R.I.P. Clover

Speak of the devil, it seems that the developers at Clover Studio either had a little coup and decided to separate from Capcom *OR* Capcom has decided to liquidate Clover Studios since their games, while innovative, weren’t really bringing in the big bucks. I guess that depends on whose side of the story you believe.

Clover Studios is best known for the Viewtiful Joe series and most recently Okami and God Hand for the PS2. Though the studio known as Clover Studios will cease to exist in the first half of next year, the creative minds behind their widely acclaimed titles are alive and well. They will most likely form one or more new studios to explore their unique artistic vision.

Clover = Creativity + Lover. Thanks for giving us something different.

Opening It Up

Long time no post. Since last time, I went to Japan and walked around Tokyo Game Show, met and shook hands with James Mielke (who just happened to be standing in front of the airport currency exchange when I got to Japan), and took pictures of me in front of Nintendo Co. Ltd. in Kyoto in Japan. You’d think I would have a lot to write about, but sadly not so much.

Tokyo Game Show is E3 but with more cosplayers and in Japanese. With much creepier booth babe photography sessions (I would say bordering on obsession … the girls don’t look *THAT* good, guys). Since Tokyo Game Show is open to the public, there are people everywhere and lines to play everything. Playstation 3 had a huge presence of games that play exactly like the current generation of games with better graphics, and Nintendo wasn’t there. A few Wii games such as Super Monkey Ball, Sonic and the Secret Rings, and Elebits were on show but not playable. The new Phoenix Wright was there, but they set it to Japanese when they started it up, so my reading speed was immediately fifthed. I do read Japanese but very slowly. All said, I had a decent time at TGS, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who isn’t obsessed with import gaming or Japanese girls in costume.

Mielke was cool. Not really much to say other than the fact that he remembered my name when he left. One of the biggest compliments you can pay a person is to remember his/her name when you meet, and I was glad he did me that courtesy.

Taking pictures in front of Nintendo’s headquarters was just that. There is no gift shop, and there are no public tours. I took from pictures from the street knowing, “This is where it all goes down.” After that, I went to visit a few more tourist-friendly places in Kyoto.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog while not writing in it, and I’ve decided that I want to “open it up.” Nintendo doesn’t have the market cornered on video game creativity, but they are certainly one of the leaders in the area. Another company whose works I respect very highly, Clover Studios, seems to mostly focus on games for the Playstation 2. Their latest releases are Okami and God Hand (the latter currently Japanese-only). I realize that I’d like to talk about more companies like this even though they don’t fall under the category of Nintendo, so I’ve decided to do so in the future.

Apologies for the long hiatus, but I’ll be back up to speed shortly.