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No frills to be found in Okami's Wii port
If you were hoping that the recently announced Wii version of Okami would lure you back into its beautiful world with new environments, bosses, weapons and so forth, you're about to have your somewhat optimistic viewpoint obscured by one Didier Malenfant. In an interview with IGN, the president of Ready At Dawn explains that Okam-Wii (see what we did there?) will be an "exact port of the PS2 version," save for the magical brush strokes which will now correspond to motions of the Wiimote. Malenfant argues that messing with the game in any form would simply draw ire from Clover devotees.Strangely, the same crowd is currently wagging their fingers at Ready At Dawn for failing to pretty up the port in some way. While Malenfant's reasoning may appear to hide some reticence to retool, one has to consider that the game in question tanked on the platform with the largest install base. The Wii version isn't aimed at gamers who bought and enjoyed Okami -- it's aimed at the millions of idiots people who didn't. If anything, we think Clover's masterpiece would be better served by having some of that bloat excised. [Via Wii Fanboy]
Wii Warm Up: My style is impetuous
Yes, it's true: Capcom answers prayers. At least, when those prayers concern porting their games to other consoles. They've made a lot of Nintendo fans happy by announcing a Wii version of their underappreciated, underselling PS2 game Okami. But, to us at least, they've picked the wrong Clover Studio game. Don't get us wrong-- we think Okami is great, and we'll be happy to play it on WIi-- but in Clover Studio's short lifespan they produced one absolutely perfect game, and it's not about a wolf.It's about a dude, and his arm. We'd love to see someone take a crack at messing with God Hand's controls for a Wii game; we've got the real thing, after all, so if it didn't work out, we could just not buy it. But today's discussion isn't just about how amazingly awesome God Hand is, though we really wouldn't mind if that's where the discussion went. We want to know which Clover game you'd rather play on the Wii: any of the Viewtiful Joe games, Okami (which kind of wins by default) or God Hand. And if that's too limiting, feel free to branch out and consider any Capcom releases of the last couple of generations!
Ex-Clover dev team buries 'Seeds' to form 'Platinum Games'
Shortly after producing the strikingly beautiful Okami and relentlessly challenging God Hand, Capcom's Clover Studios was duly rewarded with cold commercial apathy and prompt liquidation. In February, the studio's lead designer trifecta -- Viewtiful Joe's Atsushi Inaba, Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami and Devil May Cry's Hideki Kamiya -- formed a new studio, Seeds, and began the process of hiring new employees. Just over seven months later, it appears that Seeds will wither before producing even a single game. The company's recruitment website now states that Seeds will undergo a merger with a company called "ODD," resulting in a change of name to "Platinum Games" as of October 1st. No upcoming projects are mentioned, though one would hope that the new title becomes reflective of the success that's eluded Clover for so long.[Via IGN]
Wii Warm Up: The Okami rumors are back
Just when you thought it was safe to stop hoping for an Okami port on the Wii, the rumors are back. Oh, not necessarily because anything new happened, except for folks apologizing for porting games to the Wii instead of making new content, but just because Stephen Munn at Aeropause thinks that, despite Capcom's loose denial of the possibility of a Wii Okami, the time is ripe. Your thoughts?
