Resident Evil Producer: "Wii users like easiness"

Written by TheBBPS

Tuesday, 01 May 2007 04:00

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, the on-rails arcade-style shooter, was initially going to play a whole lot more like Resident Evil 4. That should be enough to have you in tears, but check out what producer Masachika Kawata said to Famitsu about the change:

"At the initial stage of development, Umbrella Chronicles' play system was similar to Resident Evil 4's. But, it's extremely difficult on Wii. Too complicated to enjoy. Wii users like easiness. Umbrella Chronicles is not only for game enthusiasts. Complex operability can be an obstacle for Wii users. We want players to enjoy the game's horrifying and creepy world and its thrilling shooting action. By reducing enthusiast-only elements, players can purely enjoy the world."

So many emotions. Coming from within. Mostly bad.

This situation might make a bit more sense if Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition wasn't set for release next month. I don't want to give the impression that Umbrella Chronicles is going to be an abomination in its current form; I played through the demo on display at Gamers Day last month, and while I wasn't blown away, it seemed like it could be an enjoyable popcorn shooter.

But Resident Evil 4 is, by far, the best game in the series, and the controls in the Wii Edition may actually be better than those of the original release. So... where's the issue?

[via IGN Wii]

Comments (4) Add Comment

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written by Mott, May 01, 2007

I just read some article posted somewhere called "Is your mom keeping me from getting good games for the Wii."

It's a funny title but is there a danger that since they're trying to cater to the casual gamer that the games will all be a little to easy for us seasoned vets? seems like it may be.

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written by B, May 01, 2007

That's the thing that sucks. Which is why Nintendo can profit on the Wii all by itself because they know who they're tryin to cater to. 3rd party devs won't be that successful because the casual market doesn't care for games that we play. Even good games suffer. No casual gamer are picking up the Godfather for the Wii and its a game that I personally feel is made better by the Wii controls.

I was talkin to the manager at EB in my mall and I asked him what games do people buy, and its suprising that most of the casual Wii gamers don't buy Zelda, but they buy Wii play and Wario Ware. So if 3rd party devs go the extra mile and create a great Wii title that uses the Wiimote to its fullest ability and its considered amazing by hardcore gamers, if casual gamers look at it with the mindset that its too complicated or too much to learn, it'll fail.

Then 3rd parties will begin to do what Capcom is doing, making it easier and more accessable. At this point in video games, casual gamers are the Industry's focus and the ones that got the industry this far, are the ones that suffer.

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written by Andrew Hayward, May 01, 2007

If the Wii becomes as big as most expect it to be, we can only hope that there will be enough market share to go around for both casual and more regular gamers.

I'm just disappointed that the system is being pigeonholed by the people who have the power to define what it is that we play.

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written by B, May 01, 2007

Exactly Andrew. Ygr powers that be (developers and publishers) need to try harder, but if sales are higher in games that have less substance, then that's what they're gonna focus on.