Slashdot Mirror
More Powerhouse Designers on Next-Gen Xbox
Just a few days after the announcement that the creator of the Final Fantasy series was joining Microsoft Games Studio, Voodoo Express has the news that more venerable designers will be joining the company. Yoshiki Okamoto and Tetsuya Mizuguchi will be teaming up with Microsoft Games to produce titles for the next generation Xbox. From the article: "Microsoft is now happy to announce that the driving creative minds behind the likes of Resident Evil, Rez, Street Fighter and Space Channel 5 have joined forces with the company to create exciting new titles for the Xbox Next, primarily designed to attract Japanese gamers to the system:"
Will MS let them work and make the games they want to make, which are not always commercially successful, even in Japan?
Bungie may seem to be instructive, but they're making Halo, arguably the system's saving grace -- it's easier to keep hands off of something which is extremely popular. Even so, I've seen people complain about Halo 2 that the story looks stretched out in order to make a Halo 3 possible. Also remember Rare, who's only released ONE, fairly lackluster, Xbox game since getting bought by Microsoft.
The temptation to meddle will be great for Microsoft's managers, but if they can overcome that then this is probably excellent news for their new system.
Note that these are individuals that were lured or companies that were wholly the support staff of an individual.
Also, it isn't clear what is meant by 'aligned' or 'teamed up.' Are they now on staff of MS Games? Are they agreeing to exclusive titles? Or are they just agreeing that anything they make will come out on Xbox along with PS2/3/Nintendo R?
The only thing to conclude from this is that MS is serious about knocking down the paper door to the Japanese market.
Thunderhead (or some other "cloud"/"Squall" derivative)
"Wow - that looks like a save point"
--
Would you like to save??
(YES) (NO)
--
Saving...........
Error: *** Stop: 0x000000 ED (0x86371900, 0xC0000032, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) Microsoft has not paid our fine devlopment staff enough to ensure stability in your shiny new FFXXI game... please reboot to start your game over!
Sounds good, but I won't be buying one until Team Xecuter is designing product for the xbox2.
Trolling is a art,
I hope that was an intentional screw up. VE might not be the website it once was, but it should at least be known by its rightful name (Voodoo Extreme).
Get Virtual.
First, just like others pointed out in the original /. story, Sakaguchi Hironobu-san didn't "join" Microsoft Game Studios, the same way he didn't "join" Nintendo. His studio, Mistwalker, simply announced that they were developing two games for the Xbox's successor, just as they are also working on Nintendo DS software.
/. has made this implication, the first being in the original write-up of similar circumstances with Sakaguchi.
Second, these two venerable designers will not be "joining the company." Zonk's very next sentence almost corrects this, but it is in no way accurate to describe any of these three men as being employed by Microsoft. That would imply things that are not true, such as development exclusivity (which itself implies absolute faith on the part of these men in Microsoft's business model, which has yet to be determined beyond just making games for the Xbox's successor).
Really guys, you have to be more careful with the way you read Microsoft press releases. "Joined forces with" != "joined." This is the second time
Finally, meh. It just means that the Xbox's successor will finally offer at least a few more Japanese-style games like those that have been available on PS2 and GameCube for years. These announcements are "hey, us too" affairs, not "booya, in your face Sony and Nintendo" kinds of announcements. After all, both Sony and Nintendo have had/still have good working relationships with all three of these fine developers as I type this. This is about MS catching up, akin to Peter Molyneux saying to Nintendo, "I want to make a GBA game, and you can use my name in your PR." Boring. Next story.
for the XBox as Rare has!
Although Conker should be out just in time before the XBox 2 gets released...
well..
ms's point (traditonally?) is not to buy them to make a shitload of great products for them..
rather to buy them to keep them from making shitload of good products for everyone else.
when halo 6 is the only game in the block everyone will have to buy it, and it only.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
It's beautiful how capitalism works. Microsoft's shareholders want to make money, management chooses video games as an avenue, and then puts shareholder dollars to work recruiting the best possible minds. Think of how powerful that is. I can't wait to buy my next gen XBox when they come out.
Amazing magic tricks
as many people have pointed out, the great minds (eg rare, bungie) microsoft has recruited in the past have not actually produced any truely quality products since "joinging forces" with microsoft."
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
Wow. Games designed primarily to attract certain people.
I bet we'll see anime-style characters, with huge eyes, tiny mouths and weird icons appearing next to them to indicate emotions. Maybe they'll have special moves like flying or fireballs. Who can tell?
But what's next? When we're targeting specific groups with games, why not design games for other groups? How about a game set in the US 'hoods with streetwise urban R&B African Americans vying for top spot on a rap chart. Or maybe target that lucrative Hispanic market with a game based around getting out of Cuba or from South America into the good old US of A.
I can see it now. Commitees set up to determine the makeup of focus groups, who in turn will be asked for all the features they want in a game. And then the designer will collate those features and pump out code and artwork, and hey presto! Another demographic added to the score.
Heaven forfend that a designer might have their own ideas or goals. They are subservient to their masters now - the focus groups, the demographic, the marketing people.
I can't wait to see more gaming ideas put up by marketing people. After all - we all know they have the best ideas, and they'll make the best games.
Remember Poochy from The Simpsons?
I never see anyone mention the possibility that Rare has been working on Xbox2 projects and they will launch with the system? I bet E3 will answer the question as to what the hell Rare's been doing since being bought out.
I'm on top of my game like I'm standin' on Xbox.
Which is great news for those of us who have XBox 1's...
Okamoto has done FAR more than what is listed. First, he really did develop the original Street Fighter 2. Not to mention Final Fight. Before then, he worked at Konami and made games such as Time Pilot and Gyruss. The thing is, Mobygames only tracks home games. Okamoto developed the ARCADE version of Street Fighter 2. Though the omission of his Resident Evil credits is odd. He was 'general planner' on Resident Evil 1. Mobygames isn't 100% reliable.