Nintendo partners with Britsoft developer Kuju on first party Cube title
Fire Warrior division hard at work on something we don't know much about. Or anything about, actually.
The "action division" of Kuju Entertainment is working on a first-party GameCube project, set to be unveiled in the near future, the developer told the London Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon.
Kuju's action division, based in London, was responsible for PS2 and PC first-person shooter Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior. The developer plans to unveil more details "in due course", which probably means E3, but we are expecting a few product teasers to pop up prior to the monster trade show, so it's difficult to say.
Kuju's business development director Ian Baverstock was understandably chuffed with the news. "Nintendo have an unrivalled reputation within the industry for the quality of their titles and we are proud to be working directly with them," he said in a statement, "particularly at this exciting time in the industry's development."
The news has driven the Britsoft developer's share price up quite a distance, so there are clearly some investors out there with good taste.
Although Nintendo regularly partners with outside developers these days - Sega on F-Zero GX, for example, Namco for Donkey Konga, Capcom on its handheld Zelda titles - there are only a few noted occasions when the platform holder has gone this far afield for help. One of those was US-based Retro Studios, who under the guidance of Shigeru Miyamoto delivered the rather magical Metroid Prime.
Another is N-Space, which is currently beavering away on Geist, an FPS title with a rather intriguing possession element. Nintendo announced the two firms' collaboration at last year's E3. We only hope, having played through Fire Warrior, that Nintendo can possess Kuju to some degree and help them produce something truly memorable...