The Conduit finds publishing partner in Sega

by Christopher Grant { Oct 29th 2008 at 12:16PM }

After spending months in the public eye without a publisher – including two very public presentations with Nintendo, and one embarassing gaffe that appeared to put the game under the Nintendo banner – High Voltage Software's The Conduit has finally found a happy home at Sega (as rumored). Of course, Sega's got another high-profile "core" game for the Wii in MadWorld so today's announcement represents a strategic addition; what Sega of America prez Simon Jeffrey calls its "belief in the Wii's gaming potential beyond the casual market."

With an estimated Spring 2009 release date, there's not much we don't already know about The Conduit; however, the press release does confirm support for the Wii Speak peripheral in online multiplayer games as well as Wii MotionPlus support for "optimal control." Or maybe there is more. Jeffrey says High Voltage "has only scratched the surface of the game in terms of what they have shown so far." Our guess: smell-o-vision.

Gallery: The Conduit

Tags: BreakingNews, High-Voltage, Sega, The-Conduit, Wii-MotionPlus, Wii-Speak

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 12:19PM

Like I said yesterday:

Well... at least Sega has now 4 good titles for the Wii...

MadWorld, The Conduit, The House of the Dead: Overkill, and the Sonic and the Black Knight (I hope is at least as good as Sonic and the Secret Rings, which in my opinion is the best 3D Sonic since Sonic Adventure).

Keep up the good work Sega.

OMGOMG @ Oct 29th 2008 12:25PM

I'm sorry, but to already call The Conduit a good game is insane. If anything, you should now treat the game with skepticism that no other major publisher wanted the game, seeing the eggs Sega has laid this generation.

Now, I REALLY want The Conduit to succeed. I don't own a Wii, but a well executed FPS would at least quiet the "ZOMG GRAPH1XX!!!" crowd, and show developers that it is possible to make games thought to be impossible on the Wii.

But you can't call the game good yet based on videos.

Tiptup300 @ Oct 29th 2008 12:29PM

A good fps cannot be done on the Wii without using autoaim, so pretty much a good fps cannot be done on the Wii.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 12:34PM

Yeah, I guess you are right.

But what I applaud is that a relative small company with limited resources like HVS is trying to achieve on the Wii what other big companies like Ubisoft don't want to.

They are making a game with all the features that other companies don't want, or can't, like voice chat, 16 multiplayer online, co-op, LAN support, MotionPlus...

And then we have big companies like Ubisoft and EA with tons of cash and studios, and the only thing that do is Petz and Kidz games.

So, let me rephrase: Well... at least Sega has now 4 titles, and those games looks like they could be good. Let's hope Sega and the devs can deliver.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 12:37PM

Metroid Prime 3 doesn't use auto-aim. It has lock-on, but is turned off as default, and the controls work extremely well.

Here, check the control customization video. Is similar to Metroid Prime 3, but you can adjust the bounding box size and turn speed.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/39293.html

Tiptup300 @ Oct 29th 2008 12:42PM

NOTE: Lockon is worse then autoaim, but nice try.

Also that control style seems really awkward.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 12:44PM

The lock-on features in Metroid Prime 3 are mostly because all the scanning involved.

Even if you turn on the lock-on, you still can't not use it in boss battles and stuff. You need to aim with the IR Pointer, and there is no auto-aim involved.

Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 12:58PM

Lockon in MP3 only fixes your point of strafing. You still aim freely within

Higher sensitivity controls don't need auto-aim, as opposed to dual analogue

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 1:01PM

Here, this video shows gameplay. The controls looks very good.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41038.html?type=flv

TwEE @ Oct 29th 2008 1:58PM

What is Tiptup300 going on about?

bm @ Oct 29th 2008 2:09PM

"NOTE: Lockon is worse then autoaim, but nice try."

NOTE: you're an idiot who doesn't get Metroid Prime.

And if you think Wii FPS games need auto aim, then how the hell are there even FPSes on consoles with regular controllers? I think you haven't played the Wii (for more than 5 minutes anyway) and you're taking the word of bitter trolls on the internet.

