Lets speculate about Resident Evil Portable. What happened to it?

[xfactor]

I guess that perhaps we can come together and discuss this mysterious title that was suppose to be released on the PSP.

we haven't received any update at all concerning RE Portable. In this topic, I will offer my speculations as to the current status of the game.

First of all, the game was only mentioned twice by Sony and Capcom. The first is when it got announced more than a year ago, at E3 2009. The second was by Chris Kramez on Capcom-Unity. From both of them, we can gather some facts:
- The game will be released in the year 2010
- It will be an original new game, not a port
- Designed specifically for the PSP platform, with the PSP Go in mind
- Capcom is working very closely with Sony on the title
- a very early game design document did exist for the title

Since then, we heard nothing. Chris Kramer have left Capcom-Unity. TGS 2009 and E3 2010 passed by. No game journalists have bothered to ask Capcom and Sony. No answer was given although people has been asking about it on the forum of Capcom-Unity.

-Trace back to E3 2009 again, we know that the title was announced as part of the lineup, in an attempt by Sony to improve PSP's position in the US.
-no Japanese announcement for the title was made at all.
-Chris Kramez managed to sneak a look at a very early game design document for this title. It will be pretty hard for him to do so unless he took a walk around Capcom Japan during that period. A more realistic scenario will be that the game design document was in Capcom USA building itself where Chris Kramez will have easier access to compared to Capcom Japan, in pure English, and created by a development team in Capcom USA.

These 3 seems to tell me that Resident Evil Portable is a project handled by Capcom USA.

So did Capcom shifted the platform of Resident Evil Portable to the 3DS, and renamed it to RE Revelations? My answer is no. As stated previously, I believe that Resident Evil Portable is handled by Capcom USA, not Capcom Japan (I can be wrong here of cause). Secondly, MT Framework was used to create RE Revelations. As far as I know, MT Framework wasn't build to be used for the PSP.

Did the game got cancelled? We have 5 months before 2010 ends. Capcom haven't stand forward and reassure us that it is still in development. I have no idea what happened to it too, but my feeling tells me that Capcom have canned it for now, since the PSP Go has failed. Of cause, there's always a chance that the game might still be in development and get released after the promised 2010, but personally I am not holding to that hope.

[Beanovsky Durst]

To be honest I think it was cancelled. No word of it in months, no pics, no trailer, nothing. Unless it's getting a "RE: Zero" treatment, if PSP2 is in the works...

[Dracarys]

Judging by comments from Sven at Capcom Unity it is cancelled.

[A-J]

^ can you please quote some of those comments here ?

I think it never got started, it was just a concept that didn't go beyond it's "pilot" so to say.

[BLSR1]

Sony probably mentioned it to get hype up for the PSP when it wasn't even past the concept stage. PSP continued to fail, Capcom moved on.

[Vector]

I think Resident Evil Portable was an idea more than a concrete game, and that idea blossomed and became Resident Evil Revelations for the 3DS. The DS sells lightyears better than the PSP and Capcom have shown no hesitation the milk this franchise, so why not bring their portable idea to the better sales option? Apparently, the 3DS has tech that's just as good if not better than the PSP, and I think that's the only thing that was holding it back from going to the regular DS anyway.

Obviously, this is all just guessing. None of us really know.

[Bianca]

I think Resident Evil Portable was an idea more than a concrete game, and that idea blossomed and became Resident Evil Revelations for the 3DS. The DS sells lightyears better than the PSP and Capcom have shown no hesitation the milk this franchise, so why not bring their portable idea to the better sales option? Apparently, the 3DS has tech that's just as good if not better than the PSP, and I think that's the only thing that was holding it back from going to the regular DS anyway.

Obviously, this is all just guessing. None of us really know.

