VANQUISH
January 29th, 2010 by PlatinumGames
BAYONETTA UPDATE TO BE RELEASED FOR PLAYSTATION 3
January 28th, 2010 by PlatinumGames
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames
SEGA Europe and SEGA America can today announce that an online update will be available on Jan 28th for the PlayStation 3 version of BAYONETTA. This online update allows the game to be installed onto the console’s hard drive which significantly decreases the loading times for the game.
The update will automatically be downloaded to PlayStation 3 when users launch BAYONETTA.
BAYONETTA is available now on Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.
Tagged: Bayonetta, Load Times, Online Update, PS3
Bayonetta Fan Art Contest – The Platinum Awards
January 14th, 2010 by Hideki Kamiya
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames
Kamiya here. Lately I’ve been listening to the Bayonetta soundtrack while working, but whenever I listen to the music from the latter half of the game, I have some sort of conditioned response to remember being in a nice warm bath, staring back at downtown Osaka (Umeda). It doesn’t leave me in a good mood. Ahhh… The last part of Bayonetta’s development was really brutal, and since I couldn’t go home, using the spa here at our offices in the Umeda Sky Building to wash away the days fatigue was the only thing I really had to look forward to; however, it seems like that left an indelible impression on my psyche. The spa on the 22nd floor has an unbroken view of Umeda, so during the day I would escape the development floor and head up to soak my messed up body in the bath. While soaking, looking out at skyscrapers under the expansive blue sky, it felt so great, like I was in heaven… When I hear the track that plays before you enter Balder’s Room, “Paradiso – Sea of Stars,” or the final track, “The Greatest Jubilee,” I feel completely opposite to the track names themselves; it’s delusional, like I’m getting sucked into hell. Both of the tracks were composed for us by Mr. Rei Kondo… Sorry… They really are good tracks… (LOL)
Speaking of the soundtrack, it isn’t just songs created by PlatinumGames staff. We had the opportunity to work with lots of people outside of the company, which I am really grateful for. From Rei Kondo, to all the staff at GEM Impact, to Hiro-san at SEGA, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I’d love to work together again!
On to the next… A while back Wizard Magazine held an art contest entitled Bayonetta Re-Envisioned, and lots of great works were selected as prize winners. Of course, we had a say in who won, and the staff all looked at all of the entries! The Grand Prize winner was one that I selected personally.
The idea of taking Bayonetta’s design and using that as a starting point for a brand new concept was a rather unusual experiment for a contest, and all of the entries obviously showed a lot of passion, each one amazing in its own right. Because of this, there were works that we weren’t able to include in the contest, but were so good that we just couldn’t get them out of our heads. That is why we would like to point them out and recognize them here on the blog.
First up is a work by Michael Hiscott. Our concept designer Ikumi Nakamura picked this one. The cherry blossom trees in the background mesh well with Bayonetta.
Shimazaki picked a work by Chuan Ju Lee. Bayonetta started with the idea that witches had to be black, but this image boldly threw black right out the window.
Shimazaki also picked another work, this one by Alexander Gordon. It’s fancy, like it could be an illustration in a fairy tale collection.
Next is a work by Brent Patrick Wilson. This one is incredible… It was a design contest for Bayonetta, but Rodin and Jeanne are so prominent that they are the only thing we really noticed.
Actually, this work by Joshua Meeks was the most popular among the team. It looks like it was created with colored pencil on drawing paper (?), but posing Bayonetta in such a dynamic drop kick is the work of no mere amateur.
Finally, we have a work by Randall Louis. The design, expression, and pose got stuck in our heads and we just couldn’t forget it. If there were a CD with this image as its cover, I would buy it without question.
So what do you think? For all the works that we picked up in this post, we are going to send the artists a copy of the Bayonetta soundtrack, which is currently on sale only in Japan! Because of the differences in markets and the such, we aren’t sure if the Bayonetta soundtrack will be released officially overseas; however, this 5 disc set is a gem, filled with what we feel is only the best content, so I think that you will find it enjoyable.
