Over the last few years, Unity has become one of the most prominent game engines in the industry thanks to its low cost and universal compatibility. Nintendo even gives away the engine to authorized Wii U developers to help get them started on creating indie content for the system. The handout apparently worked as Nintendo claims to have a lot of indie content coming to the system.
Speaking to Siliconera, Nintendo said that it has over 50 Unity games coming to the Wii U in the future. Nine of those games were on display at GDC last week and another 17 have already been submitted for approval. The games already submitted for approval will be out in the next two months. In all, the Wii U will be getting 26 indie titles built using Unity in the coming months. That’s a lot of indie content for a system that so far hasn’t been doing so hot.
One of the upcoming Wii U unity titles is Ballpoint Universe – a shmup featuring unique hand-drawn visuals. It was released on the PC last year, but it’s now being ported to the Wii U thanks to the console’s Unity support. It’s one of many examples of Unity helping to bring unique indie experiences to a console that’s starving for content:
In the same interview, Nintendo told Siliconera that it’s also investigating whether or not it can bring Unity to the 3DS. The engine already supports mobile platforms, like iOS and Android, so 3DS support seems like a natural fit for those who want to bring mobile content to Nintendo’s handheld. It would also make it easier for developers to port existing titles to the platform. The 3DS isn’t exactly hurting for content in the same way the Wii U is, but it would certainly be nice to see a Nintendo Download with more than one or two 3DS games.
Besides Unity, Nintendo is also developing a new series of tools called the Nintendo Web Framework. The tools will allow developers to build HTML5 games for the Wii U that can be played through the console’s Web browser. It’s probably not something you’ll see being used often, but it’s a nice alternative nonetheless.
Image via Nintendo