Treyarch, who also ported World at War to the Wii using the much vaunted modified COD4 engine, is taking another whack at Wii. It makes sense, since 1) Activision already had an engine on Wii 2) Call of Duty 4 was one of the best received shooters ever and 3) World at War (Wii) topped 1 million sales. Apparently Treyarch and Activision are both fond of money. As far as I'm concerned, Treyarch did well with World at War — far better than Wii porters ordinarily do — so I welcome their involvement and hope they bring their A game.

Should I be complaining because we're not getting MW2 at the moment? Who knows. Just because the first one rocked the casbah doesn't mean the sequel will (remember Halo 2?). For now, I consider this the best news for Wii this year. It sucks that it took this long, but at least it's finally here.

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David Marseilles

Photo Credit: Christian (Men in Black) | Via kotaku | Permalink

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There are some things that previews and even pre-launch reviews are worthless for. Multiplayer is one of them. This is because you can't know what the network performance will be like until tens of thousands of gamers raid the servers and bring things to a crawl. I'll be putting down some initial pros and cons in this post over the next couple of days.

Pros:

• Finally, Scifi. Enough with WWII shooters already. We get it, they had guns then. Explore something, ANYTHING else. The environments and weapons of SciFi make for an excellent alternative.
• You can find a Friend online and join whatever game they are in. Neither WaWii nor MoHH2 had this functionality.
• Great control customizations
  • Full custom button remapping is a first for Wii (WaWii had different presets, but no custom). If there were any justice, there would never be another Wii shooter without it. You can even take vital functions away from motions and put them on a button. I did.
  • You can change the sensitivity of motions, which is VITAL. In MoHH2 I'd always accidentally trigger a reload when I was fighting someone on a staircase and aiming up, then down. I'd just as soon have no motions, but this is nice too.
  • The standard dead zone alterations, turn speed, cursor sensitivity are all present and accounted for.

Cons:

• Friend Codes
  • We'll stop complaining the day they finally fraking die. No sooner. If you don't understand why they suck, I envy your bliss.
  • We don't blame High Voltage for this, as so far, they've been the most sympathetic to gamers of any company on the topic, but it still screws up the game so it's still a con.
• Lag — could just be launch day excitement. Hopefully it improves over time.
• Framerate drops
  • it is unclear if network performance is the cause of this. Will it get better after the launch is over? Who knows.
• There's an intermediate connection screen between when you select a game type and before you go into a game lobby that can hang and there's no way to back out (B gets you out of most menu stuff) if it has trouble authenticating some of the players, short of actually turning off your Wii. It's a rare problem, but still a con.
• Analog lag.
  • I don't know if this is a function of the networking or control design, but the control response to the analog stick is terrible. It feels like you're trying to drive a tank instead of moving a nimble secret agent whose job it is to save the world. Strafing speed is okay, but the time it takes you to get to full strafe speed from rest or to switch from strafe right to strage left is appallingly slow. The same for changing from forward motion to backward motion.

Neutral:

• You can't take a party of friends into a public game. This is nice because it sucks ending up with 2 n00bs against a skilled, skype-using party of 4 friends. It sucks because with the ever-disgusting friend code system, putting together a full-fledged private match is tough to do, with the party system, you only needed half a private match to get a full game going. WiiHD considers

Screenshots:

The manual from 4colorrebellion.

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by David Marseilles

The following two codes are from Gamestop's special edition of The Conduit for preorders.

NewASE11
SuitMP13

Enter the codes under Extras -> Promotional Code

To turn them on, Extras -> Unlockables -> Cheats

Screenshots:

The manual from 4colorrebellion.

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David Marseilles

Via Kotaku | Permalink

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by David Marseilles

The highlights are that HVS apparently improved performance in the online mode by reducing graphical fidelity (smart move if you ask me). You probably already know that the Conduit reduced the total number of players to 12 from a planned 16. There are seven maps, 3 categories (Team Objective (which includes a CTF sub-type), TDM, FFA), and there seem to game sub-types for each category (Joystiq played a Free For All variant called "Bounty Hunter" where everyone races to be the first one to kill the player designated as the hunted, also spotting a Last Man standing mode and a "King of the Hill"-like mode).

