Infinity Ward Unhappy With Wii's Power

The Nintendo DS, however, IS powerful enough to run COD:MW2.

This man has either forgotten what his company is developing, or is talking a lot of breeze.

Is that guy in the news photo dancing?

Maybe pigs will fly as well. Unless a large proportion of Wii owners are truly desperate to get their hands on a year old title with watered down graphics and the underlying promise of "ultimate FPS control" I doubt Modern Warfare will be a huge seller.

Maybe that's the underlying reason why Infinity Ward are so reluctant to waste huge amounts of cash on something that just won't sell well. Oh and the fact that the Wii's software market is a mess with good titles not selling (even Nintendohs) I think any publisher who wants to maintain their software's dignity has a right to be wary of publishing on Wii.

Modern Warfare on DS was a horrible game period, so I won't be buying the sequel on that platform either unless they're revamped the game entirely.

Love the subline.

@Goigo: Well, I'm pretty sure the DS version of MW2 is its own game. No idea why they can't just do that for the Wii instead of making a dumbed-down port, but...

I still don't care about the graphics in a game unless it's godawful, like this almost definately won't be, so doesn't bother me. Besides, I hate CoD, so it's a no for me anyway =P

I guess the Wii is too underpowered compared to the 360, PS3, PC and DS.

This man has either forgotten what his company is developing, or is talking a lot of breeze.

I think he's talking only about Infinity Ward which isn't in charge of the DS version. Seems Activision doesn't care about their vision of a cinematic experience or whatnot.

Of course I can't say much about it since I don't get why it's hyped so much. Might get Reflex if it's cheap (haha, as if, Bobby Kotick will be sad he can't charge even more!) and not too downgraded (don't care about the visuals but I want to know why everybody's hyping it after all). I don't get how people can play so many FPSes on the PS360...

I wonder how minimal they came into thinking how the Wii would perform when making MW port.

I respect the series, but personally don't have any time it.

What did they expect, of course the Wii doens't have the same power as the Xbox 360 or the PS3, but if they worked this out good, it could be a fantastic game. I love Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 and that worked excellent too. The Wii is controlwise the perfect platform for a shooter and I love the Wii Zapper, but if it isn't as powerful, work around it. There are loads of great Wii games that look fantastic but have done things different (like cell shaded or cartoony).

They should get N-space to make the Wii version. If they put half as much effort into it as their DS games, it'll still be more love than this guy is showing.

@Sneaker13: I fully agree with everything you just posted.

they talk about how the Wii is too weak for these games but then they make the DS version...wtf?

No surprise really Infinity Ward said at the beginning of the year they had no interest developing Call of Duty titles on the Wii. I am looking forward to Modern Warfare Reflex if it turns out good.

best part of the article was In other news: the world is round and water is wet really this is why i hate game developers they are over reacting over a fps maybe what they should be worried about is insteed graphics is new gameplay for all nearly every fps is the same

I honestly think that's a crap excuse for these games not coming to Wii because imo any of the Halo games that came out on the last gen Xbox are easily as cinematic, dramatic, fun, polished and whatever else COD:MW 1/2 is imo (ignoring the obvious increase in graphic fidelity), and the Wii can at least match those games, so I really don't see their point here.

Basically all I'm hearing is that if it's not cutting edge graphics they don't rate it but that to me says they think its all just the graphics that makes a great experience but that is not really true and in any case the Wii is powerful enough to do graphics that can still look good and create any kind of dramatic tension and so on.

Anyhoo...

Screw infinity ward.

Wii dont need em.

They need wii!

Infinity Ward are "graphics-whores".

I bet Epic games told them to say this

@phillepinO : yes wii dont need em...

Well boo ho IW..you break my heart...no wait you don't

stop crying and do your work! grow up!

There are a few companies that care most about the story and telling a gripping realistic tale.
Bioware is one and Infinity Ward is another.

And I'm sorry, but I agree. The Wii just can't do that this generation and graphics are a big factor. They do matter now matter what you defenders say. They aren't the be all end all, but if a company wants to tell an amazing story that looks realistic, then the Wii DOES suck.

