Topic: Beyond Good and Evil 2 in Preproduction

[animecyberrat]

forget about sales figures and start writing letters to Ubisoft. If enough Wii owners write letters to the publisher, and they look at the system sales one more time, then it has a better chance than if we just bitch amongst ourselves. It worked for MK Deception and GC fans. Plus Ubisoft loves the Wii so if the game is green lit I would suspect a Wii port would be a condition.

[NWR_insanolord]

A petition is worth a shot, and is most likely already up somewhere, but we should probably wait for Ubisoft to agree to publish the game in the first place before we demand more platforms.

[KDR_11k]

I disagree, if they haven't approved the game yet that means changing platforms is easier and profit estimates can be done for a different userbase.

[Ceric]

BG&E is a stealth game.  By that it makes sense to put it with the rest of those.

[NWR_Lindy]

As a developer, why the heck would I want to put BG&E 2 (or GTA IV for that matter) on Wii?  That doesn't make any sense to me, even with the massive Wii install base.  With both BG&E 2 and GTA IV, the goal from a dev standpoint would be to:

1) Take the game world to the next level, making it larger and more immersive
2) Do things that couldn't be done on last-generation hardware

This eliminates Wii right off the bat.  Ancel's already done BG&E on last-gen hardware, and Wii is essentially last-gen hardware.  What more could he do with a Wii version that hasn't already been done in the first game, aside from motion control?  It would be a bit better graphically, but it would be impossible for it to be a quantum leap over BG&E like, say, GTA IV is over the PS2 GTAs.

For me, BG&E 2 being PS3/360 only is a no-brainer.  If developers want to release an upgraded version of an IP already released on GCN/Xbox/PS2, it isn't going to be on Wii because its hardware isn't appreciably different from GameCube.  It's simply not a "next-gen" console in that respect.

[IceCold]

What more could he do with a Wii version that hasn't already been done in the first game, aside from motion control?

Aside from motion control? I'd much rather a fresh BG&E with Wii controls than a prettier, bigger one on the PS3 or 360..

[Jonnyboy117]

It was fun to brush off my French skills for this article.

[Kairon]

As a developer, why the heck would I want to put BG&E 2 (or GTA IV for that matter) on Wii?  That doesn't make any sense to me, even with the massive Wii install base.  With both BG&E 2 and GTA IV, the goal from a dev standpoint would be to:

1) Take the game world to the next level, making it larger and more immersive
2) Do things that couldn't be done on last-generation hardware

This eliminates Wii right off the bat.  Ancel's already done BG&E on last-gen hardware, and Wii is essentially last-gen hardware.  What more could he do with a Wii version that hasn't already been done in the first game, aside from motion control?  It would be a bit better graphically, but it would be impossible for it to be a quantum leap over BG&E like, say, GTA IV is over the PS2 GTAs.

For me, BG&E 2 being PS3/360 only is a no-brainer.  If developers want to release an upgraded version of an IP already released on GCN/Xbox/PS2, it isn't going to be on Wii because its hardware isn't appreciably different from GameCube.  It's simply not a "next-gen" console in that respect.

I'm saddened to think that the only way Ancel could improve his game would be to put more clock cycles behind it.

What Ancel needs to do with BG&E2 is revisit his method of connecting with players because he's tackling something that polygons can't solve: the presence of corruption in the world, the moral of resistance in defense of what's right, and the impetus to organize against that.

Great directors don't make better movies because they have higher definition film. They make better movies because they connect with the audience and impart powerful messages. BG&E was already a failure at connecting with audiences in the last generation, and all the polygons in the world won't fix that on the 360 or PS3. The Wii, on the other hand, is the best thing since the NES to connect people with gaming in new and exciting ways. It and BG&E are made for each other.

[KDR_11k]

Silks, you have weird goals that basically translate to "better graphics". There's not much that couldn't be done on last-gen hardware (mostly large numbers of enemies) and BG&E wouldn't benefit from it anyway. You'd just throw more polygons at it and BG&E isn't a game that needs those either. BG&E doesn't need much beyond continuing the story. No waggle, no HD, no online play.

