News
BioWare Interested in Wii
But Shepherd... You're... Low-Res...
by Coop
Following in the footsteps of Bethesda's announcement of an unknown Wii title, BioWare has stepped up to the plate to finally talk a bit about the system. BioWare isn't entirely foreign to Nintendo's platforms - they lead development on Sega's Sonic RPG for the DS - but they've remained mysteriously distant from the Wii this generation.
In an interview, BioWare's Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk talked a bit about the system, asking "What is the Wii audience looking for, and what would we want to deliver that has emotionally powerful narrative?"
These are fairly important questions for the developer. Considering their focus on creating story-driven experiences, the Wii might not be the best direction to go. Some of the best selling games on the Wii have no narrative whatsoever, while games with better stories fail to sell even moderately well.
BioWare isn't ready to give up on the system or its audience. While they don't have anything to announce just yet, they did go on to say that they were "intrigued by the idea of developing on Wii." Their long term goal is to embrace all of the platforms to give gamers more choices in what they play, but, as we all know, you can't do everything at once. But it begs the question: does BioWare really need to make a Wii game? Their style of development calls for graphical polish and a cinematic experience, neither of which are easy to attain on the system. Not only that, but it might not be worth the effort, since developers and publishers who try experimental titles on the system often end up regretting it. What do you think? What should BioWare be doing on the Wii?
[Source]
Comments
As much as I love Bioware and my Nintendo Wii. It just doesn't seem like a good fit to me. I want Bioware to concentrate on epic RPGs and I want the Wii to be my goto party game and point-&-click console.
Yeah, this isn't chocolate and peanut butter, it's more like chocolate and turkey; two great tastes that should be kept far away from each other.
Baldur's Gate Wii.
@loltim - imagine a point-and-click RPG...instead of a mouse and keyboard, you just use the wiimote...hmmm.
I think it will be interesting to see what BioWare comes up with. I think your average Wii gamer doesn't look for a deep cinematic-driven narrative, but rather pick-up-and-play gaming. I'm pretty sure BioWare thinks teh same thing, too, so they shouldn't try to bring over Mass Effect to Wii, or something like that. Maybe a sort of D&D Lite (although, to a certain extent, that's what their recent games already are), but with more emphasis on puzzle-solving and role-playing. Something more character-driven, as opposed to cinematic. Anyway, BioWare is a smart company, so I'm sure they'll take it as a challenge and try to do something different.
@Raccoonacorn: I remember the last time I played Baldur's Gate on a console. It was a travesty.
Best photoshop this week.
@J-Man
Hey! The first two Baldur's Gate games on Ps2 are great! I'd also like to add, though unrelated, that Champions of Norrath was a great game too.
@J-Man - yeah, those BG games were fun. Diablo-rip-offs are usually pretty decent. So was Champions.
I don't think they would ever put a PC-style Baldur's out on the Wii - I was just messing around. Definitely not the type of market for that game.
I wouldn't buy it because I prefer pen(cil) and paper, but that's a damn fine idea.