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Splatterhouse opens its doors in Q3 2010
Click to enter SplattergalleryWe had kind of forgotten that, despite the closure of developer BottleRocket, Namco Bandai's current-gen Splatterhouse revamp was still in the works. And even if we had remembered that, we would have assumed that the supposed 2010 release had been quietly canceled in the interim. However, October is the right time for horror games and Namco Bandai has decided to surprise us all by releasing the game five screenshots! These new screens look pretty different from what we've seen, seeming to show a little bit of a cel-shaded effect and, for some reason, reduced muscle definition on Rick. We didn't really expect Namco to be messing around with the basic look of the game, but there it is.The company also adjusted the previous "early 2010" release date we'd heard: now the game is slated for "Q3 2010." We're kind of hoping the extra time goes into the graphics. At least into getting them back to the state they were in last year.%Gallery-75433%
BottleRocket fizzles out of existence
BottleRocket Entertainment, the company that had worked on Splatterhouse and a game based on The Flash, has shut down. Studio founder Jay Beard confirmed the closure and noted in an email that he plans to make a new operation "from the ground up." According to Beard, BottleRocket had been in a precarious position "for the past six months," presumably ever since Namco Bandai pulled the Splatterhouse project from the studio citing "performance issues." The developer denied the accusation and members of BottleRocket were even put back on the Splatterhouse project after the full team was removed. Another contributing factor to the studio's passing was likely the halted Flash game that was allegedly in development until publisher Brash Entertainment's demise. Hopefully, Beard will have better luck with his next studio.
Surprise! Splatterhouse missing 2009, splattering in 2010
Did you notice? Namco's now-gen Splatterhouse reboot was nowhere to be seen at this year's E3. Following the game's troubled development history, that wasn't much of a surprise to those of us in the know, but we decided to send off a query to the folks at Namco Bandai, just to make sure. They told us, "Namco Bandai Games America Inc. is hard at work on Splatterhouse. Development is in full swing and we are committed to bringing it to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2010. This will give us time to polish and incorporate all the content to deliver a top notch game worthy of this classic video game franchise." So, the American development team behind Afro Samurai has taken the reins from previous developer BottleRocket (with help from some now-former BottleRocket staff), and any 2009 release window you may have heard about in the past has been smashed with a gore-soaked two-by-four. So consider this a public service announcement: you won't be splattering any houses until 2010 (or "early 2010" as Siliconera was told). %Gallery-23980%
VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Muscle Marches On
Under normal circumstances, by far the biggest news on the Japanese Wii Shop this week would be Final Fantasy. Square Enix actually delivered the game on time to Virtual Console, and didn't even take the opportunity to jack the price up. Even if it is ancient, 500 points for a classic RPG is a great deal!But circumstances aren't normal this week: Muscle March, the game of posing a line of Speedo'd bodybuilders to run through walls in order to catch the thief who stole their protein powder, is out. Also on WiiWare, though less muscle-related: Arkanoid Plus!, a WiiWare release similar to the Arkanoid game for XBLA, and NEVES Plus.Virtual Console: Final Fantasy (Famicom, 1 player, 500 Wii Points) Splatterhouse (Arcade, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare: Arkanoid Plus! (1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Hamekomi Lucky Puzzle Wii (1-4 players, 500 Wii Points) ３℃ (1-2 players, 700 Wii Points) Muscle Koushinkyoku (Muscle March) (1-4 players, 800 Wii Points)
BottleRocket confirms work on Splatterhouse
A BottleRocket representative has confirmed an earlier report suggesting that members of the former Splatterhouse developer's team had been brought on by Namco Bandai to help finish the job. "Yes, that is true," commented the rep, who added the while the studio couldn't talk about how many employees had accepted Namco's offer, "It is my understanding that Namco only offered contracts, not full-time employment."BottleRocket was forcibly removed from developing Splatterhouse by Namco last February over an unspecified "performance issue", with the re-imagining instead rumored to now be in the hands of the team responsible for Afro Samurai.
Report: BottleRocket devs hired to finish Splatterhouse
Earlier this year, it was revealed that Namco had taken development of its Splatterhouse revival away from developer BottleRocket, opting to move the game to the internal studio behind Afro Samurai. Namco cited a "performance issue" as its reason for pulling development, a claim that BottleRocket later contested. Now, The Cut Scene is reporting that development has gone back to BottleRocket ... in a manner of speaking. A "source close to the project" claims that Namco has hired several members of the BottleRocket staff and assigned them to a new San Diego office to finish the game.As Variety notes, it would appear that the "performance issue" didn't apply to the people actually responsible for making the game. Either that, or finishing someone else's game turned out to be more difficult than expected.
