Posts Tagged ‘Capcom’

I understand people’s pain at Capcom’s recent announcement that they are canning Mega Man Legends 3 for 3DS. The original PSone games were fan favourites, and by all accounts an incredibly good RPG. Legends 2 left the story unfinished and the anticipation for a conclusion has now been building for ten years. When the third chapter was announced in September of last year the patient devotees were obviously overjoyed so have it now snatched from their grasp seems, frankly, cruel.

Don't hold your breath on this getting a revival now Inafune is gone from Capcom.

Mega Man Legends 3’s cancelation is especially unexpected as the game was already well underway. This combined with Capcom’s almost complete lack of scrutiny of their recent Mega Man titles (the twenty-four year old character currently possess one hundred games to his name many of which are iffy), makes the deletion of this game from existence almost unfathomable to passionate gamers.

Perhaps if we take a step back from the passion of the situation Legends 3’s unfortunately fate would seem more understandable, though no more palatable. Capcom is of course primarily a business, and on a financial level Mega Man Legends 3 is unappealing. RPG’s have always been a huge sink of recourses; they are long games with a lot of content and they take a significant amount of man-hours to produce. Then of course account there is the 3DS platform it was destined to adorn, with it lower than expected install base no doubt affecting any projected sales expectations.

I was interested to see how a big name fan favorite would fair, unfortunately Capcom didn't want to satisfy my curiosity.

The final and perhaps key element of course is that fans of the game, while vocal, are limited. Indeed I suspect that many at Capcom never wanted Legends 3 to enter production, but the influential producer Inafune probably used his clout to push it through. His subsequent resignation from the company then probably gave the moneymen a chance to cut their losses before any further investment was made. Basically for a time the greatest Mega Man supporter ran the company who produced it, and thus forced it into existence for the 100,000 or so people who could be consider fans of the series (that is how many copies the second game sold). Once Inafune left Capcom pulled Legends 3’s life support, and they were happy to see it die.

It sucks, I won’t pretend it doesn’t, but fans getting bent out of shape simply have to see this for what it is, a wise business move. The money it would make simply not justify Mega Man Legends 3’s existence. While it MAY recoup the cash they invest, Capcom could easily pump out another set of three Battle Network titles in the same time for half the money while cashing on the Battle Network’s current and proven fan base. Ultimately, I am sure Capcom knows good business and if they think they think Legends 3 won’t make money they are probably right. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been a great game, or that we have to be happy about their decision.

We are back for the almost-last DoFuss Show. December will see the last DoFuss Show with my return from Japan to the UK. As I won’t be in the ‘land of the rising sun’ any more, the opening lyrics claim that I am ‘the number one gaijin, the man in Japan who can’ will become hopelessly inaccurate so (as we can’t be bothered to rewrite the theme tune) we decided to cancel the show.

Being busy trying to get ready for my return from Japan it has been a while since the last show, because of this it is a game and news filled episode. Stretching the entire gamut of gaming we jump from Half Life to Megaman, Yakuza to Kinect and 3D Space Tank to the Bible (don’t ask). But any podcast can bring you games, so we also deliver the best in Japanese terror attacks and a smattering of my own personal insecurities about my immanent return to Blighty.

Just in case you are worried about the fate of DoFuss, don’t be. The site will endure, and in the near future Darren and I will return with some as-yet-still-amorphous something for you aural delectation. I say ‘near future’, but I mean in the New Year once I am settled and (hopefully) employed back in the UK. Talking of which, if anyone knows of any job openings in England please let me know, the email address on the left. Thanks.

The DoFuss Show – Penultimate [ 1:03:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

No sooner said than done, the site is back on track and so is the DoFuss Show as Darren and I return once again with our own inimitable brand of game coverage.

With summer upon us, and the traditional lull in game releases, this episode is a tad shorter than usual. This ended up being a fact that I was grateful for as Skype spent the entire recording disconnecting us at every opportunity, leading to an editing process akin to solving a M.C Escher jigsaw puzzle. I would have been happier about this situation had it not been for the fact that as I toiled to put ever piece of the show in place I knew Darren was on holiday, sunning himself and sipping his girly drink of choice.

Much like editing the show, this gives me a headache.

Bitterness aside this show is an interesting one as we roll into a self indulgent Devon and Wells section, before hitting up the nominal number of games we have been playing. We then flow into the usual news segment (where we focus on our lack of Star Craft 2 knowledge, Zynga and some Capcom announcements) before a feature that focuses on my (fairly) recent, and social awkward, trip to the Famitsu Vol.1 chip-tune event here in Osaka.

Enjoy the show, and now DoFuss is back in full production check back soon for a complete write up of the Famitsu event later in the week. As always if you have any feedback/suggestions/questions please contact us or leave a comment on the show post.

The DoFuss Show – The Patchwork Quilt of Podcasts [ 42:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Video games have always influenced each other. Growing from a few seeds the industry has evolved. Occasionally a single shoot is split, forming a new branch in the evolution. Some of these are dead ends, while others flourish. Even more rarely branches come together and make something new.

Not all previously divergent paths join with the same success. As I play more of these titles that attempt to blend separate evolutions together it is becoming clear that Japanese trees in this laboured metaphor are struggling to assimilate Western genetics.

I guess Japanese design ideas are dominant alleles.

Japanese developers soberness runs through all of their business structures. A rigid adherence to rules and bureaucracy that makes them slow to adapt. As a nation they have produced ingenious devices and innovations but as solutions to problems, rather than pure innovation.

Some realise this problem, with Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi acknowledging the issue of Japanese developer’s stagnation and the need for change if they are to survive. But even Capcom, one of the most internationally minded Japanese developers struggles working with Western teams and concepts, choosing poor properties or failing to understand the reasons behind gameplay mechanics, focusing on bullet points.

At a time when games need to reach an ever-widening audience to justify their development costs, it is an issue set to get worse. Though I hold a small fear that such shared ideals could lead to the homogenisation of games, I take heart in the fact the most unique elements of nature come from cross pollination and mutation.