The Death (& Return?) Of Capcom

[Spark Of Spirit]

From the new Game Informer:

GI: Mega Man has played an important role in Capcom's catalogue for many years, but recently he's been missing in action. Is the mascot's absence part of a larger plan to refocus at Capcom?

CS: Change has been a constant during my six years at Capcom (vastly for the positive) but I want to be crystal clear on this point. Mega Man is a key brand for Capcom and will remain so. I don't have any products we've announced publicly that I can point to and say "see, I told you" but there are "top men" ("top men"? "Yes, top men") within Capcom thinking about the future of the brand and where it's going. We will have official announcements in due course.

A key brand? Is that why all his games were canceled, he was excluded from MvC3 despite being an easy inclusion, and Capcom has all but ignored him this past year? Look, I don't like being negative, but either put your money where your mouth is or just don't bother. There's no need to lie.

Even freaking Contra got a tease at E3 last year. Mega Man got nothing.

[Peanutbutter]

I guess they're alluding to next year's E3, but I'm not holding my breath either way. 

[Rynnec]

The cynical side of me is says that its all too likely that we'll be seeing the Megaman equivalent of Bomberman: Act Zero.

I hope to god that its wrong.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Mega Man is officially 24 years old.

Congrats to the blue bomber!

[Spark Of Spirit]

More stupidity

Capcom has really become one heck of a terrible company. ROMs of this game can run on a freaking PSP, there's no excuse here.

[gunswordfist]

Different code in each region....what?!

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

Its not just Capcom guilty of this either. A bunch of other companies claim they can't run certain games properly on non-native systems.

If fans can get them running in less then a few years, I'd expect multi-million dollar companies to get it right too. They hardly require much power too, stop bullshitting us.

[Eddy]

So in case you need a re-cap of how went from awesome to shit this gen, here are some Capcom highlights!

• Mega Man Legends 3 was canceled. They shouldn't have even announced it.
• Mega Man Universe was canceled for basically no reason.
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was an unfinished product. Jill and Shuma-Gorath, the DLC characters, were already on the disc.
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was announced mere months after the release of MvC3. This time they included everything they should have included in the first release.
• Mega Man still wasn't added to the game. Mega Man is more or less dead.
• Capcom promises Street Fighter x Tekken will not get a "super" version. Instead they fuck over their fans with DLC by hiding 12 characters away on the disc.
• Capcom tried to defend all of their on disc DLC by saying it "makes no difference."
• Inafune tried to work with Capcom, despite leaving, to make sure Legends 3 was completed. Capcom turned down his offer.
• The game Asura's Wrath is getting DLC of the true game ending.
• No option to delete or have multiple save files in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D to combat used game sales.
• Devil May Cry rebooted for no reason and outsourced to a company that doesn't understand the franchise.
• Mega Man Legends 3's failure blamed on fans for not helping them make the game.
• Mega Man Online also canceled.
• Operation: Raccoon City
• Which also has on-disc DLC.
• DRM-ing of various arcade titles.
• Refusal to localize anymore Phoenix Wright or Monster Hunter games.
• Cheat codes (big head mode, etc.) made available for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record... as paid DLC
• Overcharging for on-disc costumes in various fighting games.
• Charging for color palettes in Street Fighter III on XBLA/PSN.

Am I missing anything?

[Spark Of Spirit]

That Mega Man Online game was canceled with the other two, as well. You know, that 2D platformer that apparently had tons of customization and elements from all the Mega Man series? Tons of lost potential there.

Also, Raccoon City

[Foggle]

• No option to delete or have multiple save files in Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D to combat used game sales.
• Devil May Cry rebooted for no reason and outsourced to a company that doesn't understand the franchise.
• Mega Man Legends 3's failure blamed on fans for not helping them make the game.

[Rosalinas Spare Wand]

They've also flirted with Ubisoft-tier DRM for some of their digital releases. Bionic Commando Rearmed and Final Fight Double Impact both make use of it. Surprisingly enough, Street Fighter II HD Remix and 3rd Strike Online don't, but they make up for it with that last one by offering options as DLC.

You can also throw in their refusal to localize more Monster Hunter and Phoenix Wright because they're not meeting their ridiculous sales expectations, like how they believe Dragon's Dogma will sell 10 million copies.

[Kiddington]

Wow.

What a horrible, horrible company.

[Foggle]

I believe Street Fighter X Tekken also uses Ubisoft-tier DRM (on the PC, anyway). And let's not forget the entire goddamn concept of Dead Rising 2: Off The Record.

[Eddy]

To be fair, Off the Record does had a whole lot to the game by changing up the story, adding new psychopaths and weapons, overall improvements to the gameplay, and adding the sandbox mode to the game.

I believe them when they said it couldn't be done as DLC.

But speaking of Off the Record, Capcom released DLC for it that were, essentially, cheat codes. Big head mode, infinite ammo, infinite health. Things like that.

[Foggle]

To be fair, Off the Record does had a whole lot to the game by changing up the story, adding new psychopaths and weapons, overall improvements to the gameplay, and adding the sandbox mode to the game.

I believe them when they said it couldn't be done as DLC.

Oh, really? My friend told me it was basically just DR 2 but reskinned. Guess he was wrong.