Many are wondering what the deal is with Crimson Dragon, which is the spiritual successor to the beloved Panzer Dragoon series, with hands free controls tossed into the mix (for better or worse). The game was supposed to come out last summer, but unfortunately missed that target date. Many months later and we still have no new release window.
Last we heard, a demo was accidentally leaked onto the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace, and prompted yanked. Ever since, there has been radio silence. What exactly is going on? Is there trouble afoot?
Well, if there was, it might be all in the past. Eurogamer reports that the game's creator Yukio Futatsugi, that Crimson Dragon is still in development.
Futatsugi spoke about it, at the recently concluded Bitsummit in Kyoto:
"Well, the game has been delayed and I know people are waiting for it, but it is definitely moving ahead."
When asked how far it is away from being finished, Futatsugi responded with:
"I can't say… But it's really not far off."
Panzer Dragoon's father goes on to explain that he was approached by Microsoft to develop something for the Kinect:
"I felt I could definitely do something interesting with it. I gave them several proposals but Microsoft said, 'No, how about a dragon game?' Originally I had intended to make something totally different, but they said, 'Something similar to Panzer Dragoon would be great.'"
Some had theorized that one possible reason why Crimson Dragon is not high on the radar is a perceived lack of interest on the part of Microsoft's part. Though in the information above definitely paints a different picture. After all, why would MS not care about a Panzer Dragoon-esque game when it was they who requested such a thing in the first place?
Futatsugi also notes that he is indeed worried about how fans of the original series will react to the Kinect-driven successor:
"Yes, yes, very much so! I'm working hard to make sure no one says, 'The old one was better!' But Panzer is Sega's IP and this game will be different from that. The design concept of the dragons and the environments is very different. All I can really do is finish it. Anyway, games are made differently these days, so I hope people will see this as the sort of game Panzer Dragoon might have been if it had been made today."
