You can now add Bethesda Softworks to the growing list of 3rd party developer/publishers who aren’t making games for the Wii U. Some of the games Bethesda has brought us over the years include The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3. Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax Media acquired legendary developer id software in 2009 thus all games created by id are now published by Bethesda this includes the highly anticipated Doom 4.
Bethesda’s reasoning for not developing new titles for the Wii U is different than other 3rd party developers who claim that there just isn’t a high enough home install base for the console. Pete Hines, Bethesda’s Vice President of marketing told Joystiq in a recent interview at Quake-con that “it’s largely a hardware thing.” Stating that Bethesda makes the games that they want to make on whatever hardware that will support those games.
Yesterday 8/7/13 Nintendo held another Nintendo Direct broadcast online. It started off with Sonic Lost World which has really bizarre level designs sort of like navigating cylinders through strange backgrounds you can move 360 degrees to progress. I can’t help but think this game was originally intended to be a tech demo for Sonic. The game does support 3DS and Wii U cross play. It wasn’t clear if your progress from either platform would carry over to the other but you can share items between gaming devices. Only a handful of Wii U games were mentioned and for the most part were even glossed over like a recent Luigi U title. These games included Art Academy Sketch Pad, Pikimin 3, Pokemon Rumble, and Windwaker HD a Wii U an HD update of a twelve year old Zelda game and of course the previously mentioned Sonic Lost World.
The Nintendo 3DS got a lot more attention at the Direct event. Many retro classics are coming to 3DS including the likes of the original NES version of Donkey Kong, Tecmo Bowl and Super Mario Bros. 3. Professor Layton will be seeing two new titles coming to America in 2014 and one of those games will be an Ace Attorney Pheonix Wright crossover game. The Professor Layton games were the most impressive of any titles shown at the Nintendo Direct event and they look amazing. Zelda has another 3DS title coming out called A Link Between Worlds. Part of the concept of the game is that their is a dark mirror version of the Tri-force. It sounded like an interesting idea but it was further described like the game would have two worlds that were almost exactly the same “but slightly different” and Link can now become a living cave painting that can walk on walls.
There will be a new feature coming to Animal Crossing known as the Plaza. It is sort of a hub for users to socialize and learn about upcoming events in the Animal Crossing world and that feature is free to download. That is about all that was covered at yesterday’s Nintendo Direct Event and another Nintendo Direct event was announced for tomorrow 8/9/13 called the “Wonderful 101 Direct Event.” An update will be posted after the event so come back tomorrow to learn all about this upcoming Wii U superhero game.
Before I go I would like to have a quick Jerry Springer-esque moment like Jerry Does at the end of all his shows. To be brutally honest a lot of these games look painfully cutesy. With the exception of the new Professor Layton games for the 3DS, which look very promising, most of the games shown look like they are appealing to children under the age of 6. I know Nintendo prides itself on its whimsy and the children at heart but you can still make great looking games within those parameters. Here is the link to the Pokemon Rumble U trailer and here is the link to the Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy trailer. Pokemon is releasing on the Wii U home console and Professor Layton is coming out on the handheld 3DS. I get that they are entirely different style games with different demographics but if Professor Layton is possible on a handheld gaming console would it really be so much to ask to make the Pokemon game at least somewhat resemble the cartoon show it was based on? Its puzzling to see Nintendo allow a game involving a franchise with a huge fanbase like Pokemon to look this poor considering the potential of the games basic idea, especially when you are trying to sell consoles.
-Z3R0TH3RT33N
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