14 DAY TRIAL // An official report today reveals some facts about the availability of Torque licensing for the Wii, coming from GarageGames, the leading technology provider for independent game makers, and Pronto Games, professional PC and console game developer. The pair is announcing plans to make a complete package for both disc-based and downloadable Wii games.
"I think every game designer has a few ideas about how they could use the Wii console's extraordinary features to make fun games," commented Josh Williams, GarageGames CEO. "Torque for Wii makes it easier to focus on creating high-quality experiences for the Wii, rather than implementing the technologies and tools it takes to just get started."
Licensing the Torque Engine at almost the same time as Nintendo announced the WiiWare service is no coincidence either, as it will allow developers of all types to create downloadable games for sale through the Wii Shop Channel. According to GarageGames, heavily discounted license pricing is available for games targeting the WiiWare downloadable service, versus those aiming for shelf space at the local game store.
Torque for Wii also supports skinned mesh rendering (aside the Wii Remote support), advanced character and shape animation, terrains with seamless indoor/outdoor transitions, environmental effects, industry-leading networked multiplayer game support, collision detection and physics, a bevy of rendering effects, compressed textures, and more, all optimized for Wii. There is also a powerful WYSIWYG tool chain for designers, scripting language support, a comprehensive Lot Check compliance component, and Wii graphics and audio abstraction layers.
As the report informs, Pronto Games, who developed the Wii port, are also using the technology for their upcoming Wii exclusive game, The Destiny of Zorro:
"We chose to develop The Destiny of Zorro with the Torque Game Engine because of its proven reliability and our developers' familiarity with it," said Randy Angle, President and Creative Director of Pronto Games. "Partnering with GarageGames to make the Torque Game Engine available to other Wii developers seemed like the obvious next step, and we look forward to seeing the creation of even more quality Wii titles as a result."
Well, it looks like Nintendo's Wii is getting more next-gen with each day that passes. Nintendo sure is privileged having that Wii. Well, it's Nintendo that came up with it in the first place so it's not exactly a privilege, but a success, pure and simple.