Interplay bringing Descent to WiiWare

By Tom Bramwell Published 16 April, 2010

Due out this autumn.

Interplay has announced plans to release classic PC shooter Descent on WiiWare this autumn.

"Descent remains the most popular 1080-degree 3D blasting game. Translating its 3D worlds and gameplay to WiiWare is an exciting move", said Herve Caen, CEO of Interplay.

The port will be developed by G1M2, whose founder Scott Hawkins said: "Descent will pair perfectly with the motion-sensing Wii Remote controller and we can't wait to show players how intuitive the gameplay and control can be."

Descent, not to be confused with those horror films about women who get stuck in a cave, was a shooter in which you piloted a ship around mines grappling with six degrees of freedom - i.e. the ability to move up, down, left, right, backward and forward.

This was quite challenging on the PC keyboard, although easier with two joysticks apparently (never tried that).

It's not clear how exactly the Wii controls will work from G1M2's description, but hopefully it will be a bit simpler to keep track of your orientation.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Masaroth #1 2 years ago

    Loved the first two descents when they were first out and would be rather kl to play them again. Hopefully they increase the res and maybe poly count though as playing in the orginal graphics on a large hd tv might be quite bad.

    Edit: Spelling
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/10 @ 09:05

  • Doctor_What #2 2 years ago

    Oo... That sounds intriguing. I finished the first one on the PC when it came out. I'm not sure how well that would work with the floaty motion controller, but it'll be interesting to see them try. Good luck to the team.

  • macmurphy #3 2 years ago

    I had Forsaken on the N64 - I loved it, and thought it was criminally underrated and would have made a great fourplayer game. You could deathmatch against bots and it was still great, cracking graphics and fond memories of firing the Titan (nuke) into a room full of enemies. The only trouble is, the reason it never did make a good fourplayer game or sell that well was because it was hard to learn the controls, so people would get bored after five minutes and go back to goldeneye.

    Great game, great possibilities but on a console known for a lack of hardcore games fans I'm pretty sure this will sink without trace regardless of how good it is. Probably still pick a copy up and whine at my mates to play though, and if it's a patch on Forsaken I'd recommend it to anyone.

  • Ranger101 #4 2 years ago

    Hmmm...... Descent is 15 years old... Surely the port would be more appropriate on the DS than the Wii. Even in hi-res SVGA, the game wasn't fantastically good looking. Still, had a blast playing the shareware version in the early 90's.

  • Spuzzell #5 2 years ago

    Descent made me ill. I'm clearly not evolved enough to be allowed to play 1080 degree games. Still, good news!

    I'll stay outside with my tyre on a rope while Descents being played at my house.
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/10 @ 09:38

  • Meho #6 2 years ago

    There is a hi-res textures mod out there, floating around the Internets. Played it again last year and it's still awesome.

  • Masaroth #7 2 years ago

    @Meho
    Sounds intresting might have to check that out, do you know wether it supports widescreen moniters?

  • erp #8 2 years ago

    This is brilliant news!! I have very fond memories of playing the original co-op on my friend's LAN... The joint dash to escape upon triggering the destruction of a mine was always heart-stoppingly spectacular!

    Will buy.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #9 2 years ago

    Never played Descent - I had Forsaken on the N64 though and as already mentioned it was underrated. The game was really, really good, both from a technical perspective as well as the gameplay. Hopefully Descent on WiiWare won't disappoint.

  • spekkeh #10 2 years ago

    Hmm not too sure about this. I think Descent was so cool because it was the first game to really do 3D (well I guess Elite and X-wing already did it, but I mean in enclosed spaces). Felt very immersive back in the days. But then, we're quite accustomed to 3D now. Forsaken was of course a much better game, this would feel like a step back.

  • swissorc #11 2 years ago

    @ macmurphy

    I loved the forsaken such a good game! I too brough up memories of it when i herd this. additionally, anyone remember terminal velocity on the pc.

  • hazelam #12 2 years ago

    i always got lost in that bloody game.
    i can handle a 2d map but a fully 4d game world where there's no up or down meant i was always getting lost.

  • dustrat #13 2 years ago

    Oooh, I hope they bring the same music the Mac-version had!

  • JACK_BURTON #14 2 years ago

    @ MacMurphy
    Forsaken was an awesome game. We used to play LAN matches on our PC's at that all the time.

  • GamesConnoisseur #15 2 years ago

    Descent is 15 years old and 3 consoles gen removed but my initial thought was, could Wii runs a reasonable good present day Descent remake?!

    Such is my low expectation of Wii that I should be slapped around, but honestly, good thing for having something historic like Descent which was way in advance of Doom's engine in term of what its could do.

    Another do want and more games like this please to remove dusts from Wii.

  • the_mtfr #16 2 years ago

    @ed, of course it was challenging on the keyboard, you were supposed to play it with the keyboard AND the mouse.

  • darleysam #17 2 years ago

    Well then. Provided it doesn't play like charbroiled ass, I may just have to buy this.

  • kangarootoo #18 2 years ago

    Descent was great, and also bloody confusing.


    @Ranger101

    It will get a makeover of some sort. They won't just port it cold (unless they are mental).

  • Acrid #19 2 years ago

    I really didn't like this game on PS1 I just couldn't gel with it..... but then I was just a dumb kid back then so I'm interested in seeing how this turns out.

  • neoman #20 2 years ago

    oh i want these for the 360! a xbla release would be awesome!

  • Arwin #21 2 years ago

    Ooh ... ooh ... I've been saying twice already on another forum that this game would be perfect for motion controls. I remember configuring the game to support my racing weel pedals to allow for additional input controls.

    My dream configuration for this game for now is a PS3 with two Move controllers! That would be just perfect!

    This is a good first step - hopefully they also support Motion+, and hopefully it's the beginning of a number of ports to the other platforms and maybe even a resurgence of this genre for modern motion sensing controls.

    G-Police is another example of a game that could work great with two move controllers by the way.
    Edited by 1 at 18/04/10 @ 16:36

  • Bloke1182 #22 2 years ago

    Arwin, you nailed it on the head. G-Police, now that's a franchise I'd love to see re-imagined. Or the old Amiga game "The Killing Cloud". Always was engaging and thrilling.