EA stop making games for Wii-U

ags_ruleags_rule Posts: 19,389
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22565945

Shocked this news hasn't been posted on the forum yet, this is a massive blow for Nintendo in the next-gen fight. Whatever your personal opinions on EA, they have some of the biggest, most profitable franchises in all of gaming.
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  • Jimmy_McNultyJimmy_McNulty Posts: 11,378
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    I think EA said last week or the week before that their current Frostbite engine didn't run very well on WiiU and the NG Frostbite engine ran even worse.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    Nintendo are hardly even mentioned in the next gen fight, it's all about MS and Sony at this point.
  • mred2000mred2000 Posts: 10,050
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    ags_rule wrote: »
    Shocked this news hasn't been posted on the forum yet...

    It's been discussed in a few Wii-U threads.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 107
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    I'm not a Nintendo fan (or hater for that matter too) but I struggled to see the point of the Wii U considering technical limitations.

    Whilst the move by EA won't affect their hardcore base fans, it means it'll be a harder sell to convince mainstream gamers to buy it, especially when the PS4 and new Xbox come out.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    I think EA said last week or the week before that their current Frostbite engine didn't run very well on WiiU and the NG Frostbite engine ran even worse.

    Which is an odd statement when you consider that the next Frostbite engine is being ported to mobile.

    If they can run it on mobile devices, then I'm pretty sure it can run a lot better on Wii U. It's not that they can't port it, they just don't want to.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    Which is an odd statement when you consider that the next Frostbite engine is being ported to mobile.

    If they can run it on mobile devices, then I'm pretty sure it can run a lot better on Wii U. It's not that they can't port it, they just don't want to.

    The mobile platform is "Frostbite Go" not "Frostbite 3". All EA have actually said is:
    One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms.

    I doubt very much it will have that much in common with Frostbite 3.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    Gormond wrote: »
    The mobile platform is "Frostbite Go" not "Frostbite 3". All EA have actually said is:


    Frostbite 3 is a very modular engine. The whole "Go" part just means that they turn off some features, and plug-in some mobile specific things like rendering, audio etc.
    Gormond wrote: »
    I doubt very much it will have that much in common with Frostbite 3.

    It uses the same editors and workflow, the same base code, and so it probably has a LOT in common with F3.
  • alternatealternate Posts: 8,110
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    It is less about the tech and more about the install base. They would find a way to put out titles if likely sales made it worth the investment but at the moment the platform is tanking.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    Frostbite 3 is a very modular engine. The whole "Go" part just means that they turn off some features, and plug-in some mobile specific things like rendering, audio etc.

    It uses the same editors and workflow, the same base code, and so it probably has a LOT in common with F3.
    Do you have a source for this or is this just speculation on your part?

    My thought is that Go would have more in common with Frostbite 2 than Frostbite 3.
  • mred2000mred2000 Posts: 10,050
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    Gormond wrote: »
    Do you have a source for this or is this just speculation on your part?

    My thought is that Go would have more in common with Frostbite 2 than Frostbite 3.

    He's a coder in the industry so probably has first or second-hand experience of it.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    mred2000 wrote: »
    He's a coder in the industry so probably has first or second-hand experience of it.

    It's not available for developers to use yet, so unless he works for EA in the department making it then I doubt it.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,743
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    Shouldn't he be using the term codebase instead of 'base code' then :P
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    chopoff wrote: »
    Shouldn't he be using the term codebase instead of 'base code' then :P
    • codebase = entire source archive for an engine or game.
    • base code = key libraries such as platform layer, data driven systems, math libraries, file system and that sort of thing. All the graphics code, gameplay code, audio code, networking code and other higher level parts, use these sorts of libraries.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    Gormond wrote: »
    It's not available for developers to use yet, so unless he works for EA in the department making it then I doubt it.

    You're right, I haven't seen any of the code. I've just been exposed to certain things, that's all. I can't be any more specific than that, sorry. So I expect you to be extremely skeptical and to assume that I'm full of crap.

    Which is fine.
    My thought is that Go would have more in common with Frostbite 2 than Frostbite 3.

