Topic: Resident Evil 5 Skipped Wii Due to Developer Ambitions

[Kairon]

The urge to push the sequel "as far as it could be pushed" kept the game off of Nintendo's console.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17816

 After two major success stories on the Wii, the Resident Evil franchise is skipping Nintendo's console for Resident Evil 5. According to Producer Jun Takeuchi, the reason why is that the team "really wanted to push the next part of the series as far as it could be pushed."    

As part of an interview with Joystiq, Takeuchi was asked why the game wasn't coming to the Wii despite Nintendo's market dominance, cheaper development, and the success of Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. Takeuchi explained that the decision came "from the development team." Resident Evil 5 would arrive on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and not the Wii, because of the team's ambitions, including those for "the graphical aspect of the game."    

Takeuchi also stated that "actual development time itself has been just about three years." Including planning, Takeuchi put the figure closer to four years. The Wii in comparison is only a little over two years old. When Resident Evil 5 was announced in mid-2005, the Wii was still known by the codename "Revolution," technical details were still scarce, and Nintendo's console was still over a year away from launch.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

RE5 is Capcom's Lair.

[Ian Sane]

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

I think it's possible that Capcom started designing RE5 with hardware comparible to the Xbox 360 in mind and when the Wii turned out to not be comparible they decided to focus it on the PS360.

Nintendo's ultimate problem with the Wii design is that the whole thing is a tradeoff.  If they had Xbox 360 comparable hardware with the Wii remote they could say they have an advantage because their console can do more than the others.  But the Wii CAN'T do more than the others, it is merely different.  So developers are given the choice between pushing superior hardware or making use of the new controller.  It looks like most of them picked superior hardware which isn't suprising since it's a concept that has been proven for decades and the remote's actual usefulness as a standard controller is debatable.

I've come to the conclusion that the Wii's third party situation has no realistic hope of improving.  Nintendo has just made a console that game developers are not interested in developing for.  They are so uninterested that they will make shovelware for the Wii to finance the creation of the games they want to make on the other consoles.  The waggle wand isn't good enough.  The Wii is actually so unappealing to developers that they would rather risk financial ruin than focus on it.  That's pretty idiotic since the Wii's hardware is perfectly capable of producing good games.  It isn't like a cellphone here where the system itself is so limited that good games are near impossible to make on it.  But that's the reality and it isn't changing.  It CAN'T change because at the end of the day the Wii is still a Gamecube 1.5 with a goofy novelty controller.  Nintendo can sell all the Wiis they want but they can't change what the Wii is and what the Wii is is why developers aren't interested in it.  It would have to get to the point where making great AAA games on the Wii is a requirement to survive.  It has to be down to making the game on the Wii or not being able to make a game at all.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"It has to be down to making the game on the Wii or not being able to make a game at all."

I hope that point is almost here.

[Ian Sane]

Another thing I just thought of - is it possible that developers don't want to support the Wii specifically because they don't like what it stands for and thus don't want it to succeed?  Developers are usually also gamers and I imagine there is a desire to make games one would like to play.  Dora the Explorer games may exist but I doubt anybody who dreamed of making videogames wanted to get stuck developing them.  Developers want to be ambitious in the games they design.

The Wii seems to be designed specifically to discourage ambitious design.  It's targetted at non-gamers with simplified non-games that are intentionally restrictive so as to not confuse or intimidate non-gamers.  If you want to make ambitious games this is not a business model you want to succeed.  Publishers are always going to push for the hot trend and don't usually care if those are the types of games you want to make or not.  So if you don't like non-gaming and waggle and intentionally scaled down hardware you may want to see the Wii fail, so you don't have to get assigned to working on games with last-gen graphics and waggle controls aimed at children and women.  You make all your best games for the competition because that's the style of console and style of games you want to win.

Developers are NEVER going to be non-gamers so on a personal level they're likely not that interested in making games that they aren't really interested in playing.

[Plugabugz]

Takeuchi explained that the decision came "from the development team."

This is why companies (irrespective of market and current economic status) fail. The market is supposed to make these decisions, not people who want to "push the series as far as possible". If they wanted to do that, then its easy. Get better storywriters.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Another thing I just thought of - is it possible that developers don't want to support the Wii specifically because they don't like what it stands for and thus don't want it to succeed?  Developers are usually also gamers and I imagine there is a desire to make games one would like to play.  Dora the Explorer games may exist but I doubt anybody who dreamed of making videogames wanted to get stuck developing them.  Developers want to be ambitious in the games they design.

The Wii seems to be designed specifically to discourage ambitious design.  It's targetted at non-gamers with simplified non-games that are intentionally restrictive so as to not confuse or intimidate non-gamers.  If you want to make ambitious games this is not a business model you want to succeed.  Publishers are always going to push for the hot trend and don't usually care if those are the types of games you want to make or not.  So if you don't like non-gaming and waggle and intentionally scaled down hardware you may want to see the Wii fail, so you don't have to get assigned to working on games with last-gen graphics and waggle controls aimed at children and women.  You make all your best games for the competition because that's the style of console and style of games you want to win.

