Developer Polyphony Digital is currently working on PlayStation VR support for Gran Turismo Sport, but it's going to take a bit longer to get to an acceptable level of visual fidelity than the studio originally hoped for. According to creator Kazunori Yamauchi, that's because VR headsets are simply not powerful enough yet.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Yamauchi expressed disappointment in the current state of virtual reality hardware, saying that he had expected the tech to have come a lot further by this point in time. "The first head-mounted display was created before I was born, around 1962," he said. "I've been waiting for more than 50 years. After all that time, I'd hoped it would be something more incredible than it is today."
He explained, however, that Polyphony has worked hard to make the game run well on PSVR and that he thinks it'll still end up being a good product. The team hopes to get even closer to photorealism with the VR version, just like it is known for doing with the normal console Gran Turismo games, but it'll take more time to squeeze enough power out of the system. "We've done the best we can with what's currently available," he stated.
Yamauchi expects that it'll take much more power to get to the point where virtual reality is on par, graphically, with the two-dimensional versions of games. "Once we get to dual 8K [screens], it'll be pretty nice," he estimated. "Dual 8K and about a 200Hz refresh rate. Maybe in another 50 years?" Currently, the PSVR's screens are only 960x1080 per eye, with a 120Hz refresh rate.
You can read much more from the interview with Yamauchi over at GamesBeat.
Microsoft's Hololens augmented reality headset may not have had a widespread consumer release yet--and it may never have one. But that didn't stop someone from getting one and taking advantage of its hardware to recreate Super Mario Bros. in it.
Abhishek Singh built the iconic first level of Mario to work in augmented reality, giving himself a first-person, three-dimensional view of the game. Level 1-1 has likely been recreated more times and in more ways than any other level in video games, but Singh's version is definitely an awesome new look at it.
Singh took his demo even further, however, by dressing up as Mario and proceeding to play through it on the sidewalks of Central Park in New York City. It's pretty hilarious to see a grown man wandering down the trail in a headset, punching blocks and jumping on Goombas. You can see the trailer above; it has both a first-person view and a side view.
This isn't the first time that Mario's been ported to Hololens, although it is the only first-person version. Last year, an inspired developer created versions of classic NES games that run on the headset. You can read more about them here.
Although Hololens is still fairly impractical and way out of most people's price range, it's encouraging to see possible applications of augmented reality in action. This is especially exciting considering that other tech companies--most notably Apple--are making big investments into the hardware.
By Anonymous on Jun 23, 2017 11:30 pm At E3 2017, Mike and Rob chat with Battlefront2 developers on their changes to this upcoming Star Wars Battlefront sequel.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is one of a handful of major Switch games coming out later this year, and at E3 last week, we finally got a closer look at the new story and reconfigured battle system. While there's been a major shift in the style of art used in the game (compared to Xenoblade Chronicles and Xenoblade Chronicles X), in many ways, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 looks like the logical next step in the evolution of Monolith Soft's Xenoblade series.
Speaking to the president and co-founder of the studio, we learned that this is all part of Tetsuya Takahashi's methodology. He is a game developer with an incredible track record, having played a major role in the development of games like Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, and most importantly, Xenogears. Xenogears was Takahashi's first time sitting in the director's chair, and thus began the cycle of Xeno-games. From Xenogears to Xenosaga to Xenoblade, Takahashi told us that he's been iterating on game concepts and stories on a constant basis, from one game to the next.
Our interview below touches on Takahashi's approach to game development, but also his fondness for VR and Battlefield 1, and why he can't stand playing RPGs in his spare time.
Editor's note: This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter from Nintendo.
During the Nintendo Treehouse presentation at E3, you mentioned the idea of the drama that exists in real life between people, and how that's the key focus for what you want to deliver in Chronicles 2. I'm curious if you could speak to that a little bit more.
In terms of the drama between humans and previous games, this game has the name "Xeno." Like I mentioned, it's about differences or something out of the ordinary. Just take for example all of us in this room, we're all from different places, and we are different personalities, and the way we think is different. To gather all of those people into one place, I think there is both positive and negative that can come out of that...Looking at a bigger scale, it can be survival of the fittest or things on a country-based scale, like invasion, something like that.
In this game world that we're trying to create, there are these enormous beings called Titans that people live on and, that's their land. But their land, the Titans, are dying. Once they die, they sink into the cloud sea, so all these people are going to lose their land. They're not going to be able to survive, and I think when you look at it in the real world, I think something like that, something similar happens where there is a lot of competition for resources in the world we live in right now.
Relatively speaking, the United States or Japan are wealthy countries where people live comfortably, but on the other side there are countries that are very poor where people are struggling and suffering. Trying to think about what can we do for all of us to live together well and how can we do that is something that I think about when I'm trying to create games like this.
Then in terms of touching on the idea of religion a little bit, I think for us as Japanese people, we have a little bit of contradiction in terms of religion in that, in Japan, we celebrate Christmas, and then a few days later we go to the shrines to do New Year's Prayer, which is based on Shintoism. When someone passes away, we ask Buddha's monks to say our prayers. It's kind of all over the place, but at the same time there is this idea of having tolerance for all those religions. That is something that I kind of wanted to put into my game, so that the idea of tolerance is something that can be had between people as well. And when we're creating this world within the game, I kind of wanted to put that idea into the relationships that the characters have with each other and the relationship that the character has with his or her blade as well.
Editor's note: A "blade" in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a type of sidekick character.
That's a very thoughtful approach to designing a story. How do you use interactivity to support the feelings and ideas that you have?
The medium of film, for example, is a bit of a passive one in that you're just accepting information and thoughts, and then you react or have an emotional reaction to that. Whereas games, as you mentioned, are interactive. I do think that games, because they're interactive, it's a medium that requires the user to actively go into the world of the game and actually experience it for themselves. In that sense, I've always thought that compared to having a passive experience, actually having an active one where you go and experience things has more impact on your life. I think that a lot of the thoughts and concepts and ideas that I would like to portray in my games are easily conveyed in the way I want through an interactive medium like video games.
