Dear Reader:
Blitz Games talks Wii, DS - 4 more Wii games in the works
A portion of a C3 interview with Philip Oliver, CEO & Co-founder of Blitz Games…
C3: What is currently on the cards for Blitz Games? Will you be working on Wii again in the near future or perhaps even something for the Nintendo DS?
PO: The Blitz reputation for quality games is growing fast and the company is growing fast – we’re now around 200 people with many subcontractors too! We are working on most platforms, but the Wii has a very special place in the market and is perfect for the kind of games that Blitz is known for. We have 4 more Wii games in production currently and are in discussions for others.
We have decided not to pursue handheld formats, that includes DS, simply because there aren’t enough good people to cover the console work we have, so we don’t want to spread ourselves too thin supporting all the different technologies.
C3: In your experience, how does developing for the Wii differ from the other next-generation formats?
PO: Nintendo has played a very clever game. The console is much cheaper at retail and therefore selling very well. The trade off was to not cater for the higher resolutions of HD TVs. The controller is unique and gives a new fun experience that has more appeal to the mass market. Nintendo focused on fun and price point rather than resolution and that’s served them very well. This approach works very well given the economics of the games industry. Higher graphic resolutions make game production more expensive whereas different control interfaces have less impact. Because the console is selling so well it will have a large user base making it more viable for impressive games to be written as they are more likely to sell in large volumes and therefore make profits.
C3: Possession was once rumoured for an appearance on Wii (back when it was still known as Revolution), but there has been no word on it for a while. What is the status of the game as far as coming to Wii is concerned? Was there any truth to the hearsay?