Topic: Do you really think that Wii U will have better 3rd party support than Wii?

OK first off let me proclaim proudly that I am a Nintendo fan and am trying to limit the amount of criticism I am about to get for my controversial comments!. However I personally can't see greater 3rd party support for Wii U say beyond what we saw with Wii or Gamecube! Why? Only because most Nintendo fans avoid 3rd party games and the Wii U again seems to attract the people who love Nintendo and isn't really trying to attract Playstation and Xbox buyers.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Wii U will do fine and 3rd party support isn't as important as say it was during the era of Cube, Xbox and Playstation 2. In fact, considering many 3rd parties have gone belly up over the years and the Wii U has hardware that can port 360 and PS3 games quite easily, I think the Wii U will get most of the important franchises this gen.

However, I honestly think that most big Nintendo fans I know buy very few 3rd party games. Just mention Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on a Nintendo forum and it will cop all sorts of criticism. Maybe in some instances it deserves it, but let's face it that is a game that is No1 on competing consoles. If Black Ops 2 doesn't sell well on Wii U then it doesn't bode that well for 3rd party support, however I am sure that some games like the Just Dance series for example will sell in better numbers on Wii U.

So in closing, how well do you think 3rd parties will go this time? Do you think Nintendo can do more to attract 3rd parties or to ensure their games sell better on it's systems?

When the Wii U starts getting 3rd party games on the same date as other systems, yes.

At the moment, it can't because all of the 3rd party launch games will already have been released on another system.

I loved wii's 3rd party support not that it wasn't supported well, just too many didn't sell well whether wii u can change that I have to say I doubt it sadly.

The Wii has sold over 90 million units and it really got more 3rd party support than any Nintendo system since the Super Nintendo days but unfortunately a lot of it were mini game compilations and the like! While some original Wii software did sell well (The aforementioned Just Dance series is publishers Ubisoft's biggest selling games period), most 3rd parties like EA will continue to sell their games like FIFA, Madden, Need for Speed and place their focus on sales via the Playstation and Xbox!

However I am not sure it can be helped. If you were a 3rd party and you had an awesome game, you will probably release it on competing consoles than go up against Nintendo!

Platinum Games is a 3rd party studio, their games, Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101 will probably only ever be released on the Wii U, ZombiU and Rayman Legends as well will only release on the Wii U, Tank! Tank! Tank!, if you exclude the arcade release, will also only release on the Wii U.

Because you have quotes from developers specificly saying this, correct?

Yes. We are already getting an exclusive that people claimed they would kill themselves over because they didn't have the system to play it.

An exclusive very few people will have played too I'm guessing considering it took nintendo to step in to make the sequel come out at all.

Let me know when they're being released on launch day, and then I'll change what I wrote.

Also Reala, I'm not sure if you're talking about Bayonetta 1 or 2, but the first game sold close to 2 million (according to VGCgartz (if you wanna believe that)) so it is a popular game.

Well I assume that'll happen within a months time because all they REALLLY need to do is get some of the hits from this year down and then I can see every big 3rd party game next year be released on the same day as others

ZombiU and Rayman Legends are launch day titles in Europe, unless you're specifically talking about multi-platform games. If you are, then the Wii U gets Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed on launch day in North America, 2 days before any other console.

As for the topic question, I think 3rd party support will initially be quite successful. It presents a unique opportunity for developers to show off with the highest quality graphics and innovative use of the GamePad. At the same time, it can offer the same experience to consumers as PS3 or 360 using the pro controller. On the other hand, PS3 and 360 already have an established user base, so that could be something that appeals to 3rd parties more than cutting edge technology (although that didn't really work for the Wii).

Like myself, many people would buy 3rd party mult-platform games for other consoles rather than the Wii. Since the Wii U was announced, however, I've held off buying Arkham Asylum and, later, Assassin's Creed III with the intention of buying them for the Wii U. I dare say that others will also choose the Wii U over other platforms even if there's a slight difference in release dates. I know I will―I'd rather have the option of the Wii U experience if possible.

You are right about that one. And yes I was talking about multi-plat titles. There were lots of 3rd party exclusives present on the Wii. I think the real issue about 3rd parties is how they perform across all systems released on.

The Wii was underpowered, which saw a lack of quailty when it came to the multi-plat titles, which meant other 3rd party developers weren't confident about using the Wii as a platform.

