Ben Judd on Capcom, GRiN Closure.

The following revelation should surprise no one: I am an idiot. Apparently right at the time when GRiN shut down, Ben Judd specifically put the kibosh on allegations of Capcom's involvement, over on the BionicCommando.com forums:

You'll notice that the word publishers is used [in the Anderssons' farewell letter] and not Capcom's name specifically. Please don't create negative conjucture if you don't have any fact behind it. In this case, I can tell you it wasn't [Capcom] they were referring to...

So. It wasn't Capcom's fault. Judd's statement and later statements from Capcom confirm this. It also wasn't the fault of just one publisher. Had I done my homework and checked the BC forums, I could've put this aside months ago. It's only because of my own shoddy journalism that I've continued to prod at what is essentially a nonissue.

Therefore, I'd like to apologize for any grief caused by my continued prodding, to whoever that may apply. Sorry, guys.

Posted by Scion on November 25, 2009 14:55 CST


Svensson on GRiN Closure (Hypothetically Speaking).

There's a two-part interview with Christian Svensson over at GamesIndustry.biz (Part I | Part II). At one point he comments on GRiN, and... well... take a look:

Q: Considering the unfortunate demise of GRiN, which developed Bionic Commando for Capcom, do you see the current economic climate as a hindrance to realising these multinational ambitions?

Christian Svensson: Financial considerations for every developer is a legitimate concern. Developers need to expect a publisher to want to see what your books look like. If a developer can't carry a couple of milestones on their own, and a publisher doesn't approve a certain milestone, and the developer then says: "Well then we have to lay off these 15 guys and your USD 10 million investment that's already been made is at risk"... the publisher effectively can't say no.

The publisher has to continue to fund a project that hasn't been meeting its milestones, with the aim of saving the investment. So financial solvency of any development partner you work with is absolutely critical.

At the end of the day, when developers deliver what's in the statement report in the contracts that we sign with them, they get paid. If for some reason or another a discussion is opened as to whether a milestone should be approved or not, we need to know that the developers have the wherewithal to weather that, and get that milestone to the point where it can be approved.

We're pretty rigorous in how we evaluate our milestones, and we can only do that with partners who have the financial solvency to carry themselves a little bit. As far as GRiN themselves are concerned, [founders] Bo and Ulf [Andersson] were stellar to work with, and I'd daresay we'd not be averse to working with them again.

This lines up with an earlier GamesIndustry.biz report saying Capcom was pleased with Bionic Commando's success level. The hypothetical situation Svensson presents is a bit odd, however, because it seems negative right up to the point where he says Capcom wouldn't "be averse to working with [the Anderssons] again". My gut tells me the story is all about GRiN's relationship with Squeenix, but that's just idle speculation on my part.

I'm not sure what to make of all this.

Posted by Scion on November 24, 2009 14:30 CST


"Blue Steel"?

One of the ex-GRiN staffers has surfaced on LinkedIn. He's posted his resume... along with a list of codenamed projects he'd been working on during the past year.

Erik Lindqvist
unemployed Technical Artist
Stockholm Area, Sweden

Lead Technical Artist at Grin
Technical Artist at Grin
Internship at Grin

Production experience:
Project "Fortress" (TBA) - Cancelled
Project "Blue Steel" (TBA) - Cancelled
Project "Stopwatch" (TBA) - Cancelled
Project "Cult" (TBA) - Cancelled
Bionic Commando (PC, PS3, 360) - 2009
Terminator Salvation (PC, PS3, 360) - 2009
Wanted: Weapons Of Fate (PC, PS3, 360) - 2009
Bionic Commando: Rearmed (PC, PSN, XBLA) - 2008

What is this "Blue Steel", exactly? The resume goes on:

During 2009 I've been working in the pre-production and full production of two unannounced, and now canceled projects called "Fortress" and "Blue Steel" for two different major Japanese publishers. Besides the team lead responsibilities it included documentation and design of new game play systems and art production guidelines, as well as research into how to solve the graphical scenes presented in the game design document.

Over at NeoGAF (which is how I learned about this), the person who found Eric's resume reasoned that since "Fortress" was the next Final Fantasy installment for Square-Enix, the other "major Japanese publisher" was Capcom and "Blue Steel" was a Mega Man game. Problem is... there was another studio named Factor 5 who were working on a Superman game codenamed "Blue Steel". This almost matches up... except that Factor 5 is a German company.

Next problem: unless you're Inti Creates or Capcom Japan, you don't make Mega Man. Period.

Final problem: nothing in that resume says it was for Capcom. However...

GRiN had expressed interest in making a new Strider installment. There'd been a LOT of rumors flying around, as we all know. James Mielke started one of them, but there's no denying that Capcom had been interested in making a new Strider. Christian Svensson had confirmed that (though he'd denied there was anything in development) and so had Keiji Inafune. To top it off, when Ben Judd, the Capcom employee overseeing the Bionic Commando contracts, was asked directly which classic titles Capcom had their eye on reviving, the first thing out of his mouth was, "Strider".

I don't know whether "Blue Steel" actually was a "Strider ReCyphered" or not. It's impossible to say, but it seems likely. And that possibility does not exactly fill me with joy.

UPDATE: Another ex-GRiN staffer's LinkedIn profile reveals that he was working on "an un-announced 2d action platformer for XBLA/PSN". Is it really possible that this was "Blue Steel/Strider ReCyphered" and it died when GRiN folded?

Posted by Scion on November 12, 2009 21:55 CST


Squeenix Forced GRiN Closure?