Also, BG&E isn't a popular series, it won't make much money. Making a 360/PS3 game costs roughly twice as much as a Wii game. If convincing your bosses to spend 10 million on your project doesn't work out I don't think asking for 20 million will fix it.

BTW, BG&E involves a lot of first person sniping, mouse or wiimote control is probably better for that than a gamepad.

[Kairon]

Good points KDR. Yet more reasons why BG & E really should be on the Wii.

The question is... would it benefit from some sort of multi-platform release? Wii + PS2? Or would they port the game to 360 and PS3, but with Wii as the lead development platform?

[NWR_insanolord]

Or would they port the game to 360 and PS3, but with Wii as the lead development platform?

Unless something huge happens in the industry and the world of game development you are never going to see that happen with a game that's not casual-focused.

[Kairon]

Or would they port the game to 360 and PS3, but with Wii as the lead development platform?

Unless something huge happens in the industry and the world of game development you are never going to see that happen with a game that's not casual-focused.

I believe that the next Spyro game has the Wii as the lead platform even though it's hitting XBox360 and PS2.

[NWR_insanolord]

Or would they port the game to 360 and PS3, but with Wii as the lead development platform?

Unless something huge happens in the industry and the world of game development you are never going to see that happen with a game that's not casual-focused.

I believe that the next Spyro game has the Wii as the lead platform even though it's hitting XBox360 and PS2.

Not exactly hardcore, but close enough. Who publishes Spyro? I didn't think there was a third party publisher with enough common sense to realize that you'd probably have more of an audience for a platformer on a Nintendo platform than on Sony or MS.

[DAaaMan64]

I actually had a friend of mine tell me he doesn't like 3d platformers 0_0.  I've never heard of that...

[shammack]

Apart from Mario they are all pretty bad.

[Kairon]

Not exactly hardcore, but close enough. Who publishes Spyro? I didn't think there was a third party publisher with enough common sense to realize that you'd probably have more of an audience for a platformer on a Nintendo platform than on Sony or MS.

Oh woops, it's actually the next Crash game evidently. Probably more traditional gaming than hardcore, but yeah.

It's apparently Sierra publishing, and Radical Entertainment developing the console versions. They're scaling up the graphics for th 360 version. Though with Crash, it's probably evident that the userbase skews younger as well as more universal instead of "core."

I actually had a friend of mine tell me he doesn't like 3d platformers 0_0.  I've never heard of that...

Show him New Super Mario Bros?

[NWR_insanolord]

New Super Mario Bros. isn't a 3D platformer, it's a 2D platformer with 3D graphics.

[Kairon]

That's why he'll like it!

[IceCold]

But maybe he already likes 2D platformers..

[DAaaMan64]

Apart from Mario they are all pretty bad.

Banjo-Kazooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
First 2 Spyro's were good
Cubivore
ChibiRobo(Is that a platformer?)
I played some of Sly Cooper and liked it.
Crash Bandacoot back in the day wasn't to bad.
Amongst others...

EDIT:

Silicon Valley
Donkey Kong 64(Hey I liked it)
Ratchet and Clank games are suppose to be good.
Buck Bumble (is that a platformer?)
Psyconauts
...

[NWR_insanolord]

Sonic Adventure 1 was damn good.

[Kairon]

A lot of those are action games Daaaman64, not real platformers. When shooting a gun or driving a vehicle becomes more important than using a character to leap around and master an environment... you're an action game.

[DAaaMan64]

I figured. Well then come on, there really aren't THAT many platformers then.  Does that make the new Banjo-Kazooie not a platformer?

[Kairon]

Perhaps... there is a certain amount of genre bleeding going on. I guess it'll be important to pay attention to how the vehicle aspect of the new BJ&K is incorporated into gameplay.

[NWR_insanolord]

Nintendo's the only developer, or at least the only publisher, that still has an interest in real platforming, the closest anyone else comes is action-platforming, stuff like Kairon was talking about.