Nintendo Silently Luring Developers Away From XBLA and PSN
Something I've been mostly oblivious to recently is the distaste developers have developed for Xbox Live Arcade. Developers have become increasingly less satisfied with the system after the most recent cut in royalty payouts , the flood of retro titles and the general cluttered nature of system makes developers unhappy with the system.
Nintendo is secretly capitalizing on this discord by running luring developers over to the WiiWare platform. Touting more freedom on pricing, higher royalty payouts, a more organized platform and more freedom in development many developers are adopting the console for their platform.
Nintendo has made it very clear to us that we'll not only be making a better royalty rate from WiiWare games, but we'll also have a better chance of selling games - the service won't be clogged up with the retro titles that have blighted the chances of many independent studios on Xbox Live Arcade
Anonymous as they may be, developers are being rather harsh at the old system.
Frankly, we're not looking at making games for Xbox Live Arcade because the service is full of s**t
Frankly, I don't see WiiWare fixing the problem of disorganization. I do enjoy the Virtual Console, but the entire system is pretty haphazard in comparison to Xbox Live Marketplace. The limits on items per page, the size and speed of the platform is fairly frustrating in contrast. I think this all comes down to money really, cheaper development and more royalties will win over just about any developer. Does this mark the end of PSN or Xbox Live Marketplace? It is highly unlikely, but we won't know until the WiiWare platform goes live.
Nintendo's 'secret war' on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Store [develop]
Asterick
Posted to Video Games on 18 March 2008
· Comments (11)
Other stuff like this: gauntlet thrown, microsoft, nintendo, psn, sony, wiiware, xbox live arcade
It is interesting how the only console without a substantial hard drive is pulling stray digital developers.
No surprise that Microsoft's LIVE newtork is taking the brunt of the flack for this one.
Yeah, the lack of hard drive space is gonna make the WiiWare stuff hard to justify, unless you feel like buying stock in an SD card company.
The lack of harddrive or SD storage seems kind of shortsighted for Nintendo. They are so concentrated on third party developers (rightly so considering their past) that they are forgetting the consumers. But then again, I don't really know any number.
The cheaper development and higher payout will be very attractive to small games developers. It's so hard to start up a small game company nowaday, they really do need all the help they can get.
As pleased as I am these guys are migrating to the Wii, I'm surprised that one of the factors is "too many retro titles on XBLA". This developer is aware that the large button right next to the 'Wii Ware' button on the Wii Shop Channel is the Virtual Console, right?
Now now, there's no need to resort to pointing out glaring similarities between the services, it really hinder the generic OMGM$$$$KILLINGBABIESSOFT hate.
Knock it off :0
Besides, emulators work just as well, why pay for freely downloadable stuff, I got a truckload of N64 roms and PJ64 working near perfectly, hello Goldeneye.
I'm not so sure the lack of harddrive should be considered "shortsighted" on Nintendo's behalf— from the beginning the Wii has been self-described strictly as a "game console," whatever that entails. Long definition short, Nintendo claims not to be very interested in the downloading of trailers, music, and movies. However, the recently announced firmware upgrade to allow Japanese Wiis to play DVDs shows that Nintendo recognizes other avenues of travel are okay (and profitable).
I've downloaded sixty dollars worth of virtual console games and haven't begun to get close to needing to use an SD card. Of course, the limit of retro titles (and especially indie titles) is. . . well, limited.
>> Neo >> There are many of us who prefer to support the industry by acquiring our content through completely legal means.
The reverse engineering of a gaming system into an emulator may be legal under U.S. law, but current statutes tend to prohibit ROM distribution.
It's understandable to have an outside party emulate an obscure, foreign title that has little to no chance of reemergence, but when you're reproducing and consuming games that are currently in production and under copyright, you're on the wrong side of the law (and possibly devoid of ethics).
I have to agree with QueerOtter. I have a 2GB SD card in my Wii and, despite downloading dozens of Virtual Console games, haven't even needed to move anything onto my SD card. These games are pretty light, after all. Not that I'll never run out of space, but I imagine the games Wii Ware are going to be putting out are not going to be 5GB downloads by any means.
Also, stealing games is cheating.
MuddBstrd: The key difference there is that Wii has a clear line between new Wii software and retro hits. Yes, both services provide old and new content, but Wii's current layout (it's bound to change with WiiWare's launch) makes the distinction more clear than XBLA. It doesn't shock me to hear that is one of the biggest complaints with XBLA. Especially after Jeff Minter's infamous (and hilarious for the wrong reasons) "Frogger" Rant. I'm not saying he's right, but this is not a rare feeling among XBLA devs.
Neo: How many games do you actually buy versus pirate? I'm not trying to be mean or anything, I'm actually curious about this. Any time I've seen you commenting/posting here, you are always talking up how you pirate this or that game for one reason or another [see the FF:CC DS post for an example]. What hoops does a game have to go through to actually see your money?
I've spent £300 on games, $580 of your US dollars on software this year, I've downloaded a couple of games [Broken Sword and some SCUMMVM stuff], so actually I'm a really good buy and a large consumer with a bit turnover, I'm every developers dream..
I only own a 360 and PC..
I would say it's currently 3 downloaded to 8 games bought..
I don't dislike piracy and see why it exists, I have no moral disinclination or anything like that, the software is just a tool for my enjoyment, if I buy it fine, if I don't, also fine.. I can deal with companies not making money, even when a human face is put on them, job losses etc, can't say I'm too bothered..
I wasn't talking about me in the FF DS thread, I couldn't figure out coding in college, let alone with 3 years of drinking on top of that now..
Last full game I downloaded was Bioshock for PC, I won't pay for anything with such a ridiculous licensing policy, ever..
"I'm a really good buy and a large consumer with a bit turnover, I'm every developers dream."
"I can deal with companies not making money, even when a human face is put on them, job losses etc, can't say I'm too bothered.."
Every developer's dream? Yeah...see...that's the thing. You are not *every* developers dream. Not being crabby about it, but you're pretty far from that dream. You don't consistently buy the games you play for arbitrary reasons that are most often times beyond the developers control (ex. Bioshock). You pirate games on principle (ex. FF:CC DS). And you don't see anything wrong with people losing their jobs because of it. Personally speaking, you're not my dream customer.
It really sucks that you enjoy games on the level that you do, yet won't bothered to see the negative ethical or legal aspects of your actions, be it in the form of companies shutting down, people in our community losing jobs, etc. You're a hardcore gamer. You should be among the first group of people to see the value in games. You shouldn't be last person to pay for them.
But uh...thanks for explaining it me.