The Conduit: Officical Thread

Name: The Conduit
Developer: High Voltage Software
Publisher: Sega
Format: Wii
PEGI Rating: Undetermined
Multiplayer: 1-4??
Online: 1-16
Release Date: March 2009 (NA)
Imput Methods: Remote, Nunchuk, Wii Microphone, Wii Motionplus

Official Website:
Site

Trailers:
IGN Trailers
Character Overview

Screens:
Nintendolife Screens

Interviews
Sega Interview
Another Interview
Genre Interview

Gameplay

The shooting controls of The Conduit were inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, first-person shooters which had well-received Wii control schemes. The Conduit offers user customizable control features, such as the ability to alter the size of the bounding box, the speed at which the player can move the camera, and cursor sensitivity. Furthermore, the player can adjust these options in real time, without having to leave the adjustment screen to try the changes. The developer has also included the option for the player to change the control layout, so that the function of any button or motion on the Wii Remote can be mapped to another button or motion. Other customizable aspects include the player's maximum running speed and the layout of the game's HUD; the elements of the HUD can be moved to different locations around the screen or removed entirely. The Wii MotionPlus attachment, revealed by Nintendo during E3 2008, will also be compatible with The Conduit. This attachment modifies the functionality of the Wii Remote to enable actions made by the player to be rendered identically in the game in real time.

The Conduit provides an experience typical of a first-person shooter, focusing on combat in a 3D environment and taking place from the first-person perspective of a playable character. A unique feature of the game is a device known as the "All-Seeing Eye," or ASE, which is recovered by the player early on and used to solve various puzzles. The ASE can detect hidden traps and enemies scattered throughout a level, and reveal secret features in the environment that can help the player to progress, such as uncovering invisible doors and platforms and other interactive objects.

Campaign:
The single-player campaign mode of The Conduit will consist of nine missions. The story will be told primarily through cutscenes between missions, but television and radio broadcasts will also be scattered across a mission area for the player to seek out. These broadcasts are unnecessary to fully understand the story, but provide background information that supplements the overall plot. In addition, as the player explores the game more subtle clues in the environment, such as a precisely placed object in a certain historical location, can be discovered which are meant to provoke questions about elements of the story. The intention of this was to reward players who want to explore and understand more of the story, while not taking away from the experience for other players who only want to complete the game.

The main enemies of The Conduit are an insectoid alien race dubbed the Drudge. Their forces are divided into at least four main types: Mites, Drones, Skimmers, and Scarabs. Mites are the smallest forms, some of which can fly and others explode when in close proximity to the player. Drones are adult-form Drudge that serve as common soldiers, and Skimmers are an alternate adult-form that can fly. Scarabs are the most dangerous group, equipped with heavily-armored exoskeletons and powerful weaponry. Other enemies in the campaign include Drudge-controlled United States military personnel and a faction of the Trust organization that has willingly sided with the Drudge for its own unknown purposes.

The Drudge also incorporate various devices to defeat or hinder the player. Among these is the Drudge portal, or Conduit, which can be placed throughout a level to allow Drudge enemies to spawn from them until they are destroyed by the player. Other Drudge devices, such as a "Regenerator Unit" and "Pulse Box," will also appear in the game, but their purposes have yet to be revealed. The game's Quantum3 engine provides the Drudge with advanced artificial intelligence that allows them to adopt unusual strategies in combat. Such strategies include recognizing when the player is open to attack and then charging the player, or running away and seeking cover when outmatched.


Development:

The Conduit is a futuristic first-person shooter created by High Voltage Software exclusively for the Wii, and was announced to be in production on April 17, 2008 through IGN. The developer began considering creating a new game for the Wii that would cater to the hardcore audience. The game was designed to have a comparable experience to games on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 despite the hardware limitations of the Wii.

The game's announcement was seen as something of a surprise because the company had largely been known for its licensed titles which had been marketed mainly to younger audiences. By the developer's own admission, many of these licensed games have received mediocre reviews in the gaming press. Eric Nofsinger, the development team's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), claimed that the company saw potential in the Wii early on, but noted that much of what has succeeded on the Wii so far has been family-oriented or Nintendo-promoted games.

Nofsinger went on to say, "The other titles that have come out in that vein have been a bit lackluster. The games that have done well are the casual games so publishers see those as viable. We’re trying to do something that really hasn’t been done to its full extent to my knowledge". On October 2, 2008, the developer confirmed that the game was still in a pre-alpha state with work continuing on refining and debugging the campaign mode, but the majority of development had shifted to the multiplayer mode.

High Voltage Software launched a contest for user-created control configurations for The Conduit on September 18, 2008. One control scheme will be selected from the submissions and added to the game as a preset configuration, and the name of the configuration's creator will be noted in the credits.

[b]Graphics/b]

Quantum3, upgrading the game engine, which had previously been used by the developer in several other titles, began in October 2007. The effects of the engine include bump-mapping, reflection and refraction, light and shadow maps and projections, specular and Fresnel effects, missive and iridescent materials, advanced alpha blends, gloss and detail mapping, motion blur, interactive water with complex surface effects, and animated textures, among other things. High Voltage Software is also currently aiming at a steady 30 frames per second, instead of the 60 frames per second they were aiming for, they thought they would rather concentrate on the other aspects of the game.

The Quantum3 engine also includes advanced artificial intelligence, allowing for enemies in the game to possess "human-like behavior."


So will you be buying this game?