Nintendo learns to play nice with third party developers

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jun 8th 2007 at 4:30PM }

The Wii is ushering in a new era for Nintendo, not just technologically, but also in their business relationships with third party developers. Not only is Nintendo poised to smash their "kiddie" image (Resident Evil 4 helped on the Gamecube, but it in no way compares to Manhunt 2 for Wii), but it's looking like third party developers won't have to justify their love for Nintendo anymore. The company is opening up and letting them learn how to use their Wiimote for the most pleasurable experience possible.

The NY Times explores Nintendo's sudden outreach using Namco Bandai as an example, saying that the "usually aloof executives" came to the publisher a year ago with an "appeal for their support." Namco Bandai's COO, Shin Unozawa says, "I had not seen that attitude from them before ... Nintendo was suddenly reaching out to independent developers."

We've seen some arrogant statements from American Nintendo execs, but the Wii seems to be Nintendo's contrition machine. Despite being more open to publishers, Nintendo refused to comment on their new approach to the NY Times. Although the Wii is selling incredibly well, the games haven't broken out of the gimmicky mold yet. When Metroid and Mario Galaxy hit later this year, we'll get the first real dose of what a game designed for the Wii can offer, instead of the Gamecube techno-ports we've had so far. And by next year, we may begin seeing solid titles from third party developers. Here's to hoping Nintendo learned from their past mistakes and makes the Wii what the Gamecube could have been with support form third party publishers.

Tags: developer, friend, new york times, nintendo, third party, wii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

deaftly @ Jun 8th 2007 4:36PM

"The company is opening up and letting them learn how to use their Wiimote for the most pleasurable experience possible"

was that directed at the ladies?

RCW @ Jun 8th 2007 4:39PM

Getting your asses kick for a couple generations helps you become humble.

Kye @ Jun 8th 2007 4:40PM

NDF ASSEMBL...

Ahhh forget it.

Anam @ Jun 8th 2007 4:41PM

It's about time. Now if they can just figure out that people like using their consoles to play DVD's...

Fernando Rocker @ Jun 8th 2007 4:42PM

@Kye

Im here!

lawrence @ Jun 8th 2007 4:52PM

nintendo needs gta IV n the wii if they had that game they would have been good but third party like microosft and microsoft is tryoing to keep third party exclusives

Almack64 @ Jun 8th 2007 4:53PM

@ Kye lol

Almack64 @ Jun 8th 2007 4:54PM

@ Lawrence

I hope people who like GTA type games take the time to play the Godfather on the Wii. IT was very impressive.

Kye @ Jun 8th 2007 4:55PM

Fernando...

We're cool today, figues speak for themselves.

Let J.O.N.T/Walking contradiction, Anam, Godisamyth and other such trolls blaspheme.

They're just jealous of our kiss ass Mii's and Wii vote channel.

Kye @ Jun 8th 2007 4:56PM

Methinks me must try this Godfather. Everyone speaks well of it.

I would recommend Dragon Ball Z TB2.

BPM @ Jun 8th 2007 4:58PM

Anam, they did announce a while back that DVD support would be added later this year.

While not that important to me (I've already got a nice DVD player), it would've been a nice addition, especially if someone made a screen attachment for the Wii (it'd make a great portable DVD and retro game player!).

Lawrence, GTA4 for Wii might be possible, as Nintendo is really going for Rockstar support this time around. However, it would be a graphical downgrade from the PS3/360 version. It'd probably look no better than all the games based on the GTA3 engine.
Hell, they're more likely to do a GTA3 Trilogy port (with waggle!) than a version of GTA4 for Wii.

Gausser @ Jun 8th 2007 5:08PM

I'm not sure why people want a DVD player in a gaming system. I have a DVD player. I don't need another one, especially if it's going to drive up the price of the console.
In my opinion, there have already been some solid third party games for Wii: The Godfather, Elebits, Madden and Raving Rabbids come to mind right away. In the future though, I would really like to see some unique and unusual games coming from third parties, not just existing franchises being adapted to the Wii.

Kye @ Jun 8th 2007 5:10PM

*He daydreams about who would win in a fight between the most kick ass Transformer and Voltron*

On topic, Im all for 3rd party support and ports. It could entice me to play title I would otherwise ignore.

copa @ Jun 8th 2007 5:10PM

I have no doubt that Nintendo asked third-party execs to spend a bunch of money developing games for their system, but that doesn't really qualify as third-party support.

Third parties don't get access to the API's for Miis or for online support. Nintendo has almost no promotional / marketing incentives in place for third parties.

In short, Nintendo doesn't do any of the things that Sony or Microsoft do to support third parties.

But quite frankly, if you go back to the GameCube launch you can dig up several of these mainstream media stories that said Nintendo learned their lesson from the N64, and this time they were going to be friendly to third parties.

It ain't going to happen. And as long as Nintendo is printing money with the Wii and the DS, there's really not a lot of incentive for Nintendo to do anything different.

Anam @ Jun 8th 2007 5:16PM

@Kye

Whoa there! Don't paint me as anti-Nintendo. I own every Nintendo console there is. Just because I have some criticisms of the company doesn't mean I don't love them.

@BPM

Will this DVD support require an attachment?

