So a recent thread about Rogue Squadron made me think of Factor5 I know since the closure of their American branch they have been virtually dead. Several projects cancelled and they appear to be almost gone. But I decided I should probably look hack into them. Doing a tad of research it appears the company is very much alive.
In fact the company helped Nintendo in developing the 3DS and since its separation with Sony has been really silent. The studio was apparently hired by Lucas Arts in 2009 to make a Wii game but that wasn't the only project, a Nintendo published flight based title was also supposedly entering development for Wii. We also know Kid Icarus was rumored and supposedly cancelled. I looked up articles and while Kid Icarus is listed as cancelled as is Superman (Multiplat) interestingly enough neither Lucas Arts Wii game nor Nintendo's flight similar have been confirmed cancelled.
Now you might think well that was 2009 obviously the games got cancelled or we would have heard about them. We'll Pikmin 3 was announced yeas ago as well and is now a WiiU launch title. Remembering Factor5 is a smaller studio and making two games and working hard with Nintendo on their hardware. A four year life cycle would not be out of the question. We must also remember that Rogue Squadron was made in under a year on prototype hardware and was Nintendo's best selling third party title. Nintendo has stated they want to win the core gamers back. Why wouldn't they hire Factor5 to bring a title for launch of WiiU?
I had thought Star fox WiiU was coming from Retro and they would be great for it. But what if Nintendo brought Factor5 back and put them on StarFox the franchise features all the same gaming elements as Rogue Squadron in fact Assault and RSIII are very similar game play wise. What if the much anticipated StarFox title isn't from Retro or a Nintendo internal studio at all rather from Factor5. Factor5 showed they could launch a PS3 game pretty fast as well. They are a company that could easily make a comeback especially if Nintendo funded them and gave them four years to make their next master piece. If Factor5 could give us RogueSquadron II in under a year what could they do with four? , what's your thoughts will we finally see the return of Nintendo's once best third party supporting studio at Game cubes launch?
-JC7
"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer







