Q&A: online play a no-go in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (page 2 of 3)

This game was supposed to be out earlier. What prompted the delay, and what did the extra time allow you?

Well, there was never a set date for the game's release, but there was a target date. Mr. [Satoru] Iwata [President of Nintendo] challenged us last fall to make this equal to, if not exceeding, the Zelda experience. And he said he would support it by giving us more time. It was, "Here's the bar. What is it going to take to reach it?" And the obvious answer was, "Well, we're going to need more time." And he agreed.

So it's all your fault....

Ha! Well, you'll reap the rewards, I'll guarantee.

As for what we added, that's kind of a tough question. I can't say, from a geometry standpoint, that we added this room or we added that boss. It wasn't a matter of "We have to add this element." We had the foundation of the game, it was more the classic Nintendo scenario of refinements and polish. So what we now have is an extremely polished, extremely tight experience.

Will Metroid Prime 3 have any online modes?

No. It's something we talked about early on, but we only have so many resources. We opted to devote those resources to making a better single-player experience.

Are there any unique challenges to being an American development studio working on a game for a Japanese company?

Well, let me refine that question a little bit. It should be: Are there any unique challenges to being a Western developer working in the Nintendo development environment? Because, really, that is where the challenge is. The challenge is applying Western methodologies in development and having those fit with Nintendo's expectations as they relate to quality. Which is very, very refreshing because it's never a situation where it's date-driven, it's always quality-driven. It's never, "Okay, regardless of the game's condition, it's coming out August 30th."

But on the flipside of that, we work for Nintendo, we are Nintendo, and the expectations for our games are intense. So meeting the quality standards for a Nintendo I.P. [intellectual property] is exceptionally challenging.

Do you think that they hired you guys, originally, to do these games because first-person shooters are kind of a Western thing? Because as I understand it, Japanese gamers are not as enamored of first-person shooters as Westerners are.

Yeah, first-person shooters or first-person adventure games don't do well at all in Japan.

Do the Metroid Prime games do well over there?

Not necessarily. It has nothing to do with the I.P. or the franchise, it's just that this style of game isn't popular. It sells well, as far as the genre is concerned, but it's like how traditional Japanese simulation games aren't that popular over here. So it would only make sense to have a Western developer work on a first-person game.

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