You definitely have a very distinguished career and a history of making games that mean something to a lot of people. I'm curious if you can pick one--what is the game from your past that means the most to you?
I think for me, all of them. The reason I say that is when I'm creating games, and once we complete a game, there's always this phase of post-mortem where I think to myself, "I could have done this better, or I could have changed that." It's not limited to just what I think of it. I also take in some of the players' feedback and other people's thoughts and think about, "Maybe if I do this next, people will enjoy it more. Maybe if I do that or change this, it would turn out better."
It's the cycle I go through for every game that I am a part of. If we started with Xenogears, there is a post-mortem that happened there that I put to use in Xenosaga. Then we went into a different title and then to Xenoblade and to X. It's just a reiterative cycle. To me, every single game is an opportunity to learn, and it's also an opportunity to challenge myself.
What step in the cycle does Xenoblade Chronicles 2 represent?
I think in terms of Xenoblade 2, there's always--like I mentioned--things that I wished I could have done or thought I should have done differently. I feel like Xenoblade 2 is my opportunity and my way to put all of that into reality. I say all of that, but I probably can't do everything in that title, and I'm sure that when this game is done, I'll have more post-mortem things to think about and more changes and different things that I'd like to do. That'll be carried out to the next title, whatever it is that I work on. It's this cycle that really keeps me going, but obviously if you're stuck on one point, you can't move forward, and the game will never be made, so there's certain times where you have to kind of draw the line and say, "This is how far I'm going to go this time. Whatever is left, I'll carry it on to the next game." That's kind of how I see it, but Xenoblade 2 is kind of like a culmination of all the things that I have done--and would like to have done--from my past.
What about the rest of Monolith Soft? How do your team members help you identify and hone the message that you're trying to examine?
In terms of this project, obviously I first and foremost conveyed the direction and the vision that we're trying to achieve with this title, but given my position, if I were to speak directly to all of the staff, it might seem like a commandment coming from the company. If I have feedback that I want to share, I go to someone like Koh Kojima, who is the director, or some of the leads that are on the teams, and then have them convey to the individual staff. Because if I were to really go and speak with someone directly who is actually doing all the work, they would probably drop everything and prioritize that, and that's something I don't want to do. That's why I try to take this kind of structure so that it doesn't impede on the work of all of the team members.
Do you ever feel interested in working on a smaller project, one with a team that's very intimate that can work together and where you can have that sort of direct influence?
If it was just a simple yes or no question, I would have to say yes, I would love to do something like that. But Monolith in and of itself has grown to be a big company, so we need big projects to sustain that company, for one. At the same time, if for example the next generation of developers and staff that could really handle a big game on their own [arrives]--if that comes up--then I'm kind of free to do whatever I want. When that time comes, I would love to work on maybe smaller projects.
Do you only want to create RPGs? Are there any other genres that interest you or any other methods of play?
Actually, my favorite type of games are first-person shooters. Obviously, I like action games and strategy games. I like RPGs as well, but what happens is when I get involved in creating a game, it makes it hard to enjoy that game. For example, right now it's very hard for me to enjoy RPGs because my perspective becomes that of a creator and not a user, in that I would always think, "Well, why is it this way? They could have done this, or this could have been done that way to improve." It's hard to get back into the user perspective. Although I'm interested in it, if I were to make different genres, then I wouldn't be able to enjoy those.
What games do you play in your spare time?
Probably out of the games I'm playing right now, I think the most that I've sunk time into is Battlefield 1.
How do you feel about the the fact that video games have become such a huge business? Is it good for you? Is it good for the games you have to make? Or does it present unique challenges that sometimes make you nostalgic for when times were simpler?
I think the current status of the Japanese gaming industry is exactly that, where a lot of developers and publishers are kind of exhausted from creating major triple-A titles. There's a lot of companies that are creating smaller-scale games like on smart devices. I feel like these kinds of games are kind of reminiscent of older games that were a lot simpler. Although I don't think it's bad, I don't personally like it. I think a lot of publishers and developers have this kind of vision where--if you've seen the movie Brain Storm--you kind of put this equipment on, and you can actually go into the world itself. It's almost like Matrix basically where you can really immerse yourself in the world and live in that world. I feel like myself included, that might be kind of like the ultimate form of interactive entertainment. With that said, the industry is right now at a point where it's really not suitable to create big titles; however, I do have that vision that that's the ultimate place, and I want to keep going. That's why I create big games, and I would like to keep going until I can't anymore.
Have you spent much time playing virtual reality games, and if so have any in particular stood out to you?
Yes, I have spent a little bit of time playing VR. I guess the most impressive is maybe adult entertainment, but that's not video games.
Going back to video games, I think one of the problematic issues with VR is that in moving your character, you yourself aren't moving, so it can cause a lot of motion sickness. I think that's one of the hurdles that virtual reality needs to overcome.
In terms of an incredible or amazing title, I don't think it exists yet because a lot of the big companies haven't been able to make any seriously major investments into VR, so that kind of truly impressive content isn't out yet. In terms of what's available now, I had the opportunity to play...I was interested in Resident Evil 7, so I tried that out, and I found it to be extremely scary to the point where I couldn't move forward. I thought that was impressive, that it can create a reaction in a user that prevents them from moving forward because they're too scared. I thought that was impressive.
Locomotion is obviously a big challenge in VR, but you mentioned adult entertainment--typically being present when something is happening around you.Would you ever be interested in making a passive VR experience as a mean to communicate your thoughts and ideas?
If I were to make a virtual reality experience, I would definitely want to make it interactive.
Fortunately, from what we've seen of it so far, Bloodstained seems to be coming together well. For this year's expo, publisher 505 Games showcased a brand new church level from the title and gave fans a glimpse at a challenging new boss called Bloodless, who can fly around the screen and attack players with torrents of blood.
We got a chance to speak with Igarashi and Shutaro Iida (programmer for the handheld Castlevania titles as well as the director of Harmony of Despair) through an interpreter at E3. We asked the famed designer about the game's recent delay, his reasoning for moving to polygonal models with this project, and which Castlevania game is his personal favorite.
