Oblivion 'not possible' on Wii

By Tom Bramwell Published 20 March, 2007

But Bethesda's keen on the kit.

Bethesda's Pete Hines has admitted that it's "not possible" to port Oblivion over to Nintendo Wii, but he's in no rush to rule out a Bethesda Wii game for the future.

"It's a great console and many of us at Bethesda have one but I know that bringing Oblivion over is not possible - we'd have to do a whole new game," Hines told our sister-site GamesIndustry.biz in an interview published today.

That obviously doesn't mean they are doing "a whole new game", but Hines is candid about where things sit. "It's something we've talked about, but I don't think you could say we're considering it," he said of the prospect of a Wii title. "It's not in our immediate future - maybe something we'll look at somewhere down the road."

In the meantime of course there's the PS3 version of Oblivion to look forward to (delayed until 27th April, mind you) and the forthcoming release of PC and Xbox 360 expansion Shivering Isles, which has been receiving warm write-ups.

Hines was keen to talk about that, naturally, telling fans to expect "new content, new experiences, new stuff that's different from anything players have done in Oblivion". You can read more of what he had to say - including a defence of the developer's infamous "horse armour" downloadable content - in the full interview on GamesIndustry.biz today.

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.

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Comments (61) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • BadBoyBonner #1 5 years ago

    Maybe if they just switch the grass off thew Wii could run it? lol

  • UNSCmasterCHEF #2 5 years ago

    Its cos the little kiddies will be scared by the scary monsters!

  • Grump #3 5 years ago

    I thought a PSP version was in the works. If they can do it on the PSP then surely the Wii can handle it.

  • dudefella #4 5 years ago

    haha of course Oblivion isn't doable on the Wii. Does this surprise anyone? Best estimates put the Wii around as powerful as the XBOX1... and the 360 can barely cope with the game.

  • dudefella #5 5 years ago

    Grump: The PSP version is a completely different beasts. It only uses the game's style and combat but it is not the same game.

  • UNSCmasterCHEF #6 5 years ago

    Its a good thing anyway new content is always better than old!

  • BadBoyBonner #7 5 years ago

    Couldn't they just do a port? Where has the can do attitude gone - without it I think that there would never have been an arcade conversion in years gone by.

    Imagine OUTRUN never being released on any home format (Spectrum, Amstrad, C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Master System, Megadrive, PC Engine) because none of them had the relevant SuperScalar Technology built into them.

  • aldo_14 #8 5 years ago

    I thought a PSP version was in the works. If they can do it on the PSP then surely the Wii can handle it.

    It's not Oblivion per se, it's sort of a dungeon crawler game rather than open-world adventuring. You could do 'an' Oblivion with the old Morrowind engine (shinied up a bit, of course) on the Wii without too much difficulty thought, I'd imagine.

  • Beano #9 5 years ago

    "I thought a PSP version was in the works. If they can do it on the PSP then surely the Wii can handle it. "

    The PSP Oblivion will be a totally different game - a spin-off and not a straight port :)

    Of course the full Oblivion is not possible on Wii... only the most hardned Wii-fanboys will claim that it's powerfull enough to do the original game any justice.

  • peterfll #10 5 years ago

    Of course it's possible. You could probably do it on the PS2, it just would have to be scaled back.....

    .... these developers and their high opinions of their "engines"

    \rolls eyes
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/07 @ 09:31

  • OnlyMe #11 5 years ago

    What's Oblivion if you strip it of the beautiful graphics? Not a whole lot.

  • beep #12 5 years ago

    The Wii could run Oblivion if they actually optimized the game beforehand. Turn on wireframe mode and marvel at the stupendous amount of wasted polygons being drawn, especially on rocks and trees.

  • Genji #13 5 years ago

    Ahahaha. Wow, talk about obvious statements.

  • paulf #14 5 years ago

    rubbish game anyway ...

  • Artemis_Matsas #15 5 years ago

    "What's Oblivion if you strip it of the beautiful graphics? Not a whole lot. "

    Please...
    Oblivion is a GREAT game.
    It's greater strength lies in it's depth, the crazy amount of the things that you can do and amazingly you can pick it up and play it in short bursts.

  • SBfistfun #16 5 years ago

    What a load of codswallop.

    Tish tosh

  • Genji #17 5 years ago

    "Oblivion is a GREAT game."

    Lies!

