News
2 CommentsCapcom reports fiscal 2012 results, reiterates focus on streamlining business and cutting costs
By Samit Sarkar on May 08, 2013 05.08.13
Capcom reported financial results for its 2012 fiscal year today, posting a significant drop in net income due to restructuring costs as the company shifts focus for a future in which it expects development costs to rise on next-generation consoles. The Japanese publisher's 2012 fiscal year ran from April 1, 2012, through March 31, 2013. Capcom tallied net sales of 94.08 billion yen ($953.2 million) for the full year, a 14.6 percent jump from the 82.07 billion yen ($831.3 million) it recorded in the 2011 fiscal year. But net income dropped by 55.8 percent from 6.72 billion yen ($68.1 million) in fiscal 2011 to 2.97 billion yen ($30.1 million) this past year. The major drop in Capcom's net income resulted largely from a "special loss" of 6.95 billion yen ($70.4 million) associated...
News
4 CommentsDragon's Dogma title update corrupting saves, Capcom counsels user backups
By Dave Tach on Apr 30, 2013 04.30.13
A recent patch to Dragon's Dogma, Capcom's fantasy themed role-playing game, is corrupting save files, and Capcom urged players to back up their data in a post on Capcom-Unity today. The corruption stems from a recent title update and affects both Dragon's Dogma and the recently released Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen expansion. "To prevent the possibility of permanent loss of your data," Capcom's community liaison GregaMan wrote, "please copy your existing save data (whether it be [Dragon's Dogma] or [Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen) to an external storage device or cloud whenever possible — especially if you are picking up the game for the first time in awhile or switching over to Dark Arisen for the first time." GregaMan also suggests playing the game offline as the company...
Review
91 CommentsDragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen review: beggar's bargain
By Philip Kollar on Apr 23, 2013 04.23.13
Most of Dark Arisen's "new" foes are stronger reskins of encounters from the original game Dark Arisen takes place on Bitterblack Isle, an area latched onto the mainland of Dragon's Dogma by way of Olra, a mysterious new character who ferries you to the zone and provides (very minimal) plot motivation. Unlike the sometimes too-vast open world of Gransys, Bitterblack Isle is a single, linear, self-contained dungeon. You start at the top and have to hack your way to the bottom level. The best part of Dragon's Dogma was the post-game dungeon. It cut out all the tedious overworld travel and focused on a long series of the battles against massive enemies that made the game unique in the first place. Based on that, a new series of descending catacombs sounds like a great idea....
News
1 CommentJapan Review Check: Game & Wario, Dragon's Dogma, Tomb Raider
By Kevin Gifford on Apr 17, 2013 04.17.13
A quick look at the highlights among the games coming out in Japan this coming week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine: Game & Wario (8/8/7/8, 31 out of 40 points): This Wii U minigame complication came out on March 28, but — as with a lot of WiiU titles — Famitsu didn't publish their review until pretty well after the game hit stores. One wonders if that has anything to do with the general disappointment that seeps through most of the reviewers' text blurbs. "Only four out of the 16 games included are multiplayer," wrote editor Atsuhiro Fujiwara, "which may not feel like enough for some people. However, each game gets harder and offers up new gimmicks the more you get into them, so it's all pretty enjoyably. The game where you have to draw pictures based on topics...
News
22 CommentsWhy Western-style RPG Dragon's Dogma wound up being such a big hit in Japan
By Kevin Gifford on Apr 10, 2013 04.10.13
Dragon's Dogma, released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last May worldwide, was a semi-orthodox role-playing game with very unorthodox origins. Produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi and his internal team at Capcom, the game was portrayed to Western gamers as a Japanese Skyrim, an attempt by a Japanese developer to create a serious Western RPG that can compete with the big boys. So why did it wind up selling half a million copies in Japan and, well, not quite so much anywhere else? "When we launched this project, we had a mountain of issues we needed to tackle," Kobayashi told Famitsu magazine in a postmortem published in this week's issue. "One, will we really finish this title and all the new things we're trying to do with it? Two, what do we have to do to attract the attention of...
