The-Conduit
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The Conduit's publisher soon to be announced
High Voltage Software said at PAX that they have a publishing deal for The Conduit, which they "may announce in the next two weeks." We completely don't get the use of a publisher's identity as a tease -- although we're talking about it right now on a fairly popular gaming site, so maybe we do.Chris Kohler spent some time with the demo of the game, declaring the control customizations "excellent," though the default control scheme was more than sufficient for him. Aside from a general lack of enthusiasm about the environments, which look "flat, boring, and basic at this point," Kohler enjoyed the demo, which was mostly focused on shooting some aliens. He left the demo behind after dying to a boss creature -- the game is "definitely a challenge."%Gallery-25003%
The Conduit gets MotionPlussed
Wii Sports Resort might not be the only title to showcase the Wii MotionPlus when the dinky add-on launches next spring. GameSpot went hands-on with The Conduit at PAX 2008, and revealed that the shooter will feature MotionPlus support. The Conduit is currently set for a March launch, so has this new information also inadvertently dated Wii Sports Resort and the MotionPlus?Whether it has or not, MotionPlus for The Conduit is Pretty Big News -- so much so, that we're afraid it may overshadow some of the other eye-catching details in GameSpot's report. These include: In the final game, High Voltage hopes to have a completely customizable head-up display, in which any HUD element can be dragged and dropped to different parts of the screen. There will be nine missions in total, with the singleplayer campaign lasting "about ten hours." Cut scenes won't be used; rather, the story will be developed through news or radio broadcasts, much like the Half Life series. Some projectiles can be guided using the cursor, which sounds a lot like the Nikita launcher in Metal Gear Solid, automatically making it ZOMGAWESOME. %Gallery-25003%[Via Go Nintendo]
Taking control of The Conduit
So The Conduit looks and sounds extraexplositastic, but how will it play? Answer: probably really nicely. First-person shooter controls are something the Wii has excelled at -- both Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 boast buttery-smooth gameplay, and The Conduit looks no different.This video, narrated by lead game designer Rob Nicholls, talks us through everything we'll be able to meddle with in the game's control settings. Tweakable stuff includes turning speed, running speed, cursor sensitivity, the ability to turn while your cursor is off-screen, and the auto-center settings. The best bit of all, though? Adjusting your dead zone as you play. Very nifty.
GC 2008: Piping hot trailer for The Conduit
Not every Wii fan is an FPS person, and thus we may not be as fully attuned to the nuances of what makes an FPS badical, but we can recognize good Wii graphics when we see them, and we think that The Conduit is looking pretty great. This trailer, released for the Leipzig Games Convention, is all fancy atmospheric lighting effects and dudes (and alien dudes) getting shot up.We're a bit troubled to see slowdown in the trailer, but that happens in every FPS running on a system that regular people can afford. It hardly detracts from all the blowings-up.%Gallery-25003%
The Conduit to be showcased in Nintendo's PAX booth
A justifiably enthused High Voltage Software sent out a press release today announcing that not only would their FPS The Conduit be presented in the expo floor at this year's Penny Arcade Expo, but that it will be shown in Nintendo's own booth. "We are incredibly honored to be featured there at Nintendo's booth," said Chief Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger. "It's a fantastic opportunity for us to receive input and feedback directly from other gamers."Could Nintendo be publishing The Conduit? Or are they just using The Conduit as an attraction, to get the super-hardcore PAX crowd over to Nintendo's booth so they can play Wii Music? We also wonder why, if The Conduit does have a publisher, High Voltage hasn't said who it is? The identity of the company releasing your game isn't the usual teaser material.%Gallery-25003%
Point/Counterpoint: Pros and Conduits