    You'd think that, wouldn't you? It seems like a natural thing to do; to target pretty weak hardware using the old tech, but Frostbite 2 doesn't fit to well to that either.

    One of the key features of FB3 is it's scalability, which is including but not limited to how, it handles having multiple CPU cores. Think of how important that is when you have a whole range of phones on the market these days, even from Apple, that have a varying number of CPU cores.

    So on mobile, FB3 makes the better choice as the whole idea behind the engine is that it can scale according to the system it's run on.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,743
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    I work with two software development teams (though, I don't develop) and I have never heard anyone use base code. They use, and I've seen others elsewhere use, codebase for both of those definitions.

    Maybe they're all noobs.
  • GormondGormond Posts: 15,838
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    BinaryDad wrote: »
    You're right, I haven't seen any of the code. I've just been exposed to certain things, that's all. I can't be any more specific than that, sorry. So I expect you to be extremely skeptical and to assume that I'm full of crap.

    Which is fine.

    You'd think that, wouldn't you? It seems like a natural thing to do; to target pretty weak hardware using the old tech, but Frostbite 2 doesn't fit to well to that either.

    One of the key features of FB3 is it's scalability, which is including but not limited to how, it handles having multiple CPU cores. Think of how important that is when you have a whole range of phones on the market these days, even from Apple, that have a varying number of CPU cores.

    So on mobile, FB3 makes the better choice as the whole idea behind the engine is that it can scale according to the system it's run on.

    So we're EA just lieing when they said the FB3 won't run on the Wii U? It just seems an odd thing to do rather than saying its a financial reason.

    If it is indeed FB3 that's impressive though and I look forward to playing the games like Battlefield and Mass Effect on my iPad.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    Gormond wrote: »
    So we're EA just lieing when they said the FB3 won't run on the Wii U? It just seems an odd thing to do rather than saying its a financial reason.

    In a word; yes. Don't get me wrong, FB3 on the Wii U wouldn't stand up to FB3 on the next gen hardware from MS and Sony.

    It's a business decision, nothing more. And that's ok. I just don't like the way EA have gone about this, and it'll be interesting to see how they interact with the guys from Nintendo at EA's E3 press event.
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    chopoff wrote: »
    I work with two software development teams (though, I don't develop) and I have never heard anyone use base code. They use, and I've seen others elsewhere use, codebase for both of those definitions.

    Maybe they're all noobs.

    Maybe they just use different terminology. It's not unheard of. Or maybe I'm just yanking everybody's chain and couldn't tell an inverse matrix from a transpose matrix.
  • gdjman68wasdigigdjman68wasdigi Posts: 21,705
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    its no great loss, fifa 11, fifa 12, fifa 13, fifa 14, whats the difference, it can just be played on 360
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,743
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    its no great loss, fifa 11, fifa 12, fifa 13, fifa 14, whats the difference, it can just be played on 360
    Which is exactly the problem.
  • Jimmy_McNultyJimmy_McNulty Posts: 11,378
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    its no great loss, fifa 11, fifa 12, fifa 13, fifa 14, whats the difference, it can just be played on 360

    Not everyone can afford multiple consoles.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,813
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    Not everyone can afford multiple consoles.

    If in the past what 6/7 years you haven't been able to afford two £300 consoles, they you probably have far bigger problems than being able to play fifa on a WiiU
  • BinaryDadBinaryDad Posts: 3,988
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    thomas2400 wrote: »
    If in the past what 6/7 years you haven't been able to afford two £300 consoles, they you probably have far bigger problems than being able to play fifa on a WiiU

    Yeah, it's called a wife & kids.
  • mred2000mred2000 Posts: 10,050
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    thomas2400 wrote: »
    If in the past what 6/7 years you haven't been able to afford two £300 consoles, they you probably have far bigger problems than being able to play fifa on a WiiU

    Don't you still live at home with your folks?
    BinaryDad wrote: »
    Yeah, it's called a wife & kids.

    Well said.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,743
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    thomas2400 wrote: »
    If in the past what 6/7 years you haven't been able to afford two £300 consoles, they you probably have far bigger problems than being able to play fifa on a WiiU
    Well it's took less than 6 months to get the WiiU down to £150 so no need to save up £300 :P
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