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[ThatObviousUser]

New interview http://au.gamespot.com/news/6193374.html

GS: Is it that Nintendo doesn't have an online service like Xbox Live or PlayStation Network?

EF: Well, there definitely are some challenges there, but I think that what it's been structured for is doing certain types of games where you don't need to worry about 32 or 64 players running around and any of the lags or anything else that would be extremely frustrating for players.

When you're playing with a handful of karts or a handful of players on Smash Brothers or something like that--although there was some frustration with, myself included, with getting online with Smash Brothers--the actual ones here and there playing it, it's a good experience.

But the only folks that have really cracked the nut of the multiplayer on the Wii effectively have been EA with Medal of Honor Heroes 2, and my understanding of that is that they rolled their own. They're not even using Nintendo's servers or networking at all. So, yeah, they have some special exception written from Nintendo that allows them to do that--it helps to be the 800-pound gorilla. [Laughs.]

Holy shit, it actually sounds like they know what they're talking about.

 

[ivysaur12]

That was a surprisingly interesting interview.

 

[Nicktals]

They found a niche that appears to have unfulfilled demand, and they're trying to fill it. That sort of thing makes sense whether you're a startup or a mega-publisher.

Of course, some big publisher that's currently making shovelware for the Wii might still snap this up, send it to die on Nov. 18th or thereabouts (with no marketing, of course), and then pat themselves on the back for being right about the Wii all along.

I actually kind of hope EA picks it up. At least we could be assured of a decent online mode. No offense to High Voltage, but I don't really trust anyone to do online right using Nintendo's setup, except Nintendo (and even then I'm still skeptical).

 

[HokieJoe]

Looks nice. I'm not thinking Halo, I'm thinking Half Life/HL2 + something else. I'm not sure what the "something else" is though.

 

[Version 3.0]

I actually kind of hope EA picks it up. At least we could be assured of a decent online mode. No offense to High Voltage, but I don't really trust anyone to do online right using Nintendo's setup, except Nintendo (and even then I'm still skeptical).

I was thinking the same thing, that EA should sign these guys. I could care less about online (although you're right on that), but I think they might be the only company that would market it, even a little. Nintendo would be a bad choice, I think; I can't see them spending any money to push a game like this.

 

[Version 3.0]

Looks nice. I'm not thinking Halo, I'm thinking Half Life/HL2 + something else. I'm not sure what the "something else" is though.

Perfect Dark.

 

[_Alkaline_]

That's cause they're a no name company trying to make a name for themselves. That is by no means an insult to them. They saw their chance to stand out from the crowd and be in the spotlight. You really think this game would cause the same kind of excitement and buzz had it been on the 360/PS3? They're building their reputation as a game developer while answering the cries of angry Wii fans.

Pretty much. A game that would be lost in the crowd on 360/PS3, stands out on Wii because few companies are attempting something like this on the system.

The key for High Voltage is to fulfill their promises and make Conduit worth buying. They've already got a lot of people interested, but they need to make sure they deliver.

By the way, the interview linked above is really good. Here's some interesting points of information from the interview:

About the release date:

Development started, I want to say, October of last year. And we still have about nine and a half months left of development before we're ready to hit the street. We're shooting for end of Q1 of next year for a release date.

Well, there's still heaps of development time left, so hopefully this means the visual style will receive improvement.

Their reason for creating the game:

But this is our 15th year in business, and we were looking at what we were doing, and Kerry Ganofsky, the CEO, and myself were sitting down, and we were just kind of going, "There's got to be a better way of doing this. It feels like we're on a treadmill, and we keep doing these things." And critics like yourself are doing your job, and looking out for consumers, and many times rating fairly, and saying the games are mediocre in a lot of cases. And that's not really where we want to be. That's not what we want written on the tombstone, you know?

It's pretty rare to see a developer say something like this. It's nice.

About the publisher:

But we were really swamped with a lot of publisher and fan response when we first started getting a little bit of stuff out there. So, we felt like we were onto something good. And now that we've had a few initial publisher meetings, we feel very confident that we're onto something good now. But we want to take that slow, because we want the publisher to be involved enough that we can get good marketing and distribution and all of the other stuff that needs a little bit of time to get in motion. But we're a bit selfish in that we do want the game to be something we can be really proud of. We're throwing some pretty big claims out there, and we will want to make sure that we're living up to it

.

So, it seems like there's still no set publisher, but not because they can't get one. Interesting.