High Voltage Software's The Conduit has built up a high-density hype field since the company unveiled it, mostly due to some very enthusiastic words by Chief Creative Officer Eric Hofsinger. Add some nice-looking preview footage and the general frothing desire from Wii fans for the kind of games seen on the other systems (the kind in which players see from the perspective of a large man who shoots guns at aliens), and The Conduit is something that has fanboy eyes lighting up all over the place.But is it worth all the hype? Are we putting some game on a pedestal, or are we all justified in counting the unspecified number of days until the Q1 2009 release? To explore that question, two Wii Fanboy bloggers have entered into pitched word combat. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } %Gallery-25003%
Top 5: Upcoming Original IPs from Third Parties
var digg_url = 'http://www.joystiq.com/2008/08/11/top-5-upcoming-original-ips-from-third-parties/'; Man, there are those who really love to complain. After viewing Zero Punctuation's latest video, I've decided that the old phrase distributed liberally by parents and teachers is indeed very true: "you can't please everyone." Nintendo themselves must have felt this pretty hard after their E3 showing was widely perceived as sub-par. On the gamers' side, even those who were most disappointed usually turned to any of the numerous third party efforts for hope. Understanding that Zero Punctuation is mostly intended as farce, it's difficult to call them out. Yet one glaring assertion must be rebutted: E3 2008 was most definitely not the year of the sequel. In fact, on the Nintendo side, the exact opposite was true. For the first time in a long while, I'm much more excited about upcoming third party releases than Nintendo titles as a whole (save for Wario Land: Shake It!). As those of us who braved the GameCube generation quickly learned, a console cannot survive on first party titles alone -- even those of the highest quality. Here are the top five original third party games that we are excited about. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, check out What Are You Playing?, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
More Conduit footage -- 'nuff said
We don't need to write anything here, do we? It's The Conduit. In beautiful motion. Right up there. It's the business. We can post whatever text we like here, and nobody will even read it. Tra-la-la! For those of you still with us, further footage lies past the break, featuring a short segment of the city environment we saw in the E3 videos, and a first-person shooter staple: the grenade bounce.In other not-really-news, High Voltage's Eric Nosfinger has politely declined to elaborate on the possible inclusion of bots in the final game. "We are trying our hardest to have as many modes as possible," explained Nosfinger when contacted by a NeoGAFfer on the subject. "Our main criterion is that anything that goes in must be stellar quality." We already know that there won't be a splitscreen multiplayer mode (instead, there'll be some rollicking online play), so bring on the bots!%Gallery-25003%
Classic control scheme for High Voltage's other game
The Conduit, The Conduit, The Conduit -- that's all we media types bang on about when it comes to High Voltage. But the Illinois-based studio also has a WiiWare game in the pipeline: the scarcely covered Animales de la Muerte, a bloodthirsty shooter set in a Mexican zoo that has been overrun by zombie animals. Let's say that again, shall we: a Mexican zoo that has been overrun by zombie animals. It looks a bit like Samba de Amigo crossed with the gore of MadWorld, and if that's not potential GOTY material, we have no idea what is.And it gets better. High Voltage's Micah Skaritka just confirmed to WiiWare World that Animales would feature Classic Controller support, allowing players to move with the left analog stick and fire with the right, a configuration that Skaritka compares to Smash TV (but which also reminded us of Geometry Wars or Robotron: 2084). Meanwhile, actions that would usually require a shake of the Wiimote (Whip, Throw, Rescue, and Activate) have been mapped to buttons. A welcome addition!%Gallery-28238%[Via Go Nintendo]
E308: Wii Fanboy's E3 Endgame Evaluation
In the second year of the newly revamped show, Nintendo released a few much-desired games, as well as a pair of incredible peripherals, and yet, there seemed to be something missing. Much of the show's excitement came from third parties (on my Nintendo Wii?), and some found Nintendo's announcements disappointing. Whatever your reaction, we're sure we can all agree on one thing: there was a ton of news and a flood of media. Luckily, you can revisit it all right here (even the week's most outrageous story, which wasn't even from E3).We've listed a few of the show's highlights below, but for the full index of all our 2008 E3 coverage, hit the break. We still have a few items rolling in, and we'll be updating the index as that happens. Check back with us over the next few days by clicking the E3 sidebar graphic. A new Pikmin sprouts! Animal Crossing: City Folk confirmed The Conduit will use WiiSpeak Wii Sports Resort announced (and Wii MotionPlus!) Mega Man 9 feels more like a 10 Wii Fanboy bats-on with Mario Super Sluggers Animal Crossing to support keyboards, save fruit-picking time Wii Fanboy hands-on with Wii Sports Resort
