Eugene, OR, February 13, 2008 — GarageGames, the leading technology provider for independent game developers, together with Pronto Games, co-developer on Torque for Wii, has announced a host of updates including the the 2D drag and drop functionality of Torque Game Builder to their Nintendo Wii game development solution.

First unveiled at the Nintendo Developer Conference in June, Torque for Wii features extensible Wii Remote support, Wii optimized skinned mesh rendering, compressed texture, interior support, and hardware blending for terrain textures. Developers will also find a powerful WYSIWYG tool chain for designers, scripting language support, a comprehensive Lot Check compliance component, and Wii graphics and audio abstraction layers.

“We’re thrilled to have had one of the first affordable solutions out there for Wii game development and with the huge success of the Wii platform, developer interest Torque for Wii has been off the charts,” said Brett Seyler, GarageGames VP of Business Development. “Torque for Wii continues to improve and mature and with this technology in the hands of some very talented studios, we’re going to see a lot more more great games like Pronto’s Destiny of Zorro come to the Wii.”

GarageGames has said that they expect to see a new level of interest in Torque for Wii from casual developers due to the new 2D drag and drop game creation features of Torque Game Builder which are now incorporated into Torque for Wii. Torque Game Builder is a popular solution for casual game developers looking to make games for PC and Torque for Wii now offers those games a path to the Nintendo Wii. GarageGames claims more than a dozen titles in development for the Wii using Torque.

The company has provided publicly on their website that Torque for Wii licensing for developers has no term limits on development and a zero-royalty, flat-fee structure. They have also said that heavily discounted license pricing is available for games targeting the WiiWare downloadable service, versus those aiming for disc-based retail delivery.

Link