Shinji Mikami Discusses Devil May Cry, Network Gaming

Shinji Mikami, the creator of the Resident Evil series and executive producer of the upcoming PlayStation 2 game Devil May Cry, expressed his interest in doing a networked game in a recent interview with Hyper PlayStation 2 magazine in Japan.

"It is very attractive, and I want to do something like that by all means," said Mikami, when asked of his thoughts on networked games. "However, its genre would be different from the game we are doing now. It also might have to be called a network communications game rather than a simple networked game."

On the subject of Devil May Cry, Mikami said that it has been a complex process in designing the game. However, he has included such details as trembling puddles of water as the wind rushes in through a window and real-time shadows that are affected by specific light sources. Like many developers, he feels that it takes strong programmers to fully extract the power of the PlayStation 2 console, but when fully adapted it can produce graphics that rival CG quality on the original PlayStation. "Devil May Cry is now more beautiful visually than the opening movie of the original Biohazard," Mikami said.

Devil May Cry is currently being developed for the PlayStation 2, but GameSpot has learned that Capcom has not ruled out the possibility of bringing it to other next-generation consoles. However, specific details regarding possible cross-platform development has not been revealed. The PS2 version of the game will be released in fall 2001. GameSpot will have continued coverage of Capcom's Devil May Cry.