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The games industry has come a long way since the days of the SNES and MegaDrive. It’s come a long way from a market dominated by two developing forces (namely Nintendo and SEGA at that time) the two were at each other’s throats, competing for dominance in the games market. Flash forward 10 years and look at those two companies now. Nintendo are (let’s face it) back seat driver’s in the console market (Sony’s PS2 has run riot over all competitor’s), SEGA have thrown the towel in for console hardware developing altogether and two new forces have joined possibly the largest war in the history of mankind (possibly a slight exaggeration there, but never the less the ‘console wars’ are a fight for huge amounts of money. Needless to say consoles today are a far cry from boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. (Err…). Anyway, they’ve come a long way… And so have the developers of the games themselves.
One thing that seems to be becoming much more common these days is the phenomenon (if you like) of coalition developing. Just this year in fact Nintendo announced the ‘Tri-Force’ agreement. This was the joining of Nintendo’s, Namco’s and SEGA’s forces to bring the GameCube’s power to arcades world-wide. The basic agreement was that the GameCube’s hardware would be used in arcades and then SEGA and Namco would produce exclusive titles to run on it.
Even more recently though (yesterday in fact) the infamous Megaton Announcement was made (supposedly: it’s not yet official but this latest rumor is far more feasible than all of the others) the premise of it was that Nintendo was using the share of the money that was going to come from the sales of the PlayStation (the original name being a joint copyright) to found a new studio, The Artists Group, in which the cream of the designers (clear that sick thought from your mind) from other developers, including Sega, Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Tecmo (Never heard of them, typo of Kemco? Blame consoletalk.co.uk), Square-Enix plus others will come together (I swear I’m not doing that on purpose) to work on GC exclusive titles. They will also be allowed to use Nintendo copyrighted characters and licenses. In my mind this can only be a good thing. Just look at that list of developers. *ANY* developing studio that features Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom and Konami can bring nothing but excellency.
So, what does this coalition developing mean? Well first and foremost it means that we (the gamers) will be getting the products of a project in which some of the best games developers, designers and coders in the world would have sweated over to bring us an amazing gaming experience. Secondly, it means that more and more console-exclusive games will be made giving console zealots the chance to brag over the fact that they and only they will be able to play and enjoy certain titles. This in turn will also see a rise in that particular consoles sales as hardcore (and wealthy) gamers the world over will not be able to pass p the chance to play a certain game and so will purchase another console to do just that. In fact people I know have already said that they will in procure an Xbox when Perfect Dark 2 arrives on it. As well as this we should (theoretically) see a sharp decrease in the amount of time spent developing a game. The knock-on effect of this is that we should (again, theoretically) start seeing exclusive, killer apps quickly, frequently and abundantly and *THAT* can only be a good thing!
As well as all this we may also start seeing developers being specialized in a specific region of development. Per example:
Namco’s developers could do the graphics, Nintendo’s the area design… you get the picture. This obviously won’t utilize that particular companies full potential but it could start the trend of region-specific developing houses springing up. In fact we already have one, Factor 5 (if I’m not mistaken) deal only in sound, and Skywalker Sound, a sub-house of LucasArts also deal with sound (duh). Whether this will help or hinder the industry I’m not sure but does make an interesting and potentially exciting prospect for the future.
This move of Nintendo’s to create a coalition development house (if it turns out to be true, and to me it’s certainly believable) sets the precedent for the future games that will spring from The Artists Group... And it can only herald the way for an amazing, incredible and (hopefully) highly enjoyable era in the games world. Even if this rumor turns out to be false then Nintendo (and Microsoft) have already started taking steps towards a future of coalition developing by making several companies second party, Silicon Knights and Rareware (respectively) spring to mind, and their have been other rumors stating that Nintendo is soon to make Capcom an official second party. This is coalition developing and this is the future.
Thanks for reading –
RBS
One thing that seems to be becoming much more common these days is the phenomenon (if you like) of coalition developing. Just this year in fact Nintendo announced the ‘Tri-Force’ agreement. This was the joining of Nintendo’s, Namco’s and SEGA’s forces to bring the GameCube’s power to arcades world-wide. The basic agreement was that the GameCube’s hardware would be used in arcades and then SEGA and Namco would produce exclusive titles to run on it.
