage of this visual horse power?"



I’m not against beautiful graphics, but my thinking is that unless the play experience is really rich the wonderful graphics won’t really help. I’m really looking forward to beautiful games coming out on Wii U though, with graphics that we couldn’t have done on the Wii.



There’s definitely the chance for not only graphics, but also other features that our competitor’s consoles don’t have. But I think it will become increasingly difficult from now on to compete over graphics. This is because that no matter how much we increase the number of polygons we can display and improve the shading it will become increasingly difficult to tell the difference.



Obviously people who are experts in the field will see these things and will look at some details and be enthusiastic about improvements in that field, but I don’t think that will be enough from the general consumer’s point of view, so I think when we look at the design of a new games console we need a structure and concept that offers more than just good graphics.

Q: "Staying with graphics but going back to the idea of getting third parties involved, have you approached Epic with the specs of the Wii U to try to make sure that third-parties using Unreal Engine 4 can easily port their games to Wii U?

"

I think that the Wii U will be powerful enough to run very high spec games but the architecture is obviously different than other consoles so there is a need to do some tuning if you really want to max out the performance.



We’re not going to deliver a system that has so much horsepower that no matter what you put on there it will run beautifully, and also, because we’re selling the system with the GamePad – which adds extra cost to the package – we don’t want to inflate the cost of each unit by putting in excessive CPU power.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-now-on-to-compete-over-graphics-7936301.html

Epic Games Vice President talks UE4 on Wii U:

I'll state that I don't think it's our intention to bring Unreal Engine 4 to Wii U, but Unreal Engine 4 is going to be supremely scalable.

"We'll run on mobile phones and on a wide variety of things, so if a customer decides they want to port an Unreal Engine 4 game to Wii U, they could. But Unreal Engine 3 is a really good fit for that platform.

http://www.videogamer.com/news/unreal_engine_4_games_could_be_ported_to_wii_u_epic.html

 

[VOOK]

Shame, Mass Effect 3 was a really good (if confusing) start to the series. Maybe they'll do a Wii U exclusive sequel where we find out how the fight against the Reapers started, where Shepard met Garrus etc.?

Majestic Post.

 

[outunderthestars]

UE4 is on the WiiU. Nothing stops frostbite or Fox from being on it either besides funding and desire.

Wish people would stop the hyperbole when they have no clue

I thought it wasn't "on Wii U" but a developer could port a UE4 game to it.

"The Wii U is capable of running Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, according to company Vice President Marc Rein. He goes on to say, though, that Epic has no plans to port the engine themselves, but that developers would be able to port games using that engine to the system.

He clarifies this statement by saying that "We'll run on mobile phones and on a wide variety of things, so if a customer decides they want to port an Unreal Engine 4 game to Wii U, they could," but emphasizes that "Unreal Engine 3 is a really good fit for that platform."

 

[ReaperXL7]

I do think its alittle weird that they seem to be really trying to avoid talking about the PS4 version either, I mean its been confirmed to be running on the PS4, the PS4 has been announced, so isent it strange that they refuse to acknowledge it? I cant think of any other reason they would avoid it other then some type of deal made with microsoft, maybe an exlusive unveiling for durango?

As far the Wii U version, I cant say im shocked, I was not really expecting much to change on third party support, and now with the Wii U struggling I suspect it will only get worse.

 

[metalslimer]

Didn't Joakim's account confirm that MGSV will come to WiiU?

Anyway, EA can keep their shitty games. Nintendo's pride and joy lies with their first party. People ought to buy WiiU for Nintendo games not some micro-transacting money grubbing company like EA destroys good IPs.

???

I thought it wasn't "on Wii U" but a developer could port a UE4 game to it.

"The Wii U is capable of running Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, according to company Vice President Marc Rein. He goes on to say, though, that Epic has no plans to port the engine themselves, but that developers would be able to port games using that engine to the system.

