Namco looking into Wii-arcade linking
Namco Bandai seems to have come up with a solution to their problem of (possibly) Wii-fueled arcade downturn: involving the Wii in the arcade. According to a very sad Asahi Shimbun report about closing arcades, Namco is now planning games that will allow data to be shared between the cabinet and the Wii -- we assume by Wii Remote data transfer.Home/arcade integration from Namco is not terribly surprising, since Tekken 5 actually has PlayStation 2 controller ports on the cabinet. No, the really interesting thing about this story is trying to figure out what Namco Bandai is going to design for play on both the Wii and in the arcade.
The news article is pretty interesting in other ways, as well: it goes into possible reasons for arcade business slowdown other than the Wii ... like the economy.
[Via IGN]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jbrun85 @ Mar 22nd 2008 3:13PM
they could do transfers with SD card
SoshiKitai @ Mar 22nd 2008 3:25PM
I remember when they made those arcades that accepted memory cards...
...sadly, no one cared to try it. :/
Let's hope this idea works.
Mr Khan @ Mar 22nd 2008 3:51PM
You get shame for not mentioning the ultimate arcade crossover from recent memory (even though its not Namco): F-Zero GX/AX
Greg2k @ Mar 23rd 2008 9:28AM
Actually, it kinda was Namco, in a way. Nintendo, Sega and Namco designed the Triforce arcade board, which was essentially a Gamecube with a GD-ROM drive hooked up to a gaming cabinet. You could share games between F-Zero AX and GX, although as you point out, Namco wasn't an integral part of this cross-platform support.
Unbreakable_idea @ Mar 22nd 2008 4:19PM
"Namco looking into Wii-arcade linking"
How about they look into porting Soul Caliber 4 to the Wii so I won't have to spend every waking moment cursing them for dropping the big steaming pile that was Soul Caliber Legends on us instead.
CJLopez @ Mar 24th 2008 4:44PM
How about some Time Crisis in the middle huh? Wii want Time Crisis!!!!!!!!!
Jhongerkong @ Mar 22nd 2008 4:55PM
Man, I wish arcades were still around. I have to go to a freaking movie theatre for some Street Fighter.
Maxx the Slash @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:11PM
That's what Namco-Bandai get's for screwing Nintendo over after Soul Calibur II. A mediocre Soul Calibur action game is all we get? Sony and Microsoft get fighting games and we get ****?
Croove55 @ Mar 23rd 2008 8:59PM
... I'm guessing you meant to say Soul Caliber Legends, because SCII for the cube was a work of greatness.
GamerJunkie @ Mar 22nd 2008 7:45PM
How about demanding Nintendo for releasing a more capable Wii that is as powerful as the 360.
Have you noticed why all the Wii gets mediocre ports because the hardware can keep up with the rest?
Tom @ Mar 22nd 2008 10:15PM
The Wii can push out some damn good graphics (See Super Mario Galaxy, Corruption, Sky Crawlers, No More Heroes, Okami) It's just that almost all of the 3rd party devs are too lazy to make new graphics engines that fit the wii, so they just port over some crappy PS2 gaphics cuz the Wii can easily handle those.
Pertaining to the topic at hand...I don't care. It wouldn't make me run out to an arcade to play their to get God knows what, unless it were a special character/level/etc.