Even more recently though (yesterday in fact) the infamous Megaton Announcement was made (supposedly: it’s not yet official but this latest rumor is far more feasible than all of the others) the premise of it was that Nintendo was using the share of the money that was going to come from the sales of the PlayStation (the original name being a joint copyright) to found a new studio, The Artists Group, in which the cream of the designers (clear that sick thought from your mind) from other developers, including Sega, Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Tecmo (Never heard of them, typo of Kemco? Blame consoletalk.co.uk), Square-Enix plus others will come together (I swear I’m not doing that on purpose) to work on GC exclusive titles. They will also be allowed to use Nintendo copyrighted characters and licenses. In my mind this can only be a good thing. Just look at that list of developers. *ANY* developing studio that features Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom and Konami can bring nothing but excellency.
So, what does this coalition developing mean? Well first and foremost it means that we (the gamers) will be getting the products of a project in which some of the best games developers, designers and coders in the world would have sweated over to bring us an amazing gaming experience. Secondly, it means that more and more console-exclusive games will be made giving console zealots the chance to brag over the fact that they and only they will be able to play and enjoy certain titles. This in turn will also see a rise in that particular consoles sales as hardcore (and wealthy) gamers the world over will not be able to pass p the chance to play a certain game and so will purchase another console to do just that. In fact people I know have already said that they will in procure an Xbox when Perfect Dark 2 arrives on it. As well as this we should (theoretically) see a sharp decrease in the amount of time spent developing a game. The knock-on effect of this is that we should (again, theoretically) start seeing exclusive, killer apps quickly, frequently and abundantly and *THAT* can only be a good thing!
As well as all this we may also start seeing developers being specialized in a specific region of development. Per example:
Namco’s developers could do the graphics, Nintendo’s the area design… you get the picture. This obviously won’t utilize that particular companies full potential but it could start the trend of region-specific developing houses springing up. In fact we already have one, Factor 5 (if I’m not mistaken) deal only in sound, and Skywalker Sound, a sub-house of LucasArts also deal with sound (duh). Whether this will help or hinder the industry I’m not sure but does make an interesting and potentially exciting prospect for the future.
This move of Nintendo’s to create a coalition development house (if it turns out to be true, and to me it’s certainly believable) sets the precedent for the future games that will spring from The Artists Group... And it can only herald the way for an amazing, incredible and (hopefully) highly enjoyable era in the games world. Even if this rumor turns out to be false then Nintendo (and Microsoft) have already started taking steps towards a future of coalition developing by making several companies second party, Silicon Knights and Rareware (respectively) spring to mind, and their have been other rumors stating that Nintendo is soon to make Capcom an official second party. This is coalition developing and this is the future.
Thanks for reading –
RBS
From Cube-Europe.
"An actual comment on the Megaton by a Nintendo representative .. don't get excited though.
NOE's head of PR, Shelly Friend labelled the whole Megaton concept as "absolute rubbish", and was apparently quite amused by the amount of speculation surrounding the alleged announcement.
In all the entertaining rumours over what the Megaton could be, many seem to have forgotten that the announcement itself was a mere rumour. There quite likely is no Megaton at all. "
Dang.
"An actual comment on the Megaton by a Nintendo representative .. don't get excited though.
NOE's head of PR, Shelly Friend labelled the whole Megaton concept as "absolute rubbish", and was apparently quite amused by the amount of speculation surrounding the alleged announcement.
In all the entertaining rumours over what the Megaton could be, many seem to have forgotten that the announcement itself was a mere rumour. There quite likely is no Megaton at all. "
Dang.
Strafex wrote:
> I personally think that this consoles-talk site is al oad of bull.
Yeah, the message about it itself was littered with spelling mistakes (not just typo's, actual mistakes). They do seem highly unprofessional. It's even more unlikely when you realise that no other gaming sites have picked up on it. Still though, it is a *lot* more feasable than any of the other rumours...
> It would be cool if it was true - multi-franchise Smash Brothers
> etc...
...although I do think that is bull :-D
~~~~~~~~~~
GnomeKiller wrote:
>I think Tecmo are actually designers, I've heard their name before. >Did they make that Batman game, or was that Kemco?
I'm pretty sure that was Kemco. They may be real but seeing as I'd never heard of them and going on the amount of other mistakes in the article at consoletalk I thought that it could have been a typo of Kemco.
~~~~~~~~~~
AliBoy wrote:
>two minds are better than one
Exactemont. Whether this latest rumour is true or not coalition development is the way forward especially if studios want to cut down on production time, which seems to be getting longer as gamers demands for games get bigger, better looking, better sound and faster.
