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[Classic]

I knew I should've voted for her!!!

[Brentai]

It turns out that his favorite Legends 3 heroine wasn't winning.

His own design placed dead last.

I doubt he's so petty as to quit his job of 23 years over that, but ouch.










(Also, it's not the least bit surprising.)

[Classic]

His heart didn't seem into it.

The thing to worry about with a self-recognized visionary, is that it's hard for anyone to tell where they're having legitimately cutting-edge ideas or have fallen off of the deep end. I've gotten the impression that the visionary archetype is often in need of an editor. If not to ward them from hubris, at least to keep the number of amazing ideas in a single package to a number palatable to the consumer.

[Burrito Al Pastor]

What's worse - a terrible, stifling editor, or no editor at all?

That's not a rhetorical question. I really don't know.

[Classic]

You know how there's that maxim, "Better the devil you know?"

Horseshit.

[Thad]

...surprised I'm the first to bring up that awful-looking Korean MMMMORPG as a possible contender for "current project" that has been horribly fucked up.

[norn]

Here is a full translation of the 4Gamer interview with Inafune about his departure, future plans, Capcom corporate culture, natto, et cetera.

[Brentai]

I love the Japanese talent for understatement.

KI: I'm quitting. There'll be an official announcement, but that's all I can say for now.

4G: This interview has taken a sudden turn.

[Catloaf]

KI: That's absolutely right. So told Capcom that I'm leaving to start my own company, while still contracting with them, continuing with titles already underway and follow through with their plans. If that was acceptable, I wouldn't be able to work with any other publishers, but I'd have been able to finish what I'd started.

However, that wasn't possible. I was told, "That won't be necessary."
(...)
Looking at the timing, the team members, and the planning done, Rockman Dash 3 is finally on its way. I really didn't want to quit right now... But I can't do it anymore. My will to continue has run out. That's why I had to leave Capcom and strengthen my resolve, as I wanted to help finish working on it from the outside but was unable to.

On the tenure thing, I can't say I find it surprising.  That's how Japanese companies tend to work; you get the job and never leave the company ever, slowly climbing the ranks until you reach a point where you are never going to go any higher (at this point, you are most likely in your late 30's or early 40's, and it will be rather clear that you've reached your individual glass ceiling) and then you spend the rest of your days working for the company in an overly cautious, almost lazy fashion for the rest of your life because while you'll never be fired at this point, you can still be demoted.  Add in that the older you are (and coincidentally more cautious) the more authority you have over those on the same level as you, and it leads to companies that are like tortoises; large enough that they don't have much to worry about and possessing of a potentially long life-span but excruciatingly slow to respond to change in any way shape or form.

[Mongrel]

That is a surprisingly insightful post on Japanese Corporate culture.

[François]

KI: On the other hand, you can't borrow game ideas or concepts. No matter if it's a bank, venture capitalist, or fund, there's nowhere you can go to borrow them. What the game industry has money in is copyrights.

So if I had a great idea and after quitting, I went to Capcom and pitched a game idea like, "Why don't you have me make this product?" Then in negotiations, they say, "That's fine. How much will it be?" and I say, "2 billion yen," and they say, "Fine." But then when the game comes out, it's copyright Capcom. Isn't that odd?

4G: Yeah, that does seem rather strange, though it's always been that way.

KI: Manga, however, is different. Like Akira Toriyama. His Bird Studio and the publisher Shueisha share the copyrights. Why are manga and games different? This is another problem that the game industry currently has.

It's obviously not a matter of just demanding the copyright, but perhaps the time has come to consider the sharing of copyrights by publishers and developers. That's another thing I'd like to change. I don't know how many years it might take, of course.

Oh man, I can only imagine how he felt about Capcom shutting down Clover, and then proceeding to make Okamiden and put Amaterasu in MvC3. Dang!

[François]

Japanese game sales for November 1st to November 7th:

1. God Eater Burst / Namco Bandai / PSP / 61,834
2. Super Mario All-Stars / Nintendo / Wii / 56,848
3. Pokemon Black and White / The Pokemon Company / DS / 56,719
4. World Soccer Winning Eleven 2011 / Konami / PS3 / 55,809
5. Fallout: New Vegas / Bethesda Softworks / PS3 / 37,249
6. Radiant Historia / Atlus / DS / 32,807
7. Fallout: New Vegas / Bethesda Softworks / X360 / 24,146
8. Kirby's Epic Yarn / Nintendo / Wii / 20,712
9. Wii Party / Nintendo / Wii / 17,788
10. Golden Sun: Dark Dawn / Nintendo / DS / 12,571

so, a western rpg slash first person shooter sold over 60,000 units in its first week in japan

doesn't exactly prove anything, but was someone right, or was someone right?