Oddworld series creator Lorne Lanning has explained that they have decided to delay the Wii U version of the game due to the 8GB basic model. Lanning says that if developers are going to make a Wii U title then they need to be able to get it up and running on the 8GB model.
“If you’re going to make a Wii U game, it better run on the 8GB unit. Otherwise, it’s not really a Wii U game.”
WTF does that even mean?
I’m thinking the same thing. They’re the same thing. people who didn’t want the black one simply bought a removable hard drive to deal with the lack of space. This reason is bull spit. Just like all the others.
The article is missing important information.
The problem was that the game couldn’t run on the 8GB model due to memory limits, if I’m not mistaken. And what the developers are basically saying is that if they can’t run the game on the 8GB model, it’s not really a WiiU game, because it would have to run on both models; they can’t exclude people who bought the 8GB model from playing the game, unless they buy an additional hard drive.
Like self imposed limitation, so they can hit the broadest number of people. I think they are shooting themselves in the foot though. Most anyone who wants that game will buy some kind of extra memory to download.
Even though it’s most likely true that most of the people who want the game either will buy a HDD or have the 32GB model already, there might as well be potential buyers the game could catch the attention of, who are not ready to spend extra money to play the game. It would be silly to only focus on the people who are already determined to buy the game, they have to keep potential buyers in mind as well, and I’m pretty sure having to spend extra money is not exactly something that’s going to attract people. Sure, it’s an inconvenient situation for both the developers and the consumers, but as a team seeking to make money with their work, a delay to solve the problem and make the game accessible for everyone is probably the best way to handle it.
It’s a brilliant game, and anyone who wants it but has no option of buying it on another platform will be willing to wait.
I really think this limit they have put on themselves is shooting themselves in the foot. An SD card or even a hard drive is not expensive and both will be used for other things as well. And the 8 gig machine is really like 4 or less once you figure in saves, patches, and the OS, so larger e-shop games aren’t really an option without expansion.
The target audience for this game probably has both systems and if they can’t wait for the Wii U version, they probably didn’t. I know its a difficult balance and a developer studio (I don’t want to call them an Indie cause Oddworld games have been published before).
Sorry, last sentence didn’t really type that right :S…..I know is a difficult balance for a developer studio do, making it accessible to capture the most customers attention.
Hmm, that’s all true. But I don’t know, to me, the fact that they’re actually working on it means that there’s a possibility of them being able to actually optimize it for the 8GB model, so I believe that makes the delay a better option than not trying at all.
The basic WiiU can’t do much without USB storage.
Heck, event the premium model requires cheap, ready available, plug and play USB storage to store more than a couple of download games.
You can even plug a 4€ 16GB pendrive and it would work for the basic model. So yes, this is BS.
After hearing what other people had to say about this issue, I’m now convinced of it being silly too, actually.
I was trying to look at the issue from both sides, but yea, I’ve realized that in the end, not delaying probably would have been the better option, mainly because of the reasons you as well have stated.
Having to upgrade might not be the most attracting thing about a game, but as you’ve said, the basic WiiU is pretty much useless without an upgrade to begin with, so an upgrade would be necessary anyway.
So your telling me ‘oddworld’ is over 8 gigs? Or hell 6 gigs? Thats more than 3d world and Mario Kart 8 combined.
Well, on Playstation platforms, it’s 4.5GB, should be the same on other platforms as well.
Gotta keep in mind that not all of those 8GB are actually available for game files.
Lol of course you would know how much it is on PS platforms. :P
LOL naah, I actually thought it’s about 4GB, had to check it. (:
Oh ok. So 4.5 gig would be cutting it close on the 8 gig system… It shouldn’t be an issue though. It should still be released, not many have the 8 gig system.
It might be less, even 4GB, the thing is that the 8GB model his limitations on the games it can actualy download. Hunts the exctra work needed to go around this issue. Oddworld /just add water works hard for the fans. Trust me when I say that made this decision with fans in mind
well make the damn disc not only for eshop
Most eshop games require external storage to even be downloaded in the first place. He is saying that if the game is under 8GB then it should be able to go on the system without a external drive. Other wise why even have 8GB in the first place. Thus he is working to make the game work around this issue.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yes?
Really? WTF even has the basic model anymore? It was discontinued for a reason: Nobody wants it. Delaying this wonderful game for that dead model is a dick move. It’s still gonna be compatible for that system since it’s the same shit but little storage which can be externally expanded anyway.
