Capcom gets Narcy over Okami Flak

October 26th, 2007

When Capcom announced that they were bringing an Okami game to the Wii last week, I was really excited. Finally the rumours were true, goodie. Although my excitement quickly waned once I got past the news headline to discover that it was a direct port of last years PS2 game. I was even more disappointed after discovering that there was going to be no extra content, nothing. Just Wii controls and thats it.

Its not just me that is angry, plenty of people are angry. Enough people to warrant this post from Christian Svensson(Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Research) on the Capcom America forum:

“A few points here… I get the issues, I really do, but people seem to be missing a few things. We selected Ready at Dawn to do the port. These guys are all ex-Naughty Dog and ex-Blizzard, and they have already shipped their own titles that have ridiculously high review scores and sales (and have more on the way). Their attention to detail and technical prowess is among the best of any team I’ve ever worked with.

If we wanted a cheap and dirty port, I could have turned around and picked any one of 50 houses and gotten it done for less and perhaps more quickly. Clearly, that wasn’t the approach we sought for a variety of reasons (for the fans, for the reputation of our company, for the potential of the product, etc. okami artwork

Lastly, if this were a quick cash in, let’s face it, there’s TONS of other products that had higher sales on other platforms we could have chosen to port, quickly and cheaply. Okami, as great as it was, wasn’t a huge seller on PS2 such that its quick and dirty port would be assured “sales success” on a new platform. We picked a huge game (read: expensive, especially on testing costs), with a ton of moving parts.

So, on the contrary, we have a lot to prove with this game and I know we, and RAD are up to the task. I apologize if I bristle at the accusation that this is a cheap port, but I do.

Given that the only port we’ve done to date was RE4, which has a 90+ gamerankings score and provided AMAZING value for the platform, has this really been Capcom’s modus operendi such that this allegation should be leveled at us? Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you’ll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy. Shovelware is not what we do.

As I’ve said in prior interviews, we’re getting the game up and running first. The game is enormous. If after we have everything working correctly, cleanly and as desired so as not to “break” the amazing experience that is Okami, we will worry about potential enhancements. As we are NOT at that point in the process yet, we are loathe to even mention any potential changes or enhancements for fear of disappointing the fans/media.

So for now, if you MUST assume the worst, assume that you will have an amazing 40-60 hour adventure that is one of gaming’s most impressive pieces of art to play in fantastic new ways. If you want to hope for the best, well, perhaps we’ll have more to say in a few months, but for now we’re going to have to ask for your patience.”

This whole topic is rather interesting because I think both sides are justified. This is a port of the original game, there should be some sort of benefit for people that have played it already. Resident Evil 4 players got a number of improvements over the Gamecube version:

Adas missions are enough to warrant another purchase of this title(they are extremely interesting). Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch these if you have completed RE4 already: Part 1 - Part 2

Capcom also should not get so defensive when gamers expect more from them. They are one of best developers in the world(second only to Nintendo IMO), so a port like this really isn’t their style.

On the flipside, it really shouldn’t matter if there is little in the way of additional content as this game is already ace. Bringing it to the Wii only ensures that the title gets the attention that it deserved(like RE4). Capcom chose an excellent studio to work on the game, which was a wise choice as this one isn’t going to be so easy to port across. My final point is that Wii owners should feel content with what Capcom are doing for the Wii: Resident Evil 4, Umbrella Chronicles(new trailer here, it keeps looking better), Zack and Wiki, Monster Hunter and now Okami. Over half a year ago I was concerned about Capcoms commitment to the Wii but now I am completely satisfied. Its a pity that other gamers haven’t recognised this yet. :(

To conclude I think that the most interesting part of this kufuffle is this quote:

“Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you’ll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy.”

Its not like Capcom to boast about themselves in such a way. So this is very interesting indeed.

So what do you think about this whole drama? Be sure to hit us up via the comment box.

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The Return of Boulder Dash

October 3rd, 2007

I remember back when I was in the 3rd grade on the old Toybox OS computers at school we had a remade version of the Commodore 64’s Boulder Dash titled Rockford(Rockford is the name of the main character). This game was dear to everyone at my school and it really hit home once the school updated to Windows 95. Even the internet couldn’t supplement the coolness of Rockford.