This is what i thought

 

[Iacobellis]

EA really doesn't give a shit anymore. Damn.

What was the last console they refused to support? The Dreamcast?

Yeah. Look at how that turned out.

 

[Petrae]

With EA all but casting a vote of no confidence in Wii U, the third-party software picture is going to look awfully barren. We can't even really compare it to Gamecube because key third-party publishers like Midway, Acclaim, and THQ who supported GCN are all gone. Activision sticks around, and Ubisoft execs are trying to say the right things. Capcom is supporting Wii U somewhat, but Konami support is inconsistent... as is support from Square-Enix.

I'm trying to imagine what Wii U looks like with no sports games. What if (though unlikely) EA doesn't port at least Madden and FIFA to Wii U? No football, maybe soccer if Konami ports its own game, no hockey, no college football, and golf is up in the air. Nintendo has no answers for this; Mario sports games won't attract the sports game crowd. No sports games would pretty much guarantee that a fair number of consumers won't even look twice at Wii U and instead choose between Durango and PS4.

This is when a real leader-- which Iwata isn't, apparently-- gets a meeting with EA and pitches a financial deal to keep the publisher on-board, mitigating low ROI and other financial risk by EA in order to fill a need in the Wii U library. This won't happen, I don't think, and Nintendo will find out how a lack of EA titles will damn its new console to a has-been or never-was before it even had a chance to succeed.

 

[RibMan]

So does this instantly rule out Dragon Age 3, Mass Effect 4, Mirror's Edge 2 (lol), and pretty much any future next gen racers and action games EA releases on the frostbite engine?

Ouch.

That is certainly the implication of this news. I really hope Nintendo are working on getting DICE on board, it would be absolutely terrible for the Wii U if all of EAs next-gen games were to run on Frostbite.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Didn't Joakim's account confirm that MGSV will come to WiiU?

That's a fan account.

 

[x-Lundz-x]

They really need to kill this thing off and pretend it never happened. It’s beyond repair at this point.

Nah dude just wait a year till smash hits, then it's game over for every other console.

 

[Nirolak]

That is certainly the implication of this news. I really hope Nintendo are working on getting DICE on board, it would be absolutely terrible for the Wii U if all of EAs next-gen games were to run on Frostbite.

Well, EA's sports games don't run on the engine.

The "Games Label" in that slide I posted is what we associate as their core games.

Though Madden 25 also isn't announced for the platform...

 

[Petrae]

Anyway, EA can keep their shitty games. Nintendo's pride and joy lies with their first party. People ought to buy WiiU for Nintendo games not some micro-transacting money grubbing company like EA destroys good IPs.

That strategy worked out well for SEGA, didn't it? That Dreamcast was a rousing success.

Regardless of whether you like EA's games or not, they appeal to enough of an audience where not having that support dooms WiiU to a last-place finish in a generation that hasn't even really begun yet. No Battlefield. No Dragon Age. No Mass Effect. Potentially no sports games. All pretty important games, at least in terms of sales... but hey, if you think they suck and Nintendo doesn't need 'em, then let's see how this disaster plays out.

 

[metalslimer]

That strategy worked out well for SEGA, didn't it? That Dreamcast was a rousing success.

Regardless of whether you like EA's games or not, they appeal to enough of an audience where not having that support dooms WiiU to a last-place finish in a generation that hasn't even really begun yet. No Battlefield. No Dragon Age. No Mass Effect. Potentially no sports games. All pretty important games, at least in terms of sales... but hey, if you think they suck and Nintendo doesn't need 'em, then let's see how this disaster plays out.

It will be pretty bad, but I want to see whether the next cod is coming. That will be the sure signal to give up at that point/ That and FIFA

 

[nhlducks35]

Shame, Mass Effect 3 was a really good (if confusing) start to the series. Maybe they'll do a Wii U exclusive sequel where we find out how the fight against the Reapers started, where Shepard met Garrus etc.?

