When some fans complain that the upcoming Wii rendition doesn't add anything, the publisher responds.
One of the biggest no-brainer announcements in recent months was official word from Capcom that it is underway with and planning to publish a Wii version of Okami. The title will be a port of the already-released PlayStation 2 version with added Wii remote functionality. Although fans have been asking for exactly that since the critically acclaimed adventure game was revealed, some Wii owners recently made their dissatisfaction with the port unknown, alleging that it's bound to be little more than a copy and paste job with little care or love put into the adaptation process. This is all based on news that, like its PS2 predecessor, the Wii title could lack 480p and 16:9 support.
On Capcom's official American forums, though, company's senior director of strategic planning and research, Christian Svensson, chimed in to defend Okami for Wii. Here's what he had to say on the subject:
- A few points here... I get the issues, I really do, but people seem to be missing a few things.
We selected Ready at Dawn to do the port. These guys are all ex-Naughty Dog and ex-Blizzard, and they have already shipped their own titles that have ridiculously high review scores and sales (and have more on the way). Their attention to detail and technical prowess is among the best of any team I've ever worked with.
If we wanted a cheap and dirty port, I could have turned around and picked any one of 50 houses and gotten it done for less and perhaps more quickly. Clearly, that wasn't the approach we sought for a variety of reasons (for the fans, for the reputation of our company, for the potential of the product, etc.).
Lastly, if this were a quick cash in, let's face it, there's TONS of other products that had higher sales on other platforms we could have chosen to port, quickly and cheaply. Okami, as great as it was, wasn't a huge seller on PS2 such that its quick and dirty port would be assured "sales success" on a new platform. We picked a huge game (read: expensive, especially on testing costs), with a ton of moving parts.
So, on the contrary, we have a lot to prove with this game and I know we, and RAD are up to the task. I apologize if I bristle at the accusation that this is a cheap port, but I do.
Given that the only port we've done to date was RE4, which has a 90+ gamerankings score and provided AMAZING value for the platform, has this really been Capcom's modus operendi such that this allegation should be leveled at us? Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you'll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy. Shovelware is not what we do.
As I've said in prior interviews, we're getting the game up and running first. The game is enormous. If after we have everything working correctly, cleanly and as desired so as not to "break" the amazing experience that is Okami, we will worry about potential enhancements. As we are NOT at that point in the process yet, we are loathe to even mention any potential changes or enhancements for fear of disappointing the fans/media.
So for now, if you MUST assume the worst, assume that you will have an amazing 40-60 hour adventure that is one of gaming's most impressive pieces of art to play in fantastic new ways. If you want to hope for the best, well, perhaps we'll have more to say in a few months, but for now we're going to have to ask for your patience.
Okami is set for debut on Wii early next year. We'll have more on the game in the coming months, so stay tuned.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/830/830125p1.html
I think he pretty much covers everything.
