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First footage of The Conduit (Wii)

Shaheed79

dabbled in the jelly
Chronicles of Riddick on Xbox put this to shame and the Wii should be capable of at least what Escape from Butcher Bay accomplished graphically. Seems like only the Japanese devs are starting to take the time to dig into the Wii hardware to pull off some nice effects. I'm more interested in the engine their developing than the game. I still can't figure out why Epic and Valve won't just port Unreal Engine 2.5 and Source to Wii. They would receive tons of revenue from licensing those out to western developers. Quality games are in high demand on the fastest selling home console of all time so it would only make sense that developers would capitalize on the high demand for a good optimized game engine for Wii. It's time to let those grudges go cause if they wish to increase their profit margins substantially this gen then they need to hop on the Wii middle-ware train like yesterday.
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
AceBandage said:
the-conduit-20080611021344772_640w.jpg


Hmm.

I like it.
 

yoopoo

Banned
"I still can't figure out why Epic and Valve won't just part Unreal Engine 2.5 and Source to Wii."

Red Steel runs on UE 2.5.
 
It might just be the screens, but Hight Voltage needs to work on the IQ, games like Starfox Adventures had very good IQ. Maybe they just need to release a 480p trailer.
I think it is important to support independent developers, so if this game is above average, I will pick it up.
 
Starfox Adventures had very good IQ.

Star Fox had 24 bit color AND 2x AA. The same can be said about Rogue Squadron. The Conduit really needs the color (can't see any dithering though, so could be a good sign) and 2x AA.
 

egocrata

Banned
It looks like a game that is almost a year away from release. It is pretty good in that regard.

Oh, and stop bitching about Red Steel. Some levels were really, really ugly, but the good looking levels -airport, mad house- are amongst the best stuff on the Wii so far. The game was rushed to market, but it was not that bad.
 

Linkup

Member
They've got the tech, though it looks like they misused it in a few areas. Need to spend the year fixing the art and design side of things.
 

EDarkness

Member
I think the shots look good, especially since they're Wii shots. Everyone remember those Metroid Prime 3 shots? People were saying they were ugly at that time, but once they got to see it in motion, they changed their tune. I'm getting the feeling this is like that situation. For some reason Wii shots look pretty horrible, but work better in motion.

Still, the game looks good to me. Not to mention it won't be out for almost a year. Give them a break and judge the final product.

I do agree that the art direction on the aliens isn't so good, but they can always change that.
 

pakkit

Banned
It seems that the main complaint with the game is the sameness and/or copycat style, but, seriously, the FPS hi-tech style hasn't changed in the 10 years since Half-Life. If it's good, it's good, and it looks good. Online + non-WWII based shooter on Wii + pretty good graphics? Do want.
 

Fantastical

Death Prophet
ivysaur12 said:
It seems like they have a publisher, but who is it?
I'm honestly thinking THQ. It seems like a good fit to me. I really hope they can polish this up with nice controls, a good art style, and a great online system. I would say if they can confirm an online system then they definitely have a publisher.
 

pakkit

Banned
Fantastical said:
I'm honestly thinking THQ. It seems like a good fit to me. I really hope they can polish this up with nice controls, a good art style, and a great online system. I would say if they can confirm an online system then they definitely have a publisher.
The IGN article says
Matt Cass said:
Although publisher interest in The Conduit "has been overwhelming," according to High Voltage, the studio plans to continue evaluating its options in a search for the best possible partner.
 

Meesh

Member
AnGeL LiveWii said:
News shots from the game :

0000143418.jpg

0000143419.jpg

0000143420.jpg

Huh...yeah, that does look pretty good. Almost surprised this game's intended for Wii, looks like their taking development (Wii architecture) seriously...
 

Teknoman

Member
Evilink said:
Huh...yeah, that does look pretty good. Almost surprised this game's intended for Wii, looks like their taking development (Wii architecture) seriously...

Its about time. The gamecube pushed out some amazing looking games when developers put forth some effort. We should be expecting this amount of effort bare minimum.
 

fresquito

Member
Shaheed79 said:
Chronicles of Riddick on Xbox put this to shame and the Wii should be capable of at least what Escape from Butcher Bay accomplished graphically. Seems like only the Japanese devs are starting to take the time to dig into the Wii hardware to pull off some nice effects. I'm more interested in the engine their developing than the game. I still can't figure out why Epic and Valve won't just port Unreal Engine 2.5 and Source to Wii. They would receive tons of revenue from licensing those out to western developers. Quality games are in high demand on the fastest selling home console of all time so it would only make sense that developers would capitalize on the high demand for a good optimized game engine for Wii. It's time to let those grudges go cause if they wish to increase their profit margins substantially this gen then they need to hop on the Wii middle-ware train like yesterday.
It's unfair comparing an indie project with Butcher Bay. I can't but agree with you on the rest.
 
fresquito said:
It's unfair comparing an indie project to Butcher Bay. I can't but agree with you on the rest.