 

[Petrae]

Well, EA's sports games don't run on the engine.

The "Games Label" in that slide I posted is what we associate as their core games.

Though Madden 25 also isn't announced for the platform...

That's the key. If Madden 25 doesn't make it-- and who knows how EA will handle that given that the Wii U's first Madden game wasn't close to its 360/PS3 counterparts-- then who's to say that other sports games don't follow suit? If the ROI isn't enough to bother wasting time and resources on a Wii U version, it's better for EA to skip the platform and look ahead.

I wouldn't blame EA if the decision was made to skip Wii U. Sales out of the gate have stumbled and there are no signs of a turnaround on the horizon.

 

[metalslimer]

Woosh

 

[Petrae]

It will be pretty bad, but I want to see whether the next cod is coming. That will be the sure signal to give up at that point/ That and FIFA

I have no reason to assume that ATVI won't port Call of Duty to WiiU, especially given that the publisher has been a steady supporter of the platform so far. Skylanders toys sell best on Nintendo platforms, so an understanding that ATVI will support Nintendo overall makes sense.

FIFA is no given. As Madden goes, so does FIFA-- so if Madden 25 isn't coming, I wouldn't hold out hope for a soccer game. At the very least, EA could stick with the tech from last year's games on Wii U, update rosters, and go. But if the publisher has no confidence in the platform, why waste the time?

 

[i-Lo]

That strategy worked out well for SEGA, didn't it? That Dreamcast was a rousing success.

Regardless of whether you like EA's games or not, they appeal to enough of an audience where not having that support dooms WiiU to a last-place finish in a generation that hasn't even really begun yet. No Battlefield. No Dragon Age. No Mass Effect. Potentially no sports games. All pretty important games, at least in terms of sales... but hey, if you think they suck and Nintendo doesn't need 'em, then let's see how this disaster plays out.

Did Sega ever have Nintendo first parties' midas' touch and ever revered franchises?

Like I said, Nintendo won't be abandoned by EA once a large enough install base is acquired. That'll be done through those stellar first party titles and WiiFit etc to get the casual market. Given their fondness for Wii, they'll surely shell out $350/300.

 

[Grief.exe]

Didn't Joakim's account confirm that MGSV will come to WiiU?

Anyway, EA can keep their shitty games. Nintendo's pride and joy lies with their first party. People ought to buy WiiU for Nintendo games not some micro-transacting money grubbing company like EA destroys good IPs.

That account is fake, Kojima even tweeted about it today.

How you can even take something like that at face value is beyond me.

 

[RedSwirl]

Looks like no Mass Effect or Dragon Age for Wii U either.

In my opinion that would be even worse, since those franchises, being RPGs, probably have more to gain from the GamePad.

Though, I imagine BioWare will customize the engine to their own ends, and I wouldn't rule out the technical possibility of them rigging together Wii U support for the engine.

 

[Punkster_NY]

that's some cold blooded shit DICE.

 

[AOC83]

UE4 is confirmed Wii U now?

Maybe the smartphone version. It´s not like the UE4 is going to look anywhere near the real deal if running on WiiU.

 

[RayMaker]

''But to make the most out of the Wii U, that's a different game because of the different peripherals. We want to utilize all the power of each console.''

We've heard this before, they dont want to make a game for the wiiu because it would take to much time using the controller to its fullest caperbility, yeah then why not just stick the map on the controller and call it it a day, I'am sure WiiU owners would rather have a basic 360 port rather then no game at all.

 

[outunderthestars]

That account is fake, Kojima even tweeted about it today.

How you can even take something like that at face value is beyond me.

To be fair, after the amount of bullshit Kojima Pro has engaged in for the last six months, how can you take anything from that entire company at face value is beyond me.

 

[Hiltz]

I wonder how watered down the Wii U versions would be it does support some games that use UE4/third-party in-house equivalent engines. Is it gonna be like the difference between Ps3 and Xbox 360 versions of Crysis and Witcher 2 vs. PC version ?

