March 14th, 2008 Seth Killian
Over in the Ask Capcom forum, Christian Svensson (Capcom’s Vice-President of Strategic Planning & Business Development) weighed in on some disappointment about the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta not coming to PS3.
A few additional points:
1. We are resource constrained. This project already has gone over the original budget (we had a new budget approved to accomodate our dedication to its quality and the new features… there were even a few we wanted to do that had to get cut in the end… more on that in a post mortem blog or something). Anyway, we wanted to do a beta to test the new network features but even if it were possible for Sony to do, it would require 3 submissions (US, Europe, Asia/Japan) to reach the same global audience we can with MS in a single test and global submission.
2. We treat the PS3 extremely seriously. To date, we are still the only third party publisher doing cross platform, simultaneous digital releases (still working on the global simultaneous, but see the issues above on multiple submissions per territory as an issue). Believe it or not, this is not easy and to suggest we aren’t treating the PS3 as important would be ignorant of what we’re doing for it.
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Posted in focus test, PS3, Xbox 360, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 27 Comments »
March 14th, 2008 Chris Tou
As you probably already know, our recent Capcom Digital Day event was a media event. Meaning, the invites were extended only to gaming press and media folks, as opposed to the general public. What you probably didn’t know was that we actually extended a few “community” invites to the Capcom community: Loyal Capcom community fans who happened to be located around the San Francisco area.
I followed two of them, Tony and Alex, around for most of the event, getting their informal impressions on what they saw and taking pictures of the whole thing. At the end of which held a special surprise for them!
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Posted in Community, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter® IV, Event Pictures, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 5 Comments »
March 13th, 2008 Chris Tou
Earlier this week we managed to turn our normally spacious lobby area into a place packed with a better ratio of Quality Fun Per Square Inch than Disneyland during our Capcom Digital Day. We invited members of the press and community to come and check out in person both the announced and unannounced new titles we have coming up this year. As the event title suggests, the focus was mostly on “digital” titles, downloadable titles to be released on XBLA, PSN, or PC, however, we still managed to sneak in a couple of full retail titles.
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Posted in 1942, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, Plunder, Capcom Digital, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Lost Planet™, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, We Love Golf!, Mega Man® | 9 Comments »
March 13th, 2008 Chris "Kramez" Kramer
Doesn’t that title sound like a promo for the inevitable, unfunny substance abuse/pedophile/date rape episode of an 80s sitcom? In this case, we’re not talkin’ ’bout Gary Coleman drinking wine with that creepy dude from WKRP, Willis. For once. Instead, we’re referring to recent rumblings regarding the XBLA versions of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Bionic Commando Rearmed. There had been some concerns, both from the producers and the public, that XBLA versions of both games may not be as super-duper as the PS3 versions. Specifically, we had been concerned that the 1080p resolution art for SSFIIT HDR would not fit onto Xbox LIVE Arcade, while Ben Judd mused that the 360 version of BCR might not have the same hi-res textures as the PS3. Good news, everyone! Problems solved for both titles.
Capcom has a solid relationship with both Sony and Microsoft, as evidenced by the amount of titles we have released for the two systems, both at retail and digitally. Given the huge amount of content going into Bionic Commando Rearmed and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (turns out, hand-drawn art takes up a lot of space at 1080p!), Microsoft has allowed Capcom to work with a larger file size limit for both games. The larger limit is good for you, our happy-go-lucky gamer, as it allows us to pack an extra-huge amount of content into these games; just look at all the modes (co-op, Challenge Stages, not to mention a full game!) that are included in Bionic Commando Rearmed. The Xbox LIVE Arcade versions of both titles will have complete feature and graphical parity with the iterations that will be available on other platforms. Excellent! I can’t speak for them, but it certainly seems like Microsoft recognizes that Capcom is putting the quality into these digital titles that Microsoft wants to make available to their audience.
