IGN: The Conduit's Quantum3 engine pushes Wii tech. What about Gladiator? What's happening tech-wise with this project that you're proud of?

Kerry: We are using the Quantum3 engine for Gladiator as well. Improvements are continually being made to the engine and we are taking full advantage of each update. Being an arena-style game, we are able to push the graphics up a few notches. Our characters, environments and animations are simply amazing. The AI system is adjustable and flexible which will allow our designers to make each enemy feel unique and challenging.

Eric: Think of Gladiator A.D. as the distillation of everything that made Conduit what it was. With fewer characters in smaller environments we are able to get more detail. In addition, we are utilizing our imposter system to get the crowd reacting to the player's action. Watch them throw objects at the ill-favored gladiator, as well as stand and cheer with large hits, or boo and jeer when the player uses cheap tactics.

David: Gladiator A.D. features the latest version of the Quantum technology. Graphically, we have incorporated several very cool visual effects into the game that are beyond even The Conduit. All of the updates are not simply graphical though, as seen in our Imposter / Instancing technology. This technology allows us to feature a large number of characters on screen with no discernible framerate hit. This means that we can have hundreds or even thousands of models in the scene.

IGN: How far along is the game in development and when do you hope to release it for Wii?

David: We are seven months into full production. We have nearly every environment complete and many of our fighters have been modeled, rigged, and animated. As to the specific release date, we are not announcing anything yet but we are very excited and eager to get the games into the hands of the gamers.

Kerry: The game is a lot of fun to play and our current timetable places us at a Q1 2010 release.

The big N needs a new killer app for the wii, and I don't mean some workout thing.
A REAL game. I've not played anything NEW on my wii in ages. A few VC games, and Dead rising Wii edition are about it

It's called The Grinder and it's a blood-drenched first-person shooter designed to accommodate four-player online cooperative action. This title looks absolutely phenomenal, as you're going to see below.

IGN: How do the levels work? Is it one big world or a series of stages? What kind of locales will you travel through? And how interactive are the environments, if at all?

Eric: The game unfolds in a series of stages, often with multiple paths that the players can choose from. Our focus right now is on Southwestern locales. We have pushed for a lot of interactivity in the form of breakable objects, interactive elements that you can use to help you fight enemies, and NPCs who you can choose to rescue.

Kerry: The level design and AI Architect system work together to provide a nearly endless replay ability. Each level starts with a single path to the end. At key points along the path, there are event triggers. These event triggers can cause a change in the path through the level. Along with the events, our enemy spawners are triggered based on how the players are doing. So if a group is struggling in the game, the AI Architect evaluates their current health, position, equipment, and efficiency and then determines what type of enemies spawn, where they come from, and how many to spawn.

Matt: We're shooting for no load times at all, and we'll see how it all turns out when the game is done. So far we've had really good luck with streaming game assets into our engine, so I don't foresee it being a problem for us to do the same thing for The Grinder. Regarding the interactivity of the levels, there are a lot more breakable objects that are currently working in our demo from what we've done in the past. There are already broken tables and lamps, bottles, crates, wall decorations, etc. We'll have some more examples of our level interaction coming soon. And of course, we're always working to improve on our system by incorporating new technologies all the time to make the cool stuff work even better.

The guys at High Voltage have been a bit silent since E3 and the launch of The Conduit. After announcing The Grinder and Gladiator A.D. I'm sure they're hard at work actually developing those games, but it seems they've got some news coming up.

In all likelihood the announcement will be something for The Grinder, but maybe they're working on some big new game based on a massive franchise. Remember, before High Voltage got all big and famous with their attempts to actually develop good games on the Wii they were best known for their licensed games. It could also be that both of their upcoming games are making their way to other systems. Most likely just release dates and such, though. Don't get too excited.

The Grinder is no longer Wii exclusive, it's now gone multiplatform and is due for release in Halloween 2011.
http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id...comment-section
I think they just shot themselves in the foot. Now the game will go up against Left 4 Dead 4 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3.

i emailed high voltage yesterday and here is there response

Thank you for your email and your interest in The Grinder, due on shelves Halloween 2011. We are very excited about the launch of our first original IP multi-platform title.



The Grinder development team is working diligently towards the goal of creating a high-quality gaming experience, regardless of the console on which it is played. We at High Voltage Software understand the concerns expressed by Wii owners about our decision to make The Grinder a multi-platform title, but please know that those concerns are not falling on deaf ears and we plan on taking full advantage of each of the consoles that we develop on. We hope that you to understand our desire to make the game available to as many players possible, regardless of their console preference. The fact that you can’t tell the difference in console for the art is a good sign we are succeeding.



We appreciate your feedback and want to assure you that we have not changed our mission of creating incredible games for all gamers. We would also welcome you to continue the communication with us as we develop The Grinder because we truly enjoy the partnership that we share with our fans.



Thank you for your feedback,

Team High Voltage

I think it means a yes but i can not be sertain any thoughts

Also this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOLQNloBoIM
Might be Wii footage...

Who says anything about it being 100% confirmed as a FPS?

There are a LOT of hints in the IGN video
link

Hey guys!

Thanks for the support.

First off, the engine we are using is indeed the Ghostbusters engine and its called Infernal. Havok is a 3rd party physics package that some engines use but we are not using it in Infernal. So at this time, Havok has nothing to do with the game

Second, I can tell you right now that this game is NOTHING like L4D so don't expect it to be a l4D for the PS3 because its a different type of game. What I can tell you is that we are giving the PS3 just as much love as the other platforms so your not gonna get a B side version at all!

Tony Mecca
Character Animator
High-Voltage Software
link

I really don't care that much about graphics. As long as the game is fun. Sadly the Wii is kind of lacking on solid games