Wii Gets Serious: "The Conduit"

[Kalyx triaD]

IGN Article (http://wii.ign.com/articles/867/867498p1.html)

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/867/867484/the-conduit-20080417032651973.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/867/867484/the-conduit-20080417032658848.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/867/867484/the-conduit-20080417032707582.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/867/867498/the-conduit-20080417033649165.jpg

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/867/867498/the-conduit-20080417033656056.jpg

Definately some of the more realistic visuals I've seen on Wii so far. With a deep feature set and running at 60fps, this could kick off a new trend in Wii games.

[Xero]

Wow, those are some shitty-looking textures. (Guns are okay.)

High-rez PS1 textures FTL.

[Boomer]

It's a tech demo and has no publisher. I'm not too high on it as of yet.

[Drakul]

The Conduit, an online multiplayer shooter aimed at serious gamers, is coming to Wii 2009 and developer High Voltage is promising some of the best visuals on Wii to date. Check out the first screens below to see for yourself.

The Conduit is being released exclusively on Wii and the control system was designed with the console in mind providing gameplay which, according to High Voltage, would not be possible on any other console.

In the single-player mode, you'll be playing as Secret Service Agent Ford who will take on terrifying aliens with advanced artificial intelligence. To beat the enemies and unravel the game's mysteries you'll have to master each of Ford's weapons as well as the special All-Seeing Eye device.

Eric Nofsinger, Chief Creative Officer at High Voltage, believes this shooter will be perfect for hardcore gamers. "Too many Wii owners have been told that the Wii is a casual platform with no room for serious games or top-tier graphics," said Nofsinger. "With The Conduit, we intend to prove that theory wrong by providing gamers with the kind of title they imagined back when the platform was first announced."

Screen:
http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10052.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10053.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10051.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10049.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10050.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10048.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10046.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10047.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10045.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10043.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10044.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10041.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10042.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10040.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10038.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10039.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10037.jpg

http://medialib.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/screens/screenshot_10036.jpg

Trailer:
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_mBBFTidIVY&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_mBBFTidIVY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

So, it may not look graphically amazing right now but with it being due 2009, it should spruce up by then.

Looking at the screens, I wonder why the players hands look different. Sometimes wearing futuristic looking gloves (or armour) and sometimes just barehands. Unless it's screens of multiplayer.
Two of the screens that show the player getting hit have sort of veins on the screen. Do you think that will just be an effect or might that work as a sort of health meter. The closer to death you are, the more the veins take up the screen. It looks like eye veins like when someones eyes are bloodshot.

As for the trailer, it isn't bad. The music, weapons and a few scenes reminded me of Perfect Dark on the N64, which is never a bad thing. Online should be interesting.

The one thing I really didn't like about the trailer was the sad attempt at some kind of attitude with the "About damn time." thing.

[Savio]

Hope it not too much like Halo

[Dorkchop]

Sure it could look nice, but it may plat like shit. It looks like a rip off of every futuristic shooter. That said, if it turns out to be good I'll probably buy it. Metroid Prime 3 had great controls. I'm not trying to put down a game I don't know much about yet. Let's just hope it turns out to be great, sells well, and influences more third party publishers.

[Savio]

I heard it does not have a publisher yer

[Kalyx triaD]

Nintendo should step up and publish it. It would be a good idea on alot of levels, IMO. And I'm digging the updated screens. If they could combine Perfect Dark's multiplayer options with Halo 3's party system and CoD4's in-game ease of use with weapon organization and such, we'd have a winner.

[Drakul]

Well, the controls are inspired by Metroid Prime 3 and MoHH2. Only played Metroid Prime 3 so I can't say how good MoH controls are.

The shooting controls of The Conduit are inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, first-person shooters which had well received Wii control schemes. The Conduit will utilize user customizable control features, such as the ability to alter the size of the bounding box and the speed at which the player can move the camera. This allows players to easily change the sensitivity of their aiming and movement to suit their play style.
The first trailer released for the game showcased several weapons such as pistols, shotguns and machine guns, some of which appear alien-made. A device known as the "All-Seeing Eye" will also be featured in the game to solve puzzles.