Developers are NEVER going to be non-gamers so on a personal level they're likely not that interested in making games that they aren't really interested in playing.

Well, you just described the leading conspiracy that's been around ever since the Wii began displaying signs of impossible, unstoppable success.

The part that is harmful to them and their *business* is that THEY are not the customers, WE ARE.  They're supposed to make products for us first and foremost, not for themselves.  They can be like Iron Chefs getting lost in their own cooking fancies.  Meet the needs of the customers, not the rest of the dev team, not game site awards editors, not AIAS awards club voting members.

[Peachylala]

Pro Daisy owns Ian Sane.

Like always. =P

[sigrah0x7ba]

Is anyone else picking up that this sounds more like damage control in case the game doesn't sell anywhere near as well as they're expecting it too considering they're basically cutting off half of their possible market?

[ThePerm]

idk, i've been pretty pessimistic lately. I do think a new wii Resident evil is still possible. I wouldn't mind resident evil 4 with new levels..ie resident evil 5

From a perspective of someone who used to build half-life levels..how freaking hard can it be to make a game using re4's engine. Developing a game from scratch is hard, but altering an existing game to make a new one isn't. They went through the trouble of porting Dead Rising with the re4 engine..which is a task since their two completely different games..idk..i don't understand Japanese game companies. It always seems like they spend way longer than they need to in development because they never know what their aiming for to begin with.

Having played the demo they could have developed the whole game on GameCube using the re4 engine and then just  bumped up the graphics on the other system. Thats basically what Silicon Knights did with Ed from n64 to gamecube. Also what Capcom did with re0. I remember seeing an interview about re0 where they were like.."well we pretty much have the whole game developed, we just need to move it"

[Djunknown]

Is anyone else picking up that this sounds more like damage control in case the game doesn't sell anywhere near as well as they're expecting it too considering they're basically cutting off half of their possible market?

Its not quite half yet, wait until the summer time 

They had an excuse for not releasing a Wii version back then, but what is the excuse now? They've made RE ports w/ waggle in Japan, They made a Dead Rising port (albeit with a few changes); these excuses just don't cut it.

idk, i've been pretty pessimistic lately. I do think a new wii Resident evil is still possible. I wouldn't mind resident evil 4 with new levels..ie resident evil 5

This.

[NWR_pap64]

RE 5 Wii Edition confirmed!

Quote me on this, it will happen. Not because I believe it will but because Capcom is too greedy and can't resist whoring the same game for profit.

[Rize]

Nintendo's ultimate problem with the Wii design is that the whole thing is a tradeoff.  If they had Xbox 360 comparable hardware with the Wii remote they could say they have an advantage because their console can do more than the others.  But the Wii CAN'T do more than the others, it is merely different.

Ultimate problem?  Actually, this is really the only problem with the Wii.  However, if Nintendo hadn't chosen this route, the Wii would almost certainly be no more successful than the GameCube was (marginally more successful at best).  The only thing Nintendo could have done differently was made the console more powerful and eaten the cost themselves.  They could have only eaten so much, so at best we'd have SD games with better shaders or Wii games as they are now in HD.  I like to get things for free of course, and Nintendo might have eventually gotten a return on their investment, but then again they might not have.

I've come to the conclusion that the Wii's third party situation has no realistic hope of improving.  Nintendo has just made a console that game developers are not interested in developing for.  They are so uninterested that they will make shovelware for the Wii to finance the creation of the games they want to make on the other consoles.  The waggle wand isn't good enough.  The Wii is actually so unappealing to developers that they would rather risk financial ruin than focus on it.  That's pretty idiotic since the Wii's hardware is perfectly capable of producing good games.

Funny, I had just come to the opposite conclusion.  While the very best developers can guide the publishing decisions, most of the time it is the other way around.  Now that the Wii is the unquestionable market leader, publishers will start forcing their developers to make Wii games.  However, this newer batch of Wii games will actually have budget and so we'll start to see some surprise games of higher caliber.

The Wii seems to be designed specifically to discourage ambitious design.  It's targetted at non-gamers with simplified non-games that are intentionally restrictive so as to not confuse or intimidate non-gamers.

Actually, the Wii is designed to require innovation and emphasize it over graphics.  It's perfectly possible to develop real games (Zelda, Metroid, Galaxy etc.) if the market demands it.

[Stratos]

Maybe it's a differing gaming philosophy, but to "push the next part of the series as far as it could be pushed" does not mean better graphics, I believe. Judging from early impressions I've read RE 5 is merely a prettier RE 4. How is that pushing a series? The closest thing to a step forward for the series in RE 5 I have seen is the co-op mode.

[Enner]

I interpret their pushing as taking the direction RE4 set and going in excess of it. El gigante? Now we have SUPER GIGANTE! Lake monster? How about a sea monster! Vehicle sequence? Now its faster and there are more guns and explosions!

You're right, it is a different philosophy. Its the philosophy of excess, not innovation which is what you're thinking.

