Japanese development studio Monolith Soft has been purchased by Nintendo from Namco Bandai, according to a press release (PDF file) from credible Japanese news source Nikkei translated by gaming site The Platformers.
Our team of translators have discerned from the release that Nintendo now owns 80% of the company's stock, while Namco Bandai still retain 16% of their original 96% holdings in the developer, whose total worth is approximately 75 million yen.
The studio, formed in 1999 by former Square employee Hirohide Sugiura, is responsible for the Xenosaga and Baten Kaitos series. The company is also reportedly developing Disaster: Day of Crisis, a Wii title that hasn't been seen since its appearance at E3 2006.
We've contacted Nintendo further details. For the console maker, this gives them an experienced second party RPG developer. We'll keep you updated as this story progresses.
[Thanks for the translation help, Patrick and Andrew]
I thought Nintendos days of having second parties were gone, as all of their previous second parties have either been sold off or fully bought out to become a first party. Nintendo have also recently been shedding 'external' devcos in favour of funding new startups.
I guess Day Of Crisis is looking like something Nintendo want to keep exclusively.
hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
abydos1000 wrote:hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
How cool would an Elder Scrolls game be on wii? You could use the wii-mote to swing weapons, cast spells, block with a shield, or maybe even do blacksmithing and other related tasks. The possibilities are endless for rpg's on wii.
abydos1000 wrote:hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
How cool would an Elder Scrolls game be on wii? You could use the wii-mote to swing weapons, cast spells, block with a shield, or maybe even do blacksmithing and other related tasks. The possibilities are endless for rpg's on wii.
I would love that. I've really been wanting to play Oblivion, but I have a Mac, a DS, and a Wii...so I don't have anything to run it on. However, the developer has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not be ported to Wii, because a Wii version wouldn't be able to meet their "quality standards."
abydos1000 wrote:hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
How cool would an Elder Scrolls game be on wii? You could use the wii-mote to swing weapons, cast spells, block with a shield, or maybe even do blacksmithing and other related tasks. The possibilities are endless for rpg's on wii.
I would love that. I've really been wanting to play Oblivion, but I have a Mac, a DS, and a Wii...so I don't have anything to run it on. However, the developer has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not be ported to Wii, because a Wii version wouldn't be able to meet their "quality standards."
Oblivion may not be, but morrowind or maybe another game based/from the franchise could. I hope. *fingers crossed*
abydos1000 wrote:hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
How cool would an Elder Scrolls game be on wii? You could use the wii-mote to swing weapons, cast spells, block with a shield, or maybe even do blacksmithing and other related tasks. The possibilities are endless for rpg's on wii.
I would love that. I've really been wanting to play Oblivion, but I have a Mac, a DS, and a Wii...so I don't have anything to run it on. However, the developer has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not be ported to Wii, because a Wii version wouldn't be able to meet their "quality standards."
The PSP version is an isometric diablo clone. It's hardly the same thing, and when people ask about a port of Oblivion for the Wii, they want whats described above - a first person action RPG with controlls mapped for sword swinging etc, not a crappy isometric dungeon crawler.
abydos1000 wrote:hmmm... wonder if the Wii may end up being one of the rpg consoles given that is probable that the PS3 isn't going to do all that well outside of Japan.
How cool would an Elder Scrolls game be on wii? You could use the wii-mote to swing weapons, cast spells, block with a shield, or maybe even do blacksmithing and other related tasks. The possibilities are endless for rpg's on wii.
I would love that. I've really been wanting to play Oblivion, but I have a Mac, a DS, and a Wii...so I don't have anything to run it on. However, the developer has stated in no uncertain terms that it will not be ported to Wii, because a Wii version wouldn't be able to meet their "quality standards."
As much as I like the game, I wasn't really thinking of something like Oblivion when I wrote that. Example... I wonder if it will be the Wii that will see games from the FF13 franchise? Maybe this will the platform of choice for Atlus??
The PSP version is an isometric diablo clone. It's hardly the same thing, and when people ask about a port of Oblivion for the Wii, they want whats described above - a first person action RPG with controlls mapped for sword swinging etc, not a crappy isometric dungeon crawler.
Wait, what? The PSP Oblivion was suppose to be played just like the original only instead of the open world it was intended to be broken down into missions. Like a mix of Oblivion and Dark Messiah. I haven't heard anything about a 'isometric Diablo clone' unless the project has taken a huge turn from it's original direction.
The PSP version is an isometric diablo clone. It's hardly the same thing, and when people ask about a port of Oblivion for the Wii, they want whats described above - a first person action RPG with controlls mapped for sword swinging etc, not a crappy isometric dungeon crawler.
Wait, what? The PSP Oblivion was suppose to be played just like the original only instead of the open world it was intended to be broken down into missions. Like a mix of Oblivion and Dark Messiah. I haven't heard anything about a 'isometric Diablo clone' unless the project has taken a huge turn from it's original direction.
This is exactly what I read in an interview somewhere. I can't find a single announcement or screenshot suggesting it will be isometric.
It was announced to be an 'isometric action rpg', which had been stripped down into 10 levels with no 'outdoor' sections, so just dungeons.
The point is moot anyway, as its vanished off of Ubisofts release schedules and is likely canned. If it does ever come out I guess I get to say "I told you it was an isometric Diablo knockoff". Yay.
I wish I would have kept the issue of Game Informer that had screenshots from the PSP version. I can't find any images anywhere. That magazine was the only place I even seen anything about the game.
