Capcom Studio Head Talks Mature Titles, Reusing Engines

By Shawn White / Thursday, 08 March 2007

In a GDC 2007 lecture, Head of Capcom Production Studio 2 Keiji Inafune discussed the troubles in porting some of Capcom's next-gen engines to Wii and if he'd be willing to develop mature titles for the system.

When asked if the engines for Xbox 360's Lost Planet: Extreme Condition and Dead Rising would be used for projects on other platforms, Inafune stated that the engines has been optimized for multiplatform usage, but that they wouldn't work on Wii. Instead, the developer is looking to utilize the Resident Evil 4 engine for some Wii projects.

Inafune mentioned that although there's an industry trend towards photorealism in video games, he's still interested in creating franchises with iconic mascots like Mega Man, and that Wii would be a suitable platform for such titles. According to Inafune, Capcom is planning an announcement in the near future regarding a potential new franchise, though did not state if it will pertain to Wii.

The Wiire asked if titles like mature games like Dead Rising and Lost Planet: Extreme Condition would be suitable for Wii and if Capcom is interested in appealing to the Wii owners who desire mature titles. Inafune said all the next-generation systems will all see their share of mature projects, and that Nintendo's new attitude as of late, different from the one exuded throughout much of GameCube's lifespan, allows a better opportunity to develop mature games on Wii - Resident Evil 4 being a notable example.

Inafune, who joined Capcom 20 years ago, is credited with creating the Mega Man, Dead Rising and Onimusha franchises. He also helped develop Resident Evil 2 and 4, and served as director for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. He is currently developing an unnamed Wii game.

The Wiire will continue to bring you the latest news from GDC 2007.