Former Metroid developers go multiplatform
Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 7:03pm by Derek
For Armature Studio, the hardware will finally match the vision.
Kotaku is reporting today three former Retro Studios employees have formed a new multiplatform development studio under a publishing deal with Electronic Arts.
The newly formed Armature Studio is headed by Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Matthews, the former Game Director, Art Director and Principal Technology Engineer of Nintendo’s Metroid Prime series.
According to Pacini, EA approached the three illustrious Metroid alumni with an offer too interesting to refuse.
“EA approached us with this really interesting business model of creating a small studio that is only comprised of industry veterans,” says Pacini. “The goal is to create new IP with a very, very small team and to produce a game without having to grow that team.”
The deal represents an interesting shift within the business philosophy at EA. According to Pacini, the relationship is somewhat experimental; Armature will essentially work on game prototypes, and once an idea is ready for development, it will be shifted to an external team with Armature keeping close tabs on the project.
“We would still be very hands on,” says Pacini. “Our studio is the grand experiment. It’s kind of a really different take on how to make these larger scale games.”
If this experiment is a success, Pacini says it could allow developers and publishers to take greater risks in game design, a potential cure to the industry’s ongoing addiction to safe-bet sequels.
“EA has been very, very supportive of all of our efforts,” says Pacini.
Pacini, Keller and Matthews earned the industry’s admiration for the Metroid Prime series’ outstanding art direction, and the opportunity to work on consoles more powerful than Nintendo’s Wii should give Armature the ability to fully realize their artistic design visions.
“From my stand point, I’ve never worked on any other console,” says Pacini. “I’ve always made games for Nintendo. I’m reinvigorated. I’m really excited about what other opportunities are out there. How can we use Xbox Live? How can we use the power of the PS3?”
“I think it really opens it up,” says Pacini. “I’m not saying it was by any means restrictive working for Nintendo. We had this palette to work on, the Wii and the DS, but now we have everything.”
“That’s just really, really exciting.”
Pacini, Keller and Matthews left Retro Studios in Apr. 2008, and their contract with EA prevents them from developing another Metroid Prime game for Nintendo. But Keller insists his love for Samus is evergreen and won’t close the door on a future Metroid project.
“Personally, I would love to work on another Metroid game,” says Keller. “I have been in love with Metroid for years. We had a chance to recreate a game that was created way back when.”
“That was awesome.”
September 15th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
They’ll never make another game on a Nintendo platform again and we all know it.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
This could be a bad thing, especially if their multi-platform effort adds a thick layer of mediocrity to their titles.
Sorry, but comments like this are naive; “the opportunity to work on consoles more powerful than Nintendo’s Wii should give Armature the ability to fully realize their artistic design visions.”
Today I’m a pessimist, but just today.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
If they can bring out something that plays like the Prime series on HD hardware, you know you’re going to love it.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
I say meh, Even though I do hate to admit it Dustin is right, a game of Primes quality in HD.. I would buy it.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
They probably felt stifled working for Nintendo and forced to make only Metroid games for a less powerful console and Nintendo returning the favor by not promoting their games to the fullest.
September 15th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
For me it depends on the type of game. If it’s another shooter/platformer, I’d pass and for the same reason I’m not interested in RE5 on a PS3 or 360. If you guys are PC gamer you’ll know what I’m getting at.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
A lot of clueless people on other message boards are thinking silly thoughts like “Yea they took the Metroid franchise with them. Now we’ll see it on other systems!”
How can people be so ridiculous. Nintendo should not have let these guys go, but I think a may be time for something different with the Metroid franchise anyway.
As for me, I’m just now working through Metroid Prime 2, so I’m not worrying about the future.
September 15th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
[...] Link [...]
September 15th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
They will see restriction is your friend LOL. Man they have really F’d this one up. Good luck I love kellers work and I wish them luck.
I mean the whole experimental thing is very very dangerous because you have to see those projects all the way through. I mean what they make and what ends up being created may be two different things. I wonder if they are ready for that?
What is weird is there are a million guys waiting to take their place. If they can get the engine from high voltage then things are going to look a little crazy. I hope they realize that the HD crowd does not like the art in prime.
Hopefully they will be able to do some thing different but if it’s not over detailed then they loose. If it’s too weird they also loose. I guess we will see…. What would be sweet is for them to make some cool stuff try to make it then they can see why nintendo operates the way they do because EA only gives you this kind of room if you pay off. Hey maybe EA is going to make a console? Who knows….
September 15th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
By they I meant the retro guys. Oh yeah they are going to see lots of restriction on the other systems too believe me. EA can co sign you but that doesn’t make games sell. I hope they have a great deal worked out or they may be thrown out again. EA does not play!
September 16th, 2008 at 12:09 am
I personally wish them luck, and owning more consoles than just Nintendo consoles (even though the Nintendo stuff is undeniably my favorite), I’d love to see them do some great stuff elsewhere.
The only fear I have is that, having had an existing – and popular – IP to work with and little else to speak of, their original stuff may reek of mediocrity and be far too generic. But really, only time will tell. Personally, while I absolutely love the Metroid Prime series, I think the art style was kind of dime-a-dozen, most notably in “Echoes.” So…maybe I’m not as optimistic as I might seem at first.
And yes, being a Nintendo loyalist definitely makes this news sting a bit, but like I said, I’m excited. Sort of…
Okay, this whole comment is too contradictory. I say, let’s just hope they do something cool and that they actually develop something for a Nintendo console in the future.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:06 am
its quite insulting whoever wrote that little article.
None of those 3 said anything about needing an HD system to realise any vision, nor do you need HD to realise any artistic vision anyway.
