Factor 5 Jump Back Into Bed With Nintendo

Cheers and whooping heard as previous Sony-related indiscretions are forgotten

by Damien McFerran Tue 15th Jan 2008

Factor 5, the studio behind hits such as Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leader and 16-bit ‘run and gun’ classic Turrican, has confirmed that it is once again working with Nintendo hardware.

The company was previously an ‘exclusive’ Nintendo developer in the early days of the GameCube, but recently started to work with Sony on their PS3 console. The only product of this union so far has been Lair, which has met with what could be best described as ‘lukewarm’ review scores.

Co-founder and current company president Julian Eggebrecht spoke to IGN about plans for a new Wii game.

In a phone conversation with IGN Wii this morning, company president Julian Eggebrecht confirmed that the studio is underway with at least one all-new Wii project -- and it's not a Virtual Console game. Beyond that confirmation, Eggebrecht was mum, but he did note that the new title would not simply re-use old Rogue Squadron tech; whatever it is, significantly updated or even completely new tech has been developed to help accommodate it.
Factor 5's previous title, Lair, released for PlayStation 3 to mixed reviews. However, it is worth noting that the developer is intimately familiar with the GameCube hardware, whose technology extends to Wii. Not only did Factor 5 work with Nintendo to develop GameCube's audio solution, but it pushed the console harder on a graphics level than just about every other studio, Nintendo included. Bearing that in mind, fans can rest assured that whatever the company's new Wii game is, it's a safe bet that it'll look good and push the hardware.

At one time, Factor 5 was pegged to develop a sequel to Pilot Wings for the then-codenamed Revolution. Nintendo even went so far as to list the San Rafael-based studio as a "partner" in its official E3 presentation. Since that time, though, the company has been busy with the PS3-exclusive Lair and thus, work on any Pilot Wings sequel is thought to have been halted or cancelled altogether. Incidentally, IGN believes Factor 5's Wii title is an altogether different beast.

[source uk.wii.ign.com]