You showed off a new church level for E3 this year. Is this an early area in the game and does it differ from the demo on the showfloor?
Koji Igarashi: The stage itself is in the actual game, but all the enemy placements and a couple of other adjustments for it were made just for the E3 demo. All the materials in the stage itself are going to be like that in the final game.
The stage ends with a new boss called Bloodless. Is she the first boss you encounter in the game?
Actually, this is like a mid-game area. If you actually saw the menu in the demo, it says level 15. Around that level you'll be able to go through this stage.
How is development progressing? You recently had to delay the game to 2018. Have there been any unexpected hurdles in development or is it just taking a longer than you anticipated?
Development is generally going smoothly, but there have been a lot of troubles. We encountered a lot of problems during development. Right now, we're trying to speed up the development more because we had to make the system first and then go from there and just created more and more content. It's quicker now in general.
Is there a reason you decided to go with polygonal models for Bloodstained instead of the pixel visuals of traditional Castlevania games?
We generally have two reasons for going to 3D instead of 2D, one reason being, when we started the Kickstarter campaign, we already had decided we were bringing it to multiplatforms. In order to be able to do that, we decided to go with 3D.
The second reason we decided to go with 3D is there are not a lot of pixel artists actually that would work continuously. There are a lot of 3D artists. So in general, we were able to find more people that were able to create 3D models than 2D.
How many playable characters will be in the final game and can you give us any hints as to who the others are?
In the final game, we'll have three playable characters. Right now, we only announced that Miriam is going to be a playable. The two other playable characters are still a secret, but we'll announce them soon.
A lot of the later Castlevania games share many similarities with Metroid. What are your thoughts on the new Metroid game that was announced for 3DS?
The two of us are extremely excited! [Laughs] We're looking forward to it!
Which is your personal favorite Castlevania game?
Out of the games that I've produced, my favorite is definitely Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It's a memorable title, it was the first title that I was able to work on, and it's also the reason why I'm here today developing Bloodstained. If you include all the other Castlevanias I didn't produce, my favorite is Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.
Shutaro Iida: I was a game programmer for the Game Boy Advance and DS Castlevania series. My favorite title that I didn't work on is also Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Of the titles that I have worked on, Portrait of Ruin is my favorite.
Development is generally going smoothly, but there have been a lot of troubles.
What is it about Castlevania III that makes it your favorite?
Igarashi: Personally, the reason why it's my favorite is because III doesn't really tell you the story in the game itself. It shows it throughout the gameplay. It doesn't really explain but it tells a lot from just playing the game. The whole concept of the game, the world setting for III was the best. Also, it was one of the first games that released a cassette. It was easy to play during that time and also the sound was great.
Iida: The reason why I like it is because of one simple reason: the background music. The music is the best. This is something that a lot of Castlevania fans know, but in the Japanese version of Dracula's Curse, they have a sound chip that's specifically inside the Japanese version and the sound quality is so great on that because they have its original sound chip in there. That's another reason why I really like it.
Bloodstained is obviously inspired heavily by Castlevania, but do you feel any pressure to see the game constantly being compared to it? Would you prefer Bloodstained to be known as something separate from Castlevania?
It's hard to say, "Don't compare it with Castlevania," because it's based off of it and it's also something that we've also knowingly done, so it's inevitable. We don't mind it. We like it, but at the same time, it's something that's kind of like a revival. We want people to think Bloodstained is a revival and also something that we want people to feel nostalgic about.
Do you have any final comments to fans who are really looking forward to Bloodstained?
Igarashi: For those looking forward to Bloodstained, we hope that you'll experience that nostalgic feeling. We're working hard to make it very much like that old-time Castlevania. We also want new players to feel the enjoyment of this kind of game. I hope you look forward to it.
Iida: Every time we create a new "Igavania" game, I always think about how to go beyond the previous games. But for this game, we want fans to think, "Oh, this is [a classic] Igavania game. This is what's good about this kind of game." We're also including new elements to it, but that's on the side. We want people to experience that old-school Igavania game.
Double Fine's adventure game, Broken Age, has had a long and interesting development history. The developer ran a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign way back in February 2012. In 2014, it launched the first half of the game on PC, and in 2015, the entire game was released on PS4, Vita, PC, iOS, Android, and even Ouya. Now, five years after its crowdfunding campaign, Broken Age is finally available on Xbox One.
According to a press release, the Xbox One version was made possible because of development support from BlitWorks. Its Xbox launch follows retail versions for PS4 and Vita that were made available earlier this month.
You can pick up Broken Age on Xbox One for $20, the same price as on all other consoles and PC. It only costs $5 on iOS and Android, however.
If you're curious about the fascinating story of Broken Age's creation, Double Fine and 2 Player Productions made a documentary about it in 2015. You can watch the whole film here. Among other interesting facts about the game, the documentary reveals that Double Fine just barely broke even on the game. Additionally, if you want to read more about Broken Age, you can check out our original reviews of Act I and Act II.
If you've been looking for a reason to try out or return to the Arma series, now's a great time: developer Bohemia Interactive has released a DLC pack for Arma 3 alongside its new game Argo, a multiplayer spinoff from the Arma series. And the best part is that both are free.
Argo began as a total conversion mod for Arma 3 and has since transformed significantly within Bohemia's Incubator development program. It's a first-person shooter that features three five vs. five modes and a ten-player cooperative mode called Combat Patrol.
Argo is free on Steam now and doesn't have microtransactions. However, players can support the developer by buying a Supporter's Pack for $10/£7, which contains exclusive animations and clothing items.
Arma 3, meanwhile, is getting the Malden DLC pack, which features a remaster of the Malden map that appeared in the first Arma game. It's the same island map that Argo uses. Arma 3 players also get access to the Combat Patrol mode, as well. The DLC is free, and the base game is on sale right now for $13.59 on Steam.
You can see some screenshots from Argo below and check out its launch trailer above. Argo is available through Steam here.