They reported that movement speed felt slow and there was no Sprint option. WiiSpeak lets you talk either to your team or the five nearest players—it's unclear from the preview whether that's automatically chosen based on the mode you're playing, or if you can manually switch it and say, talk to someone on the opposite team in TDM. Everything is as customizable as you've come to expect from HVS, from modes, rules, HUD arrangement and of course, control config.

Read the whole thing and keep marking the time until it releases. Then buy a copy for you and another for a friend. The success of this game reflects not just on the Wii, but probably on its successor too.

There was a past multiplayer demo Sega ran that fell through a little while ago, and I expect this demo will be reported by some other sites soon as well, so keep your eyes open for more impressions.

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David Marseilles

Screenshots:

The manual from 4colorrebellion.

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by David Marseilles

Madworld

The Conduit

Bayonetta

Well look at that. Sega does what Nintendon't.

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David Marseilles

Via Kotaku

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David Marseilles

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What does this mean for our hopes and dreams? The Timesplitters IP can still be sold, and employees as talented as Free Radicals' are bound to be back in the game lending their talents to other games. Until they land on their feet, WiiHD's thoughts are with them.

Some people might blame the worldwide economic recession. Others might suspect Free Radical over-invested in the poorly performing Haze. WiiHD blames Vitamin E. It knows why.

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David Marseilles

gamesindustry.biz Via Wi Fanboy | Permalink
Thanks Lakkus for the head's up

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by David Marseilles

Watch this post in the next day or so. I'd upload it now, but I want to test the new programs first.

For now watch the old, very mockable video guide after the break if you don't know what this homebrew business is all about (pssst, it's about Quake). Also, see the full WiiHD Homebrew Guide if you need links to goodies or more help.

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David Marseilles

Hackmii Via Joystiq | Permalink

Props to text-image.com for the matrixification.

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The Really, Really Bad

• Friend Codes
• Inability to choose a map or other settings in "Find a Match" games (likely the most common kind you'll play given how fraking long it takes to collect, enter, and get someone else to reciprocate with FCs)
• Update: Invites from your Friends pop up a display that interferes with your gameplay even if you're in a game. It's almost as annoying as MoHH2's battery warning — the solution to both should have been the same — display a HUD icon to notify, but not interrupt your game. Once you're in a place to do so, you can pause and address the notice. As it is, you can pretty much count on Invites only coming JUST when you're in the middle of a serious and deadly dogfight.
  • Workaround: create a second profile for when you don't want to interrupted. Of course, your two profiles will have to unlock everything separately and rank up separately

The Bad

• Voting to skip a map you don't like requires 50% + 1 (with a minimum of 3). Less would be better
• No Comm
• Some framerate drops
• World War II. Again. If it were all European theatre, it'd be in the Really, really bad column.
• Update: Only DM and TDM? Call of Duty should be better than that. Where's CTF and SaD?
• Limited Control customization.
  • Presets for turning speed instead of a sensitivity slider
  • No bounding box (dead zone) resizing are with 4 presets
  • Honestly, this would have been acceptable in VERY early 2007. Now it's fraking criminal. Shame on you Treyarch, even beenox did better with QoS, to say nothing of what the PSP port MoHH2 did.
• Update: Only a Host can invite to a Private match. If you're invited to one, you can't in turn invite someone else in to help fill it out. That makes Clan wars all that much harder, since the game host doesn't just need one enemy clan FC (and then just let that one player invite the rest), but ALL of them. And what happens with last minute substitutions? Massive game delay failures.
  • For clan wars, you can still have each clan form a party prior to the beginning of the game. One clan gets all their members into the party, then the game host invites that party host. Still, it's inconvenient.
  • For regular matches with Friends, it seems pretty inconvenient that invited users can't use their friend lists to supplement the hosts friend list and make there's always a full game going.

