Point/Counterpoint: Pros and Conduits

by JC Fletcher { Aug 15th 2008 at 1:44PM }

High Voltage Software's The Conduit has built up a high-density hype field since the company unveiled it, mostly due to some very enthusiastic words by Chief Creative Officer Eric Hofsinger. Add some nice-looking preview footage and the general frothing desire from Wii fans for the kind of games seen on the other systems (the kind in which players see from the perspective of a large man who shoots guns at aliens), and The Conduit is something that has fanboy eyes lighting up all over the place.

But is it worth all the hype? Are we putting some game on a pedestal, or are we all justified in counting the unspecified number of days until the Q1 2009 release? To explore that question, two Wii Fanboy bloggers have entered into pitched word combat.

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Gallery: The Conduit

Tags: fps, high-voltage, joystiqfeatures, the-conduit

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

meist3r @ Aug 15th 2008 1:57PM

Is it just me or are these buttons WAY to ugly?! The whole site here is really neat looking and then you put in huge fugly grey boxes? Please have someone make some graphics for this or at least use some CSS or such to style them.

As for Conduit I think it will be a great game and given the number of attractive titles for 25yr old males like me I'm going to buy this if only for the fact that it's one of the few actually interesting games on the platform.

David Hinkle @ Aug 15th 2008 2:02PM

Actually, the buttons are CSS. And they're made to match our scheme. We could maybe try a white background on them, but then they don't stand out as much. We used a different method before, as evidenced here:

http://nintendo.joystiq.com/category/point-counterpoint

But, the problem with that old system is the buttons were too tiny and nobody knew how to navigate through the feature. This way is much easier.

Thanks for the input! We'll see if we can't come up with something a bit more pleasing to the eyes.

meist3r @ Aug 15th 2008 2:35PM

@David: Well is this what it is supposed to look like?

http://i35.tinypic.com/2q1ywid.jpg

I'm using Firefox 3 and to me the next button is just a huge ugly grey box. If I take a look at the rest of the site I would simply expect something that looks like the "Search" button on the top right of the page or something like the logo, you know, rounded with a white-ish gradient fill. I would definitely go for the Search button design with the words, ">" and Comments on it.

This would fit nicely into the design and still be distinguishable.

meist3r @ Aug 15th 2008 2:44PM

This is completely off-topic: Is there any reason I can post comments with my auto generated password but not log-in to my profile? I've been trying to change it for a while but it just won't let me into the darned thing. I can post comments on all Weblogs Inc. sites but not log into my profile. I tried writing to several addresses to get someone to reset it for me so I can access my profile but to no avail.

TheOverlord#2 can has Animals Crossing? @ Aug 15th 2008 10:01PM

Click on one of your comments from a Joystiq post so that the white bar has the Joystiq logo on it and try to log in there. You usually have to do that to open your profile.
If you have tried all ready, sorry!

meist3r @ Aug 16th 2008 5:48AM

@Overlord: Yeah thanks but I tried that. I know that I have to access my profile through one of my posts but the system assigned me a password some time ago when I wrote a post w/o my login and I use that to write comments but whenever I try to enter it into the profile log-in it says "wrong password".

SyN DracuL @ Aug 15th 2008 2:05PM

I am by no means, a fan of FPS games...
however, the Conduit seems like it may change that...I think it's gonna be a rent before I buy type of think, but I am honestly excited about it.

Mr Khan @ Aug 15th 2008 2:08PM

1. I agree on the button thing. It's incongruous to the neat artistic theme of the site

2. Both sides have valid points, but i ultimately feel that the game deserves its support and its hype, if only purely for its technical achievements in graphical excellence and the fact that it will be the first online competitive multiplayer Wii game to use voice chat

The Conduit is kind of like the antithesis to No More Heroes. Where NMH failed, and failed hard, was in its polygon count and the overall level of polish, especially on the overworld, and this is where The Conduit succeeds. Meanwhile, by the developer's own admission, The Conduit is a jumble of everything good that's been done before in an FPS, while NMH was a thing of beauty from a thematic standpoint

Chris makes an excellent point, however, in that the only reason this game is at all significant is because it's on Wii, where there are only two other efforts that compare to it: Metroid Prime 3 and MoH:H2, and it combines the better ideas of both games. The Conduit is something very unique for someone like me, who only has a Wii and a DS, but to any multiplatform owner, this game is "been there, done that" to a very extreme degree

But, for the technical effort alone, it deserves recognition by anyone who wants to see better 3rd party technical efforts on the platform

Metal_Link @ Aug 15th 2008 2:14PM

I have no opinion. Yet.

The game does look promising in that it takes from Half-Life and Metroid and such. But I also don't have quite enough info on the game yet. So you'll get no opinion from me just yet.

I am looking forward to it however, as it will have some online modes. Though I'm also looking forward to the next MoH:Heroes 2 for online play. I haven't picked it up yet because I know the next version is around the corner and I may as well just wait for that one. Or Call of Duty; I'd actually love to have that instead but I'm just using MoH as an example.

