Watch_Dogs engine wasn't initially running on Wii U, working hard to ship this year

"Yeah it's still alive. We still haven't defined a ship date for it, though. So it's on hold, to a certain extent for shipping. We don't have a specific ship date for it yet so it's considered within the year. So we're going to look at that and we're going to let people know as soon as we figure out an exact date for it.


We have our studio in Bucharest working on it, and we wanted that team to have the time to explore the GamePad and be able to have fun with it and see how far they could push it. It's also an interesting platform, because it has its own strength, which we want to take advantage of, and we didn't want to delay all the other platforms for that one. So we're going to take the time we need to make sure the game is good (technically) when we ship it and that it also, game design-wise, makes good use of the specifics of the Wii U.


I mean, for our game, when we play with everything being connected, we need to make smart use of it and also, the Wii U came along at some point in our production, so it planned through for it, and now to a certain extent we wanted to be ambitious with it, be able to go full-on and make full use of the platform. That's why we're taking more time, but it's being worked on so that's good.


It (the game engine) wasn't running on Wii U initially. They were the perfect team to do it. Our Bucharest studio is super strong, super strong engineers and I was impressed by how quickly they got to get the game running on the console. And they were so autonomous in doing it. Obviously we're communicating and we're working together, but they were so quick and smart in doing it, it still made sense for them to keep ownership. Obviously they're using the same game content, so they're not building other game content. It's the same game content that we'll adapt for the needs of the specific needs of Wii U. But at the core, same game, but they made all the technical adjustments for it."

Link

Well played PR? Or true intent? They delayed it to make it special?

Watch Dogs Creative Director Jonathan Morin stated the following about the delayed Wii U version in a Eurogamer interview:

"It's been paused," Morin states of the Wii U build, "which means delayed."



"There were some very talented programmers working on it and, when we started to point at the things we needed to fix, we needed those guys and their experience. It was a logical choice to say - let's get those people, let's pause the Wii U thing, let's make sure the experience(d) talent -sic- is where we wanted to be."



Once other versions are done, "then Wii U can get back into place," he concludes.

Riiiight, so the U team were so experienced and such talented programmers, they had to poach them to make the main game.

EDIT:

"One of the reasons the Wii U version of the game isn't hitting the same release date as every other platform is because it's the only version not being developed in concert by the team in Montreal."

WTF IS THIS?!?!?!?!?! What happened to Watch Dogs?!?!

Dvader said:

Jack Tretton out of Sony!!!! WTF is going on?!?!?!?

http://m.prnewswire.com/news-releases/jack-tretton-to-step-down-as-president-and-ceo-of-sony-computer-entertainment-america-248876781.html

OKYO, March 6, 2014 - Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. today announced that Jack Tretton will step down from his role as President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) as of March 31, 2014. This is a result of a mutual agreement between Mr. Tretton and SCEA not to renew their contractual relationship.

Shawn Layden, currently Executive Vice President and COO of Sony Network Entertainment International, will become President and CEO of SCEA, effective April 1, 2014.

A 15-year PlayStation veteran, Layden was one of the founding members of SNEI in 2010, joining the company directly from Sony Computer Entertainment, where he most recently held the position of President, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. His career at Sony Computer Entertainment also included eight years at SCE Worldwide Studios in London where he directed international software development.

I loved Jack.

Sony was on too good a run. They needed to fuck up more. I see an EyeToy 4 in the future. Maybe a Move 2.

GG that last car pic, thats it exactly. What an embarrasement.

This cracked me up

Regarding Watchdogs and the Wii U - "We have our studio in Bucharest working on it."  Is this code for, "you're never going to see it?"

Greg Miller is awesome. Just sayin'.

That Watch Dogs shit is fake....cmon. There is no way Ubisoft would go from the game looking like a high end PC game to a Dreamcast game. Why and how would that even happen? That car pic looks like its running on Steel's rig.

ionedgecrusher said:

Are you sure that's not the 360 version?

Confirmed to be ps4 version