clover-studios
Latest
Former Clover members now working on Resident Evil 5, new Wii game
Capcom's VP of marketing, Charles Bellfield, recently demonstrated extraordinary levels of courage and patience when he was sealed in a (possibly metaphorical) room with our very own Kyle Orland. The experience yielded an interesting interview on Gamasutra, one that touches on the fate of Clover Studios and the not-so-elusive Ace Attorney 3. On the topic of Clover Studios and its untimely liquidation, Bellfield asserts that several members of the team have simply been integrated into other Capcom groups. "So, for example, some of the team that worked on Clover titles are now helping Takeuchi-san on Resident Evil 5, helping Inafune-san on a new title for the Wii, so I think it's very much the skill set still stays in the company when those individuals stay and, unfortunately, three individuals chose to leave." The three referenced individuals, namely Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya, have since formed their own studio, Seeds.Later in the interview, Bellfield expresses some surprise as to the success Phoenix Wright has found in America, with the original title now having shipped over 100,000 copies since its introduction. "It's shipped steadily for the last year, and we've just shipped Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice for All and we have more coming up, so I think again it's like a good book, it's that word of mouth that gets people out there to learn more about the game." With that, Bellfield likely confirms what we've suspected since Capcom launched it's Ace Attorney 3 contest last week -- the third Phoenix Wright adventure is likely being localized as we speak. English, that is.
Clover Studios replaced by Seeds?
After the lackluster sales of the absolutely gorgeous and stunning Okami, Capcom closed down their Clover Studios -- also responsible for Viewtiful Joe. Well, doors officially close next month, but it doesn't seem to be the end of the Clover team. Far from it, in fact. Atsushi Inaba, CEO of the defunct Clover, has created a new software development studio named Seeds. There are over 50 members on staff, including the director of Devil May Cry and creator of Resident Evil, Hideki Kimaya and Shinji Mikami, respectively. Most of the Clover team has signed on as artists, composers and character designers. What isn't known is if this new studio will have any ties to Capcom. In either case, seems we won't be lacking the artistic, gorgeous games Clover is known for. Good luck, Seeds!
Former Clover members start up new studio
You know something's rotten in the games industry when the reward for producing a magnificent adventure like Okami is the complete liquidation of your studio. All is not lost, however, as the former members of Capcom's Clover Studios have moved their aspirations to fresher soil. GameDaily BIZ reports that the team's new studio, Seeds, is currently in the process of hiring new employees to join a current roster of 51.Amongst those lies a designer trifecta: Viewtiful Joe's Atsushi Inaba, Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami and Devil May Cry's Hideki Kamiya. Seeds has yet to announce any projects, but a cel-shaded, survival-horror title (with a guitar-wielding protagonist) would certainly be a good start.
Dream Games: Okami
Dream Games is a new weekly column where we explore a game we'd love to see on the PSP. Feel free to check in, and comment, every week. Okami Clover Studios' last masterpiece before they were shut down (God Hand doesn't count) didn't earn the sales that it deserved. The cel-shaded adventure game shared many similarities with Zelda (including the ability to play as a wolf), but had enough quirky Japanese originality to set it apart from the rest of the pack. It recently won IGN's Game of the Year award (to much controversy). Whether or not it deserved such a high accolade can be debated, but it's impossible to deny that Okami was still one of PS2's greatest. Why PSP? More people need to play Okami, and the PSP is the only handheld system capable of doing the series justice. Although the Celestial Brush would be incredible on the Nintendo DS' touch screens, the gorgeous animated scenery in Okami would end up being little more than a pixelated mess on the underpowered competition. Like the other Dream Games, Okami doesn't really require complex button combinations. The PSP is sorely missing a truly great adventure game: Okami would be a perfect fit. Is it possible? No. With Clover Studios dismantled, the chances of us ever seeing a portable version of Okami seems slim. And besides, shouldn't Capcom be working on a portable Resident Evil? Pretty please?
Okami and Godhand coming to 360? [update 1]
Update: 360 Fanboy reader, insane_cobra, uncovered the English version of the document. It looks like the Okami/Godhand dream is just that, a dream. It was nice while it lasted. A gaming blog by the name of Live Gamer reports that the PS2 exclusives, Okami and Godhand, are headed for a face-lift on the Xbox 360. The information comes from a document released by Capcom. Upstanding bloggers that we are, we checked over this document several times. Frankly, we couldn't make heads or tails of it. That's when we discovered our problem: the document is in Japanese. It is worth noting that "Godhand" and "Xbox 360" definitely appear in the same paragraph. If true, the move makes sense, as Capcom probably wants to squeeze a little more money from the two games. Savvy netizens will know that Capcom recently closed Clover Studios -- the devs behind Okami and Godhand, as well as Viewtiful Joe -- because of less than stellar sales of their titles. A cheap, quick, and dirty port of the games could make Capcom a little extra scratch. Still, until we can dig up a translation of the document, chalk this one up to a rumor for now. [Via Digg]
Developers say "PSP has already failed" [Update 1]
The people of Games Radar speak about Tokyo Game Show in their latest podcast. They speak a little bit about PSP, and talk about the impressive Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, and lament about how the PSP might've been more successful if such beautiful, fully developed games were released, or announced, earlier in the PSP's life cycle. They seem to have come to a conclusion that Japanese developers believe that the PSP isn't in the process of failing... it's already failed. They quote a Clover Studios producer (guys behind the awesome Viewtiful Joe and Okami) as saying "Sony's lost this generation. I'll be real interested to see what they'll do with PSP2. I think that's where they have a chance to come off a failure and really succeed." Download Audio
Okami: before and after cel-shading
Notably the only upcoming PS2 game to feature magical wolves, aggressive painting and beautiful cel-shaded surroundings, Okami has come a long way since its original inception. Dubbed Ohkami, the early version presents quite a different experience to the one currently preparing to hit US shores. A comparison clip over at GameVideos (embedded in the second part of the post) puts the more realistic art style of the old version in stark contrast to the cel-shaded update. It seems that the PS2 was simply not deemed powerful enough to render Clover Studios' original vision and so the shift was made to a different and more feasible art style. It's interesting that the decision marks one of the few occasions where technical limitations actually (and arguably) lead to a more visually striking game. If you had a choice in the matter, would you rather have the realistic (erm, as far as magical wolves go) Okami or the cel-shaded one? Comments from the "Zelda more like Celda" crowd are welcomed, of course. [Thanks Demian!]
