Mass Effect 3 Wii U studio Straight Right working on two more games for Nintendo’s new console

Straight Right's building up a respectable portfolio of Wii U games, including at least one new IP alongside its port of Mass Effect 3.

Australia’s Straight Right is one of the studios that will help define the Nintendo Wii U’s early life. Pretty surprising for a group whose only recent credit is the iOS version of Electronic Arts’ Shift 2: Unleashed. Unproven or not, Straight Right is responsible for bringing BioWare’s much-derided, best-selling sci-fi melodrama Mass Effect 3 to Nintendo’s new console. According to the studio, this Mass Effect port is just the start of its plans on the console.

Speaking with Eurogamer, studio head Tom Crago teased Straight Right’s other Wii U plans. “We made a number of bets on the Wii U, so we’re certainly hoping that the platform comes strongly out of the gate,” said Crago, “We’ve got two other titles in development. One of them is original, our own IP, and another is based on another big franchise that will come out in 2013. It’s a big title and you will have heard of it.”

The most exciting news is naturally that an original game is part of Straight Right’s Wii U plans. Crago’s history has been mostly as a gun for hire. His previous studio, Tantalus Interactive, produced mostly ports, spinoffs like Unreal II: The Awakening, and licensed kids games like Megamind: The Blue Defender. No one gets into the video game business to make Megamind games though, so  it’s great that his new studio will get to flex some creative muscles.

What will the second project be? EA clearly has faith in Straight Right, so maybe it’s working on an unannounced Wii U version of a Q1 2013 game? Good money is on Dead Space 3.

Crago also confirmed that Mass Effect 3 will be a Wii U launch title.

Most peculiar moment of E3 2012: When Mass Effect 3 appeared in a series of clips of upcoming Wii U games during Nintendo’s press conference, the entire room started cheering. This is the same Mass Effect 3 that so enraged critics and fans with its ending that BioWare was forced to give away DLC for free just to calm people down. There were petitions to have it revoked from the series! Some people raised more than $80,000 for charity! Why the hell were people cheering? Because apparently people love them some Mass Effect, even when it’s Mass Effect that they hate.  Good news for Straight Right then. This’ll be one more feather in the studio’s cap.