Why is the Wii Version that bad?

edited November 2010 in Sam & Max
I am playing Season 2 on the Wii atm and I am shocked about the technical flaws. Not only are the minigames near to unplayable, it also hangs and stutters constantly, especially in episode one with the big robot.

I liked Season One on PC and I really have to say, I can't understand how Telltale can give the green light for such a bad version. :(

Comments

  • edited October 2010
    This might help explain things for you:

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PortingDisaster

    Long story short, porting a game isn't as easy it sounds.
  • edited October 2010
    poster0815 wrote: »
    I am playing Season 2 on the Wii atm and I am shocked about the technical flaws. Not only are the minigames near to unplayable, it also hangs and stutters constantly, especially in episode one with the big robot.

    I liked Season One on PC and I really have to say, I can't understand how Telltale can give the green light for such a bad version. :(

    Wii hardware isn't as good as a decent PC and it's mega compressed to fit on the Wiiware service.

    That's why Season 3 isn't on Wii. It would explode.
  • edited October 2010
    Wii hardware isn't as good as a decent PC and it's mega compressed to fit on the Wiiware service.

    That's why Season 3 isn't on Wii. It would explode.

    Wii: I want to see that so bad!
    Sam: But your head would have exploded!
    Wii: That's why you need to tape record it for me, Sam!
  • edited October 2010
    Wii hardware isn't as good as a decent PC and it's mega compressed to fit on the Wiiware service.

    That's why Season 3 isn't on Wii. It would explode.

    It's a disc release, not Wiiware. Also, ToMI is on the Wii, Wiiware at that, is TDP THAT much more powerful?

    Also, I blame bad porting.
  • edited October 2010
    This might help explain things for you:

    http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PortingDisaster

    Long story short, porting a game isn't as easy it sounds.

    Yes, I am aware that it can be difficult, but seriously, was there no Quality Management or Game Testing involved?

    I really like Sam and Max and I consider the Wii version not to be good advertising for the series at all.
  • edited October 2010
    Wii hardware isn't as good as a decent PC and it's mega compressed to fit on the Wiiware service.

    That's why Season 3 isn't on Wii. It would explode.

    It's a DVD Disc, not Wii Ware. I played through episode one and wanted to load episode 2, wouldn't let me, wouldn't load, I had to turn off the Wii and turn it on again to start the next episode :eek:

    Also, you don't need a very decent PC for Sam and Max at all. A GeForce 4 was enough to play Season One in all it's glory, or even a 6 year old gfx card like the 6600GT was good and fast enough.

    It uses the dvd drive like a dj when he scratches. And the resolution is also far lower than on PC, so there is no much excuse for the state it's in.

    The real reason for season 3 not coming to the Wii might be, that it doesn't sell very well, and that might be directly related to the quality problems with the first two Wii versions.

    Telltale needs guys who know the Wii hardware better.
  • edited October 2010
    poster0815 wrote: »
    Telltale needs guys who know the Wii hardware better.

    Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People was good on the Wii, though that's probably because, unlike Sam and Max, Telltale intended a Wii release and developed it with the Wii in mind.
  • edited October 2010
    Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People was good on the Wii, though that's probably because, unlike Sam and Max, Telltale intended a Wii release and developed it with the Wii in mind.

    Yeah, I wouldn't underestimate the power of the Wii. I've played through some awesome graphics on that thing. Resident Evil comes to mind (including the on-rails shooters):D
    I did struggle through some scenes of S&M seasons 1 and 2 on the Wii. They weren't totally unplayable and were pretty good actually. But the minigame with torture me elmer was horrible.
  • edited October 2010
    Torture me Elmer? That was nothing, the 205 minigame was way way worse.
  • edited October 2010
    Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People was good on the Wii, though that's probably because, unlike Sam and Max, Telltale intended a Wii release and developed it with the Wii in mind.

    Didn't play that, but it seems to proof that it can be done better ;)
  • edited October 2010
    Gohaku wrote: »
    Yeah, I wouldn't underestimate the power of the Wii. I've played through some awesome graphics on that thing. Resident Evil comes to mind (including the on-rails shooters):D
    I did struggle through some scenes of S&M seasons 1 and 2 on the Wii. They weren't totally unplayable and were pretty good actually. But the minigame with torture me elmer was horrible.

    ACK, just look at the Lego Games on Wii.

    No, they are not unplayable, but if it wasn't Sam and Max I think I would not bother playing it at all.
  • edited October 2010
    SunnyGuy wrote: »
    Torture me Elmer? That was nothing, the 205 minigame was way way worse.


    The bagpipe race, or generally all games involving driving... *shudder*
  • edited October 2010
    Season 3 could not work on wii it can EXPLODE in less than 2 min or the xbox 360 lool XD (JK about 360 its weird season 3 is not on 360 instead its ps3 console excusive... also its for PC/MAC) oh well it worked much better on Ps3 version(season 3) then wii ver(season 2) .. wii version of season 2 has alot of SLOW DOWNS!!!! this is why i want PS3 version of Season 1 and 2 for PS3 =) i have wii version of season 2 and i really liked the story but i didnt like the the glitches and bugs/... slow loading screen that would take like 2 or 4 min
  • edited October 2010
    Im sure the wii could play the devils playhouse, anyone played Twilight Princess, I think that is a little more graphically than TDP, and its not like they have to release it on wiiware, since it is out already.
    Also, I am normaly the one who would back up the wii and say the version is fine(see all of my rants in any of the tales wiiware complaints) but this was the one time I chose not the wii version, so yeah.
  • edited October 2010
    poster0815 wrote: »
    ACK, just look at the Lego Games on Wii.

    No, they are not unplayable, but if it wasn't Sam and Max I think I would not bother playing it at all.
    There are good graphics and bad ones too for the wii :) I guess there were major porting issues for S&M.
    SunnyGuy wrote: »
    Torture me Elmer? That was nothing, the 205 minigame was way way worse.
    There's more? I didn't bother with the minigames after Elmer. owowowowowowow!
    :D
  • edited October 2010
    The Wii is the weakest of the consoles, but it's not bad. Games like Mario Galaxy and Monster Hunter Tri certainly look better than Sam and Max so I don't think it was power issues.

    Most likely bad porting. Telltale weren't the ones who ported it to the Wii I believe... wasn't it Atari?
  • edited November 2010
    Season one ran fairly well on my wii. I didn't know season 2 was released, but I was very happy with the PC version
  • edited November 2010
    Zonino wrote: »
    Telltale weren't the ones who ported it to the Wii I believe... wasn't it Atari?

    Correct.
  • edited November 2010
    Atari published it, but are you sure Telltale didn't develop it? It's my understanding that they've developed all their Wii ports thus far.
  • edited November 2010
    I had a LOT of problems with the wii version of season 2, particularly on 202, whenever I'd try to make the gong in stinky's able to bring a vortex over, it would freeze up - every single time. This, along with not wanting to wait another two years for season 3 (I played all of season 1 on wii no problem and was waiting for season 2 happily) was why I got the complete collection on PC and just finished season 2 on PC.

    It's really disappointing given the disc release not needing to worry about wiiware space limits that it couldn't be done well. The wii as a system may be less powerful then the other two consoles this generation, but it certainly is capable of more than what it is used for typically.
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