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Why did S-E pick Hexa Drive to develop The 3rd Birthday? Find out!

D

duckroll

Member
In the TGS trailer, it was revealed that Square Enix was collaborating with a little known developer named Hexa Drive to develop the new Parasite Eve title The 3rd Birthday on the PSP. Before this news, the only title of note that Hexa Drive has worked on was the Rez HD port on XBLA. What attracted S-E to pick this developer for their project? It seems Hexa Drive has quite an interesting legacy...

Hexa Drive was started on in Feb 2007 by Masakazu Matsushita. Before forming his own little development studio in Osaka, he worked at Capcom. He was a programmer on many of Capcom's arcade titles. He also worked on the main programming of Power Stone 2 and Devil May Cry 3, and most recently was the lead programmer and project manager of Lost Planet on the 360. After Lost Planet shipped, he left Capcom and formed his own company.

The Hexa Drive official blog states that the collaboration for The 3rd Birthday is a marriage between Square Enix's expertise in worldview setting and graphical production, and Hexa Drive's knowledge in the development of action games and programming skills. It's now no longer a surprise to me that S-E picked them to work on a game that Nomura has described as a third person shooter mixed with RPG elements. Matsushita's experience on Lost Planet should no doubt ensure that the game has a solid game engine and runs really well, now we just need to hope that the game design doesn't blow chunks like DoC FFVII did. :)


Sources:
http://hexadrive.jp
http://hexadrive.sblo.jp/
http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,148387/
http://plusd.itmedia.co.jp/games/articles/0807/31/news003.html
 
K

-Kh-

Banned
After knowing more about the developer, the 3rd Birth sounds yet more promising. Hopefully the battle system together with the camera will be done right for PSP.

Seems we can expect a great game from them (Although it might not live to the expectatives of older fans wanting back the old system).
 
W

Wurm

Banned
Wow, Capcom sure did experience an exodus of talent, didnt they? I'm surprised theyre still so together and successful when you look at what happened to Sega.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Wurm said:
Wow, Capcom sure did experience an exodus of talent, didnt they? I'm surprised theyre still so together and successful when you look at what happened to Sega.
Click to expand...

The difference between Capcom and other developers, is that they're forward thinking enough to know that you can't rely on any one person to drive the company. They have many teams, but they not only do they have shared technology within the company but they also continue to encourage new directors and new collaborations in general. This ensures that if any person or team desides to bail, they still have staff that are experience in the technology and with the franchises left in the company to continue on.
 
H

Hcoregamer00

The 'H' stands for hentai.
Wurm said:
Wow, Capcom sure did experience an exodus of talent, didnt they? I'm surprised theyre still so together and successful when you look at what happened to Sega.
Click to expand...

If Yakuza 3 and Valkyria Chronicles are any indication, Sega still has some talent left.

Unfortunately they need to make games of that quality very frequently to be anywhere near the golden age.

Capcom still knows how to do it after so long.

duckroll said:
The difference between Capcom and other developers, is that they're forward thinking enough to know that you can't rely on any one person to drive the company. They have many teams, but they not only do they have shared technology within the company but they also continue to encourage new directors and new collaborations in general. This ensures that if any person or team desides to bail, they still have staff that are experience in the technology and with the franchises left in the company to continue on.
Click to expand...

Wow, I had no idea.

Thanks for the info Duckroll.
 
D

Darkpen

Banned
interesting.

but...

action game with RPG elements? :( I'm playing PE2 right now, actually, and its like.... augh... I really really want my old PE1 style back.

Oh well, I'll probably still buy it.

Sounds like 3rd Birthday's gonna be solid, though.
 
W

Wurm

Banned
What a redemption story this title has gone through though.

1) Parasite Eve 3....... FOR MOBILES :lol :lol :lol
2) PSP version on the way...with mystery software house at the helm (uh oh?)
3) Oh hai. I did Lost Planet and Rez HD and DMC3 and Powerstone 2. 'sup?
 
K

-Kh-

Banned
Wurm said:
What a redemption story this title has gone through though.

1) Parasite Eve 3....... FOR MOBILES :lol :lol :lol
2) PSP version on the way...with mystery software house at the helm (uh oh?)
3) Oh hai. I did Lost Planet and Rez HD and DMC3 and Powerstone 2. 'sup?
Click to expand...


The big issue are that number 2 and 3 aren't really that compatible.

There are hardware limitations (not cpu but control-wise), the control and camera can break the game on their own. Developing great games for PSP has its merits :p
 
adamsapple

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
now all we need is to see the TGS trailer direct-feed , and a gameplay clip or two before we can pass further judgement.
 
K

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
chandoog said:
now all we need is to see the TGS trailer direct-feed , and a gameplay clip or two before we can pass further judgement.
Click to expand...


:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol
Maybe in a few months!
 
near

near

Gold Member
Hmm, assuming they have the resources to do so, I wonder if they'll start developing their own games eventually? Aside from being a lead programmer and project manager of Lost Planet, what was the motive for Matsushita to start his own company?

Bleh. At least we know The 3rd Birthday is in good hands now, I just hope that Nomura's involvement as creative producer isn't lost much.
 
D

Draft

Member
:thumbsup

I know I'm in the minority, but I thought PE2 was a huge step up gameplay wise from PE1. Game works best with a heavy emphasis on action and fighting.
 
V

vala

Member
Several former Capcom staff also worked on the second Parasite Eve :lol

edit: Here are the names:

Director:
Kenichi Iwao

Editor:
Yasuyuki Matsunami

Battle Director:
Yuichi Kanemori

1st Assitant Director:
Kosuke Nasu

Planner:
Yukio Ando

Storyboard Artist:
Nobuyoshi Mihara
Kazushi Ito

Character Design:
Isao Ohishi

Monster Design:
Ryoji Shimogama

Visual Effect Design:
Yoshiaki Teshima

Model Makers:
Takashi Hama
Akihiro Notsu

Character Animator:
Masayo Tateishi

Art Director:
Satoru Nishikawa

Scenic Artist:
Mitsuru Kuwahata

Background Creators:
Jun Ogawa
Tetsuya Shiraishi
Wataru Ikeda

Music:
Naoshi Mizuta

Original PE Music:
Yoko Shimomura

Movie Unit Model Maker:
Koji Wakasono


Also, Hexa Drive was originally formed by:
Masakazu Matsushita
Shingo Inoue
Yoshifumi Hirao
Kouichiro Nakamura ( mmx1 main programmer :( )
Kato (Shiegeru?)
Junichi Iwasaki
 
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