Gallant Pig

With last generation, we some each console get a fair amount of non-1st party exclusives. Most notable was the GTA series. With GTA going to PS3 and 360 on the same day this upcoming generation, and the consoles being pretty similar in terms of being multi-processor oriented, I really have to think that software makers will put everything on the 360 and the PS3.

Of course the Wii will get exclusive stuff because of the controller, and miss out on other titles because the guts are different than the PS3/360.

So ultimately I think we'll see companies putting stuff on the 360/PS3 as one bloc and then the Wii as another bloc. Since people will be more likely to own a PS3 or a 360 but not both given the price points, this makes even more sense.

I can totally see a 33% split of marketshare this time.

darkside

As expensive as development will be for 360 and PS3 games I can see lots of developers wanting to support both to sell as many copies as possible. Wii will obviously require all games to be exclusive to the hardware, but that kind of thinking has worked well on the DS so we will see the kind of support it gets.

I honestly expect to see close to an even split in the US. However, Microsoft has no chance to grab a large percentage in Japan. They will just not embrace it there. I think a 33.3% share would be a disaster for Sony if it somehow works out that way worldwide.

Supermallet

The Wii can support traditional gaming, so I would imagine we will see a small amount of titles be on all three, it just won't look as good on a Wii. At the same time, games that will be on the other systems (a la Madden) might play differently on the Wii.

Raul3

Companies are expending a lot of money creating the games. They will want to get the more from those games. So expect the same game to be available for all the consoles. I see games appearing in PS3, PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, GBA, etc.

Outlaw

This is nitpicking but what your talking about is multi-console games. A crossover is something like how they put Solid Snake in Super Smash Brothers Wii (sorta), but a more traditional one is something likew x-men vs street fighter.

Josh H

Yeah, have to agree with the original post. Most big games will be on the PS3 and 360.

The Wii will probably get left out on ports because of the controller, but on the plus side will get more exclusives that can't be done on the other consoles.

darkside

I honestly think this was a reason Nintendo went so different with the DS and Wii. They did not benefit from PS2 ports and wanted everything for their consoles to be unique in some way from the competition.

Gallant Pig

I agree with both of you guys.

I guess it's possible we'll see companies recycle their GCN code for Wii for ports and then laze out with the paddle support, but hopefully this won't happen very often.

Centurion

This is nitpicking too...
"your" should have been "you're" as in "you are".

maxfisher

Will the Wii get left out on ports? Even without any added funtionality, you'd be able to play them with the Wavebird or, presumably, the virtual console controller. I know they won't look as good as the PS3 or 360 versions, but I'm guess we at least see some of this, as publishers try to determine if there's a market segment of Wii-only gamers.

Josh H

The Gamecube has gotten left out on a ton of ports, and it's more powerful than the PS2 and not much under the X-box in terms of comparing graphics.

So no reason not to expect more of the same with the Wii, with it being underpowered compared to the 360 and PS3 and having the different controller.

maxfisher

Were there that many this generation? I'm trying to think of games that only appeared on 2 systems and am coming up with Beyond Good & Evil (GC & PS2), Killer 7 (GC & PS2), Resident Evil 4 (GC & PS2), Psychonauts (PS2 & Xbox) and the Grand Theft Autos (PS2 & Xbox). I'm not saying there weren't a lot more, but out of the multi-console games I was interested in, it seems like GC was an option a lot of the time.

Anyway, I don't think we'll see increased support as far as multi-console games, but I'd be surprised if it dropped off entirely. I think we'll see quite a few straight ports that don't make special use of the Wii's controller. Granted, there'll probably be about no reason to buy them over the PS3 or 360 versions, except for those that only pick up a Wii.

Josh H

There were some FPSs that were only on the PS2 and X-box I believe, and a lot of sports games. The 2K series got dropped from the gamecube after year or two.

Seems like there are more.

And I agree we will still get some. And I honestly don't give a shit as I could count on one hand the number of cross platform (non-sports anyway) games that I though were worth a damn last generation.

Drexl

In addition to obvious things like lower polygon counts, simpler lighting models, etc., one thing I think they could do is develop multiplatform games in a modular way, and leave out effects the Wii couldn't handle. For example, something like the "sweat engine" in a boxing game, or the "light bloom" could just be left out entirely in the Wii version. (Hmmm, maybe not having LB wouldn't be a bad thing, just ask The Bus ) Some of the things you might turn off in a PC game to get it to run better on a less powerful video card would just not be there.