Topic: Sony Vita ripping off Nintendo's Pikmin franchise?

[Chozo Ghost]

I read about this in one of my friend's copies of Game Informer. Apparently there is some game called "Army Corps of Hell" coming exclusively to the Vita and its basically a clone of Pikmin, but with a hellish theme.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-10-06-army-corps-of-hell-vita-coming-to-europe

"What's really interesting about Army Corps of Hell is that its developer, Entersphere, is headed up by Motoi Okamoto, an ex-Nintendo employee who worked on the GameCube's much-loved gardening simulator [Pikmin]," he wrote. "Reason enough, for sure, to keep a watchful eye on this one."

I don't know who this Motoi Okamoto is, but apparently he is a traitor. In Japan aren't traitors supposed to commit seppuku or something like that? Ah well.

[NWR_insanolord]

This happens all the time in the gaming industry, and lots of other businesses. People end up working in different places and take their experiences with them. It's no big deal. As I see it, the more games like Pikmin there are, the better.

[broodwars]

Well, someone might as well be doing something with the Pikmin concept while Nintendo continues to fudge around with it.  I don't really see this as all that different from the satirical Overlord series, which was blatantly inspired by Pikmin.  That a former Pikmin developer is working on the game is interesting, but only just that.  Entersphere isn't the first to play with the Pikmin concept, and they probably won't be the last.

Besides, it's not like Pikmin was this radically new concept to begin with that couldn't have possibly been inspired by quite a few PC games, considering that despite its gardening setting it's still an RTS game.  It was notable at the time because it was a rare new IP from a company that just shoehorns new ideas into existing franchises instead of developing new ones.

[Chozo Ghost]

I'm fine with this game except why did he/his company have to make this a Vita exclusive? Why not port it to the 3DS or some other system also and therefore potentially make more money? Is Sony paying him off for this to be exclusive to their system? Or is he just doing it because he had a falling out with Nintendo and wants to stab them in the back?

Either way, since its unlikely that I will ever own a Vita I probably will never get a chance to play this game, and if it really is a great game then that sucks.

[broodwars]

I'm fine with this game except why did he/his company have to make this a Vita exclusive?

Because he wanted the game to be a Vita exclusive.  Believe it or not, but 3rd party games can occasionally still be exclusive.  You don't see me bitching and moaning that Radiant Historia and Ghost Trick haven't been announced for the PSP or Vita because it's so unfair for the DS to have these games for themselves.  Though it is.   

Why not port it to the 3DS or some other system also and therefore potentially make more money?

Because putting a Pikmin-esque game on a Nintendo platform that could potentially have its own Pikmin game from Nintendo in the near future is a total waste of resources.  If a new Pikmin gets announced for 3DS, that'll kill any sales for this game just as Nintendo tends to drain all the money out of the market for 3rd parties whenever they release a big franchise game.

Is Sony paying him off for this to be exclusive to their system?

That's not out of the realm of possibility.  Sony's been known to do that in the past, and they really want Vita to succeed.  We'll see.  Keep in mind that this game probably started production earlier this year, when the 3DS was tanking and companies were delaying games just to not have them on store shelves when no one would buy them.  That probably had a lot to do with going with Vita.

Or is he just doing it because he had a falling out with Nintendo and wants to stab them in the back?

I highly doubt that this is as personal as it seems you want it to be.  He has experience working on a Pikmin game, and he's making a game in a style he's familiar with.  That's probably all there is to that.

[Ymeegod]

Why does Sony have anything to do with this?  it's published by Square/Enix and most likely started out as an PS3 game but ended up going to the Vita. 

And it might not have anything to do with Nintendo, developing games on multiplatforms costs more and this game is already looking at a cult status at best so it's better off releasing on just one platform at a time. 

[ThePerm]

I could swear there was a game on xbox that was a pikmin clone, i want to say its called minion, but i dont think it is. ITs something along those lines though....

found it Overlord

[Ian Sane]

Some time back a guy who used to work on Fire Emblem made a blantant knock off that was initially announced as "Emblem Saga".  There was a lawsuit and it was changed to Tear Ring Saga.  Still it's an example of a Nintendo "traitor" making derivative content.

A big part of Pikmin is that you care when your Pikmin die.  You screw up and drown 20 Pikmin and you feel bad about it.  So doing this with demons loses that feeling.

Pikmin's originality largely comes from the execution of the idea.  It is similar to your typical RTS but how you generate troups and how you control the game is very different then Starcraft or C&C.  Just the fact that you play a specific character and don't directly control your Pikmin's actions is unique.  I don't think Nintendo set out to do their twist on the RTS formula.  I think Miyamoto just was inspired by his garden to make this game and the mechanics are such that it seems similar to the RTS genre.  Aside from controlling multiple units there isn't really anything that resembles the conventional mechanics of the genre.