About the Wii's power:

Well, our take on that is that any game system should be all about gameplay, but the Wii is capable of a lot more than what people are really doing with it. I think that folks were doing some more interesting things on the GameCube and on the PS2 than a lot of what's being seen on the Wii. And I think that's unfortunate, because the system is more powerful than those. It just is.

I think there are some hardware limitations. The output resolution is never going to match that of a PS3 or 360. But, as a system, it's very powerful. And why not utilize some of the capabilities of that system. It seems like a bit of a cop-out. When I buy games on the Wii, a lot of times the gaming experience is good, but the visuals, I feel like I'm stepping back in time, you know? And I think it's important because it just adds to the immersiveness of it. It doesn't necessarily need to be realistic or anything like that, but pushing something, you know?

About multiplatform titles:

I don't want to be in the situation where there's such a gap that when I go to buy a product, if it's available on the Wii and on the 360, I don't want to be in a situation where I have to go, "Well, I'm going to get it on a 360." I want to look at it and go, "Well, the graphics are pretty darn good on that still, and the control is a lot better on that.

About development on 360/PS3:

Yeah, I think that everybody got dazzled by the bling, you know? And I think everyone's having to wake up and smell the coffee. 360 and PS3 development is insanely expensive. And if you look at the data on the sales of a lot of these games, they're not that great, at least, not when you consider how much money is spent on them. And all these games are starting to come to market, and they've not hit with the kind of sales that are necessary to support that.

About core vs casual games on Wii

You look at Carnival Games and the sales on that, and different things like that, and you go, "These games sold really well," and there's a catch-22 there of, well, that's what consumers want.

It's a bit of a cyclical argument in that the more of that kind of stuff that's out there, then more it becomes "Oh, well, that's what Wii owners want." But then when you really look at what's available for hardcore gamers, what's out there? It's games that are first-party, or it's ports, or it's games that are not done as effectively as they could be on the system...But I think that with a few more good games that start coming out that push the system and are at least competitive in graphics and audio, you know, I think then you can get out of that rut of, "Well, that's only for families and kids." And I think it's wonderful that that's for families and older people and younger people, but there's a very vocal core audience there that I think would appreciate Wii-specific games.

Oh man, it's like this guy is reading my mind.

About the engine:

It's something we developed internally. Currently, we're not licensing that. We've been approached by a lot of folks to license it, but currently we're really not set up as a middleware provider. You know, typically, for the companies that are middleware providers, that's a good portion of their business. And, right now, we're more focused on trying to make some good games with this engine. And once we release those games, maybe we'll reconsider that. But for right now, we're not really actively licensing it.

About online on Wii:

Yeah, there have been a lot of challenges for multiplayer. It's not one of the system's strengths. It is very good on certain kinds of games. I think the improvements that Nintendo made for Mario Kart will do a lot to step it forward, but it's still got some catching up to do to get on par with Xbox Live.

And for us right now, probably the biggest challenge that we're bumping into with folks is that this isn't really the audience for multiplayer. There's not really that many games that are taking advantage of multiplayer, and so the data that's available there is kind of unclear. It's really more of a problem than the technical challenge, even. It's becoming somewhat of a challenge just talking to publishers as to even if they want multiplayer because--

GS: Really?

EF: Well, yeah, because I think a lot of the thinking is that a lot of folks have it set up in a basement or other things like that, and they don't have it online. And, yeah, we'll see. I think that there'll be--like anything else out there--I think it's one of those things that everybody's cautious at first. But we're planning on plowing ahead with it, and we're going to try to do the best implementation of it that we possibly can, and have our fingers crossed that there is enough of a demand for it out there. But I know that it is a concern with the publishers we've talked to so far.

Nintendo's done some really cool stuff as far as their implementation. They cover a lot of those costs for publishers and developers that are typically associated with that. It's really good for certain types of games. For shooters, it's tricky. We were struggling for a while at eight players. We finally have 16 players simultaneously; we're doing pretty well. But it's going to be a challenge all the way to the wire just because it's really not built from the ground up to do those kind of products.

Some really interesting stuff there. The folks at High Voltage are really outspoken so it's nice to get some real insight into stuff like developer/publisher relations, online on Wii, etc. These guys definitely have the best attitude of any western developer I've seen on Wii.

 

[jrricky]

this interview has warmed my heart

 

[Version 3.0]

That's really interesting, and frustrating, to see that even with publishers wanting to sign this game, they still are meeting resistance to doing online multiplayer. I'm not even in to online multiplayer, but if they don't have it, they risk lower review scores and a lot less word-of-mouth and longevity in sales. :-(

Also interesting to see them shooting for a Q1 release. I hope they can get it, rather than getting lost in Q4.

