Saints Row 2 producer Dan Sutton tells CVG that the game isn't coming to the Wii over controversy and graphical concerns. He explains that implementing Wii controls for "chainsaws, satchel charges, stuff like that" in the game might risk the title running into Manhunt 2-style controversy. That's a bad thing? Apparently, SR2's developer, Volition, isn't totally run by the marketing department.
Sutton also explains that SR2 won't be making it to Nintendo's waggle-enriched juggernaut because Volition is "about pushing really good graphics" -- he believes the Wii feels like an older console. Ouch, at least he didn't mention duct tape.
Reader Comments (52)
Posted: Aug 5th 2008 12:01AM BananaBoat said
In the event that you didn't find the EXPLOSIONS and the BURNING HELICOPTER to be "hardcore" enough, they've added gold teeth. They make the entire thing X-TREME with a capital X
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 7:35PM (Unverified) said
As long as it has more Aquabats! music and references, I'm happy, no matter what console it's on.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 7:36PM mrmobius said
Then find a way around making chainsaw actions. It's not as if the Wiimote doesn't have buttons.
I reckon it's the graphics which are stopping them. Shame that there are superficial developers. Though I reckon they just can't be bothered going to the effort to make money.
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I reckon it's the graphics which are stopping them. Shame that there are superficial developers. Though I reckon they just can't be bothered going to the effort to make money.
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 7:40PM (Unverified) said
Or the fact that games like this don't sell well on the wii.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 7:54PM Vidikron said
Spin it however you want, the graphics have always been a major part of video games. I think it's a shame that some people have tried to demonize graphics these days. As if both gameplay and graphics can't co-exist. What's really funny is that many of the Wii fanboys trying to downplay them this generation were likely trumpeting them the past two or three generations. I don't think graphics are the most important, but they can and often do play a role in people's enjoyments of games. If this dev would rather keep their graphical standard at a certain level rather than butchering them for the Wii, I fail to see the problem with that.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:03PM (Unverified) said
"Or the fact that games like this don't sell well on the wii."
Lets compare.
No More Heroes. A game with absolutely no advertising whatsoever. Moderately hyped. Turned out pretty decent in the end. Wii game.
Sold 350,000 units.
God Hand. A game with pretty decent advertising (websites and video sharing sites were hyping it out the wazoo). Pretty damn hyped. Turned out fucking amazing in the end. Playstation 2 game (highest selling game system ever made).
Sold 70,000 units.
I wouldn't make a blanket statement like 'games like this don't sell on Wii' simply because we haven't seen many games like this and the ones that were like this mostly sold very well.
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Lets compare.
No More Heroes. A game with absolutely no advertising whatsoever. Moderately hyped. Turned out pretty decent in the end. Wii game.
Sold 350,000 units.
God Hand. A game with pretty decent advertising (websites and video sharing sites were hyping it out the wazoo). Pretty damn hyped. Turned out fucking amazing in the end. Playstation 2 game (highest selling game system ever made).
Sold 70,000 units.
I wouldn't make a blanket statement like 'games like this don't sell on Wii' simply because we haven't seen many games like this and the ones that were like this mostly sold very well.
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:14PM Vegeta has a ps3 said
@tmac
Or the more logical answer would be developers don't know shit about advertising to a new market. But I'm guessing you're just going to ignore that.
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Or the more logical answer would be developers don't know shit about advertising to a new market. But I'm guessing you're just going to ignore that.
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:44PM SheppyReturns said
"I reckon it's the graphics which are stopping them. Shame that there are superficial developers. Though I reckon they just can't be bothered going to the effort to make money."
I really wish this concept of lazy artist would drown in the liquid ignorance which birthed it. It's fairly simple. Game Artists are often coming fresh out of college, learning all sorts of cool shit. Normal mapping, specular mapping, hiding polygons in detailed texture maps. Essentially the people being trained in schools right now are learning cutting edge tools. For many, DS, Wii, PS2, and PSP projects are likened to biding their time until they get put on the real projects. To have a game artist say they don't want to work on Wii isn't an insult. It's the fact that many have spent the past four years of their lives learning to draw, paint, sculpt, write, work a television camera, study films, acting itself, all culminating to applying these skills to cutting edge, multi hundred/thousand dollar software tools. So for a game artist, yes... graphic whoring is part of the job. To push the visual limits. I, in fact, am unsatified at my current job because of the limits imposed with what I want to do.
