68 replies to this topic

[Musashi_HUmar]

Yes, this is a thread for discussing Prope. This is a company formed by Yuji Naka, the creator of NiGHTS after leaving Sonic Team. So far, 10 other members of Sonic Team have left to join him. So far, they have announced only working on one game for Wii that will appeal to both kids and adults. So far, not much else is known.

[Leonhart]

Yes, this is a thread for discussing Prope. This is a company formed by Yuji Naka, the creator of NiGHTS after leaving Sonic Team. So far, 10 other members of Sonic Team have left to join him. So far, they have announced only working on one game for Wii that will appeal to both kids and adults. So far, not much else is known.

POWER TO THE NAKA!

Whatever da game is i bet it gon be hella tait dawg.

Fo Reel.

[Nemoide]

There does not seem to be much to discuss yet. : /

HOPEFULLY SOON!

[Musashi_HUmar]

I wish Prope would give us some idea as to what kind of game they're working on...

[viperxmns]

I wonder what it could be like if THEY made a Sonic game

Also, as far as NiGHTS's creator is concerned, don't forget Oshima-san


http://www.prope.jp/

[Musashi_HUmar]

I really wish they would translate that site. Although I can read Japanese, I still have a lot of vocab to learn. And a lot more kanji as well. I think it would be cool though if they did make a Sonic game. Unfortunately, that's not about to happenj

[DiGi Valentine]

They're sitting in their office smokin' some real fine grade A shiiiiiiit. That would explain why we've not seen anything from them so far even though they've been a registered company for years now.

What i wanna really see is something new and fresh with memorable characters. C'mon, Naka man. Bring us something we ain't seen before. Show me you've still got it.

[Roam]

I haven't heard many amazingly postivie things about Naka as of late, but I'm hoping he still has his old magic.

[Musashi_HUmar]

You and me both. He'd better get his act together and announce something soon.

[Saifer Dracondrali]

Everyone seems to be quite hyped about Naka... I know he made some great games in the past but lets not forget his more modern loosing streak. Well, I suppose I could put my faith back into him for one more good run. Come on Naka show the younger generation you still got it!

[DiGi Valentine]

*yawn*

...hey, you lot --> click here

That idiot Yuji Naka is planning something and will share it all with you within the next 16 days. Personaly, i don't really care about it but i'm sure some of you wanted to know so there you go.

Ever wondered what PROPE is up to? Check back in about two weeks time. I bet it's going to be sh!t.

[Zero-Shift]

I'm with DiGi here. Prope has been around for over two years and have jack to show for it. Platinum Games has been around almost as long and they've already announced three upcoming games, all of which sound awesome. What's your excuse Naka?

[viperxmns]

It's "Velocity the Penguin". Totally.

[TRAViS]

Pen Pen Tricelon 2!

A game even penguins can play...? God I hope they aren't doing a console adaptation of like, Tux Racer. I don't need to pay $50 for one of the worst free games ever.

I would absolutely love to start the rumor mill rolling here with my insane logic and fantastical dreams, which if my previous precognition is any indication, I'm at least 30% right, 80% of the time. But I won't. All I'm suggesting is that I've only seen a handful of games that colorful (look at the TV in the blurred background) before...

[Musashi_HUmar]

Either way, I can't wait to get my hands on this game!

[charlie]

Nothing too exciting but I found this on the Prope website about their name. http://prope.jp/corp_whats.html

"PROPE" (pronounced "pro-pe") is a Latin word which means "beside" and "near" future.

We named our company PROPE in the hopes of bringing game entertainment much closer to users,
establishing closer ties between users and us, and creating near future entertainment.

[Musashi_HUmar]

That's pretty cool. I can't wait to see what they bring us!

[Penelopi]

Wait...Sega's logo is also on the bottom left next to Prope, on the page DiGi linked. They're working together on this? I thought it was highly unlikely for that to happen.

[Zero-Shift]

Sega is the publisher.

