The Wiire: Could you start off by maybe telling us a little bit about Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Nintendo Wii?
Bill Alexander: Sure, Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii is a follow-up to the popular DS title which was a big success for us.
(Trauma Center: Second Opinion trailer begins to play)
As you can see here, this video doesn't have any game play footage; there are some screen shots and still shots. It is the story of Derek, the doctor from the first one, and there's a second doctor in this one. You have your choice of playing between the two of them, you can alternate between the two of them, play as one all the way through then go back and play through the other one - that's really up to you. Each doctor will have their own storyline until the later stages of the game where they will combine their forces.
(Points to screen)
As you can see it's a little stylized with the view of the internal organs, I think that's for the best that you don't totally gross everyone out. But you can still tell what it is. It will be using all of the controller's advanced features, and it's really the perfect game for that. One of the reasons why Trauma Center for DS was so popular was because it's perfect for the stylus.
The Wiire: Yeah, it's actually my favorite game on the platform.
Alexander: Did you finish it?
The Wiire: It's actually very hard. I got pretty far, but I'm still working on it!
Alexander: Ahh, it's possible! All of our testers did it so...
The Wiire: Oh, I haven't given up; it's a blast, but you have to get the healing touch down.
Alexander: Yeah it takes practice, but if you really get stuck you can send an email to
[email protected] and one of the guys may give you some points. But yeah, tough game.
There are also new instruments that are not in the DS version, one of them is the defribulator, so if the patient flat lines, I don't know all the details of how that works, but it will be pretty cool with the controller, I'm not sure if you use one or two, but I hope two.
(motions as if holding two controllers, shocking the chest of a patient)
The Wiire: Yeah, then it will be like "CLEAR!"
Alexander: (laugher) Yeah, exactly.
Also we're aiming for a launch title, so hopefully by the end of the year, it's the same team that did the DS version and they are totally excited about doing a sequel and doing it on the Wii rather than the DS.
The Wiire: On the DS with the two screens, you had your nurse and a lot of the information and HUD stuff was on the top screen, freeing up the bottom screen for the operation. Will there be a similar type of separation on the Wii version?
Alexander: I don't know this for sure, but I haven't heard anything about separating the screen like in the DS version. I think it's more likely we'll see that sort of information integrated in the space around your patient. I know [the development team] are still planning on having the same sort of voice parts where the nurse alerts you with a "Doctor!" and clips like that.
The Wiire: Do you know when we can expect to hear or see more about the game?
Alexander: Not really. The development team pushed really hard to get us the short trailer we're showing on the floor, so probably not for a while. They're working hard on it and I'm sure they'll be working on it up until the very last minute if they can.
The Wiire: When did the development of the game start? Was it before or after the team got a chance to demo the controller?
Alexander: Well, it was always in development for Wii - it wasn't like it was started on a different platform and then transferred, I know that much. When they decided to make the game, the Wii had already been announced. I don't know if they had a prototype of the controller or not, but they decided to make the game for that system because they knew it was a good fit.
The Wiire: Right, I was just curious as to whether it was a case of the team jumping on board after seeing the controller unveiled at TGS last year and saying to themselves "Oh man, we have to make Trauma Center"...
Alexander: (laugher) It's very possible.
The Wiire: ...or whether it was a case of "It looks pretty cool, but we'll wait and see until we get our hands on it".
Alexander: Our parent company definitely has a presence at the Tokyo Game Show, so I'm sure they would have been thinking about that, but I can't speak on their behalf.
The Wiire: Are there any plans or ideas being kicked around in regards to connectivity between the Wii version and perhaps a future DS sequel?
Alexander: Anything's a possibility at this point. I haven't heard anything about that, but I'm sure the development team will do whatever they can to put as many features in the game as possible.
The Wiire: I'm sure you've watched the TGS unveiling video for the controller. Just speaking personally, what were your first impressions?
