Gamasutra - Sega, PlatinumGames Partner For Four-Title Deal


				\|\|\|\|

LucasArts Drops ESA Membership [05.16.08] Publisher and developer LucasArts has opted not to renew its membership with the Entertainment Software Association, an ESA rep has told Gamasutra, following the earlier reported departure of Activision and Blizzard from both the organization and the E3 expo.

High Impact's Matheson: Build, Don't Buy Game Engines [05.16.08] Talking as part of an in-depth Gamasutra interview, High Impact Games' design director Lesley Matheson (Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters) has been advocating for "the advantages of doing something custom" for creating a game engine, and suggesting there's no such thing as an "off-the-shelf solution."

DGamer Community For DS Gamers">

Disney Launches DGamer Community For DS Gamers [05.16.08] Disney Interactive Studios has launched DGamer, its online community developed exclusively for Disney gamers and accessible through the Nintendo DS. The service will be included with all of Disney's Nintendo DS titles, including this week's release of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

[More News] [Search News]

Interview: High Impact's Lesley Matheson On New Studios, Tech, And More [05.16.08] Los Angeles-based High Impact Games are behind Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and the upcoming Secret Agent Clank - and Gamasutra chats in-depth to design director Lesley Matheson on the PSP, game engines, and the LA dev scene.

Building a Mindset for Rapid Iteration Part 2: Some Patterns to Follow and Pitfalls to Avoid [05.15.08] Following his initial take, EA veteran and Emergent VP Gregory completes his look at rapid iteration by examining methods for seeing asset change swiftly in your games.

The Designer's Notebook: Difficulty Modes and Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment [05.14.08] In Ernest Adams' latest Gamasutra column, he digs into difficulty levels in games, interestingly suggesting that player-set difficulty might be preferable to the imagined utopia of pure dynamic difficulty settings.

[View All Features]

Industry News

May 15, 2008

Sega, PlatinumGames Partner For Four-Title Deal

Sega, PlatinumGames Partner For Four-Title Deal Publisher Sega has officially announced a four-game deal with PlatinumGames, the group made up of Okami, Devil May Cry, and God Hand creators, with ultraviolent Wii title MADWORLD, DS RPG Infinite Line, next-gen action title Bayonetta and one unannounced title in the works.

Gamasutra attended the Sega/PlatinumGames showcase in San Francisco, where Sega U.S. president Simon Jeffery discussed the new four-title deal, calling it "the most exciting partnership in the game business in the last two or three years."

"These guys are some of the most talented, some of the most respected guys in the game business," said Jefferey. "They're revered - they're almost worshiped in some parts of the gaming community."

Set for release at the beginning of 2009, Sega says the Atsushi Inaba (Okami) produced Wii-exclusive MADWORLD will feature a black and white style that "straddles graphic novels and 3D worlds." The game, which is directed by Capcom alum Shigenori Nishikawa (Dino Crisis 2, Resident Evil 4) will see players using environment objects like chainsaws and street signs as weapons against enemies with a sports-commentary like soundtrack, "irreverent humor and over-the-top violence."

Inaba is also co-producing DS space RPG Infinite Line along with Nude Maker's Hifumi Kouno -- formerly director of Capcom's Steel Battalion, also set for release in 2009. Sega says the game will give players the ability to "control, build, outfit and customize more than 150 spaceships," with over 200 characters, and multiple controllable ships.

Finally, the last announced Platinum title is Bayonetta, a "stylish and cinematic action game," from Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe creator Hideki Kamiya. Again set for a 2009 release on Xbox 360 and PS3, the game will feature "a witch with powers beyond the comprehension of mere mortals."

Sega says the game will see Bayonetta go up against "countless angelic enemies, many reaching epic proportions, in a game of 100% pure, unadulterated all-out action," with "outlandish finishing moves performed with balletic grace" and "stages that are a veritable theme park of exciting attractions."

One more title is to be produced through the deal, though remains unannounced and undetailed, apart from the fact that it will be directed by Resident Evil and God Hand creator Shinji Mikami.

At Sega's event unveiling the games, Jeffery called the partnership a key part of its ongoing "enormous effort revitalizing its business," as the company has now "completely embraced life as a multi-platform publisher instead of a hardware company."

Said Platinum president and CEO Tatsuya Minami at the event, "I'm very excited and happy to be able to announce this partnership... our company has not been around for very long, but we have a mission to create very unique and very special types of games."

Gamasutra will have more details and interviews from the Sega and PlatinumGames San Francisco press event in the near future.

POSTED: 07.53AM PST, 05/15/08 - Brandon Boyer, Brandon Sheffield - LINK

Comments

Christopher Shell

15 May 2008 at 1:15 pm PST

Seeing what this talented and creative group has done (reconvening and forming Platinum Games) shows me something quite respectable. Despite Capcom closing them down as Clover Studio and attempting to dissolve them back in, they go independent which allows them to make their own decisions.

Considering the creative, high-quality games they've developed evidence of their talent, I must say i'm happy they now have a deal with a publisher to produce original products and i'm quite interested in them already.