[Stratos]

That's a good name for it; Excess versus Innovation.

Though is it wrong to view one as better and the other as poor?

[Kairon]

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

TOTALLY misreading. &P

I think it goes to show that Capcom started planning for something on a grand scale, and by the time the Wii was revealed their project was on a course that couldn't be changed.

[Stratos]

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

TOTALLY misreading. &P

I think it goes to show that Capcom started planning for something on a grand scale, and by the time the Wii was revealed their project was on a course that couldn't be changed.

And yet they pull out a Dead Rising port. How is that any different?
I'm agreeing with those predicting an RE 5: Wii Edition. If anything Capcom will force the devs to make it due to the sales of the 4th on Wii.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I can't wait to see what Ian says when the Wii's "novelty controller" has a lot of its functions implemented in future consoles. Anyway enough with Ian's repeating anti-Wii rambles of doom.

There is no reason why RE5 could not be brought to Wii from what I've seen. At least when it comes to single player, they may need to scale down the visuals a tad, perhaps take out a couple of zombies but I see it being completely viable. Not sure about co-op though.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Well, Rize beat me to responding to Ian. There is absolutely no reason why developers can't develop full-featured games. Nintendo has done a handful that have been successful, but publishers seem too distracted by trying to reproduce the lower-budget success to consider pursuing a more traditional, larger budget title on Wii like Brawl or Metroid Prime 3.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well, Rize beat me to responding to Ian. There is absolutely no reason why developers can't develop full-featured games. Nintendo has done a handful that have been successful, but publishers seem too distracted by trying to reproduce the lower-budget success to consider pursuing a more traditional, larger budget title on Wii like Brawl or Metroid Prime 3.

TYP Monster Hunter 3 and DQX seem to be changing that trend. I do expect it to start shifting now unless Madworld/DC/Conduit end up bombing. Those titles will be key to weather or not developers are willing to take the risk developing full featured titles more often, or hide behind more simple games (though I want to clarify I don't think simple games are bad if done well).

[Kairon]

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

TOTALLY misreading. &P

I think it goes to show that Capcom started planning for something on a grand scale, and by the time the Wii was revealed their project was on a course that couldn't be changed.

And yet they pull out a Dead Rising port. How is that any different?
I'm agreeing with those predicting an RE 5: Wii Edition. If anything Capcom will force the devs to make it due to the sales of the 4th on Wii.

Oh man, an RE5:Wii edition would be sorta amazing to hear about. Then afterwards, they could make a sequel to Umbrella Chronicles! ... or not. Please don't kill me.

[Stratos]

Well, Rize beat me to responding to Ian. There is absolutely no reason why developers can't develop full-featured games. Nintendo has done a handful that have been successful, but publishers seem too distracted by trying to reproduce the lower-budget success to consider pursuing a more traditional, larger budget title on Wii like Brawl or Metroid Prime 3.

TYP Monster Hunter 3 and DQX seem to be changing that trend. I do expect it to start shifting now unless Madworld/DC/Conduit end up bombing. Those titles will be key to weather or not developers are willing to take the risk developing full featured titles more often, or hide behind more simple games (though I want to clarify I don't think simple games are bad if done well).

Don't forget FFCC: Crystal Bearers. That's been given a long development cycle.
Plus No More Heroes 2 seems to be getting a lot of special treatment considering it will have a two year dev cycle.

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

TOTALLY misreading. &P

I think it goes to show that Capcom started planning for something on a grand scale, and by the time the Wii was revealed their project was on a course that couldn't be changed.

And yet they pull out a Dead Rising port. How is that any different?
I'm agreeing with those predicting an RE 5: Wii Edition. If anything Capcom will force the devs to make it due to the sales of the 4th on Wii.

Oh man, an RE5:Wii edition would be sorta amazing to hear about. Then afterwards, they could make a sequel to Umbrella Chronicles! ... or not. Please don't kill me.

I won't kill you. I'll just make you wish I'd kill you... WUAHAHA 

[GoldenPhoenix]

In the last paragraph of the newspost are you implying that Capcom is lying, due to the game starting development prior the Wii's official reveal?

TOTALLY misreading. &P

I think it goes to show that Capcom started planning for something on a grand scale, and by the time the Wii was revealed their project was on a course that couldn't be changed.

And yet they pull out a Dead Rising port. How is that any different?
I'm agreeing with those predicting an RE 5: Wii Edition. If anything Capcom will force the devs to make it due to the sales of the 4th on Wii.

Oh man, an RE5:Wii edition would be sorta amazing to hear about. Then afterwards, they could make a sequel to Umbrella Chronicles! ... or not. Please don't kill me.

At least UC was a fresher edition to the series then RE5! BURN

I'd love to see RE5 Wii Edition, but honestly I think I'd rather they go back to their roots a bit and make a RE game specifically for Wii that cuts out the co-op, uses the RE4 engine but uses the atmosphere of games pre-RE4. Even a game that is more like a sequel to RE4 would be fine too.

[ShyGuy]

Kairon is bumming me out...