Microsoft has told us that their partners have been very happy with the file size for Xbox LIVE Arcade titles, and they do not see a need to change their policies anytime soon. They’re going to continue working with their partners on many levels (including offering technical support from their own engineering staff, which is really nice!) in order to bring the best entertainment possible to their network. Microsoft is going to continue working with ALL their partners – not just us, mind – and if a game warrants a file size exception, they’ll provide one on a case-by-case basis.
So, there you go. Whether you pay in Points or American dollars, rest assured that you’ll be receiving the best level of quality that Capcom can deliver digitally. Hi res textures for Bionic Commando Rearmed? Check! 1080p graphics for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix? Got ‘em! Carry on.
Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | No Comments »
March 13th, 2008 Chris "Kramez" Kramer
It’s no secret that Capcom’s got an amazing year (actually: three, at least) of games ahead. Our titles range far and wide, from family-friendly Wii (We Love Golf!) and DS (Mega Man Star Force 2) games to decidedly non-family friendly faire for the PS3 and 360 (Resident Evil 5).
What the heck is a “Digital Day”? On Monday, we rolled out the red carpet to some of our friends in the local gamer media as well as a couple of dudes (just like you!) from our community for an event we dubbed “Capcom Digital Day.” Fortuitous development timing and a huge slate of hot titles combined with an excellent public relations opportunity to form like Voltron and produce a half-day of announcements, updates, interviews and hands-on time with almost all of the games. We ended up with over 50 members of the San Francisco Bay Area games press in attendance, including folks from EGM, 1up, IGN, Gamespot, Gamespy, Gametrailers and Games Radar, as well as ladies and gentlemen from Wired, Joystiq and Destructoid and many, many more. Read on for titles announced, a brief lesson in “PR” and some other fun bits!
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Posted in Bionic Commando Rearmed, We Love Golf!, the internets, 1942, Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, Nintendo DS, PS3, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Lost Planet™, Capcom News, PC, Xbox 360, Mega Man® | No Comments »
March 12th, 2008 Chris "Kramez" Kramer
Love World War II and hate planes? Enjoy shooting the living bejeebus out of everything and anything on the screen while driving a jeep? Have we got two digital titles for you!
IGN brings us early word of 1942, the forthcoming sequel to the infamous Capcom 194X series of arcade shoot-’em-ups (don’t you just hate the phrase shmup? makes my freakin’ skin crawl. shump. *brrr*) . Little planes, big bosses, lots of bullets and crazy vertical-scrolling action get the 3D treatment, along with 2 player internet (and same-console) co-op play.
Meanwhile, from Gamespot comes word that Commando 3 has done got itself a fancy-pantsy new name. You may now hail the forthcoming conqueror of both Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network Store as (drumroll): Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. Live in fear of its mighty array of letters! Good thing we don’t have to pay per keystroke on the internet, or that game alone would break the Unity bank.
Oh, yeah, it also turns out that when you buy Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 on Xbox LIVE Arcade, you’ll automatically be eligible to take part in the network Beta test of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. Yoink! This will be the first Beta test for a LIVE Arcade game ever.
1942 and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 are coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network Store in the next few months. Both games will set you back 800 MS Points or $9.99, depending on your console of choice. SSFIIT HDR’s price is still TBD.
Posted in Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, 1942, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 6 Comments »
March 12th, 2008 Seth Killian
Here’s the straight story on the glorious highs, devastating lows, and delicious middles behind making Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, from the game’s producer, Rey Jimenez:
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Long time, no see Street Fighter fans. Sorry for not writing in a few months, but hopefully David Sirlin’s articles have been keeping you in the loop on HD Remix news. The reason I haven’t posted in a while is that there has been a lot of changes in HD Remix and we really had to focus on what was going on with the game. But now, I think it’s time I give you guys the run down on what’s been going on the past few months.
First of all, creating HD Remix has turned out to be a much more difficult task than we could’ve anticipated. There have been many recent challenges ranging from developing rock-solid netcode from the ground up to creating super-polished art for that truly lives up to the name Street Fighter. If we had gone the “good enough” route, you probably would be playing the game right now, but that wasn’t the route we wanted to take here at Capcom.