The Good

• Nice look
• The super-confusing single player campaign really captures that jungle warfare "where the frak is the enemy…. OH FRAK, THERE THEY ARE" feel
• players blend in easily in multiplayer as well—forcing you to keep you're eyes very very peeled
• Unlockables. Weapons, perks, upgrades, challenges…
• Fresh FPS. Sadly, its networking lacks a lot of MoHH2's flexibility, but the maps, the weapons, the campaign… WaWii is the whole package, not one of the PSP/PS2 ports we're used to
• Weapon selection is good, and their respective strengths are clear from the selection screen
• Custom Classes rock and seem well balanced.
• Streak bonuses rock. Yeah, they get used against you as much as for you, but they add a nice element to the game. I recommend relying heavily on melee to get the dogs. You can shoot them at a distance, but once they're in your face, pull that knife baby. Surveillance plane: 3 kills, Artillery strike (which can kill friendlies too): 5 kills, Dogs: 7 kills.
• You can jump. I spent a good 5 minutes looking for the jump button when I first bought MoHH2 before finally (*gasp*) opening the manual, only to discover that in EA's book, apparently man had not learned to jump yet in the World War 2 era. Activision and my grandpa disagree.
• Update: Spawning in TDMs starts you with your team and tends to put you close to your team on respawn. A welcome system.
• Update: I never have to use the accelerometer. I do toss poison gas grenades, but I suspect Treyarch used the IR light orientation for the twist feedback rather than the accelerometer, like MoHH2 did with scope zooming. Bad motion controls can really screw an experience, but Treyarch wisely limited them.

The Neutral

• You can change button layouts between several preset layouts. This would be in the good column if there were one custom layout option.
• No ammo pickups online. You can pick up the weapons of the dead, but even if it's the same weapon you already have, you don't get to combine ammo.

Expect a few updates tomorrow, and feel free to flame my list in the comments.

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David Marseilles

2 Wii Screens (yes, only two):

2 DS Screens

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Why are you still reading? Go vote!

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David Marseilles

Free Radical Polling Via gonintendo | Permalink

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But if you want to set up a non-random match on Wii, you still need Friend Codes.

Remember the Christmas Story where the kid has to wear the pink bunny suit? This is more embarrassing than that by a lot.

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David Marseilles

Christmas Story:

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• No lobbies =(
• As we told you, it's an 8 player online game =(
• Options for getting into a game are "Find a Match" or "Private Match"
  • There are 8 maps
  • Large Maps are Asylum and Cliffside, Medium maps are Castle, Hangar, Makin, and Upheaval, Small maps are Dome and Courtyard
  • You don't get to choose your maps in "Find a Match", they appear to be randomly chosen. To skip one you don't like, at least half the players gathered must choose to do so. =(
  • You can customize a lot options, including which map you want, in private match. More details when we have them.
• Early reports are that Friend Codes are Not required for private matches =)
  • WiiHD remains skeptical and awaits more information however
  • It is still unclear how you get other players into a private match, so you should remain skeptical too
  • Update New reports indicate that the only conceivable way to get people into your private match, is through your Friend List — which is Friend Code controlled.
  • Update one user from callofduty.com claims (based on 2nd hand information) that after a random match, you can send friend requests from a list of recent opponents, a la Mario Kart Wii, in addition to adding via Friend Code
    • Update: so far there is no corroboration for the idea that you can add someone without a FC. WiiHD is investigating and encourages skepticism with all things related to FCs. Update: On further inspection, WiiHD can find no such option. Until someone with firsthand experience explains it, we're assuming it's bogus.
• Leaderboards can be found under the "Barracks" moniker, and there is a locked mode called "Create a class" for custom class creation
  • For Create a Class, you choose a Primary weapon, a sidearm, a primary grenade and a special grenade and 3 perks
• Match modes are "Bootcamp" (TDM for people under level 8 only), "TDM", "Free for All", "Hardcore TDM" (a locked mode, presumably just for vets), and "Veteran" (also locked at the beginning)

We'll update this when we know more about the Private Match setup.