 

[i-Lo]

That account is fake, Kojima even tweeted about it today.

How you can even take something like that at face value is beyond me.

Because Joakim was a part of Kojima's moby dick studio hoax. So in that way it was official. I thought they were still carrying on with that illusion. But as someone mentioned, it's a fan account.

So yea, no fox engine on it as well.

Still doesn't matter. People will buy it for both casual and the core offerings of their first parties.

 

[jiggle]

weird that he unequivocally said no to talking about PS4 version

 

[famousmortimer]

Doesn't personally bother me as I didn't get a Wii U for EA games, I have a PC and will have a PS4 for those. But... goddamn, this isn't good for Wii U-only people and Nintendo as a whole.

 

[specialguy]

and then there might be other platforms in the future that we can't talk about...

Eurogamer: One of them you can.

Patrick Bach: Yes, in theory, but we won't.

gotta be something brewing with ms and ea about bf4...

 

[Hoo-doo]

Anyway, EA can keep their shitty games. Nintendo's pride and joy lies with their first party. People ought to buy WiiU for Nintendo games not some micro-transacting money grubbing company like EA destroys good IPs.

As much as EA is fucking up lately, a lot of their games are monster hits with insane appeal to both the core and casual gamer.
Not having any EA support in the near future is terrible news in every way, you can spin it however you like, but it does real damage to the platform.

 

[ProfessorMoran]

They really need to kill this thing off and pretend it never happened. It’s beyond repair at this point.

They can still eek out a generation with profit with Mario, Zelda and WiiU sports.

 

[Petrae]

Did Sega ever have Nintendo first parties' midas' touch and ever revered franchises?

Like I said, Nintendo won't be abandoned by EA once a large enough install base is acquired. That'll be done through those stellar first party titles and WiiFit etc to get the casual market. Given their fondness for Wii, they'll surely shell out $350/300.

That's one mighty long reach. Like, Mr. Fantastic kind of long.

The bulk of the casual market isn't coming back. Not to Nintendo or anyone else. Perhaps when Nintendo's first-party titles go from being announced to actually making it onto store shelves, sales will eclipse 30,000 a week... but why would EA want to support it when it's done more than fine focusing on Xbox and PlayStation? Unless Nintendo fronts some money and alleviates the financial risk, there's no real reason for EA to make any move to Nintendo and can instead focus on its current partnerships.

 

[outunderthestars]

gotta be something brewing with ms and ea about bf4...

It certainly seems that way. EA wasn't at the PS4 unveiling and Sony seemed to have struck up a last minute deal with Destiny.

I imagine that MS backed up a truckload of money for some sort of deal for BF4 as MS most likely doesn't have a 1st party AAA FPS for launch....

 

[specialguy]

Patrick Bach: We could probably make a Wii U game in theory. But to make the most out of the Wii U, that's a different game because of the different peripherals. We want to utilise all the power of each console.

Eurogamer: Are you saying it's not about the power of the Wii U itself, rather, it's about the controller?

Patrick Bach: It's everything. We could potentially make a Battlefield port for the Vita. But what would that game be? Is it something we could scale down from what you saw in the gameplay video, or would it have to be a complete redesign of the whole game?

this section he kind of seems to be possibly hinting the 2nd screen sucks too much rendering power from the wii u, so that it may not even be up to ps360 standards. otherwise why mention the vita bit there?

Edit: On 2nd thought I'm not sure...the Vita analogy could hint at power problems with the Wii U though imo.

It's also clear current gen WILL hold the game back, that's how I read this:

Patrick Bach: The biggest problem we have right now is we don't want to back down from what we see as our low spec machines.