A
> I personally think that this consoles-talk site is al oad of bull.
Yeah, the message about it itself was littered with spelling mistakes (not just typo's, actual mistakes). They do seem highly unprofessional. It's even more unlikely when you realise that no other gaming sites have picked up on it. Still though, it is a *lot* more feasable than any of the other rumours...
> It would be cool if it was true - multi-franchise Smash Brothers
> etc...
...although I do think that is bull :-D
~~~~~~~~~~
GnomeKiller wrote:
>I think Tecmo are actually designers, I've heard their name before. >Did they make that Batman game, or was that Kemco?
I'm pretty sure that was Kemco. They may be real but seeing as I'd never heard of them and going on the amount of other mistakes in the article at consoletalk I thought that it could have been a typo of Kemco.
~~~~~~~~~~
AliBoy wrote:
>two minds are better than one
Exactemont. Whether this latest rumour is true or not coalition development is the way forward especially if studios want to cut down on production time, which seems to be getting longer as gamers demands for games get bigger, better looking, better sound and faster.
A
Great Post!
I think Tecmo are actually designers, I've heard their name before. Did they make that Batman game, or was that Kemco?
*Confused*
I think Tecmo are actually designers, I've heard their name before. Did they make that Batman game, or was that Kemco?
*Confused*
I personally think that this consoles-talk site is al oad of bull.
It would be cool if it was true - multi-franchise Smash Brothers etc...
It would be cool if it was true - multi-franchise Smash Brothers etc...
Top notch Rasta.
Is something I would like to see, as they say "two minds are better than one" and the more inspiration, ideas and skills would surely mean better games.
Nice.
Is something I would like to see, as they say "two minds are better than one" and the more inspiration, ideas and skills would surely mean better games.
Nice.
The games industry has come a long way since the days of the SNES and MegaDrive. It’s come a long way from a market dominated by two developing forces (namely Nintendo and SEGA at that time) the two were at each other’s throats, competing for dominance in the games market. Flash forward 10 years and look at those two companies now. Nintendo are (let’s face it) back seat driver’s in the console market (Sony’s PS2 has run riot over all competitor’s), SEGA have thrown the towel in for console hardware developing altogether and two new forces have joined possibly the largest war in the history of mankind (possibly a slight exaggeration there, but never the less the ‘console wars’ are a fight for huge amounts of money. Needless to say consoles today are a far cry from boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts. (Err…). Anyway, they’ve come a long way… And so have the developers of the games themselves.
One thing that seems to be becoming much more common these days is the phenomenon (if you like) of coalition developing. Just this year in fact Nintendo announced the ‘Tri-Force’ agreement. This was the joining of Nintendo’s, Namco’s and SEGA’s forces to bring the GameCube’s power to arcades world-wide. The basic agreement was that the GameCube’s hardware would be used in arcades and then SEGA and Namco would produce exclusive titles to run on it.
Even more recently though (yesterday in fact) the infamous Megaton Announcement was made (supposedly: it’s not yet official but this latest rumor is far more feasible than all of the others) the premise of it was that Nintendo was using the share of the money that was going to come from the sales of the PlayStation (the original name being a joint copyright) to found a new studio, The Artists Group, in which the cream of the designers (clear that sick thought from your mind) from other developers, including Sega, Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Tecmo (Never heard of them, typo of Kemco? Blame consoletalk.co.uk), Square-Enix plus others will come together (I swear I’m not doing that on purpose) to work on GC exclusive titles. They will also be allowed to use Nintendo copyrighted characters and licenses. In my mind this can only be a good thing. Just look at that list of developers. *ANY* developing studio that features Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom and Konami can bring nothing but excellency.
So, what does this coalition developing mean? Well first and foremost it means that we (the gamers) will be getting the products of a project in which some of the best games developers, designers and coders in the world would have sweated over to bring us an amazing gaming experience. Secondly, it means that more and more console-exclusive games will be made giving console zealots the chance to brag over the fact that they and only they will be able to play and enjoy certain titles. This in turn will also see a rise in that particular consoles sales as hardcore (and wealthy) gamers the world over will not be able to pass p the chance to play a certain game and so will purchase another console to do just that. In fact people I know have already said that they will in procure an Xbox when Perfect Dark 2 arrives on it. As well as this we should (theoretically) see a sharp decrease in the amount of time spent developing a game. The knock-on effect of this is that we should (again, theoretically) start seeing exclusive, killer apps quickly, frequently and abundantly and *THAT* can only be a good thing!
