Snipped from Joystiq, with a link to the original article down below.
Castlevania guru Koji Igarashi in a Game Informer interview says he's leaning toward Xbox 360 for the next console version of Castlevania. He says that he's focusing on "the best platform for the U.S. market" and that would be in his opinion the Xbox 360. He goes on to the say that the US market is the "biggest market" for the series, so he's giving priority to the Xbox 360. He doesn't rule out dual development but says it "would be very tough" and that if Metal Gear Solid 4 expands the PS3 market they may release the next Castlevania on PS3 as well.
Still in business mode, Igarashi went on to explain Castlevania for the Wii. He says that Nintendo dominates their own console and third party titles are not so great in sales. He says he's researching how to make Castlevania work on the system in the future and it's about getting the whip motion to work properly instead of having players waggle like Zelda. Igarashi finishes by saying that the next DS Castlevania should be announced in the "near future."And here's the link to the full story.
I'll also dig around for the story, I'm fairly sure that there was another interview within the past couple weeks with Igarashi stating that he was wanting to make the next console Castlevania a completely 2D experience. So here's hoping.
Posts
so many castlevanias
dracula x chronicles and this coming out
and i still need to buy portrait of ruin
so i wouldn't mind 3D
A while back he commented on the idea that console versions would be 3D and the portable versions would be 2D. However, this was mostly Konami board room exec nonsense (they didn't want to justify funding if he wasn't going to be using 3D on the console installments to appeal to wider audiences).
Hopefully his pursuit of 360 development might change this, somehow.
Hasn't the Wii passed the 360 in the US yet? And if it hasn't, won't it do so within the next few months?
Should have been "the best console for the US market that still lets me gorge myself on extraneous visual effects."
He didn't say console with the biggest market share, he said best. Is he not allowed to think that the 360 is a better console?
His point was third party titles don't typically do as well on nintendo platforms as they do on microsofts. He also said they want to do a Wii Castlevania but want to get the controls perfect so they are still playing with it.
This almost makes me hope it doesn't sell well. I'd much rather see them go in a new direction. His comments on Wiivania make me think he is not really too interested in a new direction for the series, though.
Fix'd.
wanna fite
DOOD I GOTS WHIPZ
Lament was just plain dull. CoD was nothing all great either but I am such a item collecting, monster raising whore-whore that I loved it.
Wii fans are predictable as the fucking tides.
And Zephyr's av always makes me go awwww.
XBL : lJesse Custerl | MWO: Jesse Custer | Best vid ever. | 2nd best vid ever.
Besides, we'll always have the DS/PSP games for 2d action.
edit: also, pretty sure he meant if they're going to make a Castlevania for one of the current-gen consoles, it'll be on the 360. It doesn't sound like he's working on it yet. It will probably happen eventually though.
Oh, add lots of traps and minibosses, Iga! 8-)
I do have to say though, whenever I hear a third-party complain about Nintendo's games selling better than theirs, all I can think is 'well, make better games then'.
There's also the issue of Nintendo not being as friendly to their 3rd party developers as other platforms.
Or at least that used to be the case.
Yeah. With the N64.
Did you read the whole thing? He actually addressed that in the text you just quoted.
Bolded for emphasis.
Whatever system castlevania comes out on, I'll buy it, and be happy about it. Although, i can't imagine myself paying 60 dollars for a 2d game. It would have to be one fairly radical, awesome, Super-fabulous 2d game.
Which is totally true ... because 3rd party developers keep putting their big projects on other platforms and then relegating back burner experiments to Nintendo platforms. It's circular reasoning. Their games don't do as well as Nintendo's because they put the top-tier stuff on other systems and only put ports or minor projects on Nintendo systems. And since their games don't do as well as Nintendo's, they're inclined to put the top-tier stuff on other systems.
Companies like Ubisoft, who actually put out some games with some effort behind them, are doing quite nicely on the Wii. Capcom also saw a huge chunk of sales come in from RE4 both times. And all of Square-Enix's efforts (even the re-makes of ages old games) on the GBA and DS have been selling like crack.
Meanwhile, the fact that Sony and Microsoft firmly held the top spots for game sales on the PS2 and XBox seems completely lost on these guys. The first party games usually do better than 3rd party games, regardless of the system. But if that first party is Nintendo, then all of a sudden 3rd party developers get in a tizzy. It doesn't make any sense.
I kinda remember Lament of Innocence being a good game but not fantastic by any means. Its been since 2004 since I last picked it up so its kinda sketchy there.
Castlevania is, in my mind, one of those games that when done in 3D it kinda needs that Ninja Gaiden quality for the graphics. Something about the last two console ones just hasn't really brought the series back to its zenith.
Probably should just go back and remake the first Castlevania....again. This time in "omg t3h graphix!!1" quality. Really no reason why it can't be done
If they stick with 3D, I'd wanna see some weird hybrid of Devil May Cry and Castlevania 3. Simply changing the setting and replacing Dante's weapons with the Belmonts' arsenal, and throw in a lot of stairs and spikes and bottomless pits and you've got a winner.
If they bring the console games back to 2D, I would prefer a return to the old style (CV1,3,4). The Metroidvania gameplay from SOTN is actually getting a little tired.
If this game actually meets either of those qualifications, I may reconsider not getting a 360. But I have a feeling we're either getting another LOI/COD, or a SOTN re-tread. Either way, count me out.
What?
Red Steel? Rayman? These were good games with effort behind them?
This, but with an assortment of weapons a la Soma and Alucard. I was never a huge fan of the whip, especially when it was the sole weapon.
Lament had the lame environments, but was actually fun to play.
Curse of Darkness was just obscenely boring. Whoo! I get to walk down interminable hallways and watch the computer do all the special moves!
Edit: Honest to god, I fell asleep playing it once.
I would like to see a return of the whip as the primary weapon. Ignoring all the crap (Lament, the N64 game, and arguably COTM), there hasn't been a good Castlevania game using the whip since Rondo Of Blood on the Turbo Duo. But I would like to see them flesh out the sub-weapons into full-fledged weapons. So the whip would be like Dante's sword, throwing daggers fill in for the guns, the boomerang would be like the Windmill Shuriken from Ninja Gaiden, etc. Plenty of variety and combo options, but all still within the traditional Belmont arsenal.
There are so many games where the protagonist uses a sword (or swords),... the whip is part of what makes Castlevania unique in my eyes.
I see you haven't played portrait of ruin.
I will admit, I haven't gotten around to it. I hear its good, and I didn't know the whip was back.
Still, more whip is always welcome.
Dammit i will be the one happy with everything stop bitching up a bitchfest in this thread of good tidings.
Well, but it's not 3d. I'd love that, Dirty, and that would be how I'd accept a whip-base combat system. DMC is definitely focused around the sword, but has fully fleshed out alternatives, and a wonderful combat system, and I can't see why that wouldn't work with a Castlevania setting. I'd love to see Dracula's castle, in all it's glory(I loved the design concepts in SoTN, and never really played a 3D CV game for long), with the ability to free-look.