IGN Wii-k in review podcast summary

From our friend Valay at NintendoEverything…thanks!

THQ Dan Ryan (associate game designer) on podcast
- Could see another Smackdown game next year
- Matt thinks it’d be crazy, since usually, it’s not considered a yearly franchise
- Bozon thinks first game was a great first step for the franchise
- Fun, great first effort
- Impossible to put in all modes, etc in first game for Wii plus motion controls with no problem
- Ryan says they read reviews, take everything into account
- Can’t confirm/deny there’s another game in the works
- May want to change the game to add more interaction
- Ryan knows fans had like it, but had bigger expectations, went to casual-gaming pick up and play audience
- Anyone could play, have fun with it immediately
- Mii functionality could be taken further - Ryan loves the Wii features, weather channel can be used, mail from characters, etc.

- During the podcast, Matt and Bozon are always shirtless
- Event like last year at Wrestlemania - may get more official news there
- More interesting guests on the show in the future - Ryan exits

Master System heading to Virtual Console
- Peer never really played the system much
- Matt left to Baltimore or something
- Peer can steal things off of his desk
- Peer also thinks Matt has problems dressing

Wii’s tie-in ratio 8:1 in December
- Peripherals only works with Nintendo games - ex: GT Pro Series
- All-time ratio not too great for Wii - slightly more than PS3, not even close to 360

Ubisoft-Nintendo-quality titles - More casual games from Ubisoft?
- Nintendo goes the extra mile to make their games really good
- Peer thinks Ubisoft can’t reach Nintendo’s heights
- Bozon: For Ubisoft to take themselves seriously, they’d have to take Rainbow team or Ghost Recon team on these projects
- If wanted to attain Nintendo-like quality, they’d put their “A” team on Rayman - ex: Platformer, not mini-games
- Ubisoft future: Brothers in Arms (port), Dog Island, Alive (may come to Wii), Petz, Prince of Persia (down-graded version, at least visually), Rainbow Six (same problem), Avatar
- When you think Nintendo-like quality, you know it’s going to be something special - Bozon
- Nitro Bike - plays like Excite Truck, but muddy visuals

Bozon’s blog:
- Analog control - forget about 1:1 movement for now
- Are we ever going to see a game like NBA Live for Wii - take a shot - didn’t shoot hard enough, so air-ball, or shoot too hard, goes into stands
- Will developers go beyond waggle = button press?
- Will take awhile, but controls will continue to get better - Peer
- Need to get past gimmicky phase
- Head-tracking - impressive, but limitation with only one person seeing it

Wii’s 2008, Top 10 anticipated
- Impressive games for 08
- Peer has a wishlist - only has 1 Wii game in top 20 - Brawl is his most anticipated - loves fan service
- So many characters, musical pieces - Pikmin stage worth price of admission
- Also for Peer: Mario Kart, Animal Crossing (when will we see it?), Dragon Quest 9, Pro-Evolution Soccer
- Pro-Evolution in early phase, but flows extremely well - intuitive - Peer very excited
- Wii gets spin-offs a lot of the time
- #6 for Peer: ASH - made by FF creator, looks great, came out in Japan already
- #7 Wii Fit - intrigued, but doesn’t know if he’ll stick with it
- #8 King’s Story (Project O) - charming
- #9 Ninja Gaiden DS - not too much of a fan of the console versions
- #10 Wii Music - wants to see how it’s done - wants classic Nintendo songs
- Another game Peer is looking forward to but can’t reveal yet
- Bozon has 4 RPGs on his list
- Bozon’s list: Smash, Mario Kart, King’s Story, Ninja Gaiden, DQ9, ASH, de Blob, FFCC for DS, FF Tactics, Pro-Evolution
- FFCC for Wii seems like going through changes, might not release in 08
- Peer liked old Samba de Amigo game - worried about maracas for new version

Thoughts on Smash online video
- Peer: Looks very encouraging
- Not worried about distance/connection in the video
- Playing online without voice chat is a sad thing

Mario Kart’s release date
- Supposed to be Q2
- Peer thinks it’ll come out 11/18
- Bozon: 11/14 - will be very surprised if it releases in Q2
- Nintendo likes releasing their games in same period
- Mario Kart always gets delayed
- Wii Fit will tide Nintendo over financially, will make something for July

What’s Capcom doing?
- Looking at Sonic crossover, will do something with Nintendo
- Capcom valuable to Nintendo, can’t end this way
- They have Okami, but need to have something new
- Rumor release list: Zack & Wiki 2, some Megaman game
- Real release list somewhere around GDC possibly

When will Nintendo show rest of line-up for 08?
- Gaps, could be other big and minor games - ex: Pikmin
- GDC and E3 left - Peer: not at GDC, but we will see something at E3
- Will be announcements before E3 in Japan

Latest reviews:
- One Piece - 6.8 - not as good as last ones on GCN
- Nitro Bike - 6.5 - fun but murky, online system is awful
- Endless Ocean - 8.0 - Matt really liked it - won’t be remembered, but something different
- No More Heroes - 7.8 - only sometimes amazing - gameplay there sometimes, not there at other times
- Jenga - 1.7 - completely pointless

- EA block game looks cool

Reader questions:
- If No More Heroes lacked blood in the NA version, it wouldn’t change much, but it’s lame - Possibly 7.7
- Waiting for We Love Golf - will have a lot of coverage when they get it
- Factor 5 interview about lazy developers will happen, but it takes a lot of time to do
- New laser TVs will have a better picture
- Bozon misses Matt’s beard
- Not too many rumors about interesting WiiWare titles
- Ubisoft didn’t push No More Heroes marketing - oddball game, don’t want attention after Manhunt 2 problems
- Retro hasn’t said much about lack of advertising for Metroid Prime 3 - still sold pretty well, could have done better
- Bozon enjoys Megaman 2 and Megaman X the most
- Peer doesn’t think Nintendo will make only casual games in the future
- Single-player on 360 - best is Call of Duty 4 and Orange Box
- Mario RPG on VC - Have to wait and see what Square will do - could end up releasing it for DS
- Most Canadian stores getting No More Heroes on Feb. 1st - Bozon bought them all
- Nintendo is a guy
- VC compilations on disks - Sega could do this, Bozon wouldn’t like it - SNK already doing it
- Reviews: Price can determine a lot for a game - also different editors, different opinions