[Kori]

I was definitely channeling some PenPen Tri-Icelon there.. XD;; Aw c'mon, you gotta admit that was fun! Just a bit? ... just me? Eheheh....

Whatever the case may be, this could go either way. I'll be watching with interest! :3

[phosphorus]

I was trying to make out what was on th screen...

...It's like looking at ink blotches...

[TRAViS]

As I wave my NiGHTS merch in the air and hold on to that pathetic last bit of hope, I realize that my fantasy for what Naka's really up to isn't happening. Personally though, if I was Naka and saw how Iizuka made JoD, I'd be furious and make one last hurrah to show him how it could be done.

Naka's made some great games in the past though. Whatever this ends up being, at the very least we know it'll be original and probably fun. Given that nearly every other publisher and developer has settled into their franchise routines, churning out the same product year after year, it's nice to see SEGA and their partner studios still trying new things.

[DiGi Valentine]

As far as Naka goes, over the years i've heard too much about him. It's such a shame. The creator of such a cult classic like NiGHTS has the personality and attitude of a complete moron. He could start making great games again but his reputation has gone to sh!t because he's so up his own ass.

PROPE. Bring whatever it is you're bringing, let it get reviewed and with any luck it'll fail so that way Naka can't blame SEGA for f*!*ing up his games and it'll be purely down to his own 'creative genius' that made the game crash and burn.

If the game turns out to be good then great, he's back in his stride but that'll only inflate his stupid ego more than it already is.

[phosphorus]

Ok, so the game is called "Let's Tap".

...That doesn't help...

And it looks like a minigame collection.

E: was clicking around on the Prope website and found that this page has been updated.

[DiGi Valentine]

.... ...... o.o

here's a video --> Let's Tap

Ok, f*** it. I'm just going to go on and say Yuji Naka ain't making any comeback. PROPE have done sh!t all for the last 5 odd years that they've been a registered company...and THIS is what they pull out of Naka's ass? A bunch of mini-games? Good god!

This game is basically the 'Tap the Wii-mote' sections in WarioWare ...as a whole game. Can you imagine how annoying that's going to get after a while? The whole game requires you to tap a surface continuously. And everyone was saying they were getting wrist-pains from using the Wii-mote, now you can have your finger tips slowly bashed away all thanks to Yuji Naka's BRAND NEW GAME!

And i don't know about the American's use of slang (and i certainly don't know about the Japanese) but 'Let's Tap' is basically another way to say "Let's have sex!" ......so, yeah.

I'll admit, the arty faff that goes on towards the end of the video is quite pretty but that's about it.

In a nutshell, Yuji Naka has all the creative freedom at his disposal now that he's in PROPE and this is what he's giving us as his companies first game.
It's true, he fell off this industry a long time ago.

[animejosse]

That game looks BORING.

[viperxmns]

Hm.. I'll give credit as this is another new way to use the Wii's controls. Maybe it's fun when you're actually playing.

[Nemoide]

I'll give the game the benefit of the doubt and assume it could make a quality bargain bin game.

But Yuji Naka's association with it means nothing. At best one can hope for a few minutes of fun here and there. Aren't we past the "novelty" factor of this sort of thing though? I mean, when the DS came out most first-gen games were novelty-based "tap the stylus here/use the microphone" type games (Feel the Magic has funny stuffs at least). The Wii has been around too long for this to be interesting to anyone beyond the most hardcore Naka fanboys and the most softcore of casual gamers.

Oh and as for American usage of "tap", we will say "I'd tap that" in reference to sex but I have never heard anyone say "let's tap" or anything like that.

[Kori]

Huh.. interesting. ^^;

Makes me think of that one WarioWare game where you tap the table, and the first person's paper character to fall over loses. Perhaps it's a Japanese thing? I dunno, I find it kind of appealing, because I grew up with anime and the nuances of Japanese culture, like that paper doll game, catch my attention. XD

As far as lasting appeal though? Gotta admit, I have my doubts. But we'll know for sure when it launches!