Solstice Chronicles: MIA is a last-man-standing style shooter coming soon from indie studio Ironward, and it's the follow-up to the developer's 2014 tactical strategy game The Red Solstice. The game now has a release date set for this summer, as well as a new trailer you can watch above.
Players are thrown "into the boots of a lone marine, left for dead, clawing for his own shotgun-induced survival as he faces off against all manner of sci-fi horrors," according to the game's description. The game is played top-down, and while it boasts "twin-stick shooter sensibilities," Ironward says there will be a fair amount of strategy involved in battling hordes of Martian mutants when it launches on July 26 for PC.
Solstice Chronicles: MIA will also feature class-based skill trees and upgradable weapons. Your chatty drone companion, which accompanies you on your battle for survival, also has many abilities to help keep you alive. The game will also include local multiplayer and co-op play.
While the game is currently scheduled for a PC release only, Ironward says a PlayStation 4 version is coming later this year. The studio's first game, The Red Solstice, is currently 70% off in the Steam Summer Sale, where it's available for just $6.
By Anonymous on Jun 23, 2017 10:30 pm The Funhaus team came by our E3 2017 stage show to quiz the audience's Metacritic knowledge, talk about E3 announcements, and give away a few sweet prizes!
The remastered version of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is finally set to be released on its own. Activision today confirmed a standalone edition of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is on the way, with a PS4 release set for next week.
Modern Warfare Remastered releases for PS4 at retail and on the PlayStation Store on Tuesday, June 27, priced at $40. Activision's press release notes "other platforms"--likely meaning both PC and Xbox One--will "follow," but it doesn't provide any further specifics. Call of Duty DLC releases typically trail about a month behind on PC and Xbox One, though we don't know if that same timed-exclusivity window applies in the case of something more substantial like this.
Previously only available with special editions of last year's Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, there have been rumors for some time that a standalone release would eventually happen. Retail listings further reinforced the likelihood of this; last month, GameFly suggested a PS4 release would come on June 20, followed by an Xbox One release on July 20.
Modern Warfare Remastered contains the entire campaign from the 2007 original, updated with improved graphics and audio, as well as a similarly updated multiplayer mode. It has also received its own DLC, with the Variety Map Pack arriving in March. That added the same four maps that the original Call of Duty 4 saw as DLC. These maps are not included for free with the standalone release, which will only ship with the 16 base maps.
Following the success of its previous marathons of classic TV shows, Twitch is set to offer yet another. Next up is the classic movie-riffing show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
This begins on Monday, June 26, at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET and will run for six days. The marathon will consist of 38 episodes spanning the show's run from 1989 to 1997, meaning it apparently leaves out my personal favorite, the 1998 episode Puma Man. Regardless, this collection makes for what Twitch claims is the "most extensive collection of MST3K episodes ever assembled for a marathon."
If you're unfamiliar with the show, you're in for a real treat. The premise is that a man and two robot companions are forced to watch old, terrible real-world movies, which they deal with by cracking jokes the entire time. Although the show came to an end in 1999, several of the key members of the show went on to form Rifftrax, while MST3K itself was recently revived for a season on Netflix.
An exact schedule for the marathon hasn't been announced, but among the episodes that we'll see are those featuring Killer Shrews, Final Justice, and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. A brief line in a blog post suggests Manos: The Hands of Fate will make the cut, as well it should. Twitch will also offer special MST3K emotes, which you can see below.
By Anonymous on Jun 23, 2017 08:30 pm Join Dave and Tamoor as they take a look at Dead Cells, an upcoming roguelike 'Metroidvania', currently in early access.
By Anonymous on Jun 23, 2017 08:30 pm There were many games shown at this year's E3 conference. But which ones are coming out in this year? Joey is here to help let you know what you can look forward to playing for the rest of 2017!
At E3 2017 Capcom released a story demo for Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, the latest entry in its crossover fighting game series. This has given fans across the world a very small taste of the new 2v2 fighting system, which is a big departure from what longtime players have come to be used to.
Before E3 and also during it, we talked to associate producer Peter Rosas and producer Michael Evans about the Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite. Below you'll find the amalgamation of two interviews covering a broad range of subjects, from the thinking behind the new format and the emphasis on approachability to narrative ambitions in Story mode and whether Chun-Li's odd-looking face can be fixed.
Peter, you're known to be a professional Marvel player. What do you bring from that background to Marvel Infinite? What are your goals as someone who's seen the competitive side and the development side?
Peter Rosas: So I would say the thing is identity creation, right? Being with the scene for so long, that's one of the key things that I've seen within the scene, that the players there like to play the characters they want to play and develop their own crazy or interesting strategies and really kind of make a name for themselves, really show off their play style, their identity through their team.
With two characters, the ability for that seemed like it was decreasing, so it was like, "Okay. We're going back to partnership. What are we doing here that hasn't been done in any other game?" By opening up the whole switch system, it's just like, there it is. Now it's so open that, even if you have two characters, you'll be able to cement yourself and your identity within that. But then on top of that, once we had the Infinity Stones added, we have that layer that was missing. The Infinity Stones change the dynamic of a team, so you have players who essentially could pick the same two characters but with a different stone in and have a completely different strategy.
There are so many ways to create identity. So that's something that I know the hardcore guys are going to be looking forward to. Also maintaining that Versus series DNA and the integrity of the brand. This game definitely has that high-flying, fast-paced, adrenaline rushing action. It's still there. Players who have been with the series will immediately be able to pick this up and say, "Oh, yes. This is a Marvel game. I can jump around. I can move around as I see fit and still do that."
The other important part of that whole identity thing is making sure that all characters were functional. With the hardcore guys, they're always looking for what's optimal, what would allow them to win the easiest or the most consistently. And sometimes what happens is some characters just end up better than others, or some strategy becomes extremely strong and it just wipes out a lot of the cast. What we wanted to do with this one is make sure that all characters felt viable. All characters felt strong. And whether it was a character design issue or it was an issue [with] a system, we looked at all of that to ensure that the characters felt strong and awesome.