It's also kind of unfair to compare DirectX with TEV, since DirectX is more widely used and flexible.
 

Teknoman

Member
agrajag said:
The game does look pretty sharp after being subjected to games that look like this:

far-cry-vengeance-20060921083022237.jpg

Whats funny is that I was at a friend's house today and he has Far Cry Instincts for Xbox 1. Damn that game looked pretty, and alot better than Vengence by a long shot. There is no excuse for Ubi doing that to the Wii or the Far Cry franchise.
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
Pojo said:
It looks like Geist 2.

This is actually what I was thinking. Really, it has a lot of stuff in it reminiscent of other games--the HUD makes me think of Halo, the alien guns make me think of Perfect Dark, the suit (his jacket, not his Gordon Freeman outfit) makes me think of Goldeneye, and that Gordon Freeman outfit I just mentioned reminds me of Imagine Dogz: Party Babyz (obviously). So I think of a number of games when I see these screens; what will matter, though, is whether when I play it I'm thinking more of Geist or Half-Life.

Also,

0000143419.jpg


is this a portal to Metroid Prime?
 

Ramenman

Member
yoopoo said:
Red Steel looks better than this effort, in screens and in motion.

I agree. Of course the screens were bullshots, but Red Steel looks better.

However, as a project that was made by a team of unknown people who have developped their own engine, and came this far without a publisher, The Conduit is absolutely amazing.

But from a gamer point of view there's nothing to be hyped for (on the visual side of things).
 
Evilink said:
Huh...yeah, that does look pretty good. Almost surprised this game's intended for Wii, looks like their taking development (Wii architecture) seriously...
This game will look DAMN good if it runs at a constant 60fps like they intend it to.
 
Keep in mind that the recent trailer looked quite a bit better than the initial screens. Also keep in the mind the game doesn't come out till 09, so there's plenty of time to tighten up the graphics on level 3.

I doubt they can save the art direction from here though. :(
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
lordmrw said:
THe look of the game is uneven. The tech is there to do good visuals, its just the art direction(or lack thereof) is holding it back. I'm interested in what someone like Ubisoft could do with this engine.

I agree with the first part of this - even in the new shots the game has varying levels of technical competence. It does look more appealing than before though. Might pick it up if it's a solid enough shooter.
 
Get real people it doesn't look nice, and it doesn't show any promise.

0000143419.jpg


I mean seriously, when it scores like a 6 don't pretend you didn't expect it.

MP3 puts this game to shame so badly it's not even funny.
 
InvincibleAgent said:
Looks like the spiritual successor to Perfect Dark. Yes I know it's not the same company, but if Rare can't do it...
Some of the weapons even remind me of turok 2 as well as perfect dark with their crazy approach. I loved the designs in both of those games.

They might as well make the successor to the Cerebral Bore while they are at it...not that there is much to add...
 
You can't really compare those two shots.

Why couldn't you all just wait until we see this build in motion?? I am pretty sure that it will look much better!
 
Frencherman said:
You can't really compare those two shots.

Why couldn't you all just wait until we see this build in motion?? I am pretty sure that it will look much better!
Screenshots are much more important that actual videos and framerates.
 

SovanJedi

provides useful feedback
Wait, that one picture of the alien coming out of the portal... Is that a picture of a blue whale in the top right hand corner?!
 

Endgegner

Member
The hivemind of GAF is incredible.

In the spyborgs thread a couple of people said that it looks bad - and everybody else follows. Although the game actually looks decent for a wii game, everybody jumps on it.

Then this game. Ign releases a promo video where the developer talks how they made this super engine. Everybody in this thread celebrates the game, although it looks extremly ugly and I don't just mean the art. It looks like shit on every level. OMG they implemented bloom lightning - can't you guys see that this game has about as many polygons as a pc title from circa 1998? Just because the engine has two effects which aren't totally common does not mean it's a good engine. And look at the textures - that brick texture looks like they ripped of the brick wallpaper .bmp file from Windows 95. Seriously, I can't believe some of you think that game looks good. And promising is more then a stretch. This game looks simply bad and it won't look good if it gets another year in development. The developers are hacks who knew how to "manipulate" wii.ign to give them publicity.
 
