SEGA boss: Most innovative games will be on the Wii
Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 11:37am by Jack
Even today, after so many years have passed since Nintendo and SEGA battled for the living room, it still strikes me as a little odd to hear SEGA execs heaping praise on their once bitter rival. It’s almost as weird as when I think about Mario and Sonic competing in the Olympic Games later this winter. *shudder*
Today, SEGA’s North American president — who is not actually Dr. Robotnik, I was surprised to learn — Simon Jeffrey told MCV that “Wii’s low development costs will mean that third-party output on the system will be noticeably more original than that on Xbox 360 and PS3 for the next two years.”
“There is no doubt that we will see more risks, and therefore more creativity on both the Wii and the DS in the next couple of years. Just look at what EA is already doing on the Wii – EA doesn’t usually do that kind of game.
“We will probably see a fair bit of standardisation for a while from third party publishers in the games that they develop for 360 and PS3, as the huge development costs are ‘rationalised’.”
Jeffry also praised XBOX Live Arcade and the PS3’s online marketplace services, saying they “offered Sega a route to get novel content onto the systems (read: new ways to sell content and microtransactions).”
August 31st, 2007 at 2:32 pm
I know I cry myself to sleep some nights, then have nightmares about Sonic being in the glory that will be Super Smash Bros Brawl… *agreeing shudder*
August 31st, 2007 at 2:50 pm
“[...]Just look at what EA is already doing on the Wii – EA doesn’t usually do that kind of game.”
Is he talking about Boogie?
August 31st, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Jack, do you have some sort of bias against SEGA? Sonic is a good character, and though I don’t think he should be in a game with Mario (especially a sports game… *shudders too*), SEGA is a good company.
August 31st, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Of course they are. Did I imply otherwise? I shudder because, award or no, Sonic and Mario in the Olympics could be frightening.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:20 pm
S E G A !
August 31st, 2007 at 5:01 pm
“EA doesn’t usually do that kind of game.”
Haha! Burn!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:33 pm
It’s a good point. Lower dev cost means more risk taking. The original and innvoative content on the high end machines will be more geared towards a few highly polished gems (bioshock, mass effect both have fantastic inovations- but also are firmly rooted in some traditional gameplay). th wii can get the really crazy radical stuff funded though.
but, aside from allowing higher risk projects to be funded, the wii should drive innovation just because. I mean, it’s a motion wand! The level of innovation so far has generally dissappointed me, but I think will build over time.
still, as an aside, i’m also largely dissapppointed by 3rd party ds innvoation. take kirby canvas curse- what a great way to control a game! I think the ds could use original thought like that.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:51 pm
I agree with deepthought - i actually thought the name was deepthroat, but that’s because of my a.d.d. - kirby canvas curse was not a demo of some sort like yoshi touch n go, but a full game. Why can’t other developers do this with both the Wii and D.S? It makes me sad that Nintendo has changed a lot of their philosophy as to the traditional controls, and not that many have began to take advantage of it.
But sooner, hopefully, the Wii games will be better.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:43 am
he’s just kissing everyones ass. Last time he said the Wii wouldn’t last anymore than 2 years before it is left eating dust by the Ps3. He mentions again the 2 years. So according to him what will happen on year 3?
September 1st, 2007 at 9:09 am
sega is weird, i think it was sega europe sounding stupid a few times not too far back but here is sega america sounding coherent.
as for EA comment:
whether people like the game or not, boogie is a new IP trying to be unique, it was a good try at a dance game where you could put limited moves to music, and it gives them something to expand apon if they believe the core concept was liked, even if the actual implimentation wasnt. honestly, if you read reviews and impressions, people liked the ideas in boogie, but did have problems with how they played out.
the stuff like family play in some of their sports games is unique and can make it easier for parents and children to play sports games together. they didnt even think about this before, but its an uphill battle educating an expanded audience and getting gamers and parents to open up to the idea of looking into these options.
mysims is the first time they have tried catering to the japanese audience specifically, and making its just coincidental timing, but trying this unique aproach is a first, and only on nintendo consoles. i hope they are especially successful with that one since while i am not a sims fan, i am a fan of games like this which give me an animal crossing feeling.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:18 am
Is innovation the whole point of Wii? I want to see some new genres come out of the woodwork. Though I am really happy that the point and click adventure can come back, now with motion control puzzles to back it up. Monkey Island anyone?
September 1st, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I don’t think lower dev costs on the Wii will matter all that much at all, because it’s not going to be significant enough of a drop. It’s still going to be really expensive to make a game for it. What developers are really going to be interested in are services like XBLA and Wii Ware (if they ever get that sorted out), because it takes away the manufacturing costs via digital distribution.
Also, I keep hearing people saying things like, “Man, they could do all kinds of things with that remote!” To that I say, like what? They’ve already used it as a gun, a steering wheel, a sword, a pointer, a joystick, a baseball bat, a tennis racket, etc. Frankly, I can’t think of very many other ways they could use it that would actually make for a good game. As much as I love my Wii, I’m predicting that within a year we’ll see the limits of what it can do effectively.
If I’m right (and I pray that I’m wrong), then Nintendo needs to think of something fast or they’ll be left in the dust by the PS3 and 360, which will be starting to hit their stride at about that time.
September 2nd, 2007 at 5:53 am
“They’ve already used it as a gun, a steering wheel, a sword, a pointer, a joystick, a baseball bat, a tennis racket, etc. Frankly, I can’t think of very many other ways they could use it that would actually make for a good game.”
Mmmmm… I don’t know what other games you play, we been living for decades on games about sports, guns, swords, driving, and Nintendo is creating this thing called non-game genre that most people don’t understand ” a game without a gun or a steering wheel or a sword?, bollocks! that’s not a game!” I’m my opinion it would be a shame if they just kept making the same games every generation using that same stuff.
about what else can be done, The imagination is the limit. Look at the DS and it’s microphone with a single touchscreen. Pretty limiting hardware in my opinion, and if you had told me it at launch it would have a guitar simulation or a lie detector software software in a couple years, I would have started laughing…
September 2nd, 2007 at 8:09 am
Yeah, I think what’s exciting about the Wii is the wacky stuff developers come up with that we weren’t expecting. I sure as hell didn’t expect Nintendogs on the DS (the specific implementation, not the virtual pet part which had been done many times before) and that makes me think Nintendo itself has a lot more up its sleeve.
The fact that Wii Fit needed a new peripheral makes me a little nervous, though, but who knows, maybe Nintendo will start selling all Wiis with the balance board.
As for the other two “hitting their stride” and Nintendo being “left in the dust” in a year’s time…. that would require most third-party developers to be ignoring the sales figures right now. Do you think they are?
September 4th, 2007 at 3:28 am
[...] Today, SEGA’s North American president — who is not actually Dr. Robotnik, I was surprised to learn — Simon Jeffrey told MCV that “Wii’s low development costs will mean that third-party output on the system will be noticeably more original than that on Xbox 360 and PS3 for the next two years.” (more…) [...]