jun-takeuchi
Latest
Resident Evil 5 producer is worried about Western developers
The fine folks at Capcom don't have a whole heck of a lot to be concerned about -- their shares are still selling at fairly epic prices, and they've got a pretty solid release schedule lined up for the first half of 2009. Still, Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi recently said in a Famitsu interview that he's worried about "the movements of Western developers," specifically the movements into Capcom's home turf, Japan.Takeuchi hopes that 2009 will see an improvement in Japan's domestic games market, stating, "it's not good if Japanese developers are making games that can't be enjoyed by Japanese people." Capcom seems poised to lead that charge -- Takeuchi hinted that Capcom's unannounced plans for this year's releases might just "surprise" their fellow countrymen. We hope they've got Mega Man X9 somewhere up their sleeves. Man, Japan would never see that one coming.
Resident Evil 5 controls overhauled to be more Gears-like
Just as we were complaining about a lack of innovation in the move from Resident Evil 4 to Resident Evil 5, we get word that the whole point might be moot. At a recent Microsoft Media Briefing, producer Jun Takeuchi said that players could expect a new control system, similar to Gears of War, when they hunted digital zombies at the Tokyo Game Show.Of course, one could argue that "innovation" isn't necessarily synonymous with "cribbing the controls from another game." But hey, Gears was inspired by Resident Evil 4 in the first place, no? It is, as Sir Elton says, the circle of life.[Via X3F]
Joystiq impressions: Resident Evil 5 (Xbox 360)
click to enlarge var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Impressions_Resident_Evil_5'; Sadly for everyone attending, Resident Evil 5 wasn't able to be played by commoners at Capcom's Captivate 08 event, but we were some of the first on the globe to see a playable version, so we're not complaining. After showing a new trailer for the game, Jun Takeuchi began walking us through one of the early stages, the African village you've likely become familiar with in recent months. We're told that it's four times larger than Resident Evil 4's starting town, and we can believe it. You can see almost to the edge of the town -- it's sprawling, decrepit and totally imposing. We were impressed that the team has managed to create an environment that's frightening, even without the dark creepiness of earlier games in the series.%Gallery-24222%
Resident Evil 5 devs 60 percent done, aim for more than 20 hours
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/Resident_Evil_5_60_percent_done_aims_for_more_than_20_hours'; Like all thinking people, we're anxiously awaiting the release of Resident Evil 5, if only to learn more of the back story of coat-opening shop guy. Though we don't know when we'll finally get our hands on it, after last week's Captivate 08, we at least know that things are progressing."Right now, in the development process we're about 60 percent of the way through," producer Jun Takeuchi said through a translator. "We're figuring that the total play time in the game will be over 20 hours. As you can probably see from the trailer there's a lot of different content and materials in the game for you to enjoy." How's that 60 percent looking? Look for our impressions later in the day.%Gallery-24222%
Japan's inward game development woes [update 1]
In an interview over at the Lost Planet Community blog, Lost Planet's very own producer Jun Takeuchi talks about how game development in Japan has changed ... for the worse. He's referring to how Japan's video game developers have isolated themselves, refusing to cater to the western audience, and ultimately using once big franchises as a crutch. Takeuchi goes on to say "western developers borrowed and learned from Japanese developers all those years when Japan was ahead" and that now "Japanese developers need to learn from western developers". He goes on to say that Capcom is already trying to adapt to a more worldly view, looking at games as an all encompassing form of entertainment. Do you think Japanese developers need to cater more to a western audience, change up their formula, and now learn from the student (aka, western developers)? We'd like to see both Japanese gamers and western gamers find a happy medium when it comes to eachother's content, but we wonder how different each group really is ...Update 1: Fixed our source information, sorry Brian Dunn.[Via GamePro][Thanks, Jonah]
Resident Evil 5: camera shifting? Hypothesize!
Capcom's Jun Takeuchi was cornered about Resident Evil 5 at Leipzig and gave up a little bit of info about the upcoming survival horror title. The camera from the fourth installment will remain more or less the same, but he promised there would be a surprising amount of new features added as well. For those wondering, no, there probably won't be a Resident Evil Wii. You can hope, though.Now, about the new effects... what could have changed? Prepare yourselves for the ultimate hypothesis. If anything changed, it would probably be the mode entered after you get your weapy at the ready. You know the laser sight on the guns from RE4? Now that should be controlled by the motion-sensor in the PS3's controller. If it doesn't move the actual aim of the gun, maybe it moves the camera in a more basic way. If you've got any other ideas what would be switched up for this iteration of the series, let us know!
