EA releases titles to capitalize on Wii success

[Hum]

When the Nintendo Gamecube settled into third place during the previous console generation, many publishers shifted their efforts to the vastly more popular ? and profitable ? PlayStation 2 and Xbox. But the surprise success of the Wii, which just crossed the five million sales mark (faster than any other console in video game history), has publishers scrambling to get their games back on Nintendo's mass-market machine. Unfortunately, this has led to a lot of catalog mining.

Previous-gen PS2 and Xbox games like Ubisoft's "Blazing Angels" and "Prince of Persia" were gussied up with Wii Remote controls and then shoved out the door to capitalize on the system's momentum.

After Ubisoft, Electronic Arts is the next major third-party developer to redirect resources to the Wii. Not only has the gaming giant set up Wii-dedicated development teams, but within the last month, EA has released no fewer than three Wii titles: "SSX Blur," "The Godfather: Blackhand Edition," and "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07."

All three $50 games are based on previous PS2 releases, but feature varying degrees of new Wii-centric features. While "Tiger Woods" is pretty much just the PS2 game with the golf swing mapped to the Wii Remote, "SSX Blur" shares only the architecture of previous releases in the franchise ? the art style and controls are brand new.

EA's sudden dedication to the Nintendo Wii should be encouraging for owners of the new machine. A wealth or dearth of support from the world's largest third-party publisher can have a huge effect on a console's success. EA's sports games helped the Sega Genesis wrestle half of the market from Nintendo, but a lack of Madden and other EA properties helped bury the Dreamcast before its time.

full review

[Brian M. Veteran]

good news

its getting hard to find games that i like and/or havent got :(

[rajputwarrior]

wii needs good games, not quick ports, seriously, i haven't played my wii in like 2 months. Paper Mario is going to change that though

[suspiria]

Awesome. SSX Blur is fantastic, though very difficult.

Madden would be a blast on Wii.

[whYeNQue]

isnt madden already on the wii?

[+StevoFC MVC]

isnt madden already on the wii?

yeah it is.