Topic: Resident Evil 4 heading to Playstation 2

[Xenplan]

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/pdf_page/e041101.html

The link says it all, folks.  While I'm glad that other people will be able to enjoy this...I hope it won't be too downgraded; also, from what I can recall, Mikami is not going to be too pleased...

[PaLaDiN]

Somehow I'm not surprised.

At least the delay is a year long, although it wouldn't surprise me if that got shortened down too.

I bet the PS2 version has extra features.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

You get to play as Leon "Blurry Blockman" Kennedy.

*thumbs up*

[Guitar Smasher]

The fact that it says 'which is one of our million seller titles' is questionable, at the minimum.  Other than the date at the top, it indicates that this might have been intended to be revealed at a later date.

And if this really is true, I believe this would be in violation of Capcom's contract with Nintendo.  Of course I don't know the specifics, but I'd imagine that Nintendo would've demanded a secrecy clause, which would last AT LEAST until the game is released.  I mean, what's the point of holding it exclusive, if everyone already knows it'll be on another console.  The idea is you want people to buy your system, while they assume the game will be for it only.  Now that people know differently, they feel no pressure to get another system, instead they can just wait.  

[KDR_11k]

Yeah, breach of contract. Nintendo could sue Capcom for that. Considering that Capcom has ported all of the games they promised to Nintendo to the PS2 I don't think there's much of a relationship to sever (or Nintendo could hire away Mikami... now THAT would be retribution).

Paladin: Of course it will have extra features. Sony doesn't allow for late ports without extra features.

[Bill Aurion]

Capcom Bighat:  Ok, next on the agenda...Resident Evil 4 will be ported to the PS2...
Mikami: Wait, what?  Promise?  To Nintendo?
Capcom Bighat:  Promise?  WHAT PROMISE?  All I see are these big boxes of money labelled "Sony"

[boggy b]

Wow, I'm genuinely suprised. It seems like only a few months ago that Capcom was stating that GCN is and always will be GCN exclusive.

Oh, wait, it was only moths ago.

Yeah, breach of contract. Nintendo could sue Capcom for that. Considering that Capcom has ported all of the games they promised to Nintendo to the PS2 I don't think there's much of a relationship to sever

If only it was that simple. There are plenty of 'breaches of contract' that are perfectly legal because they exploit a loophole or because the contract runs out. Vice City 'exclusive' to PS2? Dare I say it, PSX for the SNES?

(or Nintendo could hire away Mikami... now THAT would be retribution).

Puhlease, give me a break. Mikami isn't THAT great a developer. His last awesome game was four years ago.

[Ian Sane]

"Puhlease, give me a break. Mikami isn't THAT great a developer. His last awesome game was four years ago."

Regardless of Mikami's hit/miss record he still would be a great asset to Nintendo for one reason: he's different.  He makes different types of games then Nintendo does so he would provide much needed variety to their first party lineup.  One of Nintendo's problems is that most of their games have that EAD feel even if they're not EAD games and that makes the whole lineup feel very similar.  Variety is a good thing.  Rare and Silicon Knights used to provide variety which is why it's a big deal that they've left.

Having Mikami working for Nintendo with his own team and giving him the freedom to make whatever he wants would be one of the best things Nintendo could do.  In fact I think providing freedom to developers is something Nintendo could focus on that would seperate them from Sony's "no 2D, no quirky Japanese games in America" BS.

[KDR_11k]

Didn't Mikami work on Viewtiful Joe?
Either way, taking him would be a blow to Capcom and would infuse some much needed fresh thought into Nintendo.

[boggy b]

Mikami would only be infusing fresh thought into <I>Nintendo</I>. There still wouldn't be any totally new games.

[kennyb27]

Quote
There are plenty of 'breaches of contract' that are perfectly legal because they exploit a loophole or because the contract runs out. Vice

Well, they're not exactly breaches of contracts then, are they?  If it's a loophole, it is a loophole, no breaching involved.

[boggy b]

Thus my putting 'breaches of contract'. Ya know, like quotation marks?

[Flames_of_chaos]

I guess VJ 1 and 2, DMC3 wasnt enought for PS2 owners sigh oh well Im still going to enjoy the gamcube version of RE4 and VJ2.  

EDIT: Maybe the special feature of the PS2 version is that the game will be on one disc instead of the game being on multipul discs like the gamecube version will be most likely or capcom will probably pull a PS Megaman 8 and include a booklette of the RE series .

