Three Key Metroid Prime Devs Shift To EA
Metroid Prime is, to me, just as important a game as Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It perfectly recaptured in three dimensions everything that made the 2D Metroid games great. The atmosphere, the sense of isolation, the action, and it's most impressive achievement, making a first-person platformer that worked and was actually fun. It also set the standard for immersion in games, with the visor fogging up from air vents and seeing Samus' reflection after bright flashes. To me, it was a masterpiece.
Back in April three top developers from Retro Studios left to start their own studio. They were Game Director Mark Pacini, Art Director Todd Keller, and Principal Technology Engineer Jack Mathews. Now their new studio, Armature Studio, has been officially unveiled. Armature has a publishing deal with EA and will be looking to develop games on all current consoles, allowing the Retro Studios vets to experiment with the Xbox 360 and PS3 for the very first time.
As part of the publishing deal, Armature will be a part of EA's Blueprint division, from which games like Spore and Boom Blox emerged. Think of Blueprint as a videogame idea thinktank. Armature will primarily be focused on developing game concept prototypes, which will be handed over to outside teams for the bulk of development, but still overseen by Armature.
I am very excited to see what this new studio comes up with. These are the same guys that realized that Metroid Prime needed a lock-on system rather than dual-analog FPS controls, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they can buck videogame trends on the larger multi-console scale that EA affords them.
NaviFairy
Posted to Video Games on 16 September 2008
Other stuff like this: Armature, EA
