He may not be on the same scale as Miyamoto or Kojima, but Ken Levine’s outstanding track record (culminating in the universally lauded BioShock) is finally starting to get people murmuring his name with giddy anticipation. How will he top one of 2007’s highest rated games? Will he delve back into System Shock, Freedom Force or X-COM? No one knows save for Levine and his pile of money.
Above: Thinking about how big his next house should be
Ken has so far said he and his team are “swinging for the fences” and the next release will be “awesome.” His most telling quote from this GamesIndustry.biz interview:
“The goal for our next project is something very, very different, so it's a little scary - because we don't know what it is, exactly. We're getting a much clearer sense every single day in terms of what we're doing, deciding what's in and out of the game. But it's going to be aggressive.”
Above: Not his next
He’ll only have a small amount of involvement with BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams, so we’re after his next. Ken’s not the biggest fan of E3 either, so a June announcement may not be in the works – perhaps closer to the release of BioShock 2?
Capcom’s Versus series has lost a lot of mindshare over the past several years. Back in 1999~2001 the Marvel vs Capcom games were visual overloads of 2D sprite combat, only to fade away from the arcade spotlight after the Marvel license became valuable again (it was then spread out to various companies, like EA’s Nemesis stinker and Activision’s many Spidey titles). But did you know there’s a brand new, equally over-the-top tag-team smashfest that’s kicking the living shit out of the fighter crowd right now? And it’s on Wii?
Above: Super-nichegasm
Released in Japan last December, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom arrived with a deafening barrage of fireballs, super arts and obscure anime references that hardcore fans of both sides are dying to play. But, due to crazily complex licensing laws (Tatsunoko owns all the anime characters in Japan, but US rights vary wildly) and the relative unknown status most of the characters hold (don’t tell us you’ve never heard of Hurricane Polymar!), a US release is still pending.
Capcom US’s community manager, Seth Killian, discussed the likelihood of a wider release in TalkRadar 17, saying if it’s not translated, it will be the most imported game of all time. So, while it does exist and is readily available for ardent fanboys, the general populace isn’t aware and most of us won’t bother until it’s officially announced. Capcom, you’ve been so kind with Street Fighter II HDR and SFIV… could you do use one more favor and see this through?
