Up close and personal
We have a chat with Legendo's Bjorn Larsson about their upcoming WWII dogfighting game, Pearl Harbor: Red Sun Rising
Nintendo Life: Pearl Harbor: Red Sun Rising is Legendo's second WiiWare release and it's another PC conversion. Did Three Musketeers perform as well as hoped and were lessons learned from the first game that made translating the second one easier?
Bjorn: What we learned from The Three Musketeers is that the audience on WiiWare is a quite different from your average Wii consumer, and that we clearly need to provide a more fluid experience to satisfy them. So with that in mind, conversion is a dirty word for me and I would like to think of Pearl Harbor as a dedicated Wii adaptation that is making better use of the unique features offered by the Wii, while also providing our audience with more options and choice. Having that said, I think that the Musketeers still holds the record on WiiWare in terms of how much content it packs in 40 MB including voices and all, so Pearl Harbor has actually been a little more merciful to us in that regard.
I'm on the leader!
Nintendo Life: We understand there's been a name change as well -- can you tell us a little about that?
Bjorn: Of course! The encompassing name for all three games is Pearl Harbor Trilogy and the exact name for the first one is Pearl Harbor: Red Sun Rising. We listened to our fans who suggested to us that we should drop the episode 1-2-3 descriptors, and since each title will be an individual experience we thought that would be simpler.
Nintendo Life: The leaked development footage of the game in action Get the Flash Player to see this player. is really impressive. How have you managed to bring this cinematic fighter sim to WiiWare?
Bjorn: Those are kind words indeed! The leaked footage is from an early build of the game – rest assured that the current version is looking miles better; especially the water surface has been tweaked so that it looks more realistic. The original 3D engine was thrown out and replaced with new technology created by a team of specialist Wii programmers that does nothing but eat, sleep and breathe Wii system-architecture -- so all that experience combined has made it possible to enhance the visual look of the game, all spiced up with some Joe Kubert inspired comic book imagery that doesn’t take too much space, allowing us quite a lot of freedom within the confines of the 40 MB WiiWare limit.
That's gotta hurt...
Nintendo Life: Tell us a bit about the game. Is it all from the Japanese perspective? Are there different game modes, options, etc?
Bjorn: Actually we managed to stuff the 40 MB at our disposal with a fair amount of content. You can play as American or Japanese, so it’s from both perspectives -- there will be two campaigns with 8 missions in each, including well-known battles such Wake Island, Midway and of course Pearl Harbor. There will be multiple control options, all heavily gyro-based. Players can use the Wii Remote horizontally; tilting it sideways and forward etc to control the plane or attach the Nunchuk and use that to control the angle and speed of the plane etc. There’s also a Dogfight mode where you can test-fly the most prolific fighters from the early years of the war such as the P-40 Warhawk, the F4F Wildcat and the A6M2 Zero.
Nintendo Life: How long is the main campaign?
Bjorn: There are two full campaigns, each spans eight missions from the early years of the Pacific War, so there will be several hours of play. We are still balancing the missions so right now it’s somewhere between 5 and 10 hours of campaign play.
Nintendo Life: When can we expect to see Pearl Harbor: Red Sun Rising available for download, and which territory is going to get it first?
Bjorn: It’s coming out in America first. I can’t confirm a specific date, but it think it will land on WiiWare in February or March 2010 if all goes well.
Nintendo Life: Has a Japanese release date been set yet?
Bjorn: Not yet, but we are discussing the title with several Japanese publishers so hopefully we can make that happen in the future.
Nintendo Life: In our previous interview it was mentioned that there was a 3rd title in production -- anything you can let us know about that?
Bjorn: Yes, that’s right -- we do have a third title in production in a different genre, however it is still rather early, so please allow me to get back on that in the near future.
Nintendo Life: Finally, are there any parting words for our readers?
Bjorn: I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, hope you all get lots of nice presents be it disc-based Wii titles, stacks of Wii Point cards or nifty little retro collections of SNES cartridges!
User Comments
1. grenworthshero
24 Dec 2009, 13:46 GMT
This one looks pretty interesting. I'm generally pretty skeptical when it comes to WiiWare purchases, but this one is worth keeping an eye on.
2. Hardy83
24 Dec 2009, 14:27 GMT
Glad to hear that the Wiimote is like holding the plane in your hand.
Aside from the nun chuck will there be other control methods? Like using the joystick on the nun chuck to control the plane, or I guess using the Wiimote like a planes flight stick (hold it upright etc etc)?
Still gonna get it and use the main method of control, but more is always nice. I'm sure you've learned your lesson from Three Musketeers.
3. Shiryu
24 Dec 2009, 14:47 GMT
Looks great, I'm a sucker for arcade flight sims, but this will have some serious competition from "The Sky Crawlers" ficticious "WW2 never happened" scenarios. Ill probably end up buying both, tough... so no worries. =)
4. Thomas Joseph
24 Dec 2009, 15:02 GMT
Sixteen missions for under $10? That's more missions than a lot of disc games ... totally impressive! I can't wait for this release. Plus, it'll be released after Sky Crawlers, so we'll be beyond the "craze" from that game ... leaving us with an itch to play a new flight combat game. Looking great Legendo!
5. pixelman
24 Dec 2009, 15:06 GMT
Great interview! Definitely gonna get it. Are those the only two control schemes? The nunchuck one sounds a bit... eh.
