Okami confirmed for Wii

[wideawakewesley]

I've never played Okami, but apparently it's a perfect fit for the Wii...

Capcom has finally confirmed persistent rumours that Okami is coming to Nintendo Wii, telling a London audience this week that the game will arrive on our screens in spring 2008.

Celebrated on PS2 for its absorbing puzzle and action adventure mechanics, gripping narrative inspired by Japanese folklore and beautiful watercolour visuals, its rebirth on Wii has been much hyped.

The game also lends itself rather well to the potential of Nintendo's Wiimote for control. Amaterasu's Celestial Brush - a paintbrush used in combat and for solving puzzles - is a perfect fit for the Wiimote, and so it proves, while combat will also include various "motion-controlled physical attacks".

On the whole though, it's the game that Kristan loved so much it got top marks, calling it "a game so engrossing, so crafted and so life-affirming that nothing else in the world seems to matter". In sentence number two

[nlatimer]

Thank you Amaterasu, origin of all that is good and mother to us all.

[guagloves]

sweet. hope this turns out well.

[jasonpoon]

Capcom once again recycle old game and port to Wii...I want more original title...

Anyway, Okami is a great game and using the analog stick to control the paintbrush is not as difficult as you think. Of course it sounds great to use the Wiimote for painting. But "combat will also include various motion-controlled physical attacks"...I think it's kind of the motion-controlled attack in Zelda...please...a simple "A" button can make it lot more easier...

[wideawakewesley]

Here's the latest...

IGN: Has Clover Studios or any of the original Okami team been involved in the conversion? If so, in what capacity?

Didier Malenfant: No, everything was done in-house at Ready At Dawn Studios. We had to make sure we'd be able to do this because with the distance and the time difference with Japan it would have made things a lot more difficult for us to wait on info when we had questions. So in a way, it made things harder in the beginning but the guys we have here are some of the most talented people in the industry and we pulled it off without a problem.

IGN: What has been the biggest challenge when converting the game for Wii?

Didier Malenfant: The biggest challenge for us is that, because of time constraints, we did not use the Ready At Dawn Engine to port the game. Instead we ported Clover's code and assets directly. In these cases it's always tough to work with code that you're not familiar with, especially with Japanese comments. But after a little while, we knew our way around it like it was our own stuff so it's not causing that much problems now. Of course, converting all the assets and making sure they're optimized for the Wii is also very time consuming. It's just all worth it when you see the game come up on the Wii screen for the first time.

IGN: How have the graphics been enhanced?

Didier Malenfant: Okami is a total passion-project for both Ready At Dawn and Capcom. When we first discussed it with them, two things were very clear right off the bat: Firstly, taking after a studio like Clover is some pretty big shoes to fill, something everyone here is very comfortable with given our past projects. Second, this game is such a masterpiece in its own right that we had to do everything we can to reproduce the experience that players had on the PS2 as closely as possible. To this day the graphics of Okami are some of the most awe-inspiring ever seen in a video-game and I know it sounds cliche but you don't want to fix something that's not broken.

IGN: How do the Wii controls work with the game's painting system? Will there be enhanced functionality?

Didier Malenfant: That's going to be the best part. Okami was made to be played on the Wii. Or maybe the Wii was designed with Okami in mind... I'm not sure. Either way, it's a perfect combination, we use the Wii-mote to control the brush strokes and it feels absolutely awesome. I think people will be shocked when they try it for themselves.

What new content appears in the game, compared to the PS2 version?

Didier Malenfant: The game on Wii is going to be an exact port of the PS2 version and I think that's what fans of the franchise want to see. This game has such a huge following throughout the world that people would probably send us death-threats if we messed it up by trying to add things that don't have their place in the Okami universe. Being huge fans of the franchise ourselves, we made sure that Capcom also wanted to stay true to the original before signing on to do this.

Will the Wii version offer anything to those who have completed the original?

Didier Malenfant: Everyone we talk to is saying that they're going to replay this even if they finished the original. The Wii controls are perfect for this game and it makes the game play come to life in so many ways. There are also people who never finished or played the PS2 version and this will be their opportunity to experience Okami the way it was meant to be. This game is a huge milestone in our industry and we're going to give a lot more people a chance to see it for themselves when it comes out on the Wii.

[nlatimer]

Capcom once again recycle old game and port to Wii...I want more original title...

Anyway, Okami is a great game

I think you're being just a little closed minded (Not exactly what I wanted to say, I just can't think of better words that don't sound insulting. Sorry). While original titles using the Wii innovatively would be great, Okami was a game that was made for the Wii before the Wii even came out. My girlfriend already owns Okami, and I can play it whenever I want on the PS2, but now I want it for the Wii.