Just because the basic model is discontinued now, doesn’t mean there are no people who own it.
A developer can’t expect people to buy an external hard drive so they can play their game. What they’re doing is quite logical.
A retail release of this will change all that.
As far as I know, there won’t be a retail version. It’s download-only for all platforms, unfortunately.
For reals?? No hard copies?
I’m afraid not. I would have loved a physical copy of it.
Same here the Abe games were and still able to make me laugh
They’re fantastic, definitely part of my favorite PS1 games. (:
I know that.
Not sure what the point behind your previous comment was then, but okay, lmao.
The point I’m making is that this delay is rather stupid for a few reasons like the Basic model IS compatible to any external HDD and USB drives plus theres an SD slot which may be updated for use very soon which BTW is kinda dumb Nintendo doesnt enable it for Wii U directly.
They didn’t have to delay this game at all and this delay isn’t gonna resolve shit because the reason they delay this game over was already resolved 2 years ago from launch.
I was referring to your “A retail release of this will change all that.” comment.
But anyway, I understand what you mean, but I also see where the developers are coming from. It’s true that a delay is frustrating and that people can upgrade their WiiU with an HDD, but as a developer they can’t expect people to do that, because it’s gonna hurt the sales of their game if they rely on that. Yes, compared to the number of people who own a 32GB WiiU, the number of 8GB WiiU owners is most likely small, but they still might want the game as well, without having to upgrade.
It’s a difficult situation I suppose.
How difficult or expensive it is to simply buy a 16-32GB drive that costs around $15 right now? Again, thats no excuse to delay this game. They cant shrink the game in size without having to remove some features, levels and shit to fit the remaining “4GB” in the basic version. Don’t keep trying to justify this dumbass delay. You sound like Hollowgraph excusing Ubishit delaying Rayman from Wii U for two other playforms that went and bought GTA5 instead.
I guess that’s true. I was trying to look at things from their standpoint, but in the end, not delaying really might have been the better decision. I wasn’t considering the fact that not all of those 8GB are actually available, and fitting a game like that into such little space probably won’t work out too well.
This is only gonna be a pointless delay that’ll piss off some Wii U gamers just like Rayman did but on a smaller scale because their reason isn’t a selfish one but its still stupid.
Yea, considering it’s been out on other platforms for months already isn’t helping the situation either, I guess.
Exactly
Too expensive to release physical copies. Lanning is hanging on by a thread, that little studio is only making enough to pay for the rest of the ports and hopefully a brand new Oddworld title, or at the very least an HD remaster of Exodus.
Sony has a 12GB PS3 Super Slim, MS has a 4GB Xbox 360. Both sell tons of games on their online stores that will not fit on those systems…so no, this doesn’t make sense. The number of basic models is tiny compared to the number of 32GB systems. The number of basic owners that would buy this game even if it fit on their system is extremely small. Even Nintendo has eShop games that won’t fit on the 8GB model.
Those games usually have physical copies though, so you can play them anyway. But even if not, two wrongs don’t make a right. Just because the others are doing it wrong, doesn’t justify this studio doing it wrong too.
I get your points though. There probably are download-only games that can’t be optimized to fit in 8GB/12GB. In this case, though, it seems like it might be possible, otherwise they probably wouldn’t try it in the first place. That’s why I personally believe choosing to delay the game instead of giving up right away might be the better option, because in the long run, it might turn out more profitable for the studio if they can get it to work in the end.
But yea, just my personal opinion, I respect yours too though.
Exactly and why those same morons criticize Wii U’s lack of HDD again when they’re buying those more embarrassingly lacking models again? Hypocrites everywhere. lol
I have the basic Wii U model. Lol.
LMAO Wow…
They were sold out of Premium models and I could not find it anywhere back at the time so I just settled for white and bought a hard drive. I probably shouldn’t have even gotten a Wii U and just settled with a PS3 instead because the Wii U was beyond disappointing to me. I didn’t start having any real enjoyment until 3D World came out. It was a waste of my time before that. I played on my Wii with SSBB, but then that died and it was pretty much my only Wii game left so I played nothing. My Wii U collected dust while I considered selling it. If I could go back in time to where I didn’t have a Wii U, I would. I was totally unaware the Wii U would’ve lost all third party support like that when I got it.
Wii U was doing great in the beginning that it sold out as quickly as Wii did. But then shit hit the fan during the 2nd quarter for god knows what reason besides 3rd parties not making shit for the system and also gimping the fuck out of almost every ports imaginable.
