On Wednesday, both Capcom and D3 were in town, with a slew of upcoming holiday (and post holiday) releases in tow. So let’s get down to business. First up, Capcom!
Upon arrival, I practically ran towards the Resident Evil 5 demo station, pushing children and old women out of the way in the process, mostly because it was the one game I absolutely had to get my hands on (well, one of two), and also happened to be unoccupied. Got a chance to mess around a bit in what I was told is the very first part/chapter/stage of the game, via co-op mode.
First off, the ambiance is awesome; shifting from the spooky dark to the oppressive sun in your face is pure brilliance, as well as extremely effective. Can’t comment on the audio since its always the one thing that gets lost during a demo at press functions, but the graphics were top-notch and exactly how a next generation Resident Evil title should look, especially when it comes to the zombified black people. Speaking of, I’m not going dwell on the racial aspect of the game, other than to say that, no, I don’t think the game is racist. And while everyone is certainly entitled to believe and even see what they want, it?s simply a matter of certain people looking into things a bit too much IMHO. I do understand that white zombies have been added to the mix, though I personally didn’t encounter any in the demo. Though I only truly be satisfied if there’s some Asian zombies up in this thing.
I wasn’t Chris Redfield but his partner, the black woman that’s actually quite white (okay, I guess I can understand why some people are a tad bit miffed and annoyed here). Co-op mode works super well, and allowed me to just tag along while the Capcom rep do all the work. There’s two modes of control to choose from, the RE4 method and a vaguely FPS set-up that’s designed to appeal to Western tastes. I stuck with what I kinda knew, though it had been a while since I last played around with RE4, hence why I wasn’t all that agile or useful, but I’m assuming that given some time and practice, I’ll eventually find my groove like before. Best part is how you can help your partner out when he or she is in a tight spot, either by picking off the zombie that’s about to chomp down on their neck or passing along first aide. Having two players certainly adds to the strategy, as well as the tension; you two split up to find whatever faster, and next you know, you’ve got to find and rush to your opponent before her or she is dead. I didn’t ask if chat is supported in the game… I would have to assume it is. Nor did I bother to ask if there’s a local, split-screen mode. Sorry, guess I was just two pre-occupied. But anyway, a second player can jump in and out whenever he or she pleases, as Chris Redfield’s partner. So no idea thus far how well the AI behaves.
Next was Street Fighter 4 for the home. What can I say? It’s more or less a carbon copy of the arcade game, along with some extra faces; Sakura and Akuma has been revealed thus far, with others sure to follow. I asked if they would be incorporated into the arcade version, and if there’s going to be any changes on either side, like balance tweaks, since most popular arcade fighters (such as Virtua) goes through numerous revisions. I believe the new faces will stay at home, but there will be minor adjustments are coming (I’ve heard of cheap, unblockable combos here and there, but haven’t bothered to go to YouTube to actually check them out), though its safe to say that no one here in America will be seeing them; unofficially, all those SF4 units are totally illegal and should not be here on our shores. Online fighting will definitely be supported, and no specific info was divulge, I was promised that everything will work quite nicely, and even surpass expectation. Though no one knew if those with 4:3 displays will play it full screen or letter-boxed.
The real highlight here was playing alongside, and chatting with, Seth Killian, Capcom’s senior community manager. This guy is about as hardcore as you can get… case in point, he was the guy that founded the EVO fighting tournaments. But unlike other arcade rats, I found Seth to be an extremely personable individual, devoid of any sociopathic traits that you generally assume from one quick look in the eyes of your average Chinatown Fair regular. Hence why Capcom hired him, I would have to assume. And because he made it clear as day that he’s not just some company mouthpiece… when talking about SF4′s online functionality, he asked if I had ever played SF2 Hyper Fighting for XBLA, and when I replied no, the response was “Good. Because it was a piece of shit”… I decided to ask Seth the tough questions when moving on SF2 Turbo HD Remix.
