E3 06: THQ: Wii dev costs fraction of PS3's, 360's

Yeah, THQ makes some crap kids games, but don't forget about their solid titles like Destroy All Humans, Warhammer 40k, the Red Faction games, and the WWE games. Tons of opportunities to utilize the Wii (...heh, I hate that name too) technology, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more mature games come out from them, and many developers once they're given a chance to see how people react to games like Red Steel (which I think has tons of promise), especially since development costs will be so low. I have a 360, I'll pick up a PS3, but I'm not excited about them like I am at what could be possible with the Revolution...I mean Wii. Whatever happens in the next few years, it'll definately be a good time to be a gamer, and I think primarily because of what Nintendo will do to the industry. Just an opinion.

Agreed ! Kcube I still think Res 4 is one of the best looking games of all time, and the Wii isn't GameCube 1.5 by a long shot, the tech is 4 years newer much has changed, they just decided not to change the way it is developed for to keep the cost down, which in turn hopefully makes them take some chances.

stop being lazy THQ and spend your money on 360 and PS3

Dev costs were cheaper for the GC, and we all know how that turned out, so enough about that. Until the Wii gets some REAL third-party games (not geared-towards-girls games from Konami), I don't really care. It seems people are already creating this demographic for the Wii, and more than half of its planned titles are way too family friendly... That demographic has never won a console war, and it won't now. I really hope they start making more mature games, and I don't necessarily mean MA -rated games. Just games that adults would enjoy as well. But with a name like Wii, which is obviously giving wrong impressions, I don't have much hope.

Lower costs will turn alot of thrid party heads and its a step in the right direction for Nintendo.Cheaper prices on the games for us and cheaper development for the third partys.

That's good news... means the Wii will get nice games. :)

This would be great news for Nintendo. If they can leverage the know how and tools from the GCN for developers to apply them to the Wii then they can start making great games from day 1.

Nintendo can be in the bottom of the rank a thousand times. I don't care. Nintendo games are fun and I will always have a N console.

Like THQ know how to make games.

People seem think to think that cheaper development costs means crap gamesand thats totally STUPID. If the developer makes a crap game of even a low development cost it shows that there games suck. And higher developments costs dont make a game better at all they actually make them worse because they will release a game (if its a new company or something) early so they dont spend to much money even though the games have a few bugs in them. Optimusv2 how do u know the games will be better for the ps3? have you seen any games yet? and the must have 360 titles are only starting to come out why dont you give the wii a chance you dont even know if the THQ will be good or bad yet cuz u havent seen anything of it and thats when you can properly judge. (I h8 it when people just assume what games will be like without even hearing any details about the game yet or seeing any gameplay movies it so stupid.)

Excellent...this brings hope for massive third-party support!!!

Definately good news. If the Wii gets a half decent user base, third party support should rival that of the NES....

Spongebob game aren't reallly that good. Actualy any THQ are bad.

The wii isnt middle gen at all. The whole idea of the controller itself makes it more next gen than anything really. Powers great but new gameplay oppurtunities for game players is more next gen than anything. Plus developers can create new gameplay ideas which is more next gen than a game with more people on screen :S i always hate how most companies say next gen is about whats goin on but its gameplay. If the development costs are cheap that will encourage people to take a chance on games and they will try and make the best game possible (well i would) because i know i wont be paying as much to create a next gen game than on the 360 or ps3. I agree with someones comment (cant remeber name) who said about the fact that yeah they might not be totally amazing franchises but if the controller adds something gd about these games maybe the movie, and tv tie in games will finally be better than average and theres nowt wrong with that. THQ should defiantely change there demographic though because they could easily create a other than nicklodeon game for the Wii and it would still be great so hopefully there demographic will change because not everyone wants to play on Nickolodeon games lol

Yeah, Optimusv2, devs obviously don't care about the cost of development kits for certain platforms. I mean, they're obviously loaded with trillions of dollars in cash and have no worries about money.

Dev costs havent made that much of an impact. PS2 isn't the cheapest to develop for, and look where it is now. Maybe it will make more of a difference in the coming gen, depends on how high the costs get.

The part I don't like is this... "As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be." Based on the three titles THQ has announced for the Wii, are they assuming that the Wii will be a console for kids...? If so, that's ridiculously stupid of them to say such a thing.

man... sounds good

Piernik...that was so stupid to say...PSX? wtf are you even talking about? Playstation?....why on earth would you bring up the PS1? ugh....some people really arnt gamers i swear

Sweet! Development costs are down! Lets make SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab!

The trouble with cheap development costs though is you get a lot more in the way of crap games. RIDICULOUS. If a game is crap it's the developer's fault, not the dev tools

you never know, they may have come up with some amazing gameplay concepts for the relatively lame license. That would average out at an alright game - but cheap!

those are pennys!

Well, anyone who went to IGN has known this since March...

I think the key there is "as little as a third of the HIGH-END next-gen titles." Of course if you're making a game with lower-res textures, less content, and adorned with fewer bells and whistles it'll be cheaper to make, especially for the children's demographic which isn't necessarily interested in bleeding edge specs. But good luck making interesting games for the system. It'll be nice to have alternatives.

we knew this a long time ago...SDKs for it are around 2,000 dollars

awesome! hope this means more third party support for the rev, or WII i guess... god i hate that name...

The trouble with cheap development costs though is you get a lot more in the way of crap games.

yeah it is cus all these new titles need all this software and stuff to develope if the wii is cheaper it would rock

That kind of scares me that THQ is confident that games like Spongebob are perfect for the audience Nintendo is catering to...but I'll hold my breath, considering the existence of games like Red Steel.

This means good news for Nintendo; maybe even more third party developers will be interested by this.