Videos
(14)Screenshots
(71)Cheats and Walkthroughs
(56)
Videos
(14)Screenshots
(71)Cheats and Walkthroughs
(58)
As TheFeed's Brian Leahy noted in his excellent coverage of the Konami press conference, Kojima Productions is working on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Lots of people are thrilled that Kojima Productions has been tasked by Konami to make a new Castlevania game. I'm not one of those of people. Initially, the news pissed me off. Later that day, it made me sad. To me, it's a slap in the face to Koji Igarashi (a.k.a. IGA), longtime producer and director of the series.
Before I keep going, I have to disclose that I'm a huge IGA fan. Symphony of the Night was one of my favorite games for the original PlayStation. His Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS Castlevania games were fantastic. He's been very nice to me when I've met him and we've rocked a few karaoke rooms in Tokyo together. Having said that, I know that his PlayStation 2 games weren't very good. A lot of people think that IGA is just much better at 2D than 3D, but I don't think that's the case. I don't think he's ever gotten a proper budget for a 3D Castlevania title.
On paper, it's easy to see why Konami went with Kojima. The Castlevania franchise has been floundering on home consoles. Kojima is, by far, the best thing Konami has going. Getting his team to resuscitate a dying franchise makes sense. To me, it would have made more sense for Konami to give IGA a real shot (with a real budget) at making a next-gen Castlevania.
There's a very good chance that Lords of Shadow will be a good game (or better). This will make it look like Kojima's team succeeded where IGA's failed. That will piss me off royally. I'd bet a large amount of money that the budget for this game will end up being much bigger than anything IGA had to work with for his PS2 titles. An industry friend surmised that the budget will end up being at least four times than what was given to IGA. Both Kojima and IGA have talented teams, but it's much easier to make a good game if you have more money. Kojima Productions will have more money and will surely come up with something better than IGA's 3D efforts, but it will be because of a bigger budget, not (necessarily) superior talent.
To me it just seems immensely disrespectful for Konami to hand over IGA's "baby" to another team and put it in a much better position to succeed. I guarantee you that IGA would come up with something brilliant if he had a Kojima-like budget. There's no doubt in my mind. Maybe IGA is cool with all this, maybe he's not. I have no idea at the moment. What I do know is that Konami is making him look like a chump and it sucks.
Comments are Closed
Comments
Displaying 21–35 of 35
112
mirthor
i think that iga is a great developer but kojima is better. plus iga will get on it with a new sidescroller and we will all get what we want. 3d and 2d the circle of life will be complete!!!
vaajtswv
Castlevania 3D games should have had game play similar to God of War. Instead, everything about them were just awkward, nothing gelled.
mrbeer64
if you can look at it from konami's perspective...
kojima has proven that they can pump out excellent 3d titles...IGA has not.
they want to bring the game into the current gen technology and they're going to spend big money to do it. why wouldn't they want the proven team on the job?
N8R
@ Bizarro
What's up, dude. They're still a little weird. Hit the "Dark" button regularly to refresh.
Oh, and *chair shot*
N8R
@ borelli
Whether or not Kojima is gonna make a great game is not the issue. It's the butt-nuggets that will say (on television) that Kojima succeeded where IGA failed or else they would have to say Konami basically worked over IGA... which won't happen because Konami is a huge corporation.
Then, there will be the reaction from the fanboys... R Pad has been in the biz a long time. He has a really good idea of how this can play out come the game's release.
WarChild76
I wouldn't completely disagree with you (R-Pad), but I do wonder how much of this article comes out of you being pissed at Kojima for bringing MGS to the 360. What was the quote, "two-timing something"?
Infamous_Bizarro
comments are back up?
fborelli
I do agree with you that if IGA had the budget, they'd make one hell of a game. Also, that handing the game over to Kojima seems like a slap in the face.
However, the game is in very able hands. I'm sure the Kojimas respect IGA a whole lot; I trust them to make a great game
N8R
Besides, the only reason Kojima is till around after all these years is because on his application at Konami, he wrote "Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start".
IGA... did not.
N8R
@ elgranconde
I think you missed his point. You're correct in saying IGA tried and failed BUT... R Pad is saying the reason for that very well could be that IGA wasn't given a solid enough budget from Konami whereas Kojima will get anything he wants from those guys, obviously. This will make it appear that IGA just sucks and Kojima is golden... which isn't actually the case.
Long story short, he's theorizing that maybe Konami threw IGA "under the bus" in published form.
He might be on to something, this might be his Watergate. Now, who will play the role of "Deep Throat"?
BertSaxby
All I can say is, that's business for you.
I can't tell you the number of times I've seen companies cut budgets, cut personnel and then along comes someone that promises to bail them out of a bad situation (that they created mind you) and then throw tons of money at this ''problem'.New guy looks like a hero and the company has its scape goat. Sad, but true.
DJOmega6
All I'm going to say is that I'm looking forward to this new Castlevania, and I think Kojima will get it going in a great new direction.
elgranconde
raymond, as a castlevania fan that i am, i respect your opinion but i have to disagree with you, IGA tryed to take castlevania to the next 3D level with LOI and COD and it was a complete failure, kojima was the best choice to improve castlevania to the next gen level, i also enjoyed SOTN, HOD, Order of ecclesia and the list goes on...IGA's playground is in the 2D World there's no doubt that he's the best at it with his team. but i think it's not a good a idea to be so hard on kojima,
im actually happy about castlevania being in kojima's hand.
N8R
@ R Pad
You make a hella point... BUT... let's look at the big picture, and see what an act like this means for gaming as a whole.
In the 50's, a (black) man named Otis Blackwell. He didn't have ANY budget, but wrote amazing songs. Along comes a guy named Elvis, and hits #1 with like 5 of his songs due to a better production budget.
Movies... have remakes.
Books have multiple versions put out and the first and most famous of all of them (the Bible) has been literally re-written several times throughout the ages.
This story tells me that the medium of video games is really breaking in to the big leagues in terms of entertainment... that's a good thing.
And it sucks it falls on IGA's shoulders.
GlassShard
You took the words right out of my mouth and I couldn't agree with your sentiment more. All my respect and well-wishes go out to IGA and I only hope he's at work on another 2D game that will knock everyone's socks off like Order of Ecclesia did. Shame on Konami.
Displaying 21–35 of 35
112