Protothea might not be terrible
by Eric Caoili 
{ May 10th 2008 at 6:00PM }
Earlier this week, we shared with you videos from Ubisoft newly announced WiiWare title, Protöthea, and the game looked, at best, boring, at worst, awful. Seeing this trailer for the original 2005 PC game which the WiiWare release will be a remake of, however, has given us a new hope. This looks about a hojillion times more exciting than the clips IGN trotted out for us to preview!
Further improving our opinion of Protöthea, the original PC game was Cartoon Network's Project Goldmaster winner at the 2005 Independent Games Festival, rewarding developer Digital Builders an opportunity to create a game based on a Cartoon Network license. Knowing all this, maybe the screenshots in the gallery we've included below will seem more interesting to you.
Protöthea was supposed to launch with WiiWare, according to IGN, but we didn't see the title on the list posted earlier today, so who knows when the shmup will be thrown onto Nintendo's download service. While we wait around for someone to announce a release date, spend a moment to leave us a comment on whether or not this trailer has changed your opinion on the game.
Gallery: Protothea
[Via GoNintendo]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 10th 2008 6:12PM
Meh. I probably won't buy it.
Also, typing fast there, Eric Caoili? License is how they spell "lciense" and the title doesn't have the : above the o like it should. :P
meist3r @ May 11th 2008 6:49AM
And it said "realistic physic" too, if the trailer was handled with so much care what awaits us in the final game?
Eric Caoili @ May 10th 2008 6:35PM
whoops, patched that right up. as for the missing ö, those characters don't play well with our titles, even with proper accent entity codes.
Mr Khan @ May 10th 2008 6:52PM
Looks like another good shmup, but did anyone else get a distinct impression that that song was lifted wholesale from F-Zero GX?
Also, this one's been bugging me: Where's your avatar from, Eric? It's something i know i've seen, but i can't place it
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 10th 2008 7:32PM
I don't notice the song, but they are independent.
Off-topic: Will you add me on MKWii, Mr Khan? I need your FC though. :)
Mr Khan @ May 10th 2008 8:17PM
I know, i saw you on GameNight thursday, but i was engrossed in a game with others
3480 2946 9724
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 10th 2008 10:02PM
Yea, I try my best to make it in Game Night(sometimes I come early), but I had a little homework(SOL week M - F :( ).
Thank god it'll be summer in 7 weeks!
TheOverlord#2 can has Mario Karts?(MK:2578-3517-9859) @ May 10th 2008 10:07PM
Also, i'm surprised that our FCs don't share the same first 7 letters. xP
Waffala @ May 11th 2008 1:50AM
It looks like it plays like a shmup version of Geometry Wars, but a bit slower and less pretty.
meist3r @ May 11th 2008 6:56AM
This is the same ga-meh we saw and yawned about. This is a typical example of how pumping music and fast cuts can make something bland look terrific. The game looks average at best and the "amazing effects" advertised is merely the same sprite explosion stitched together a dozen times. Blinking projectiles and multiple enemies at once ... I feel so 1990s. For a Wiiware game this is not too bad but if I see how good Rez HD or Audiosurf looks I get a little nervous. Right now we get a ton of Wii games that look pretty badly because the devs think no quality standards need to be applied because it's not "current gen" hardware. If the Wiiware devs start making even less demanding games because they assume "last gen + DLC + little filesize = shitgfx" then I can see a bunch of butt ugly games coming our way. At least Lost Winds still looks good.
Mr Khan @ May 11th 2008 12:17PM
It seems to me that 3rd parties have been putting more effort into their WiiWare offerings than their retail fare
meist3r @ May 11th 2008 12:32PM
Well to big companies like Ubisoft Wiiware is just another mandatory segment they go into because of their portfolio. Small third parties on the other hand see the chance of making themselves a name and therefore shell out much better ideas and really put effort behind them to be the best games they can be. I'd rather have one brilliant small dev making a few bucks than Ubisoft making some more.