Tag Archives: factor 5

New concept art from character designer Daveed Kaplan has come to light, which shows renders of a game he was working on before San Rafael-based developer Factor 5 was shuttered in 2009. The art, uncovered by Siliconera, shows enemies and the main character of a game the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron studio was working on and codenamed Blue Steel. It was a Superman game, and should not be confused a pose made famous by supermodel, Derek Zoolander. The game was just one title Factor 5 had in the works for Brash Entertainment, which declared bankruptcy in 2009 and as such blamed partially for the closure of the studio.

You can view more of the character renders through the link.

Factor 5 might be dead, but so has the NDAs on canned projects, it seems. One such project, as shown to GAF recently, is a PS3 exclusive called Animal Wars. One render from the game was posted, with info saying it was “World War II themed game that played like Warhawk but war between animals.” It would also have been “way better” than infamous PS3 launch title from F5, Lair.

There’s more details on the canned projects and what’s happened to senior heads in the thread here. Factor 5 went under in May 2009.

During E3, Shigeru Miyamoto was asked by Nintendo Power if there were plans to bring a new Kid Icarus to Wii or DS.

“Wait, please. I’m really surprised how popular that is,” Miyamoto told the mag. “But you are the first person to ask at this E3!”

Kid Icarus Wii rumors and concept art have been floating around since 2008.

Just be patient folks. Really.

Via GoNintendo, Kombo.

A group of former staff members who worked for Factor 5 are suing the firm for fraud, claiming the founders moved assets before filing for bankruptcy.

The ex-staffers claim the money was moved to avoid paying employees and that Factor 5 stopped paying employees on November 1, 2008, before letting them go “with little or no notice” on December 19.

“We allege in the suit that Factor 5 and its three founders fraudulently transferred assets, including source code and other intellectual property to Blue Harvest, which is now known as White Harvest,” said James Smith, a lawyer representing the employees.

“We believe and have alleged in the complaint that Factor 5 and White Harvest are essentially the same company, being run by the same people, being represented by the same sets of lawyers, with all the same management and ownership and control, performing all the same work that they were doing at Factor 5, just now with a new name and a new address.”

After filing for Chapter 7, the Lair developer closed shop last month with up to $100,000 in assets and $10 million in debt with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than $900,000.

Via Edge.

San Rafael-based Factor 5, best known for Lair and the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series, has shut its doors, according to a post on the official website from CEO Achim Moller.

Brash Entertainment’s bankruptcy is being blamed partially for the closure, as the company had a multi-game deal with Factor 5. Because of this, “the continuation of operations have turned out too great to overcome in the current economic climate,” said Moller.

Factor 5 GmbH, based out of Cologne, is not affected by the closure, and the studio promises to reveal it’s upcoming projects over the next few months.

More over on the official site.

Via San Francisco Examiner.

IGN’s Matt Casamassina has published an email from an “inside source” that claims Factor 5 is to close.

From the mail:

We just learned from inside sources that developer Factor 5 has officially closed their doors as of today. That’s some pretty big news considering that those guys have been around for quite a while. It’s definitely a real shame! I hope that this information is helpful to you.

Factor 5 was reported to be in a spot of bother last week as it was rumoured that 37 staff were laid off.

More Christmas cheer for the games industry, it seems.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

By Mike Bowden

According to this Edge piece, a recent blog posting about layoffs and delayed pay at Lair developer Factor 5 is “all true.”

The site’s source said that 37 people were laid off from the Californian studio on Friday afternoon. Around 38 people remain, he said.

“The last time staff got paid was October 15,” the source stated.

Whoops. More through there.

According to this NintendoEverything piece, Kid Icarus Wii has surfaced on an Australian retail listing.

Practically confirmed. It may as well be real. IGN’s been banging on about this for months now, so it’s probably true. And now it’s on an Australian shop list, so it’s almost released. Almost.

Kombo‘s got what is claimed to be some concept art from the upcoming Kid Icarus game for Wii.

Apparently the images are part of a 2008 pitch process to Nintendo from Factor 5. Sounds, and looks, legit. Go see.

So says IGN. From the piece:

Sony Japan provided first details today on a free update for Lair, and included in the bullet points is the option for analog controls!

The update will also offer the ability to show a targeting icon, and Dual Shock 3 rumble support.

Apparently the update’s going to be released on April 17 in Japan, and presumably worldwide. Sony, Sony, Sony. Thanks to Blerk.

The president of Lair developer Factor 5, Julian Eggebrecht, has said that he wants to get the most out of Wii with his new project, but refused to be drawn on details.

“We want to push the hardware,” he said. “I think for us it’s relatively easy for us to push the hardware. It inherently comes. But a lot of it is about exploiting the uniqueness of the Wii. I mean, on the graphical side, we’re going to try and do everything to outdo everything else on the platform, the same as we did for the Star Wars games back on the GameCube. But one of our main focuses is the innovation around the controls. Everybody is always talking about the motion control, but I think people are overplaying that a bit. I really, really love the pointing aspect of the remote. Although we’re going to use everything for what we have in development, I think the pointing stuff is probably the biggest innovation which we’re working on right now.”

The identity of the game in question hasn’t been announced as yet.