Neal Eaton @ Jun 8th 2007 5:18PM

HA! Love the 'Justify My Love' pic and reference....CLASSIC!

Here's to Nintendo's new found openness.

Tom @ Jun 8th 2007 5:20PM

I don't much care for third party games. I buy Nintendo consoles for Nintendo games.

BPM @ Jun 8th 2007 5:23PM

@copa:
"Third parties don't get access to the API's for Miis or for online support."
YES THEY DO. STOP SPREADING LIES.
Already in Japan, Sega Sammy's Fist of the North Star pachinko game supports both Wi-Fi Collection and Miis.
And coming to America, we have EA's next Madden and FIFA games that have Wi-Fi and Mii support.
Other 3rd party online games include Guitar Hero III, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, and so on.

@Anam:
I doubt it, since the Wii already uses a normal DVD9 drive.
(only reason Wii discs are hard, but not impossible, to decrypt is because they use an unusual encryption method; people have already ripped Wii ISOs with normal PC DVD drives)
However, it kinda sounds like DVD support will be made available in a seperate Wii model. Though, I imagine it wouldn't be impossible to add DVD support to existing Wiis via firmware upgrades.

Anam @ Jun 8th 2007 5:37PM

@BPM

Hmm... Nintendo usually doesn't like to make multiple console models (at least, outside of handhelds), so maybe they'll just do an upgrade like you said. That would be cool.

@Gausser

Mostly, it's about saving room. I already own many consoles (about 3-4 hooked up at any one time), so to add a seperate DVD player to that would be annoying. Likewise, if my Wii had the ability to play DVD's, I wouldn't have to worry about my PS2 going bad (and it's starting to).

Lastly, if the GameCube would have had DVD playback, I probably wouldn't have even bought a PS2. I didn't own a DVD player at the time, so when looking at gaming consoles, I simply couldn't justify the GameCube. I later bought one, but now I'm too busy playing the dozens of great games that the PS2 had to even care about what I missed out on the GameCube.

Obviously there are many people who don't care about DVD, since they already have one or whatever, but Nintendo fumbled when they ignored those that do.

Kye @ Jun 8th 2007 5:40PM

Anam

My apologies.

I think I need a break from the force. Too much of anything can be bad for you, right?

Fernando... you're in charge for the rest of the weekend *tosses him the EARTH ring and hands him the keys to the Black lion... on second thought, i'll hold unto the keys*

BPM @ Jun 8th 2007 5:45PM

Anam, in Japan only, there was the Panasonic Q. It was a remodeled GameCube that had a front-loading drive, and could play DVD movies.
See some pictures of it here:
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-25-49-en-70-3yy.html
Not exactly easy to come by now, especially modified ones that would play both Japanese and American DVDs and GameCube games. Nor is it cheap...

samfish @ Jun 8th 2007 5:46PM

"I'm not sure why people want a DVD player in a gaming system. I have a DVD player. I don't need another one, especially if it's going to drive up the price of the console."

I would have liked a DVD player if only because it gives me a chance to retire something from my already over crowded entertainment center. I have a PS2, but I refuse to use that as a DVD player since A) it's an old model PS2 and I'm afraid I'll kill the laser and B) I refuse to shell out the money for the over priced remote.

"Third parties don't get access to the API's for Miis or for online support. Nintendo has almost no promotional / marketing incentives in place for third parties."

I don't know about the marketing thing, but to say Nintendo isn't giving companies access to Miis and online is just false at this point. Madden 08, if memory serves, will make use of Miis, and various games are saying they'll have online support.

That might have been true back in, like, January (Christ, can you believe it's June already?!), but to say that today is just silly.

john @ Jun 8th 2007 5:48PM

I hope this is true, it would be very easy for Nintendo to get cocky from it's early success.

lawrence,
Punctuation. Learn it. Love it.

Zach @ Jun 8th 2007 6:30PM

I don't really see a need for a DVD in my Wii, considering I'm Wii60 and the 360 upscales my DVDs.

zwarrior @ Jun 8th 2007 6:59PM

I think this is the article with the most links inserted in.

Aberu @ Jun 8th 2007 7:01PM

There's a hidden message here people.

Nintendo learns2play.

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Jun 9th 2007 6:25AM

I'm not sure about DVD playback in Wii.

1. Wii can't upscale since it doesn't support HD.

2. Wii is intended for family use - compared to other consoles, which are intended to be in kids' rooms. IOW, Wii in many cases would be sitting by main family TV - and most families by now have DVD players.

Business-wise, DVD playback on Wii isn't needed, since it is not requested by target audience.

But of course for pro/hard-gamers DVD playback would be nice addition. Or those who do not have DVD player at home (like me who uses PC for DVD playback - since it can also upscale).

t_m @ Jun 9th 2007 9:53AM

Er.. crap!

Nintendo is really dragging it's feet supporting third party developers.. apart from few favoured big names.

Heck, they still aren't even sending out dev kits to smaller and independent developers.. the kind that sony and MS are all over to get as downloadable content.

SO much for the Wii being a disruptive force..

Mr Khan @ Jun 9th 2007 12:49PM

I think DVD playing would work well, since DVDs only support up to 480p anyway

(I never actually used Component out on my DVD player, since its linked to a VHS player and the TV its hooked into only supports coax)

Might be nice to actually see a DVD in 480p...