A good artist does magic within any medium. Its about direction, not just polygons.
Also, while an HD game may look better, i have seen plenty but never enjoyed them anymore then SD games.
What it does mean though is longer dev times, more expensive games for me and them, more expensive consoles right now, and less room for artistic experimentation.
anyway, they only said they find excitement in more options, and nothing about graphics.
Small teams working on HD games though. Sounds like downloadable games, or heavenly sword sized games. It will be interesting to see what they can do and if we will be involved.
unless by small, they mean 80+ man teams. HD just needs too high a level of detail to be able to have small teams work within any reasonable amount of time unless they put out crap. even if they are veterans.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Since when did acknowledging the Wii is underpowered become “naive” or “insulting”? You can achieve more visually on a 360/PS3 than a Wii, and it’s not just about HD. That’s not a slam. That’s a fact.
It’s been two years already. Seriously.
September 16th, 2008 at 4:34 am
*Cough*The Conduit*cough*
September 16th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Before I ramble, I can see why you might construe my response as insulting, but I used the word naive for of the lack of a better word.
I agree with what you say about achieving more visually in your above response, but that’s not how you worded it in the article. What I can’t agree with, is the ladder have of your comment about fully realizing their artistic visions.
What are their artistic design visions?
With hardware always getting better, how will they know they “fully” realized them?
Why wouldn’t a 720 be a better choice than a 360? Wouldn’t a 3x SLI PC running at 1600p take them one step closer to what they’re trying to fully realize?
The Wii’s twice that of a Cube with 3x the ram, shouldn’t that have helped them to further realize these visions? It’s not like they moved from a Cube to a PS1 and had to rethink their limitations, or a 360 to a Wii, they took a step “forward.”
What if their artistic visions center around controls?
With a talented team like these guys, it’s not the tool that limits what they can achieve. As they stated, the Wii is a palette. This is a great way to describe it, since its limitations determine how they’ll approach a project and what they’ll be able create. When I work in oils or water colors, I can achieve my visions, but the medium I’m working with determines what those visions are.
I’ve been a professional artist since 95 and I know that it’s not the tool that limits the artist, it’s the individual. I also know that a bigger canvas isn’t always a better, especially if the artist doesn’t have the time/vision to make it work. Not all artists can work large and vice versa.
Sometimes it’s the limitations that lead to better work, since it helps to establish a clear direction while freeing up time to balance the game. If they’re spending all of their extra time on creating more assets to fill a larger HD canvas, that’s time taken away from other areas, like gameplay. This could add a layer of mediocrity to their titles, something that seems to be rather prevalent with “HD” games now days. I don’t recall this problem with “higher rez” PC games a few years back, it must be the controller that’s causing it…
At Retro Studios these guys had a clear focus with Prime. That’s all they worked on that we know of. Now that that’s gone, only time will tell if they can produce something as good. I’m betting at least one great project, but then again, it depends on their creativity. Metroid was obviously a great pallette for these guys to work with.
If anything, moving away from a job where they only worked on one subject to a position where they can create anything, is a means for them to possibly fully realize their artistic design visions, not necessarily the hardware/tool which your comment implied.
Surely you can’t be serious?
September 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Ah, good on them…
But will games sales match the required marketing and development budget for these types of games?
We shall see.
PS — I’ve read that Armature Studio will also develop Nintendo games too. Also, I’ve seen more done with some NES games, visually, than some Xbox 360 games. Great “art” comes in many forms, people, not just pretty pictures.
September 16th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It’s funny to read this announcement today.
Yesterday, I kid you not, some PS3 fanboys were telling me that:
– Metroid Prime games were terrible and not worth playing.
– the team behind the games were useless tools.
– they’d rather give up video games than play anything by that team.
Although frustrating to hear stupid fanboy rhetoric like that, it’ll make good amunition to call them out if Armature does offer solid multi-platform titles later on.
Best of luck to the Armature team. They’ve done good work in the past, and I look forward to seeing future projects. Hopefully they won’t become so enamored with other systems that Nintendo gets left behind completely.
September 16th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Bii: No disrespect to your points, I’m just tired of defending myself from the Nintendo Defense League on this site every time I write something for this site, especially when the article is neither negative toward everyone’s favorite company nor opinionated.
It’s not an editorial. It’s a news article…that somehow led to a debate as to whether Armature will be able to better realize their obvious knack for artistic design on more capable hardware? Seriously?
Yes, art comes from a lot of things. But pretty visuals come from pretty visuals. That’s the point I made in the article; those guys have proven they have the skills to dazzle visually, and though they made the best of what they had to work with, they were held back on Wii. Great controls, supposed revolutions and allegiances aside, how is that even debatable?
I’m glad I didn’t use the lead I originally wrote for this article: “For Armature Studios, the training wheels are finally off.”
Some of you would’ve shit a brick.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:18 am
I initially read in to what you said more than needed and this was probably because I saw “Kotaku.” Every-time they write something about Nintendo, it’s never without some underlying snide tone, so I never see their name in a positive light.
When you mention anything related to Retro, one of the few companies that actually pushed the Cube visually, graphic ramblings/debates go hand and hand. :]
Not to go on and on about graphics, read Todd Keller’s comments about Prime 3 not pushing the Wii to its fullest potential;
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1570214/20070920/index.jhtml
When I read things like that, I can’t fully agree that they’re being held back by the Wii, at least not at this time, especially when the console is still new and they’ve only made one game for it. Look at the PS2′s visual improvements after developers got the hang of it.
Anyways, I know that the sky is basically their limit now, since they can work on any IP on any platform, which I’m hoping will include the PC.
Your initial title would’ve brought on the apocalypse.
September 17th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
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September 17th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
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