Special thanks to zzzpwned and garththecat for sharing the info. Special thanks to MetroidCrime and the best Wii gaming forum for bringing it to WiiHD's attention. There is user gameplay footage after the break.

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David Marseilles

User Gameplay footage from zakypoof and Wii clan WT

First 10 minutes of the game (Thanks Stelzig):

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In an interview with Iran White (IW) at Wiirincontrol.com, Eric Nofsinger again confronted the topic of Friend Codes, empathizing with gamers' frustrations. It is possible to read part of the passage below as saying that Friend Codes are not inevitable, but given the bolded underlined portion (emphasis WiiHD's) a more fair reading simply has Nofsinger explaining, as he has before, that they're doing everything they can to improve the Friend Code system, not trying to bypass it altogether. Some months ago, The Conduit makers alluded to Mario Kart in a pretty positive way, as if it had solved the Friend Code dilemma and they were no longer a problem

IW: Many Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers have a sort of “one eye on it” interest in The Conduit. Graphics aside, for them the clincher will be how well the game plays online. While Friend Codes aren’t a deal breaker, it is a major concern. Has Nintendo given you an explanation for why they are so adamant about the use of Friend Codes for even such a game as The Conduit, even though they’ve built a significant Parental Controls system into the Wii?

EN: Yeah, this is definitely something that we go back and forth with them on. They do have their security issues that we need to be cognizant of. We’re very aware of those concerns and understand where they are coming from with that. But really all we can commit to is creating the best possible experience.

Personally, I’m not a fan of Friend Codes, I don’t think that anyone on the team is a fan of Friend Codes. What we’re promising people is that we’re working with Nintendo, we’ve had them out to the office. We’ve been over to their place. We’re in regular communication with them. It will be as good of an experience on Multiplayer as possible. We know it’s important. We don’t want to let folks down.

IW: Yeah, I understand. It’s Nintendo’s thing, you have to play by their rules.

EN: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I know that there’s been one notable exception of a game that hasn’t had friend codes. As far as I know, at least from what’s been relayed to us, that exception was a one time thing. It’s something where we need to continue to work with them closely, and figure out something that does hit what they need, but also hits what we need as gamers, you know?

What was that one time exception? Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. An otherwise unremarkable game that may well still be the gold standard in Wii FPS multiplayer even after QoS, Call of Duty and The Conduit come out if Nintendo doesn't get their act together.

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David Marseilles

wiirincontrol.com Via Gamefaqs user Teh_5_Starz | Permalink

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By now, it's old news. The Conduit will be published by Sega. What does that mean? Nothing particularly good, but nothing particularly bad either. Sega doesn't have the resources to bypass Nintendo's archaic and idiotic Friend Code networking, nor are they likely to have enough influence to convince Nintendo to make exceptions for them. So we've gone from "probably" using friend codes, to yes, we are in fact stuck with them. Yipee.

WiiHD has no particular opinion on Sega's game quality. They're no Capcom, but they aren't churning out mega-crapware either. If they're committed to putting serious dollars behind the promotion of The Conduit, something Nintendo refused to do with MP3C, that could help make sure there is a sequel. We'll see.

WiiHD did have higher hopes for The Conduit's feature set. But oh well. If you can't cope with unnecessary disappointment, Wii is not the best console for you.

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David Marseilles

Screenshots:

The manual from 4colorrebellion.

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Controls (about 2:30 in) have 3 presets and "Custom". It's unclear just how custom custom is, but we continue to hope for MoHH2 or Conduit-level customizations like changing the bounding box and button mappings. Also, WiiHD really hopes that "shaking" the nunchuck is not the only way to reload.

Anyway, we've seen lots of footage and promotion for this game on the PS360, so we're glad to finally bring you a bundle of Wii footage.

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David Marseilles

First Wii Screens?!? (Click to enlarge at your own risk. WiiHD cannot be held responsible for eye-bleeding.)