The above trailer is running at 30fps but will be bumped up to 60fps for release next year and the AI is going to be advanced enough to "allow human like behaviour" but I'm sure we've heard the AI bit before from other developers.
High Voltage also say they are trying to make it look like a 360 title.

And on the subject of Online and of publishers:

Confirmation of The Conduit multiplayer - Deathmatch teaser was referring to online component, multiplayer deathmatch. Devs. of The Conduit have been contacted by many publishers, but are taking their time so they can make the game they want to make. “Yes, we are planning on online multiplayer. We don’t yet know how many simultaneous players we’ll be able to support. The other thing folks seem to have a lot questions on the forumsfront is the lack of a publisher. For what it’s worth, we have no shortages of options now both large and small but we are taking our time. We have our own funding to entirely complete the game and it’s not that we don’t play well with others, we just want to be far enough along that someone doesn’t come along and monkey the whole thing up. We’ve worked on enough licensed titles that had the potential to be good but an arm-chaired quarterback came in and mandated a very bad direction. The further along we are, the less likely that is to happen. We really want The Conduit to be something special for the Wii and for us, you know?"

There is a rumour of voice chat as well but I wouldn't hold my breath. Over all I'm looking forward to this game. I rarely play FPS games (usually because I never find any that aren't on the 360) so this is welcome. I have confidence this title will be good. Maybe not world changing but good, enjoyable and solid.

If anyone is interested, here is the Quantum3 engine tech demo. Quantum3 being the engine The Conduit will be using.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8aW9BpamQSA&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8aW9BpamQSA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Edit: You can win a free conduit t-shirt on the official site http://the-conduit.com/ .

[Kalyx triaD]

I believe this will be Wii's 'Shooter'. PS3 has their Shooter, XB360 has a couple, but Wii need its own shooter. MoH was a nice one, but we've seen MoH before. Now a console doesn't need its own shooter obviously, but it helps.

[Shadow]

And Metroid Prime 3 wasn't the Wii's "Shooter"?

[Drakul]

Well, if this does well then more "real" games will probably follow as opposed to the "casual" games the Wii is full of.
Ubisoft said on their forums that there is no market for "hardcore" or adult games on the Wii so, hopefully, The Conduit will prove them wrong.

[Drakul]

And Metroid Prime 3 wasn't the Wii's "Shooter"?

I thought that focused more on exploring than shooting but I see where you're coming from.

[Kalyx triaD]

Metroid 3 is incredible, but I wouldn't call it an FPS in the traditional sense.

[Drakul]

Found a link on the ONM website that lead to an interview. Thought I'd post it here.

Dan: My name is Dan Kaufman , I’m the Software Development Director for High Voltage Software. First and foremost, I make sure we are staffed up with highly skilled programmers who can work on games as challenging and with the potential of The Conduit. I also oversee the development of technology at the studio, allowing HVS to achieve its strategic goal of being able to make any game for any platform, on time and on budget.

Rob: I’m Rob Nicholls . I’ve been with High Voltage for almost four years and have been a video game designer for over 10. Currently, I am the Lead Game Designer on the Conduit. It’s my job to conceptualize and provide structure to ideas, maintain the game vision, as well as oversee all of the design activity.

Q1: We see alot of images of all different kinds of alien species, what are they called? Ex: Halo has the Covenant, The Conduit has?

Rob: Our alien race is called “The Drudge”.

Q2: Could you give us a brief glimpse into the story of the Conduit?

Rob: The Conduit is a first person adventure game that takes place on Earth in a fictional near future. The main character, “Mr. Ford”, works for an undisclosed government agency that has assigned him to investigate a possible extra-terrestrial encounter. The whole situation ends up going terribly wrong when the player discovers that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than anybody could have realized. Players are going to be very surprised when they discover the real truth that surrounds us all.

Q3: In lots of the images and in the tailer their are aliens standing in front of what appears to be portals. Care to explain?

Rob: That’s because they ARE portals. The alien Drudge has the ability to set these up in various locations in order to easily pour in reinforcements. It also means these portals should be prime targets for players, in order to keep from having to face an endless horde of enemies. =)

Q4: How would you describe The Conduit's gameplay?

