Midway And Ubisoft Up Wii Support

Following positive statements yesterday from Electronic Arts in regards to support for Nintendo’s Wii console, executives from both Ubisoft and Midway have also announced greater than expected support for the format. Midway president David Zucker has revealed that the company is planning six titles for the format. As reported by consumer website 1UP.com and others, he made the comments at the Ziff Davis Electronic Games Summit, the same venue at which Ubisoft North America president Laurent Detoc announced the company had a total of seven Wii titles currently in development. Detoc was particularly enthusiastic in his support for the Wii, suggesting that he expects it to gain “a large audience and market”, while commenting that he personally found the console and its potential games more attractive in light of waning interest in traditional titles. Neither executive gave any suggestion as to what their company’s additional titles were, with Ubisoft currently only having announced two of its seven titles, in the form of Rayman Raving Rabbids (the Wii version of which recently became the lead format for the title) and the exclusive Red Steel. The only Midway Wii title announced so far is a version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, due next spring – several months after the release of the other SKUs of the popular franchise iteration this Christmas. In general, however, it appears that extremely positive reaction to Nintendo's Wii at E3, alongside the realization that many 'hardcore' game consumers will buy the console in addition to either an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3 has meant notably increased publisher support for the platform in recent weeks.