Pushed to the Edge #11: Birth, Death, and Resurrection

Oct 18, 2006

This week we've got three things to commemorate: the birth (sort of) of a console; the death of a studio; and the re-birth of two of gaming's best characters. First up is the console. I trekked over to the Nintendo Fusion Tour last Friday at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, where a large room was set up with loads of Wii demo stations. I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Wii consoles in stores, because I want to see if the public responds as Nintendo and analysts expect, and the tour was a way to get an early gauge of public reaction.

Some of the people I encountered hardly qualify as the market Nintendo needs to hit -- I talked to more than one person who claimed they'd come to the show specifically to play Wii, which at $50-$70 per ticket is some real gaming dedication.

Excite Truck

Beyond that crowd, some of whom made up a rather long line to play the Zelda demo, a lot of the people bustled into the large room under the Tabernacle seemed motivated by mere curiosity, and stuck around to wait in more than one line. As you'd expect, the Wii Sports and Excite Truck demos were popular and filled with people who aren't necessarily gamers, all of whom seemed to have no problems picking up and learning the control system.

Everyone I talked to was enthusiastic about the system, and I didn't even have a big video camera on my shoulder to entice punters into enthusiasm. I didn't do any sort of scientific polling (come on, it was Friday night!) but there was more enthusiasm for the Wii than for the PS3 or 360 when I asked about what systems people thought about buying this winter. Price had a lot to do with it, but the controller was a selling point, too, and I'll be even more curious to see what happens when people get their hands on it in stores soon.

No Leaf Clover

Last weeks' closing of Clover Studios should be seen as an indication of the further corporatization of game development. The studio was Capcom's creative jewel, a collective that built games as much on artistic content as commercial potential. Viewtiful Joe put them on the map, but Okami, one of the most beautiful games to hit the PS2 or any console, was their crowning achievement. The rigors of scheduling mean that Okami wasn't the studio's swan song -- that was the modestly entertaining and goofy God Hand.

Okami may be some kind of masterpiece, but Clover's cumulative work wasn't a resounding success. While Viewtiful Joe surprised players and critics and was strong enough to launch a franchise, the series was allowed to stagnate over the course of sequels and handheld spinoffs.

And so the studio was killed just like that loudmouth Japanese ganglord in Kill Bill -- at a board meeting. The studio meant to "inspire the future of gaming" has no future, and barely any past, as the doors will officially close at the end of March 2007 after three years of work.

Dead Rising

This is the depressing official word: "Clover Studio Co., Ltd. has met the goal of developing unique and creative original home video game software, however, in view of promoting a business strategy that concentrates management resources on a selected business to enhance the efficiency of the development power of the entire Capcom group, the dissolution of Clover Studios Co., Ltd. has been raised and passed."

In other words: nice try guys, but make some money next time, eh? Capcom has been dogged by dire financial circumstance since it filed a $163M loss in 2003. Resident Evil 4 aside, it hasn't had a big seller in far too long. You've got to wonder if it's the main marketing department that should get the boot -- how can games like Dead Rising and Okami not be total blockbusters?

Over at his Game|Life blog on Wired, Chris Kohler claims that a confidential source has stated that key minds at Clover intend not to disappear or be folded into Capcom, but to found an independent studio, hopefully to produce the sort of content hinted at by Clover's best games.

But it's not all depressing news signaling the death of creativity in games, because in California, Telltale Games is doing what some say can't be done: raising the dead.

Sam & Max Reborn!

I'm as happy for the return of as I am sad for the loss of Clover. Originally part of the late '80s alternative comics boom (and subsequent crash) the dog and rabbit team hit gaming in 1993 thanks to LucasArts. Sam & Max Hit the Road was one of the best adventure games, period. Rumors of a return have been as perennial as Duke Nukem Forever jokes, and as fruitful.

A sequel, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, was originally announced by LucasArts in 2002, and summarily cancelled in 2004. But members of the Freelance Police team, who also had experience on other LucasArts adventure successes like Grim Fandango and Monkey Island, formed Telltale Games. The company continued the adventure tradition with the first two episodes of a game based on Jeff Smith's comic book Bone in 2005.

Sam and Max

And this week Culture Shock, Telltale's first chapter in a new Sam & Max story, hit the GameTap service. (The game will be available through the Telltale website on November 1.) Based on the first two thirds, it's everything fans wanted: very funny, with good puzzles and a wry, slacker sort of take on pop culture. The new semi-3D look works quite well, especially with the beautiful new character models.

Since we're already halfway through October, I'm happy to predict that Culture Shock will be one of the best PC games of the year. And unlike other PC greats (like Company of Heroes, which requires a supercomputer to play), Culture Shock requires only a modest system: an 800mhz processor, 256 RAM and a 32MB video card. GameTap subscribers shouldn't have waited to finish this article to snag the game, and everyone else is encouraged to check out Telltale's $8.95 download on November 1.

Pushed to the Edge is a regular commentary covering elements of the video game industry that cause elation, dismay, outrage, or some combination of the above.