Factor 5 is going to sweat Wii hardware
Monday, January 14th, 2008 at 6:04pm by Blake
IGN brings word today that Factor 5, once critical of Wii’s paltry graphics, is now making an unannounced Wii game without using GameCube tech.
Not only did Factor 5 work with Nintendo to develop GameCube’s audio solution, but it pushed the console harder on a graphics level than just about every other studio, Nintendo included. Bearing that in mind, fans can rest assured that whatever the company’s new Wii game is, it’s a safe bet that it’ll look good and push the hardware.
Rogue Squadron II for GameCube was one of the most polished games of last generation. I’m confident Factor 5 will make the Wii hardware sweat as well.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
HOLY CRAP YES!!!!!!!!!!
January 14th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I´m very happy to read this
January 14th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
This is great news for Wii owners. I’m hoping for a new Rogue Squadron sequel, but the fact that Wii is getting more top-tier support is exciting regardless of what the game ends up being.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I still have a sneaking suspicion that it will be an enhanced port collection of the two Rogue Squadron games, unless they go ahead and update the N64 version as well, and make it a trilogy on one disk.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Agree, ejamer.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I think it will be a new IP. That is clearly the direction factor 5 want to go in. Employees have said in interviews that they feel they’ve done all they can with flying Star Wars games, and Lair was their new IP on PS3, but it flopped. I personally think that Lair and the PS3 taught them that more powerful hardware does not necessarily a great game make.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Well said boisv.
Rogue Squadron II had some crazy space battle with tons of ships, and that was one of the early games for the Gamecube.
I’m definitely looking forward to Factor 5’s next IP.
January 14th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Wow, who would have guessed that one? This is indeed a crazy time for the video game industry. Hope they do well with their future endeavors. I’ve always liked Factor 5.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Great news for Nintendo…and it goes to show that if u can sell the hardware great developers will come. I expect nothing but a great AAA title from them.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Now you’re making me hope for a new Rogue Squadron game! Let’s hope they give us something good.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
word on the street is it ISN’T a rogue squadron game. Turrican is in the runing, although it’s way too early to know for sure.
Let’s just hope it ain’t Lair 2.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Why is everyone praising Turrican? It just looks like Duke Nukem before it went 3-D.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:19 am
This is awesome news, considering that they criticized the Wii’s 3rd party support it should be interesting to see what sorts of games they release on the Wii.
The new game is meant to not be a VC game and it doesn’t use the same engine for their GCN games.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:33 am
Welcome back Factor 5. I think they feel jaded by how much hate they got on Lair and are hoping for a more warm welcome on Nintendo hardware to wash the taste out of their mouths.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Rogue Squadron II was one of the only games I can remember last gen that was directly compared to a movie…and was STILL pretty hard to tell the difference! And it’s a Gamecube game!! Awesome I can’t wait to see what Factor 5 can pull off! ^^
January 15th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
LOL!
Everyone is all excited, praising Factor 5 for coming to make a great LOOKING Wii game, while spending the last year defending the Wii’s poor visuals as secondary to its MOTION controls?
Lets hope Factor 5 learnt their lessons on motion control…eh? Wow, what a sh!t pile they made for the PS3.
I hope for an all new IP, with great visuals, but most importantly, great Wii controls. After all, that’s what the wii is all about? I am excited for the return of Factor 5!
January 15th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I was a big fan of the Rogue Squadron series and am looking forward to their Wii project. I have a lot of respect for these guys. They need a chance to redeem themselves after Lair. Whatever Factor 5 brings to the table, it should put most Wii games to shame in terms of graphics.
January 15th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
@wii wii
Good point.
Oddly, my favorite Factor 5 games have been the Rogue Squadron series… and in that series, the graphics and sound have always impressed me more there than the gameplay. (Gameplay isn’t bad, just not as cool as the presentation.)
Honestly, I think there has to be a balance between the two. Given the choice between a fun game and a pretty game, I’ll almost always pick “fun”… but there is no reason Wii games can’t be fun AND look sexy at the same time.
Regardless, I’m happy that Factor 5 is giving Wii development a shot and look forward to seeing what they can do with the system.
January 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Rogue Squadron II was easily the best GameCube game in terms of graphics, sound, and fighter flight simulation gameplay! It is probably also the best game Factor 5 ever made.
Unfortunately, they dropped the ball on Rogue Squadron III, in my opinion… The on-foot missions were horrendous and took away the enjoyment of the flight simulation missions, and the decision to create shading within the 3D model spaceships didn’t add realism to the visuals, it just made it more difficult to play.
I would only recommend Rogue Squadron III for the two-player cooperative campaign, which actually goes through the Rogue Squadron II campaign, not the Rogue Squadron III campaign.
January 16th, 2008 at 8:33 am
“Everyone is all excited, praising Factor 5 for coming to make a great LOOKING Wii game, while spending the last year defending the Wii’s poor visuals as secondary to its MOTION controls?”
I don’t know that this is exactly what’s happening, nor what has happened in the past. I think you’re desire to see irony is blinding your perceptions.
I don’t think people have been defending the wii’s “poor visuals” so much.
I think a lot of us are complaining when a developer delivers poor visuals because the Wii is perfectly capable of delivering beautiful visuals. What we’re defending when it comes to visuals is the Wii’s lack of HD. That is not to say that we are perfectly content with shitty looking games. We are not.
As for people being excited for Factor 5, this does not somehow imply a reversal of “controls are most important” to gameplay”. Indeedn they are. Yes, graphics are secondary, but given most of our experience with Factor 5 games on Wii, we believe they are very capably of delivering both. Particularly when they are not burdened by the idea of making a game that is prettier than any game ever made, which is part of the problem I think they had on Lair. The other part of the problem is that I think Sony forced them to use motion controls at the last minute which created a situation where the game had “early” controls that weren’t well fleshed out and had lots of problems. If they are making a game for Wii, they’ll know from the start that motion controls will be important so hopefully we can avoid some of the issues with Lair.
Anyway, this is also important because a developer who was well liked had gone on to do other things and is now back working on a Nintendo platform, thats great for us as gamers.