From Capcom to Comcept…
Mega Man Legends Successor Suffers Due to Poor Management
Lusipurr.com readers will no doubt be aware of last week’s Kickstarter debut of Red Ash, Keiji Inafune and Comcept’s would be successor to Mega Man Legends. Inafune would have no doubt been banking on the project being funded within the hour, and going on to amass several million dollars in backer capital before all is said and done, yet is is not going to be the case. After a full week on Kickstarter the game is less than halfway towards meeting its $800,000 funding target, when Inafune was likely counting on it passing its funding target by a significant margin. Red Ash will probably go on to reach its funding target, but it will not surpass this figure by any significant extent. Whether a Mega Man Legends style 3D adventure game can even be developed for $800,000 is anyone’s guess, though one would be inclined to think ‘no’, in which case it will be very interesting to see whether Comcept cancel the Kickstarter before it runs its course.
One of the most interesting things about this situation is that it seems largely self-inflicted. First and foremost it was a terrible idea to launch another Kickstarter campaign before the product of their initial Kickstarter has even been released in a finished state. Moreover, it was a terrible decision on Inafune’s part to launch multiple Kickstarters – as Comcept has also launched a concurrent campaign asking for several hundred thousand dollars in order to produce an animated film based on Red Ash. On top of this it was an irredeemably retarded move for Inafune to launch the Kickstarter for Red Ash while Shenmue 3‘s Kickstarter campaign is still going strong, and monopolising gaming headlines. These things together serve to create a prohibitively confusing situation, which discourages gamers from donate money towards it. It also does not help that there have been problems with Mighty Number 9, as backer impression of the beta release tend to be tepid to say the least. Criticism have so far focused on the fact that the game has very little in the way of proper advertising. Beyond this, it certainly did not help that Comcept’s former community manager, Dina Karam, felt entitled to ban paying customers from such backer privileges as access to the game’s backer forums.
Kamiya’s gameplay brings all the boys to the yard!
Keiji Inafune and Mighty No. 9 Get Called Out by Hideki Kamiya
In an effort to regain some of the Kickstarter’s lost momentum, Comcept has this week announced a stretch goal for a console version of the game, yet in typical Comcept fashion the team managed to bollocks even this up by failing to disclose which console/s will be supported. Apparently backers will be able to vote for a console following the Kickstarter. One imagines that the reason for not announcing supported platforms is that Comcept does not wish to discourage donations from owners of any of the three home consoles currently on the market, however the lack of clarity in this messaging has manage to completely squash any kind of bump that the announcement may have given Red Ash‘s Kickstarter campaign.
Just in case Comcept themselves had not already poured enough cold water on their game’s Kickstarter, Inafune’s former Capcom co-worker, Hideki Kamiya, has also been most obliging in his complete dismissal of the game. There has been no love lost between Inafune and Japanese developers ever since Inafune began trashing Japanese development capabilities several years ago, and Kamiya is much more forthright than most. For example this week Kamiya was not at all shy in letting it be known publicly on Twitter that he considers Mighty No. 9 to be wholly derivative of Mega Man, and as such is an insult to their former company, Capcom.
@EliasO151: “what are your thoughts on mighty no 9”
@PG_kamiya: “It’s like insult to their old home.”
@TheBlankDork: “You think that because it looks bad or because it’s too similar to Rockman?”
@PG_kamiya: “Similar? It’s a copy.”
Of course this is not the first time that Hideki Kamiya has talked shit about Keiji Inafune, as he famously cast doubt on his creative chops back in September of 2012.
@Sylverstone14: “Are you a fan of Keiji Inafune’s work?”
@PG_kamiya: “He’s a business man. Not a creator.”
This last point actually goes some way in explaining why Mighty No. 9 is in the state that it currently is, as Inafune is not the guy who designed the classic Mega Man levels. That being the case, it is kind of a pity that Inafune did not think to copy Mega Man‘s level design back when he was essentially lifting every other visual and narrative cue from the title.
Written and directed by Mr. Konami. Honest.
Kojima Productions Has Been Disbanded
As Metal Gear Solid V nears its impending release it would seem that Kojima Productions has finally been disbanded. When Lusipurr.com last reported on the split between Kojima and Konami, Kojima Productions staff were still working on the game as contract workers, but now according to Snake’s Japanese voice actor the studio has been completely disbanded.
“Kojima Productions was forced to disband, but it appears that the work that the team has been putting their utmost effort into is nearly complete. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I expect it will become their greatest masterpiece. I couldn’t help it. I just wanted to say ‘Kept you waiting, huh?’ (Laughs.) But even if this is the end, Metal Gear Solid is immortal!”
In other Kojima related news, it would appear that Konami are really going all out in their attempts to pretend that Hideo Kojima does not exist. Konami are behaving like a jilted lover. One was of the mind that the most petty this would get is Konami going around and removing Kojima’s name from Metal Gear Solid V posters, if only. Konami employees are now refusing to answer interview questions if Hideo Kojima is mentioned by name. Apparently Konami thinks that gamers will just forget about Kojima if we do not hear his name mentioned for a couple of weeks. One is actually becoming increasingly interested to see whether Konami is vindictive enough to have scoured Kojima’s name from the in-game credits – as they would not be the first developer to do something like this.
Can Asahi protect her shocking secret?
Anime Spotlight: Actually, I Am…
Asahi Kuromine is a second year high school student who is so poor at keeping secrets that he has been nicknamed ‘leaky basket’, so what is this unassuming leading man to do when he discovers that the girl he is smitten with is actually a blood sucking vampire? The girl in question, Yōko Shiragami, has only been allowed to attend human school on the provision that she keep her vampirism a secret, so if Asahi cannot keep her secret then it is curtains for their fledgling romance. Needless to say hijinks ensue.
Actually, I Am… is available via Crunchyroll and is simulcast on Tuesdays at 4am ACST. The series made its debut on July 6th, and the second episode should be available shortly after this post goes live. The production is being handled by TMS Entertainment, who have been producing television programs since the 1960s. Some of their past work includes Lupin III, Doraemon, Space Cobra, and Akira.
