The Conduit slips to summer

By Robert Purchese Published 16 April, 2009

Online multiplayer downsized, detailed.

SEGA has pushed ambitious Wii first-person shooter The Conduit back from spring to summer.

Developer High Voltage has also cut the number of players battling online from 16 to 12, according to Nintendo Everything. This was done to boost performance and balance the levels.

Word arrives amid a flurry of multiplayer details for the game. There will be Free For All Deathmatch for solo players and teams (kill and time limited), Last Man Standing and Capture the Flag.

We're also promised more unconventional modes: Three Strikes, which is three lives and out; Bounty Hunter, to pick-off specific targets; ASE Football, a game of tag where the player who can hold ASE the longest wins; and another mode where the team that steals the ASE the most within a time limit wins.

WiiSpeak support is confirmed for The Conduit, and will cleverly filter out all but the six closest people while the fight rages.

Nintendo is backing The Conduit as a Wii game that will appease the core audience this year. Developer High Voltage has also made bold claims in the past, and believes The Conduit will break the casual stereotype of the console and establish first-person shooters on it.

Head over to The Conduit gamepage to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    "Developer High Voltage has also made bold claims in the past, and believes The Conduit will break the casual stereotype of the console and establish first-person shooters on it."

    It won't though. Not really. It could be the best FPS ever and people will still think of it as the best FPS ever that happened to be on a casual players console. I'm still having it though.

  • Goodfella #2 3 years ago

    I'm definitely getting this. Ever since I played Metroid Prime Corruption I've considered the nunchuk and wii remote to be an awesome controller for FPS games, almost as good as keyboard and mouse. :p

  • Plewt #3 3 years ago

    The previous release date was in June so the spring to summer part doesn't really say anything. A clarification, if possible, would be nice.
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 09:48

  • Plewt #4 3 years ago

    'Core gamers' want much much more than first person shooters.

    Wii owners are not drowning in fps games exactly.

  • robg #5 3 years ago

    Some hardcore games:

    Rome: Total War
    Counterstrike
    Street Fighter (or Guilty Gear, or whatever)
    Supreme Commander
    Quakeworld DM
    Baldur's Gate
    Starcraft
    Ninja Gaiden

  • Plewt #6 3 years ago

    Yes indeed but I think Nintendo are more responsible for that argument (and situation) than the small studio behind this game.

  • Stompy #7 3 years ago

    It's welcome, but it's nowhere near enough. Deep RPG's, strategy games, air combat games, beat-em-ups, and so many other genres are completely absent from the platform. These are things that core gamers want as well as shooters.

    And, in a capitalist society, the potential of pleasing the smallest userbase for an integrated leisure electronics platform is important because...?

  • The-Milkman #8 3 years ago

    Ashenshuger - You are right, but the truth is that fps's ARE the most popular choice of games for those people that like to call themselves 'hardcore'.

    The PS3 and xbox are basically judged on their fps's. Arguments between their 'hardcore' owners tend to centre around Halo, Resistance, Gears and Killzone. I dont like it but its the truth.

    If High Voltage can get just some of these people to take a gamble on the conduit and the game sells well, then it can only be a good thing for future games on the wii.

    And its not all doom and gloom on the Wii anyway. Its the only console thats had a decent amount of point and click games on it for generations, and that can only be a good thing.

  • madgerald Verified Studio Head of PR & Marketing, Colossal Games LTD #9 3 years ago

    @Plewt - The Conduit is still down for a June release.

  • sneetch #10 3 years ago

    @Stompy
    And, in a capitalist society, the potential of pleasing the smallest userbase for an integrated leisure electronics platform is important because...?

    (Random numbers will be used for the sake of argument.)

    Well, for the sake of argument, let's say that the "hardcore" (or "smallest userbase";) comprises 10% of the users. Now lets say they buy 90% of the new games because they, by definition, buy and play more games, are more inclined to track games during development, are more likely to want a game as soon as they come out and so pick them up new at launch. Conversely the other 90% of users only buy10% of games.

    Now do you see why the numerically-smaller user-base is important? This is often the case with consumer electronics, after the initial investment in hardware a smaller "hardcore" group can be more profitable than the larger "casual" group. To put it another way, do you think that the people who occasionally rent a DVD are as important to the manufacturers of DVDs as the people who build their own libraries of DVDs?