[BlackNMild2k1]

Quote
- posted by Readykilowatt - B3D Forum
As most people suspected, there was a lot more to the PS2 port than what Capcom said in their press release.

Syobo Online just posted this:

"First off, the breaking of exclusivity in this case was not because of user demand, but a plan to boost the stock price, as some already understood, but it seems like there has been confrontation between the developers and the management who are following shareholders' instructions. Capcom nowadays is different to when Okamoto worked there, the development team's voice seems weaker than before. It also looks like a lot of skilled staff will leave the company after the GC version of 4 is finished. But the people behind this rebellion are the developers, and they ask that you don't blame Mikami or Kobayashi. The GC version of 4 is the last one that Mikami will be involved in, the PS2 version will be passed on to someone else. People who used to work at Capcom are also shocked by this news."

I was also unaware about the number of people who did not know Mikami was leaving. It was announced around April that Shinji would leave to work at Clover Studios, a new studio at Capcom, after RE4. What I didn't know was that Hideki Kamiya was also transferring to Clover Studios and that Okamoto has left Capcom completely. Hideki was next most likely person to head the Resident Evil series and now PS4 and PS7 are left with no directors of any great experience when it comes to RE or even survival horror.

Given that Kobayashi said RE4 would mark the end of the current storyline that revolves around the T-virus, Umbrella, etc and that future RE games would concentrate on a completely new and unrelated story, it would seem that RE as we know it will end with RE4.

http://www.rehorror.com/http://www.rehorror.com/

[KDR_11k]

So, Clover Studios, eh? Maybe we'll get more games like Viewtiful Joe, then (CS made VJ2). WOOOHOOOO!

[PaLaDiN]

Huh...

He left Capcom to work at Capcom? I don't get it... what's his rebellion supposed to achieve?

Especially since CS is also doing the GC->PS2 garbage with VJ...

[BlackNMild2k1]

Clover Sudios is not actually part of Capcom, but it's an invested subsidiary. Similar to Flagship.

[ruby_onix]

I saw this on another forum, so I figured I'd post it here.

Quote
From Gamewatch:

GW: Why the sudden announcement to make it on PS2.

Kobayashi: In order to help stablize our revenue and create better relations with shareholders and increase the value of our stock we chose to port RE4. It was purely a business decesion.

GW: Despite your previous claims on RE4 being GC exclusive.

Kobayashi: When I made those comments, I was am the acting producer on RE4. Having said that, at the time it was a choice we made that RE4 could generate a profit (break even) on the GC. And as a producer, that is my only concern. For the game to be reputable and generate pure profit. And I believe it could have. But there are other factors that were outside of the development staff that caused the game to be ported. This deceision was made by non-developers, those who's job is to ensure the Capcom's future finicial sucess. Apparently, the PS2 was seen as extra profit, and thus we were told to port it. My say is only limited, but at the time, and my perspective I was 100% confident and sure it would remain GC exclusive.

GW: Forever?

Kobayashi: As far as I was concerned, sure. But keep in mind, the PS2 port will come 3 to 5 Quarters after the GC release. In our relationship with Nintendo, they still see this game as Nintendo Exclusive.

GW: Can you comment on these rumors about many of the design staff leaving.

Kobayashi: Personally, I'm upset with Capcom's deceision but as a producer I understand where they are coming from. Regarding the other staff, this isn't a rumor. It's truth. They are moving to Clover Studios. However, that is still a studio that is onwed by Capcom. It's a part of Capcom. Profits and pubslishing is still from Capcom etc.

GW: So Mikami is done with the RE series.

Kobyashi: I do not know. Depending on how well some of our newer large titles sell (DMC3 and Viewtiful Joe 2) determine a lot of future things. I cannot say. But if Mikami wanted to , he can and very well make another RE game. Clover studios has full access to the licensing equipment, brands etc that belong to Capcom, and obviously vice-versa. That is why Dante was in Viewtiful Joe (ps2-port). Dante belongs to Capcom but Clover still has rights to him just like any other Capcom Studio.

GW: Is it true that many of the design staff is upset with the higher "ups" at Capcom.

Kobayashi: No. Definantly not. And Never. They are all hardworking people and ultimately, they all want their game to be played by more people than not. We understand that some Nintendo fans are upset, but that is their problem. They need to understand that a company must maximize each games profit to stablize revenue and generate a higher return so we can continue to make quality and ground-breaking games.