16 missions in the first episode? Sounds great for under 1000 points.
6. bro2dragons
24 Dec 2009, 15:38 GMT
THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT! i can't wait to grab it.
@pixel: from whatit sounds like it seems the nunchuck option is the same as the plane controls in BWii. If you played that, then yeah, the controls work. they're not great, but it's do-able. i would have preferred standard/traditional controls, but hey, as long as it works, i'm all for it.
7. Odnetnin
24 Dec 2009, 15:51 GMT
If this is anything like Wii Sports Resort, aside from MotionPlus, I'll download it.
EDIT: Thanks, Panda.
8. Panda
24 Dec 2009, 16:09 GMT
Battalion Wars 2 (Wii).
9. Koto
24 Dec 2009, 16:46 GMT
wait what? its WiiWare but it still looks so awesome? and i like flight combat games so this is going to be awesome!
10. Hardy83
24 Dec 2009, 17:10 GMT
People are right. Sky Crawlers is scheduled for January 5th, it would be wise to release this game while people who are fans of this type of game are JUST finishing the game, so I would suggest pushing for a February release. You know, ride the hype of another game but not compete with it.
But hey that's me, what do I know? I haven't even finished Advertising school yet. lol
11. accc
24 Dec 2009, 17:57 GMT
I'm disappointed that 3 Musketeers didn't perform well, it was a fun game in my opinion
It was held back by some technical issues though, hopefully the same thing doesn't happen with this game.
12. count_chocula
24 Dec 2009, 19:22 GMT
I love this kind of game but I'm slightly hesitant.. The difference between 5 hours and 10 hours gameplay is pretty big. 3 installments multiplied by $10 = $30 (showoff) for 15 hours gameplay, of which is never going to look as good as a disc game. Bjorn seems like a nice fella though eh?
13. Hardy83
24 Dec 2009, 19:45 GMT
5-10 hours of gameplay for a probably 7-10 dollar game is massive.
Yes it may seem like a lot for a total of 24 - 30 bucks, but that's the beauty of buying it in parts. You don't feel the game is worth the rest of your money, well I'm sure you were entertained for 7-10 bucks.
14. Flandy
24 Dec 2009, 19:54 GMT
I have a suggestion you guys should add a free fly mode
where you can just fly around doing whatever you want I usally just go flying around in airplane games and do that
it'd be a nice additon
15. Odnetnin
24 Dec 2009, 20:12 GMT
@Andy100003 That sounds fun.
16. count_chocula
24 Dec 2009, 20:19 GMT
Point taken Hardy, but I guess it's a personal thing. Even if the game isn't great I'm gonna feel compelled to buy part 2 and 3 just in the hope that it gets better.
17. hobbes
24 Dec 2009, 20:25 GMT
I'm looking forward to this as well. I like combat flight games and I love the WWII era aircraft. They showed just how rapid aircraft technology was advancing, since by the end of the war, you were seeing your first jet powered aircraft, a mere 42 years after the Wright brothers first flight.
18. Objection_Blaster
24 Dec 2009, 20:37 GMT
That's a great signoff there.
19. Bulbasaurus Rex
24 Dec 2009, 21:39 GMT
When it's an actual place name, shouldn't it be spelled the same in all English speaking countries? It's Pearl Harbor, not Pearl Harbour.
20. Hardy83
24 Dec 2009, 21:56 GMT
"Pearl Harbor"
That's the American spelling, all the normal countries use harbour.
21. Blue Protoman
24 Dec 2009, 22:06 GMT
This should really have Classic Controller support. Otherwise, I'm very interested!
22. Sean Aaron
24 Dec 2009, 22:39 GMT
Good catch bulbasaurus, I've just gone native is all!
23. bro2dragons
24 Dec 2009, 22:53 GMT
@Andy: good idea. i almost suggested that, myself, but with all they are packing in, i thought better of it. it would be nice though. just watching that video makes it seem like a combat-less free-fly mode would be very relaxing.
24. Djungelurban
24 Dec 2009, 23:49 GMT
While I personally have little to no interest in flight sims, it does look awfully polished and I do wish them well with this release.
25. Vinsanity
25 Dec 2009, 05:27 GMT
I hope this one reviews well. Flight games seem like they'd work really well with motion controllers (anyone whose played Flower on PS3 can attest to the potential there). With Sky Crawlers being the only game of note to fill that niche on wii, it's a pretty lonely genre. Hope this game ends up a solid Wiiware release then.
26. eripmav
26 Dec 2009, 14:13 GMT
Good comments chaps, glad you're excited by what we're doing/achieving! It's really quite amazing what we've currently crammed into that tiny 40MB limit!
27. LEGEND MARIOID
26 Dec 2009, 19:27 GMT
I take it the wiimote on its own description is like the airsports control in wii sports resort?
28. Tony
26 Dec 2009, 20:46 GMT
The footage looks very good so far. Looks nice
29. Thomas Joseph
26 Dec 2009, 23:16 GMT
@Hardy83:That's the American spelling, all the normal countries use harbour.
Well, since it's an AMERICAN place, using the AMERICAN spelling is the correct, and proper usage. It's like insisting that someone who has the name Tomas, be called Thomas, just because that's how you'd spell it in your country.
30. eripmav
28 Dec 2009, 23:36 GMT
Absolutely correct there Hardy:)