Nintendo leaning on thirdparties for Wii U

January 31st, 2012, 10:16 Posted By: wraggster

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has said that the company is using external studios to make games for Wii U which would previously have been developed externally.
Speaking to investors following last week's disappointing financial results, Iwata moved to allay shareholder fears about the impact Wii U's processing power could have on Nintendo's development budgets. In addition to using the services of external developers,Iwata was keen to point out that not every Wii U game would take full advantage of its processing grunt.
"Looking at the software for home console systems, there are certainly titles for which very rich graphics must be reproduced on HD display and which demand that a large number of developers spend a very long time to develop," he said. "But we do not think that any and all software must be created in that fashion.
"When you look at Nintendo's software, extraordinary rich graphics, massive gameplay volume and astonishing rendition effects are not necessarily the appealing point. It is, in fact, important for us that our games are appealing in other ways as well.
"When we need massive power and have a lack of internal resources, we collaborate with outside resources. We are increasing the frequency of working with outside developers where [Shigeru] Miyamoto and our internal developers alone used to develop."
Iwata goes on to stress that Wii U will be far more than just the Wii upgraded to reach technical parity with PS3 and Xbox 360, saying the new console would "not be forced into competing with the others where the contenders can fight only with massive developer resources and long development times as their weapons."
Which sounds very much like Nintendo is hedging its bets: Wii U will be capable of throwing HD graphics around at speed, but the company won't force it on developers and we shouldn't expect every firstparty title to show the system at its technical peak. This will help ensure the continued flow of quality software, the lack of which Iwata gives as partial justification for 3DS's early struggles and something he has vowed to remedy in the coming year. There are, of course, exceptions.
"It is true that, in some software areas, we need to be engaged in the power games," he said. "Take the Legend Of Zelda franchise, for example. The fans must be looking for the graphic representations that they do not see as cheap at all when the title is released for the Wii U.
"When it is necessary, we do not hesitate to roll out our resources."

http://www.edge-online.com/news/nint...dparties-wii-u

There are 0 comments - Join In and Discuss Here