I respect this company and have no issues with them bashing the Wii. It's not the right platform for Modern Warfare anyways.

It doesn't need to look realistic to tell an amazing story. Chibi-Robo! says "hi!"

I can't find a jacket for my M-16.

Why developers cannot get past of porting games, that were made for HD-Ready -consoles with last gen controllers, instead of making own game for Wii. Instead of 3 mild CoD's enjoying mild succes on Wii, they could have made one super CoD...

Yeah, you do realize that it's not just graphics that they're talking about, right? The Wii couldn't run Modern Warfare 2 properly, and it isn't just the graphical issues.

@Sean Aaron
Chibi-Robo had told an amazing story? Really? I'd call it charming at best, but that's just me.

Um. They think the Wii isn't powerful enough to make good warfare games? Funny, I don't recall anyone complaining about console graphical capabilities in the previous generation, and I'm pretty certain none of those were HD. It's not that the Wii is underpowered, it's just that clearly these people can't be bothered making the effort.

@TheFox - No they are just talking about graphics. What else could be?

The Wii just can't do that this generation and graphics are a big factor. They do matter now matter what you defenders say. They aren't the be all end all, but if a company wants to tell an amazing story that looks realistic, then the Wii DOES suck.

Wow. Just wow....I dunno if laugh or cry.

@Buffalo B.
He doesn't actually mention graphics in his statement, and the Wii would have other problems porting it. The online would suck in contrast, and the single player would likely suffer.

"The Wii just can't do that this generation and graphics are a big factor. They do matter now matter what you defenders say. They aren't the be all end all, but if a company wants to tell an amazing story that looks realistic, then the Wii DOES suck."

Then HD-Ready -consoles would suck even worse, when compared to PC(For couple hundred $'s you could upgrade your PC with a GPU, that has bigger muscles alone than PS3's even theoretical combined maximum performance). Of course they don't suck, but as important as it is, processing power doesn't make cinematic experience as much as the budget does! Putting SO much emphasis into processing power, and forgetting that Wii has next gen controllers, very suitable for this genre, only highlights HD-Ready -consoles weaknesses. At least in this genre, the Wii has strengths that makes it very interesting alternative experience to HD-ready -consoles rather homogenous library, full of 1st party shooters. Or would make, if there was games that took it seriously, MW 4 Reflex is made by 20 people...

enemy AI and presentation is acutally pretty varied in Call of Duty games...didn't feel the generic bad guys comment was entirely deserved.

@Raylax - that's because everything was much closer in spec last generation....PS2 was the least powerful, but not by much....now the Wii is basically an iPhone with video output and the other 2 are closer to pretty well-equipped modern-day PCs.

This is why graphics are an issue this generation. I'm aware that a good story can be told utilizing any graphical medium... It's not just graphics--the physics system, the gameplay, everything about CoD games is next-gen. Similar to the DS, it's just gonna be a different game. The DS is not getting MW2; they're getting the mobile version of MW2, just like the Wii isn't getting MW; they're getting MW in 480p that's been downsized. It may be a good game, but after playing the first I'm having trouble seeing how anything (especially the single-player) could be on even remotely the same level, presentation-wise.

@The Fox: I seriously doubt the story behind a game which has a primary focus of running around and shooting people is going to be anywhere near as amazing as Chibi-Robo!

Most anything on the Wii looks iffy unless it adopts a distinct visual style. Unfortunately for IW, that doesn't work with MW2. Valve could pull it off with TF2 though...

They are saying this as an excuse to why the Wii version looks so bad. They made it look bad, not the wii.

Personally, I hope Modern Warfare Reflex bombs, because the Wii verision of Call of Duty will never be equal to the HD versions. So let's hope for no more Call of Duty.

Less inferior versions of a HD game ported to the Wii = a better future for the Wii.

They're not the only ones.

Thank god they've finally given up on the wii. now they have more time to patch up the 360 and ps3 versions. Let's face it, the wii is just not at the same level as other consoles. it's a console for casual gamers

Easily the most hillarious subtitle to any News heading I've ever read.

@EYE8URBRAINS
could I ask what exactly you're doing here on Nintendo life, then?

