Just Cause developer Avalanche has revealed that its Wii U dev kits are gathering dust and that it has found Nintendo a difficult company to pin down.
Speaking in an interview with Pressfire, Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg had this to say when asked if he had any plans for Nintendo's new console:
No. Not at the moment. My kids play Skylanders Giants on Wii U. It's pretty much the only dealings I have with the console.
We actually had some dev consoles that just collected dust. It's a little sad, because we were wanted to do something. I think it is a cool platform.
Sundberg also revealed that Nintendo has been tricky to get in touch with:
Nintendo have from our point of view has always been difficult to get in. You never quite know where to turn. Now, however, we have managed to get through, via the publisher we work with.
He also provided some helpful advice for Nintendo:
I think Nintendo has much to gain by going the same way as Sony, by stretching out a hand to the developers...to include even more.
Personally speaking, we'd love to see a Just Cause game on the Wii U — hopefully Avalanche can be convinced to support the platform in the not-too-distant future.
[source gonintendo.com]
Comments 65
Umm..... Ok then. Some of that doesent make any sense...
Ooh Just Cause 3 please!
Indies is having an easy time contacting Nintendo, how come a "proper" game dev is having a problem?
Does he mean developers as devs themselves? Like not the publishers, but the devs? How do you reach out to them?
Quit whining and make a Wii U game, I mean they have the dev kits...
If this is true then, just wow Nintendo.
Then in Japan Nintendo could not even get a game out for Golden Week.
I am just on the verge of saying love Nintendo and this console. I am just waiting for E3 to see if they really care or not. If E3 disappoints then love em.
@Optimist_Prime When making a game you need some kind of support of the maker, especially if what people are saying is true about the lack of documentation of the WiiU dev kits. Come on man, you have to know they you need support when making a game.
How are they having trouble getting in contact with Nintendo? Are they talking about in the past or right now? Because right now everyone else is saying that Nintendo is very easy to work with.
If you pay them, they will come
It would be nice to see Just Cause 3 on Wii U even though I never was interested in the series personally B4 but wii needs all the support wii can get.
Seeing as certain people are going back on their word and the same people just bought the Star Wars Lisence which means and I'm telling you right now there won't be ANY Star Wars games on Wii U!! So Nintendo you NEED as much support as possible man!
You should be EXTREAMLY close to guys like the Just Cause people, you really can't afford to lose anyone else!
Just Cause is good open world merc fun. Nintendo is a strange bird.
I'm really hoping for a strong e3, I bought a WiiU shortly after launch and other than the few games I bought with the system, I've only gotten one game, Scriblenauts, since. I haven't been that annoyed so far with the lack of games, but the semester ends in a couple weeks and there aren't any games that I truly 'want' to play till Wind Waker (actually Pikmin 3 but I still have to wait till summer is pretty much over) I think E3 will reveal Nintendo's plans for the system and until then, I'm just going to wait.
@NINTENBOY Seriously, I don't get Nintendo sometimes.
It's a love/hate relationship
@Optimist_Prime - turn the entitlement down a touch
one month to go people x
Hmm... so many indie devs figure out where to turn for help, why can't they? It almost seems like they really aren't trying. I just hate the typical "Well, it's cool but..." excuses.
Hope there's some good news soon. Wii U really underused. Not turned on at all by Pikmin, Resi Rev, Wonderful 101 or Windwaker remake. Where are the BIG, SERIOUS games. ... And I don't just mean Zelda/Mario! We need games like Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls ... You know, current gen system shifters. If only we had that much needed interest and support.
I, on my way to become an Indie Developer, had some Questions about the WiiU DevKit.
I wrote them a Mail.
Two days later i got an answer that not only answered my questions. It was pretty detailed, more i asked for, but valuable informations to me.
God, it was so horribly hard to reach them, i mean, i had to make the first step and all, why couldn't they just send everyone a mail and ask if we have questions?
Give me one of those dev kits, please. It won't be gathering dust in my hands.
