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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 skipping Wii U due to resource restraints
"The reason why we are developing it on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is simply because that's the amount of people we got," Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 producer David Cox says of development on the upcoming sequel. "If we want to do a Wii U conversion, that's another 20 people. We just don't have the resources or the budget to do it."While Cox showed interest in pursuing a Wii U port of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, he reiterates in this Eurogamer interview that developer MercurySteam just can't handle it right now. "It's not to say we wouldn't do it, it's to say at this point we don't want to lose focus on what we're doing. We've got a certain way down the line, and it would be a distraction to have to do a port to another system at this point. You say to yourself, can I take on another 20 people? It's just a nightmare to manage at this point. That's the only reason why we're not doing any other formats."Cox also painted a pretty rough picture of the MercurySteam offices right now. The studio is "at a breaking point" with 110 employees working in a space that was originally designed to house 60. "People are sitting on each other's laps almost," he says. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 was originally announced for Xbox 360 and PS3 at E3 last year, with a planned launch some time in 2013. Later at Gamescom, Cox revealed the PC port would also arrive this year. MercurySteam has said that after Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 and upcoming go-between Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate on 3DS, the developer would like to take a crack at Contra.
Rumor: New 3DS Castlevania to debut at E3
A new Castlevania game will be announced for the 3DS during E3 next month, according to Dutch site n1ntendo, as translated by neoGAF. The project will reportedly be exclusive to Nintendo's handheld and already has Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox and director Enric Alvarez attached – according to information that supposedly comes from a leaked E3 schedule for Konami.Cox did tease that he was spending time "in the land of Dracul" last April, though his Twitter responses to this latest rumor call the idea "misinformed," reiterating that "the truth is ALWAYS better than fiction!"
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer teasing new game, namedrops Dracula
Konami's European Production Studio head and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer, David Cox, isn't much for ambiguity in his tweets. "Today and tomorrow I am in the land of Dracul... What am I doing there?? You will see...." he wrote earlier today. Despite his teasing, Cox wouldn't tell us anything beyond "No comment." This is hardly the first indication of a sequel to 2010's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and it seems likely that Konami is once again working with Spanish studio MercurySteam. One employee posted the teaser image seen above to his website back in late January, specifically pointing out the connection to Konami.Another staff member, taking to Spanish radio (via Eurogamer ES), mentioned his involvement with a sequel in late 2010 (though it's possible he was just riding high on the first game's then-recent debut). Konami's official line on the matter is ... well, nothing. The publisher hasn't made a peep regarding a new Castlevania.Regardless, with PAX East just a few days away and the upcoming preview season, we expect it won't be long before Konami's tune changes. We'll keep an eye on Cox's Twitter feed as well, just in case.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 'Reverie' DLC released 'in error' on PSN
David Cox, producer on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, has been all over Twitter recently, responding to complaints about the DLC delay. When he was asked by one disgruntled European gamer wondering why the Xbox 360 delay was holding up the Reverie DLC on PS3 in his region, Cox revealed that the initial DLC launch on PSN was "put up there in error." In other words, Reverie wasn't meant to be released on PS3 in North America (whoops!). Cox also said that it's "too late to take it down" meaning that presumably whatever bug is keeping it from a larger release isn't catastrophic enough to require it be pulled from Sony's service. Currently the DLC is still available on the US PlayStation Store for $9.99.
David Cox on rebooting Castlevania for a new generation
With Castlevania: Lords of Shadow only two weeks from launch, we spoke with producer David Cox about rebuilding the franchise for a modern audience. How did developer MercurySteam look to overcome the failures of past 3D iterations of the franchise? And what role did Kojima Productions play in the creation of this new Castlevania? Cox reveals how Kojima urged him to redesign a once "barbarian" Gabriel and how the game was nearly canceled a year into development in our conversation below. Joystiq: How did poor critical reception of past 3D Castlevania games influence perceptions of this project? How did you pitch this game to senior Konami management? David Cox: I think there was always a desire to make the game 3D. I think people thought that in order to attract a mainstream audience, it had to be a 3D game. I personally love 2D games, but the fact is the market for 2D games is tiny. Most people want to play a 3D action adventure game with impressive visuals, etc. etc. I think for us, one of the things we found in hindsight is that the previous games tried to emulate the 2D games -- basically: turn the 2D games into 3D. We felt that wasn't the way to go. We felt the way to go was to boil down Castlevania to its core tenets, and create a 3D game from there. Sure, it's a brave decision, but we needed to be brave, and we needed to have the freedom to do what we wanted to make.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow special edition mockup outed by Amazon
An image spotted on Amazon (and since removed) suggests that there will be a special edition release of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow -- as if its status as a major game from a large publisher didn't already make that clear. The image shows a package comprising two Xbox 360 game discs, a soundtrack, and a "The Art of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow" book. Lords of Shadow producer David Cox told Joystiq, "The images of the special edition leaked onto the net are mock ups and NOT final," before adding that the retailer "jumped the gun" by publishing early images. Though neither Cox nor Konami had anything official to announce about a special edition, someone at Konami is mocking up special edition images. Probably in advance of a real special edition. That would just be a weird hobby otherwise.
David Cox details the 'epic yet sad' score of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
In an interview conducted last summer with Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer David Cox, we found out that the much loved Castlevania: Symphony of the Night music composer Michiru Yamane wouldn't be joining the team at Konami to compose the upcoming game. What was unclear at the time, however, was who exactly would be assigned the task of creating the game's score. David Cox explained to Joystiq this morning that Oscar Araujo, a Spanish symphonist, has been granted that burden. "Our composer for this game is Oscar Araujo who is a Spanish composer. He is creating a very epic yet sad and melancholy score that perfectly suits the game and emotion that we are aiming for." While Cox added that he's "a big fan of Yamane-san's work," he admitted that her music wouldn't have been a great fit for Mercury Steam's take on the Castlevania series. It certainly doesn't hurt that, according to Cox, she's no longer an employee of Konami. "Yamane-san left Konami quite some time ago as I understand it. She is currently working freelance, though I am not 100% sure. "Yamane-san has a style that fits perfectly to the previous Castlevania games but this game is very different to those more recent 'vania's in style and direction. I don't think I would be doing her any favours by including her music in the game." He also pointed out that we'll understand his point more clearly when we "eventually get to see the game." With any luck, that'll be sooner rather than later. %Gallery-65043%
Upcoming Castlevania's 'lead' console is PlayStation 3, Konami producer says
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow may be in development for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, but the game's producer David Cox recently pointed out via his Twitter account that the "PS3 is the lead platform" for the upcoming game. That isn't to say the Xbox 360 version will be lesser for the fact, as he quickly followed up his statement with the assurance that "the game is identical on both formats [Xbox 360 and PS3]." He's also noted a few times recently that we'll be hearing more about the game sometime "soon," so in lieu of no new information, at least be contented with the thought that you'll get some additional Castlevania deets sometime in the near future. Maybe. %Gallery-65043%
MTV Games hires former THQ and Sony execs in key positions
MTV Games has hired two new high-level execs to manage its growth. First up is former senior Sony sales and merchandising executive, David Cox, who'll become the company's senior vice president of sales. At the same time, MTV Games has appointed Scott Guthrie as executive vice president and general manager to lead the "fast-growing video game publishing group's management team."Guthrie's former position was that of executive vice president of publishing at embattled publisher THQ. You know, that company that had to do an executive overhaul and is currently altering its image to forget its past, along with last year's $431 million loss. Hopefully things will go a little better at MTV Games.