I asked this before, but had to just one more time since it was really bugging me: I got the reason behind just redrawing the original frames of animation and not adding any in-between, to keep the game’s handling just as it was years ago, but if that’s the case, what’s with the original moves? Doesn’t that already change everything, so in that case, why not go the whole ten yards and make everything look all the better? Because, as is, and I tried to say it in the nicest way possible, everyone appears kinda herky-jerky; crystal clear sprites and just four frames of animation just do not mix. The answer to that was pretty interesting…. First off, it was pointed out that jerkiness is only really noticeable during the idle animation, which I will agree as being true. But the real reason was that the entire new game is being developed on top of the original Super SF2 Turbo code from 94, which itself is built upon the original SF code from 90-91. It’s been extremely difficult to work with such legacy data, with the end result being lots of unexpected quirks and even some severe game-breakinig issues (hence one reason why the game has been quietly delayed for months now). Basically, from what I’ve been able to gather from what was explained, its far easier to just insert some new move with its own array of animations than to go and manipulate all the existing stuff. Which makes sense. It still looks kinda awkward in the end overall, but some characters don’t look as bad or silly as Ryu and Ken, like Blanka, whose sprite is actually very nice. But back to the issue of old code, at least the original information that makes up Super SF2 Turbo still exists… many people ask folks like Sega why don’t simply release some of their original, older arcade game on XBLA, and the sad truth is, much of the underpinnings have been totally lost in the seas of time. So in that sense, one can’t help but respect Capcom for doing what they are, which is indeed paying homage to the past and tastefully updating things when it makes the most sense.
In addition to the technical constraints, another strike against completely overhauling the graphics was the issue of cost. We then moved onto the soundtrack, which is all remixes of the original soundtrack and provided by the folks over at OverClocked ReMix. It was mentioned that some tunes were produced specifically for the new game, while others are ones that have been around well before and have been deemed to be the “best take” of whatever song. I asked if these folks have been paid, and the answer was no, at least not at the moment… their compensation is simply the glory of being part of such a dream project. But if a soundtrack is produced, the folks who run OverClocked will be paid accordingly, who in turn will determine which individual remixer gets paid what. Which then led me to ask… if cost is such an issue for producing high resolution sprites, surly they could just turn to the fan community to for help; many would kill to work on such a project and for free. Though as Seth knows all too well, talking with fans and seeing how they work as well as behave, aside from the fact that you often just get more when you actually pay for it, while many can certainly illustrate, not as many have the ability to animate. Someone could produce seven awesome frames of Ryu’s fireball motions, but added all together, it might like totally disjointed and ridiculous. Hence another reason why the game was delayed: the original team that was in charge of animating the new art was not working out, so someone else had to be found. Apparently, some of the not so good stuff got leaked onto the net and causing quite an angry stir (I totally missed out on this, apparently), and Capcom has been pretty upfront about it. So they decided to delay the product in order to completely re-do the animation with another group, which in Seth’s opinion was a Godsend in disguise, because it allowed them to spend the extra time needed to make sure everything else was done correctly, such as the online code. Again, specifics were not touched upon, but their solution was broken down for me into laymen’s terms. Apparently, the biggest problem with fighting head-to-head online, especially when you’re dealing with sprites, is how lag can delay assorted moves from being on the other end. The solution to this is to not animate an entire sequence of a particular move from the start to finish, but to just start it when it should and end it when it should, by removing whatever is in-between, the stuff that has no real consequence in the middle of an exchange. While I see some truly hardcore players perhaps seeing a possible issue with it, the theory does make total sense to me.
I then moved onto another game that’s coming soon coming out, but not on these shores… Tatsunoko vs Capcom. Seth claimed to be its biggest champion around the American offices, and was quite proud of being able to bring an arcade set-up to the States for the latest EVO. But the bottom-line is that it may never be released due to all the copyrights that are involved (especially now that laws have changed over on the Japan side of things… which explains why the new Macross series and movies will have to stay over there). As for possibly repurposing the game and making it Marvel vs. Capcom 3, again, while Marvel has been a big fan of what Capcom has done with their properties in the past (God, simply compare Marvel vs Capcom 2 to… say… Rise of the Imperfects), they simply don’t have access to the license at this time. Hence why Seth would love to see the classic Final Fight-esque Aliens vs Predator arcade brawler on XBLA, but can’t. At the end of the day, everyone at Capcom knows that all diehard Wii owners will be importing Tatsunoko vs Capcom the instant it comes out (I should have asked if it was coming out for the PS3, where there is no region locks… damn). We then reminisced over our favorite classic Capcom series, and how great it would be to see and play Rival Schools and Tech Romancer yet again. But in the cases of Dungeon and Dragons: Shadow Over Mysteria and Ducktales from the NES days (Seth is also a big fan of the exemplary soundtrack)… you know the drill. But Seth and the rest of the gang are doing their best to make gamers happy by listening to what they want (I guess Mega Man 9 is evidence of that).
