Game Devs Warming Up To More Mature-Rated Games On the Wii

With the success of the Grand Theft Auto franchise responsible for the majority of publisher Take Two Interactive's earnings in the past year, the company's executives are looking more and more at expanding their M-rated products onto the typically family-friendly Wii. Take Two's CEO said, "Even though we think M-rated content is much more appropriate for the PS3 or 360, we have to look at the Wii as a viable platform across all our labels. We have to, because we can't ignore the installed base. You just can't." They're already planning to release GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS to test the waters on a Nintendo platform, hoping for a better result than the controversy over Manhunt 2 last year.

Comments

Crossplatform

[Crumplecorn]

So in the future the lowest-common denominator for cross platform games, which for now is decided only by PS3/XBox360/PC for these games, will be dropped even further so the Wii can get in on the action.

Stunning also that the people who publish GTA of all things believe they "can't ignore" an installed base which was created by games diametrically opposed to the likes of GTA.

Re:Crossplatform

[Nursie]

Oh bullshit.

I bought a Wii because of the innovative controls and Wii sports being fun to play with friends. I *know* I'm not the only one that has left the damn thing mostly idle since then because most of the games are very child oriented and have rather shallow gameplay.

Get the big, grown-up names on Wii, please.

I wonder what the rate of game-buying for Wii is once bought?

Yes, I do own a 360 and a PS3 as well. I use both more than the Wii, which suffers even more than the PS3 in a lack of engaging games. That doesn't seem to be changing either, more "Big Brain Academy" and similar nonsense. I do complex algebra all day for money, my brain's fine, besides which those things look like someone wrote them in Flash.

Bah /ok, rant over now

Re:Crossplatform

[LoverOfJoy]

If developers really try to fine tune their wii games well so the game-play rocks and the reviews come back awesome I imagine that could sway quite a few people. Heck, all I'd need to read is, "this plays like a game made by Nintendo" and I'd perk up my ears. Where are the third party Metroid style games? If a game review came out that said, "Wow, this is along the lines of Metroid (or Zelda)" it would sell like hotcakes even if it weren't ported to the PS3 or 360 (perhaps especially if it weren't). A third party developer could pull it off. Obviously it would take a bit of a marketing as Nintendo has developed a reputation for solid games on its platform and people go wild for their big titles while a third party would have a bit of an uphill battle getting that sort of a frenzy but if the game is well-made and the genre is one the install base is known to love (similar to zelda, metroid?) then it's hard for me to see the game being a flop. Putting it solely on the wii could actually be a smart marketing move to get quite a bit of attention (and perhaps comparison to Nintendo made games).

The problem has been that developers have too often felt the ONLY safe game on the wii was the party game (are they really that scared of Nintendo?). When other games are put on the wii, it seems their weakest programmers are put on the job and the controls are weak and not fine tuned properly. Well, the weak controls come out in reviews and of course that ends up reflecting in sales.

Don't get me wrong. I recognize that people who have all systems are going to TEND to buy the game for the system it looks the prettiest on. However, I think a lot of games could potentially be more fun to play on finely tuned wii controls. I recognize that Nintendo has had the advantage in creating games with great control on their own system...I just think that third parties ought to be able to catch up by now (or soon).

I don't think it's smart to assume that the subset of the wii's demographics that likes Metroid and Zelda type games is small.

Re:Crossplatform

[scubamage]

Not only that, but licensing for the wii is markedly cheaper. Both X360 and Ps3 lose money on every console purchased, with an expectation that the money will be earned back in licensing fees. The wii, using commodity hardware, actually earns a profit on every console sold. This translates to cheaper licensing fees for developers. It costs a fraction of the price to release something on Wii. Even more, there are avenues such as the virtual console and wiiware to release on which will give Take-Two a chance to release some smaller things, or older games as well. To not to sell to the wii would be idiotic considering its outsold the other two consoles by a vast margin.

Re:Wiimote?

[SensiMillia]

You were not the first one. "Dark Room" a PC game making use of the Wii controller. And yes, it uses the Wiimote in a very adult-y way.

Re:Wiimote?

[Xanlexian]

What?! Are you crazy?! Sex in a video game?! My god man! Think of the children!

Using the Wiimote as a bludgeoning tool to put a proper smack-down on some prostitutes, now that's what wii all need!!

A fair number of ``M'' rated games already

[WillAdams]

Resident Evil
Call of Duty
No More Heroes

Whether or no a game succeeds isn't about the rating, it's about the content and game play and story line (or lack thereof) and unfortunately, it's all too often about the lack.

On the Wii one adds in a need for supporting the Wii motion controls in a natural (Resident Evil Wii edition --- what's up w/ requiring pressing _2_ buttons to fire a pistol?!?) and reliable way (DragonQuest Swords I'm looking at you on that last), and even if the game is okay on other platforms, then it fails as a Wii game if it only involves mashing buttons (Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, please re-write the UI to support more than just buttons!).

Yes, I know, only one of the games that I'm criticizing has an M rating.

William