New Star Wars Titles Unlikely to Head to Nintendo Wii U

By Jorge Ba-oh 07.05.2013 17

New Star Wars Titles Unlikely to Head to Nintendo Wii U on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Following on from news that Star Wars is now in the hands of EA, it's been suggested that these titles won't be heading to Nintendo Wii U.

This morning EA and Disney announced an agreement for the rights to develop new Star Wars title, confirming that these games will be handled by various studios and utilise the Frostbite 3 engine.

Wii U has had problems with titles developed for Frostbite 3 in the past, and these troubles seem set to continue as EA Games expands into other key franchises like Star Wars.

Johan Andersson, Technical Director on Frostbite at DICE, confirmed on Twitter this morning that "FB3 has never been running on Wii U". He also revealed that the studio had attempted to bring the Frostbite 2 engine to Wii U but "with not too promising results with FB2 & chose not to go down that path".

Unless EA outsource projects to other studios to produce a Wii optimised edition of upcoming Star Wars and Frostbite titles, or produce titles using other engines, it's unlikely that Star Wars will touch down on planet Wii U.

What are your thoughts on Frostbite 3 and issues with titles being developed for Wii U?

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Sonic_13 is offline. Sonic_13 07.05.2013#1

I think the bigger issue is with EA and EA not wanting to work on Nintendo platforms as opposed to any true technical issues that could be worked on.

 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 07.05.2013#2

Sonic_13 said:
I think the bigger issue is with EA and EA not wanting to work on Nintendo platforms as opposed to any true technical issues that could be worked on.

This much is certain, the engine runs fine on PS360 (which the WiiU is more powerful than) and other EA engines like Crytek run fine on WiiU.

The decision to not work on WiiU development is a decision EA has consciously made, they have chosen lack of support, all intents and purposes.

( Edited 07.05.2013 15:41 by SuperLink )

Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 07.05.2013#3

Oh well....i doubt an EA stab at Star Wars will be worth buying anyway!

 
crackedthesky is offline. crackedthesky 07.05.2013#4

Flynnie said:
Oh well....i doubt an EA stab at Star Wars will be worth buying anyway!

It might if they have BioWare develop it.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com
 
JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 07.05.2013#5

justonesp00lturn said:

It might if they have BioWare develop it.

Bioware developed Old Republic online and.. yeah it's a mess.

I don't have hopes for any new Star Wars games being good, but the WiiU is still unfortunately losing out on sales and attention here. Smilie

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crackedthesky is offline. crackedthesky 07.05.2013#6

SuperLink said:

Bioware developed Old Republic online and.. yeah it's a mess.

I don't have hopes for any new Star Wars games being good, but the WiiU is still unfortunately losing out on sales and attention here. Smilie

Old republic was their first stab at an MMORPG, their first Old Republic game was a lot better. It also wouldn't surprise me if interference from EA led to any problems like it did with ME3's ending.

I don't get EA. They aren't boycotting Microsoft or Sony even though they don't use Origin for their online architecture either, they're singling Nintendo out. I don't understand how that's a legal business tactic. You have them refusing to publish finished games like Crysis 3, claiming game engines can't run on the Wii U when that isn't remotely true, and releasing ME Trilogy with the clear intention of cutting down sales for the Wii U release of Mass Effect 3. EA totally earned their worst company award, and if I were Nintendo I'd be investigating whether there's some legal action they can take here.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 07.05.2013#7

justonesp00lturn said:
SuperLink said:

Bioware developed Old Republic online and.. yeah it's a mess.

I don't have hopes for any new Star Wars games being good, but the WiiU is still unfortunately losing out on sales and attention here. Smilie

Old republic was their first stab at an MMORPG, their first Old Republic game was a lot better. It also wouldn't surprise me if interference from EA led to any problems like it did with ME3's ending.

I don't get EA. They aren't boycotting Microsoft or Sony even though they don't use Origin for their online architecture either, they're singling Nintendo out. I don't understand how that's a legal business tactic. You have them refusing to publish finished games like Crysis 3, claiming game engines can't run on the Wii U when that isn't remotely true, and releasing ME Trilogy with the clear intention of cutting down sales for the Wii U release of Mass Effect 3. EA totally earned their worst company award, and if I were Nintendo I'd be investigating whether there's some legal action they can take here.

How could Nintendo possibly ever take legal action...if anything its lost sales to EA. They might be giving Origin as the reason for not developing for the Wii U (not that they have actually publically confirmed this) but i think there is something even further lurking around. It is a clear cut business decision from EA, but there is no such legal action that anyone could take for not releasing something on a certain platform! 

 
Vorash Kadan 07.05.2013#8

Well I can now chalk up EA as well as Epic & Activition as the greediest & douchiest of the current gaming devs this gen. Wonder what it'll take for them to gain a little humility since they were voted the WORST company period....even worse than Walmart.

It is not wise to speak on subjects you do not know all facts about, nor is it smart to judge a game based on looks alone. PSN: Nintendo_Gamer 3DS: 4296-3029-7422
 
crackedthesky is offline. crackedthesky 07.05.2013#9

Flynnie said:

How could Nintendo possibly ever take legal action...if anything its lost sales to EA. They might be giving Origin as the reason for not developing for the Wii U (not that they have actually publically confirmed this) but i think there is something even further lurking around. It is a clear cut business decision from EA, but there is no such legal action that anyone could take for not releasing something on a certain platform! 

