Epic Games prez compares Wii to a "virus"
By Donald Melanson 
posted April 21st 2008 1:06PM
posted April 21st 2008 1:06PM
The folks at Epic Games certainly haven't been shy to make their feelings about the Wii known in the past, but company president Michael Capps took things up a few more notches in a recent interview with IGN, with him not only once again bemoaning the Wii's underpowered hardware, but even going so far as to compare the console to a "virus." You can find Capps' complete musings on the matter at the link below, but the short of it is that he thinks the Wii maintains its success by building on a chain reaction of sorts, with one person buying the console only to get tired of it two months later, but not before they showed it to someone else, who also though it was cool and went out and bought one, and also got bored with it a couple of months later, and so on and so on. Capps does add, however, that there's obviously "a class of people who really love it and enjoy it and are getting into the games," but that he's waiting for "that one game that makes me play it," and that "maybe Wii Fit will be it." That apparently still doesn't mean you can expect to see any games from Epic on the Wii, however, with Capps flatly saying that "we go forward, not back."[Via Wii Fanboy]
Is that Will Sasso?!
Capps' just mad because he can't find a Wii to buy for his own. :P
Hm... one thing I think he's totally missing is that the Wiimotes are way ahead of what Microsoft & Sony are using... no the machine isn't powerful machine, but it does things well. And though I miss some power on the machine, it's great for party games and having fun with the friends, even nongamers, which is it's best selling point.
So Sony & MS might have made gaming acceptable by all young people, Nintendo are making it acceptable by anyone.
Sour Grapes
Has ever occurred to anyone that Consoles themselves are useless, no matter how superior the hardware is it always is judged by the games itself.
So with that said why do we go through these endless debates about which console is better? Epic makes great games and they shouldn't have to worry about porting to one console to another.
When are we going to stop this 4 year cycle of new consoles, when is their going to be an outcry for an open-source console that plays ALL the games?
How many more systems you people going buy? I'm all for the progression of hardware but we need some gaming standards so we can play the games on ONE system.
Oh God forbid someone doesn't want to play the 3444292 3rd person shooters you people shovel out every quarter. STFU Epic.
Bleh. The following comment is long and rambling. My mind is homeless, it wanders. The gist of it is:
I also think the Wii is Gimmicky, but I'll get one.
Better graphics = better hardware = development = etc.
Stop bashing Michael Capps, he stated a personal opinion. (I think he also mentioned owning the console.)
FPS are a dime a dozen, but so are Mario and zelda games.
I don't know if supplying the Unreal engine is the main income source for Epic, but that's the impression I got. For Exemple, Red Steel is a Unreal 2 game. I don't have a 360, and against my brand loyalty to the Playstation name, it seems GoW is a good game. However, GoW, like every other game by Epic, are demos for their Unreal engine. I remember a quote somewhere from someone working for Epic, that Unreal Tournament 3 was there to prove to other developpers that their engine was viable on the PS3. Also, their games are designed toward competitive online play, and the improvements and developments they made are in that direction.
All of you saying graphics aren't all there is to games: I agree. However, what I get from most of your comments, is that gameplay is much more important. On that point, I have to disagree. Like a previous commenter, whose name I forget, I believe visuals help immerse the player in the game. A trend in videogame design is reaching for realism and immersion. For instance, I cannot imagine playing a game like Oblivion on the wii.
And that's another point, and why I agree with Michael Capps. Pushing the graphics and physics may not make a game more fun, but they push the hardware, which continuously evolve. And evolution is good for society, even if it's not for the consumer.
It's late and I'm tired, and abhor brushing my teeths, so I delay by typing this...