Developer High Voltage Software have been turning a few heads with their recent line up. The self funded game The Conduit was snapped up by Sega towards the end of development and the Wii exclusive FPS is apparently shaping up very well, not only is it making good use of the Wii’s graphic capabilities but also implementing the systems unique control scheme incredibly well and allowing players unprecedented customisations of the controls.

Before The Conduit even hits shelves however High Voltage have announced two new games in development. Both are Wii exclusives and were revealed earlier this week. Both games sound interesting seem like they will follow The Conduit’s lead in appealing to the more serious gamers.

The first is a fighting game set in Rome called Gladiator A.D. High Voltage are aiming to make a fast paced and tactical experience with inspiration drawn from 300. Currently other information is thin, but they do say that the story line will be a number of different Gladiators each with their own motivations, there will be multiplayer and they intend to make full use of Motion Plus controls. So at least your flailing in the real world will match your flailing on screen. As yet no release plans have been revealed for this title.

Following hot on the tail Gladiator AD comes The Grinder. This is a FPS so plays more on the company’s recent work on The Conduit but draws heavily on Valves Left 4 Dead. Planed as a high action, grind house style, online co-operative shooter for up to four players it fill a gaping hope in the Wii’s current line up. The design brief sounds very similar to the incredibly popular L4D but does draw in a few extra elements which suggests that it may add a bit more variety, including a wider selection of monsters for you battle with including werewolves, vampires and a straitjacketed killer all with different preferred attacks. It also sounds like the player characters will also have a persistent ranking within the world, so the more you play the stronger you character will become (speculative from the company’s statement). Wii Speak is expected to be included and the hope would be that the online finds someway to circumnavigate its way around the ongoing Nintendo friend code dilemma. There should be a demo up at E3, and is touted as not for the feint hearted as it contains several gallons of blood. Release is hoped for sometime in 2010.

It’s good to see that serious games continue to be developed for Wii even if sales have been sub par. With any luck The Conduit will be successful and we will see these games and more like them in the near future.

Gladiator AD Source
The Grinder Source

Discuss this on the forums