    I used to share a house with three friends from uni we played Mario Kart Double Dash all the time. To my knowledge the other three never played any other game on the 'Cube, they simply had no interest in anything else, Mario Kart was what you played on Nintendo, they didn't know or care what else was coming out and one of them was a "hardcore" PC gamer.

    Actually I tell a lie, I played Soul Calibur versus the "hardcore" guy once or twice. Kicked his ass too. ;)

  • videogangs #11 3 years ago

    @Robg
    What you have listed there aren't just "hardcore games" but "games with an unsupportive, patronising, elitist community and inpenetrable lexicon".

    Not that that's always a bad thing, I'm probably a politer, more friendly member of several of those communities (especially CS and Street Fighter!)

    Unfortunately terrible game design and cheap execution has drilled into everyone's heads that the Wii can't handle anything more complicated than the mindless dribble that populates the release charts. When the system has it's capabilities played in it's favour it's a joy to use.

    I think the only thing preventing it from being taken as seriously is the real lack of consistent online infrastructure. If Nintendo would stop doing parent's jobs for them and just concentrate on making a community like Xbox Live and PSN then it would be a massive step in the right direction.
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 12:55

  • kinky_mong #12 3 years ago

    Where's smelly in this thread? I've got my popcorn ready for the show of his Wii defense involving a brown FPS.

  • FenderMaster #13 3 years ago

    Kotaku's impressions last night weren't exactly glowing... They sai it really needed much more polish and balance, combat got old fast, and the ASE puzzles barely even were pzzles at all... Apparantly their online multiplayer debut was a shambles...

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/5213564/the-conduit-preview-call ing-do+overs
    ]http://ko taku.com/5213564/the-conduit-pr...[/link]

    Personally I was never impressed, I've seen better graphics (though not textures) on PS2 games, and 4 year old xbox games, (and graphics was its major selling point...) combined with gameplay impressions and it's a day 1 ignore for me, unless something magical happens in the next 2 months...

  • Plewt #14 3 years ago

    Yeah that preview was a bit disheartening but while I don't think the game will quite live up to expectations some of the criticism seemed a bit off to me, especially the complaints against control and combat getting old quick.

    You can pretty much customize the controls any way you want and why would the combat get old any quicker than other fps's; seems more like the previewer simply doesn't like the genre.

    The puzzles do look a little gimmicky but hard to judge only given one example. In the walkthrough videos that's out there it didn't look quite as bad but again it was only that one puzzle.

  • Plewt #15 3 years ago

    @Coin-Op

    It's the retards like you and not the Wii owners who are constantly making a big deal about the Wii graphics.

  • peak_performance #16 3 years ago

    @Plewt: "[...]and why would the combat get old any quicker than other fps's[...]"

    Combat can get old very quickly if the encounter-, level-, weapon- and/or enemy design is bad or boring. It's not just about shooting, it's how good the shooting is.

    I've thought everything but the engine for this game has looked mediocre since I saw it the first time probably, and I would really like this to be good since I want some more good "hard core" games (not that most any shooters are that nowadays) for the system. But what we get is Mad World and this, none of which appeal to me. I hope other, seemily more competent FPS developers gets their hands on the Conduit engine.

  • Plewt #17 3 years ago

    Seems what she meant by that was the balance in difficulty.

  • smelly #18 3 years ago

    I always considered fps games to be the perfect example of a "mainstream" game.

    but then i dont understand all these pigeon holes.

    To me after years of research - it seems the two categories are thus:

    Hardcore : Stuff people who moan on gaming forums like - but rarely buy - if they play them, its usually because they pirated it.

    Mainstream : Stuff which everyone else buys.

  • smelly #19 3 years ago

    @Coin-OP : "Wii owners need to accept they are never going to see graphics on the system that will make them say wow. (snip to remove all the other fanboy wank fodder) Trying to trumpet the Wii as a console that can handle good looking FPS is like a one legged man saying he can run fast."



    So what you're basically saying - is that the ONLY thing that makes a FPS worth buying is its graphics? Well that says a lot about THAT genre doesnt it?

    Or maybe it says a lot about your choice in games? i.e. if you're more interested in looking at the pretty pixels than having actual FUN playing?
    Edited by 1 at 16/04/09 @ 16:43