Unfortunately I had almost forgotten about this game entirely until a few days ago my brother loaded up the title in Dos Box. Talk about a hit of nostalgia! I was so apt to play this forgotten gem again. And yes, it was as awesome as it was back in the day.

But no, Rockford’s comeback hadn’t finished there folks. A few days ago I was cruising through my feeds only to discover that the series was making a come back on the PSP and DS. Forgot all of those other titles. This time its back. ^_^

Unfortunately as apt as RockFord was in the day, this new title doesn’t quite look to match the original’s prowess. Check out the new video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftp-W5EzSpE

There appear to be 3 main issues, judging by the video. Firstly, there is no Rockford(almost destroys the point of a rehash), the character moves too slowly and the map is so close you can hardly see where you are meant to move.

Despite this I am still anticipating the new Boulders Dash. Rock on!

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Why we aren’t going to see a Final Fantasy VII remake

June 17th, 2007

final fantasy vii playstation 3 remake

In the early days of the Playstaion 3 many buddying developers released conceptual gameplay clips in order to show what the system was capable of producing in real time. Square Enix, not to be left out released a trailer of their own based on the most popular entry of their Final Fantasy series; FFVII. This trailer was purely conceptual and they had no intentions of releasing a FFVII game on the Playstation 3. Now despite saying this the FF fanboys across the globe went rampid speculating that SE were secretly developing a FFVII remake for the console.

Now fast forward to a few days ago where SE character designer; Tetsuya Nomura denied the speculation that SE have a FFVII remake in the pipeline. Now despite him saying this, a few (perhaps) desperate people still believe that SE are secretly going to remake the game.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Final Fantasy series, especially the Tactics series. But I don’t think that a re-make will happen and hence I present to you 5 reasons why:

1.This first reason has already been mentioned and that is that its been denied by Tetsuya Nomura. So this proves that there will be no remake in the near future at least. Although SE seems to recognise that fans badly want a remake. So I guess the possibility is still there.

2. One of the reasons why people seem to think that the remake is taking place is because SE are going gun-ho with Final Fantasy remakes at the moment. The DS has received a remake of Final Fantasy III and there’s one for IV on the way, the PSP is also receiving remakes; of the original 2 games. Then there’s also the re-releases of the older titles, such as FF Origins on the PSone or Dawn of Souls for the GBA.

Now what this trend shows is that they are only remaking the 2D games of the series, therefore if this trend holds up they won’t be remaking the first 3D FF title; FFVII.

cloud strife final fantasy vii
Don’t be angry cloud, you’ve been in enough games as it is!

3.This point follows along the same line as the previous point. The Final Fantasy series has always been a popular RPG series but this popularity exploded when Final Fantasy VII was released back in the day. Now many many gamers began their FF experience with the seventh iteration and overtime have caught up on the older titles thru the remakes, re-releases etc. Therefore why would SE need to remake the game that basically started it all for most of us?Games like FF III weren’t even released in PAL territories so it being remade doesn’t encourage more remakes.

4.Square Enix have recently been expanding the the Final Fantasy series beyond the traditional ‘numbered’ series. They have expanded out to series into groups, here’s my rough breakdown:

-the traditional games
-the Ivalice Alliance - Tactics, Relevent Wings etc.
-spin offs Chocobo titles
-focus series Final Fantasy VII(Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerebus etc.)/ Final Fantasy XIII set
-the movies and animated series

Now, it seems a little silly for Square Enix to remake the title for the Playstation 3. It would have to be very ambitious, being on such a powerful platform. Obviously much time would have to go into making it right. Now such a production doesn’t fit into the previous mentioned scheme. Square have already announced their big set of FFVII related content and a remake wasn’t included. In fact Crisis Core hasn’t even come out yet now. So it would seem a stupid to announce a remake now and not have previously included in the set. The game also wouldn’t fit in with the new action driven gameplay of XIII. There’s just no place for this game.

5. The final reason comes from the lack of success from the movie Advent Children. Sure its a movie which makes it different but the movie downright sucked. I just couldn’t stand it. Isn’t this proof enough not to stir the grave of a legendary game? And we all know that SE would make the remake like the movie. Ugh!

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