OMGOMG @ Oct 29th 2008 3:43PM

@Fernando

Oh, I COMPLETELY agree. The optimist in me hopes for The Conduit hopes the game turns out amazing, but I can't get Advent Horizon out of my head.

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Oct 29th 2008 4:22PM

@OMGOMG:
"...that no other major publisher wanted the game..."

Wrong. Several publishers made offers to HVS, but they held out on making a deal with any of them until they could get the game to a point where they could keep it as they wanted it.

Had they signed on too early, the publisher would've been involved early in the project, and may have made extreme changes to HVS's plans.

This is their pet project, which is why they had been funding it themselves for so long.

Shignami @ Oct 29th 2008 12:19PM

So THIS is why we still tolerate sega.

Lord knows its not their faithful and fun renditions on the classic sonic franchise.

dark_inchworm @ Oct 29th 2008 12:22PM

Now all they need to do to guarantee my preorder is confirm that Sonic is the protagonist.

Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 12:23PM

No, but a dude from Firefly is

dark_inchworm @ Oct 29th 2008 12:38PM

Disappointing.

SyChO @ Oct 29th 2008 12:23PM

I'm glad this game has got a big name publisher to back it up.

If the reviews are good and the motion plus adapter really makes it that much better than I might just get it!

Mr Khan @ Oct 29th 2008 12:25PM

The idea of Motion Plus support is intriguing, because one thing that was conspicuously absent from the Fall Media Summit was Wii Sports Resort and the Motion Plus add-on

For this game to support it, it would have to launch near Wii Sports Resort, which would still put that game sometime in Q1, since that's where The Conduit is supposed to go

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 29th 2008 12:34PM

do you think this game will greatly benefit from Wii motion plus? The last FPS I played on the Wii was Red Steel, and shooting controls seemed to work well enough.

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 12:39PM

Red Steel controls are bad. That's not the way how FPS should work on the Wii.

The problem with Red Steel is the huge bounding box, almost at the edge of the screen. That doesn't work very well.

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 29th 2008 1:18PM

I liked the shooting in Red Steel. The thing that turned me off to the game (and the Wii in general) was the sword combat.

Markez @ Oct 29th 2008 4:27PM

Hey bear, Red Steel was awwwwffuuulll. Don't let that be representative of where this might end up :P

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 29th 2008 5:07PM

Ok, first of all, I asked a legitimate question regarding how Wii motion plus could add to the mechanics of the game.

Second, I only mentioned Red Steel because its the only reference I have for FPS Wii games. How did this become a discussion about the quality of Red Steel?

Markez @ Oct 29th 2008 5:20PM

Fine, fine, fine. In this instance I don't think WiiMotionPlus would really do that much here. I think the IR pointer suffices just fine for what it needs to do in a game like this. Unless they're going to have some silly lightsaber fighting it really doesn't seem necessary, plus requiring WiiMotionPlus might narrow the audience that might buy the game.

Now then, ahem...

*cough cough*

.....

RED STEEEEEEL!

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 29th 2008 5:32PM

hah, ok.

Back to Red Steel: I only played for about an hour, so I can't comment on the game as a whole. I became immediately disinterested after being defeated in a sword battle while using actual sword fighting techniques, and then watching my friend's little brother flail and spaz out and beat the opponent flawlessly.

John Z @ Oct 29th 2008 12:29PM

OK, on the one hand, YAY! for this and Wiicore games and all that, but Sega? Really?

Maybe I'm just being a little paranoid. Sega's not exactly been doing too hot right now, and promoting this and MadWorld is going to sink a LOT of cash. It worries me that these are going to end up like No More Heroes... a great game that never takes off because there's no publicity blitzkrieg.

Still, at least it's coming out, which is better than a great game getting canned for lack of a publisher.

Comet @ Oct 29th 2008 1:15PM

Oh yeah i sure wish NMH sold well enough to, idk, get a sequel for it.

Oh wait.....