Wii U had lots of third party games at launch! It would be amazing if it was still like that now. But sadly, it is now an exclusives only system. It had so much potential…
And merely 90% of them are ports eiether lazy or gimped with only Rayman Legends being the ONLY best and original 3rd party game for launch and you guess what happens next. :| No such thing as good 3rd party support even at launch.
Actually, now that I think about it, Wii U missed out on some of the biggest games like Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, Tomb Raider, Crysis 3, and Bioshock Infinite. It missed six months worth of games. XD
Nothing but shooters is all i see on the list of missed games and the rest ass merely overhyped trash that gets boring real quick and claims to do something different when its the same shit as the other familiar games.
I hope you’re joking. Everyone one of the games I just listed are completely different from each other.
No. They’re merely clones off another game with a gameplay feature they borrowed from another game. 1st/3rd person viewing, shooting, realism/hollywood CGI visuals, borrowing one gameplay gimmick off another original/successful game. That’s all the BS formula the 3rd parties use and almost all of them dont focus entirely on creativity and fun of video games anymore. Its just overpriced movies with interactive button mashing action.
I disagree completely. Lol all of those games are at the top of my most wanted list. Sorry.
How can it not run on there?
This news is 2 days OLD. Old, old, old… See Nintendo Life.
I Mailed the guys here about the Irish gaming stamps and they didn’t even post it up
…so the games bigger than 8 gb?
I’m assuming yes.
the only way I can see it not running is this game use some memory space on the eUSB module of the Wii U other than that I don’t think there is much difference in the hardware, unless he just drops the ball and he said some he should not have say…… But whatever the reason if the game is not playable on the basic model then yes it make sense to delay the game. Lot of people bought the basic model and it would be very unfair to cause them distress.
I got myself the basic model and love it. I had a hard drive anyways to use :-)
I have the premium model and I don’t know any body who has a basic model. You could say “why give a f*** then?”
Well on that case I tend to not just looking at my personal case and see the problem as a all :-) glad you enjoy your Wii U. No need to say I enjoy mine and really don’t understand why people/industry try to trash it cause it’s not like a PS4 or xbox1.
I don’t know if I going to get a HDD for my Wii U cause I am not type of person who buy digital games, for me it’s a wait and see situation.
Same. I love physical games. If it’s digital only, I may get it. I do love my ps4 also since you mentioned it lol love me some last of us :3
There might be a million people that own the basic model right now. And probably 50% of them have a hard drive. This is so stupid
Agreed. I have the basic model and have a 100gig HD attached. I’d imagine any basic Wiiu owner that has any interest in digital games also has one.
i got a 2tb HDD for mine and downloaded alot of games just wish they’d release the gba games on the 3ds too
Where’d you get those statistics from?
And you based that off of absolutely nothing
Even if that was true, the other 50% wouldn’t have an external hard drive for their WiiU, which would mean half a million people wouldn’t have access to the game unless they go and spend additional money for the game to be able to play it.
So, do you really think it’s stupid the developers want to make the game accessible for everyone, and not exclude people who actually own a system it’s available on ? I don’t.
Actually, having reconsidered the given situation and circumstances, I’ve realized that it indeed is a bit stupid, lmao.
So don’t mind what I said in my previous comment. (:
Exactly. The problem is already resolved with external drives and they work on the basic anyway. This delay is rather stupid.
People who knowingly bought the 8G version, likely did it because they preferred the white color and understood the potential need for an external hard drive, or preferred price vs. space because they were hard-copy purists. Hell, l have the black model and still eventually had to buy a External Hard Drive. Two years of downloads, am I expected to clear space in my Wii U? If someone really wants it, they will find a way to be able to get it. They made more people unhappy taking this route than just releasing the damned game.
You give the general public/consumer too much credit.
Yeah if everyone who bought a Wii U was the gamer then I would agree, but parents still buy console for their kids and if the 8GB model was cheaper you can bet your ass that they probably pick that one up. You and I might be able to afford stuff because of disposable income but some kids only get 1-2 games a years because of the lack of funds. Plus, the game is still coming out, its just being delayed.
These seem like self imposed limitation, so best of luck to them.
Or, you know, they could release it in physical format only and then it WOULD be a Wii U game.
Releasing this game physically would be an unnecessary financial burden for an indie. They would be spending more money than they would get in return.
You and your Sherlock logic..
