Ash Storm
True Gamer
When Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios lost three of their key members earlier this year, they left a lot of uncertainty in their wake. Nobody knew for sure where they would work next, why they left, or what was to become of Retro Studios in their absence. According to a report from Kotaku, we finally have some answers.
The three central figures who left Retro -- art director Todd Keller, design director Mark Pacini, and principal technology engineer Jack Matthews -- have moved on to form a new game development company called Armature Studio. The group is focusing on creating prototypes for other developers to flesh out, while the Armature team keeps watch as directors. This is all being accomplished through an exclusive partnership with Electronic Arts.
"EA approached us with this really interesting business model of creating a small studio that is only comprised of industry veterans," revealed Pacini, continuing, "The goal is to create new [intellectual property] with a very, very small team and to produce a game without having to grow that team." Not a bad idea, considering the ever-increasing costs of console development.
Due to this emphasis on prototyping, Armature should theoretically be able to take a lot more chances than the average developer. "Our studio is the grand experiment. It's kind of a really different take on how to make these larger scale games," commented Pacini. "It's really reasonable to go out on a limb and take a risk that we kinda think might be cool."
The deal with EA also means Armature will have nothing to do with the Metroid series for the foreseeable future. Series art director Todd Keller laments, "Personally, I would love to work on another Metroid game," continuing, "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." With Armature out and Retro Studios on hiatus, who's left to take up the Metroid mantle?
While Metroid is no longer an option for the guys at Armature, working with EA opens up a lot of doors not previously available to them -- specifically, non-Nintendo platforms. Mark Pacini gushed about the possibilities:
"From my stand point, I've never worked on any other console. 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. 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."
إذاً شباب ريترو السابقين الي تركوا الاستوديو من مدة كونوا الان استوديو خاص بهم باسم Armature و EA شايفة شغلها معاهم :razz:: ..
رترو كلهم مبدعين, و الثلاثة هدول من اهمهم, جداً متحمس اشوف ابداعهم و قوتهم على الأجهزة الأخرى, صراحة ما في شك ان الوي كان جداً محدود بالنسبة لهم سواء في الاونلاين او في القوة التقنية, اما الأن فانا جداً متحمس حتى اشوف في المستقبل ايش راح يطلع معاهم!! و برافو EA!