  • space_ace #18 5 years ago

    wii ftl lol :)

    it's an oblivion side scroller

    wait that's a good idea

  • lambtron #19 5 years ago

    "it's an oblivion side scroller"

    sold!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 5 years ago

    You can't just optimise games to run on anything. Spectrum versions of Arcade games were entirely seperate projects copying what they'd seen in the arcade machines (maybe they had access to the game logic of the arcade machines, but that'd all be in 68000 assembler that they'd have to make work on Z80, but I digress).

    Just like in that case, a Wii version would need to be a seprate project where the end product just looks like Oblivion but is completely different underneath. Which is exactly what the Bethesda guy says in the article.

    However

    Apparently they're doing exactly that for the PSP (or some other subcontracted studio is, probably). There have been a number of PSP / Wii (and often also PS2)titles announced in recent times, so why not use that as a basis and graft a sword-waggling wiimote interface on it?

    Alternatively, since Wii is legendarily Xbox1-equivalent, why not port Morrowind, fix up the godawful quest log to work more like Oblivion's and market it as 'From the Makers of Oblivion'?

    Still, if they genuinely are just thinking about it and haven't started yet, I wouldn't expect to see even a port for another couple of years. Game Development takes a fair old while these days.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/07 @ 10:20

  • dudefella #21 5 years ago

    wow some of you are dense. The Wii isn't that powerful. There is no way it can render the entire world, even if they scale it back to look like the pc version on all the lowest settings. Get over it.

  • Genji #22 5 years ago

    "it's an oblivion side scroller"

    God yes. Make it like Cave Story, and I'm sold. I don't care how retro the graphics are.

  • jonsaan #23 5 years ago

    So the psp is more powerful? Bullshit! Not that I care anyway, I have played Oblivion for a while on the 360 and got bored very quickly. It's all a bit wooly jumpers for me.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/07 @ 10:35

  • BadBoyBonner #24 5 years ago

    Jonsaan - I agree - thought it would be the game to get me into RPG but it wasn't - shame reallyas those that enjoy it clearly have one of the gaming experiences of their lives.

    Which is just like me and fried eggs - I want to like 'em, and can clearly see how much people enjoy one on their bacon buttie, with yoke dripping down their chin - but for me, eating one makes me feel ill. Taste is a strange thing indeed.

  • Irien #25 5 years ago

    You'd think a game involving real-time sword/weapon fighting as a main part of its gameplay would be better suited to Wii than PSP!

  • Inigo #26 5 years ago

    The Wii works best when they have games that are designed specifically for it. The Wii does not need more ports of games that everyone else is going to buy on the PC or 360.

  • Darkedge #27 5 years ago

    Bethseda can't even optimise their engine as much as modders have done let alone manage to make it work well on a massively lower power system. Sorry but Oblivion was quite sucky

  • Keso #28 5 years ago

    This is Oblivion on its lowest setting:

    [link url=http://kr.img.dc.yahoo.co m/b2/data/game1/1143179933_Oblivion_2006_03_24_13_14_19_90.j pg
    ]http://kr .img.dc.yahoo.com/b2/data/game1...[/link]

    http://kr .img.dc.yahoo.com/b2/data/game1...

  • Skooch #29 5 years ago

    For those who didn't read the full article I thought this bit was quite interesting:

    "The 360 is our base platform, it's the easiest to develop for. The biggest challenge for the PC is that it's totally undefined. Even with DirectX 10 it's still a random amalgamation of graphics cards and RAM and processors. It's not a defined box, so it's really difficult to develop for.

    With PS3 it's different, because it's a very different piece of hardware. It's very powerful but it works in a totally different way to the 360 so whenever you're doing something for both, even if the outcome is the same, the way you have to go about doing it is very different.

    The way we do it is we use the 360, the PC architecture is very similar, then we have a lot of people who have a lot of experience in developing for Sony platforms like the PS2 - and they use their expertise to optimise the code for PS3."

    It seems most devs prefer to work on the 360. If so, then a lot of PS3 games will effectively be ports of titles developed on the 360 first. Sony's machine *may* be more powerful, but its complicated architecture isn't making the most of it. I think that x-platform titles are going to look pretty much identical on the two systems.

