Inafune to oversee Capcom's global R&D

Capcom has made its star producer, Keiji Inafune, its global head of production, Kotaku reports.

The creator of Mega Man and producer of the Onimusha and Dead Rising series will be in charge of ensuring the quality and "Capcom flavour" of all the publisher's games, whether they're produced in Japan or the West.

"It's a common comment I hear that games created in Europe aren't really Capcom games," Inafune said. "That games created in Japan are true Capcom games. I want to put an end to that, basically saying that whether games are created in America or Japan or anywhere in the world, I will be the one overlooking it and so it will have that Capcom flavour that fans know and love."

Inafune has been part of Capcom's drive to make games with a more global appeal, using Western developers, for some time now. Dead Rising 2 is currently in production with Blue Castle Games in Canada. But the initiative has met with mixed success, with games like Bionic Commando and Dark Void getting lukewarm critical and commercial receptions.

"Those of you who know me, know how serious I am about trying to make global games on a global scale especially thinking about America and Europe when designing a lot of our titles," he said. "I've been pushing really hard for the last several years to try and gear our games in that direction."