Well, EA says flat out they've eliminated expenses "by ignoring platforms they don’t think have a long-term potential" (insert Nintendo).
"Unprecedented relationship" LOL. Goodbye EA.
All this piling up, I hope Nintendo steals the show somehow at E3. They really need to bring a whopper.
Any console that doesn't support Unreal 4, Frostbyte 3 or Dice is just not going to get support from the companies who use those engines.
Can you guys just post some Cosplay pics of Nintendo characters? Or make a list of things you want to see from Monolith's X?
That's funny they want Nintendo to convince them. I've never even heard of this game, can you please give your dev kit back
What i find most amusing is:
"WiiU is cool" Than do something with it. There are enough engines that run on the system properly...and if you are not competend enough to tweal some of them or do your own stuf...shut up and do stuff everybody else did over and over again...
"Nintendo is hard to get in touch with" Funny, many others claimed, that establishing contact with nintendo was rather easy and once established, nintendo regularly gave advice and was open for discussions. So, whats the truth now ? Good to team up with, or silent giant far away corporation ?
So they have dev kits. They want to make something for Wii U. But decide not to because they're having a little trouble contacting Nintendo? That sounds kinda pathetic, but I do certainly hope they get something together for Wii U.
@SwerdMurd you've got me all wrong man.
I'll admit to being irked, but from the article I take it this gentleman is just sitting on his hands, 'woe is me.' To say that he has development kits collecting dust, well, that indicates a lack of effort on his part. That's my feeling.
I need to inquire on how one can spend that money on dev kits and let them gather dust... Talk about return on investment.
Damn, the original source is in Norwegian... :/
@fluggy How about playing these games on the PS3?
If you want dev's to support your platform you need to encourage them, and also give them a good reason why they should develop for your platform, you got competition for christ sake. Sony has the right idea by actually going to speak with the developers, and supporting them when thay are working on Sony's platform.
@bunnyking How about any developers who doesn't make an effort to run those engine on the Wii U shouldn't be worth the time of Wii U owners? And on which platform do you think you're gonna play that X?
Yet then you'll be surprised when those developers start moving their arses.
@banacheck When you're hard that work actually making games, when you're hard at work making sure they'll give your customers the satisfaction they deserve, when your hard at work already encouraging your own developers to make games in an industry that gives them a bad rep and a hard time...
If Sony is so open to major third-party developers, maybe it's because they know their platforms have next to no worth without them.
@rmeyer Hahahahaha!!!!!
This seems to be the story of the Wii U quite a bit lately. It's unfortunate so many developers refuse to support the Wii U right now. Hopefully improved system sales will change their minds.
@Rief That's a really nice story to hear. I sent an e-mail to the guy that made Electric Man 2 about if he could port it to the Wii U and he said he would look into it. I think I'm gonna tell him what happened to you so that he can easily get started.
@FernandoMachado YES SIR!!!
http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct/archive/06-21-2012/message
@banacheck When you're hard that work actually making games, when you're hard at work making sure they'll give your customers the satisfaction they deserve, when your hard at work already encouraging your own developers to make games in an industry that gives them a bad rep and a hard time...
So if developers working on your platform bump into problems your going to let them get on with it? because as you say there hard at work. No you go and educate the developers like Sony has done meny of times as they are working on your platform.
@banacheck I quite think @Rief's example I've just read proved that they actually reach the developers that care enough to ask for some info, doesn't it? Nintendo just doesn't have any incentive in doing the kind of babysitting this developer seems to expect, since they know that it is their own games that sell their systems.
instead of EA coming out with certain engine's are not performing to well, Nintendo should have gone to them and gave them a hand seeing as Nintendo are the console manufactures.
@Optimist_Prime - fair enough - sounds to me like Nintendo won't line up a contact and he can't get the info he/his team need to start work on a Wii U port/project/what have you.
@banacheck Apparently EA wouldn't have the humility to ask for that help... And that's sad because when ("if" for the doomsayers) the Wii U becomes a success and EA comes around to ask that help, Nintendo will not be too please to give it to them.