 

[nightside]

But it's going to be a challenge all the way to the wire just because it's really not built from the ground up to do those kind of products.

so..could this be a sort of explanation why, after neary 18 months the system is out, we still read "no, online won't be on this wii game because *lame excuses*"?

 

[legend166]

Nice interview.

I think people do need to keep it in perspective that the game has only been in development for around 8 months when they criticize the graphics.

Sure, it could not get any better. I hope it does get better though, and is successful. Could give some hope to the other developers out there slugging away on licenced games.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

First 3rd person Wii game to make me think "look at those nice graphics".

Keep it up High Voltage.

edit: It's not really 'angry Wii fans', more like 'hungry Wii fans'. I have a 360 and play a shitton of fps, but damn I would love to play a good 3rd party FPS with Wii controls.

 

[Sadist]

Yeah, I think that everybody got dazzled by the bling, you know? And I think everyone's having to wake up and smell the coffee. 360 and PS3 development is insanely expensive. And if you look at the data on the sales of a lot of these games, they're not that great, at least, not when you consider how much money is spent on them. And all these games are starting to come to market, and they've not hit with the kind of sales that are necessary to support that.

Okay. Now I'm curious. HD is great, awesome and profitable. But why do publishers keep on pushing 360 and PS3 as the bar for traditional games, if there are alot of traditional games not performing as expected? I mean, High Voltage are obviously talking and arguing in their favour, but I can't seem te shake of the feeling that they are speaking the truth...

 

[agrajag]

They found a niche that appears to have unfulfilled demand, and they're trying to fill it. That sort of thing makes sense whether you're a startup or a mega-publisher.

Of course, some big publisher that's currently making shovelware for the Wii might still snap this up, send it to die on Nov. 18th or thereabouts (with no marketing, of course), and then pat themselves on the back for being right about the Wii all along.

God I hope not. But if you read the interview, he makes it very clear that they're being very careful in choosing the right publisher for them. I got an impression that they're making sure the publisher they pick will market their game properly.

 

[Cow Mengde]

I actually kind of hope EA picks it up. At least we could be assured of a decent online mode. No offense to High Voltage, but I don't really trust anyone to do online right using Nintendo's setup, except Nintendo (and even then I'm still skeptical).

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[agrajag]

Okay. Now I'm curious. HD is great, awesome and profitable. But why do publishers keep on pushing 360 and PS3 as the bar for traditional games, if there are alot of traditional games not performing as expected? I mean, High Voltage are obviously talking and arguing in their favour, but I can't seem te shake of the feeling that they are speaking the truth...

I have a feeling that the publishers still hold the arrogant belief that they can dictate where the market goes. I mean, it worked for PS3, but they just can't sink the Wii, even if it gets no 3rd party games at all, it'll keep selling out. The big game houses are conservative and afraid of change, they don't want to rethink the way they run their business.

 

[PuppetSlave]

Great interview. Raised my interest in this game and my interest was allready high because of the video.

Oh how I want more(good) shooters on the wii. Shooting stuff with the remote is pure sex and I want more of it.

 

[Bizzyb]

Disappointed to see that Nintendo still does not take online seriously, and only sees online play worthy for a few select and strategic titles.

They have Smash and MK online only b/c they are highly obligated to, but look how crappy Smash's lag is and how backwards the friends system is. Without some type of decent system other than FCs and with the horrendous, unnecessary lack of online enabled games, how are devs/gamers supposed to take them seriously?

 

[Phife Dawg]

Okay. Now I'm curious. HD is great, awesome and profitable. But why do publishers keep on pushing 360 and PS3 as the bar for traditional games, if there are alot of traditional games not performing as expected? I mean, High Voltage are obviously talking and arguing in their favour, but I can't seem te shake of the feeling that they are speaking the truth...

You can obviously still make lots of money but it's getting harder and the financial risk involved is rising. My guess at what he aims at is that the market is getting complicated, basically most gamers want "samey" games within a proven formula (at least that's the ones that are guaranteed sales). With lots of devs/pubs jumping at this, the market for these games gets crowded and it's harder to stand out of that crowd.

Then again, doing something completely different is probably an even bigger risk - a risk not many are willing to take.