Okami creator 'disappointed' by Twilight Princess
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Okami_creator_disappointed_by_Twilight_Princess'; Okami is deeply beautiful to our eyes, and it's a superb game. Twilight Princess, we feel, is a deeply brilliant game. But is Link's most recent adventure also beautiful? Okami's Director, Hideki Kamiya, was in Tokyo last week to pick up an Entertainment Award (for his work on Okami, natch) at the 10th Media Arts Festival, which is an event held annually by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. (And that must have felt good, after Capcom's no-show at the AIAS awards.)Kamiya was asked how he felt about Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and he explained: "To be frank, I was disappointed when I saw [Twilight Princess'] visuals. I'm a Zelda freak -- it's no overstatement to say that I created Okami because of Zelda. I really wanted [Twilight Princess] to have that regal aura, because Zelda was what we were aspiring to. I wanted it to show me things that were surprising, but..."So, which game do you find to be more beautiful?[Thanks, pokemogu]
Capcom, Clover, and a little Wii name-dropping
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Capcom_and_ex_Clover_devs_hard_at_work_on_mysterious_new_Wii_title'; If someone mentions an amorphous new Wii game in space, we're gonna hear about it, so when Capcom marketing VP Charles Bellfield name-dropped our favorite console in an interview with Kyle Orland over at Gamasutra, our ears perked up. But Bellfield was coy about unleashing any of the juicy details. "I would love to give you my product lineup for the next five years, but ... *laughs* ... we are developing a new title for the Wii platform. We will be making announcements in the coming months as to what these different titles are." Those former Clover employees who are not busily planting Seeds will be hard at work on this title, as well as others. A new title indicates that it's probably not the Wii Okami you've been hoping for. In fact, Bellfield was quick to push the fact that Capcom is all about churning out original IPs. With the diversity of Capcom's stable of awesome, we can't possibly speculate on what they may have in store for us, but we'll be spending these "coming months" idly dreaming of zombie wolf attorneys.
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.
ex-Clover developers are working on Resident Evil 5
So, while many of those involved in the now-defunct Clover Studios have moved on to create the new studio Seeds, apparently there are a few developers who were reassigned to Capcom's Resident Evil 5. But didn't Seeds have some of the people involved in the creation of Resident Evil anyway? It would've been wise to ask for Seeds help, but alas.Charles Bellfield, VP of Marketing, addressed that very issue. "What actually happened is Mikami-san, Kamiya-san and Inaba-san chose to leave the company and do something else and the rest of the Clover team was just incorporated back into the rest of Capcom's development talent pool." What do you guys think? Should Capcom have bit the bullet and asked Seeds to help with Resident Evil 5 or will they be just fine without the creative minds behind the franchise?
Clover bosses start Seeds, blogger strains to resist botany metaphors [update 1]
Four months ago, we started mourning the sad loss of Clover Studio, the development house responsible for beautiful, original games like Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and God Hand. Well, now we can wipe our cel-shaded tears away! Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya, and Resident Evil/Devil May Cry creator Shinji Mikami have held their V-Watches aloft, shouted "Henshin a-go-go, baby!" and transformed the moribund Clover into a new development studio, called Seeds. And they want you! You know, if you're a qualified programmer or artist of some kind. According to the site, they are in the process of looking for new people to help them make some "weird, amazing games." We Fanboys are hoping that they (and whoever publishes their future work) turn their attentions to the two weirdest, most amazing consoles we can think of. These guys have some prior DS experience, and they've no doubt noticed that the DS has done a little bit of business in Japan, so it seems likely they'll be weirding and amazing it up on two screens in the near future.[Via Game|Life][Update 1: Those insidious italics!]
Capcom shuts down Okami rumors (mostly)
Oh, those reliable industry insiders. They're always feeding the rumor mill. This time, they're teasing and taunting all the Okami fans. While the game would be extra fabulous when powered by the Wiimote, we're taking this rumor with a little salt, because Capcom has pretty much shut this one down before it even got out of the gate. "Officially we have no plans for Okami on Wii at this time. Research and development are always looking at possibilities but given Clover is now closed for business, I think it highly unlikely a Wii version would be possible," an unnamed Capcom UK rep told IGN. While this does leave a slim opening for "maybe," this isn't one we're gonna hold our breath for. While we'd play Okami on Wii until our fingers cramped, it's probably not going to happen.
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 marred by excess, concludes review
The New Gamer has posted a provocative take on Clover's Okami that's worth considering. The review suggests that the game is built on a seesaw of excess, teetering between gorgeously overworked themes and useless redundancies, concluding:"[When] the excess doesn't add to the characters, when it doesn't showcase the story or the world design, when it just causes me to mindlessly increase quantities of items I'll never need, then I can't help but remark that not all of Okami is as rich as it could have been."Okami easily stretches 30 hours of gameplay, but a huge chunk of New Gamer's time was spent hoarding unnecessary items. Would Clover's game have benefited from trimming the fat?[Via Game Set Watch]
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]
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