As well as all this we may also start seeing developers being specialized in a specific region of development. Per example:
Namco’s developers could do the graphics, Nintendo’s the area design… you get the picture. This obviously won’t utilize that particular companies full potential but it could start the trend of region-specific developing houses springing up. In fact we already have one, Factor 5 (if I’m not mistaken) deal only in sound, and Skywalker Sound, a sub-house of LucasArts also deal with sound (duh). Whether this will help or hinder the industry I’m not sure but does make an interesting and potentially exciting prospect for the future.
This move of Nintendo’s to create a coalition development house (if it turns out to be true, and to me it’s certainly believable) sets the precedent for the future games that will spring from The Artists Group... And it can only herald the way for an amazing, incredible and (hopefully) highly enjoyable era in the games world. Even if this rumor turns out to be false then Nintendo (and Microsoft) have already started taking steps towards a future of coalition developing by making several companies second party, Silicon Knights and Rareware (respectively) spring to mind, and their have been other rumors stating that Nintendo is soon to make Capcom an official second party. This is coalition developing and this is the future.
Thanks for reading –
RBS
One thing that seems to be becoming much more common these days is the phenomenon (if you like) of coalition developing. Just this year in fact Nintendo announced the ‘Tri-Force’ agreement. This was the joining of Nintendo’s, Namco’s and SEGA’s forces to bring the GameCube’s power to arcades world-wide. The basic agreement was that the GameCube’s hardware would be used in arcades and then SEGA and Namco would produce exclusive titles to run on it.
Even more recently though (yesterday in fact) the infamous Megaton Announcement was made (supposedly: it’s not yet official but this latest rumor is far more feasible than all of the others) the premise of it was that Nintendo was using the share of the money that was going to come from the sales of the PlayStation (the original name being a joint copyright) to found a new studio, The Artists Group, in which the cream of the designers (clear that sick thought from your mind) from other developers, including Sega, Nintendo, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Tecmo (Never heard of them, typo of Kemco? Blame consoletalk.co.uk), Square-Enix plus others will come together (I swear I’m not doing that on purpose) to work on GC exclusive titles. They will also be allowed to use Nintendo copyrighted characters and licenses. In my mind this can only be a good thing. Just look at that list of developers. *ANY* developing studio that features Nintendo, Sega, Namco, Capcom and Konami can bring nothing but excellency.
So, what does this coalition developing mean? Well first and foremost it means that we (the gamers) will be getting the products of a project in which some of the best games developers, designers and coders in the world would have sweated over to bring us an amazing gaming experience. Secondly, it means that more and more console-exclusive games will be made giving console zealots the chance to brag over the fact that they and only they will be able to play and enjoy certain titles. This in turn will also see a rise in that particular consoles sales as hardcore (and wealthy) gamers the world over will not be able to pass p the chance to play a certain game and so will purchase another console to do just that. In fact people I know have already said that they will in procure an Xbox when Perfect Dark 2 arrives on it. As well as this we should (theoretically) see a sharp decrease in the amount of time spent developing a game. The knock-on effect of this is that we should (again, theoretically) start seeing exclusive, killer apps quickly, frequently and abundantly and *THAT* can only be a good thing!
As well as all this we may also start seeing developers being specialized in a specific region of development. Per example:
Namco’s developers could do the graphics, Nintendo’s the area design… you get the picture. This obviously won’t utilize that particular companies full potential but it could start the trend of region-specific developing houses springing up. In fact we already have one, Factor 5 (if I’m not mistaken) deal only in sound, and Skywalker Sound, a sub-house of LucasArts also deal with sound (duh). Whether this will help or hinder the industry I’m not sure but does make an interesting and potentially exciting prospect for the future.
This move of Nintendo’s to create a coalition development house (if it turns out to be true, and to me it’s certainly believable) sets the precedent for the future games that will spring from The Artists Group... And it can only herald the way for an amazing, incredible and (hopefully) highly enjoyable era in the games world. Even if this rumor turns out to be false then Nintendo (and Microsoft) have already started taking steps towards a future of coalition developing by making several companies second party, Silicon Knights and Rareware (respectively) spring to mind, and their have been other rumors stating that Nintendo is soon to make Capcom an official second party. This is coalition developing and this is the future.
Thanks for reading –
RBS