clover-studio
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Rumor: Sega publishing Platinum Games title for DS?
We aren't sure whether we should trust any of this -- Kotaku's summary of a pulled videogaming247 post whose source is a mystery -- but it's about Platinum Games, so it's quite irresistible. According to the rumor, Platinum Games (the company made from the former Clover Studio) is working on three games to be published by Sega: two for the Wii, and one for DS.The hypothetical DS title is a sci-fi RPG called Infinite Line, in which you play a starship captain of a crew you can customize. The Wii games sound like your basic Devil May Cry variations. We'll reserve judgment until we're sure any of this is real, but we're a bit disappointed that none of the rumored games are the least bit God Hand-like. We'll just have to make a crew of Genes.
Capcom talks about Clover closure
This news may not be as hopeful as the last Clover-related item, but it certainly helps to soften the original shock of Capcom's shutdown of Clover Studio last October. Capcom's vice president of marketing, Charles Bellfield, explained the nature of Clover's dissolution, giving us a glimpse at Capcom's internal development team structure. Basically, most of Capcom's teams are defined by their heads, and programming talent is pulled from a common pool. Clover was the exception, with a dedicated team of about 80 people. When Hideki Kamiya, Atsushi Inaba, and Shinji Mikami "decided to leave" the rest of the staff were folded back into the Capcom development pool. It's not exactly a happy ending to the Clover saga, but at least the whole development team didn't get canned for being too Viewtiful. The Clover bigwigs have their freedom, and the staff still have Capcom jobs. The interview is packed with info on all kinds of recent Capcommery, including a discussion of Phoenix Wright's surprising success. A Fanboy high five to the interviewer, former Video Game Ombudsman and blog-relative Kyle Orland.
Raffle: Okami and God Hand, a Clover combo [update 1]
Buy an Okami/God Hand raffle ticket [Update: This raffle is closed! Congratulations to winner #4!]When Capcom shuttered Clover Studio this past October, the gaming world lost one of the industry's most consistently creative studios. This fall, their final two titles were released for the PlayStation 2: the beautiful Okami and the slapstick brawler God Hand. If you somehow missed 'em (both of them? Really?) now's your chance to rectify that oversight by entering our Child's Play raffle!The rules: each dollar in donations purchased using this link earns you one comment. Think of each comment as a raffle ticket. In three days (11:59 EST this Tuesday), we'll choose our winners using random.org and verify their donation. More on the rules here. We'd like to thank Capcom for the games, and encourage anyone interested in donating raffle prizes to contact us!
Capcom squashes Clover, lights out for bright studio
Quality doesn't always pay the bills, as Clover Studio found out today. Capcom's Board of Directors has elected to dissolve the promising studio, which was formed in July 2004 and brought us the acclaimed Viewtiful Joe series before unleashing its masterpiece, Okami, just last month (in North America). Clover's latest project, God Hand, was released just this week! Here's Capcom's cold official explanation: "Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home video game software, however, in view of promoting a business strategy that concentrates management resources on a selected business to enhance the efficiency of the development power of the entire Capcom group, the dissolution of Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has been raised and passed at a Board of Directors' meeting." But it may not be all doom and gloom. Wired's Game|Life blog reports, via anonymous sources, that the superstars behind Clover have decided to up and make their own independent development studio. So, if Game|Life is correct, then Capcom's dissolution of Clover could simply be because Clover had jumped ship, eager to get out from under Capcom's oppressive thumb and finally make the creative and unique games they'd always dreamed of ... err, wait a second. [Thanks to everyone that sent this in]
Viewtiful Joe joining the Revolution?
That's right, the spandex-clad chop-socky cel-shaded superhero may be headed for the Nintendo Revolution, at least if Clover Studios' president Atsushi Inaba has anything to say about it. The kind folks at 1up were kind enough to translate parts of an interview conducted by the French folks at Jeux France who were French enough to ask some interesting questions regarding the Capcom team's upcoming games and some of their past successes. After finishing the utterly fantastic looking Okami for PS2, Mr. Inaba intends to get cracking on his next project right away, showing a keen interest in Nintendo's next-gen machine. He says that "if the character and the universe of Viewtiful Joe adapt correctly to the characteristics of Nintendo's future console, and we could indeed conceive a Viewtiful Joe on Nintendo Revolution," the project would see the light of day. "In the contrary case, we will try to make to propose another game on Nintendo Revolution which is as interesting." As interesting as controlling Joe's Mach-speed kicks and punches with the Revolution controller? That seems unlikely, sir.
Viewtiful Joe 2 for PS2
Viewtiful Joe 2 has already gained some notoriety. A bug in the Playstation Underground demo version of the game wiped your memory card. A bug so heinous, that if you call Sony and say "My card got wiped", if you send them the UPC code or something from the disk, they'll send you a free game, which I'm sure will make up for the hundreds of hours of Final Fantasy you lost. There are threads on message boards across the net with people lamenting what they lost, like some strange honor roll. There are also a fair number of people who have said they're not buying the game because it may still have the same bug. Understandably gunshy, but come on... Do you honestly think that, after this complete disaster, they wouldn't fix the bug? I can state from personal experience that so far I've yet to encounter any memory card wiping bug. Here's a review for you. The first game hasn't been out that long, and here's the sequel. And it's good. Though sadly, the touted co-op play mode never made it in, which is a huge shame. It's still a ridiculously fun game though. But don't take my word for it, go read the review!
Viewtiful Joe 2 has arrived!
Sequels, sequels, sequels! We're going mad with sequels over here! As if it wasn't already enough, Capcom has tossed in its own offering, Viewtiful Joe 2. The original garnered a cult following for its unique old school fundamentals, and the sequel follows the same line (perhaps a little too closely). At any rate, when you get the time, check this title out. GameCube PS2
Viewtiful Joe (PS2) review
If you missed Viewtiful Joe the first time around (it was released a year ago for the GameCube), be sure to check out its re-release for the PlayStation 2. Some of you may be groaning already about Capcom re-hashing a game that's now a year old, but I'm willing to label this sort of effort "timeless"-and if you're still doubtful the game is being offered for the bargain price of $30. Even if you're familar with the original version you may be interested in some of the bonuses Capcom has packed in (notably, Dante from Devil May Cry). Viewtiful Joe is quite an accomplishment in that it deviates from your standard beat-em-up action title without loosing touch with the 2D, side-scrolling roots it descends from-that sounds like somewhat of a paradox, but you'll just have to play it to see what I mean. Joe is the sort of nostaglia that lasts longer than a ten minute fix. Do yourself a favor and give it a try. If you're interested you can use the link below to see what other critics our saying.
Viewtiful Joe returns, before sequel
Capcom's cult classic, Viewtiful Joe, is finally making its way to the PlayStation 2. Almost a year since its debut on the GameCube, this latest version is not just another port. Capcom has added at least one goodie, in the form of a new playable character: Dante (from another Capcom favorite, Devil May Cry). That's right, everyone's favorite demon-slayer is making his debut in Joe's gritty, art-house 2D-style. Don't expect a whole new game here, but while using Dante, players get some different dialogue and of course have access to Dante's signature weaponry: Alastor, the legendary broad sword, and his duel .45s, Ebony & Ivory. The original Viewtiful Joe was known for its extreme difficulty, but Capcom has made things a little more accessible this time around by adding the very-easy "Sweet" difficulty (as featured in the import version). PlayStation fans should definitely check this one out before the sequel drops next February, and for only $30 it's a steal!