Fantastical said:
This. I think people are convincing themselves that these look good. I think these shots look downright ugly. I'm not even sure how it's technically good looking. I appreciate that HVS is trying, but... this is definitely not the best looking game and I don't think it's the hardcore, quality game we're dying for like they are selling it from what I'm seeing.

I hope I'm wrong but... nothing looks appealing to me.
True. The problem is that High Voltage is trying to make a great FPS looking game based on Wii's graphical capabilities. But this is "mission impossible": they should insist much more on art design like Metroid Corruption did (with excellent results), IMHO.
 

agrajag

Banned
rezuth said:
I wish they would release a video of the new build.

If you look at these shots and at the video released from a while ago, you'll see these shots and the video are from the same build. Not sure if that's what you meant though...
 
Endgegner said:
The hivemind of GAF is incredible.

In the spyborgs thread a couple of people said that it looks bad - and everybody else follows. Although the game actually looks decent for a wii game, everybody jumps on it.

Then this game. Ign releases a promo video where the developer talks how they made this super engine. Everybody in this thread celebrates the game, although it looks extremly ugly and I don't just mean the art. It looks like shit on every level. OMG they implemented bloom lightning - can't you guys see that this game has about as many polygons as a pc title from circa 1998? Just because the engine has two effects which aren't totally common does not mean it's a good engine. And look at the textures - that brick texture looks like they ripped of the brick wallpaper .bmp file from Windows 95. Seriously, I can't believe some of you think that game looks good. And promising is more then a stretch. This game looks simply bad and it won't look good if it gets another year in development. The developers are hacks who knew how to "manipulate" wii.ign to give them publicity.

I fully agree. I'm a Wii-only console owner for now and even I can't get on the hype train on this. It honestly doesn't look any better than Medal of Honor:Heroes 2 to me. Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3 and Okami are the best looking Wii games in my library and I'd wish developers would strive for creative worlds that are aesthetically pleasing no matter the tech instead of spending time trying to compete with FPSs on machines with 10 times as much power.
 

EDarkness

Member
Endgegner said:
The hivemind of GAF is incredible.

In the spyborgs thread a couple of people said that it looks bad - and everybody else follows. Although the game actually looks decent for a wii game, everybody jumps on it.

Then this game. Ign releases a promo video where the developer talks how they made this super engine. Everybody in this thread celebrates the game, although it looks extremly ugly and I don't just mean the art. It looks like shit on every level. OMG they implemented bloom lightning - can't you guys see that this game has about as many polygons as a pc title from circa 1998? Just because the engine has two effects which aren't totally common does not mean it's a good engine. And look at the textures - that brick texture looks like they ripped of the brick wallpaper .bmp file from Windows 95. Seriously, I can't believe some of you think that game looks good. And promising is more then a stretch. This game looks simply bad and it won't look good if it gets another year in development. The developers are hacks who knew how to "manipulate" wii.ign to give them publicity.

<sigh>

Just because you don't like it doesn't mean other people won't. I got tired of hearing how Red Steel was "crap" when I purchased it and had fun with it. Your opinion isn't any better than someone elses. What boggles my mind is why people don't think this looks good. After looking at some of the recent graphics on the Wii, this blows all that away. Is it 360 or PS3 quality? Not even close, but it works for the Wii. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter as long as the game plays well.

Geez, no wonder no one wants to bother with Wii games. With this kind of criticism, the game will be dead before it gets released.
 
Endgegner said:
The hivemind of GAF is incredible.

In the spyborgs thread a couple of people said that it looks bad - and everybody else follows. Although the game actually looks decent for a wii game, everybody jumps on it.

Then this game. Ign releases a promo video where the developer talks how they made this super engine. Everybody in this thread celebrates the game, although it looks extremly ugly and I don't just mean the art. It looks like shit on every level. OMG they implemented bloom lightning - can't you guys see that this game has about as many polygons as a pc title from circa 1998? Just because the engine has two effects which aren't totally common does not mean it's a good engine. And look at the textures - that brick texture looks like they ripped of the brick wallpaper .bmp file from Windows 95. Seriously, I can't believe some of you think that game looks good. And promising is more then a stretch. This game looks simply bad and it won't look good if it gets another year in development. The developers are hacks who knew how to "manipulate" wii.ign to give them publicity.
Considering the last good fps I cared about in existence was PD, this looks pretty good.
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Endgegner said:
The hivemind of GAF is incredible.

