Company News Bioware wants to make more RPGs...

[Vault Dweller]

Tags: BioWare

... for handhelds. Apparently nobody wants to buy Baldur's Gate 3 or Knights of the Old Republic 3 for PC, so Bio is <a href=http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=10887>looking at the handheld market</a>:
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<blockquote>BioWare sent out a survey to its community members asking a couple of questions regarding development of Nintendo DS RPGs. Two questions were:
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"Would you buy a handheld system specifically to play an RPG based on Baldur's Gate, Star Wars :KOTOR or Neverwinter Nights?"
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"Would you buy a handheld RPG based on classic BioWare series such as Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: KOTOR or Neverwinter Nights?"</blockquote>Awesome!
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[FrancoTAU]

Eh... while I wish they'd focus their attentions elsewhere, the handheld games require a whole hell of a lot less resources than a console or PC game. It's not like the same manpower, time and money for one handheld game could be used to make one "real" game.

Who knows, since they can't possibly spend that much on graphics than maybe they'll do something with gameplay.

 

[Keldryn]

Yes, because all true gamers are blindly loyal to a single platform. It's not like making an RPG for a handheld system excludes them from making any PC RPGs. Does Bioware actually possess the license to Baldur's Gate? I know that Interplay owned the rights to the license, but perhaps Bioware purchased that asset when Interplay liquidated. Or maybe it reverted to Atari, as the hold the general D&D electronic license.

There aren't many decent portable RPGs out there, and I would certainly welcome a good Bioware RPG on a handheld. Preferably the DS, although I only own a GBA at the present.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Yes, because all true gamers are blindly loyal to a single platform. It's not like making an RPG for a handheld system excludes them from making any PC RPGs.

Of course not. Everyone knows that employees work for free and managing 10 teams is as easy as managing 5.

Btw, that's exactly what Bethesda said "it's not like focusing on graphics and soil erosion excludes us from making a decent RPG. Duh!"

Does Bioware actually possess the license to Baldur's Gate?

Atari's been selling assets and IPs like crazy lately. Who knows?

I know that Interplay owned the rights to the license...

Interplay lost the license when Herve decided to bet on a console DnD BG game. He paid for the console DnD license and lost the PC one, despite the fact that BG3 was in development. It's a long and sad story of greed and stupidity.

 

[suibhne]

I have no problems with this. Even an A-list DS title might offer more return on investment than an A-list PC title, and I'm all for seeing better RPGs on the DS or Wii (but screw the other consoles :wink: ). To me, the question is whether they'll actually be good RPGs, not whether this is something worth doing.

The other thing that occurs to me is that you could do console (think DS) versions of PC RPGs like Dragon Age and reuse much or all of the design and writing, even tho you'll be building it on a totally different engine than the PC version's.

 

[Volourn]

Meh. I don't care for handhelds. But, doomsayers will use this as 'proof' that they're getting away from PCs. I say nonsense. It's called expanding. Dumbasses.

As far as I know, Atari owns the BG IP.

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

Wonder if the games will be turn based if they develop for handhelds.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Meh. I don't care for handhelds. But, doomsayers will use this as 'proof' that they're getting away from PCs. I say nonsense. It's called expanding. Dumbasses.

I bet that's what Interplay thought when it expanded out of business.

As far as I know, Atari owns the BG IP.

They sold a shitload of stuff recently.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=18820

 

[Volourn]

"I bet that's what Interplay thought when it expanded out of business."

Bioware isn't Interplay. Not to mention, Interplay didn't expand. They imploded. BIO has expanded. BIG difference.


"They sold a shitload of stuff recently."

Nothing written there states that they should the BG license so my statement stands. You wasted a link.

 

[whitemithrandir]

Are handheld games selling well? Is there really a strong market for handheld software?

 

[suibhne]

Are handheld games selling well? Is there really a strong market for handheld software?

Yes. Production costs are relatively low and the market is much larger than most people think - even in the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the profit margin on an average handheld project is far greater than on an average PC title. (Actually, I'd be surprised if that weren't true right now. But I'm also way too lazy to hunt down some figures to back up my supposition. :wink: )

 

[Voss]

They could be just using BG for name recognition. The, 'We're going to make a game like *this*, except, not' ploy.

