SEGA Announces Four Fresh IPs News

In partnership with Osaka based developers Platinum Games, SEGA has announced its intentions to release four games under new intellectual properties. Bayonetta, MadWorld, and Infinite Line make up the list, as well as a mystery fourth title from legendary Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami.

The announcement was made at a no-expenses-spared SEGA event last Monday and unfortunately some outlets broke today's 4 O'clock embargo earlier this week. However, what most of the reports have missed is the mystery fourth game that's being developed by Shinji Mikami, arguably the most influential voice behind the Resident Evil series of games.

By all accounts, gamers should be very excited about this Platinum Games/SEGA project. As was pointed out at Monday's event, launching new IPs as a games publisher is a particularly challenging task. Only a few of last year's top 40 selling games were fresh properties (most notably Bioshock and Assassin's Creed).

Although developer Platinum Games is a relatively new outfit, it was founded by some of Japan's finest developers. Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya were the most prominent figures in the studios formation, with both Inaba-san and Kamiya-san previously being employed at Capcom's Clover Studio (Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand).

Seven years ago, Kamiya created the Devil May Cry series. As the Director of Bayonetta for Xbox 360 and PS3, Kamiya will certainly be pulling from his experience with Dante to develop a third-person action game with similar religious themes to DMC.

The lead character in the game, who's called Bayonetta, is a witch reborn in the modern era. She battles angels in the game with the help of guns on both her hands and feet. This will be one of the key features in the game alongside some witch-like special abilities.

"I'm actually a little disappointed with modern 3D action games and I want to reinvigorate the genre by creating a game that shows what a next-gen 3D action game should look like," Kamiya told us. "I want to show other developers how it's done right."

The next title in the line-up is MadWorld, and Platinum Games was prepared to show much more of this game to their audience than the other two titles (checkout our First Look for more details). Set for release on the Wii, MadWorld is a mishmash of gory violence and slapstick comedy.

Utilising cel-shaded graphics for that graphic novel feel, the entire game world is set in black and white. The exception to this is the lashings of blood that spew out from various enemies when you impale them on a spike, for example. The blood is a scarlet red, forming a heavily stylised game very much in the vein of Frank Miller's Sin City.

"Actually, I am Frank Miller," joked the game's Director, Shigenori Nishikawa, when we asked how much MadWorld was influenced by Sin City. "Obviously the influence of Frank Miller is big given the style, but that's not the only thing we've been looking at. We've looked at a lot of different American comics and comic creators, and used that for inspiration and style.

"It would be really hard to find someone who considers themselves a creator, who doesn't like Frank Miller. So whenever you look for new art styles, something that has a new sense to it, Frank Miller's name comes up because he has such a unique style and sense of art."

The third game, Infinite Line, is being co-developed by Platinum Games and Nude Maker for Nintendo's DS. The game's Director, Hifumi Kouno, was keen to point out that this sci-fi RPG has been heavily influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's novel, Childhood's End.

Gamers are tasked with the captaincy of a spaceship that can be fully customised through over 150 ship designs. There are also nearly 200 characters to fill your ship with as you travel between two vast galaxies.