  • space_ace #30 5 years ago

    > This is Oblivion on its lowest setting:

    looks like wow ;)

  • Wite_Noiz #31 5 years ago

    They probably could do a scaled down version, but why would they even want to?
    Gamers who'd like Oblivion will almost certainly have another games machine and have it already on that (PC, for me).

    I don't feel a loss at this news at all - I wouldn't buy Oblivion for my Wii.

  • Whizzo #32 5 years ago

    Oblivion was written using a lot of third party middleware, if they don't exist on the Wii (Speedtree for example doesn't) then it would require a complete rewrite which isn't going to happen.

  • chupachups #33 5 years ago

    "Just like in that case, a Wii version would need to be a seprate project where the end product just looks like Oblivion but is completely different underneath. Which is exactly what the Bethesda guy says in the article. "

    You're absolutely right, but it's not what it says in the headline. :-)

    More accurate would have been "Oblivion not portable from 360 to Wii", but then that's not sensationalist enough for gaming journalists.


    "It seems most devs prefer to work on the 360. If so, then a lot of PS3 games will effectively be ports of titles developed on the 360 first. Sony's machine *may* be more powerful, but its complicated architecture isn't making the most of it."

    The Saturn suffered a similar fate, didn't it? It used two processors instead of one and was quite tricky to program for, which meant developers never really exploited the hardware properly.

    The PS3 is starting to seem like Sony's very own Saturn, not just in terms of development but in terms of sales after a huge hit in the previous generation.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/07 @ 11:52

  • rudedudejude #34 5 years ago

    ps3 Oblivion lol!!!

    Bless them, they've waited a while! cute little ps3 owners.

  • Talha #35 5 years ago

    I will agree with some of the comments above. While as a game Oblivion is fantastic, at least on my PC it appeared poorly optimized and clunky. It chugged quite a lot.

    As for it being on Wii, regardless of whether it is feasible or not, it goes against Ninty's ideals of world peace and grannies coming together to play - it is far too violent and complex.

  • Genji #36 5 years ago

    Yeah, those grannies sure love their Red Steel. I reckon they're looking forward to that new Metroid game too.

  • Mr_Brown #37 5 years ago

    Sounds about right, Xbox 360 sometimes stuggles when things get really hectic. It's a shame though, the Wii controller would have been perfect for the game. Missed oppotunity maybe, but lets hope they create something good for the Wii.

  • karstux #38 5 years ago

    Someone here suggested they port Morrowind to the Wii, and I think I agree. If they update the graphics a bit (redo the character models!) and implement a combat system that uses the Wiimote (well!) it could be a quite beautiful game. I think I'd get it.

  • capcom23 #39 5 years ago

    The WII is too weak for this game.

  • Lov3 #40 5 years ago

    "What's Oblivion if you strip it of the beautiful graphics? Not a whole lot."

    I guess there's the exploration... but I think I agree with you. I bought it with my 360 4 months ago, and i've probably had it in the drive less than 8 hours since then.

  • skillian #41 5 years ago

    8 hours with Oblivion won't even scratch the surface.

    Play for longer and you'll see there's a lot more to discover.

  • AlanGreenspan #42 5 years ago

    if any of you think the Wii could handle Oblivion, then you are automatically the funniest person I've ever met.

  • Jandurin #43 5 years ago

    "if any of you think the Wii could handle Oblivion, then you are automatically the funniest person I've ever met."

    You should get out more.

  • Nithron #44 5 years ago

    I reckon, if you took the Oblivion engine, then rendered everything in simplistic wireframe a la Rez, gave it some funky minimalistic electronic music for a backing tune, then replaced the horses with some kind of Tron-alike bike...

    You'd end up with a really cool game. And it'd run on a Wii. All with minimal engine alterations!

    No idea what you'd call it though. Tronblivion?

  • smelly #45 5 years ago

    Its almost definately less to do with graphical power, and more to do with lack of hdisk/memory.

    But most fangirls wont realise that.

    But then scale back the gfx on this game, and what do you have? Not much.

  • smelly #46 5 years ago

    In other news, shenmue isnt possible on the ps2...

  • Nikanoru #47 5 years ago

    8 hours with Oblivion won't even scratch the surface.

    Play for longer and you'll see there's a lot more to discover.


    Like two hundred more of the same cloned caves with nothing interesting in them? Yeah, I've discovered plenty of those.

  • smelly #48 5 years ago

    @Nikanoru: Well im glad someone else had the same experience of it as me!

