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Yesterday we had a talk with Ben Herman. Couldn’t really get through an E3 without accosting SNK. A few interesting bits of info came out of our conversation. First and foremost, the KOF: Maximum Impact team is Noise Factory. That would explain the not-horribleness of it. They’re also the team behind Metal Slug Advance, which is a pretty good excuse for why the game is so incomplete at the show. Basically, Ben said that the project got put on hold for a bit in light of more pressing matters, namely KOF.
Then we addressed the rumor that Sony had forced the company into making pack-ins for their 2D titles. Ben reminded us that pack-ins were indeed his plan all along (as he said in the last interview), but acknowledged that Sony was definitely more receptive to the pack-in idea than the single package. SvC Chaos and Metal Slug 3 stand alone discs were not approved, for instance. But he was quick to defend Sony, saying that their standards are very high. According to Ben they’re not just about “2D=bad”, they’re also very concerned about games bringing a ‘new experience’ to the system. One wonders how the droves of generic 3D action slashers make it on there, but that’s a different story.
But Ben says he was able to convince them that content and gameplay can be defining factors in a game’s success. A good way to go, I think. The Atomiswave announcement also helped to strengthen Sony’s confidence in SNK, because of the new arcade market, and because of Sammy’s connection with Sega.
As a side note, Ben says he thinks that we will start seeing the Sega name in conjunction with a lot more Sammy titles in the future. He also mentioned that while the Atomiswave is a great platform, there is a lot of room to beef them up when porting to consoles (sighting Guilty Gear Isuka as an example, graphically and content-wise).
Of course – the fact that SNK made a PS2 exclusive title didn’t hurt either.
So will there ever be Xbox exclusive games? Not at the moment. The Xbox exclusives in the US market (the aforementioned SvC Chaos and Metal Slug 3) only came about because of Sony’s rejection. And those Xbox classic game packs he was talking about last year – not happening any time soon. He still wants to do it, but wants to tackle the budget market with them. The idea may resurface in a year or two.
Looking towards the new consoles, Ben likes both the DS and the PSP – but doesn’t see a way to implement anything useful on the DS just yet. He sees more potential for SNK games on the PSP, but can’t announce anything in particular. So for now, they’ll be focused on the GBA for the handheld arena. Oh, and I got one fanboy question in here – no Card Fighters Clash planned at the moment. Damn.
Speaking of new hardware, I can finally put that Atomiswave rumor to rest. Ben says NO. There will be no Atomiswave homecart system, no Super Dreamcast. He asked this question to Sammy president Hajime Satomi himself. Satomi said that there were no plans. They didn’t want to undertake such a venture, and didn’t see it as financially feasible. They don’t want to make the investment.
But as Ben says – it was a nice rumor.
On the rumor front, there will apparently be a ‘big announcement’ from SNK Playmore in japan this TGS. Please anticipate.
So for now, SNK USA is going to roll out a pretty extensive line of products. And there will be gifts!! With the 2002/2003 pairing they’ll be giving out the full set of KOF character cards from ’99 to ’03, and there will be an ‘undetermined-but-interesting’ pack-in with the Samurai Shodown comp as well.
Looks like SNK is doing alright. He says that sales have been good on the 2000/2001 pack, and with better Sony and Microsoft support, it can only get better.
brandon sheffield: minimum impact
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