You can still insult them for recycling RE4 to the Wii, I don't know if its good or not, but I'll allow it.

[wideawakewesley]

Actually Resident Evil 4 is greatly enhanced on the Wii, aiming to shoot with the wiimote is far more natural that using an analog stick.

[wideawakewesley]

More Okami info...

We selected Ready at Dawn to do the port. These guys are all ex-Naughty Dog and ex-Blizzard, and they have already shipped their own titles that have rediculously high review scores and sales (and have more on the way). Their attention to detail and technical prowess is among the best of any team I've ever worked with.
If we wanted a cheap and dirty port, I could have turned around and picked any one of 50 houses and gotten it done for less and perhaps more quickly. Clearly, that wasn't the approach we sought for a variety of reasons (for the fans, for the reputation of our company, for the potential of the product, etc.).

Lastly, if this were a quick cash in, let's face it, there's TONS of other products that had higher sales on other platforms we could have chosen to port, quickly and cheaply. Okami, as great as it was, wasn't a huge seller on PS2 such that it's quick and dirty port would be assured "sales success" on a new platform. We picked a huge game (read: expensive, especially on testing costs), with a ton of moving parts.

So, on the contrary, we have a lot to prove with this game and I know we, and RAD are up to the task. I apologize if I bristle at the accusation that this is a cheap port, but I do.

Given that the only port we've done to date was RE4, which has a 90+ gamerankings score and provided AMAZING value for the platform, has this really been Capcom's modus operendi such that this allegation should be leveled at us? Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you'll see this year on Wii, except possibly Galaxy. Shovelware is not what we do.

As I've said in prior interviews, we're getting the game up and running first. The game is enormous. If after we have everying working correctly, cleanly and as desired so as not to "break" the amazing experience that is Okami, we will worry about potential enhancements. As we are NOT at that point in the process yet, we are loathe to even mention any potential changes or enhancements for fear of disappointing the fans/media.

So for now, if you MUST assume the worst, assume that you will have an amazing 40-60 hour adventure that is one of gaming's most impressive pieces of art to play in fantastic new ways. If you want to hope for the best, well, perhaps we'll have more to say in a few months, but for now we're going to have to ask for your patience.

[wizmaster]

I'm going to get Zack and Wiki first but the cult around this game is making me interested in it (although I would hope that if they made a sequel it would be on the Wii. A sequel on the 360/PS3 would reek of Ubi).

Zack and Wiki, Okami, Eternity's Child, etc. Seriously, there's not much to hate about the Wii (although NWC is still fair game for trollers).

[whitetigress357]

I personally love Okami and am excited for this. I may actually let my boyfriend get a Wii now for it. (The reason that I wouldn't want him to get it is that A.) he just got a 360 not more than a month ago and B.) you can't find a Wii anywhere anyways)

[wideawakewesley]

How Okami ended up on the Wii...

http://blog.capcom.com/archives/565

[gojira]

So I finally finished this game at about the 40 hour mark. It's a very beautiful game. The art style is fantastic. I would love too see more games doing something similar to this in the future. This would be perfect for comic book games. Sure they've used cel shading before, but the heavy lines and paper-ness would really make it seem like you're playing a comic book.

The controls take some getting used to, but by the end I was a uber pro. Slicing, attacking, everything, no problems. I'm thinking that since it's a port there wasn't room to really go into describing to the player the wii specific controls. The game actually tells you incorrect instruction on how to use a certain weapon! The controls in this game would get a lot less criticizing if they were just explained correctly. I was very frustrated early in the game until I figured out the best way to pull off moves. That sounds like more work than it's worth. But once you do get down the controls, the game is lighting fast and plays so well. But the platforming in this game can be pretty bad at certain points. It's very minimal, but it was annoying at times.

Lastly there is some repetition in the bosses that felt unnecessary. And certain parts seemed like they didn't have time to fully develop. Mainly there was just narration instead of cutscenes in some parts. Those are just gripes take take only a little from the score, it's still a great game overall. 9.5/10

[bobafettjm]

I bought it for the Wii a couple weeks ago, but I still have yet to take the wrapping off of it.

[ryudo]

I have it on Wii and it is one of the greatest games I have bought in years. I had a choice between Mario Kart and Okami...so glad I chose Okami.
Played all the MK games before and yeah they are great but it will always be there..Okami is much less likely to be on the shelf as long and it offers something deeper and very different,love this game.:D