Sam and Max + Wii... Why?
Forgive me for this silly question, as I do not have a Wii...
But why is everyone so excited about the possibility? Does the design of the game system lead itself to Adventure Games? I've never played one on a system other than a computer (even though Psychonauts is supposedly the best X-box game ever)... so why would playing Sam and Max on a Wii be so great?
Rumor's floating around about Bone going on the DS, which I think makes 100000x times more sense.
Can someone explain this to me, please?
(I refuse to buy a Wii until a Jedi Lightsaber game comes out)
But why is everyone so excited about the possibility? Does the design of the game system lead itself to Adventure Games? I've never played one on a system other than a computer (even though Psychonauts is supposedly the best X-box game ever)... so why would playing Sam and Max on a Wii be so great?
Rumor's floating around about Bone going on the DS, which I think makes 100000x times more sense.
Can someone explain this to me, please?
(I refuse to buy a Wii until a Jedi Lightsaber game comes out)
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A vision for adventure games on the Wii
Bring Out Your Dead! Can Nintendo Breathe New Life into Adventure Games?
If anything deserves a Wii release, it's either Die By The Sword, or Bushido Blade
One other reason is that the sitcom-like nature of the games makes the idea of sitting back on the couch and playing them on a TV quite appealing.
This is the exact reason why I think at least TTG adventure games would work well with the Wii. The S&M series is entirely mouse based... while the Wiimote works as a cursor on screen. In fact, if you compared the two side by side, I would almost say the Wii is better suited to the S&M games than a PC... as long as you have a steady hand when trying to click those small, hard to find items
Which luckily have not been existent in the past games...
Fortunately it's already out for the PC!
:eek: Yay!!
What? I just called tech support and they told me it would be a MAC specific release... come on guys, I thought we were on the same team.
Or did they say Commodore 64?
Note: First Point and Click for wii
http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2007/03/19/agatha-christie-and-then-there-were-none-mystery-adventure-comes-to-wii.htm
Strange, that one actually did happen...
How many people would actually buy the game again on the Wii? I think I might actually... depending on how I feel at the moment of the games release.
There are many bad things to be said about Wii but most of them seem to be working in Telltale's advantage when it comes to Sam&Max
1)Wii is probably THE most over-hyped game console of the last decade, surpassing the hype of even PS2. It is an example of how clever marketing can sell an initially sub-par product. This
However. For this reason alone Wii is the fastest selling game console on the market now. (fastest selling NEW generation console to be exact) So there are many Wii's in the market now. Many Wii's mean many Sam & Max'es sold.
2)Its unorthodox control system is a head-ache for many developers. However because the Telltale control method is based on "mouse", the Wii-mote seems to be the second best way of doing it. The other consoles support mouse (XBOX 360 with the peripherial and PS3 out of the box) but what counts is the default devices.
3)From a technical standpoint the Wii is basicly a Gamecube on turbo charge. This means it is the worst next generation console in the market. (hardwarewise) This not only means its graphical power is incredibly low (you can see that from its multiplatform titles appearing almost identically on PS2) but also you'd be hard pressed to do other stuff requiring high processing power (such as advanced AI routines etc) Thankfully Sam & Max has neither high end graphics nor advanced AI or anything similar.
So basicly. It is a sound decision.
All in all, there are pros and cons to any video game console, it just comes down to preference. I am confident that Telltale's games will shine on all three consoles, and I think it's great that they are interested in getting on all three - it eliminates fanboyism.
Less power automatically means bad in an industry which is so much dependent on technological advancements. Of course many people like it. You have MAKE people like your product. That is the basic of marketing.
There are two ways you can sell something.
1)You can make your product without an alternative, eliminating all the rivals. (The general Windows marketing approach)
2)You can make the consumer like your product more than others.
The term "great looking game" really depends on many factors. e.g. Capcom's Okami is a great looking game. It is technically vastly inferior to many of the new games but the art direction makes it great. Another more popular example is World of Warcraft. Its 3d models are made of far less polygons than many other MMOs and textures are less detailed. But they save the visuals with their art direction or style. Hell the technique called cell-shading is basicly making the graphics appear worse. But it looks like a cartoon.