Well, that wraps it up. Until next time!
Picture: A promotional item that will be given out in Germany. Here is a picture of the back…
Picture: It has a Gates of Hell logo. What could be inside?
Picture: A lollipop! Cherry flavored, I think? But it’s got a kick to it. Definitely not that kind of flavor you would encounter in Japan. (LOL)
Tagged: Bayonetta, Bayonetta Lollipop, Fan Art, Hideki Kamiya, Ikumi Nakamura, Mari Shimazaki, PS3, Xbox 360
The Weapons of Bayonetta – Special Edition
January 8th, 2010 by PlatinumGames
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames
Happy New Year, everyone!
I’m the head of the PlatinumGames Weapons Development Division (No. of Employees: 1), Muneyuki “Johnny” Kotegawa here.
I’ve seen on the web lately that some fans have been creating Scarborough Fair and All 4 One models. As a member (and leader) of the PlatinumGames Weapons Development Division, I am quite pleased to see these efforts.
I decided to lend my little bit of support by preparing multi-direction and exploded views of the guns in question. Print them out, line them up, and get a taste of how much fun it must be to be Rodin himself. The charms are also included, so I suppose you may want to make these as accessories as well.
So please accept these as a token of my gratitude, and enjoy your lives as witches!
These images are also available on the PlatinumGames Flickr page.
Tagged: All 4 One, Bayonetta, Bayonetta Guns, Concept Design, Jeanne, Muneyuki Kotegawa, PlatinumGames, PS3, Scarborough Fair, Weapon Design, Weapon Reference, Xbox 360
Announcing (A Bit Early) a collection of Bayonetta Design Artifacts
January 7th, 2010 by Mari Shimazaki
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames
Hello everyone. Character designer Mari Shimazaki here with some good news.
It has been something like two months since Bayonetta saw release in Japan. For those of you still playing Bayonetta, or those of you taking a little break, we’ve still got more Bayonetta to give you, so stay with us just a bit longer.
Which brings me to today’s announcement.
As Hashimoto-san mentioned on the Xbox Live Park broadcast here in Japan, we are going to put out a book collecting the design materials we used for Bayonetta. Woohoo!
It will be a little while until it’s released, but here are the details:
Bayonetta Design Collection (Temporary Title)
Release Date: Q1 2010 (Planned)
Price: TBD
Publisher: Enterbrain
It’s going to be a really thick book, as we are going to include almost all of the images we’ve used in promoting Bayonetta! (We were unable to get rights clearances for a few of them…)
Japanese gamers will get a chance to see art that we’ve only released in the West (which there were quite a few we made behind the scenes), as well as peeks at unreleased character, enemy, background, and weapon designs. There will also be CG illustrations and some new easter-egg illustrations (that I’m working on right now) amongst others. Overall, there will be more than 500 pieces of content to sink your teeth into! There will also be tons of comments from the development team (which they are working on now) to round out this monster collection! Look forward to it!
Whenever I end up working on one of these expansive books, I always end up feeling like, “This is sad. I have to show off all of these designs that got shot down… And they are from years ago as well.”
Even though I love looking at others people’s stuff… this poses a real dilemna for me.
Well, enough of my grumbling, I’m going to stay focused on working on the book for now, and even though it will be a while until it is in your hands, I hope you all look forward to it.
Well, I guess the world is all wrapped up in Christmas colors now.
How did you all spend the Christmas holidays? December 25 was actually our last work day here at PlatinumGames, but I am sure plenty of us went out drinking after we wrapped up.
Until next time.
Tagged: Bayonetta, Bayonetta Art Book, Character Design, Hideki Kamiya, Mari Shimazaki, PS3, Xbox 360, Yusuke Hashimoto
New Year’s Greetings and Bayonetta’s Western Release
January 6th, 2010 by Yusuke Hashimoto
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PlatinumGames
Hi all. Producer Yusuke Hashimoto checking in again.
Happy New Year!
