Next-Generation Wii Games Show Promise

Despite a lack of pedigree, long-time game developer High Voltage Software have piqued the interest of dissatisfied Wii owners by showing an impressive-looking first-person Wii exclusive.

The Conduit trailer, released last week, displays graphics that rival that of early Xbox 360 games by some standards, including advanced lighting, environmental memory, and detailed level design. The exclusive shooter, still without a publisher, uses the proprietary Quantum3 graphics engine, which was built from the ground up to achieve better-looking Wii games.

"Most of the games on Wii look like crap," said High Voltage's Eric Nofsinger's in an interview with IGN last month. "We want to change that, so we've invested heavily in our Wii tech over the past year."

High Voltage founder Kerry Ganofsky added: "We believe that third-party developers need to step up to the plate and deliver. The Wii platform is capable of a lot more than what consumers have seen so far. We're hoping to raise a new bar."

In an effort to quickly cash in on early Wii success, many publishers have released undercooked or lazily ported games with PS2-like graphics on Wii, even though the system was quoted as being 50 percent more powerful than the last-gen GameCube.

While The Conduit may look impressive as an unfinished Wii game, it should be noted that High Voltage Software has a reputation for releasing poorly-rated games on multiple platforms since the developer opened its doors in 1993.