Nintendo really should have thought this one through when they were still developing the Wii U. How, in 2012, anybody would have thought to make a game console without a harddrive is beyond me. I get that Nintendo wanted to keep the cost down but they should have madeat least 120 GB the minimum if they really wanted their consumers to invest in digital games. I’m not buying digital games on the Wii U because my measly 32 GB of storage is all used up. Nintendo seriously can’t expect people to buy an external harddrive just for their Wii U, when it should have had an internal hard drive to begin with.
I bought a 3 TB Western Digital on the Black Friday around when the Wii U was launched for about $100 with tax. I would prefer to buy my own memory than have Nintendo charge me an extra $100 for 300gb internal.
Also, the reason I bought it so close to release date (I hadn’t even filled the internal memory yet) was because I bought the Deluxe ‘Digital Promotion’ bundle knowing full well I would be taking advantage of the 10% back deal for 2 years would pay for my external memory. And it has more than paid for it!!
Sony has a 12GB PS3 Super Slim, MS has a 4GB Xbox 360 Slim. Both sell tons of games on their online stores that will not fit on those systems…
But they also have much larger alternatives.
Yes but those are last gen consoles. The Wii had, what? Less than a GB of storage? Yes 8 GB is a huge step up from that, but being a current gen console, the minimum on XB1 and PS4 is 500 GB. Sony gives their consumers the choice to upgrade the internal harddrive which is nice since you won’t have to have an external plugged into it to play your digital games. The new XB1 bundle later this year will offer up a 1TB hard drive in the system! There is no excuse as to why Nintendo couldn’t have shelled out a few more dollars for some bigger storage.
THEY DID THINK IT THRU EXTERNAL DRIVES FLASH AND HARDDRIVES ARE CHEAP
AND DONT RUIN A SYSTEM IF BROKEN
If they really thought that would be the solution, they should have at least given us USB 3.0 ports, which both XB1 and PS4 have, for the Wii U to transfer and read games at a good speed. This just makes Nintendo look like they were cutting corners with the Wii U.
I still say the 8GB Thing is pure Waste.
Releasing the WiiU Shiro 32 outside Nippon from the Beginning on would have caused much less Trouble.
That reason is complete horse shit. There have been lots of games that don’t fit on the Wii U since its launch almost TWO YEARS AGO. You can get 16gb for under $10 these days. I will always think of these developers as lazy and liars. The game isn’t that great anyways.
there making it up as per usual third partys are a joke
thumb drives flash drives and harddrives all allow this to work
and why is a 2D game taking up over 8gb anyway
So none of this is Nintendo’s fault for releasing a console with 8gb, but instead it’s the devs fault for wanting to make sure everyone that owns a WiiU can play it? Sigh.
Well isn’t that the most lamest accuse ever… Great, now Oddworld Devs are ruined for me… all the game developers from my Childhood are now assholes now…
Oh thanks Sickr. I sent this in like a few days ago and you post it now with no recognition. Bravo
THIS IS BULLSHIT
WIIU GAMES CAN BE PLAYED FROM FLASH DRIVES HARDDRIVES AND THUMB DRIVES
ITS ONLY THE FRONT SOOT SDCARD READER YOU CANNOT
ALMOST ALL FLASH DRIVES-HARDDRIVES-THUMB DRIVES WORK
WHAT A CROCK OF SHIT
It’s not right for Nintendo to force their customers to buy additional accessories to buy and download games. If storage is so cheap at the consumer level, think about how crazy dirt cheap it would be at the wholesale level. We pay about $10 for 16 gb of storage. Nintendo could buy hundreds of thousands of16 gb of storage IN BULK for their consoles for CENTS.
If you own a 8gb wiiu and have not upgraded to a external hard drive you are not this games market.
they shouldn’t be worried about owners that don’t have enough memory
Stupid 8gig wii u.
They could offer a bundled version with memory card and call it a limited edition of the game
anyone who owns a basic model and plans to download more than a couple tiny demos or games on the eshop should have considered buying additional storage …. i wouldn’t worry about it
even a thumbdrive works
He actually sort of has a point. I happen to own a basic Wii U, it’s price is probably the only reason my parents accepted to let me buy one. When I got the Wonderful 101 as my free game for the Mk8 promo I had no idea how much space it took. I put as many save files on my USB key (which has less memory than 8GB) but I still couldn’t dowload it. The Wonderful 101 turned out to take 11 or more GB, which was kinda irritating, we had to buy a 16GB USB key to download the game (Also, as much of a pain in the arse that was, I’d say it was worth it).