I decided to draw Bayonetta on a New Year’s Card. The more I drew, the more I was surprised by how detailed the design was becoming, and even though it was too late, ended up saying “Wow, this is how this turned out…”
Today also marks the start of Bayonetta’s worldwide release!
I am happy to see her spread her wings and fly overseas, and I really hope that everyone let’s go of time and has fun while playing the game.
So I hope that this year you all support Bayonetta, and continuing supporting us here at PlatinumGames.
Tagged: 2010, Bayonetta, New Year's Greeting, PlatinumGames, PS3, Xbox 360, Yusuke Hashimoto
Bayonetta TV Commercial
January 4th, 2010 by Yusuke Hashimoto
Filed: Bayonetta, Community, Games, PGTV, PlatinumGames
Producer Yusuke Hashimoto here, now with a completely stuffed mail box since all the games I ordered online all showed up the other day. (Strangely enough, my package delivery box was empty though…)
So Bayonetta will be released on 1/5 in North American and 1/8 in Europe and Australia! I hope all of our fans overseas are looking forward to it. It’s been a quick two months since the release in Japan. When I think about the opportunity to expand the borders of the game and have even more people try it out, I can only get excited. So that is why I wanted to write a blog entry about some of the marketing efforts we are partaking in overseas. First up is the TV commercial we will be airing overseas.
The commercial features a soundtrack provided by La Roux, an incredibly popular band in Europe. Compared to the Japanese commercial, it is a much darker, but very cool! For me, this kind of dark commercial hits my personal sweetspot because it fits the game’s atmosphere quite nicely. Actually, for the Japanese MTV Special for Bayonetta, La Roux came in for a chat with MiChi. During filming, the director of the show, Sakuma-san, mentioned that he thought that La Roux were “insane.” We watched one of their music videos, and I had to admit it was pretty cool. What was funny was the we watched the same song that we ended up using in the commercial, “In for the kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Remix).” When I think about the track, I realized that Bayonetta really has been an incredibly collaborative project, from our cutscene action director Yuji Shimomura’s involvement and on down the line.
Continuing on, I have to mention the Scarborough Fair model that will come as a pre-order bonus for Bayonetta in Europe. At first, I wanted them to make a full set of the four guns, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme, or if they could only make one, to include a set of the four dangling accessories to be attached; however, due to a variety of reasons, including cost, we could only make one gun… It is a shame that we couldn’t make four, but I am still happy to see one of the in-game items come to life. Check it out:
By the way, it seems Bioshock 2, coming out next year, is going to have a vinyl record as one of the items in its Western limited edition. (I wanted to do a gold disc or a vinyl LP for Bayonetta as well…) I’m really looking forward to the game, but I am also a huge fan of these sorts of limited editions, ones that are filled with the spirit of those making the game. I wanted to do all sorts of limited edition items for the Japanese release (Bayonetta/Jeanne glasses, Black cat earrings, lipstick, Bayonetta’s brooch clock, a Cheshire stuffed animal, or even a cellphone strap of the Bayonetta doll from the map screen), but as an original title, it is hard to get these sort of things actually made.
I’m always taking applications for manufacturers who want to make products out of things our users would enjoy, so if you think your company is up to the task, get ahold of us here at PlatinumGames. Also, we’d love to hear from our fans about what things they think would make great items, so make sure to get ahold of us and let us know!
That wraps up the PR related stuff, so I thought I would leave you with some of the character designs for the dance-battle-famed Joy.
There really aren’t that many chances to design female characters, especially in the enemy realm, so it was fun to design Joy. Her weapon changes shape in real time, and I tried adding something at its very tip, like something out of an ancient (?) civilization. However, when I designed her, I had no idea her torture attack would end up being anything like THAT…
We’ve seen quite a few users uploading some impressive gameplay videos, and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of videos users overseas come up with. Finally, we’ve got a really cool thing were planning for that may surprise you, so look forward to what’s coming soon!
Tagged: Bayonetta, Bayonetta Commercial, Character Design, Hideki Kamiya, In for the kill, La Roux, MiChi, PlatinumGames, PS3, Xbox 360, Yusuke Hashimoto