Alexander: I personally - well, I love to play new, different, exciting games. When I first heard about it, I thought it was really cool. My nieces and nephews all love to play games that involve the dance pad, and things that make games more interactive and really bring you into it more. I think it's really cool and I think this is what this controller is going to be.
To be totally honest, personally, the first thing that popped into my mind was lightsaber battles between friends. I think it's going to be totally awesome - of the three systems, that's the one I'll be picking up first. Partially because of the price, but also because I personally value innovation over just rehashing the same old thing. It's also the reason I love the DS.
The Wiire: Atlus was one of the first third parties who jumped on the DS platform, really made excellent use of the hardware's unique features and produced a really interesting and innovative title - is this a trend for the company in deciding what to develop or publish for the different platforms out there?
Alexander: I know our staff at the US office, the guys who are working the show, myself included - we're looking at games from a couple of different publishers from Japan, evaluating them, and we're always interested in things that are unique and different because we feel the American audience is ready for some of these things and maybe they're getting overlooked. So from our side, definitely, we're trying to bring different things like Touch Detective and Contact for the DS.
The Wiire: Are there any other plans for the Wii in the future?
Alexander: Basically, we'll be evaluating titles for all the systems as we always have. We'll definitely look at what's available, so if there are games out there that are open for licensing that would be a good fit, it will happen.
The Wiire: I imagine how much of it will depend on how well Trauma Center does on the Wii.
Alexander: (smiles) Yeah, I'm pretty confident it'll be a success, so hopefully that'll bode well for future Wii titles.
The Wiire: Nintendo's been talking a lot over the past year about the concept of diminishing returns in graphics and skyrocketing development costs. This has pretty much been the philosophy behind the Wii. How do you feel about Nintendo's stance moving into next gen?
Alexander: You know, when I think about games that I really love and had the most fun playing, a lot of times what comes to mind are the old NES titles like Contra, Russian Attack, Zelda - I love those games. You could sit down and play those games and you could play them over and over again. They weren't necessarily 30 to 40 hour games, a lot of the times they were 2 or 3 hour games, but you'd play them over and over again.
I think Nintendo's trying to re-create the experience of just having fun when playing a game and the more social aspect of gaming as opposed to the linear, movie-type experience, which is more a one-time thing. I think it's a good strategy, I think it definitely - when you're going up against both Xbox 360 and PS3, it's going to give them a pretty good marketshare of people who are looking for that type of experience, or maybe people who aren't traditionally gamers, those people who aren't willing to pay five or six hundred dollars for a system. Certainly nothing against Sony or Microsoft because obviously, they've got some great games with some great graphics - we'll be publishing for them too. Overall I just think that Nintendo's giving people something that they want.
The Wiire: Back to Trauma Center for a bit - I know we were looking at the video and the graphics are very stylized, almost kind of cel-shaded even. Was this an intentional move to avoid making the game too gruesome?
Alexander: Well, I can't speak for the development team, but I think it was a smart move. Because there are concerns with ESRB issues, and you want to make it a title that's accessible for all ages. I mean, everyone enjoyed Trauma Center - kids to adults, and by not going down that road of making it photo-realistic, I think that makes it more accessible to a wider variety of audiences. You don't want people to get grossed out and pass out by it.
(laughter)
The Wiire: Yeah, like those surgery shows on Discovery.
Alexander: Yeah, there's a market for that - it's called doctors in training; real doctors in training.
(laughter continues)
The Wiire: Speaking of which, have you ever gotten any feedback from real doctors who've played the game?
Alexander: Actually yeah, we had someone come to the booth last year when we were showing off Trauma Center for the DS who was a surgeon and they were really intrigued by it. While some of the parts of the game are medically accurate, there are other parts where more liberties are taken.
The Wiire: Like the whole GUILT super-virus.
Alexander: Yeah, exactly. It's like a mix of reality and sci-fi.
The Wiire: I know in the first Trauma Center, the idea was toyed about with being able to choose your path in very limited instances. Will that idea be expanded upon in the Wii title?
Alexander: That one I don't know. I'm not sure what they're planning in that regard.