The Conduit

The Conduit is a futuristic first-person shooter game developed by High Voltage Software for the Wii console. The Conduit was first revealed by IGN on April 17, 2008, and on October 29, 2008 the developer announced that Sega had signed on to be the game's official publisher. The developer has confirmed that the game is set to be released in North America on June 9, 2009. Development of The Conduit began in October 2007. The game makes use of the Quantum3 engine, a game engine designed by High Voltage Software specifically for the Wii. The engine allows effects such as bump mapping, reflection and refraction, and gloss and detail mapping to be implemented in the game. High Voltage Software created the engine to make The Conduit a comparable experience visually to games on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 despite the Wii's hardware limitations.

The storyline focuses on an alien invasion of Washington, D.C. in the near future. The alien race uses the eponymous Conduits, which are portal-like devices, to deploy their forces throughout the city. An organization called the Trust sends Mr. Ford, a newly inducted agent, into the area to discover the reasons for the attack. The online multiplayer feature of the game includes several game modes such as Deathmatch and will have voice chat capability through the Wii Speak peripheral."

Gameplay
"The shooting controls of The Conduit were inspired by Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, first-person shooters which had well-received Wii control schemes. The Conduit offers user customizable control features, such as the ability to alter the size of the bounding box, the speed at which the player can move the camera, and cursor sensitivity. Furthermore, the player can adjust these options in real time, without having to leave the adjustment screen to try the changes. The developer has also included the option for the player to change the control layout, so that the function of any button or motion on the Wii Remote can be mapped to another button or motion. Other customizable aspects include the player's maximum running speed and the layout of the game's HUD; the elements of the HUD can be moved to different locations around the screen or removed entirely. The Wii MotionPlus attachment, revealed by Nintendo during E3 2008, will also be compatible with The Conduit. This attachment modifies the functionality of the Wii Remote to enable actions made by the player to be rendered identically in the game in real time. The Conduit provides an experience typical of a first-person shooter, focusing on combat in a 3D environment and taking place from the first-person perspective of a playable character. A unique feature of the game is a device known as the "All-Seeing Eye," or ASE, which is recovered by the player early on and used to solve various puzzles. The ASE can detect hidden traps and enemies scattered throughout a level, and reveal secret features in the environment that can help the player to progress, such as uncovering invisible doors and platforms and other interactive objects."

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