BottleRocket responds to 'performance issue' claims
And the drama continues between publisher Namco Bandai and BottleRocket, with the former Splatterhouse developer responding this afternoon to claims last week that a "performance issue" was to blame for the project being yanked off the California studio's plate. Obviously miffed, the company noted deliberate choice of its words, writing "We too have to be careful of what we say since publishers have to worry about their "image" and will sue small, independent studios who bark back at them too loudly.""Game development contracts are put in place to protect the publisher and their interests," offered BottleRocket in a prepared statement. "Within these contracts are a series of defined game development objectives and goals called milestones. If a developer is under performing they tend to fail these milestones and have varying degrees of accountability placed upon them."The statement concluded: "Splatterhouse had been in development for over eighteen months and up to having the title taken away from us we had not missed any contractually defined milestones. So either there were no performance issues during that timeframe or Namco's management of the title was inept." So, Namco, what gives? Did BottleRocket run over your dog, or something?
Namco: BottleRocket 'performance issue' to blame for Splatterhouse flap
Namco Bandai has broken its silence: "So, basically, the only reason why publishers pull the project out from the developer is when the developer isn't really meeting the requirements," COO Makoto Iwai told Gamasutra, as he carefully began the first official explanation for the removal of BottleRocket Entertainment from Splatterhouse development. In what is best described as the delicate threeway between "evil publishers" (Namco, in this case), their properties, and the indie developers they employ to do said properties, Namco deemed BottleRocket incapable of delivering the climactic touch to Splatterhouse. In other words, "I just want to be 100 percent clear," Iwai asserted, "There was a performance issue." Gasp! Wow, Namco sure is brave for speaking out. It's such a taboo topic, after all -- no one wants to hear it was the developer's fault. "I have to be very careful so we don't make any direct comment on it because whatever we say, people will try to be on the developer side," Iwai observed. Whatever Namco, isn't there a pill or something you could have prescribed?
Ex Splatterhouse dev speaks out, confirms new project
BottleRocket, the now former developer of Namco's forthcoming Splatterhouse reboot, has officially commented on last week's unexpected parting of ways with the franchise. The move -- on Namco's part -- raised questions about the studio's fate, yet a statement we received today includes word of future plans."Namco canceled the development of Splatterhouse on February 6, 2009," the statement confirms, going on to say, "BottleRocket wishes Namco the best in completing their project." Thought not officially confirmed by Namco, it's believed that the internal studio responsible for Afro Samurai has taken on Splatterhouse.Meanwhile, BottleRocket appears to be forging ahead, stating that, "[The] development team is looking forward to turning their attention to a new project soon to be announced." As long as it's not called Hockey Mask Gorefest, we think the team will do alright.
News flash: Splatterhouse is really gory
It's probably time that we introduce you to some new footage from Splatterhouse, somehow lost in the New York Comic Con shuffle. The footage, incidentally, is horrific, visceral, violent and gory. It also has a totally rawkin' soundtrack for those who are into that sort of thing. For those not into that sort of thing, well, we hope there's a BGM volume option. Then again, music might be the least of your worries now that Namco Bandai's internal Surge studio is at the helm of the game. As such, let's just hope it doesn't become Voldo's Quest: The Search for a Better Thong. Check out the footage after the break.
Namco splits with Splatterhouse dev, game will be finished
Namco Bandai has confirmed that its upcoming next-gen reboot of Splatterhouse -- which we just saw at New York Comic Con -- is no longer in development at Bottlerocket Entertainment. Development of the game, which was the studio's only project, will be completed, although Namco isn't saying who will finish the work.When approached for comment on the situation, Bottlerocket told us that, "Last Friday, Namco showed up with a U-Haul truck, took all their assets (dev kits, etc.) and informed management that the title was being pulled from Bottlerocket." Namco would not discuss specifics of the move, saying only that, "Yes, we have decided to part ways with Bottlerocket Entertainment but we are committed to bringing Splatterhouse to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 later this year. At this time, we are not ready to discuss specific development details about the game and wish Bottlerocket the best of luck in their future endeavors."The job of finishing Splatterhouse is rumored to have gone to the same in-house Namco Bandai team responsible for the recently-released Afro Samurai.