If the original Call of Duty was getting a Wii port I might be interested. I did actually enjoy that one, but generally games set in real-life war settings aren't something I enjoy.

It would be interesting to see if Infinity Ward is able to make another kind of game!

Three words:
Metroid Prime Corruption

I really think Infinity Ward needs to take a stab at the next 50 Cent game, I suspect they could really give it the treatment it deserves and it will be a great creative stretch from their past work.

Here's an idea, Don't buy Cod Modern Warfare on Wii its crap. Lazy developers they won't make one for Wii but they'll do a lazy shoddy port. So we'll get the PS3 and 360's sloppy seconds. The Wii has plenty of power to do a Good FPS.

@JimLad (#42)

Damn! I was just about to say that!
Speaking of cinematic experience, there's no real need to look any further than Super Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros. Brawl for proof that it exists on the Wii! SSBB works wonders with its incredible pre-rendered cutscenes between levels and battles in the Subspace Emissary, while SMG continues the feeling throughout the game itself, what with the epic sequences as you leave the observatory and fly to a galaxy, or walk around planets, with the view flipping, zoming, rotating and such. Jeez, I love that game. Don't forget about Zelda and Metroid Prime games, though! While focussed more on the first-person or behind-the-back perspectives, they're very cinematic in their own rights, too.

While were still on the topic, COD4 & COD4+2 (as I like to call it) are actually developed for the Xbox 360 and then ported to PS3 and PC/Mac. This is due to the Xbox 360's rather inferior power compared to the PS3 and PC, but making such a popular, traditionally-multiplatform franchise like COD a PS3/PC-exclusive series drastically reduces Activision's possible profits. The reason they don't develop it for Wii separately is due to time and budget constraints, and if it was originally developed for Wii, the graphics would look like crap on the other systems.

IDK about COD, but I'm just fine playing it on my recently-upgraded-to-gaming-standards PC.

I've got a feeling, though, that Nintendo is keeping a HUGE secret from us about their next generation of consoles.
Warning: Overly-active nerd imagination has been activated. Rest of comment is likely to be completely irrelevant to the original purpose of the comment, and will likely get somewhat technical.
My own guesses are that the console and handheld will be developed side-by-side, possibly sharing some hardware along the way, and that all this hardware will be brand-new, custom-engineered to perfection, and (in the console's case, at least) capable of handling 60+ fps in photorealistic open-world games in resolutions at and even beyond full 1080p. The handheld would have power comparable to that of a current Wii, and would still, of course, have dual screens; however, it would have dramatically increased screen resolutions (comparable to 720p when both screens are used "as one"), will be able to consistently output rock-solid 60 fps 3D graphics (with texture filtering this time around!) to both screens simultaneously, and would have the rumoured 3G or even WiMax (a.k.a. 4G) "always-on" connection. Both of the consoles will be powerful enough to run games from their predecessors in "forced" HD (akin to cranking the settings for an N64 emulator, by forcing the game to run at higher resolutions and applying additional texture filtering, such as 2xSaI) using software-based emulation. The new systems will be digital-download-only, but will feature separately-sold disc-drives/cartridge-readers, respectively, to avoid re-purchasing-as-digital issues. The home console will feature a large solid-state disk with a three-digit capacity in GB, while the handheld will feature the same storage technology, but shrunken down and with a digit less. USB storage expansion will be fully supported on both systems, and will integrate seamlessly with the respective system's internal memory. At the very least, the console will be natively backwards-compatible with all Wii and GameCube controllers, but will also feature special accessories/adapters facilitating the use of truly classic controllers, such as the SNES pad, or N64 "fork-like" analog stick-enabled revolution. I'll just stop there and actually write up a document for my predictions instead.

Introducing the UNES (Ultra Nintendo Entertainment System/Ultra Famicom) and the Nintendo DS SP (Nintendo DS SuperPower), coming soon to a gaming convention near you...

This ain't gonna turn out well I tell you what.

Infinity Ward is known to be graphics whore all the way. They'll come up with any kind of excuse just to not port their games to the Wii. That's why Treyarch is the best, although most of their games aren't that good, at least they are trying the best they could for all consoles.