I typically don't like to post on IGN's
stories, but their Nintendo team has some news that's hard to pass up. Last week they broke news of a new developer working exclusively on the Wii,
High Voltage Software. These ambitious people are working on a new FPS called
The Conduit, a gritty scifi game set in Washington D.C. What's exciting about this is that they have the tech to back it up.
The guys at High Voltage think it's frankly embarrassing how crappy most Wii games look, and they've designed their own engine to harness the Wii's untapped potential. IGN posted a tech demo video that shows off normal mapping, refractions, reflections, HDR lighting and other eye candy. Old hat for the 360 and PS3, but definitely exciting to see the Wii can push these effects. They're also working on a WiiWare shooter called
Gyrostarr that uses the same engine.
Personally, all I can say is it's about damn time. Nintendo's conservative approach to graphics has been used as an excuse by other developers, and we've been getting tons of butt-ugly minigame collections and mediocre ports. With the graphical geniuses at Factor 5 already working on a Wii game, maybe the Wii's reputation as a graphical weakling is going to change. High Voltage are still looking for a publisher for The Conduit, so here's hoping some big industry names recognize their visual prowess and hands them a contract.