Less power means bad. And as I said it doesn't have much to do with the visuals (how the game looks) either. It's not like the only thing the CPU does in a game is doing the graphics. I wish it was that way. But it's not...
I also did not say it's a "headache". But if you want to put it that way, yeah it is a headache the same way a Gameboy Advance (a great system for its generation) is a headache for a developer who wants do something like let's say "gears of war" on it. "Headache" usually implies difficulty of development. (mostly how hard it is for a machine to write code for) What I was talking about is an impossibility. Bethesda Softworks recently said their Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is impossible on the Wii. Or Epic Games announced that it is impossible for the Unreal Engine 3.0 (a popular 3d engine which comes with a variety of very cool development tools) to run on a Wii.
But enough about it...
I wasn't bashing Nintendo or Telltale. I was actually happy because Sam&Max in its current state(IF they don't decide to do something radically different) does not even require lots of HP on a console. So they would not have to omit anything for the Wii. And that is always something good.
And for Nintendo. This whole thing proves that they are the king of marketing in this generation.
Just teasing. I like that the Wii is different because it forces developers to do something different and interesting, and I'm glad that Telltale seem to be looking at it as an opportunity to do something different and interesting.
This is one of the theories. I don't think that's true though. It remains to be seen.
Let us agree on one thing: Wii itself is not different. Its default control system is different. Contrary to what you may have believe I'd like to think good things about new developments. So let us assume for a moment that the control system of Wii is indeed great and the next revolution in gaming (which it is not in my opinion but that's another issue entirely)
I agree that it FORCES the developers to come up with new control schemes. But at the same time it takes away (figuratively) certain tools of their trade which they take for granted in this generation of consoles. Essentially the hardware you have got there is really 'last-gen" instead of "next-gen" And the only part of the machine I am excited about is the controls.
The FORCING issue is my problem. I don't think it's a good thing. One of the best examples to this is the best game (in my opinion) on Wii. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's really a wonderful game but the Wii's contribution to this wonderfulness is really minimal. If you can put it side by side (I did... My girlfriend owns her cube still and I have the Wii.) The games are identical to the last pixel. The only difference is that you have to SWING the controller to swing the sword. But it doesn't really "detect" your swing and move the sword accordingly. What you're doing is just a swing motion instead of pushing button. How fast you swing or what angle doesn't really matter. It has no gameplay effect. So it's worthless. And I'd prefer pushing a button.
See video games are an art form. (in my opinion as an academist) However, just like movies it's also an industry. There will always be run off the mill commercial products. And there will always be that independent movie from sundance festival. You cannot FORCE people to be creative. The best you can do is providing them with the tools to do so. The entry device is but a simple part of a gaming platform. If it was THAT important, the PC with its terrible gamepad (keyboard) would never have good games.
With that said. I still think porting Sam&max to wii is a good idea. Some games are designed for specific control systems. Point&Click adventures are designed for control systems you can...*guess what*... point and click. The only console which has a point and click device by default is Wii.
Granted, the controls may seem to be a bit tacked on with Twilight Princess, but that probably has to do with the fact that it was to be a Gamecube title at first. That said, the controls just work, so I'm not sure what the problem is there (oh, and you forgot the fishing). And also, Nintendo isn't forcing people to be creative - Super Smash Brother Brawl for instance, will still use the classic controller from what I understand, and there are still plenty of games that don't use the Wii controller that much but can still be fun to play. In short, what I'm trying to say is, to each his own, and the fact that my mother is playing Wii Sports and Wii Play pretty much every day (gah, she hadn't even touched any game since the NES era), and that I hear similar stories floating around, must mean that Nintendo is doing something right. Now you may not be part of Wii's target demographic (mainly the casual gamer with a sprinkle of hardcore), but that doesn't mean nobody likes it.
[RANT]
Gah! I HATE the term 'next-gen'. If it were truly next-gen then we wont be playing with it now would we?
