Dead Rising coming to the Wii

[Queasy]

link - Don't know if this got lost in the E3 thread (which is about to be retired) but here it is again with more details.

We heard Wednesday that Dead Rising, one of the more memorable sandbox games on the Xbox 360, is coming to the Wii, but now we've got further details on the game translated directly from the Famitsu article that made the revelation. The new port, called Dead Rising: Zombie Sacrifice in Japan, will feature all manner of new features and expanded gameplay -- and as producer and director Minoru Nakai discussed with Weekly Famitsu magazine this week, it's all part of an effort to make the notoriously difficult game more appealing to the casual user base.

As Nakai puts it, Zombie Sacrifice came about following the success of Resident Evil 4's Wii port, which sold over half a million copies in the U.S. despite being only slightly enhanced from the GameCube original. Nakai also saw it as an opportunity to attract a new audience to his game: "The 360 version was hard to get to grips with, in a good way. You died a lot in the beginning, and you have to raise your level if you want to proceed in the story. It's a really fun game if you can deal with that, but I think some of the experience was a little rough for casual users. That's why we're adjusting the game to make it easier to play."

As part of that effort, Dead Rising's controls and method of storytelling are both going to see some revisions. The basic game is unchanged, of course -- you play freelance journalist Frank West as he infiltrates a zombie-infested mall, helps out survivors, and fights hordes of the undead all by himself. The story structure is a bit different from the 360 version, however: Instead of having your janitor friend Otis continually tell you about things to investigate via your transceiver, the game will proceed in a more traditional, less time-sensitive fashion. "In the Xbox 360 version, the story proceeded as time passed, and you'd get messages about how there are survivors at this or that location that you should check out," Nakai told Famitsu. "With this version, that aspect of the game is now treated as a series of submissions. As you advance through the main story, Otis will give you three or four submissions at once; when you finish those, the main scenario advances. This results in us being able to put a lot more story volume to the game."

In addition to a revised story structure, the Wii version of Dead Rising will feature new enemies and items, as well as a behind-the-shoulder camera system modeled after Resident Evil 4's. (Nakai noted that Frank won't be able to take photographs of things in the Wii version because that system doesn't work very well with this new camera.) This being a Wii port, of course, brand-new motion controls are naturally in the offing -- you'll press directions on the control pad to switch between weapons instantly, use an onscreen reticule to target enemies when you're wielding a gun, and even shake the Wii-mote around to ward off zombies or swing blunt weapons. "Basically, you use the Nunchuk to move and the Wii-mote to perform actions," Nakai told Famitsu. "You can press the A button to attack with your subweapon, but you can also attack by swinging the Wii-mote. That makes the attack stronger but expands the backswing -- sort of like regular and heavy punches in a fighting game."

Dead Rising: Zombie Sacrifice doesn't have a Japanese release date set yet, but development on the title (which sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide on the 360) is already well underway. Nakai's main goal here, as he told Weekly Famitsu, is not only to retain what made gamers excited about the 360 original, but also to open the game up to a new, more casual audience: "My brother is a casual gamer, but he's the sort of person who doesn't like it when the visuals are too intricate or elaborate -- he gets nervous about whether he's good enough to play it at all," he noted. "That was a very novel surprise to hear that from him. Looking at it that way, I wonder if Wii users are a lot more forgiving about the visuals of the games they play. Of course, we have lots of fans of the 360 version, so we're still aiming for a level of visuals that will keep them satisfied."

At least while Nintendo concentrated on smiles, girls, and soccer moms in their presentation, there are some traditional 'hardcore' games still coming.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

I was so excited when I first read this. IMHO Dead Rising was only a few minor tweaks away from being my favorite game of all time (the easiest to implement would be a true sandbox mode, no timers and no health countdowns. Just letting you go out there and mindless slaughter the zombies. This plays right into the casual crowd, so I can really see it being done. My only concern would be if how much the Wii hardware handles the game. No doubt some sacrifices will have to be made ; number of characters on screen, detail of the player models and hopefully we won't have to worry about frame rate issues.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Dead Rising seriously pissed me off on the 360. I ended up quitting after dying in the same spot 20+ times.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

No camera though

 

[Piuc2020]

Even though I hate the word "hardcore", the developers themselves said they are reducing the difficulty to appeal to the casual user base, doesn't sound very "hardcore" to me.

But whatever, the only games worth playing on the Nintendo Wii are those churned out by Nintendo themselves (with some exceptions like Zack & Wiki, etc).

 

[nakedfrog]

Cool, this is one of the few 360 exclusives I felt like I was missing out on.

 

[Auryg]

I wish they'd put this version out for the 360. I hated the time limit.

 

[Queasy]

Kotaku has some zombie-lacking screenshots.

 

[lupi]

What type of game is this?





And should we start a will you still buy a 360 since they lost an exclusive title thread.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: lupi
What type of game is this?

Zombie whacking survival game set in a mall.

And should we start a will you still buy a 360 since they lost an exclusive title thread.

This was released on the 360 so long ago (2 years) and the differences are so marked that I'm not even sure it matters.

edit: Who wants to start the petition?

 

[RandomFool]

Originally posted by: lupi

And should we start a will you still buy a 360 since they lost an exclusive title thread.

I plan on selling my 360 because of it. This is obviously the final straw for MS.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

Looks like they kept the player models pretty close to the 360 versions but just toned down the number of zombies on screen. This sounds worse than it really is, as there are still a TON up there in there screen shots. Very well could be the defining title for the Wii in terms of graphics (assuming the frame rate isn't a mess)

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: nismotigerwvu
Looks like they kept the player models pretty close to the 360 versions but just toned down the number of zombies on screen. This sounds worse than it really is, as there are still a TON up there in there screen shots. Very well could be the defining title for the Wii in terms of graphics (assuming the frame rate isn't a mess)

A ton?

No.

I can't even fathom how shitty the underground garage complex is going to be in this watered-down version.