Dannybuoy @ Oct 29th 2008 12:46PM

woopdedoo.. Still not buying it.. Looks pretty crap to me

religiousjedi @ Oct 29th 2008 1:59PM

You know what I didn't see anywhere in the article? Where it said that YOU had to buy it...

Not your cup of tea, ok, your choice...

Now, as to the story...hmm, Sega? Well...so long as it's released and turns out to be what High Voltage is promising, ok.

The Fatass of Kickassness @ Oct 29th 2008 3:17PM

A game that's still in pre-alpha, that the sound artists haven't even touched yet, and the art directors and artists just barely started working on, looks like shit to you?

NO WAI

Pretty much everything shown so far has been to show off the tech, and considering that games without tech like this (Metroid Prime 3, Galaxy) ended up pretty nice looking, I'm sure that we'll at least end up with an artistically nice game once the artists are done with it.

FSK405K @ Oct 29th 2008 12:54PM

So you're saying that Nintendo's best friend for real gamers today is Sega? Time to invent a time machine so I can win a bet with everyone in 1990.

Titanium_Orchid @ Oct 29th 2008 1:20PM

say it

SAY IT!

Fernando Rocker @ Oct 29th 2008 1:28PM

http://digitalunrestcomic.com/strips/2008-01-28.jpg

Joe @ Oct 29th 2008 1:57PM

To me the Conduit really does not look that great at all. I am a big FPS fan this never really said to me wow I need this. I will be trying it though because I like my Wii system not as much though as my PS3 and 360 but I need some new games for the Wii and Nintendo does not seem to like making and hard core games and more and Sega really is doing a great job with the Wii.

So to me I can't wait to play the Conduit because even though it does not look to me at least that great of an IP I still want to play it because looks can some times look different then how it plays.

Plus I want more core games and this looks to be one.

Also the Engine that is being used on the Conduit could be great for other games.

So I hope the Conduit sells well and so many more Core games get made.

Also I wonder if it does sell well Sega will buy HV because Sega needs some more great devs and Sega right now does not have that many.

I also have to say this Sega does what Ninendon't.

So great job on Sega's part and High Voltage.

I hope this helps also Sega to bring out the Dreamcast 2 because I would love to own that systems plus the next version of the Wii and Xbox plus Playstation. So if this helps Sega get back to making consoles I will be really thrilled.

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 29th 2008 3:12PM

HVS is using the Quantum 3 engine on The Conduit and Animales de la Muerte now, and have used it on Gyrostarr

Cesaria (Gamertag: Cesaria360) @ Oct 29th 2008 4:06PM

Joe, punctuation. Punctuation, joe. Mingle.

BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Oct 29th 2008 4:25PM

Dear Sega,

Market the HELL out of this game.

Thanks,
BPM

Comet @ Oct 29th 2008 5:13PM

PS,

Same goes for MadWorld.

JAY JAY @ Oct 29th 2008 5:15PM

To be honest. I think The Conduit Logo needs an overhaul.

nofriendo @ Oct 29th 2008 6:43PM

Dude Tmac must be taking a nap... he should be throwing one of his tantrums right about now.

nofriendo @ Oct 29th 2008 6:52PM

as for the conduit, I'd be the first to say it doesn't look as good as my 360 games but the if it looks good enough to fill that void and it has a rad control scheme, I don't see why people wouldn't choose it over alot of 360 shooters. (considering the AI is good too)

this video in particular that had me, I'd didn't think the wii could do this.

http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14248157/the-conduit/videos/conduit5_100208.Sub.05.html

(cheesy voice acting though, good thing they're changing it)

TWiNKiE @ Oct 29th 2008 10:21PM

The only negative thing I would say about that clip would be the sound effect for the gun.

But that doesn't bother me at all, and is not, in any way, going to stop me from buying this game.

On Launch.

wiinterfang @ Oct 30th 2008 7:19PM

at least now the SEGA is publishing this game we can assume one thing, the game CG scenes are going to be incredible. ( I don't know if any one has notice but the only thing that keeps improving a lot in SEGA of today is the ability to trow one heck of a trailer)