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[unifin]

August 2, 2006 - Publisher Midway may have been slow to support Nintendo's new generation Wii console, but the company is definitely on board now. Yesterday, it revealed that a Wii version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was underway for the system and would arrive early next year. And today Midway announced that a Wii-enhanced build of Rampage: Total Destruction is in the works and set for release "this winter."

Rampage: Total Destruction for Wii will feature an additional 10 creatures over the previous games, upping the roster to some 40 beasties. Each will include individual super moves and exclusive combo attacks. Notable characters include George, Lizzie, Ralph, Sarah the Spider, Plucky the Chicken and Fifi the Rabid French Poodle. The game will also spotlight seven different city backdrops, from Chicago and Hong Kong to London, each with destructible environments. And finally, the version will boast improved visuals.

"We are extremely excited to be bringing the mayhem of Rampage: Total Destruction to the Nintendo Wii," said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. "With updated graphics and even more extreme monsters, fans of this classic arcade series, as well as new players, will have more than a handful this winter."

Midway has given IGN the first Wii screenshots of Rampage: Total Destruction, which can be found in our media section below.

In addition to Rampage and Mortal Kombat, the publisher has an additional four Wii titles in development and scheduled for release in the first half of next year, most of which will cater to younger audiences.

Early first screens:

Apparently it's an enhanced version of the GC game...

10 more characters, plus waggle functionality.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/722/722879p1.html

Some neat effects on the creatures, but my God those are the ugliest buildings I've ever seen.

 

[meltpotato]

and now i want to die. thank a lot!

 

[argon]

Metropolis is finally saved from kryptonite fog, only to fall prey to giant monsters.

Superman, where are you?

 

[koam]

Neither Mortal Kombat nor Rampage look like they can benefit from the wii's controller in any way possible. I'm sorry midway but if you're going to port games, use games that would work well with the controller or build from ground up.

I'm willing to bet that the controls will either be gimped or it will use the retro controller.

 

[Wario64]

So we get to play a boring, repetitive game with a new controller...which still makes it a boring, repetitive game

 

[argon]

Neither Mortal Kombat nor Rampage look like they can benefit from the wii's controller in any way possible.

A 3rd-person style rampage game could work quite well with the controller, but Midway is lazy.

 

[koam]

A 3rd-person style rampage game could work quite well with the controller, but Midway is lazy.

Yes if it's 3rd person AND 3d, and I never understood why they haven't taken this approach with rampage. Hulk: Ultimate Destruction was awesome in that regard, but this 2.5D rampage will control like shit on the wii.

 

[Operations]

Neither Mortal Kombat nor Rampage look like they can benefit from the wii's controller in any way possible. I'm sorry midway but if you're going to port games, use games that would work well with the controller or build from ground up.

I'm willing to bet that the controls will either be gimped or it will use the retro controller.

I don't see any problem with that. Nintendo said from day one that, just like with the DS, not all games are expected to use the added functionality of the controller. Wasn't the entire point of the classic controller (besides the VC) to allow Wii to be port-friendly?

 

[GhaleonEB]

Those pics remind me of Godzilla Generations from the Japanese Dreamcast launch, right down the the bad CG looking models and nasty cars. Yikes.

 

[Unison]

Your arms really will get tired playing this crap.

 

[The_lascar]

It's not very beautiful for one Nintendo 64 game.

 

[John Harker]

those trees are like, growing out of uh, the air.

ugly, man, are they crazy to release these early screens.
Plus, if all these companies just rush now to port games over and not properly utilize the Wiimote, its going to really dilute the overall perceived effectivness of the controller.

If lots of people buy these crappy games, its not going to sell this new control scheme at all.
It could end up hurting Nintendo, people aren't going to continue to buy waggle games if these games suck, the control is loose, poorly implemented, or not even nonexistant. Especially when the graphics blow like this.

If anything down the road, its going to widen the gap between Nintedo game sales and third party sales if more games like this are released - people are only going to buy the system for the few Nintendo games. These things, down the road, laughable sales. Well, its not like people don't already buy Ninty products for that reason.

 

[koam]

I don't see any problem with that. Nintendo said from day one that, just like with the DS, not all games are expected to use the added functionality of the controller. Wasn't the entire point of the classic controller (besides the VC) to allow Wii to be port-friendly?

Because so far, the two games that Midway has announced are port jobs that will more than likely use the retro controller. Do you actually think people are going to flock to a game that uses the retro controller or the wiimote in a gimped fashion?

Edit: It uses the wiimote afterall. I still don't see how they'll handle this well.

ugly, man, are they crazy to release these early screens.

Aren't these the GC shots?

 

[Space Runaway]

Isn't the budget title this is an upgrade of supposed to be pure shit anyway? Clearly Midway has only the best of intentions for the Wii.

 

[temp]

The models really do look all right. Too bad the game's supposed to be terrible.

 

[John Harker]

Aren't these the GC shots?

Nope.

Midway has given IGN the first Wii screenshots of Rampage: Total Destruction, which can be found in our media section below.

 

[Funky Papa]

I am not kidding if I say that I never thought I could see cars like those in a next gen game.

And who the hell wants to play another Rampage?

 

[koam]

Nope.

Ouch. Well, to be fair, they did just get the dev kits. Still, like i've said throughout this thread, I don't trust in midway's ability to create proper wii software. They're pretty much the Acclaim of the industry nowadays.

Here's the PS2/Cube version for comparison purposes.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Wish nintendo would go back to quality vs quantity and ban midway from Wii


wait :/

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

Claymation is back BABY!