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I really wish this concept of lazy artist would drown in the liquid ignorance which birthed it. It's fairly simple. Game Artists are often coming fresh out of college, learning all sorts of cool shit. Normal mapping, specular mapping, hiding polygons in detailed texture maps. Essentially the people being trained in schools right now are learning cutting edge tools. For many, DS, Wii, PS2, and PSP projects are likened to biding their time until they get put on the real projects. To have a game artist say they don't want to work on Wii isn't an insult. It's the fact that many have spent the past four years of their lives learning to draw, paint, sculpt, write, work a television camera, study films, acting itself, all culminating to applying these skills to cutting edge, multi hundred/thousand dollar software tools. So for a game artist, yes... graphic whoring is part of the job. To push the visual limits. I, in fact, am unsatified at my current job because of the limits imposed with what I want to do.
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 11:51PM samfish said
"God Hand. A game with pretty decent advertising (websites and video sharing sites were hyping it out the wazoo). Pretty damn hyped. Turned out fucking amazing in the end. Playstation 2 game (highest selling game system ever made)."
I take issue with this. Though it's the Greatest Game Ever, I wouldn't say it was very well hyped. Okami had more going for it than God Hand. Kotaku wrote a few love letters to it, D-toid had a few things on it and Joystiq basically ignored it. Smaller places on the web, like Video Gaiden, showered it in the praise it deserved, but IGN gave it a 3/10 (because they're morons and didn't play the game) and others like 1UP and Gamespot gave it fairly average reviews.
So yeah. It SHOULD have been well hyped, but it just wasn't, IMO. Certainly not the way, say, Bioshock or Gears of War was hyped prior to their release (when the advertising kicked in).
That said, it is vastly, VASTLY superior to No More Heroes in every freakin' possible way.
Also, it warms my little heart to see someone not called 'samfish' talking about the Greatest Game Ever!
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I take issue with this. Though it's the Greatest Game Ever, I wouldn't say it was very well hyped. Okami had more going for it than God Hand. Kotaku wrote a few love letters to it, D-toid had a few things on it and Joystiq basically ignored it. Smaller places on the web, like Video Gaiden, showered it in the praise it deserved, but IGN gave it a 3/10 (because they're morons and didn't play the game) and others like 1UP and Gamespot gave it fairly average reviews.
So yeah. It SHOULD have been well hyped, but it just wasn't, IMO. Certainly not the way, say, Bioshock or Gears of War was hyped prior to their release (when the advertising kicked in).
That said, it is vastly, VASTLY superior to No More Heroes in every freakin' possible way.
Also, it warms my little heart to see someone not called 'samfish' talking about the Greatest Game Ever!
Posted: Aug 5th 2008 3:26AM (Unverified) said
Agreed. It wouldn't matter if this was the Cube or Wii. Heck I like "mature" or "hardcore" games but even I have no interest in games like this. And by "like this" I don't necessarily mean theme or game mechanic. I mean I like the Godfather game, but games like that 50 cents one, True Crime, or this seem repulsive to me. I think it's the whole ghetto, modern gang, urban warfare, hip-hop, rap, etc. "culture." I just don't like those things regardless of medium.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:01PM (Unverified) said
Like how the original Saints Row wasn't as good as GTA: San Andreas or whatever GTA was just coming out at the time?
Cause, it wasn't.
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Cause, it wasn't.
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 9:54PM (Unverified) said
In before retards saying "DURR IT'S NOT AS GOOD AS GTA 4"
Yes because the right phrase is It won't be as GOOD AS GTA 4 because the game is yet to be released... Amirite?
I bought GTA4 for the same reason I bought COD4 for mere recommendation and I have to say I was gladly surprised with GTA4 (Also COD4) because it had a good story something that SA lacked, I’m not looking forward to another SA or this game since is not my type of game. I just posted because I want to let clear I hate these “you are retard if you something, something” comments, is the kind of thing only a butthurt fanboy would post.
With that say it might be good but unless it has a good storyline I don’t think I’ll buy it, sandbox games are not my thing (Except for Garry’s mod)
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Yes because the right phrase is It won't be as GOOD AS GTA 4 because the game is yet to be released... Amirite?
I bought GTA4 for the same reason I bought COD4 for mere recommendation and I have to say I was gladly surprised with GTA4 (Also COD4) because it had a good story something that SA lacked, I’m not looking forward to another SA or this game since is not my type of game. I just posted because I want to let clear I hate these “you are retard if you something, something” comments, is the kind of thing only a butthurt fanboy would post.