News
8 CommentsDragon's Dogma was originally twice its current size
By Megan Farokhmanesh on Mar 28, 2013 03.28.13
Dragon's Dogma in its original form was twice as large as the game that finally shipped, Director Hideaki Itsuno said during a GDC panel. Itsuno spoke via translator at "Behind the Scenes of Dragon's Dogma: A Look at the Development of Capcom's Open-World Action Role-Playing Game," panel, a talk that explored the game's development and early conception. According to Itsuno, the game the team mapped out would have been impossible to create. "There was no way to create this game within the budget," Itsuno said. Dragon's Dogma was further pared down to about 30 percent more than its current state, before final revisions were made. Itsuno also elaborated on early experiments during development, including with the game's character editor. The team needed a practical solution to use the...
News
6 CommentsCapcom announcing two new games during PAX East panel
By Brian Crecente on Feb 28, 2013 02.28.13
Capcom will be making announcements for two new games during their World of Capcom panel on the Friday of PAX East in Boston. The panel, which kicks off at noon on the first day of the show, will be moderated by Francis Mao and feature a panel of not-yet-named Capcom producers and product managers. The panel is set to discuss the latest details on "all of the upcoming Capcom games" including the recently dated Remember Me, Lost Planet 3, Resident Evil: Revelations, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen and those two new games, according to the company. Capcom will also have a number of games on the show floor including Darkstalkers Resurrection, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, Remember Me and Lost Planet 3. PAX East runs from March 22 through March 24 and Polygon will be on hand covering all of...
News
0 CommentsCapcom reports strong third quarter thanks to Resident Evil 6, Dragon's Dogma and Monster Hunter 3 G HD
By Tracey Lien on Feb 04, 2013 02.04.13
Capcom credited Resident 6, Dragon's Dogma and Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) HD for its significant increase in profits in the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 in its latest earnings report. The company's net sales for the nine month period was 72.6 billion yen, up 44.6 percent from the same time last year. Its operating income rose to 9.8 billion yen, up 45.9 percent from the same time last year. Its ordinary income was 10 billion yen, up 72.6 percent, and its net income for the current period was 6.6 billion yen, up 104.9 percent from last year. Capcom said in a statement that much of the success could be attributed to flagship titles like Resident Evil 6, which surpassed 4.8 million units, Dragon's Dogma and Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) G HD for Wii U, which "enjoyed...
News
11 CommentsDragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen coming to Japan on April 25
By Emily Gera on Jan 17, 2013 01.17.13
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, the upcoming DLC expansion of the brutally difficult game, is slated to hit Japan on April 25, according to a recent Famitsu livestream broadcast. The Japanese release of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 is priced at 4,990 yen, or roughly $56 USD. Dark Arisen was first announced by Capcom during last year's Tokyo Game Show. The upcoming release features new monsters, including the Great Goblin, Goblin Shaman and Death. Also featured are new weapons, customization options and a dungeon set in Bitterblack Isle. For Japanese users, the game includes Japanese voice-overs — something not made available in the previous game. We have contacted Capcom regarding the North American release date of the game and will update when more...
Editorial
26 CommentsPolygon 2012 Games of the Year #9: Dragon's Dogma
By Justin McElroy on Jan 09, 2013 01.09.13
Dragon’s Dogma has faith that you’ll wander for miles trying to unearth its secrets. It honestly believes that you’ll journey to a remote tip of an island to fight a wounded griffin and then make a return trek when the story leads you there. It’s bizarrely certain you’ll be willing to play beyond a false ending to find the best hours of the game and the weirdest ending of the year (Frog Fractions notwithstanding). I doubt that faith was well-founded for every Dragon’s Dogma player, but it certainly was with me. I, the guy who gets grumpy when he doesn’t have a mini-game to entertain him through a loading screen, found myself absorbed in a vast open world where “fast travel” is so cumbersome and expensive it scarcely deserves the name. At some point, I had decided...