Quantum of Solace Teaser Trailer:

E3: First Look Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace 360 Screenshots:

Quantum of Solace (DS) Screenshots:

Via Dark Gaia | Permalink

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The trailer is gorgeous, and if you don't want Monster Hunter 3 after watching it, even a little bit, WiiHD recommends Vitameatavegamin to help cure whatever ails you.

Also, WiiHD has been tweaking our gallery system over the past few weeks, as you may or may not have noticed. Today, we've upped the resolution of the full-size images quite a bit, and we hope that makes for a more pleasant viewing. If you don't see a difference, clearing your browser's cache might help.

Catch it all after the break.

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David Marseilles

Newest Trailer:

First Gameplay Trailer:

Old teaser:

Images watermarked as such are courtesy of dengeki online

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Today, Capcom dumped a bunch of new screens, and some TGS footage on us, including a trailer and some on-floor gameplay footage. What we don't see is them achieving their previously stated goal of putting 100 zombies on screen at once, but it's still looking like a great game.

In the original 360 game, some of the complaints were that mission times had cramped the sandbox play style, and Capcom payed attention, and loosened things up to really give you the kind of freedom that a sandbox was designed to provide.

Check out the new media after the break.

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David Marseilles

TGS Trailer:

TGS Gameplay Footage:

Debut Wii Trailer:

Wii Gameplay Trailer:

Via Capcom | Permalink

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After a lot of time waiting while Quantum of Solace PS360 was hyped and showed off everywhere, NeoGAF user The-Switcher claims to have the first Wii screenshot of Quantum of Solace. This is the game that is supposed to be using the same modified CoD4 engine that WaWii is using. But look at that water (after the break). Bond himself doesn't look that bad (though his jacket does leak into his pants on the lower left), but there's a lot not to like. And remember, this is a screenshot they've chosen to Show-Off the game. Imagine the ones that ended up being rejected as good publicity shots… No, that isn't a poorly textured rug, it's a pool. It's also an omen for 2008 Activision games using the modified CoD4 engine. I'll let you guess whether it's a good or bad omen.

So that's what the modified CoD4 engine can do? It's actually good news in a way. WiiHD has decided to sell our company car after a little tinkering. And we're betting our 'modifed' Jaguar will be super popular on ebay.

The first Wii Screen is after the break. View at your own risk. If you need to recuperate afterwards, go look at The Conduit's gallery.

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David Marseilles

First Wii Screens?!? (Click to enlarge at your own risk. WiiHD cannot be held responsible for eye-bleeding.)

Quantum of Solace Teaser Trailer:

E3: First Look Quantum of Solace

Quantum of Solace 360 Screenshots:

Quantum of Solace (DS) Screenshots:

Via NeoGAF | Permalink

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WiiHD has delayed reporting one of the more depressing details of IGN's most recent preview of WaWii (World at War Wii), but the time has come to bite the bullet. Instead of the 32 player online multiplayer offered by MoHH2, or even the 16 player multiplayer offered by the PS360 version of WaW, IGN indicates that WaWii will have 8 player online. Also, the online vehicle mode Treyarch was so proud of will not be present in WaWii. Finally, no Wii-Speak either (more Nintendo's fault than anyone else's).

Following that news, Nintendojo is reporting (Thanks KeiKong) that Activision and Beenox will be putting a 4 player online multiplayer component into the Wii version of Quantum of Solace—the same number of players available in QoS's offline multiplayer component. This compared to the 12 player online multiplayer component in the PS360 version.

So what improvements are being made over MoHH2? The Call of Duty 4 engine is being used. It was also Treyarch's excuse for dumbing down coop-options for WaWii. WiiHD is grateful that an effort is being made to make Wii games look better than PS2 games. But we never asked for our gameplay to get watered down. WiiHD exists as a conduit for opinion promoting excellence in gameplay, and in these announcements, we are extremely disappointed. So we've put the kind of effort into this post's graphics that Activision has put into the Wii feature set.

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David Marseilles

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