This talks about the U.S releases of Ubisoft’s Wii games. But read anyways…

  I guess people have heard the news regarding Ubisoft and it’s March 2007 releases for the Nintendo Wii. Thanks to the successful launch, most of us can conclude that Ubisoft is Nintendo’s best friend. They’ve had the most games made at launch, and they seem to stay strong as the developer have announced more games for a Q1-Q2 2007 schedule. But some of us have paid more attention to Ubisoft’s games than others, and have concluded one of many factors in this matter.
Ubisoft…Where are the original titles?
I’ve been crawling around the internet (not literally) to seek upcoming games on the Nintendo Wii. I have a Wii alert on my Gmail, so I get first-account information on it’s progress in the next-gen (which is now-gen) war. This is the Ubisoft lineup for Q1-Q2 2007 as I’m aware of right now:

Prince of Persia: Rival Swords
Brothers in Arms: D-Day
Driver: Parallel Lines
Cosmic Family
Spelling Spree
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Blazing Angels (maybe)

This is a small beefy lineup for the Wii, one I wouldn’t expect from Ubisoft=Nintendo. But I like to point out the first three. I’ve been pondering about these titles, we are all aware that they have come out already to current-gen systems (along with Blazing Angels). Ubisoft is re-releasing them to take advantage of the Wii remote/Nunchuck. Now I’m feeling a bit nostalgic right now. Let’s take a trip back to the Nintendo Wii launch.

Red Steel
GT Pro Series
Far Cry Vengeance (I’ll count it)
Monster 4X4 World Circuit
Rayman Raving Rabbids

Here Red Steel is the only original title from Ubisoft exclusive for the Wii. It takes advantage of the Wii remote, and the developers actually try to tap into the power of the system. I was suprised that Ubisoft would revive two old games: Monster 4X4 World Circuit and GT Pro Series. No work has been put into the game, except for a change in the control concept. Regardless of this, the games have been shunned by the majority of editors, only because they feel it wasn’t worth the time and money to bring back these games, only to…simplify the controls in a different way.

Back to our modern times. Driver, Brothers in Arms, Prince of Persia, and Blazing Angels are being brought back to us with a fresh new control concept. My question…is it even worth it? Some figure that Ubisoft would come up with a new title, or more or less a series of sequels to these games. Instead, we are bounded to replay these games in a new fashion. I haven’t checked the Wii game sales, but I’m assured that Monster and GT Pro Series didn’t make the high standards. In other words, they probably didn’t sell as much as Ubisoft expected. Now Ubisoft is playing with fire, because half their games are basically minor remakes of the same games we’ve played before.

I’ve read some expectations on GCN ports onto the Nintendo Wii. My question is if the games are worth another purchase for $50. Even if we haven’t played them, would we still be excited to see old games instead of new original titles? I don’t know any titles, so I can’t say much against them.

This editorial isn’t about porting new titles onto the Wii. This is about porting old games onto the this system, only to take advantage of the Wii remote. Driver…I heard didn’t get positive reinforcement like it wanted. Brothers in Arms D-Day is a PSP title, and Prince of Persia is the third title in the series, though it doesn’t share the same name in a way. I’ve never played these games, so they might be a new experience for me. But to every that has: Would you pay $50 to play the games again showing minor upgrades?

I don’t have a significant problem with these ports. My only problem is the work put into the games. As far as I can tell, Prince of Persia and Driver are only using a fresh control remake. Nothing has been expected to change the visuals, or even put in some bonus features. Ubisoft is experimenting with a dummed-down version of Unreal Engine 3 on Brothers in Arms D-Day. But we are unsure if they will use it.

Ubisoft is the only developer I’m aware of that does this tradition of ressurecting the games on the current-gen list. Besides EA that is.

-Is this a good desicion on Ubisoft’s part? Should they stick to this plan, or spend more time to make original titles?
-What about other developers? Should they follow this trend as well? What games would you like to see remade?