Fill the void with The Conduit developer interview
Let's face it -- most of the gamers who read this (or any) gaming blog aren't the audience Nintendo was targeting during their E3 2008 press conference. Many long-time members of the Wii camp felt betrayed by Ninty's "major" announcements -- that's why we thought we'd try to buck-up your spirits with a GameTrailers developer interview for a title that's been gathering quite a bit of attention from fans of the pint-sized home console: High Voltage Games' The Conduit.Voltage's Chief Creative Officer, Eric Nofsinger, doesn't exactly dish any new dirt about the title in the above video, though the gameplay shown looks solid, and fairly attractive by the standards of its designated console. Whether or not it's worthy of the hype surrounding it, we'll have to wait until the first quarter of next year to find out. In the mean time, you'll just have to feign excitement over the Wii's thoroughly unexciting Noise Creation Engine.
Wii Warm Up: E3
Because we've also asked DS fans, we thought we'd pose the same question here: how would you rate the Wii's E3?Despite the angry tidal wave of criticism over what many (but not all) saw as a disappointing Nintendo keynote, the more recent announcement of a third Pikmin game seems to have tempered the outcry a little. Not that there was a shortage of announcements in the first place -- WiiSpeak, Wii Sports Resort, Animal Crossing: City Folk, MotionPlus, Wii Music, and online, WiiSpeak-enabled multiplayer in The Conduit were all entirely new to us.Fill us in on the bits of E3 you liked, the bits you hated, the surprises, and the no-shows.
E308: The Conduit will use WiiSpeak
High Voltage today revealed to Kombo that new fan-favorite FPS The Conduit is confirmed for 16-player online multiplayer, but should also incorporate voice chat with WiiSpeak. Good thing it's going to be sold separately. Of course, now that's got us wondering who else is going to use it, and for what. But as for chat in The Conduit, we hope to see more details soon.%Gallery-25003%[Thanks, Andy!]
E308: The Conduit, for your inner graphics whore
Look what we found while browsing GameTrailers for the best part of half an hour and being exposed to that awful yoof-oriented Extra Fusion gum advert far too many times: moar Conduit.This footage was snapped on the E3 showfloor yesterday, and features a High Voltage developer (it's not revealed who) gushing about normal mapping and a "lot of effects usually seen on PS3 and 360" as his colleague navigates and blasts his way through alien-infested streets on easy mode. Die, scum! In truth, it's basically how The Conduit has always looked: really, really clichéd, but also really, really pretty as well.A longer second video follows the break!%Gallery-25003%
E308: The Conduit is ready for a show
We sort of thought this would be the case, but confirmation always helps one sleep better at night. Especially when The Conduit is involved. In an interview with IGN, Eric Nosfinger of High Voltage stated outright that The Conduit will definitely be at E3 -- in an exclusive capacity.E3 is only a few days away, and Nosfinger riles up the public by announcing plans of "private showings and leaving playable demos with a few select folks." Are we select folks? You better believe it. There is no better place for Conduit information than Wii Fanboy -- check out our exclusive High Voltage interview along with the dev team's plans for the future. The above video is a fresh piece of gameplay footage, and it's outright stunning.Best of all, Nosfinger also mentions that the team has achieved successful 16-man online multiplayer matches. If there's anything the Wii needs, it's a smooth online FPS experience. The Conduit looks set to deliver on all counts, so stay tuned for our E3 coverage!%Gallery-25003%[Via videogaming247]
High Voltage already daydreaming of Conduit sequels
Ask most gamers -- or gamers like us, at least -- about sequels, and you'll be greeted with much eye-rolling. Here's one follow-up we can get behind, however: a sequel to High Voltage's promising sci-fi shooter, The Conduit. What's that you say? The Conduit isn't even out yet? Well, who cares? Certainly not High Voltage's Eric Nossinger!Chatting to That Videogame Blog, Nossinger revealed that The Conduit has "enough story [...] and enough ideas" to justify making further The Conduit games, though admitted that sales would influence whether such follow-ups were developed. "We're building a brand with The Conduit," added colleague, Matt Corso (remember our interview with him?), dollar signs spinning in his eyes. Let's not forget to keep our eyes firmly on the first one, eh, chaps?%Gallery-25003%[Via Go Nintendo]