The other game that I was aching to get my mitts on, Dead Rising for the Wii, was sadly not available. There were problems with the debug unit… oh well. But at least they had a new build of the next-gen Bionic Commando. I heard many people grumbling over the controls, and I gotta say, I wasn’t having an easy time either (then again, I kinda suck when it comes to modern games). As Tim Ng, the head of Capcom’s PR team explained it, the new BC is like handling a car: you’re like doing three things at once. First you have to launch the art to swing, them maneuver yourself as you move, and finally look for the next thing to launch your bionic arm at. Which is why I simply let Tim do all the playing as I watched. Game looks just as good as ever; there’s nothing I like more than a desolate, decayed urban landscape that still has plenty of blue skies. All throughout the city environment, there were plenty of references to various other Capcom games, like a STARS police station on a street corner and a huge poster featuring a Servbot right in the middle of things. As for how it plays, it has potential to out do Spider Man’s web slinging antics, though I already know its going to be “tricky” for me. But I’ll still play if only to hear Mike Patton throughout.
Oh, then there was Flock, an upcoming XBLA and PSN title by some of the same folks behind the original Lemmings (and it shows); you basically control a UFO that has to herd assorted farm animals around and towards the mother ship. Each of the four creatures… sheep, cows, chickens, and pigs… have their own unique properties, and the challenges from what little I saw appear to really stretch your brain, but in a fun way. My fave were the pigs; they’re basically pinballs, with the environments acting appropriately. Speaking of, everything has this really nice fabric aesthetic (the tall grass was thick pieces of yarn for example). One puzzle involved getting the sheep (who are all male) to go a particular way, so the rep manipulated the one female sheep for all to follow, though at a certain point, they all passed a fountain, causing all of them (well, their wool) to shrink for a short time, which didn’t play into things this particular moment, though you just know it will later down the road. Seems lots of fun already, and with a level editor included, it appears to be a sure fire winner already (baring some game design stupidity that I’m obviously not aware of).
I guess I should mention D3 real quickly; most of what was shown wouldn’t really interested most folks reading this site, to be perfectly honest, though I did get in a few rounds of the new Puzzle Quest: Galactrix, which was the same addictive game as before with a few neat tricks up its sleeves. Then there was the Wii version of The Oneechanbara. It?s basically the PS2 version with waggle controls, which isn’t horrible per say. I’m actually happy that not much was changed; in addition to the original name being kept, there’s also no stupid English voice acting, simply the original vocals with subtitles. The two dudes demoing the game were also pretty cool, and I got a laugh hearing about the reasoning behind the madness: “[according to the game's original producer, the game is set-up so] The girls get covered in blood, so much so that by time they are completely soaked, they look naked.” Nice. Though I will admit to being far more interested in the Xbox 360 version (didn’t get a chance to give it a spin, the Wii version’s controls appear to be a less than refined and fun take on the No More Heroes scheme).
And yesterday was the chance to finally check out the upcoming Wii version of Rock Band 2. Unlike the previous edition, this new one is more or less a carbon copy of the next-gen titles, believe it or not. Granted, graphics aren’t nearly as sharp, but otherwise, it?s the same exact game, period. All the same music, the character creation mode (though there’s been a few omissions for technical reasons, such as the tattoo and band logo creator, since the engine that drives those features is basically Photoshop Lite, which is a bit too much for the Wii, yet plenty of pre-fab options are available instead), the world tour (no longer are you just going down a list of songs to play and unlock like last time…which I didn’t mind the first time around, but after RB2 on the 360, there is simply no turning back), EVERYTHING has been faithfully represented.