Rob: The Conduit is a fast-paced action shooter, intended to cater to a wide variety of play styles. It doesn’t matter if you are the “run and gun”, the “cover to cover” or the “sniper” type of player, there will be something for you in The Conduit.

Q5: What kinds of Online and offline modes can we expect to see?

Rob: The Conduit has an engaging single player mode for offline play and will have at least three competitive multiplayer modes for online play.

Q6: You mentioned in an IGN article that the framerate was currently at 30 but you were aiming for 60. Have you hit your goal yet?

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.

Q7: Are we going to see voice/text chat or any way to communicate other then ducktaping out phones to our heads?

Dan: We are exploring the possibility for voice chat. It is too early to make any promises along these lines, but we agree it could make the game even better!

Q8: Any plans for local/splitscreen or lan multiplayer?

Dan: Splitscreen multiplayer – not this version. LAN multiplayer – very likely.

Q9: What has been the hardest part so far in the process of making The Conduit?

Rob: There are hard parts on any project, but since this is HVS’s first big internal title in some time, I would say that my biggest challenge on this title has been to maintain the focus and the vision. Not because people have wanted to make a different title, but because everyone is so excited about this opportunity that they all want to contribute above and beyond their normal roles. However, I think we succeeded in staying focused on making the best fast-paced action shooter on the Wii. =)

Q10: Lots of other third party developers have loaded their games full mini-games with... interesting controls. Any chance we will see any in The Conduit? (Yes, this question may be considered a joke)

Rob: Seriously, we _do_ have one “mini-game” in our title, but it plays so well that you don’t even notice that it’s a mini-game. I think that says something about how far we’ve come with our game design. =)


http://the-conduit.webs.com/index.htm

There's plenty of screen shots etc there as well.

[Destor]

FPS' on the Wii are awesome. I will look into this when the time comes.

[Drakul]

I'll bet the mini game will be a "Links Crossbow Training" style game and we have the option of using the Zapper to shoot cardboard cut-outs of enemies or something.

[Drakul]

Found a large JPG with lots of text and images. I think it comes from High Voltage themselves. Anyway, I didn't read the text incase of spoilers (although I doubt there is spoilers and a few words have "CENSORED" across them. I just wanted to play it safe, so I just looked at the images.)

It has a few examples of locations, enemies, weapons and tells you where the games titles comes from.
http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/08/06/Conduit_Overview.jpg

[Drakul]

Short new gameplay video
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ieJNNhy5pps&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ieJNNhy5pps&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Screens
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g177/stuntracefx/the-conduit-20080709075701694-000.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g177/stuntracefx/the-conduit-20080709061825569_640w.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g177/stuntracefx/the-conduit-20080709075703053-000.jpg

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g177/stuntracefx/the-conduit-20080709061826928-000.jpg

The second and the last screenshot look great by Wii standards.

[Kalyx triaD]

Now that they confirmed deathmatch I wonder if it'll do anything outside of the ordinary. These guys could deliver 'Wii's shooter'.

[U-Warrior]

This could not ook anymore generic.

[Drakul]

What makes you say that?

[Kalyx triaD]

He's probably comparing it to visual powerhouses like Call of Duty 4 or Resistance 2.

[Mike the Metal Ed]

Doesn't look like anything I can't already do with Prey, tbh.

[U-Warrior]

He's probably comparing it to visual powerhouses like Call of Duty 4 or Resistance 2.

Has nothing to do with visuals.

[Kalyx triaD]

New Impressions. The game is very customizable. (http://wii.ign.com/articles/891/891710p1.html)

[Bad Company]

lol, looks about as hot as Quake.

[Kris P Lettus]

This def looks sweet, you f'n haters..

[ClockShot]

High Voltage hooks up with Sega to publish this.

Should be on shelves Spring '09.

[Kalyx triaD]

Sega? Good move.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

UGH, I thought Half-Life put a stop to people doing FPSs like this :(

[Kalyx triaD]

FPSs like what?

[Kalyx triaD]

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=45246"/> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=45246" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object>

Very fuckin nice.

[Fryza]

Game looks like garbage.