Fresh art from The Conduit draws inevitable comparisons
In our High Voltage interview last week, Lead Game Designer Rob Nicholls was frank enough to admit that the team making The Conduit has "looked at and stole shamelessly from mega-hits like Halo." Such honesty is probably advisable, because there's no mistaking it: artistically at least, The Conduit isn't afraid to borrow visual cues from other shooters. It kind of is Halo.This point was rammed home by a bunch of art distributed this morning (delivered in one huge combined strip -- see the full loooong version after the break) that deals with everything from weapons to enemies to the backstory. Truth be told, it's overflowing with tired sci-fi clichés, but if the game ends up being half as absorbing as Bungie's classic shooter, we've a feeling most of you will be able to forgive it.%Gallery-25003%
Interview: High Voltage devs discuss The Conduit
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/High_Voltage_reveals_gameplay_details_on_The_Conduit'; Having already secured some nice exclusive screenshots from High Voltage's The Conduit, our friends at Nintendo Wii Fanboy also managed an interview with the developers to talk about the upcoming Wii first-person shooter. A broad range of topics were discussed, so in the interest of keeping your attention, we'll use a bullet-point list: Developers "stole shamelessly from mega-hits" to get the best features from each one. Games cited include Halo, Half-Life, Resistance, Metroid Prime and Goldeneye. The control scheme is fully mappable, and the look sensitivity can be adjusted in-game. Speaking of controls, The Conduit will support Wii remote and nunchuk only. Sorry, no classic or GCN controller compatibility. While the developers would love 60 frames per second, they are shooting for "a steady 30 fps." They avoided addressing the rumor about Nintendo self-publishing. Said Creative Director Matt Corso, "All I will say is that thanks to the explosion of interest in this title, we've had a lot of publishers knocking on our door." Check out the full interview here. What we're dying to know is if the developer will make an in-game allusion to their previous "classic" Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Gallery: The Conduit
Wii Fanboy interviews High Voltage on The Conduit
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/High_Voltage_reveals_gameplay_details_on_The_Conduit'; We recently got the chance to pick some of the brightest minds at High Voltage about their upcoming game, The Conduit. Wii fans have been liking what they've seen from the game, but there are still many questions left unanswered. That was, until we asked the folks at High Voltage those questions, which cover everything from the game's plot on down to multiplayer. So, read on and find out more about upcoming Wii FPS, The Conduit.%Gallery-25003%
Wii Fanboy interviews High Voltage on The Conduit (continued)
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/High_Voltage_reveals_gameplay_details_on_The_Conduit'; Stylistically, it's been compared to Half-Life and Perfect Dark. What games have inspired design choices in The Conduit?Rob: One of our goals from the very start was to make a fast-paced accessible FPS. To that end we looked at and stole shamelessly from mega-hits like Halo and Half-Life, recent titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Metroid Prime Corruption, as well as classics like Goldeneye for the N64. We wanted to pick the best features from these titles, the things that made them fun and memorable and have features like those in The Conduit. Matt: We've done art direction for so many different titles, and we've learned a lot about establishing a strong and cohesive visual style. The Conduit's art direction has come mainly from taking real world styles and locations and combining them with our own alien technology concepts and aesthetic design preferences. I suppose that it looks similar to those other games, but in the end it's The Conduit's own unique premise that has largely driven the artistic vision. When combined with the features that are specific to our engine tech, The Conduit will look stunning by the time it reaches the player's hands.Will there be a calibration option, so we can "aim down the sights?"Rob: One of the things we learned in our development process was that customization of controls