Note the clever use of phrases like 'based on' and 'such as'

 

[Slylandro]

Probably. They threw out BG's name a lot too when NWN was in development even though the games had little in common.

 

[Country_Gravy]

why doesn't anyone make good RPGs for the PSP? All the RPGs on the PSP are crap.

On second thought, why doesn't anyone make good RPGs for anything anymore? WTF happened?

 

[Goliath]

On second thought, why doesn't anyone make good RPGs for anything anymore? WTF happened?

Video gaming became mainstream.

 

[errorcode]

expanding into handhelds makes complete sense. The handheld market is growing rapidly, with MS, Sony, Nintendo, and numerous other smaller companies all trying to roll out the "mostest perfect handheld evah!!11"

That equates to a lot of publishers with money being put aside for handheld projects and/or looking for linked deals with PC/Conolse projects.

Bioware testing the waters regarding handhelds is just smart business.

 

[Shagnak]

At least if its on the DS, it is more likely to be turn based

 

[DemonKing]

Can't say I've played many hand-held games since the original Donkey Kong and the occassional game of parachute or Solitaire on my Ipod.

Maybe if I had to travel more on public transportation I'd be interested but in my current position I have to drive to work due to the crappy public transport facilities in the area I work.

When I'm home I can't see me picking up a handheld over my PC.

 

[Paranoid Jack]

Can't say I've played many hand-held games since the original Donkey Kong and the occassional game of parachute or Solitaire on my Ipod.

Maybe if I had to travel more on public transportation I'd be interested but in my current position I have to drive to work due to the crappy public transport facilities in the area I work.

When I'm home I can't see me picking up a handheld over my PC.

Ditto, I haven't played a hand-held since the original Game-Boy when I was in the military and baby-sitting (working on) airplanes. With all that down time you had to be into reading thick books, playing video games, and taking quick cat-naps otherwise your brain would turn to jello and ooze out of your ears.

I'm picking up a smart phone in a couple weeks which has Windows Mobile 5.0 and does it all including games. But if I had a hand-held gaming device I would most likely get less work done and eventually fall under the watchful eye of management (which I call the 4th Reich). Any attention is bad attention in my line of work. Not to mention the global positioning on our vans is monitored in real-time so Big Brother can and is watching at all times.

But I am all for any good RPG no matter what the platform as long as it "raises the bar" over all.

 

[[Jez]]

This is nothing but hopeful for me, the biggest RPG for the DS is FFIII and would give me something to look forward to on it, that and Phoenix Wright 2

 

[Jasede]

What do you mean, FF 3? The orginal ancient NES game that was never released in the US? With the many classes? Where you could actually decide what kind of party you'd use?

Awesome.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

On the DS, all you're missing out on is fancy graphics and shitty clickclickclick combat. Plot, character and everything else works fine - for instance, phoenix wright is the best adventure game on any platforum in recent years, and that's on the DS.

Oh, and didn't I post about this news weeks ago?

 

[whitemithrandir]

It just seems like handhelds are a pretty narrow market right now. Everyone pretty much has a computer nowadays and a good percentage of that might even own a console. I dunno, it seems like I can't find a time of day when I'd be without a computer but finding myself with the urge to go kill kobolds on my cell phone.

 

[Mr. Teatime]

It just seems like handhelds are a pretty narrow market right now. Everyone pretty much has a computer nowadays and a good percentage of that might even own a console. I dunno, it seems like I can't find a time of day when I'd be without a computer but finding myself with the urge to go kill kobolds on my cell phone.

The DS has a massive userbase. More DSs are sold than any of the new consoles, I'm pretty sure. The GBA basically kept Nintendo afloat because of its massive popularity, when the gamecube wasn't selling that well.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Fallouts dialog screen would work great on teh DS. Talking heads on the top and dialogs on the bottom to select with the touch screen. Everything else, I dunno.