Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section contains information about an unreleased computer or video game. It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available. |
 |
| Lost Planet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Designer(s) | Keiji Inafune |
| Release date(s) |  December 22 2006 January 12 2007 January 12 2007 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Xbox Live |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition is an upcoming video game created by Capcom exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox 360. It is being produced by Keiji Inafune, the creator of the Onimusha and Mega Man series. The game will utilize both mech piloting and on-foot exploration, and will feature the likeness of Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun. Lost Planet is expected to be released on January 12th 2007 in PAL regions and North America. Lost Planet: Trag Zero, a prequel which focuses on Gale, Wayne's father, is also expected to be released on cell phones. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Story
The game's plot focuses on the amnesiac character Wayne searching for the Green Eye, an artifact that is somehow tied to human existence on the title planet. The planet is perpetually cold and snowy, and thermal energy (called T-ENG in the game) constantly and rapidly decreases, although more can be gathered from slain enemies and remnants of explosions.
[edit] Gameplay
Most of the game revolves around combat. Wayne can use a variety of weapons, like machine guns, shotguns, and rocket launchers. In addition to hand-held weapons, Wayne can pilot an assortment of robot suits (mechs), called Vital Suits (VSs). Weaponry is used to combat the planet's native species, The Akrid. The Akrid are a hostile, bug-like species, which come in many forms. They can range from smaller than a person to several times larger than a mech. Wayne also fights groups of enemy human soldiers, called Snow Pirates. The Snow Pirates use the same kinds of handheld weapons and VSs that Wayne does. There are multiple Vital Suits available for use. Also, when on foot, Wayne has the ability to remove heavy weaponry from these vital suits for upgraded firepower. For battlefield mobility, some of these vital suits can "Transform" into a faster, more agile form. For instance, one light-weight vital suit can transform into a Snowmobile-type transport with a chain-gun attached to it. As for weapons, there are some of the typical science fiction weapons such as lasers and slow-moving plasma bolt guns. The main weapon in the game is the previously mentioned machine gun and it's quite effective at both medium and short ranges. Wayne can carry a maximum of two weapons at once. He, and multiplayer characters, are capable of using grappling-hook type tool to gain vantage points. In the latest demo from X-Box magazine, a sniper rifle has been added.
In both the single-player and multiplayer demos, there is a "T-Eng" (Thermal Energy) meter below the character's health. This counter goes down continually in the cold, and can refilled by collecting pools of glowing orange "heat" that drop from dead enemies or other heat sources, such as an explosive barrel. The T-Eng is used to refill Wayne's health in the single-player demo, and is used to power energy weapons such as plasma rifles and removeable mech energy weapons.
[edit] Xbox Live support
The game will have multiplayer support on Xbox Live and Capcom is aiming for 32 players online. Cooperative play and competitive play have been confirmed - with a new video released during X'06 demonstrating the multiplayer component in more detail.
A demo was released on November 23, 2006, and includes the 'Snow Pirates' level along with support for 16 players.
[edit] Display concerns
After the multiplayer demo was released in November, concerns were raised over the visibility of the text. In a problem similar to Dead Rising (also produced by Capcom), the text was almost illegible unless a HD-TV was used. Capcom heeded the complaints, and released the following statement :
"Hi there,
Capcom is listening and taking our community to heart. We appreciate all the great feedback we have received from our fans regarding the Lost Planet demos, especially the recently released multiplayer demo.
We have noticed the recent concern about the text size in Lost Planet for SDTV users, in particular the "Elimination" mode of the multiplayer game where players' scores are displayed on the top left of the screen. We want to assure gamers that we have already implemented a solution for text display in Elimination, which will be reflected in the final game (although it's unfortunately not in the demo).
Lost Planet will automatically detect if you are playing on an SDTV and change the score display settings for this mode automatically. For the benefit of both you and your readers, we've included before and after shots of the text adjustment. In screenshot "LP - SD BEFORE", you see how the text would have appeared before we implemented the change. In screen "LP - SD FINAL", you can clearly see how the rankings text has been greatly enhanced, making it much easier for players to quickly determine scores and standing during a match.
We would also like to remind you that demos on Xbox Live Marketplace do not completely reflect the final product, as they are still early works in progress.
Additionally, steps have been taken within the single player game to make objectives more easily understood. New objectives are delivered to the player as both voice over and text. Once a new objective has been given, players can pause the game at any time to consult the in-game PDA.
Please share this with your readers as we want to make sure people know that they will have a great experience with the game." Whether or not future Capcom games will have the same problem in production remains to be seen. [original research?]
[edit] Confirmed as an Xbox 360 exclusive game
At the Game Convention at Leipzig, Germany, which took place from August 21-23 of 2006, one of the Lost Planet producers, Jun Takeuchi, remarked hypothetically to 1up.com that for Capcom as a business company, the potential porting of Lost Planet from the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3 was "in the future it's something we might have to do." However, Mr. Takeuchi also said that he will personally "try to keep it as a 360 exclusive."
1up made speculative comments that lower than expected Xbox 360 sales in Japan may lead Capcom to port the game to the PS3. [2] However, the Japanese sales based speculative comments of 1up actually indicate that Lost Planet is likely to remain exclusive to the Xbox 360, because on August 24, 2006, Mitsubishi JFC Securities officially announced that they were reducing the worldwide sales expectations of the Playstation 3 by 50%, to only 3 Million systems sold worldwide by March of 2007. [3]
While talking with 1up, the games producer, Jun Takeuchi, went on to say that as a business organization Capcom, "is trying to appeal to the worldwide audience," and he said "Capcom has a hope that more Japanese publishers realize that there are more markets outside of Japan." [4] Microsoft has already achieved all of its sales goals from the previous year, and the current goal is to sell 10 million Xbox 360 systems worldwide by the end of 2006, and 15 million systems worldwide by June of 2007. [5]
Stronger than expected worldwide sales of new intellectual property Xbox 360 games like Dead Rising and Xbox Live downloads for Lost Planet are the reasons why Jun Takeuchi made it clear that Capcom is doing everything they can to make sure Lost Planet will remain exclusive to the Xbox 360, just like Dead Rising. [6]
On August 31, 2006, the Producer of Capcom's Lost Planet videogame, Jun Takeuchi, made it clear that two Xbox 360 games-- Lost Planet, and Dead Rising--are both developed exclusively for the Xbox 360, with no plans to port the games to other systems. [7] Jun Takeuchi makes it clear while being interviewed that Lost Planet is being created by Capcom for a worldwide audience on the Xbox 360, and it is optimized to take advantage of the Xbox 360 hardware. Due to this fact, Capcom has no plans to port these Xbox 360 exclusive games to other hardware, because Jun Takeuchi makes it clear that this would result in a diluted product on the system it was ported to. [8] In the interview, we learn that free Xbox Live game demonstrations of Lost Planet have been downloaded by over 550,001 Xbox 360 users, which indicates that Lost Planet will be a hugely successful Xbox 360 game from the moment it is released. [9]