Yes, even online is available; you can jump right into random battles, though to make friends and form a virtual band, one will need to utilize friend codes. As for purchasing music, Wii points will also be utilized, but all tracks will be acquired via the Rock Band store and not the Wii Shop Channel. It was noted that when the game launches (at an unspecified date, but sometime in December seems to be most likely) about 30 “best of” songs from the next-gen marketplace will be available, and as time goes on, stuff will be added so that in the end, both sides will completely match-up. Also after launch, whatever new stuff like track packs comes out for the 360 & PS3 will also come out for the Wii as well. Will players will even get access to those 20 bonus songs that everyone else is set to receive sometime next week, though it was noted that the system’s hard drive can only hold about 10 tracks, and that’s a “clean” unit. Hence why SD cards will be the way to go, and when asked if there’s any concern regarding the read and write speed, John from Harmonix actually stated that the time for a track to move from a SD card to the Wii was faster than it is from a Xbox 360 HD to its system, which they found a bit disheartening! It also goes without saying that there are no options to import content from the RB1 Wii disc into RB2.
I did get the chance to play a song and test the new instruments… my guitar was visually identical to its 360 counterpart, though I found the strum bar to be a tiny bit mushy, kinda like before. I’m also bummed that the new drums, while now also wireless, are no longer white (which even John was miffed about… guess it was clearly not his call). As for Guitar Hero 4/World Tour compatibly… the official statement is that Harmonix tried everything they could to make sure that everyone works together, but since they did not have access to anything that Neversoft was doing (no direct response was given when I asked if they tried to make contact and what happened if they did), they simply cannot vouch that their stuff will work on those other guys’ new stuff. At the very least, the Guitar Hero 3′s controllers will definitely operate with RB2.
Afterwards was a look at the upcoming AC/DC Track Pack. Basically, its a collection of AC/DC songs (obviously) from a live performance. Meaning, the folks at Harmonix had to do very little post production in the ways of adding crowd noises (yet, despite them being live tracks, there was still plenty of them to work with, and the overall quality was actually comparable to studio tracks it was explained). There’s no world tour this time around, you simply go down a list (as with Guitar Hero 1&2/RB1 for the Wii), but because AC/DC chose the order of the songs, there’s no progression according to difficulty. In fact, the first couple of songs right up the back are some of the most challenging, and overall, almost everything at the Medium level are actually pretty tough (though I did an okay job with Back in Black). Like RB1 for the next-gen systems, you can import all the songs from the AC/DC Track Pack into RB, to incorporate it into its world tour, and have your own band perform them.
And later that night, I got together with some buds from the movie night crew to play my very first game of D&D. But instead, all we ended up doing was creating our characters, which took like four hours, and no of us are still finished. Thus far, I’m gonna be a warrior, cuz I like swords and I want to wear heavy armor and basically be a medieval version of Iron Man. By the luck of the dice, I’m super strong and rather wise, but rather dumb and uncharismatic. Still haven’t figured out a name, so I’m open to any suggestions!
Anyway, gotta go and get ready for tonight. There’s a “thing” happening that I’m not supposed to talk about, but I will no doubt have plenty to say, and even pictures to show, later this weekend (either on this end or maybe GameSetWatch). Till next time…
UPDATE 11/18/08: It seems that this particular post has gotten a tiny of bit of attention via a GameFAQs thread, one that sheds some light on the licensing restrictions involved in bringing Tatsunoko vs Capcom over to these shores, particularly how it appears that there really aren’t any! Well, I passed it along to Seth, and here’s what he had to say in response…
“At any rate, I?m not up to date with the current licensing go-around (that?s for the lawyers and the people that sign checks), and I also can?t personally vouch for whether the info in the thread is correct (I have no reason to think it?s not, I just dunno).
Just speaking in general, however, it?s not just as simple as having a license available. Even if it?s available, you still have to buy it (or make some kind of deal). That money cuts against whatever potential profits you think the game might make, and while I do think this game has the possibility to sell well in the West, by the time you buy up all the necessary licenses, you could well have eaten up any potential profits or have gone deep into the negative (if the game doesn?t end up selling well). Since I don?t know any specifics about the cost of the licenses or sales expectations about the game, I don?t know if the numbers crunch out or not, especially since all it takes is ONE difficult licensor to sink the whole ship 
“