With that say it might be good but unless it has a good storyline I don’t think I’ll buy it, sandbox games are not my thing (Except for Garry’s mod)
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:01PM (Unverified) said
Well I think Scarface did pretty well on the Wii. It had chainsaws and violence similar to Saints Row, so I'm not sure what the issue is. Saints Row was never as graphic as Manhunt 2 anyways.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:08PM cesaria said
Anyone want to know the inside secret to this game's creation? A bunch of old white guys in suits did a search on google to find the most offensive and stereotypical images pertaining to the hip hop culture, printed them on the box, and took a shit inside. Oh, and they included 187 references to Scarface.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:16PM Vegeta has a ps3 said
yeah I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.
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Posted: Aug 5th 2008 12:08AM (Unverified) said
Or, rather, a bunch of late 20's/early 30's dudes figuring they can put a Spinal Tap spin on thug life (not sure what caucasions with gold teeth and chainsaws have to do with hip-hop, brah), wrap it in an acceptable sand-box derivative, and sell enough copies to make the developer and publisher happy. It worked the first time, did it not?
Or we can assume Activision/Volition is run by Paul Newman from the Hudsucker Proxy, I guess.
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Or we can assume Activision/Volition is run by Paul Newman from the Hudsucker Proxy, I guess.
Posted: Aug 5th 2008 12:13AM (Unverified) said
Activision? THQ? Whatever. I am sure one will be a part of the other soon anyway.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:24PM (Unverified) said
Controversy? In a game where a porn star is aiding development? I never expected that!
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:52PM SheppyReturns said
Controversy? On a system which recent had a big "todo" about a game being called Beer Pong, who'd a thunk it?
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 8:33PM (Unverified) said
Well, I think the Wii can do without any more shovelware.
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Posted: Aug 5th 2008 8:22AM (Unverified) said
Congrats...
you just won the internet
I may not be loling but you won the internet
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you just won the internet
I may not be loling but you won the internet
Posted: Aug 4th 2008 9:13PM WackyCoffee said
Nope, you're not the only one. I enjoyed the first one too. This one seems to be a little more "over the top" than the first... at least with the marketing scheme (nick nolte, tera patrick, in your face grillz, etc.) As long as this game does what the first got right (with the gameplay advancement u'd expect from a sequel) than i can ignore the crazy marketing. I haven't finish GTAIV yet but so far it's not leaps and bounds above SR1 and definitely on the same level in the fun department.
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Posted: Aug 4th 2008 9:28PM SoulBlade said
Bummer - but we've always known the Wii can't push graphics like the other systems. Way to tell us something we didn't already know.
It's their choice - I respect it. Like someone said earlier, graphics have played an integral role in games. It's not that the devs are lazy or whatever - perhaps they just know that graphics are a key component to providing a great experience. Other devs may not feel the same way.
Of course, if they were hurting on money, I bet they'd shit out a port in a heartbeat.
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It's their choice - I respect it. Like someone said earlier, graphics have played an integral role in games. It's not that the devs are lazy or whatever - perhaps they just know that graphics are a key component to providing a great experience. Other devs may not feel the same way.
Of course, if they were hurting on money, I bet they'd shit out a port in a heartbeat.
Posted: Aug 5th 2008 12:04AM F1 Basu Gasu Bakuhatsu said
Defacto censorship. Such a shame that such a B-grade game made nearly every developer loose their edge.
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Posted: Aug 5th 2008 4:29AM (Unverified) said
Saints Row was actually a pretty good game. But I guess when you market it like a shitty hood movie ( anything with Master P) instead of Boyz in the Hood people are probably going to make bad assumptions.
Volition's last game looked really good and had a deep city structure. Almost every single building could be entered, stores could be robbed,different properties could be owned over a very large landscape etc. . So they probably didn't port it on the Wii more because of the graphical restraints.
And though its online was really laggy and glitchy when Saints Row first released,it got a lot better over time. Something else the Wii would be limited in delivering on ( good multiplayer network).
But I'm just one of the few people who actually played the game from beginning to end , so my opinion doesn't really mean shit .
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Volition's last game looked really good and had a deep city structure. Almost every single building could be entered, stores could be robbed,different properties could be owned over a very large landscape etc. . So they probably didn't port it on the Wii more because of the graphical restraints.
And though its online was really laggy and glitchy when Saints Row first released,it got a lot better over time. Something else the Wii would be limited in delivering on ( good multiplayer network).
But I'm just one of the few people who actually played the game from beginning to end , so my opinion doesn't really mean shit .
Posted: Aug 5th 2008 1:18PM (Unverified) said
Yea...I do not think that the Wii could handle any strong draw distance, decent framrate, ect. with a game maybe in par or lower with the technical specs of GTA. (And hopefully this game will not be as bad as GTA)
Besides...The Wii people who like to play Mini games and the Elderly.
So no one loses.
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Besides...The Wii people who like to play Mini games and the Elderly.
So no one loses.
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