Ono keen on player-created characters for Street Fighter

The next step in fighter development is getting experts involved in the character creation process – that is, bringing the fans on board.

“For future titles I want to keep having this concept of, my character is different than your character,” Street Fighter creator Yoshinori Ono told Eurogamer.

“In fighting games, the only difference between me and you is how good I am. But what I want to do with fighting games from now on is add in that element of customisation, where I can have a Ryu that’s different than your Ryu, so we can compete on a different level than just our execution.”

The producer commented that the dialogue so created would be an enormous help to development.

“If we could have that interaction between the fans: I’ve created this great character so why don’t you come try it, or that guy’s character he made isn’t so good. Why isn’t it that good? If we can get that back and forth between the community and create more dialogue and interaction within the game, that would be the best case scenario.

“We need to get as much information as we can from the fans: what kind of things do they want to see in fighting games? What are they responding to? What don’t they like? That’s why I like to go around different countries and see what the community is saying about the games.”

Ono seems fairly content with the the fighter scene otherwise, commenting that the current batch of hardware comfortably meets his ambitions – although he’d like to add more visual flair.

“I’m a person that puts a lot of focus and attention to the details of the visuals. Fighting games are great to be spectated. The players enjoy it, but people watching can also enjoy them. With the next generation of hardware we can make things better for the spectator in that sense,” he said.

“So maybe the guy’s clothes could get ripped off during the fight. Chun-Li would be like, ‘Oh no!’ There are a lot of things we could do with the graphics to make it look better. But in terms of the basics, we already have a lot of the power we need.”

The next Ono-led game is Street Fighter x Tekken, due on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Vita in March.

Cage to showcase new Quantic Dream tech at GDC

Quantic Dream’s David Cage will show off brand new tech from the studio at GDC in nearly a month’s time. The tech, which will be used in what’s coming next from the company with publisher Sony, will be shown as part of an hour-long talk that will see Cage also focus on performance capture, art direction and virtual actors.

Develop has more details.

Insomniac: “We won’t be making any more Resistances”

Whether you nearly drowned in a tidal wave of closure during Resistance 3′s credits or still – to this very day – spend long, cold nights yearning for the embrace of more guns, one thing’s absolutely certain: Insomniac’s finished with the Resistance franchise.

“We won’t be making any more Resistances,” Insomniac CEO Ted Price told VG247 during an interview at Southern Methodist University’s Game::Business::Law Summit today. Short, sweet, and to the point.

With the Chimera and their pesky genocidal invasion now in the rearview mirror, Insomniac’s moving on to four-player co-op shooter Overstrike. Mum’s the word on details for now, but if it doesn’t have a massive selection of outlandish guns, that’s probably a sign we’ve finally broken the universe beyond repair. And if there’s not at least one gun that turns enemies into some kind of non-threatening, doe-eyed animal? Well then, God help us all.

Insomniac’s also opened up its own social games division, Insomniac Click, which – sad to say – is equally shrouded in mystery at the moment. The goal, however, is to create “deep worlds, rich stories, [and] accessible gameplay,” so don’t start bracing yourself for Ratchet and Clank Present: SororityVilleWars just yet.

“Certainly over the next couple years, we’re going to see a huge evolution in visuals in social games,” Price said. “It’s thanks to improving technologies. It’s thanks to browsers that are getting better and more powerful. It’s thanks to development teams – core traditional game teams who are moving into the space.”

Expect the full interview with Price – which covers many of the above topics and more (and also maybe Skylanders) – in the coming days.