 

[Version 3.0]

damn I would love to play a good 3rd party FPS with Wii controls.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is really, really good. No, wait, let me re-phrase: its controls are so damn good, you'll think the game is good, too, even though it's mediocre, and the 100th WWII game (this year), complete with Normandy Beach Level 1. The fact that I can recommend it really speaks volumes about the incredibly good controls--and the lack of FPS titles on the Wii, sadly.

 

[agrajag]

what a turn this thread has taken. It's like the bizarro-Dyack thread.

 

[later]

Are these guys going to be/allowed to go to E3?

 

[goldenticket]

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is really, really good. No, wait, let me re-phrase: its controls are so damn good, you'll think the game is good, too, even though it's mediocre, and the 100th WWII game (this year), complete with Normandy Beach Level 1. The fact that I can recommend it really speaks volumes about the incredibly good controls--and the lack of FPS titles on the Wii, sadly.

agree the controls of MoHH2 is what has me interested in conduit. i dont have huge expectations for it just to control well and have some fun online i think it will do that.

 

[Vinci]

what a turn this thread has taken. It's like the bizarro-Dyack thread.

Key difference is these guys aren't egomaniacal pricks. Also, this interview has definitely caused me to reevaluate my stance on whether I'll buy this game or not: I most likely will, if only to support one of the only 3rd party developers with a damn clue.

 

[Fantastical]

Key difference is these guys aren't egomaniacal pricks. Also, this interview has definitely caused me to reevaluate my stance on whether I'll buy this game or not: I most likely will, if only to support one of the only 3rd party developers with a damn clue.

Yeah, I'm buying this game just to make a point. I definitely respect High Voltage.

 

[agrajag]

That's what I'm saying. So far, The Conduit doesn't look that good, there's nothing to suggest that it's shaping up to be a good game from the footage we've seen, no more so than Too Human. HV is a very much unproven developer in terms of this type of games.

However, the humble attitude of the developers and their concern with the game meeting gamers' expectations has lead gaffers to embrace them and keep an open mind about their game. Whereas Dyack's self important antics alienated even those who thought his game looked interesting.

 

[vanguardian1]

I'd say the Conduit looks mediocre right now. From the videos I can clearly see a lot of potential, but that's not saying that the developers will hit it.

I CAN say though that the developers reasonable interviews, game design and effort have clearly put this game on my radar as something to keep an eye on, at the very least. That's more than I can say for Ubisoft.

 

[Vinci]

That's more than I can say for Ubisoft.

Ubisoft is turning themselves into the Phoenix Games of the Wii and hurting any mindshare they might have gained with this mass market Nintendo has garnered with the system. They are short-sighted and will do themselves immense damage if they don't wake up and realize the same things High Voltage has. Don't fight against the Wii and be run over; fight alongside it and give yourself a better chance at being relevant with a userbase that dwarves those the big boys are fighting so sternly over.

 

[_Alkaline_]

Are these guys going to be/allowed to go to E3?

I'm wondering this as well.

Anyone know?

 

[Fantastical]

I'm wondering this as well.

Anyone know?

I would think that if their publisher is at E3, then they will reveal their publisher at E3 and possibly show it off? It would be awesome if Nintendo announced they were publishing it in their conference.

 

[_Alkaline_]

I would think that if their publisher is at E3, then they will reveal their publisher at E3 and possibly show it off? It would be awesome if Nintendo announced they were publishing it in their conference.

The only thing is that, according to the interview, they don't actually have a publisher yet. They've been approached by many, but they want to make sure they get the right one in order to ensure the game's success.

 

[Nicktals]

Haven't we already seen the booth layout? So I'd highly doubt they'll actually "be" at E3. Doesn't stop them from getting a hotel nearby and showing off their game to anyone interested, if they so desired. They've got enough hype/interest where if they wanted to show off gameplay during the E3 time frame, they'd have no problem doing so.

 

[Fantastical]

Haven't we already seen the booth layout? So I'd highly doubt they'll actually "be" at E3. Doesn't stop them from getting a hotel nearby and showing off their game to anyone interested, if they so desired. They've got enough hype/interest where if they wanted to show off gameplay during the E3 time frame, they'd have no problem doing so.

I bet IGN will have either a Pre-E3 thing or a Post-E3 hands-on.

 

[Nicktals]

I bet IGN will have either a Pre-E3 thing or a Post-E3 hands-on.

Yeah I think so too. At least I'm hoping for a hands-on, rather than just a new trailer.

 

[_Alkaline_]

I bet IGN will have either a Pre-E3 thing or a Post-E3 hands-on.

I hope so. We don't have any hands-on impressions of the game yet, so it would be good to know how it's coming along.

