Is The Conduit Destined To Fail?
With recent release and initial retail struggling of high profile third-party releases (most notably MadWorld and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars) on Nintendo platforms, everyone is talking about why these games just don't seem to make the traction that more casual fare does. While many make the claim that traditional hardcore gamers simply don't have a Wii, European game designer Ian Fisch has a very different view.
How many hardcore gamers do you know? How many of them own Wii's? If the answer is "most", then you probably support a basic premise of my argument - that a ton of hardcore gamers own the Wii.
With just about 49 million Wiis sold worldwide, it only makes sense that a good portion of these systems belong to hardcore gamers. Who else bought all those copies of Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, and (to a lesser extent) No More Heroes? So if there are a ton of hardcore gamers that own the platform, why are we seeing the majority of hardcore games sink in retail? Fisch has come up with something that everyone is thinking, but no industry analyst is willing to admit. Simply put: core Wii games aren't just competing with each other, but also have to content with HD console content of the same genre. And in order to actually compete, Wii games have to provide something that HD counterparts cannot. His explanation of these makes sense with high profile cases his blog post details, but Fisch is ready to put this theory to the test with The Conduit.
The Conduit aims to be a very competent shooter, but one that wouldn't look out of place on the original Xbox. It doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table - at least nothing that can be communicated through video or screenshots. If it were being released for Xbox360 or PS3, competence alone might be enough......Yet by virtue of being on the Wii, it has to overcome a huge graphical disadvantage as well as the disadvantage of having to utilize the Wii's lackluster online matchmaking system. Sad as it is, I can't think of any reason why a hardcore gamer would choose to buy The Conduit instead of its competition.
As nice as The Conduit was to play at PAX, I'm starting to find myself agreeing with Fisch the more that I mull this over. As much as I would like to see a game like The Conduit to do well, the lack of gameplay originality is worrisome. As focused as High Voltage was on squeezing as much as they can out of the Wii hardware, the only gameplay "hook" the game seems to carry is the fact that it's a blockbuster-styled FPS on Wii. This hasn't worked out well for other games, but we'll find out if Fisch is right or wrong soon enough when the game ships in late June. Anyone else care to make a prediction?
[Why "The Conduit" Will Have Trouble: The Wii and Hardcore Games.] Gamasutra Blogs
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Posted to Video Games on 20 April 2009
· Comments (9)
Other stuff like this: business, gamasutra, high voltage software, ian fisch, retail, sega, the conduit, wii hate
With box art like that? Yes.
Who is Ian Fisch and why should I care? What sort of reporting is this?
Sorry, I'm an idiot. I didn't even bother to click the link at the bottom of the article.
With box art like that? Yes.
And the Killzone 2 one was so original and good. *chuckles*
As for this game? I'm personally passing on it as FPS aren't my thing [bar the Timesplitters series, oddly enough] and I'm not buying a game just to 'support it', I have to like it too.
Now, if you wanted me to buy a FPS on the Wii then just bring out TS4 already! ^-^
I've read some theories on why MadWorld and such isn't doing as well, and one that came up was sort of obvious actually: MadWorld isn't actually "hardcore" in the general sense, it's just bloody and vulgar. Buckets of blood and dropping the f-bomb every second do not a hardcore game make. I was super excited for MadWorld but when it came out I played it for five minutes in the store and was already bored.
A hardcore game has to have more than shock value. When I think of hardcore I think of something like Zelda, with depth and staying power. That's the kind of thing the Wii needs.
I am passing on Conduit and I see nothing else that interests me coming down the pipeline. Not until they announce a new Zelda game.
The reason it won't do well is because everyone says the Wii is for kids and grandma's and that nobody plays it. The general perception of this system is so bizarre.
As far as the ideal situation for this game? How's this, when Halo came out on 360 it supposedly revolutionized how a console FPS can be played and didn't look terrible. (It didn't look great, either.) Similarly, I think The Conduit will revolutionize the console FPS experience in terms of gameplay. Or at least I would like to think that, seeing as how I haven't actually played it in motion. But in the end I loved Metroid Prime 3 and Resident Evil 4 in terms of point and shoot action games, more than I enjoy playing games like Bioshock. If I could somehow weasel a Wii-mote into TF2 or Left 4 Dead, I'd be all set. I think this game just might set the Keyboard vs. Controller argument off by adding Wii-Mote to it.
I hope this game does well, I'm not looking for Blockbuster... Just... well. Maybe a million.
Chinatown Wars is an AWESOME game. Amazing its not selling like hotcakes.
GameStop is pushing Chinatown Wars with a contest to win a “mob boss experience” on their site, www.gamestopchinatown.com
Airfare for 4 to New York, private limo, hotel, model entourage, bodyguard and $5000 in cash. It’d be a pretty sweet deal, especially in this recession. Free to enter, so go do it!
I think the main premise of the article concerning hardcore gamers' purchasing habits are correct, but they are wrong about The Conduit. It will sell at least as good as Red Steel did when it was first released.
The only reason Red Steel did somewhat well was that it was hyped mercilessly on sites like IGN and in magazines like Gameinformer.
I'm seeing similar trends with The Conduit.
Personally, I hate thumb stick controls so much that I bought World at War for my Wii, instead of for my 360. I am praying like Mary Magdalene against all odds that Treyarch will make a Wii version of Modern Warfare 2.
If that happens, then we will be that much closer to the extinction of the keyboard and mouse.
As soon as I saw the Wii controller and played metroid prime 3 I knew this console had the makings of a decent futuristic online FPS. If Rare could pull off Perfect Dark on the N64 with such flair it's proof that deep and varied FPS experiences are possible without relying on graphical flair.
I'm not all that thrilled with the all-seeing-eye device, but if it replaces a complex array of xray visors and hacking devices it might be worthwhile.
Ultimately it's the attention to details like control schemes, re-playability and the quality of online multiplayer that will push this title from just another FPS into decent sales. If people have good online experiences others will want to join in too.
There are many single console owners out there who have been waiting patiently for this game! It will all depend on the IGN review. Anything above a 9 is a license to print money.