This is my guess, too. I thought it was obvious from the moment Revelations was announced that the PSP game had pretty much been dropped in favor of the 3DS system. But, my speculation could be wrong and, for all we know, a PSP title will be released. Personally, I don't really care what new platform a Resident Evil game is released on... I'll end up buying it, anyway, just for playing that particular game. Oh, slavery/devotion to a series is so very expensive!

[5 Minutes]

I never really cared about it honestly (only because Capcom obviously feels the same or they're just procrastinating). I'm more focused on Revelations.

[Dracarys]

^ can you please quote some of those comments here ?

Capcom Unity does not have a search feature I can find, google brought me this thread sort of confirming it by the tone though I am sure are others with a more direct answer.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/25057501/Capcom...Champion_of_Vaporware&post_num=3#452677793

[Pikminister]

I wasn't aware that RE PSP was suppose to be designed with the PSP Go in mind.

If that was indeed the case, then it's obvious why it was cancelled. It makes no sense to make a brand new RE game for a system that went down in flames since day one.

Regarding what Sven said about the matter, here it is:

"nothing so say at this time"--Sven

and

Sorry guys, no news on this one right now.



best,



Seth

That's the official responses you get.

[Vector]

I never really cared about it honestly. I'm more focused on Revelations.

[Rancid Cheese]

It probably became Revelations it'd make sense and it certainly wouldn't be the first game to change platforms . . .

[rewak]

They realised the PSP is a joke and any noteworthy games on it get ported to the PS2 so instead of wasting time making a game that they'd have to port later to try and make some money off it they scrapped it and went to work on Revelations instead. Now if only they'd realise the entire series has become a joke and scrap the ridiculous action theme and make a proper survival horror game again, something might actually be salvaged from this fast sinking ship.

[Carnivol]

Well, we know that Devil May Cry was actually in development for the PSP, we know Capcom also had a Bionic Commando on the PSP, that they had Megaman sequels planned and all that too... and most of them appeared in rumor form before being officially mentioned, just like Devil May Cry PSP and Outbreak PSP did, but only DMC has been mentioned by Capcom directly, no mention of Outbreak PSP. (In general, companies are better at telling the truth when they deny the existence of stuff or confirm the cancellation, than when they bla bla bla their way around talking about sore subjects and projects that are in development hell.)

Given the online nature of Outbreak, it's not unlikely to think that there's a potential connection between it and Portable (with Portable presumable being a "Go!" deal), with the biggest hurdle there being the fact that Sony's online solutions/offerings are and will (for most likely the duration of this entire generation) remain on a solid status quo known as "ass" (especially on the developer side of things. Heck! Many drop online support in their games as it's a bitch to test and if local ad-hoc works, xlink kai or PS3 PSP party is a better solution for online than developing your own.)

Regarding Chris Kramer havin' seen an early design doc doesn't really say anything about its origin or status. Dunno when he supposedly saw it, but even I get to see design docs for the most absurd stuff early on. I was doing a tiny 4-5 line translation for a teaser trailer or something for a game that was set to appear at E3 this year (no clue why they wanted those lines translated. Don't think the trailer even has a translated or subbed version), and the client passed me a 140 page-ish word doc with everything about the game (including the full version changes for which features will make the cut.) That's 140 pages of everything from start to end, top to toe, for a AAA title (developed by a first party studio) that's probably not gonna be out until late 2011, all just for the sake of some marketing content.


So, assuming Outbreak PSP == Portable and with Sony "probably" having been on board too (given how they namedropped it at E3 and everything). The PSPGo! failure is totally a factor in the sudden disappearance of this title, and... if not cancelled, I'd say it's probably moved to "currently concept stage" PSP2 hardware instead (as a launch/near launch title, set to be shown at the PSP2 reveal, kinda like Revelations for 3DS.)

[xfactor]

I vaguely remember that DMC PSP was actually announced in the initial years of the PSP. Capcom Japan have it listed on their game listing web page for a pretty long time, but that's all they have. Just like RE Portable, nothing shows up for a long time until an issue of famitsu confirmed the cancellation.