Rumor: Namco takes Splatterhouse From BottleRocket [update]
Namco Bandai has reportedly swiped the hockey mask out from under Splatterhouse developer BottleRocket Entertainment, giving the nearly-finished project to the publisher's internal Afro Samurai team instead. Sources close to the company say that Namco officials reclaimed all dev kits and Splatterhouse assets from BottleRocket last Friday, according to Kotaku, apparently leaving the California dev with nothing else to work on besides cleaning out its desks.If true, it's unclear why Namco would wait so long to pull the project from BottleRocket, with the gory PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 action title set to go gold sometime in March. We've reached out to both Namco Bandai and BottleRocket for further comment, and will update once we hear more.Update: We've heard back from both developer BottleRocket and publisher Namco Bandai – read their responses here. If you know anything about the specifics of this most unfortunate situation, be sure to let us know!
NYCC 09: Original Splatterhouse included in reboot
"Everybody wants that," exclaimed Splatterhouse co-producer Mark Brown, responding to a question about the original 1988 beat-em-up's inclusion in the forthcoming franchise reboot. "In one form, we're gonna deliver on it," concluded Brown, who was joined by writer Gordon Rennie in a design panel at New York Comic Con today. Brown, who is producing the new Splatterhouse alongside Dan Tovar, called the original, the "crown jewel of the [Namco] back catalog," and confirmed the plan to bundle the classic arcade game (also ported to Turbografx-16 -- and now on Virtual Console) as an extra in the new game, perhaps as a "premium edition" bonus. Splatterhouse is due out "later this year" -- Namco Bandai is targeting Q3 2009. The official game site has just gone live with a new trailer and screens. On a side note: Splatterhouse appears to be the first game to allow players to use their own severed limbs as weapons ... once their bloody stumps regenerate into new arms. Confirmed.
Telling stories: The next hurdle for story telling
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.What's next for in-game story telling? In this, our final segment looking at video game narratives, our collective of industry professionals offer insight into what they believe is the next big challenge facing the evolution of story telling in the games we play.
Telling stories: The games that got it right
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.It's rare that story tellers get all of the pieces of their narrative to fit together exactly right in any medium. But in this industry, where story shares a balance with gameplay and endings often get the short end of the development stick, weaving a complete and compelling tale must be a daunting task. Now, gifts unwrapped and bellies full, our panel of industry personalities sound off on those games that they feel were up to the challenge, delivering storytelling experiences above and beyond their peers.
Telling stories: How much is that ending in the window?
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.Epic Games' Michael Capps recently caused quite an uproar among gamers with his suggestion to offer the conclusion to games as premium DLC rather than as part of the core experience. As the latest in our continuing week-long feature, we asked our panel of industry personalities what they thought of the proposal. Interestingly, much of the group was noticibly more tight-lipped in their responses than when answering other questions.
Telling stories: What's up with lame endings?
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.While narrative has taken on a larger role, time and again we end up being left unsatisfied in the final moments with endings that fail to wrap up stories in interesting or compelling ways. In our continuing week-long feature, we asked our diverse collection of industry personalities why so many endings in the games we play leave us cold.
Telling stories: Balancing gameplay v. narrative
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.How important are stories? How about endings? Over the next week this diverse group of personalities sounds off on these and other story-driven topics, starting today as we open up by asking whether or not narrative shares an equal burden as gameplay in carrying the video game experience.
Splatterhouse focuses on gore for 'a very messy good time'
1UP has pummeled new details out of Namco Bandai and The Mark of Kri devs at BottleRocket concerning the upcoming Splatterhouse remake, which will bloody up the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime next year. Among the finer points spilled include a return of many of the series' weapons, including the 2-by-4 and meat cleaver, while Rick's arsenal has been expanded to include multiple weapon classes and "a few surprises."Speaking of the original, while Namco believes the source material's graphics are "best left to nostalgia," the team notes that they have tried to remain faithful to the series' 80s horror movie vibe. Even so, the devs admit that gore is what the game "is going to be all about," promising that players will have "a very messy good time." It's amazing what you can do with that little 'M' on the box. Still, we wonder if the title will come with a disclaimer warning kids that inevitably get hold of Spatterhouse that lumber is absolutely not to be used in this manner.
Wii Warm Up: Splatterhouse Party
Did any of you spend the Halloween evening at home on the couch instead of out looking and acting silly? Maybe you've been drafted into the all-important supply side of the trick-or-treat candy distribution chain. Or maybe you didn't have time to put a costume together, or you didn't know of any parties, or it was too cold outside for the spandex outfit you bought. Whatever the reason, we figure some of you were at home playing games this Halloween. Did any of you do any totally spooky Halloween gaming? Did you boost the Splatterhouse download numbers?