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #49 5 years ago

    I reckon, if you took the Oblivion engine, then rendered everything in simplistic wireframe a la Rez... [trim] ...it'd run on a Wii. All with minimal engine alterations!

    No chance. There's just not enough RAM and processing power even for the basic engine without graphics. It was designed for optimal performance on a machines that, like it or not, are a technical generation above Wii.

    That fellow at GDC calling Wii a 'piece of shit' did actually have a point (albeit not very well made by that statement). Wii is capable of a lot of things, but games designed for PS3, 360 and modern PCs, it is not.

  • smelly #50 5 years ago

    Im bored of all this willy waving.

    I take it there's no decent games out for anything at the moment?

  • Carrybagma #51 5 years ago

    Could have done it on the cube.

  • evilboo #52 5 years ago

    They could do a version with Vector graphics .. like Mercenary on the commodore 64. That would save memory for the cool sound effects.

  • space_ace #53 5 years ago

    midwinter, elite, etc

  • smelly #54 5 years ago

    On a modern day graphics card, it's actually slower to do vector/wire frame graphics than full polygons.

    One vector line is in effect 2 polys. So to draw a simple cube, you'd need 24 polys (2 for each edge), as opposed to 12 polys (2 for each face). If you draw a wireframe around where each poly would be, that's 6 polys instead of 1.. And if you're drawing the whole thing wireframe, then you wont be able to do backface culling, or zbuffer culling - so that adds to framerate too.

    But as i said, with regards to oblivion and the wii, it wont be the graphical power thats the problem, it'd be the memory and lack of hdisk.
    Edited by 1 at 20/03/07 @ 20:40

  • Sid-Nice #55 5 years ago

    Why on earth didn't Nintendo tell us before we purchased their stupid gimmicky console that Oblivion wasn't possible on the machine? I think it's time to put this crappy Wii on E-Bay; if we can get a better version of Sonic than the Xbox 360 and a better version of The Godfather than the PS3 why can't we get Oblivion?

  • Nikanoru #56 5 years ago

    No chance. There's just not enough RAM and processing power even for the basic engine without graphics. It was designed for optimal performance on a machines that, like it or not, are a technical generation above Wii.


    Now, I don't care for the game at all so I don't care which platforms it appears on, but humor me and explain exactly which part of the gameplay "without graphics" is so special in Oblivion that it can't run on a Wii? Is it the floaty physics rivaled by those in Trespasser? The artificial "intelligence" of the NPC's? The complex real time battle system which so taxes the CPU with its "hit enemy anywhere, deduct points" mechanic? I'm trying my best here, help me out.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #57 5 years ago

    if we can get a better version of Sonic than the Xbox 360...

    And that is the point, exactly. The wii version of Sonic is a completely different game. Just like a Wii Oblivion would need to be.

    The 360 / PS3 Sonic game, just like Oblivion was created with a base platform higher than Wii can match. Regardless of whether critics believe it's any good, or whether you believe it could have been programmed better, original next-generation games can fill up a 3.2GHz CPU core with game logic, and use a great deal of memory because they can.

    Wii can't keep up, even with cross-platform games that were released 6 months before it was. That's the price you pay for a smaller, cheaper console.

    ... and, of course, to unquestioningly support Nintendo's right to make money off the hardware :)

  • drreeds #58 5 years ago

    well who gives a horses a$$ if oblivion is on wii or not.

    Oblivion is a PC game and all who wanted to play it already have.
    Other than that .. oblivion is OLD NEWS!! so ....

    Bring in the next best thing please!!! and don't bother us thank you!!!

  • Nikanoru #59 5 years ago

    or whether you believe it could have been programmed better, original next-generation games can fill up a 3.2GHz CPU core with game logic, and use a great deal of memory because they can.


    Wellll but shitty programming is a different matter altogether isn't it?

    Just looking at the actual gameplay alone, oblivion could have been done on DS.

    Of course, when he says "we'd have to do a whole new game" he alludes to the fact that the game's code is a steaming pile of bloated crap, but he could have worded it better than saying "Oblivion isn't possible on Wii."

  • Nithron #60 5 years ago

    Uhh.. Okay, then you can't render it with vector graphics and make some weird version of tron. I wasn't being serious anyway, but still, i think that'd be kind of a fun mod.

  • Waldo #61 5 years ago

    Why is this even news?