Well, if EA feels Wii U doesn't have long term potential, like them or not, it is a concern.
Excatly why I decided to wait instead of grabbing a WIi U when I had the chance. Really hope that E3 can turn the systems fortunes and mindshare around.
Everyone's chatting about how they're hoping for some show stopping E3 from Nintendo. Haven't you guys heard all the news regarding Nintendo and E3 this year?
There are devs out there I'm sure that would love to put those dusty kits to good use!
There's Wii U love out there amongst the dev community. These guys aren't the only voice.
Are any of you honestly surprised?
@Pixelroy
No but they're part of a growing Majority of devs who really don't care to support nintendo systems. Its a narrative that's so deep in the industry that its starting to seep into the Mainstream though process about the console.
The only guys we've really seen come to nintendo's help are indies that mostly work on Hardware in the first place.
Assuming you have the money:
1. Make a game that runs on Wii U, and possibly other platforms
2. Find a publisher
3. Spend money to make money
4. Make money
My guess is that most publishers won't commit if you don't have the game already made. That's basically like instant profit to have a game ready just waiting be published, that is good I might add.
Who the heck wouldn't publish a good game that's already made?
instead of running out there full steam with a AAA title,why arent devs takiing the eshop into account and making something cost effective and entertaining, all the while; getting creative juices flowing with the gamepad and getting revenue .
low risk investment, easy stepping stone to gamepad and wiiu achitecture, and puts them in the spot of developer that cares, increasing the chances that next game will sell even better.
@AgentAPE You win a banana.
@mariobro4 my favorite. lol
I can't wait for Just Cause 3! I was hoping we'd see a Co-op game where one player plays as Rico and the other plays as Sheldon; this would be perfect for the Wii U. Just Cause 2 was a beast of a game so it actually makes sense that Just Cause 3 would be too big for the Wii U. Then again they could still try.
@bunnyking
... DICE is the dev that created and maintains the Frostbite Engines. So two engines huh?
Wii U still fully supports CryEngine 3, which is comparable to those first two.
@SCAR392
Simple answer: Nintendo. Specifically Nintendo of America.
I thought Nintendo was doing a better job of reaching out to developers than they ever have. I honestly don't think these guys are trying hard enough, but expecting Nintendo to come knocking on their door instead.
@Koto
I suppose NOA WOULD be harder to contact than the Japan branch, but for a considerably popular dev, this shouldn't even be an issue. I mean, isn't there a direct contact in the dev kit or something? It sounds more like they just haven't even touched the devkit at all and gave up... There's no excuse if the guy hasn't even tried.
I heard that they received the same attention like anyone else
at the beginning... But then this developer started to ask about
specific launch dates for example , and then is when Nintendo
started to feel " unreachable"
@SCAR392
Oh, just to clear any confusion, I was replying to what you said about publishers and why would they not want to publish good, finished games. I used NoA as my example of a publisher, as they refused to publish the Operation Rainfall games in America (Xenoblade was an incredible stroke of luck for fans).
@Koto you know what I mean. But thanks for pointing that out.
@DePapier exactly.
It's a waste of our time for this supposedly Nintendo based news forum to tell us day in and day out that no one is developing for the Wii U. We understand this, and we know what's going on. Nintendo and the Japanese developers are probably the only ones we should care about.
Not what the editors of Nintendo Life's Wii U forum posts on a daily basis. I don't even know why they do it.
Please explain how some developers are saying that Nintendo is great in helping them develop games for Wii U and other devs say that Nintendo are hard to get in touch with. Are Nintendo picking and choosing who develops for them? With Wii U they need all the help they can get.
@Koto
Understood!
@Trikeboy indy devs are saying Nintendo are great. These guys say they don't use their Wii U kits. Is that Nintendo's fault they wont use them?
@fluggy
i wait for Xenoblade, which was just anounced.
that game was really epic on the wii.
@Nintenjoe64
Bingo!
wat
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