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Posted in Developer Blog, Behind-the-scenes, Feature, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter® | 21 Comments »
March 7th, 2008 Seth Killian
This is part seven in an extended series of articles from David Sirlin, detailing the changes we’ve made to the rebalanced mode of the new Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix project. The previous 6 articles can be found here. This week’s article focuses Balrog “What’s a kick?” the Boxer.
With Balrog near the top of the original Super Turbo characters, remixing him was more about putting a collar on some of his most brutal tricks while still keeping him competitive, fun, and, well… like Balrog!
Balrog
Balrog is generally considered to be tied for the best character in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (ST). Pretty much everyone ranks Balrog and Dhalsim as top, with some Americans adding in Old Sagat, some Japanese adding in Vega, and a few people claiming Chun Li. But there’s not much debate about Balrog (or Dhalsim) being top.
The knee-jerk reaction is to nerf, nerf, nerf (that’s internet-speak for “reducing the power level” of something). I said in my first article that we would leave the top characters top, so it’s been quite a test of willpower to follow my own advice and avoid bringing down the hammer on Balrog.
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Posted in Developer Blog, Behind-the-scenes, Feature, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 9 Comments »
March 5th, 2008 Seth Killian
GamesRadar has a nice piece with SSF2T HD Remix mixmaster-in-chief, David Sirlin. They talk arcades, balancing, and the secret sauce that keeps Street Fighter so amazingly fun after all these years. Check it out here.
Posted in Interview, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix | 3 Comments »
March 3rd, 2008 Seth Killian
From Capcom’s Christian Svensson, Vice President of Strategic Planning & Business Development:
In the grand scheme of things, my hopes for Capcom’s “digital initiative” are still just getting started. There’s been a few fits and starts. Admittedly, some games are a bit later than we’d hoped (held back in the name of quality and feature improvement) but we’ve learned a ton about the space and we continue to learn more with every release. By and large, I’m really pleased with how we’re positioning ourselves, the quality of the content in our pipeline and our level of sales success to date. My fingers are crossed that it continues and thank you guys for your continued support. All of that said, I thought I’d call attention to a few major milestones that Capcom and our development partners have worked very hard to achieve (these guys really deserve a pat on the back):
–Highest Revenue Generating XBLA Title (still) - Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting
–First Cross-platform Simultaneous Digital Launch from Any Publisher (PSN/XBLA) - Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix
–First Third Party Published Game Content on the PSP PC Store – Harvey Birdman Demo
–First Third Party Published Content on the European PSN Store – SCEE tells us it will be Rocketmen
–First PS3 Title to Handle In-game Purchase/Conversion From Within a Demo - Rocketmen
–First Cross-platform Global Simultaneous Launch Maybe* (PSN/XBLA – Europe/NA/Asia) – Rocketmen
*We’re still trying to get a final date out of SCEE but Rocketmen was approved last week so we’re hoping it’ll go live with US and Asia on March 6th, failing that, I’m betting it’ll be the 13th.
While some of the above milestones have nominal impact to your experience as a consumer, the development and industry folks among you, I’m sure can recognize the importance and challenges inherent in reaching some of those achievements.
In a couple short weeks, you’re going to learn a good deal more about some new titles as well as updates on some of the titles you’ve been eagerly awaiting.
I honestly believe that Capcom is treating this space more seriously than any other third party publisher. The level of ambition in our titles as far as feature sets, target platforms and quality of execution (both from a product development and marketing standpoint) will continue to climb. You will see us giving ever increasing value to our fans as we move further and further out into our digital product roadmap.
I hope you’ll join us. 
If you want to discuss our digital titles with Capcom folks and other fans, please participate in the Capcom Digital Downloads forum.
Posted in PSP, Behind-the-scenes, Developer Blog, PS3, PC, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law | 1 Comment »
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