In the spyborgs thread a couple of people said that it looks bad - and everybody else follows. Although the game actually looks decent for a wii game, everybody jumps on it.
true.

Then this game. Ign releases a promo video where the developer talks how they made this super engine. Everybody in this thread celebrates the game, although it looks extremly ugly and I don't just mean the art. It looks like shit on every level. OMG they implemented bloom lightning - can't you guys see that this game has about as many polygons as a pc title from circa 1998?
now that's just hyperbole. the game shows as much polygonal complexity as the average gc title last gen. i hope you're not comparing it to corruption, as the latter obliterates everything on the wii (or any other console last gen, FTM) in this regard, so such a comparison means little.

Just because the engine has two effects which aren't totally common does not mean it's a good engine.
agreed. then again, nobody can tell if 'an engine is good' by merely looking at screenshots. the goodness of an engine is determined when you sit in front of it and try to get meaningful stuff out of it. for all we know, HV may have a better FPS-class engine than retro, but we may never know that as HV will never be able achive the things retro do with theirs, due to the sheer difference in the caliber of the developers - a good developer works with their engine, not against, or despite, it.

And look at the textures - that brick texture looks like they ripped of the brick wallpaper .bmp file from Windows 95. Seriously, I can't believe some of you think that game looks good. And promising is more then a stretch. This game looks simply bad and it won't look good if it gets another year in development. The developers are hacks who knew how to "manipulate" wii.ign to give them publicity.
why get upset over that? even if they received more publicity than they 'deserved', it will bite them back eventually.

i guess what i'm trying to say here is, no need to be overly defensive or overly offensive about this title, or the developer behind it, as there are no 'deeper truths' or technical breakthroughs to be unvailed by the developer aside from their own competence.
 

Ramenman

Member
rakka said:
img]http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2006/319/932528_111606_screen034.jpg[/img]

Red Steel was the definition of "graphically uneven". I'm telling you in case you don't know, even though the fact that you chose to brought up a screen of one of the worst sections of the game makes me think you do.


I'm a Wii-only console owner for now and even I can't get on the hype train on this.

So I'm not alone. Even though I've had a 360 for now six months along with my launch-unit Wii, when I played Metroid Prime 3 only weeks ago it was really beautiful.
And that's not.

Then you tell me that it's unfair to compare what Retro Studio did with what an independent team did without a publisher.

Then I tell you that I totally agree, because that's exactly what I said in my last post. It's an amazing effort knowing who did it and in what conditions they did it.
But compared to other games on Wii, it doesn't look as good as some people would want it to.

But hey, I don't intend to rain on your parade, maybe this will turn great, because it still can. But I don't understand how right now someone can look at those screens and say that he's "surprised this runs on the Wii" (NOT a personnal attack to whoever said something like that earlier).
 
Looks below average if it were an Xbox game. Looks average if it were a Gamecube game. Looks semi-average (But not outstanding by a long shot) if it were a PS2 game. Looks horrible for a PC/360/PS3 of course.

But looks good and interesting for a Wii game! Right guys?

*Confused*
 

markatisu

Member
reggieandTFE said:
I fully agree. I'm a Wii-only console owner for now and even I can't get on the hype train on this. It honestly doesn't look any better than Medal of Honor:Heroes 2 to me.

If it controls nearly as well as MOHH2 on the Wii then I will buy it Day 1. Control has always been much more important to me than graphics.
 

Ramenman

Member
rezuth said:
Worst compression ever on that Wii Fanboy site.

conduit_nwf_exclusive_002.jpg

That looks intresting. Nice lightning, dynamic shadows etc

That's really, really uneven. Lightning is interesting in this shot, but not in the others. Plus only the lightning is interesting.

It looks like those guys did a great engine, but don't know what to use it for. I can't put my finger on it, is it just that on the same screen you can have a beautiful texture right next to a bland/untextured object, or does it comes down to a lacking art direction.
 

markatisu

Member
Ramenman said:
It looks like those guys did a great engine, but don't know what to use it for. I can't put my finger on it, is it just that on the same screen you can have a beautiful texture right next to a bland/untextured object, or does it comes down to a lacking art direction.

It seems to me they are just putting out screenshots every time they add something new or figure something out.

What amazes me (like in the Spyborgs thing) is that people act like this engine is finished and the game is being shipped to retailers next week

Isnt it still 1 year away? Hell at this point if it looks better than a PSP game I will be ecstatic since it seems most developers seem to not even get games up to Gamecube quality
 
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