 

[John Harker]

Ouch. Well, to be fair, they did just get the dev kits. Still, like i've said throughout this thread, I don't trust in midway's ability to create proper wii software. They're pretty much the Acclaim of the industry nowadays.

Maybe the game'll be $10?

Maybe they'll be the Crave of the Wii market, haha

 

[Bebpo]

Aren't these the GC shots?

Does it matter? GC and Wii shots are practically indistinguishable from each other at this point.

 

[Bo130]

...Seriously, Midway - WTF?

I'm getting Mortal Kombat, though.

 

[Ranger X]

It's sick what some lazy publishers can throw at us. Focking lame Midway.

"oh there's the waggle wand so i can just take any craptacular game and repackage it again + waggle wand control and there you go"


HINT FOR MIDWAY: you game should at least look like a GC/PS2/Xbox good looking title.

 

[Operations]

Wish nintendo would go back to quality vs quantity and ban midway from Wii


wait :/

Well, when Nintendo had that philosophy in place, Midway was actually part of the Dream Team :lol

 

[Smiles and Cries]

That's just lazy there is no reason why this game cannot look better... cars and buildings

Midway needs better artists

 

[fresquito]

The name should be something like: Rampage: The perfect excuse to why we won´t be supporting Wii anymore.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

Well, when Nintendo had that philosophy in place, Midway was actually part of the Dream Team :lol

thats why I had "wait"

 

[DemDereNads]

Sure these aren't DS screens? Looks too bad even for Current gen/PSP.

 

[BuzzJive]

Definitive version!

Did anybody actually play the PS2 or Cube original of this? I originally thought about picking this up for the GC because it was only $20, but it got some pretty low scores :-/

 

[ram]

the game sucks - the controls are to slow and really inaccurately. jumping on buildings is a pain in the ass.

 

[E-Nature]

LOL
did actually someone EVER seriously BUY a game of this franchise?

 

[GhaleonEB]

the game sucks - the controls are to slow and really inaccurately. jumping on buildings is a pain in the ass.

But, with the new and innovative controls the Wii provides, it will be fun!

 

[Maridia]

LOL
did actually someone EVER seriously BUY a game of this franchise?

I don't know about that, but they can be fun rentals with 3 friends. I had a good time with World Tour on N64. They do get old pretty quickly though.

 

[Cosmozone]

Aren't these the GC shots?

The shots are technically horribly lazy. If it weren't for the creature models, they could be from a PS1.5. But they're actually good, definitely up to Wii's capabilities. The Rhino almost looks like a real plastic figure. Too bad it looks really fugly.

 

[meltpotato]

LOL
did actually someone EVER seriously BUY a game of this franchise?

the arcade game was GREAT back int he day and i probably spent over 40$ in quarters on it through the years. it was always one of my fav arcade titles. all the newer itterations are just a bad joke.

 

[dragon_feces]

Looks like they took the GCN build, redid the character models to make it look "next-gen," added some more characters so they can be like "look at all these next-gen characters," and then waited awhile to make it look like they're working hard on it.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

But, with the new and innovative controls the Wii provides, it will be fun!

Maah Wii Wannah?

 

[tehrafe]

evironment looks fugly, characters are ok...

I just hope the environment was a quick copy/paste job, and that everything will be adjusted when this game will be released for wii

 

[Oblivion]

The monster models are definitely a step up from the GC version, but everything else is virtually the same. :/

 

[jj984jj]

Midway is in charge of project Sabotage Wii.

 

[Barnolde]

I guess 360 isn't the only system with lazy last-gen ports.

 

[Azelover]

Ouch. Well, to be fair, they did just get the dev kits. Still, like i've said throughout this thread, I don't trust in midway's ability to create proper wii software. They're pretty much the Acclaim of the industry nowadays.

Here's the PS2/Cube version for comparison purposes.

To be fair there is an improvement over the models and the environments look pretty similar, or just slightly downgraded. Which is pretty on par with what we should expect from Wii graphics-wise, not much different from current gen graphics. I do wish some Wii third parties realized on what level they are actually competing with Nintendo though, if they just got the dev kits they should have known better than to show something so soon.

 

[Avutta1978]

isn't it a budget title.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

Looks gash. Even taking into account the lower-than-competitors specs of Wii, it's capable of far more than this.

This is technically poor, with horrendous art design and bolted-on controls - about what I'd expect from a Midway launch title (hell, it's about what I'd expect from a late-gen Midway title...) but no less disappointing for that.

With a few honourable exceptions it seems that Western developers are taking the same approach to Wii as they did to the DS - fire off a few ports with tacked-on functionality and shift resources to the competing systems. If the console takes off then they're going to be left scrabbling to catch up with nothing but a handful of cobbled-together ports while Nintendo and devs like Ubisoft make a killing.

...and muppets on GAF will still bitch about poor third-party sales on Wii...

 

[LM4sure]

Probably will be a $20 game. Not too shabby.

 

[Sweedishrodeo]

i read the title and said to myself, "it would be sweet if this was that game with rhinos and shit climbing buildings." it totally is!

 

[PantherLotus]

They could take these claymation graphics and make a fascinating Clash of the Titans game. But then, that would require some creativity.

 

[..pakbeka..]

Accomplished®™

 

[Tarazet]

I don't see any problem with that. Nintendo said from day one that, just like with the DS, not all games are expected to use the added functionality of the controller. Wasn't the entire point of the classic controller (besides the VC) to allow Wii to be port-friendly?

I thought every DS game was required to use the added functionality of the system.