So basically, I read it as "our low spec machines" = current gen, and "not back down" =not make an entirely separate version for current gen, but rather, limit the next gen/pc version, such that it shares the same DNA as the current gen version (even if the visuals are lesser, they are still in the same ballpark)

It's basically like he's saying "we dont want to just give up and throw in the towel on our current gen version, we want to make sure it's similar to the next gen one"

 

[Anticitizen One]

I'm pretty confident there will be a proper next gen Nintendo system by 2015 after Iwata is shown the door.

 

[outunderthestars]

this section he kind of seems to be possibly hinting the 2nd screen sucks too much rendering power from the wii u.

I read that as more of a "We'll make My Sims games for the Wii U" statement.

 

[Effect]

Wait since when did they announce Luminous and Fox not becoming WiiU isn't compatible? holy shit

You can count out Fox because it's Kojima. As for Luminous well Square Enix isn't in any position to be picky about what system they don't support I think. I'd be surprised if it doesn't run on the Wii U in the end.

EA at this point really is a lost cause and sales have nothing at all to do with it. This decision to not support the Wii U was made a long time ago before the system even came out. I really doubt there is anything Nintendo can do to change EA's mind either even if the system starts selling really well. It's not like they've ever had a close or good relationship anyway. Better to spend time and money on other companies.

 

[Tiktaalik]

I know little about PC gaming and how the graphics scale. Does this mean EA has little interest in porting their engine to non high end PCs too? For example MacBooks and such don't have high end specs. You'd think that would be a market worth going after...

 

[pieatorium]

So then no Mass Effect 4 or Dragon Age 3 too presumably, as I believe both are on Frostbite.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/372103/ea-gothenburg-hiring-for-new-need-for-speed/

Next Need for Speed aswell via jobs page.

 

[Mooreberg]

Wii U launch to E3 will only have been seven months. I don't even remember Dreamcast needing to knock a press conference out the park that fast.

 

[specialguy]

It certainly seems that way. EA wasn't at the PS4 unveiling and Sony seemed to have struck up a last minute deal with Destiny.

I imagine that MS backed up a truckload of money for some sort of deal for BF4 as MS most likely doesn't have a 1st party AAA FPS for launch....

probably just reveal, maybe timed dlc at best though.

obvious even a actual timed exclusive is out of the question.

 

[Corleth the Fey]

EA are really going to jump in bed with Microsoft next month aren't they?

I just got my Wii U, and it's sweet, but I loved my Dreamcast too and that didn't save it. Everyone is really waiting for the real next gen. Publishers, devs and the consumers. As much as I love Nintendo, we saw this coming last E3 when they had hardly anything.

 

[khustla]

Nintendo just give up and go the Sega route and develop games for other consoles

 

[BowieZ]

How hard is it to stick a menu or a map or some shit on a second screen?

Lame "for-show" excuse.

 

[AniHawk]

Wii U launch to E3 will only have been seven months. I don't even remember Dreamcast needing to knock a press conference out the park that fast.

anyone know what sega did in e3 1999?

 

[ReaperXL7]

I guess we will see soon enough, at this point there is something clearly going on more than likely between EA and MS, because there would be no other reason for Dice to be so quiet about even the exsistance of the PS4 version of the game.

Maybe we could see a flip of this gen with Sony getting cozy with.Activision, and MS with EA, I would think with the possibility of developmemt rising more this gen complete exclusivity would be out of the question.

Or maybe MS has something really special up their sleeve with their next console, the run up to E3 and launch is going to be interesting to watch.

 

[Hiltz]

The crazy thing is Nintendo will probably stick with the same basic strategy they had on Wii U as they will with its successor. Nintendo will once again underestimate the importance of third-parties lusting over hardware power. I agree with Nintendo's basic views of graphics hitting a brick wall and the fear of diminishing returns, but if you don't have a machine that isn't technically as capable enough of supporting these third-party next-gen engines, then you're platform is going to be missing out on a signicant amount of software support. Period. Even if your platform can handle these engines, it is pretty much doing a disservice to consumers to be happy enough to give them the weakest versions of these games. That's nothing to really be proud of.