Not n-Space's Decision to Develop Modern Warfare 3 for DS

I would have thought the high sales of RE:Mercenaries would have shown Activision that there is a clear market for shooters on the 3DS.

Eh, don't care. Never liked Call of Duty.

Oh and MW3 is coming to Wii and DS.

Call of Duty is just boring. If I want a good FPS on my 3DS, I'll go out and buy Conduit when it comes out on the 3DS.

@5: I hear ya. It's too bad they F'd up GoldenEye last year. Would be cool if the Wii game was ported to the 3DS.

Better yet give us a new Geist game on 3DS... That would be awesome!

@powderedtoast: Dear god... I would buy that in a heartbeat! Especially if they had a special collectors edition!!

@TheDarkness: I actually liked GoldenEye very much so. It may have not been the retro remake everyone was hoping for, but the game was VERY well polished and everything ran great, plus it was fun. I like Conduit 2 more, but I have to admit, Conduit 2 wasn't NEARLY as polished as GoldenEye.

Wow for the DS and not the 3DS, well things like this usually happens during the transition from older platform to the new one especially when games have been in development and the new platform just comes out.

Lol at people calling The Conduit a good FPS.

And really, all FPS games suck on the DS. A stylus is a not a good substitute for a analog stick, mouse or Wiimote.

A shame they're not developing a 3DS version, but I'll be playing it on my 3DS nonetheless.

It would be so good on the 3DS though. It's so capable of it too. This is disappointing. Oh well though, we have plenty of great titles in development.

Geez there's a lot of hate for 3DS from third parties. After all the recent cancellations, now someone would rather develop a DS version of a game instead of a 3DS version. What's going on here? Used to be if you were coming out with a new game (or in this case another version of an existing one), it would be for the newest console. Would developers just prefer that Nintendo bury the 3DS and make the inferior DS their go-to handheld? I have plenty of optimism for first party games. Third party... not so much so!

Really no idea how these can work on a DS and much less in a 3DS, you are walking with the pad, and you are aiming with what? In the DS you might use the stylus if you have the game running in the bottom screen, but in the 3DS you cannot, or you could if that bottom screen is used as an analog tablet just to drive the movements of the weapon in the upper screen. In any case, I dont see any of the two consoles well suited for FPS games.

The DS is actually very well suited to FPSes. Im more exited for this than the console versions.

@12 take a look at how many people have DS', and how many have 3DS'. There's your answer.

That is a shame CoD isn't coming to the 3DS.

Well, I suck at COD, so... Meh

The 3DS is like a console controller. Circle pad, A B X Y, shoulder buttons and the regular D Pad. It's perfect. Just take a look at Resident Evil, the controls are so comfortable. I've played CoD4 on a DS and it was really troubling. (Control-wise) and the game wasn't very good either.

If they ever release a 3DS version with strong online multiplayer, I'm sold.

@WaltzElf

What a horrible comparison. The DS has been out since 2004 and has a huge install base. The 3DS has been out for just over 4 months.

That's like saying (back in 2000) that a developer would rather make games for the PS1 cause the PS2 doesn't have a big install base.

Well no ! It's a new system. You expect it to sell 100 million units overnight? Geeze people, use your heads for once. Give it time to grow in sales.

Developers love making stuff for new hardware. It's called progression. Without progression in graphics and hardware, we might as well stick with our N64's.

@WaltzElf

New hardware always takes time to be adopted. You think the Xbox 360 sold 30 million units in one month? No. It takes time for an install base to grow.

Without new games to entice buyers, the new hardware won't sell. Without strong sales, developers will be discouraged from making games. It's the platform-holder's responsibility to make sure sales are strong, by releasing 1st-party content on a * consistent* basis. 3rd-party developers will follow suit.

Like I said: IT TAKES TIME! People that expect the 3DS to reach DS sales this quickly are either idiots or naive.

Install base is part, the large pin shaped and empty head of Kotick and his lackies fill the rest of the blame game. If they want to lose out and piss off CoD fans doing a shoddy DS spinoff again in spite of the 3DS that is their decision. Just as it is all yours not to support them and hope they take a loss by not buying the DS game at all. Fact is the DS is on its death bed and you either step up or step off as that ship is about to sail.

@22 Do you think a third party publisher cares about that? No. The job of Activision, EA, Square Enix, whatever, is to sell as many copies of a game as possible.

A Call of Duty game would sell better on DS than 3DS. Fact. Therefore they are making the game for the DS, and not 3DS. If Nintendo wants to change that it needs to get more consoles in people's hands.

Activision is not responsible for making Nintendo consoles popular. Just as it wasn't responsible for making the PS2 successful when it was just released.

Ehh the only FPS I like is Parasite Eve and its sequels.

@24: I agree with you. COD games are almost a yearly release. That means, they know the shelf life on these games is pretty low. Last week, the 3DS sold 15,000 units worldwide...and the DS/DSi/XL sold 58,000 units. If I am the CEO of Activision, the decision is a no-brainer. The DS version (playable also on 3DS) would sell a lot more units and cost less to produce. Decision made. Get to coding.

Neh... Such good arguments. e-e

You what would be great? A Battlefield 3 3DS port that smashes the MW3 DS version.

@The_Fox: A am ROFLing at your pointless comment.

@29 EA is not a stupid company. So it's not going to make a Battlefield 3 3DS game. Yet.

I don't know if it actually would sell better on the DS.
Yes, it has a bigger userbase, there's no arguing about that one.
But the horsepower of the 3DS could make the graphics and fluidity of the game much better than they'd be on the DS. Add in the fact that there aren't many great 3DS games or even any FPS yet and it could be more people are interested in a 3DS version of the game.
@Mandoble: (13.): "that bottom screen is used as an analog tablet just to drive the movements of the weapon in the upper screen" - it is indeed. At least in most DS FPS's.

This is why I was never interested in becoming a video game developer.
The idea sounds great, but like any other job you have little control over what you actually make. Unless you're an indie dev that is.

@WaltzElf
I'd have to agree with you completely. Numbers are what it's all about. If I were in the shoes of Activision, I'd make the same exact decision. The DS has not only sold a vast amount of consoles, but still continues to outsell the 3DS, which is having a very bumpy start, anyway. The 3DS looks to be edging towards the path of the Wii (where it lacks much 3rd Party Support). I really hope not, but so far it's geared that way.

The DS, though, has been the bread and butter of the mobile gaming market for so long, and with amazing success. There's only a small selection of Nintendo fans that play FPS (and don't get defensive everyone, I'm one of that small number). There's even a smaller number that would play it on a handheld compared to a console version. Given the vast difference in number of DS to 3DS consoles out there in the world, it's not hard to see why they would go with the older sibling.

Plus, as said before, if developed for the DS, both DS and 3DS owners can enjoy this title.

strange, why not the 3ds? could just port the wii version onto it

I'd also rather see a Conduit game on 3DS.

@9 Somebody hasn't tried Conduit 2 online recently. With all the patching and general design excellence, online play in Conduit 2 is quite a bit better than Goldeneye and right up there with the best CoD Wii games.

@33 Then why not wait for a bigger userbase, which we know there will be after the price drop? There's no escaping the facts that without a circle pad and with low graphical capabilities (comparatively), modern FPSes don't work very well on the DS.

Well, not everyone who has a DS has a 3DS, so it's not that bad.