Next-gen consoles don't fit into Bethesda's plans

The Wii U is a console that many are looking forward to, albeit with cautious optimism. According to Destructoid, Bethesda has decided that the console doesn’t yet fit into its plans. “So far the Wii hasn’t fitted into that,” Bethesda senior marketing VP Pete Hines told MCV. “Whether Wii U does down the road is TBD." Hines goes on to talk about the dangers of starting on a new console as well as the problems of console fragmentation.

“For me the problems with new consoles are two-fold. The developers are trying to hit a moving technical target, because the platforms are being built. A new console doesn’t just show up a year before launch and is exactly what it will be when it comes out. It moves and iterates along the way. And introducing something like that to games that are in development is always a bit tricky. And that is obviously an element of risk.”

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The next-gen consoles don’t seem to fit into Bethesda’s plans

“The second point is that your install base always starts at zero. Then it comes out and suddenly a certain number of people buy it but it won’t be the same number as the current gen. So you have divided your audience. It’s then a case of: Are we just making it for the next gen? Or next gen and current gen? And how many people from the current gen that I’m targeting have moved over to the next gen? It does complicate things a little bit.”

While Bethesda seems to be playing this safe, Ubisoft is diving into the Wii U head first with its upcoming game ZombiU. The game, which got a trailer during last week’s PAX Prime event, aims to deliver a scary survival horror experience during a zombie apocalypse. One of the biggest features of the Wii U will be the touchscreen on the controller, and Ubisoft wants to make full use of the screen. Some of the uses of the screen are explained in the trailer, such as accessing your backpack and picking locks, without pause the game. This could potentially create more tension while playing, as you’ll be able to see your character frantically picking a lock while a horde of zombies is slowly making their way towards you.

Ubisoft also explains that death for a character in the game will be permanent. According to the the developers, once your character dies, you will not be able to see that character, except as a zombie when you chase that character down to get your backpack back.

Nintendo seems to be really focusing on the touchscreen on their controller for the console. Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo hopes that the Wii U’s innovative GamePad controller with the screen will help the console be different from what Microsoft or Sony would be doing, and hopes to change the way people think about a gaming console.

With the Wii U, Nintendo promises that it won’t miss out on multiplatform games, because the hardware will be much closer to what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer. “We have not successfully kept the momentum of the Wii for about the last two years because third-party publishers have released a smaller number of game titles and Nintendo has also decreased new games for the platform in preparation for the launch of the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U,” said Iwata at an annual meeting with shareholders.