Activision taking Wii seriously in 2009

Activision Blizzard emperor Bobby Kotick has said that the world's biggest publisher is now taking Wii more seriously.

"In the past we approached the Wii as an extension of what we were doing on PlayStation and the Xbox," he told Reuters.

"I think we can do a better job of creating original content for the Wii, and I think you'll see more of that this year."

While Activision has released a decent amount of games for Nintendo's innovative home console, Kotick's observation is certainly borne out by the firm's back catalogue, which includes ports of Call of Duty, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Shrek, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk and Transformers.

However, its Guitar Hero games seem to have found a second home there, with sales of Guitar Hero III and last year's World Tour doing wonders for the bottom line.

Kotick presumably hopes that Activision can make piles of money by making Wii-specific games in the same vein as its rivals, many of whom have reaped the critical and commercial benefits. EA has already won a BAFTA for Boom Blox, Take-Two has shipped four million Carnival Games units, and Ubisoft's casual range is also vast and popular.

Kotick also told Reuters that he sees a lot more potential in the games industry this year, despite the recession, and believes console price cuts could yet have a significant positive impact.

"We're just scratching the surface of opportunity as a publisher in Europe," he also added. "There's a lot more that we can do." Come on over, Bob!