James Madley @ Aug 15th 2008 2:28PM

MoH didn't have online. Remember they had it in the manual but not on the box or in the game?

Oh wait, that was Australia...

High Voltage, please don't go with EA as a publisher.

Hammy Wammy @ Aug 15th 2008 2:36PM

I can't wait for this game. I got so excited that I just recently MoH Heros2. On-line rocks!!!

nastysquar3d @ Aug 15th 2008 2:44PM

I think that it does deserve the hype simply because it's a game that is trying to disprove a lot of "Wii Stereotypes" namely, it has to have bad graphics and it's only for kiddie / mini games.

High Voltage seems excited and dedicated to make this better than the average crap game that gets released on the system, so in turn I'll put a little faith in them and be excited too.

Nigeria @ Aug 15th 2008 2:50PM

I'm completely burnt out from the FPS genre having spent four years primarily with that genre with the original Xbox, so I guess the apathy I feel towards this game must stem from the apathy from the genre. But I did have fun times, but even in those fun times this game would not have taken my interest. It just looks mediocre, like Chris says, and satisfied in its mediocrity. The game has a whole Brute Force vibe about it. It wasn't a FPS but it got extraordinary hype and was thoroughly underwhelming.

Also, for a Wii game to lack multiplayer splitscreen – something Halo CE had in 2002 – is rather disappointing. Nintendo Wi-Fi, at times, can be a very cold experience.Nothing beats sitting next to someone, or amongst a group, playing Mario Kart or Umbrella Chronicles. Once I read that The Conduit lacked this elementary feature the little interest I had dwindled down to nought.

Dan @ Aug 15th 2008 3:57PM

I think Halo 3 was overhyped. Most FPSs are. There hasn't been an innovation with this genre for years.

... except that the Conduit offers one thing: the Wii-mote.

This is a big step for gaming. Only thing that comes close is Metroid Prime 3.

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Aug 15th 2008 3:59PM

Ugh. "First Person Adventure" is marketing/PR tripe. Metroid Prime is a First Person Shooter with heavy exploration elements. Things get shot in first person. FPS.

Fullmetal Salchemist @ Aug 15th 2008 4:01PM

Oh, also, yes: overhyped.

Mr Khan @ Aug 15th 2008 5:04PM

I agree. Despite efforts to classify MP3 as an Adventure game (IGN gave it the "Adventure Game of the Year" Award last year), if it's in the first person and you shoot stuff, it's an FPS. The focus on exploration doesn't change that

manyquestions @ Aug 15th 2008 10:53PM

True, but lets pretend for a minute we live in a world where the label "FPS" does not exist. All the games we know as FPSs are classified into separate genres of "shooters in general" or "action games", etc. Then what is Prime? An action/adventure. Now, come back to the real world where the label "FPS" does exist. Prime, the game, hasn't changed at all between our realities and we can still not that it has very heavy action/adventure influence. But it is also an FPS at the same time. Surely neither of these genres is necessarily superior to the other, neither one "overrides" the other in terms of where to classify it. So, the logical conclusion is that the Prime series "falls through the cracks" in our genre system and is treated as a multi-genre game. It is both an FPS and an action/adventure at the same time. It's only natural that one would eventually simplify such a phrase to "first person adventure". Even if that's not what the rest of the world means when they use the term, that's how I see it.

sn1per @ Aug 15th 2008 4:10PM

I'm right in the middle of these two opinions. My main reason for getting a Wii over a 360 or ps3 was because the Wii was the only system of the three that had a significant amount of non-FPS games (I can play almost all the good ps3/360 FPSs on PC). However, I'm pretty excited to see how the new control scheme works out, as I haven't played MP3:C or MOH:H2 yet. If The Conduit used a traditional control scheme (GC/Classic Controller), I'd probably avoid buying it.

Matisyahu Serious @ Aug 15th 2008 4:15PM

as a person who cut his fps teeth (figuratively) on doom and quake, and who mostly bought a wii for his kids and wife, but who has also been enjoying the hell out of it - i'm actually pumped for this game.

i've bought precisely three consoles in my life: genesis, dreamcast, and a wii, as i've been primarily a pc gamer. the increasingly obtuse and complex button mashing required for modern console games has been a real turn off and when the wii came about, i saw something interactive and fun which doesn't require a carpal-inducing combo of button presses to master. this game, the conduit, seems to embody precisely what i enjoy out of both of my gaming desires, so i'm all sorts of on board.

samfish @ Aug 15th 2008 4:42PM

I have no desire to play any first person style games, The Conduit included.
They just don't do anything for me.

Hamster @ Aug 15th 2008 5:22PM

Even though I am very much looking forward to The Conduit and hope it's really good and sells really well, I agree with Chris that were this game on any other console, people wouldn't think it was very special. It's only because the Wii is so starved of quality third-party games that we're so excited about it and that's quite sad. As I say, I really hope it turns out great, but I can't help but feel we may all be cluthing at straws.