Just make it where it requires additional storage to download. I have a 32gig and I have like 5gigs left. I will need a external hard rive. I may just buy a big flash drive. Big deal. Just a waste of money to put a hard rive inside a console and like 6 years later the fusion will come out playing Wii U games anyway. External hard rives are better for transfer.
…and like in 6 years the new nintendo will be like out so like who cares anyways.
6 years is a long time fella.
6 years isnt a long time when it comes to R&D. Companies work on next gen product 6 years ahead (except Nintendo who focuses their products on whats already out which doesnt make sense). I bet you AT&T has a phone in R&D prepared for the Iphone 9. If Nintendo made phones they would focus on the Iphone 8 snce they focused on the PS3 when Wii U was in R&D in 2008. If 6 years is a long time then why would Nintendo think 8gigs would be enough six years from 2008?
6 years a long time? If Kia Motors didnt focus on the 2014 Highlander in 2011 the 2015 Sorento wouldnt be ready in time. While current Sorento sells are declining becuase of the new Jeep Cherokee, Highlander, Escape and Rave 4. But like Nintendo thinks, you think 6yrs is a long time. Ford has a next gen Mustang. Dodge has a next gen Challenger to compete. Unlike Nintendo, Dodge focused their Challenger on product competition not even out yet. Kia has a redesigned Optima scheduled to be unveiled at NAIAS. Also Kia has the Kia GT in R&D for production in 2016. Kia has it ready to compete with the Audi A7. I hope Nintendo is prepared for the PS5.
Their is also a Mercedes CLS class on spy shots prepraring for 2016 BMws, Lexuses, Audis and Infinti. It is not made to compete with current competition unlike Nintendo. This Mercedes is a 2016 model.
Hyundai has a 2016 model ready for the 2016 Ford Focus. kia has a redesigned Sedona for the 2015 minivans.
But external hard drives are worse for reading data, which is what the Wii U will be doing 95% of the time with the data in the external hard drive. And external hard drives would be better at transferring data if they weren’t bottlenecked by USB 2.0’s lack of read/write speed. If the Wii U had USB 3.0 using an external hard drive wouldn’t as big of a deal for me.
So why does DKTF hve longer loading times than Return? I think Gamecube was Nintendo’s fastest console. And why does when you turn on the Wii U OS it takes longer than Wii’s?
BOTTLENECKED DUDE SHUT UP
WIIU LOAD FADTER THAN PS4 XBONE AS DOES EVERY NINTENDO SYSTEM EVERY GEN
DONT EVEN TRY
CUSTOM HIGH SPEED NINTENDO DISCS AND COMPRESSION SYSTEMS
LOL DONT EVEN GO THERE HARDDRIVES ARE SLOWER THAN SOLID STATE FLASH THATS WHY NINTENDO PUTS SOLID STATE INSIDE
HARDDRIVES ARE 50S TECH WITH MOVING PARTS NO WAY CLEVER NINTENDO WOULD INSTALL ONE INTERNALLY
SHUT UP MORON NINTENDO HAS BEEN USING FLASH SINCE N64
THIS FUCKING GUY ABOUE SERIOUSLY SHUT THE FUCK UP
PSP WITH A DISC PS3 LONG LOADING PS2 JEEESSSSUSSS H CHRIST
WATCHDOGS PS4 LOOOOOAADDDIIINNNGGGG SCRREEENNN
DUDE SHUT IT
So why does MK8 have longer loading times than MK Wii if its all that fast loke you claim?
The Wii U does not have a solid state drive, it has flash memory. The PS4’s harddrive can be swapped out for a real solid state drive, you can do this on the XB1 as well but that’ll void the warranty.
The bottleneck remark was in reference to using an external hard drive on a Wii U. If you have an external hard drive with 3.0, its speed will be limited to the Wii U’s USB 2.0 port. Were it to have a 3.0 port, it could read up to 10 times faster.
Yes, Watch Dogs has long load times, but that’s because of all of the NPC’s and objects that the PS4 has to render. Do you know what other game has long load times? Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, but just like Watch Dogs, it’s worth the wait for load time.
why were there idiots who bought that model anyway.
i have an external 1TB hard drive and have no problem with it most of the people i know with a wii u has them as well. the only difference between the 8GB and the 32GB model is hard drive. they are coming out with BS as they are putting the game on the back burner.
I played a demo of Oddworld on the original Xbox back when it first launched, and I thought it sucked monkey butt.