Interview- Eidos CTO Talks Third Party Wii Support, PS Home...

GamesIndustry.biz has an interesting interview with Eido's Chief Technology Officer. He talks about a number of things including third party support for the Wii, and Playstation's home. Check it out, it is a pretty interesting read.

"What's your impression of the next-gen market as we head into 2008?

I think that this Christmas is going to be very interesting. It probably won't help Sony dramatically, but it should be a good Christmas for Microsoft. And I think it will be a revelation for Nintendo.

Either third party developers and publishers will make money on the Wii platform, or they won't - and if most of them don't I think we'll see a big drop in support for the Wii next year, which could have some consequences for Nintendo, and very positive ones for Microsoft and Sony.

From a certain perspective I would tend to think that the publisher performance on the Wii is going to be deterministic for the future of Microsoft and Sony. If they can make a lot of money on the Wii, then things will continue as they are now and the Wii will continue to be successful.

If they don't make enough money then it means more games and a stronger market share for Microsoft and Sony, and the Wii dropping a bit.

So I think that the success of the Wii from the different publishers is going to be the determining point this Christmas.

That's an interesting view that we've not necessarily heard anywhere else.

It's true - if you can't make money at Christmas on the best platform out there, then you have no chance all year long.

Nintendo do have a very strong first-party history though.

Yes, and so far what you can see with the figures is that it's not too profitable for anybody but Nintendo. So the Christmas period will be key for Tomb Raider on the Wii, it's going to be key for us to review and understand that, and I think there are many other games for the Wii - whether Nintendo can manufacture and distribute as many discs as the publishers want to the market, whether they really sell compared to the Nintendo titles, that will be very important for everyone.

Sometimes it's better to address a small market, and if you get 90 per cent of it will you be a happy man, but less so if you target a really huge market and can only take 0.5 per cent.

So that's the reason why I think it's going to be really important for Nintendo this Christmas.

Do you think the hardware shortages will hurt Nintendo at all?

No, not really. It hasn't hurt Nintendo in the past, and they certainly had a hardware shortage at the launch. So I don't think it will be a problem."

"

What do you think about PlayStation Home?

Well, I think that if I look at it as a gamer, if Home is just a way to have a 3D interface to watch movies, demos, trailers, listening to music or look at pictures, then I'm not really interested - because I can already do all that with the menu bar, and far easier.

So it needs to add a lot more to that. If they succeed in building a community, and I can find my friends, and I'm not stuck in an instance of the world with people that I don't know or I don't have anything to do with, then potentially it can be interesting.

If I look at it from a developer perspective I'm pretty excited by all the technology that is going into that - it's pretty amazing what they've been pulling off.

Although there is a slight problem with how you could integrate, for example, Lara Croft into this world - the type of shaders and the resolution of the graphics you can use, and also the animations and the way that characters walk in Home are far below the level of interactivity we have with a character like Lara Croft.

So the question of whether we want to see our characters in Home is a tough call because right now we can't bring them alive to the level that they are in our games, so that would be a problem.

Then from the publisher perspective is that it could take time away from the players instead of playing games, so where is the benefit for the publisher?

There are pros and cons, but for the gamer it really has to bring something more than just a 3D interface to the content you have on your PlayStation 3, or to the shopping content."

-GamesIndustry.biz

What do you guys think? Is the Wii only good for Nintendo? Will Sony turn Home into an interesting service? I really can't say, but I thought this was worth bringing up.

As a gamer who buys Nintendo systems for the sole purpose of playing first party games, I can see where he is coming from, but I might be wrong.

As far as Home, the more I think about it, the less interested I am. I suppose it could be fun to hang out with you GGD people in 3D, but it could be really really lame too.

All valid points, but nothing really 'new' persay. Much of the discussion about these two subjects have resulted in similar comments being made, particularly among the informed and objective gaming community.

I personally agree with pretty much everything he stated.

