Former Metroid Prime devs found Armature Studio, partner with EA

by Christopher Grant { Sep 16th 2008 at 12:56PM }

If you'll recall, three of Retro Studios' key developers – Mark Pacini, Todd Keller, and Jack Matthews – left the Nintendo-owned studio, famous for the Metroid Prime series, last April. Now the trio has announced the formation of an entirely new entity: Armature Studio. Armature isn't your run-of-the-mill developer though – a "core creative team" will be tasked with creating new intellectual properties and then partner with an external development team to implement the design. It's an outsourcing model (think Wideload) that allows smaller creative teams the ability to develop AAA titles.

But while the model is great, it's not very valuable without a publishing partner to help get those games out there. Cue: "a long term, exclusive publishing deal with EA" – presumably the secretive EA Blueprint, since that imprint's Louis Castle is serving as executive producer for the Armature titles. For the guys at Armature, they're just excited to "rethink how games are developed for this generation of consoles." Yup, "consoles" – no longer limited to Nintendo hardware, Pacini says, "What really gets me going is that now, no platform is off limits." Xbox 360? PS3? Gizmondo?

Tags: Armature-Studio, BreakingNews, EA, EA-Blueprint, Jack-Mathews, Mark-Pacini, Metroid-Prime, Todd-Keller

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neil @ Sep 16th 2008 1:01PM

I just hope if they make another First Person perspective game they hobble it with wonky controls like Metroid Prime. The controls in the Prime games seemed so convoluted compared to your typical console First Person game. (to me at least)

Christopher Grant @ Sep 16th 2008 1:07PM

If by "convoluted" you mean "perfectly suited to the application" then I totally agree with you. Armature: Make more controls like that!

Neil @ Sep 16th 2008 1:12PM

lol...ah no I can't honestly say that's what I meant. :P

Huey2k2 @ Sep 16th 2008 1:23PM

As much as I do enjoy all the MP games, I have to say, their controls are rather convoluted compared to a normal FPS.

I guess that's why they call it a first person "adventure" game instead of a shooter. Even though MP3 basically was just a shooter.

Mr Khan @ Sep 16th 2008 1:24PM

Except for jumping (which took me forever to get right, but that's more of a physics thing), Metroid Prime's scheme made far more sense than dual-analogues ever did

At least to me. Part of what made Metroid Prime the greatest game of all time. Atmosphere, controls, depth of lore, memorable enemies, etc.

Name something better?

samfish @ Sep 16th 2008 1:51PM

Silly Mr Kahn! You know the best game of all time is God Hand!

Fernando Rocker @ Sep 16th 2008 1:58PM

Metroid Prime is still my favorite game ever. Great graphics, the level of detail is insane, the gameplay and music is great. Not for nothing is the best rated game of all last gen and the number 5 in the all time rankings.

And the controls are perfectly suited fot the game. Is basically an exploration game in a first person view.

And they nailed the controls in Metroid Prime 3. Best controls for a first person game. IR Pointer + analog is the closest to a keyboard and mouse, and way better than double analogs.

Thanatos @ Sep 16th 2008 2:08PM

"The controls in the Prime games seemed so convoluted compared to your typical console First Person game."
So you saying Prime != Halo therefore Prime = crap? To each his own i guess.

I cant stand to play FPS with anything but a mouse and a keyboard but Prime's controls were great, and Corruptions controls were amazing, closest thing to a mouse and kb ive ever played.

AwesomeTown @ Sep 16th 2008 2:44PM

Convoluted? First off, I don't like big words. Second, IR pointer and gestures make the controls less convoluted, IMO at least.

Also, Metroid Prime is one of my favorite games. Hoping good things come out of Armature.

Covarr @ Sep 16th 2008 3:22PM

I agree about Prime's controls. While MP3 was brilliant, the first two were seriously lacking. Holding a button to strafe is bad, especially when that button also handles lock on. Strafing and turning at the same time was out of the question unless you were locked on to something, which can seriously impede gameplay, and makes it unnecessarily difficult to safely turn corners without either wasting time or losing precision (by not holding either shoulder button).

The reason most console shooters imitate Halo's controls is because those controls WORK. The scheme makes it easy and natural to maneuver in ways that the Prime series' SNES DOOM style controls could never even hope for.

Though I still think Mouse+Keyboard or Wii (when done right like MP3 or RE4:Wii Edition, not bullshit like Red Steel) is tied for very best.

Neil @ Sep 16th 2008 3:45PM

Its really funny how people are acting like no one else but them has a right to an opinion.

Raikage (Mr. ESC? Mr. ESC? MR. ESSSSSSCCCCCC!) @ Sep 16th 2008 5:24PM

Sorry to tell you this Neil, but opinions are immunity to being told you're wrong.

Neil @ Sep 16th 2008 6:02PM

Well I don't know if I'm wrong or not, its just how I feel, the game itself is good for sure, but I found the controls wonky.

j.howlett @ Sep 16th 2008 6:29PM

the IR pointer for wii can be great and a big pain. sometimes i'm playing and the pointer gets lost if i readjust in my seat.

Colin @ Sep 16th 2008 1:13PM

Armature studio is a totally sweet name for a game company. I look forward to their projects!

Shagittarius @ Sep 16th 2008 1:27PM

Amateur Studios FTW. I think I have some of their videos.

bVork @ Sep 16th 2008 1:54PM

Yeah, that outsourcing model sure worked well for Wideload when they made Hail to the Chimp.

I guess Armature's success will depend on how they approach their business. You generally get what you pay for when you outsource to Tose or random contractors in Korea or Eastern Europe. The talented people can't be hired for cheap.

I still think there's something incredibly cynical about outsourcing work on what is supposed to be a creative enterprise. The whole concept of approaching games development as if you were making a business software application as opposed to a work of art just rubs me the wrong way.

Mr Khan @ Sep 16th 2008 2:18PM

You outsource, often, to avoid having to get into big business problems. Since dev teams for any high-quality project nowadays need to be rather big, you need to work out some sort of business model, which generally means whoring yourself out to some big publisher

But "shadow companies" like Tose really don't have much of an impact on the creative arm of it all

bVork @ Sep 16th 2008 2:30PM

@Mr Khan

I do know about the costs of game development in this day and age. It's always a balancing act between creative freedom and corporate business.

"But "shadow companies" like Tose really don't have much of an impact on the creative arm of it all"

I disagree with this. I think that all aspects of game development are inherently creative in nature. I believe that outside contractors including companies like Tose are less invested in a game and thus less inclined to produce high quality work. The almighty dollar works both ways: just as developers attempt to outsource work to save money, contractors are inclined to just do the minimum work in order to get paid.