[Musashi_HUmar]

I think there is more to this game than what's been shown. I'm gonna wait a bit longer before I judge.

[Penelopi]

Well, that's a very creative way to play. But, like many have said, I'm not sure how much fun I'd actually have playing that. Especially since I can't stand Mario Party.

[DiGi Valentine]

It may be a great party game for all i know...but party games don't last too long. WarioWare hardly ever gets played in this house anymore unless we have guests.

I wanted to see PROPE really bring something new to the table. Sure, Yuji's rep as a person has gone down hill but i always wanted to believe that maybe he still had that creative spark in him. I wanted him to bring a new series out, something with a proper bang to it. Something with a new character that the world could possibly fall in love with. It's dissapointing to see him start off with a game that's based around gimmicks again.

[Zero-Shift]

OOh, a gimmicky mini-game game! Whoopty-f*!*ing-doo!

I mean Jesus, the Wii has been on the market for almost two years now. I can't believe we still have to deal with this mini-game shovelware bullshit that rewards people for pantomiming epileptic seizures. I'm maybe willing to forgive really small companies that are just trying to get their foot in the proverbial door but guys like Naka have no excuse at all. The system should be past its initial creative growing pains at this point. Excuse me for wanting "substance" to sate my gamer's appetite. Let's Tap can piss off for all I care.

[Meggiemaccat]

Ehm, I know I understand nothing whatsoever about the gaming industry, but doesn't the phrase "start off small and work your way up" kinda apply here? I mean, from what's been said in this topic, they have been around for a few years, but maybe they've been spending that time trying to generate revenue programming or somesuch stuff for other companies, and they either just can't afford a complete flop and are going the route of minigames (reminiscent of the movie Happy Feet, apparently) or don't have the revenue to make more than minigames. Again, I know nothing of the industry, but I think this is one of those industries where "you need money to make money" applies.

And some tiny part of my brain is fantasizing that he's been trying to battle Sega for the rights to NiGHTS, but a small company like that can't even dream of winning such a fight against a much larger, older company, so that's just wishful thinking on my part I probably shouldn't have even sugguested. ^^;;;

[Saifer Dracondrali]

Huh... looks like Prope is pulling out a game for wii ware... Let's Catch...
this is the end result of the wait?... lets see how long were they in business? ahh yes 2 and a frick'in half years! and all they can think up is a game "penguins" can play (I think we just offended all penguins world-wide) and a game of catch?

Wow

I can't even say anything about this..............

And some tiny part of my brain is fantasizing that he's been trying to battle Sega for the rights to NiGHTS, but a small company like that can't even dream of winning such a fight against a much larger, older company, so that's just wishful thinking on my part I probably shouldn't have even sugguested. ^^;;;

btw Yuji Naka says he currently has no desire to revisit any of the Sega titles according to a conference... so NO Sonic, NO Samba, and most definitely NO NiGHTS...

[Meggiemaccat]

Meh, yeah, I knew I was being stupid wishing that, especially since (now I remember, silly thing I am) that he himself did say he did not want to make a NiGHTS sequel. ^^;;; Even after two and a half years, though, can you really say a small company can stand on its own two feet and churn out creative risks? Granted, this is with no knowledge whatsoever about how companies tend to take their first step into the industry proper, how they get the money to do so in the first place, and even how long they tend to take to grow. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and think he hasn't had the time to grow his company to the point where they can start seriously competing, taking those risks that can make or break them, but again this is all conjecture based on the logic of how businesses where the revenue on a product isn't made until it is sold probably work.

..... To be honest, I really know nothing about that either, myself. Maybe my head's being swollen with an ego so big I think I know everything just by thinking it. XDD God, that's terrible of me. ^^;;;

[Zero-Shift]

Even after two and a half years, though, can you really say a small company can stand on its own two feet and churn out creative risks?

