A rather jolly looking Braben
Frontier Developments maestro David Braben has rained praise on download services like WiiWare, commenting that LostWinds would probably have been cancelled had it been earmarked as a traditional retail release.
Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, Braben had this to say:
It's a fantastic way of de-risking publishing. This is a game we probably wouldn't have done through normal publishing channels. It was a very difficult game to work out who's going to buy it, and so on. We just wrote this game for ourselves, and that's one of the reasons why we enjoyed the process so much.
[The LostWinds idea] turned, over time, into a game idea - not fully formed. We thought the art style should come from somewhere that was naturally windy, and ideas like Tibet, the Incans and the Mayans came forward...those were compressed into a really natural look.
Design documents were prepared, discussed and criticised openly in a forum where criticism was expected - and then they gathered dust for a while, before Nintendo came to us with WiiWare.
Hopefully other companies will follow suit and publish some of their more outlandish ideas – we just hope those ideas don’t involve beer pong or eating.
Source: Eurogamer
1. Wiiloveit
31 Jul 2008, 09:23 BST
Wow, if LostWinds wasn't released, I wouldn't like WiiWare half as much as I currently do. THANK YOU WiiWARE!
2. DEMON212
31 Jul 2008, 12:18 BST
I can see why.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
3. David77
31 Jul 2008, 12:51 BST
This one and Toki Tori save wiiware (for norw) of being the worst platform ever. And everybody know it's true.
4. Wiiloveit
31 Jul 2008, 14:37 BST
This, Toki Tori and FFCCMLAAK at least
5. Objection_Blaster
31 Jul 2008, 15:13 BST
@Demon I hope you are not referring to LostWinds being boring!
Anyway, lines like this: "Hopefully other companies will follow suit and publish some of their more outlandish ideas – we just hope those ideas don’t involve beer pong or eating" don't really work. No offense, but I don't think that devolpers' outlandish ideas are always going to work. We have to welcome them anyway and then shun the bad games if necessary. Looking forward to LostWinds2-info please!
6. Bahamut ZERO
31 Jul 2008, 15:24 BST
LostWinds was good, just not enough replay value and too much jumping for my tastes...........................
If he didn't make this WW would stink even more
7. BlueRider
31 Jul 2008, 16:36 BST
Hmmm very interesting don't you think
8. DEMON212
31 Jul 2008, 19:11 BST
@ Objection.
You know it
I played for 30 mins (A.K.A a fifth of the game) and wanted to top myself.
Have since tried going back to it for another 15 mins, and just gave up. Not even a Guns & Roses soundtrack could save that snore fest.
Because it's so boring it'd be Patience on repeat XD
My top 3 are Toki, FFCC & Pirates.
Looking forward to tonight though
9. Shiryu
31 Jul 2008, 20:24 BST
Braben, I've asked in Kotaku and will ask here: We want Elite remake on Wiiware! o/
10. Peznaze
31 Jul 2008, 20:56 BST
"de-risking"... what an odd term. What he means, of course, is that they could do this one on the cheap so it was a lot easier to get (less) money for it. I think "on the cheap" would be better suited to WiiWare, though.
And yes, Frontier remake would be amazing.
11. breaderer
01 Aug 2008, 02:30 BST
I'm still sorry that I wasted ten bucks on that game.....
12. Nobarai
01 Aug 2008, 07:53 BST
LostWinds is just okay.
Dr.Mario and Toki Tori are the best on WiiWare IMHO
13. nintendoduffin
01 Aug 2008, 11:41 BST
I bought LostWinds but never got into it, probably should give it another chance but it takes up a lot of space on my Wii.
14. Atlantis1982
01 Aug 2008, 13:56 BST
Looking forward to LostWinds 2 (currently playing it again).
Would be sad if a game like this never made it.
15. Pocketim
01 Aug 2008, 16:12 BST
You're not the only one DEMON, I fail to see what all the hype is about...
16. DEMON212
02 Aug 2008, 04:00 BST
Glad to know I'm not alone
17. Objection_Blaster
02 Aug 2008, 16:05 BST
@Pocketim and Demon
Not trying to start a war at all, but having d/l-ed it, I don't understand the hype of Toki Tori either.
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