All valid points, but nothing really 'new' persay. Much of the discussion about these two subjects have resulted in similar comments being made, particularly among the informed and objective gaming community.

I personally agree with pretty much everything he stated.

Darth_Tigris

For sure, there isn't much of anything new that he mentions, except for his comments that this is a 'make or break' Christmas for them and the Wii.

edit:

It is kinda dumb for them to base their entire Wii strategy on how a Wii port of a PS2 Tomb Raider remake performs against the likes of Super Mario Galaxy.

He does make a valid point about nintendo. Their first party games sometimes are too strong. They always dominate their console and cannibalize sales. It's tough for other developers at times to get out from under that shadow. People forget that not only our game console companies competing with each other, but so are gaming developers. For instance, while Halo 3 selling 6 quintillion copies on the 360 may be great for MS, it may not be good for other studios that are going after your limited dollar.

Nintendo has huge and noteworthy franchises like Zelda, Metroid Prime, Mario, Smash Brothers, etc. We all know that those titles will sell well. But how much purchasing power will be left over for other games out on the platform? Will they be able to shine and distinguish themselves, or will they be lost in the shadow of Nintendo's first party juggernaut?

Sounds like some very reasonable assessments.

I know that for me ever since the N64 my Nintendo consoles have largely been for getting the first party titles. Of course there have been some exceptions here and there with the top quality third party titles from developers like Capcom.

As for PS Home I am very interested in seeing how it turns out and I think there is some very cool potential there but I'm really only interested in what it can add to games and my gaming expierence.

As for PS Home I am very interested in seeing how it turns out and I think there is some very cool potential there but I'm really only interested in what it can add to games and my gaming expierence.

Archangel3371

I agree for the most part about only wanting Home to improve the gaming experience, but I have 37 days worth of MP4 videos on my computer, and if I could ever get them to work on my PS3, it would be fun to have GGD movie nights.

He does make a valid point about nintendo. Their first party games sometimes are too strong. They always dominate their console and cannibalize sales. It's tough for other developers at times to get out from under that shadow. People forget that not only our game console companies competing with each other, but so are gaming developers. For instance, while Halo 3 selling 6 quintillion copies on the 360 may be great for MS, it may not be good for other studios that are going after your limited dollar.

Nintendo has huge and noteworthy franchises like Zelda, Metroid Prime, Mario, Smash Brothers, etc. We all know that those titles will sell well. But how much purchasing power will be left over for other games out on the platform? Will they be able to shine and distinguish themselves, or will they be lost in the shadow of Nintendo's first party juggernaut?

sonicare

When Eidos create a game worthy of those Nintendo games which doesn't sell comparatively, then they can voice their concern. Porting a PS2 tombraider and expecting free profit just because the Wii is selling in numbers does not count. The wii can do without that kind of support.

There are 3rd party companies who have made good games and have the right to expect good sales. This gentleman does not represent one of them.

Yes Eidos that months late port of a Tomb Raider remake is going to tell you all you need about the state of wii software sales. Congratulations. gaminggeek

Yes Eidos that months late port of a Tomb Raider remake is going to tell you all you need about the state of wii software sales. Congratulations. gaminggeek

I lost my respect for them even since they fired core.

[QUOTE="gaminggeek"]Yes Eidos that months late port of a Tomb Raider remake is going to tell you all you need about the state of wii software sales. Congratulations. rragnaar

The answer is no. If Namco start ******* about Soul calibur legends sales a vein in my neck will pop.

[QUOTE="gaminggeek"]Yes Eidos that months late port of a Tomb Raider remake is going to tell you all you need about the state of wii software sales. Congratulations. rragnaar

Lke I've said before, Nintendo has been reluctant to release non-franchise non-casual games, so one can hardly blame 3rd parties for being reluctant to spend a ton of money/effort on such games.

Translation "Why doesnt our shovelware garbage sell on the wii?"