Bionic Commando developer GRIN reveals to Next-Gen the opening of a new studio, and the amount of creative influence that Capcom Japan will have on GRIN’s highly-anticipated grappler.
In the US, GRIN, developer of the PC versions of the Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter games, isn’t the most well-known studio. But with 190 people across four locations and a decade under its belt, the Sweden-based game maker is a formidable industry player.
GRIN revealed to Next-Gen earlier this week that it is expanding further with the opening of a Gothenburg, Sweden studio. According to GRIN CEO and co-founder Bo Andersson, about 20 people are lined up to begin work in Gothenburg, and the self-sufficient studio is expected to grow to about 50 staff in total. Doors will open on January 7.
“The new studio is working on a very, very big Hollywood sci-fi brand” for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, hints Andersson. “It’s a real triple-A thing.”
The founding of the Gothenburg studio comes just after GRIN established a beachfront Barcelona studio earlier this year. “Sometimes staff there have this problem of getting sand between their toes during lunch breaks,” a rep from GRIN joked.
With a QA office in Jakarta, Japan and headquarters in Stockholm, perhaps a Stateside presence would be the next step for GRIN.
“One country at a time,” Andersson laughs. “But we have been looking at the US, not only because there’s a lot of talent there, but because of the exchange rate. It starts to become quite beneficial to actually be in the US rather than Europe, which is quite interesting. We already have a collaboration with a partner in Canada, so that’s not too far away.”
Bionic Commando
GRIN’s catalog of games includes the aforementioned GRAW games for PC, as well as the 2003 car combat game Bandits: Phoenix Rising and the 2001 racer Ballistics. But it’s GRIN’s current project, the re-imagining of the classic game Bionic Commando, that has gamers’ attention.
"We step up to the challenge of Bionic Commando with both fear and respect.”“It was the chief of R&D over at Capcom Japan who actually approached us with the opportunity,” Andersson explains. “It was a very direct contact, and very exciting because we didn’t see it coming. They basically called us up and said, ‘look, we have something we want to talk to you guys about, so can we come over?’”
After Capcom gave a presentation of the brand at GRIN’s office, the studio decided then and there that Bionic Commando was a good fit. The developer’s Stockholm location is currently developing the game.
“I think they were just looking at our attention to detail in regards to not only our technology, but our gameplay,” Andersson says.
With such a revered franchise with a big fanbase, he admits that there is a bit of extra pressure to execute flawlessly.
“It’s excellent. I love to work with big fanbases,” Andersson laughs. “It’s a great challenge. We stepped into the Ghost Recon brand on the PC side, where we had to deal with those crazed fans. So we’re kind of used to that pressure.”
But he acknowledges, “The pressure is larger when you deal with such a renowned publisher as Capcom. Still, we love stepping up to the challenge with both fear and respect.”
After searching through the net and contacting publishers about updated release dates and cancellations i have come accross some detailed information which im sure all 360-HQ members will be interested in..
List of Cancelled Cross-platform Games
These cross-platform cancellations are probably the result of growing competition in the GTA-clone genre. GTA IV, The Godfather, and Saint's Row have a large amount of buzz and are probably scaring off less ambitious projects.
This GTA style action game begins with Al Pacino's character surviving the gunfight at the end of the movie, allowing the player to rebuild his cocaine empire. Development is nearing completion on the PS2, Xbox, and PC. The 360/PS3 versions have been cancelled although a PSP version has been added.
Based off of the popular mob drama on HBO, this action game was planned for release on PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360. THQ has cancelled the PS3 version due to lack of dev kits and cancelled the 360 version because it "didn't look all that much better than the PS2 version."
This 360 exclusive features Hitman style assassinations in a futuristic city. Unfortunately because of numerous delays and an unimpressive media response Namco has decided to cancel the project.
Always stay tuned to our Xbox 360 Games area for the most complete info on each specific title.. Our website will associate any forums topics, downloads, media (screenshots and videos), and other areas of the site with the title you are looking at.
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