By claiming the Wii U is incapable of performing certain things it isn't incapable of performing at all.

But alas, this would be nearly impossible to prove unless Nintendo had access to Frostbite themselves, which they won't, because it's a proprietary engine.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com
 
Sherwinator is offline. Sherwinator 08.05.2013#10

Its a shame that companies turn out to be focused on making money, rather than making good games.  EA is one such company - Simcity with its ridiculous DRM, FIFA games and spinoffs (The last enjoyable FIFA game imo was FIFA 11 - since then its just been minor updates which dont justify the full price)...

Its a bit of nonsense - like such companies are run by buffoons - how can a console more powerful than PS360 not run an engine like that?

It's also an issue for Nintendo to do something about this...

Im not fussed about not playing EA games but at the same time, the industry is losing its creativity and the charts seem dominated by endless sequels and clones.

I wish people would wake up and teach these companies a thing or two with their bottom dollar/ pound/ euro /etc...

Wii Code: 6399-3866-6269-0745
PSN: SherWiinator Currently playing: LOZ: SS
Wishlist: Last Story, Pandora's tower, Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3
 
Agul is offline. Agul 08.05.2013#11

SuperLink said:
Sonic_13 said:
I think the bigger issue is with EA and EA not wanting to work on Nintendo platforms as opposed to any true technical issues that could be worked on.

This much is certain, the engine runs fine on PS360 (which the WiiU is more powerful than) and other EA engines like Crytek run fine on WiiU.

The decision to not work on WiiU development is a decision EA has consciously made, they have chosen lack of support, all intents and purposes.

Yeah, this really pisses me off. EA is doing some pretty shady sh*t to Nintendo after plans to integrate Origin into Nintendo Network fell through. Wii U is plenty powerful.

I can't blame Nintendo for deciding against Origin. It needs a lot of work and EA's business model is... well, let's just say it's less than desirable.

Chance favors the prepared mind.
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 08.05.2013#12

justonesp00lturn said:
Flynnie said:

How could Nintendo possibly ever take legal action...if anything its lost sales to EA. They might be giving Origin as the reason for not developing for the Wii U (not that they have actually publically confirmed this) but i think there is something even further lurking around. It is a clear cut business decision from EA, but there is no such legal action that anyone could take for not releasing something on a certain platform! 

By claiming the Wii U is incapable of performing certain things it isn't incapable of performing at all.

But alas, this would be nearly impossible to prove unless Nintendo had access to Frostbite themselves, which they won't, because it's a proprietary engine.

Fair enough, i can see the defamation case that you are talking about now...although this feels like a very American approach...i'd think that would only make things worse if Nintendo sued them for that! 

 
Genarro Contaldo (guest) 09.05.2013#13

CALLING IT: Nintendo's Wii U will miss a tonne of great games this generation.

Yannick Larsson (guest) 09.05.2013#14

SuperLink said:
Sonic_13 said:
I think the bigger issue is with EA and EA not wanting to work on Nintendo platforms as opposed to any true technical issues that could be worked on.

This much is certain, the engine runs fine on PS360 (which the WiiU is more powerful than) and other EA engines like Crytek run fine on WiiU.

The decision to not work on WiiU development is a decision EA has consciously made, they have chosen lack of support, all intents and purposes.

As someone who has previously worked with this engine, I can confirm this is not the case. The FB2-3 engines were designed to run on traditional architecture. The problem for Wii U is it's rather unique composition, which poses a major problem without costly code revision.

JoshSL is offline. JoshSL 09.05.2013#15

Yannick Larsson (guest) said:
As someone who has previously worked with this engine, I can confirm this is not the case. The FB2-3 engines were designed to run on traditional architecture. The problem for Wii U is it's rather unique composition, which poses a major problem without costly code revision.

If you claim to have worked with the engine, would you be able to enlighten me as to why EA ever bothered to announce/confirm an "unprecedented partnership" with Nintendo when their most important upcoming engine wasn't designed to run on it?

Game engines take a long time to build; EA have probably been planning Frostbite 3 for many years, why would they announce such a partnership if their upcoming engine didn't work on the new machine? There's definitely more going on behind the scenes than just "it doesn't work on WiiU", this decision to move away from Nintendo support was a very conscious and probably personal move on EA's part.

( Edited 09.05.2013 18:14 by SuperLink )

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crackedthesky is offline. crackedthesky 09.05.2013#16

Yannick Larsson (guest) said:

As someone who has previously worked with this engine, I can confirm this is not the case. The FB2-3 engines were designed to run on traditional architecture. The problem for Wii U is it's rather unique composition, which poses a major problem without costly code revision.

Yeah? And like a dozen other studios, including ones that publish under EA, have said the exact opposite. Also, the PS4 reveal suggests it's going to be the same way.

Not to mention Battlefield was one of the first games confirmed as in development for Wii U. Why would they confirm a game when they can't even run the engine on the system?

Forgive me for not believing you, but I don't believe you.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com
 
joahua (guest) 27.02.2014#17

Yeah.... I have read everything you guys have said about fb2 and 3 and I believe the Wii u is an amazing system that ea won't even give a chance. ME3 looks amazing the assassins creed black flag is amazing. Batman is amazing. There is no issues with the Wii u in fact it has made gaming for me more enjoyable then ever. So ea is missing out on some awesome second screen innovative experiences.

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