is essential to an enjoyable gameplay experience. To that end, we allow players to customize sensitivity, dead zone sizes, as well as control layouts. But, if you mean, can you actually use the iron-sights of your guns, that answer is "not exactly". The reason being that several of our weapons are alien in nature and don't even have iron-sights... but you will have sort of an alien vision mode with some of the weapons.Matt: There'll be on-the-fly, in-game look sensitivity adjustments, as well as a fully map-able control scheme, down to the button, in the game's front end UI. Players will be able to map the game's controls completely to their own liking. There'll even be a couple of alternate control methods for those that don't care as much for the Wii pointer style of directional turning. There'll be lots of options for maximum playability.%Gallery-25003%There hasn't been much word on who the publisher for The Conduit is. Rumor has it, Nintendo is actually going to publish the game. Can you comment on that? Can you announce one at this time?Matt: I can neither confirm nor deny this, senator. ;) All I will say is that thanks to the explosion of interest in this title, we've had a lot of publishers knocking on our door.Control-wise, will there be options for other methods outside of the Wiimote and nunchuk? Will it support the GameCube controller? Classic controller?Dan: There are movement and weapon functions in The Conduit that require the Wii Remote's pointer, accelerometer, depth, and cursor rotation functionality in order to perform. The Conduit isn't your standard ported-over-to-the-Wii style of game. Using the Classic or GC controller kind of defeats the purpose of what we are looking to do.Matt: With The Conduit we want to redefine first person shooter controls. Hard core FPS gamers that have played the game have told me that they are now convinced that Wii is the best system for the genre. When you play it you'll realize very quickly that the Wii Remote is an incredible control device for this type of game. It just feels amazing to play.Rob: I think if you are buying a Wii, you're buying it to make use of its motion sensitive controls, which are tailor made for an FPS game. Aside from the controls, what are the game's strengths that separate it from other existing PC/console FPSes?Rob: I would say that would be the ASE or "All Seeing Eye" device. In game, this piece of hardware allows a player to adjust the "phase state" of things. This makes invisible enemies and hazards not only visible, but able to take damage. It also makes invisible cover and platforms become solid, leading to more gameplay. We also reveal secret puzzle locks that must be solved to get to special weapons.Dan: We've put a solid amount of effort into enemy AI for The Conduit. A pet peeve of mine is single player FPS games where the enemies just stand there getting blasted, and don't seem to be reacting to the world around them. In The Conduit, our bad guys can hear and see, understand the use of cover, have variable levels of aggression, use grenades effectively, advance and retreat, and can determine when the player is susceptible to attack (i.e. reloading, exposed and moving in their firing cone). I think focusing a higher than normal amount of the dev time on AI makes our single player experience better than most other FPS titles out there. Of course, the overall look we're able to achieve with our advanced engine tech is also something the makes The Conduit a superior FPS game IMO.Matt: I think that going back to the Wii Remote, The Conduit has a unique control system that feels more like a VR experience than the typical spring loaded joystick controlled videogame. I also agree that the ASE device offers a unique style of gameplay that hasn't really been seen before in other games. Having the ability to discover and phase useful objects into the environment to assist with combat is a lot of fun. Beyond that, it's just rock solid action all throughout the game. There'll be fierce enemies, bad ass weapons, and white knuckle battles. It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun.Does the game run at 60fps? 30fps?Matt: If we can hit closer to 60, then that will be great! But for right now we are shooting for a steady 30fps, with zero drops in framerate. The whole team swears by the fact that a solid 30fps still feels great. Even our studio's most hard core PC FPS gamers think that The Conduit feels just right at 30fps. The quality will be there, and the game will look and run amazing by the time that it ships.Dan: The game will run absolutely solid at 30fps. For HVS, choice is either to have less visual splendor and run at 60fps or achieve the look