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Castlevania producer Dave Cox leaves Konami after 17 years
Today is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer Dave Cox's final day at Konami, he announced on Twitter. Signed with the hashtag "#endofanera," Cox wrote the following: "After 17 years I have decided to leave Konami to explore new opportunities. Today is my final day with the company." In follow-up messages, Cox provided a personal highlight reel of his time at Konami, starting when he joined the company in 1997 as the UK product manager. His first project was Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. He then managed some of Konami's "biggest titles," including Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Pro Evolution Soccer and Suikoden. With a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow hashtag, Cox discussed his final bow.
Konami 'would consider' HD Castlevania: Mirror of Fate, MercurySteam has assets ready
Speaking to CVG, Konami UK studio head Dave Cox said "Absolutely, yeah, we would consider it" to the prospect of an HD version of Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, following its 3DS debut next month. "We want as many people to play it as possible. Obviously we have an exclusivity deal with Nintendo right now though and they've been very supportive of the product."Cox is so open to the idea in part because it wouldn't be that difficult. "We created everything in high definition - all the textures, all the levels, high-poly models, everything - and we kind of shrunk it all down into the 3DS," he explained."Then we lost bones from characters, you know, we dropped the resolution of the textures and everything to make it fit. At MercurySteam we have an HD version of the game sitting there in a computer somewhere." If the 3DS version takes off at all, Konami will have it nearly readymade for an expanded audience.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 coming to PC [update: in 2013]
In the quietest "announcement" of Gamescom, producer Dave Cox revealed a PC version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. The game was first announced at E3 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.Update: A press release has come through (find it after the break), which reveals a 2013 release window for Lords of Shadow 2 on both consoles and PC.
MercurySteam wants to leave Castlevania, to take on Contra next
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow studio MercurySteam will be ready to leave Castlevania behind after Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2, Konami EU head of development Dave Cox tells VG247. "Well, I think it's about wanting to leave a legacy," Cox said. "And I don't want to be in charge of a series that perhaps over a certain time is going to decline. I'd rather go out with a bang and leave that as our legacy in the Castlevania universe."Cox said he didn't want to be known as "Mr. Castlevania," nor for his team to be "the Castlevania team." Should Lords of Shadow 2 be even more successful, another team can take on the momentum.However, Cox doesn't want to move away from the established Konami canon entirely. "I love Contra. I'd love to do Contra. At Mercury Steam we've got an original idea that I think is really awesome. We'd love to bring that idea to market and I'm hoping that the success of Lords of Shadow 2 will allow us to do that."Konami teased a Contra revival at E3 2011, but it's unclear whether that project is the same as MercurySteam's Contra. If so, that would alter the proposed timeline a bit, as it would suggest that Cox and his team have already been working on the "awesome" idea.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer striving for platform parity
Fanboys will likely never agree on whether or not a 3D gameworld is appropriate for the Castlevania franchise. But if Castlevania: Lords of Shadow producer Dave Cox is to be believed, there won't be any forum bloodshed over which version, the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 one, looks and runs better. Cox told VG247 that the PS3 was chosen as the lead platform solely because that was the best way for developer Mercury Steam to make both versions of the game identical, though he understands the risk, admitting, "If you develop for Xbox 360 and port to PS3, or indeed vice versa, you can end up with a game that is great on one but lousy on another." Even if Lords of Shadow isn't up for any GOTYs, perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize could be in Mercury Steam's future? The NPPOTY, if you will.
Why 'Lords of Shadow' wasn't 'Castlevania: Lords of Shadow' at first
Being Dave Cox, head of European development for Konami, can't be an easy job. For one, he's not Hideo Kojima, so he's already got that going against him. Worse yet, he's had to tow the company line and let his upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow languish out of the spotlight while Castlevania Judgment got all the attention. It seems Konami didn't even have the confidence to allow Lords of Shadow the Castlevania license -- nor did fans. "It was quite a radical departure from what had gone before with Castlevania, and there was a little bit of nervousness that perhaps it wouldn't be accepted as a Castlevania game," Cox told GameReactor. Though he claims the project was approved originally as a Castlevania game and was built from the get-go with the vampire-hunting series in mind, the folks in charge at Konami had cold feet going into the big reveal at Games Convention 2008. "Senior management took the decision that we were going to announce it as Lords of Shadow, see what the reaction is, and if it's a good one then this would become a fully-fledged Castlevania." It was definitely a good one. %Gallery-65043%[Via VG247]
Visits from Kojima as terrifying as you'd think
Dave Cox, producer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, admits it's a tad nerve-racking when Hideo Kojima, who's overseeing the project, comes to visit. Or, as Cox put it to Videogamer.com, "... we're shitting ourselves! You got to make sure that the quality of what you deliver is very very high. You're constantly saying to yourself, is that really good enough? Is that really going to be good enough?"It's hard to blame Cox for his metaphorical incontinence. We're sure it's the same thing for basketball players getting coached by Michael Jordan or pickle makers when they meet that giant stork.
