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[Vic]

While there may potentially be no "need" for Epic's engine specifically, I feel there's an urgent need for some decent middleware solutions on the platform. The variation in quality in the launch titles is simply absurd and don't think that's all down to budgets either, as even some wealthy and prestigous third parties are crapping out some absolute turds.

If Nintendo are as serious about third party development as they claim this should have been one of the first problems they tackled. Maybe they have, I don't know but the fact that they haven't even spoken to someone like Epic by now, merely to gauge interest is pretty damning in itself. Perhaps they really did send some of the first dev kits out to the Unity and Gamebryo teams as they should have done and perhaps they really are hard at work with Vicarious Visions to deliver some killer 3DS focused middleware but the general signs don't point to that. I hope I'm wrong and I'm sure decent middleware will eventually appear on the 3DS given time (as there's such a clear need for it) but thier shouldn't be a 1-2 year lead time here, this should have been one of their utmost priorites when initially contacting third party partners.

I... wouldn't stress myself about this if I were you. Launch games rarely taps a system's full potential and most regular handheld devs. aren't porting down an HD engine & HD assets like Capcom does. Give it some time dude.

 

[sfried]

I don't think you guys are understanding the implication here.

Mark Rein and his company will not produce a middleware solution for Nintendo systems. Not for the Wii, not for the 3DS. That's a very large sum of money potentially left on the table... why?

Whether or not UE3 itself will run on them is irrelevant.

Uh, if it will run and most companies ask for it, why wouldn't they give it? They did it for Wii with an older version of their engine. If it makes them money, why not?

That's a nice idea, but not realistic. Especially considering it goes both ways. Sure, Nintendo should have made an effort, but the same is true for Epic. Neither company seems to have done anything. And is it that strange that they prioritize studios they've worked with in the past? And a couple of those are middleware providers as well. Judging by the feedback, they managed to generate interest, and probably create that environment even without Epic.

Or Epic just might make that engine if the demand is there. It seems money talks, after all.

 

[Lonely1]

That's a nice idea, but not realistic. Especially considering it goes both ways. Sure, Nintendo should have made an effort, but the same is true for Epic. Neither company seems to have done anything. And is it that strange that they prioritize studios they've worked with in the past? And a couple of those are middleware providers as well. Judging by the feedback, they managed to generate interest, and probably create that environment even without Epic.

Eh, We will see. I would rather have everyone doing stuff for the system. Looks like Nintendo did a good job so far in attracting Japanese third party. But, what about the west? Support form the west seems very weak so far. If Nvidia could get Epic to demo their engine on hardware that is having hard time to get into the market, a bit of effort from Nintendo for a product that pretends to stay in the market for 5+ years, doesn't seems too much to ask

 

[Cipherr]

oh for fuck's sake...

Thats the same reaction I had when I read that.

OP is kinda pushing it. Maybe he was just being honest? I dont think theres any "dirt to dish" here....

 

[charlequin]

That's a nice idea, but not realistic. Especially considering it goes both ways. Sure, Nintendo should have made an effort, but the same is true for Epic.

This is a completely asymmetric relationship. If Epic doesn't make an effort here, the only people who lose out (who should matter to them) are Epic themselves, if they passed up what in retrospect would've been a good opportunity. If Nintendo doesn't make an effort, the people who leave out are every single one of Nintendo's customers, both end-users and publishers/developers, on whom Nintendo depends for their income.

 

[blu]

This is a completely asymmetric relationship. If Epic doesn't make an effort here, the only people who lose out (who should matter to them) are Epic themselves, if they passed up what in retrospect would've been a good opportunity. If Nintendo doesn't make an effort, the people who leave out are every single one of Nintendo's customers, both end-users and publishers/developers, on whom Nintendo depends for their income.

*checks list of favorite games. counts number of those using UE. comes with a resounding zero. shrugs*

In case it's not clear, I was commenting on the 'every single one of Nintendo's customers' aspect ; )

 

[MrBelmontvedere]

if Epic DID do an engine for 3DS it would probably be based off UE2, and I don't know of any current games using that. they could always say it's for porting older titles, but I'm guessing interest there isn't very high.

 

[les papillons sexuels]

This is a completely asymmetric relationship. If Epic doesn't make an effort here, the only people who lose out (who should matter to them) are Epic themselves, if they passed up what in retrospect would've been a good opportunity. If Nintendo doesn't make an effort, the people who leave out are every single one of Nintendo's customers, both end-users and publishers/developers, on whom Nintendo depends for their income.

well said. There's a reason why developers use unreal, there's a reason why developers continue to say nintendo has bad 3rd party relationships, somewhere there's a connection between the two.

Microsoft learned the importance of unreal, hell it's why they've got 512 ram in the 360 as opposed to 256 like they were originally planning. Sony learned the importance of unreal, which is why they petitioned and supported ut3 on the ps3.

If nintendo is going to continue to ignore middleware support, developers are going to be faced with a tough issue, spend money creating an engine for a game that might not sell, or ignore the system entirely. I think the wii has become a shining example of this scenario.

 

[HAL_Laboratory]

Such optimism.

What do you expect; Mark Rein hates Nintendo.