we want for the game and run at 30fps. 30fps is a frame rate that is plenty responsive for FPS gaming and we are valuing the increased visual detail we can offer over the slightly smoother gameplay we might otherwise get by scaling this back.High Voltage has made an adventure game/minigame collection for the Xbox (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, also on PS2 and PC), and now they're making an FPS for the Wii. Is this ironic or strategy?Rob: I like to think it's beautiful strategy. At the time Magna Cum Laude came out, the Adventure game market was woefully barren. So we found a title and a publisher willing to take the risk to revitalize that genre. Now we're trying to do the same thing with FPS's on the Wii. We feel that The Conduit will be like rain in the desert, which seems to be the case judging by the online response.Matt: Diversity is key. We don't like to sell ourselves short by sticking with one genre or style of game. High Voltage knows that it's okay to try new things. We've learned a lot after 15 years working with so many different publishers, developers, and licensors. I could go on about how licensed game restrictions, publisher mandates, and drop dead unmovable release dates ultimately affect the quality of your game, but this project is very different. The Conduit is something completely new for our studio. This game will rock! The company seems very (vocally) confident about the ability of The Conduit to revolutionize Wii gaming. Was it always in the plan to build up so much hype, or was the hype a natural product of enthusiasm? Has the hype been more than expected?Rob: The hype has certainly been more than I expected and I am grateful for it. However, it is a two-edged sword. While the hype has helped give us the pick of litter for a publisher, it does mean we have a LOT to live up to. But I think we are up for the challenge. =)Dan: There aren't many large scale multiplayer games for the Wii at this point, nor any that push the Wii graphics HW to the extent we are. So, from these standpoints – The Conduit will be revolutionary for the Wii gaming market. It is HVS's belief that although there are great FPS games on the 360 and PS3 – what they all lack is the kind of unique motion sensing based control schemes that makes The Conduit for the Wii more fun to play. Giving gamers a great looking, great playing, great controlling FPS title is something we feel is worth hyping!Matt: The plan all along was to maximize the potential of the system, and then build a game that showcases the engine tech and the fun of the Wii Remote. Every developer talks big about their own game, but no one at High Voltage could say for sure how well our audience would react to the screenshots and gameplay video release. We've always just been focused on making a great game, and the result is that The Conduit seems to be building its own hype. And we're very appreciative of all the kind words and support we've received from the Wii community.Is The Conduit sharing tech with Animales de la Muerte? Where did the concept for that one come from? Is it still on track? Really, anything we could learn about Animales de la Muerte would be wonderful.Dan: Animales is using the same engine tech as The Conduit, but in a much different way since it's a 'toon shaded game.Matt: I don't want to say too much more about the title until it's closer to completion, but I will say that it's going to be bloody fun. By the way, much respect to our friends in Mexico. However, screw PETA...no animal in this game is safe!Anything about multiplayer? Many of the folks interested in the game are looking to have some kind of online multiplayer, preferably something on-par with Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. Are you trying to implement Wi-Fi compatibility? Local multiplayer?Dan: We are working closely with Nintendo to be able to provide the kind of multiplayer gameplay that we know the market wants.Matt: Nintendo has been really helping us out with technical support but we still have more questions that will need be answered before we can release any specifics about our multiplayer modes. Obviously we want to be competitive with the other online console games, but we'd rather wait until we've got something great to show off before we make any announcements about this very important feature.Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions! When not writing about games, we enjoy talking to the people that make them. Be sure to check out our interview with Wii mastermind Johnny Lee, as well as our chat with Didian Malenfant from Ready at Dawn on Okami for Wii. Oh, and don't forget our chat with Hudson's Mike Samachisa on Deca Sports.
