After an humiliating attempt with Bionic Commando, it seems that Capcom wants DONE with western developers altogether. In a Q&A session held earlier this week, the company’s president Haruhiro Tsujimoto revealed that he wasn’t happy with the collaborations they’ve done here in the west, and that, from now on, new IPs will be developed in-house, in Japan.

“Our experience with Bionic Commando has demonstrated the difficulty of outsourcing the development of new title to overseas companies”, he said. “Nevertheless, we cannot develop a sufficient number of titles without using the resources of these companies. This is why we plan to continue using these alliances.”

“We are considering ways to separate the roles of activities in Japan and overseas. We plan to develop new titles primarily in Japan. Overseas companies may be used mostly to develop titles for existing game series with well-established characters and universal themes. Overseas companies will also handle certain parts and/or lineups of such games.”

We can understand why he’s disappointed; Bionic Commando wasn’t a huge success. However, before his statement, he did mention that collaborating with western developers is hard work because of the lack of communication throughout the development process. But, as I was stating, I don’t think that Bionic Commando was a failure because of poor development. It was because of poor advertisement on Capcom’s part.

We recently sat down with Martin Wahlund (CEO, Fatshark) to talk about their upcoming downloadable title, Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West – a third person multiplayer-oriented shooter aiming to give players “a chance to relive the thrills of a gunfight in classic western settings.”. Enjoy.

GCO: What’s the general idea behind Lead & Gold?

Martin Wahlund: To deliver a fun and good looking multi-player game with strong game modes that suits the western setting well. This, at a very good price for the players.

GCO: People have called Lead & Gold “Team Fortress meets the old west”, what do you have to say about that?

MW: It is not that far off. Team Fortress is great and there are many common elements in the games but also many differences.

GCO: Lead & Gold is a team based multi-player experience. Please describe some key elements in the game.

MW: Team play. You win as a team or lose as a team. Another key element is the class that you chose to play, it dictates the way you play in each scenario.

The in-game leveling system is also something that stands out; you get experience from completing mission objectives or killing enemies. The character then, evolves by gaining improved synergies.

GCO: Does Lead & Gold have some kind of perk system, much like that in the Call of Duty games?

MW: Not directly. The closest thing is the synergies that the characters get when you level up your character in each scenario.

GCO: We’ve noticed that Lead & Gold uses the same engine as GRIN’s Bionic Commando. Were there any setbacks caused by GRIN’s closing during development?

MW: Well, we worked close with GRIN and it was a shame to see the studio close down but we are still alive and kicking.

GCO: Is there support for dynamic (explosive) environment in the game?

MW: In some sense, yes. You can destroy certain objects with a well placed powder keg. It could be a wind mill or a door.

GCO: Going back to perks. Is there a class system?

MW: Yes. There are 4 main classes in the game at release, the trapper, the blaster, the deputy and the gunslinger. All of them have a special ability for example the trapper can set traps. We hope to release more characters as downloadable content in a near future.

GCO: When can we expect Lead & Gold to release?

MW: Q1 2010.

GCO: Thanks for your time.

Besides recent reports, it seems that unannounced Final Fantasy project is alive and well. According to a report posted by GameIndustry.biz, sources confirmed that the unannounced Final Fantasy project that was in development at GRIN is now in development over at Square Enix.

You see, Square took the project off GRIN’s hands after only six months of development due to concerns over quality. Sadly, because business laws in Sweden prohibits companies from going into debt without severe penalties, GRIN was subsequently to bear its wage burden without new projects, and had to closed its doors. Square didn’t respond to the news.

So what’s Capcom planning for this years E3? Well, that’s a question you don’t need to ask anymore.

Capcom has announced which games they will be showcasing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 2-4. This list shows the two unnamed unannounced titles, which was reported going to surprise you, and the other we’ll see coming. The list also shows all of their high anticipated upcoming games. 

Here’s the list; Bionic Commando (PC); Dark Void (PC, PS3, X360); Dead Rising 2 (PC, PS3, X360); Fate/Unlimited Codes (PSP); Lost Planet 2 (PC, X360); Marvel vs Capcom 2 (PSN, XBL); Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace (DS); Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker (DS); Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP); Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (Wii); Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Wii); Spyborgs (Wii); Street Fighter IV (PC); Untitled Mystery Game #1; Untitled Mystery Game #2.

What makes you buy a video game system? Is it the system itself or is it the platform exclusives? Looks like Capcom will no longer be willing to make anymore platform exclusives for all three of the system that are right now out on the market. This report comes from the company’s fiscal year 2008 report, which states that “All major titles launched during the next fiscal year or thereafter will be developed as multi-platform games,”. This comes as no surprise because many games are being dropped off for the multi-platform name like Final Fantasy XIII, which was originally planned for the PlayStation 3, but is now also coming to the Xbox 360, and now to see as a video game company make that change it’s really makes the questions I asked at the begin of this article harder to answer.

But, as a company Capcom will be making more money using multi-platform games to build there company, money-wise. Here’s what Capcom has to say about that “We will aim to increase revenue and dramatically increase the number of users by launching, for example, Resident Evil 5 … Street Fighter IV … and Bionic Commando [on multiple platforms].” It already looks like Capcoms plan may already be in actions because much of there nex-gen games are already get the multi-platform taste.

According to Variety , Capcom is teaming up with producer Avi Arad to bring the Lost Planet movie adaptation to life. The movie is set to be part of a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Along with the news we got word that David Hayter , which was aready know by the rumor posted on the net, will be the writing the script for the movie. Arad will be producing the movie with his son Ari in partnership with Steven Paul through Seaside Entertainment. We are still waiting for officail word from Capcom about the movie.

Not so long ago we reported that David Hayter would be working a deal with Warner Bros. to induce Capcom’s Lost Planet to the big screen. Now, a rumor has been spotted up on the internet that advises the Lost Planet movie adaptation will be coming our way in 2011.

According to 1UP, the Lost Planet movie adaptation will be coming our way in 2011, or in other words the movie will be seen for the first time in theaters some in late, mid or early 09.  Many rumors have been going around that the movie would indeed be coming to life on the big screen, and many sources state that Warner Bros. will indeed be the distributor, with Capcom and Seaside Films co-producing the adaptation in to film. But, for now this is still a rumor so until E3 there is still no official word on the movie so far, so we still need to wait.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is currently out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Capcom has now confirm given us a firm date for the beta: June 25. The official blog has the news, and the instructions for how to grab this game the day it goes live.

1) Buy Commando 3 on XBL. Play it, love it.

2) In the Commando 3 menu, you’ll notice an option for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Beta (insert long name joke here). If you hit that option, you’ll get an error. Why is this? Because the SSF2T HD Remix Beta isn’t live until June 25th .

3) If you hit the Beta menu option on or after June 25th , 2008, you’ll be taken to an XBL blade offering to let you download the new SSF2T HD Remix Beta.

4) Download the Beta, and then you can find it under your "Games Library" under "Demos."

5) Start it up and commence dragon-punchery.

If you have a PS3 then your left for now for the Beta. Remember you must buy Commando 3 on XBL in order to particapaite in the Beta.