Nintendojo.com has an article (taken from IGN) about a graphics engine that has been developed exclusively for the Wii.
High Voltage's The Conduit Unveiled for Wii
4/23/2008, 11:48am Eastern Time
Chicagoland-based High Voltage Software is looking to put a charge into gamers with its recently announced The Conduit, an exclusive Nintendo Wii game.
The Conduit will be an FPS title that follows the story of a US Secret Service agent as he struggles to find the reasoning behind an extraterrestrial attack on Washington D.C. Among the features being touted for The Conduit are advanced enemy intelligence that will allow for human-like behavior, as well as an in-game item called the All Seeing Eye, which will open up new action and puzzle solving mechanics. The control scheme will apparently be something akin to that of EA's Medal of Honor: Heroes 2.
Perhaps most importantly, High Voltage will use The Conduit as its flagship title to debut its new Quantum3 graphics engine, engineered from the ground up for Nintendo Wii. Quantum3 was designed in part by High Voltage to show gamers, and developers who acquire a license to utilize the company's technology, that Wii is far more capable visually that given credit for.
"Most of the games on the Wii look like crap. We want to change that, so we've invested heavily in our Wii tech over the past year," said High Voltage's Eric Nofsinger. "We have real-time normal mapping, reflection and refraction, post process full screen effects, real-time shadows, projected lights and textures, specularity and fresnel effects, emissive and iridescent materials, interactive water, morphing, and much more all running with a rock solid frame rate on the Wii. Our goal is to be the most technically innovative Wii developer on the planet."
Currently, The Conduit does not have a release date or a publisher, but High Voltage Software is looking to change both of those situations quickly.
If High Voltage can pull this off, people will no longer look at the Wii as a "dumbed down GameCube". Go to Nintendojo.com for more info.