That was really important to me as a person who's been with the series, just to make sure that for the long-haul player, the guy who's going to stick around, that there are options. They can play what they want. They can do what they want. They can essentially create their identity through their play style and [have] it shine pretty brightly.
A lot of the hardcore players are going to be looking at this 2v2 system and the emphasis on approachability, and it might worry them a little bit. Given the attention on the Marvel Universe right now, having that approachability makes sense as it'll help the game be successful. If Marvel was ever going to be a big success on a global scale, this is the time to do it. With that in mind, what would you say to the people that are worried that maybe the 2v2 system loses some of the complexity of MvC?
Peter Rosas: Well, I would tell them that just because the game is more accessible doesn't mean we're sacrificing depth. That's not what we're doing here. We're just making sure that players who are unfamiliar with the Versus series, or unfamiliar with fighting games in general, are able to jump in and have fun. And if they have fun, then they might be interested in sticking around and starting to learn more about the game, their characters, and things like that. The problem with previous entries is that it was a daunting. When you gave a controller to a new player, there was just nowhere to start. They didn't know what to do.
We don't want people to think that there's some prescribed strategy. We want them to just be able to jump in the game, pick their characters, and not have to worry about assist types. We wanted everything to be very easy to understand so players can stick around and keep playing.
That said, due to the level of openness with the switch system and the Infinity Stones, there's some pretty deep stuff there. You can develop some really dastardly strategies, but it really depends on you and how much time you want to put in. I can tell you as a hardcore player that has been with the series for a very long time that there is a ton going on there. I've had the game a lot longer than anyone else and I still feel like I'm just scratching the surface. I like using two characters with one particular stone. But if I change the stone, that whole dynamic is different, even though the characters themselves haven't changed. I'm figuring out different times to switch between the characters, which is now creating new combos, new synergies, and things like that. There's a lot going on.
It's still going to have that Marvel DNA that players who have been with the series will know, expect, and love. But at the same time, we wanted to make sure that players who are unfamiliar with the series, once again, who are brand new to the series can just pick this up and not be intimidated, not say, "Oh, that's a fighting game. That's not for me." Instead they can pick it up and say, "Ah, that was fun. I picked my favorite two characters. I had a ball. Let me stick around. Let me play a few more matches." And ideally, some of those would say, "Oh, I want to compete with these other guys. I want to keep it going."
How much attention have you paid to the readability of the game? That was an issue with Marvel 3. I tried to get some people watching it during EVO and one of the matches was ChrisG, who plays a Morrigan and uses that fireball spam strategy.
Peter Rosas: And there's two [Morrigans].
Yeah, exactly. While introducing the approachability and preserving that complexity, how did you approach making it easier for people without expert knowledge to parse what's happening and understand it?
Peter Rosas: Yeah, fighting games are inherently pretty easy to understand. You have characters, life bars, a timer, and you duke it out until someone is knocked out. The thing that we noticed with, let's say Marvel 3 for instance, is that the game had a lot of visual noise. You had these hyper combos and the screen would transition all crazy, in the background there was s*** being blown up and all kinds of crazy action, and you're like, "Well, who am I keeping track of? And what's going on?" You also had assists, and because you had assist characters who are just jumping in and out of the screen, and you're like, "Wait, who's fighting who?" and "What's doing what?"
So we looked at all of that, and how that's difficult to track for those who are unfamiliar. Because even for players who are familiar, it's hard to track sometimes. And what we did was ... one step was we removed assist types. So what that does is that makes it easier for players who are just trying to jump into battle, they don't have to understand what assist does what. It's just, "Pick a character you like, and another one." By removing that, the flow on the screen is a lot easier to see.
Same thing with a lot the moves: they have visual effects that look amazing thanks to the Unreal Engine 4, but at the same time, they're a lot easier to follow. Hyper combos are still over the top, bombastic, and things like that. But we have now contained where those over-the-top effects appear, so that way everything is bit easier to track. Same thing when you switch characters. They always come in from the side now, so you can always tell when there's a switch happening.
It's just a lot easier and a lot more digestible for players who may be unfamiliar with this game to track. You have characters flying around and doing their thing, and it's over-the-top action with superheroes come to life. But at the same time, you can always tell what's happening now. Whereas before, guys [were] jumping in and out and effects and things like that. It was just like, "Whoa."
There's been a lot of conscious effort put toward a lot of that. The same thing with the readability of life bars and the characters and the gauges. We made sure that all of that is very, very, very easy to digest within the HUD and all that, just to make sure that players who are unfamiliar with it, they can just clearly see what's happening and it feels intuitive. They don't need necessarily somebody to sit there and explain all the little nuances of what's happening and what's on the screen to them.
They need to be able to pick it up and have fun immediately, which maybe in Street Fighter V is a little bit harder to do.
Michael Evans, Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite producer
It feels like more of a grounded game as well. I'm feeling less of an impulse to leap into the air and spam fireballs. Is that something that you've done consciously to try and keep the focus on switching in and out on a ground level, instead of constantly getting into the air and playing keep away?
Peter Rosas: Yeah. The characters are a bit bigger in this game. We wanted them to be large. And they're a bit closer to the screen size so you're engaging a little more. Additionally, when you switch characters, once again they always come in from the ground, so it's easier to track and it's easier to transition into combos. If you go back to the older titles, Street Fighter and things like that, those games weren't necessarily played in the air. It was kind of in the later titles where people started just staying in the air and running amok that way. We wanted to be a lot more entertaining, a lot more digestible, and what's more digestible than two characters going at it? It's like, "Oh yeah, they're just fighting" versus some guy just staying away and beating you from afar.
Same thing with the combos. It's not about keeping the guy extended in the air for 20-30 hit combos. It's about getting your hit in, doing a little bit of a combo, and then figuring out how you land the next hit. That's what's at the heart of the strategy: It's how do you land that hit? How do you use your team to do that?