From GamesIndustry.biz:

The Final Fantasy title being worked on at GRIN before the studio collapsed is still in development by publisher Square Enix, GamesIndustry.biz understands.

Sources close to both parties have revealed that the game, initially signed off in Tokyo in the second half of last year and codenamed Fortress, was central to the collapse of the Swedish developer – Square took the project off GRIN after only six months of development due to concerns over quality issues.

Because business law in Sweden prohibits companies from going into debt without severe penalties, the developer was subsequently unable to bear its wage burden without new projects, and so closed its doors.

The article goes on to say that despite the low sales numbers of GRiN's Bionic Commando, Capcom was "pleased with the results". Not sure what that means. Did Capcom give them a pat on the head or something? If they were pleased, why wouldn't they give them more projects? What about that rumored Strider sequel?

And on that note, does anyone remember James Mielke interviewing Keiji Inafune earlier in the year? Anyone remember how Inafune said that Strider was (and I quote) "one of the franchises that I have an interest in reviving, so I think there's a real possibility that we will make another Strider game"? Remember, also, how he said in the same interview that Capcom had "no plans of making sequels" to the Clover properties?

Behold, Capcom's making an Okami sequel for the Nintendo DS. So much for "not very likely or appealing". Now where the FRAK is that Strider sequel you were actually interested in making, Inafune?

Posted by Scion on November 5, 2009 13:48 CST


Gone.

So Geocities has finally closed. The era of DIY web design and webmastering has long been over, but still... seeing that place go is pretty heartwrenching. Sure, in its latter years Geocities was just a haven for drive-by malware, but that was well after the Yahoo! buyout (a.k.a. the "we own your website, not just host it" changeover) that robbed it of much of its soul. Its closing is just one more turn away from the Wild Wild Internet of yore.

True, we may never have to see another "Under Construction" animated GIF ever again, but really, was that so bad? At the very least, it told you an actual, by-god person was creating that site, not just a faceless team backed with corporate money. You knew the people ran the sites as a labor of love for whatever topic the site was about, and not because they felt the topic was popular enough to make some Google AdSense money. The Web 2.0 design may be slicker and more usable, but is the Web 1.0 heart still there? It's hard to tell. It doesn't help that fansites are looked on with increasing scorn and their information treated as suspect, as though the people who run them are somehow unreliable.

I roundly reject that notion. Anyone who runs a fansite on any topic does so out of love. They don't do it to deceive their readers. The emphasis on fact and verifiability and usability has taken the emphasis off of the people who run the sites and the relationships between fans. Geocities' closing is just one more step away from the latter and towards the former, in my estimation, and I weep for it. Let us never forget that the Internet connects people as well as computers. Let us never forget that we are what makes the Internet what it is, not the information. Let us never forget.

And so, it is with great sadness that I say these words... Geocities is dead. Long live Geocities.

Posted by Scion on October 30, 2009 07:48 CDT


It WAS a Proto Screenshot!

Things around here have been kinda slow recently. After a busy summer, all Strider news has just kinda dropped off. So I got lazy and forgot to post this tidbit of news that came from Third Moon Forum member Artemio. The screenshot on right sparked his memory, so he went and dug up an old Sega Genesis poster. Turns out Rob and James were dead on. It's a screenshot from the 6MB prototype and the "leaves" are definitely explosion trails.

Click here for a more complete view of the poster.

I can't thank Rob, James, and Artemio enough. Besides being a previously-ignored piece of Strider history, this will be useful in assessing the purported Super Grafx screenshots. Thanks guys, for all your help.

Posted by Scion on October 27, 2009 07:47 CDT


Random News Tidbits

Here's a few minor news items that came to my attention over the weekend, from various sources:

That's all I got for now. Check back later. See ya!

Posted by Scion on September 14, 2009 07:41 CDT


Hiryu Reference in Rockman 7?

I'd heard for some time that some dialogue in Rockman 7 (the Japanese version of Mega Man 7) made a passing reference to our boy Hiryu, but I'd never actually seen the screenshots until now. Thanks to Kenny Hedgehog, now I have. Here's the complete conversation, which was eliminated from the English translation:

MEGA MAN: With this Slash Claw, I can slice through anything.

RIGHTOT: Incredible dasu. It's like SXrXder HXryuu dasu!

MEGA MAN: Promise you won't say that again.

Why it was removed is anybody's guess. Anyhow, this isn't the first time Hiryu's been mentioned or associated with a Mega Man game. As Jeremy Dewald is fond of reminding me, there was also a Hiryu concept drawn up for Mega Man Legends, which I've misfiled as fanart. It's kind of comforting to know that those who work on Capcom's more popular series are Strider fans themselves.

Thanks again, Kenny, for bringing this to my attention!

Posted by Scion on September 10, 2009 07:05 CDT


New Fansite on the Block!

Fellow Strider fan "Pikachu" has started her own site, Duality. It's a pretty decent site, and is certainly not unwelcome. It's good to finally have some company on the Net again. Haven't had any new Strider sites since Neo Guoxiang dropped from view.

I'm also hearing rumblings that a new Strider community message board is in the works. Could we see a resurgence of the Strider Internet fanscene? Here's hoping!

Posted by Scion on September 9, 2009 07:46 CDT


Past Masters, Vol. IV: Bueno!

At long last, I finally tracked Bueno down and got an interview out of him. This shouldn't surprise anyone who's been following along over on the Moon, considering how I'd let it drop that I've been playing MvC2 with him on PSN, but hey. The interview's a fun ride, so head on over to the Past Masters feature and check it out!

Posted by Scion on September 4, 2009 07:46 CDT


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