[Kalyx triaD]

You're nuts. That game is pushing the Wii like few before it, including Nintendo's own first party games. The tech involved is inspiring for the budding Wii developer and the controls look spot on. After so much trash released on Wii, one comes around that challenges what can be done and you call it garbage? That's weak, man. But hey, can't win them all over. I was down with what Voltage was trying to do even before they improved it to the build we see above. And I tell you we need more dev teams we that kind of tenacity, an almost audacious approach to what's been deemed acceptable on Wii. If this game fails on the charts, Wii owners deserve what they get for the remainder of this console generation.

[.44 Magdalene]

They're pushing what the Wii can do as a console technologically, but they're not pushing anything anywhere else. It looks like every other FPS ever made, and appears to bring absolutely nothing new or refreshing to the table. It's going to be totally awesome for people that already own Wiis, but nobody's going to go out and jump on the Wii wagon just for this game; the idea that it's going to even put a dent in the outcry for more "hardcore games" is ridiculous.

People aren't going to stop playing their 360s and their PS3s for this. This won't even make a ripple in the gaming populace. I mean, congrats to all of us who already own and support the system, but nobody else is going to give a fuck. The game's not "inspiring" or "audacious," though. It's generic. Boring. Overdone. It's the same old shit with waggle controls--exactly what "hardcore gamers" are bitching about in the first place. It only serves to further the idea that the Wii is established on a gimmick--that it can't chug out any game worth a shit on its own, it has to take half assed ideas and stick a sensor bar on them. That's exactly what this game is. On any other system, this would fail. On the Wii, though? It's "inspiring."

Look at Fragile. Look at Fatal Frame 4. Look at MadWorld. Look at Muramasa: The Demon Blade. That's what the Wii fucking needs, right there. These are games that I'd play no matter what system they were on, because they look like good fucking games on their own fucking merits, and they're Wii exclusive. They're not just boring ass, stale rehashes of an already sickeningly overdone genre hyped up solely on the fact that they're on a system with little else to its name.

The Conduit isn't the Wii getting serious. The Conduit is another handful of developers just pissing on their own hands.

[Kalyx triaD]

You're confusing core game-types with innovation. Just because the 'lone hero against a legion of aliens in 1st person' has been done to death, doesn't mean there isn't a hardcore way to do it and a casual way.

[.44 Magdalene]

Hardcore gamers have other games exactly like this that they'd rather play, is what I'm saying. They've had other games exactly like this for years. The "hardcore gamers" are going to be playing an FPS on a system that can handle it better, and totally ignore Conduit.

Again, good news for people who only have the Wii to play, or that would normally not play an FPS. Guys with 360s and PS3s aren't going to give a fuck about this game, though. It's the exact same game that's been getting pumped out for decades, but now it has waggle control. Omg.

[Kalyx triaD]

Dude, I've played the 360's and PS3's and I give a fuck. When Wii was first announced the first thing on everybody's minds was 'FPS on Wii'. Call of Duty (or was it Medal of Honor?) came in did a great job with the controls and now The Conduit is taking it a step further. The Wii is a console built with immersion purposes in mind so-...

Ya know what? What you think is fine. I rather not carry this on as I usually do with these subjects. Not worth it. Later.

[G]

Game is pretty cool for being on the Wii. I'm up to the 2nd level, and it's a lot better than the first. I'm sick of shooting at aliens. Probably won't play much more of this unless there is a classic controller scheme. Fucking hate having to keep my arm aimed at the screen.

[Dorkchop]

When I can afford to buy games again I'll probably pick this up. The only FPS I've gotten into since Perfect Dark is Black. I rented Time Splitters 2, but never got into it. It was pretty fun, but I got pretty bored of it.

[G]

WHAT Time Splitters 2 is Amazing Grace. OMG I love that game. Come to Live please. :(

Seriously #2 FPS behind Goldeneye.

[V]

When I can afford to buy games again I'll probably pick this up. The only FPS I've gotten into since Perfect Dark is Black. I rented Time Splitters 2, but never got into it. It was pretty fun, but I got pretty bored of it.

you know you can mod your wii with nothing but an SD card, and then download it, burn it and (apart from bandwidth, SD card, and blank DVD costs) play it for free right?

[Fignuts]

Apparently this is mediocre.

SHOCKER THERE

[Extreme Angle]

Downloaded yesterday... it's alright I suppose