GW: You talk about maxing out each game's potential revenue, so why don't you consider porting the DMC series to Gamecube? Being that it's a multi-million+seller, it could certainly find a home on the GC console as DMC and RE are very similar games in terms of target audience and fan base.

Kobayashi: This could happen at many requests...

GW: And finally, what do you have to say to those that are thrilled about the news, those that are concerned for Capcom, and those that aren't so glad to hear what has happened.

Kobayashi: Re4 has been designed for the Gamecube. Beyond that I cannot say more. But certainly keep that in mind. It will also appear on the GC early 2005, almost a year before the PS2 port. That is still exclusive in business relation terms. We only do this to stablize more profit, so that we can create stronger games and help prepare us for the large R&D costs that come with the next-generation consoles. We hope you'll play RE4, it's a great game I am truly proud of. Please, be optimistic that the RE series will now expand to greater lengths and more people can be introduced to the game series they all know and love, and help support.

[Ian Sane]

Gamewatch missed the big question.  Why did Capcom announce that RE4 was being ported to the PS2 before the Cube version came out?  We all know WHY they're porting it.  But we don't know why they announced it at this point, where it would potentially hurt Cube sales.

[ruby_onix]

Capcom's official response to that seems to be...

"It was a knee-jerk response to a shareholder's request that we do something to make Capcom's stock value go up. It was an instant response, and we most likely lost sales on the title, because we're stupid morons, and the concept of 'timing' is unknown to us."

The other theory is basically the same, if you erase everything after "most likely lost sales on the title," and replace it with "because we have great love for PS2 owners, and wanted to let them make their own informed decisions about whether or not to buy a GameCube, without any of this talk about 'third party support' on the GameCube getting in the way."

There seems to be another reasonable theory/rumor going around. It says that the shareholders wanted the stock price to go up, so Capcom decided to go with their usual scapegoat, and slash some GameCube support. They decided to port RE4 to the PS2, but Mikami refused. Then RE4 went over it's budget, so Capcom cut RE4's funding entirely, and told Mikami that he could only finish making the game if he allowed the PS2 port. Mikami caved. Then Capcom went to Sony with the good news, but Sony doesn't allow ports unless the Sony version is declared "superior". RE4 pushes the GameCube, so it'll look like crap on the PS2. Even with "extra features", the PS2 version will still be the inferior one. Sony agreed to let it slide, just this once, but only if Capcom agreed to publically shaft Nintendo.

This was probably in the works for a long time, since Mikami announced that he was moving to Clover a long time ago, which is apparently his big response to this whole thing.

(Moving in protest from Capcom to... Capcom? You're a wuss Mikami. I'm not asking that you go 'all the way' and cut your head off, but this is just lame.)

[PaLaDiN]

So, can somebody tell me how anything's going to be any different at Clover?

They still port GC games to PS2 for no apparent reason...

[MaleficentOgre]

The new clover studios is setting to break apart from capcom.  That's obvious.  If you look at the amount of talent heading over there.  Clover studios actually acts semi-indepentendtly of capcom.  Clover is the anti-capcom capcom studio.  Production studio 4 is falling apart and capcom will need clover.  If clover doesn't leave then capcom will give them free reighn to do whatever they want.  

[Renny]

As long as it's on Sony's console.

'We have a game concept, a cel-shaded side-scroller, but it's fairly niche. We think it wouldn't do well on the over-saturated PS2.'

'So what, you wanna put it on Xbox?'

'No, GameCube.'

'The GameCast?'

'No, I said GameCube. We think there's a potential market there.'

'All right. You crazy geeks.'

...

'Hey, this game did pretty well! Port it to the PS2.'

'But it won't....'

'Shut it, minority share!'

[bombs]

[ruby_onix]

Quote
Kobayashi: ... But if Mikami wanted to , he can and very well make another RE game. Clover studios has full access to the licensing equipment, brands etc that belong to Capcom, and obviously vice-versa.

[NintendoPiccolo]

Yes!, Exclusive....my ass.. How bout we get Tekken 5 and Metal Gear Solid 3  for Gamecube cause I think they are over the budget(joke).....ugh how lame.... ):<

Why don't you just give Mario to PS2 also ...(sorrry just angered because I supposedly thought RE4 was ONLY FOR GAMECUBE)...
DAMN YOU MIKAMI!!!!!!!!!!!