 

[Meta-Knight]

Nice interview, this guy's thoughts about the Wii are exactly my thoughts. Gives me some hope that The Conduit will actually be a good game!

 

[ScrabbleBanshee]

RFOM 0.3?

Looks ok for the Wii, I guess. I'd still take MP3 over it, though. It looks like stuff I've played a half dozen times already.

 

[abstract alien]

RFOM 0.3?

Looks ok for the Wii, I guess. I'd still take MP3 over it, though. It looks like stuff I've played a half dozen times already.

That would be quite an achievement if it were. Hell would definitely freeze over.

 

[Nickovic]

New screenie I think off an IGN article. Looking good.

I wonder if it will be playble at e3.

 

[rakka]

old

 

[Easy_G]

After reading that interview I'm definitely getting interesting in this game. With almost a year left of development I could really see this coming together.

The fact that it seems fairly inspired by HL1 helps too. It's got the same mix of military/scifi/organic weapons going against military/alien enemies in a disaster setting. I just hope it also borrows HL1's AI and doesn't just end up a corridor shooter with brainless AI.

Also, I'm digging the graphics right now. The lighting and shadows in a lot of the shots looks great, and while the normal laps look like crap in screens, they show much better in videos, which is what really matters.

Almost irrelevant, but this shot reminds me a bit of Doom 3. That game was normal mapped out of oblivion and still holds up well. So hopefully HV can pull off the same effect.

The Conduit:

Doom 3

 

[Phife Dawg]

...Almost irrelevant, but this shot reminds me a bit of Doom 3. That game was normal mapped out of oblivion and still holds up well. So hopefully HV can pull off the same effect.

The reason the Doom 3 engine still holds up is due to the dynamic lightning. A lot of the lightning we've seen in The Conduit so far looks pre-baked to me.

 

[Fantastical]

Conduit will be at E3.
http://wii.ign.com has a link to the news story, but it doesn't link anywhere yet, but it does say they are preparing an E3 build...

 

[bigmakstudios]

After reading that interview I'm definitely getting interesting in this game. With almost a year left of development I could really see this coming together.

The fact that it seems fairly inspired by HL1 helps too. It's got the same mix of military/scifi/organic weapons going against military/alien enemies in a disaster setting. I just hope it also borrows HL1's AI and doesn't just end up a corridor shooter with brainless AI.

Also, I'm digging the graphics right now. The lighting and shadows in a lot of the shots looks great, and while the normal laps look like crap in screens, they show much better in videos, which is what really matters.

Almost irrelevant, but this shot reminds me a bit of Doom 3. That game was normal mapped out of oblivion and still holds up well. So hopefully HV can pull off the same effect.

The Conduit:

Doom 3

I think The Conduit has a long way to go before it looks as good as Doom 3. That comparison actually punctuates the disparity.

 

[Fantastical]

I think The Conduit has a long way to go before it looks as good as Doom 3. That comparison actually punctuates the disparity.

I think that they really could look close to that if they changed the art style. It's just so sloppy looking.

 

[beef3483]

In the end, I will judge this game by it's gameplay(hopefully punctuated by it's controls), not its graphics. People are so content to compare it to this game or that but for a Wii game and being compared only with other Wii games (again graphically), it looks better than the majority. It will never be the best looking FPS shooter, but it has the potential to be the best playing.

 

[Fantastical]

It could look really good by the time it's released.
I mean, I think this screenshot looks REALLY good:

 

[rezuth]

After reading that interview I'm definitely getting interesting in this game. With almost a year left of development I could really see this coming together.

The fact that it seems fairly inspired by HL1 helps too. It's got the same mix of military/scifi/organic weapons going against military/alien enemies in a disaster setting. I just hope it also borrows HL1's AI and doesn't just end up a corridor shooter with brainless AI.

Also, I'm digging the graphics right now. The lighting and shadows in a lot of the shots looks great, and while the normal laps look like crap in screens, they show much better in videos, which is what really matters.

Almost irrelevant, but this shot reminds me a bit of Doom 3. That game was normal mapped out of oblivion and still holds up well. So hopefully HV can pull off the same effect.

The Conduit:

Doom 3

id Tech 4 is criminally underused.

 

[pakkit]

It could look really good by the time it's released.
I mean, I think this screenshot looks REALLY good:

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS HANDS???

 

[agrajag]

It could look really good by the time it's released.
I mean, I think this screenshot looks REALLY good:

WTF is wrong with his hands?

edit: shit, beaten