Michael Evans: Watching EVO, watching the player on MvC3, it's always about how do you land that first hit? How do you open the guy up? And then when they land that first hit, "Oh!" The crowd goes crazy 'cause it's all about how you get in. The extended combos get higher, higher, higher, and that's the execution part of it. Execution is always important, but the real heart of a fun fighting game is really the strategies that you develop and how you outthink your opponent and open them up for that first hit.
How tied are you to the current cinematic Marvel universe, because the Marvel games are known for pulling in characters from all corner of the Marvel universe. At the moment, we're seeing characters that are quite mainstream. Do you have plans to look beyond those characters and bring out some fan favorites? Will we see a Carnage or a Venom or anything like that? Are there going to be characters who aren't in movies and being pushed in front of people right now?
Michael Evans: Yeah, definitely. So we talked a lot about the cinematic feel of the game. That said, the game is not based on the MCU. It's a completely original game. We did take inspiration from what's happening in the MCU but also from comics and everything else. But when we sit down to choose the characters, as fans ourselves, we wanted to see these certain team-ups that seem to make sense or certain character interactions. For example, you have Rocket and X in a teaser and they're playing off of each other in a really cool way. And that's in the Story mode. Also, Captain Marvel and Chun-Li [teaming up] just makes sense [as] two super strong female characters from both sides.
One of the approaches in choosing characters is what would create these moments that everyone would want to see in terms of the characters in the story we're trying to tell. The other is on the gameplay side of things. Marvel definitely leaves it to us in terms of creating the best fighting game because they know we're the experts in that area. So when we're looking at character types and we want small quick characters and large brawler characters and everything, we try and have a good mix there. And also the fan service stuff too.
I just wanted Gambit, he's been missing for a long time. Anyway, one of the things that a lot of hardcore fans will want you guys to speak to the development team working on this. What's the heritage like? I know a lot of people tie Marvel 3 to Ryota Niitsuma, but who's on Infinite? Other than yourself obviously.
Peter Rosas: I was going to say, if you want talent ... we'll talk to you about some talent.
Michael Evans: It's not [Niitsuma]. He's even come out and said he's not very close to it. That said, it is an internal team. But the cool thing is that this team is extremely experienced. The director, Hirose Norio, has been around forever. When I was a kid playing X-Men: Children of the Atom or X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, he was coding that game. These are guys who have been the torchbearers in the sense of Capcom DNA and the feeling of the Versus series. It's been very interesting because we come with the new perspective, what's hot on the streets these days. And they come with the, "When you were a baby I was basically making this." It's that tug of war that's really created an amazing game. We have these guys who are super OGs working on the title, but at the same time, we have a fresh perspective from our side about what's happening recently.
Peter Rosas: You had these guys who created the rule set of the Versus series. They're the ones who said, "Oh, let's have a hit that guy off the ground, and launch into the air combos," and things like that. They're the ones who saw the rules of Street Fighter and threw them all out and created their own rules. So they have their idea of what is a Versus series game. Luckily with myself being in the community for so long and seeing how it's evolved from what they developed into what we play, I've been able to then come back and talk to the team and say, "Okay, look that's that. We get it. Let's evolve it here. Let's make some modifications there." And then you also have Marvel and they're just like, "Oh, it would be cool if..." We could all come together and make this cool game, 'cause we're all really passionate about it.
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I like how you've basically positioned the Infinity Stones as these devices that break the fundamental design principles of fighting games by letting you mess with area control, speed of characters, and stuff like that.
Peter Rosas: Yeah, and that's what's at the heart of the stones. When you wield these in the Marvel universe you break the laws associated with that stone. We thought about how we can bring that same experience over to a fighting game, where you break the rules of a fighting game. The idea of what these stones can do came from all directions. We were thinking about how should the Power stone work and how should the Time stone work, and things like that. And we've had different Infinite Stone matches that we've tried, and some stayed and some haven't. The idea was basically to have players feel empowered and that's what we have here.
Do you have any esports ambitions for Infinite, and what lessons have you learned from Street Fighter V's early days and are trying to not replicate with Marvel Infinite? Obviously Street Fighter V has had a bit of an uphill struggle and now there's a perception problem around it. How are you approaching Marvel Infinite and trying to make sure that doesn't happen again?
Michael Evans: Sure, so to speak to Street Fighter V. Yes, its launch, let's be honest, wasn't the most successful in terms of the perception. It's for a few reasons, but there's expectation in the market of what a competitive title should be in terms of single-player content and feature set and everything. So Street Fighter V was perceived as having [not much] to do in the game. There was no Story mode, there was no Arcade mode, you could just go online and play, but there was no battle lounge. So you go online and buy it, but the online wasn't working well because of the server issues.
So there's a lot of things. But obviously we've spent the last year working hard at trying to improve each of those in some way. That said, for Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite, we're just mainly focused on making that day-one game a featured product, so including the cinematic Story mode, but also an Arcade mode, 8-player online lounges, everything. We want to make sure that we meet expectations in that sense. And that's in terms of what we learned from Street Fighter V.
Street Fighter V is also an amazing game, but as Peter mentioned with the accessibility this time around, we're expecting a lot more players to come in and try [Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite] out. Maybe even non-fighting gamers. They need to be able to pick it up and have fun immediately, which maybe in Street Fighter V is a little bit harder to do. Maybe not. But there are no simple input commands and things like that that'll give you a combo in that game. Whereas that's something that in Versus games like this we can do, and it's fun.
Peter Rosas: So speaking about esports, the game comes out in September. Unfortunately that's a little bit later in the season, so we can't really integrate in Capcom Pro Tour this year. We don't really have any real esports related plans towards it just yet to announce. But that said, this game as an esport or something that the competitive community can get behind, I definitely see that. This game has, once again, the ability for players to create their identity. It has the strategy development and depth that players who are more hardcore like myself will look for. The possibilities are infinite, literally. Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind that they're gonna play it and throw events for it and things like that.
You have the game on the E3 show floor and people seem to be starting to understand the 2v2 system. There was some skepticism to whether there would still be the depth there, but it seems people are starting to get it. What's it been like to see that happen?