Unfortunately it is CURRENT-gen. Yes boring, I know.
[/RANT]
"Unfortunately, the game offers redeeming value for prospective players. "
Oh noez! Redeeming value! I HATE when they make fun games! :P
I wasn't saying "porting games would be hard". Although now that I read what I have written one might understand it that way. No... What I was saying was because of the limitations of the hardware there are some thing you cannot do with the Wii. What I meant is a bit like... There are some things you can do with the PS2 and you cannot do with the original PS. They have almost identical control systems and just have different hardware. My main concern about Wii is that the total processing power of the system is vastly inferior compared to its opponents.
It is not a matter of vanilla and chocolate. If I may use an analogy from the Cinema industry, if the XBOX 360 and PS3 are equivalent of KODAK Vision 2 35mm. film. Wii is prettymuch the good old Super 8mm. Now... Given a good director and a good plot, you can produce a wonderful film on 8mm. But the things you'll be able to do would be limited simply because the limitations of the hardware you're using.
Liking adventure games over platform games is vanilla and chocolate. It is a matter of taste.
Nintendo IS forcing developers not to use the standard control system. It's a matter of policy. The Wii-mote is their only selling point. Back in the 90s Sony was forcing people to make games in 3D.
My problem with Zelda is that the controls add nothing to the actual gameplay. You basicly do movement macros. Link doesn't swing his sword the way you swing your wii-mote. You do the swing move... Link swings his sword. In that was doing the swing move gives you absolutely nothing more than simply pushing a button in terms of gameplay or visuals. On the contrary for a simple command it forces the player to do more. Now from a design point of view that is not good.
Wii and its controls have a lot of potential. I am yet to see it all. That being said none of the new consoles have a good libary so far. With Wii my fear is ending up with lots of obscure mini games.
Recent sociological research shows that the "hardcore gamer" and "casual gamer" categories (usually invented by the press) are awfully inaccurate. I need to find the research to quote it here tough.
I personally am no one's target demographic I suppose. Give me back my AMIGA. :P
Seriously. You can sell any console to me (indeed I have 2 out of 3 new gen consoles -I don't have my own PS3 yet-) But it's not a matter of what I like. Nor is it a matter of what people like.
It is simply a matter of electronic reality and conclusions based on the art and science of games.
People? They obviously like the Wii. They have bought an awful lot of it. And precisely that was why I was saying Nintendo did a great job at marketing.
I agree with your technical analysis of the Zelda controls, but I disagree about them being worthless to the game. I found that swinging the remote to use the sword was kind of fun, but more importantly, that pointing at the screen to aim projectiles was a huge improvement over Wind Waker. But what it all comes down to is that Twilight Princess was and is a Gamecube game tweaked slightly for Wii, so we'll have to wait for the next Wii Zelda for the "real deal."
It's interesting to see Nintendo credited with great marketing. During the N64 and Gamecube era it seemed like they couldn't market water to a dehydrated goldfish.
But allow me to swerve the thread back toward the topic. I wish there was some way to play the old LucasArts adventure games on the Wii, but as of now, it seems to be sadly impossible. So I guess we'll have to hope for Telltale and others to fill that gap
Gamecube is a sad case. For its time it really had a good hardware. Given good coders that machine was even more powerful than PS2 or XBOX for that matter. The analysis of why Gamecube failed is obvious but it could take a whole page here. (some would disagree that it failed but my measure of "failure" here is "not being the best selling console of that generation" ) One of the reasons is PS2 already being an overwhelmingly popular console at the time. And XBOX was more hyped than Gamecube. But that's not only it...
It seems like Nintendo has learned some very valuable lessons from their past failures. Just compare them to the terrible mistakes done by Sony. Yes I do believe Nintendo is king of marketing in this generation.
I have run ScummVM for while on the company's PS3. It works quite well. But it wasn't a dedicated build for the console.
I can't see why running it on Wii is "impossible" in theory. Chips allowing you to run homebrew software are already in the market here (unless I am mistaken. I still haven't modded my wii)