Yes, I think they can. If anything, I'd say the fact Prope was founded by Naka, the expectations to deliver would be a bit higher. I don't think money is a huge issue either since Prope is partially funded by Sega themselves. Just because a company is small and/or new isn't a valid excuse for playing it safe when your company has several (experienced) former members from Sonic Team including Naka himself.

Let's make some comparisons. Prope has been around since Jun '06 and has 42 employees last I checked. Now, Grasshopper Manufacture have been around since 1998 but only have a marginally larger 48 employees, yet since the get-go they've released nothing but off the wall titles such as Killer7 and Contact. Their first Wii title was No More Heroes by the way. On the other hand, we have Platinum Games, who have almost twice as many employees as Prope but are also a younger company. However, despite this they've already announced three games that are fairly well along in development. One of them is a Wii exclusive and in my opinion it looks to be much more of a creative risk than Prope's little mini-game compilation.

Prope has no excuse. They're just being lazy as far as I'm concerned.

[Meggiemaccat]

*nods* Alright, the 'being partially funded by Sega' thing is most certainly an excuse-breaker, and now that I have examples that I was too lazy myself to look for in the first place (mostly because I had no clue how to go about finding them), they have even less of an excuse. Thank you for clearing up my stupidly founded assumptions. <-- Note the utter lack of sarcasm; I knew I was likely being silly in the first place. ^-^

[phosphorus]

Yes, I think they can. If anything, I'd say the fact Prope was founded by Naka, the expectations to deliver would be a bit higher. I don't think money is a huge issue either since Prope is partially funded by Sega themselves. Just because a company is small and/or new isn't a valid excuse for playing it safe when your company has several (experienced) former members from Sonic Team including Naka himself.

Let's make some comparisons. Prope has been around since Jun '06 and has 42 employees last I checked. Now, Grasshopper Manufacture have been around since 1998 but only have a marginally larger 48 employees, yet since the get-go they've released nothing but off the wall titles such as Killer7 and Contact. Their first Wii title was No More Heroes by the way. On the other hand, we have Platinum Games, who have almost twice as many employees as Prope but are also a younger company. However, despite this they've already announced three games that are fairly well along in development. One of them is a Wii exclusive and in my opinion it looks to be much more of a creative risk than Prope's little mini-game compilation.

Prope has no excuse. They're just being lazy as far as I'm concerned.

IIRC, id software had 20 employees when they made Doom 3. But about the "Prope making a NiGHTS game" theory, it seems like Naka was warming up to the idea of a NiGHTS sequel. I read an interview in, I think it was Official Nintendo Magazine, (it was about feel the magic) he said that if they were to make a new one, they would have to spend a long time on it to make sure it was perfect. Now that I think about it, this hardly surprises me, considering his last game (he was only a producer for the latter Sonic games) was "Feel the Magic", which was basically Wario Ware, only not as good. If Prope were to get the NiGHTS license, it wouldn't be the first time Sega did something like this. They let Q? entertainment remake Rez (hey, that's where my avatar is from).

And the game where you tap to make the balls pop up and land in the cup looks like it can be played by leaving a Wiimote on top of a washing machine.

[DiGi Valentine]

It's funny but if you sit down and think about to top three people responsible for creating NiGHTS into Dreams we can pin-point which one of them has remained true to their creative core, even to this day.

Iizuka - His idea's failed (Shadow the Hedgehog)
Naka - Wants to sit on his arse for two years and then break back into the industry with a shitty generic 'tapping' experience. He's pretty much failing.

However,

Oshima - He went on to create Blinx and numerous other colourful and imaginative games with his company, Artoon.

Seriously, Oshima seems to be the only one out of the original three who has not gone on a bender and changed his outlook on games. He's not giving hedgehogs guns and he's not conforming to gimmicks and making party games. Naka could learn a thing or two from Oshima. Serious.

--edit--

Oh, and this suddenly turned up --> Sonic 'like' game