Peter Rosas: It's been great. Yesterday I was on the Capcom Unity stream with Mike Jones from Marvel, and also with a pro player, IFC Yipes. We talked about the system. We basically gave those watching insight as to our decisions. It's not like these things weren't well thought out. You know? We looked at it. What we've noticed is the better players instantly get what we're going for. They are just like, "Oh my gosh. The amount of creativity I have here."
Just seeing all that come together has been pretty awesome. The more knowledge that the more experienced players get out there, the more information they get about the system and the little things you can do, they'll notice that there's quite a bit under the hood, if you're willing to look at it. We're out here telling you about it a little bit more as this event goes on.
Michael Evans: I love seeing the reaction too. I mean obviously as fighting gamers in Capcom we are deep in the weeds on those [fighting game community] boards and sites, and we see all that. We hear you. But it's good to take a step back sometimes, and I go on the Marvel channels and just look at casual people or not even fighting gamers and they're just like, "This Story mode's amazing. Who's this little knight interacting with Thor? That's crazy. These characters are so over the top." The fan service.
In a crossover game like this, having those moments in that crazy fan service, yeah, it's bonkers--of course it is--but we've always wanted to do that and have that Story mode. On the gameplay side, I think people are really starting to understand what we were going for and what we were trying to do with it. It's cool to see that they're finally getting their hands on it.
The thing that I noticed in the Story mode demo is it felt like a lot of the narrative was character sees another character and then makes a quip. Then it moves to the next scene. Is that going to develop into an actual narrative?
Michael Evans: Oh yeah.
Where's the story coming from? Is it you guys writing this? Is Marvel involved?
Michael Evans: It's Capcom. We originally created the story in collaboration with Marvel. The guy who came on to write the script is Paul Gardner. He wrote a fantastic script for us, but we also work closely with Bill Roseman, who's the creative director [at Marvel]. He comes from the New York publishing side. He was editor on Guardians of the Galaxy. He was fundamental in the creation of Guardians of the Galaxy, Groot, and Rocket. He was a great resource and an asset to have. However the story was 100% original, created by Capcom.
It's funny that you mention that, because we know that we're gonna have Marvel fans coming into this. We know that we're gonna have Capcom fans coming into this. Capcom fans may not know the Marvel characters and the Marvel fans may not know the Capcom characters, vice versa. Since what you're literally seeing is the first 25 minutes of the Story mode, we wanted to make sure that you're just thrown into this world. We don't want to tell the slow story of Ultron Sigma, and this is kind of like the Age of Ultron comics where you're just thrown into it. Here's what's happening.
However, it's very important that characters are introduced. It's kind of like the old Cheers TV series. Whenever someone comes in the bar, their name is said. So that happens in the first 25 minutes when people get introduced and we're ramping up. From there it goes to this crazy epic scale. You'll notice that you jump right into this new world and the heroes are already familiar with each other; [that's because] it's like 88 days into it. The world is actually a new universe that's being created by Ultron Sigma, and the heroes have been existing in this universe for a while already.
So you can say that it will develop beyond just Rocket Raccoon saying, "Let's do this" while twirling Ebony and Ivory? I look at Injustice and say, "The strength of this story is it's so good that it spawned its own comic series." Whether Infinite does that or not doesn't matter, but fans like myself want something to really dig into. I don't want just one-liners. You're confident that you'll have more?
Peter Rosas: Oh yeah, man. Without talking too much about competitive products, I have played everything this year including Tekken 7, which just came out, and like you mentioned, [Injustice 2]. I feel really good about our Story mode. It is bonkers, man. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the story that [NetherRealm is] telling also, which is a little more dark and serious and stuff. But there's just these crossover opportunities [in Infinite that] can be so bonkers. It's not that the whole game is just quips and one-liners like that. There is a very nice story arc that takes you through an epic story and to the conclusion. Yeah, definitely. The first part is fun and it introduces the characters and it kinds of gets your feet wet.
Ono said the same thing to me about Street Fighter V and I was burned, so I'm gonna hold you to it this time.
Peter Rosas: Hold me to it, man. Hold me to it.
One of the other things that I'd like you to speak to is some of the designs of the characters. What kind of stage and what level of finality are they at? The obvious one is Chun-Li, who looks really weird. Her face looks--I was like maybe she's a Skrull or something. The other one is Captain America, who is being compared to the Rob Liefeld drawing where he looks weirdly proportioned. The other thing that I noticed was visuals don't pop in the way that Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 did. Even today you see that it looks like it gleams, it shines, it looks so vibrant. Is there room for you to kind of revise the stuff and really look forward?
Michael Evans: It's interesting to see the feedback on that kind of stuff. Not to say that the fans are wrong or nitpicking stuff like that. That feedback is coming and we're hearing that feedback and we're taking it in stride and figuring out how we can improve on things. That said, the game comes out in three months so there's gonna be things that we can do in that time remaining and things that we can't do. When it comes to the overall look of the game, I feel like when people get it in their hands and they see it in motion, they really get what we're trying to do with the cinematic look.
It also comes down to the stages too. The first stage we showed was XGARD. It's very dark and doesn't necessarily show off the colors. The lighting is pretty muted. The other stages we've shown are a stark contrast to that. They're bright [and] the characters really pop. Then there's a lot of complexity and stuff going on in the background that people haven't seen yet. I think as we show more stages, people will be impressed by the variety, with the look of the game and how the characters pop off it.
That said, it's a drastic change from the previous comic book look. When you're doing a toon shaded look like that, with [a] more comic book[-style] shader, it's very easy to make hard line distinctions between the characters in the background. Obviously we've done as much as we can with lighting to make sure that the characters pop off and read well, because it's a fighting game. It's very important for all Capcom fighters that the characters are never in the shadows, never dark, [and] they read really well.
But the decision to go the cinematic direction was--we had a couple reasons why we wanted to do that. One was, at a glance when you see this game, you want to know that it's Infinite and it's not Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 or any other previous iteration of it. From MvC 2 to MvC 3 there was a huge visual jump because it went from 2D to 3D. So this time we're going 3D to 3D, but how can we innovate? That was one thing. We want to do something new.