Yeah I don't see third parties dedicating much resource into making 'innovative' use of the Gamepad when they can simply port over the PS3 and Xbox360 games, and not end up running a massive loss from dedicating resources to a console that is going to have a fraction of the potential customer base of the other two consoles.

The only games that have any potential 'innovation' in Gamepad use are the exclusives. For multiconsole releases its going to be a glorified inventory or map button.

I think a lot of it hinges on the wii u's "success" during the launch window. There's just enough 3rd party support and games right now for Nintendo to justifiably say "look! we DO care about 3rd party studios!", but I don't think we'll see an influx of support for big 3rd party titles on the system unless the "launch window" titles do well in sales AND aren't bugged to hell and back.

Absolutely. The 3rd party line up looks awesome, and I'm sure even better games are to come.

I'm not sure how you can come to that conclusion, really. Arkham City for the Wii U sees more than just glorified inventory and maps; Black Ops 2 has multiplayer between the GamePad and main screen; FIFA 13 has touchscreen/motion gestures that allow for better control over shots or passes, team management and seeing free kicks and penalties from the player's perspective by raising the pad. Any self-respecting developer with a potentially blockbusting title on their hands should be pushing all the systems to their limits.

Even the games that do add "just a map and inventory screen" may be more appealing to some on those features alone, and some of them (like Darksiders II) can be played purely on the GamePad, sans TV. Like I said before, I'd at least rather have those options, hence I don't mind waiting if there's a delay until the Wii U gets the game, and I don't mind paying a little extra if there's a difference in price.

No. Arkham City uses the gamepad for the menu. All the things that have been advertised it could do, (except for batarang controls and scanning which only occurs about 5 times in the game and is boring as hell) is everything that you do in the menu. Call of Duty does exactly what Darksiders/Mario/NintendoLand does by letting you play on the gamepad. That doesn't scream innovation to me. I'll give you Fifa 13.

Congrats! You listed 1 game from a 3rd party that uses the gamepad that is not a menu/inventory/map/mirroring the WiiU.

I can see the strategy Wii U is using. They use current generation hardware and a controller that works well with current generation games. At first, they'll get a ton of ports of older games from other consoles. Then, they'll get multiplatform games being released at the same time as other consoles. Then the PS4 and Xbox Hybrid come out and the bar for hardware is raised to a true "Nex Gen" system, and most developers can't afford the increased budget that comes with greater hardware, and are left with a choice: Compete with Halo 5 and Uncharted 4 with budgets to rival hollywood, like an indie movie trying to beat out The Avengers, or compete with Nintendo games and develop on hardware that you already have the resources for. I give it two years after the release of Sony and Microsofts next consoles, and the Wii U will be the go to third party machine.

Except FIFA's controls already work like that on the iPad.

If the Wii U hits a critical mass where there is the genuine chance that a port will sell enough copies for a dedicated development team to come up with innovation with the Gamepad, then you might see something happen. Until then it's going to be small B-teams handling the ports with limited resources to be creative. Why? Because there might be 10 million (if that) Wii Us in the market by the end of next year - there's 50 million or so PS3 and Xbox 360s. Numbers may be off, but the point is simple - no third part publisher that doesn't want to go bankrupt is going to invest a fortune in Wii U cross platform innovation. What little of it you've seen so far can be attributed to one of two things - 1) Nintendo is providing seed money to encourage third parties to make those investments 2) the third party devs like Ubisoff are going for the early mover advantage while the overall game library is thin.

If you can't make a genuine business case for innovation, it's not going to happen. 'Because I want it' doesn't count.

CoD allows multi-player gaming without split screen, one on the GamePad and one on the TV―that's not mirroring. I could see that being a marketable selling point to gaming households. Arkham City allows scanning as you said, but it was something that was a big part of the first game (especially for 100% completion), I assumed the second game would be the same. There's also individually detonating explosives using the touch screen.

Just like companies didn't invest time and money in development of motion controls for multi-platform Wii games? Right. Developing the GamePad should be a small percentage of a companies' budget; I hardly doubt it would bankrupt any developers thinking of going the extra mile to do something special with their game.

An argument can be made for a better experience on the Wii U on most games, even if they don't do anything particularly innovative with the GamePad.