When MvC 3 came out, the MCU really hadn't started, so the first Avengers movie hadn't come out. The recognition of the Marvel characters [is higher now]. There's all these people that go see Marvel movies and a subset of them are reading comics and stuff and hardcore fans, but I think most people recognize these characters [based on what] they see on screen.
We announced Black Panther and he looks really cool and he's similar to what is being seen in the movies and stuff. The cinematic direction, it ties closely to the story we're trying to tell. It has a story backbone, it's a little more grown-up. It's bonkers, but as you mentioned, Street Fighter V is a little more anime feel, right? This with the cinematic look is paired with the story, which is a little more of a modern epic kind of feel. For those reasons also, we went that direction.
Okay. So just to return to Chun-Li's face.
Michael Evans: Haha. I knew you were gonna say that.
Are you guys gonna look at that again, given the widespread negative response?
Michael Evans: Yes. Well when put that way, I say, I never wanted to look at it again. It's super--no, okay. It is disgusting. Of course we will look at it again. We're gonna look at it. Can't promise anything right now, but we want to make our fans happy, man. We're not an evil overlord company, despite the rumors. We do want to make our fans happy. Can't promise anything. We'll look into it. I believe Ono already said something about that.
[Michael's quote, "I never wanted to look at it again. It's super--no, okay. It is disgusting," was said in jest, which doesn't quite carry through into a written transcript.]
There was recently a leak about the characters, and people picked up on the fact that a lot of classic characters aren't there, specifically the X-Men characters like Magneto and Sentinel. How do you guys feel about people being hung up on that?
Peter Rosas: If you were to actually think about it, these characters are just functions. They're just doing things. Magneto, case and point, is a favorite because he has eight-way dash and he's really fast, right? So our more technical players, all they want to do is triangle jump and that kind of stuff. Well guess what, Nova can do the same thing, Captain Marvel can do the same thing. Ultron can do the same thing. Go ahead and try them out.
It's just the function that people are associating with the character, and there's no shortage of that. We made sure that all proper play styles can be represented with our current roster. The design team has been looking at that very closely. We wanted to make sure that if a legacy character doesn't happen to make the roster this time, that play style would still be represented. That somebody who has associated themselves with Magneto wouldn't be lost coming into this title.
Michael Evans: The other thing is, you mentioned returning characters right? If you look at the returning characters and you play with them, you'll notice that they're quite different from their previous iterations. Iron Man, he plays completely different. He has new special moves. Obviously we wanted to keep fan-favorite characters, but since you have the new system they're gonna play differently. In addition to that, new special moves, new hypers, new level threes in some cases, these breathe new life into these characters even if they are returning. So we did definitely make an attempt to do that.
The X-Men stuff, [I] can't talk to. But I do want to talk about the character-selection process because I think it's important. There's three things we're looking at: Gameplay first and foremost of course. The Capcom R&D team and us, we get together and we talk with Marvel about what characters we want to put in. From a character-type perspective, we want our big brawler characters, our characters that can fly, our small characters or whatever. Just from a creative side, gameplay, here's the characters we want. That plays a part.
One of the first things we did was sit down to write the story. When we were thinking about the story we wanted to tell, as fans ourselves on both sides, on the Marvel side there's Mike Jones, an ex-Capcom guy. We're big Marvel fans, so we're sitting down to just like, "What crazy interactions do we want to see? What would happen if Docket, Dante, and Rocket came together? What would happen and who are these pairings that we want to see?" So from a storytelling perspective that also played into the character selection.
Then the third one is obviously the popularity of these characters. X was one we had to get in there. A lot of fans wanted to see X, so we brought him back. Then also we talked with Marvel very closely about their future roadmap, about what's gonna be happening. Your modern Marvel fan, maybe they don't even remember some of the X-Men characters, but they know some of the Guardians characters or Black Panther. You know what I mean? Captain Marvel may seem like a strange pick, but she's fantastic. She fits the gameplay. She fits the story, and they're gonna be really pushing her as a strong female lead all the way up into the movie. We're trying to take everything into account and choose the best characters.
How far are you looking forward in terms of keeping Infinite relevant to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and even the Netflix universe? You've got Black Panther and you've got the Captain Marvel, but there's no Iron Fist, and he just had his own series and he's a character I'd like to see return. How close are you trying to stick to MCU/Netflix and how long do you want to do it for?
Michael Evans: I think there's infinite possibilities there.
Great work on that pun.
Michael Evans: What we can announce at this point in time is just the 2017 character pass, which we've talked about. We've already come out and said, "We're gonna support this game with six new characters in 2017." So they're all gonna come out this year. So those are six characters and six premium costumes. Beyond that we don't have any announcements at this time. But it is called Infinite for a reason.
One of the characters included in the leak was Jedah from Darkstalkers. How broad are you going with Capcom's own characters rosters across fighting games? I'd like to see some Rival Schools characters in there.
Michael Evans: One of the biggest strengths of Capcom is our IP. We do have all these great brands. I'm not gonna speak to the leaks or any additional characters that we haven't announced yet, but anything is possible. We have a great stable of characters on the bench, ready to be tagged in. We'll be looking at that kind of stuff too.
The Skullodream will never die.
I think this is perhaps the most perfect moment to bring back Skullomania. I know it's difficult but-
Peter Rosas: Oh gosh.
He's a superhero so...
Peter Rosas: It just baffles me to this day. Why does anybody like that dude?
Well he represents-
Peter Rosas: He's a salaryman in a skeleton costume!
No! He's a salaryman until he decides not to be a salaryman. He decides he can be better and just does it. He puts on a costume and a cool scarf and he's gone. He just throws himself head-first into problems. Literally. That's his go-to move. He dives head-first at his opponents. He's a very nuanced character.
Peter Rosas: Okay, I'm starting to see that he's pretty deep.
See, now you get it.
Michael Evans: ….....................
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