Leon Scott Kennedy in Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles
August 19, 2009
Click here to view the latest Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles Trailer for Nintendo Wii! As always, keep me in the loop on these things via e-mail.
August 13, 2009
Things seem different, or maybe it's just me who's no longer the boy I once was... I wish the world looked like it did to me in 1998, before Raccoon City. Before I knew who I'd had to become to survive.
Leon, I wish you looked and acted like you did in 1998, too.
I'm sure there's more news floating around about Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, but I don't conduct research on it myself. In fact, this news bit and media came courtesy of Another tip. Please e-mail me with any other news and media bits you have. Below is a post about the new Leon and Claire official twitter pages from the source (here)
Two of the popular characters from the upcoming game, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles have just recently created twitter accounts.
To follow them:
@leon_darkside
@claire_darkside
You can also check the feed at www.residentevil.com/darkside
(Be sure to check out the new blog post today, from Director Yasuhiro Seto-san)
In anticipation of his next assignment, Leon S. Kennedy has decided to tweet his thoughts as he heads off on his next mission. The mission, which will be available for you to experience this winter in Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, will give followers a taste of what to expect in the game... He can't disclose too many details of his new mission, (no spoilers) but may give out some exclusive info for those that pay attention. Also, as time goes on, he may find relevant items and share the intel with his followers as it becomes available.
In the fight against bio-terror, events of the past may provide essential information that aids the situation in the present. Leon has a few things etched in his memory that makes him invaluable. Some of these memories were formed in Raccoon City, in Resident Evil 2, during his first encounter with bio-terror. These experiences changed his life and sent him on the path that has lead him to his current mission.
Claire Redfield, his partner from Raccoon City, was thrown into a horrific situation on a quest to find her brother. Leon and Claire set off to re-live the past they barely survived.
I just read this post for the first time and I'm smiling ear to ear at that "Leon S. Kennedy has decided to tweet his thoughts as he head off on his next mission." I wish it would have said "his secret mission" for maximum irony. It'll be amusing to follow the tweets and get some insight into the upcoming Leon & Claire game! (So it seems). Also, I have some more gorgeous, high quality Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles graphics to share. Check back later in the evening for those.
May 20, 2009
More relieable sources (Thank you Mr. Anderson) have informed about another Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles blog entry centering around Leon Scott Kennedy. Before I cotinue with the new one, I re-read the old one, and one line in particular stands out and worries me.
Mr. Suga already has experience with Leon in writing the script for Degeneration. In re-imagining Leon's Raccoon City exploits, he has strived to create a character that is more consistent with the "resourceful special-agent" Leon we know from newer Resident Evil stories. What happened to Leon that made him choose that life?
So these couple of lines are telling us that instead of doing the hard work and writing a real motivation or transition for Leon, they're simply going to "Reimagine" him and pretend his Resident Evil 2 Era Persona doesn't exist? I can't know for sure with the ambiguous writing. But luckily, here's another Leon-related blog entry to offer us some clues.
The Leon of 1998
The Leon in Darkside Chronicles appears as he was in 1998. This was the year the T-Virus spread throughout Raccoon City and started the whole Resident Evil series. Leon must endure a bitter struggle to escape the doomed Raccoon City.
Leon looks a little different compared to his other appearances in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4. He's a fresh rookie cop, and his looks are somewhat soft. But we wanted to leave hints of the man Leon would become in Resident Evil 4.
We debated long and hard about what kind of voice to give this young Leon and still maintain his character's image.
Paul Mercier did most of the voice work for Leon in Resident Evil 4. He also played Leon in the CG movie Resident Evil: Degeneration. Paul has become our image of what Leon's character is.
We did the voice recording in Los Angeles. Paul's real voice is actually low and cool, as it is in Degeneration. But since for this setting we needed a very young Leon, we had him say his lines in a higher pitch. Early recording sessions were drawn out at times because during intense lines, sometimes Paul would revert back to his natural, low voice. But, he was very professional. Once he understood what we were trying to accomplish with the character, recording went quite smoothly with little need for multiple takes. In my mind, Paul's voice as Leon is dazzling. It's perfect.
In Resident Evil 2, we were shown a Leon who was serious (almost to a fault), and a sucker for the ladies.* We tried to maintain those qualities for him in Darkside Chronicles. The aim of the scenario concept for Darkside Chronicles was to preserve the feeling of the old games while making them more interesting, and to retell those stories from the first person perspective. So, we've decide to give Leon a little girl trouble in this game as well. With Claire, Ada, and Sherry as the scenario's female characters, something is bound to happen. ;-)
More than 10 years has gone by since the release of Resident Evil 2, and graphics technology has come a long way since then. Likewise, advancements in sound technology have made equally great strides. As such, I knew I would have to take character dialogue very seriously. So, I got together with Mr. Suga, whom I mentioned before, to put together the script. We decided to use dialog to give the audience a deeper look into the characters.
How could we create an emotional drama between Leon and another female character? I met with Cinematic Director Hide Gondoh over and over trying to come up with a solution. I've worked with Mr. Gondoh before on titles like Resident Evil Remake, and Resident Evil 4. He's an extremely talented director who can handle everything from event scene choreography, to staff coordination. It just so happens that he is fond of Leon's character. And he wisely suggested that we write Leon with a focus on realism.
Will all this tension and realism Leon is feeling fit into the game's overall theme of "presence"? At first I thought that with a pre-existing Resident Evil scenario, the lines for that scenario would be, for the most part, already written. But, for Darkside Chronicles, we are taking it to another level.
We will continue to challenge ourselves and make this one of the most epic Resident Evil games yet!
Source: http://www.capcom-fc.com/re_dc/2009/05/the_leon_of_199.html
I'm glad they've worked with Paul to make sure he speaks in a higher pitch for Leon in this game. Calling Leon a "sucker for the ladies" because he worked to save 3 lady's lives in Resient Evil 2 is a little harsh, but that has proved to be a consistent them over the years, hasn't it? Where there's Leon, sexual tension and/or unrequited love may follow. Additionally, calling Leon's Resident Evil 2 persona serious to a fault is ridiculous. Compared to his Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Degeneration personas, Leon in Resident Evil 2 is just plain light hearted. But I digress. I hate first-person shooters, but it looks like I might be forced to give this game a try.
I don't know what the fuck they mean by overall theme of "presence" (as in, when we play we feel like we're really there?), but it would be refreshing to see some realism after they forced Leon to survive the absurdity in Resident Evil 4. No more chests of gold from birds!
May 11, 2009
Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles has an official Blog that you can check out for useful tidbits and information. I wish I was the hardcore pimp that uncovered this. But actually, this hardcore guy named Paul dropped me a line to give me the official scoop. He's so awesome he eats rocks and shits gunpowder, holy shit. I implore his fellow pimps to share more information with me regarding Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles via E-mail. Thank you.
The best news about this game that I've read thus far is the blog post I linked to, regarding Re-imagining Leon Scott Kennedy. A whole official blog entry dedicated to Leon? Thank the Gaming-Gods! The best Leon-relatd bits are in bold and my notes follow the post.
Reimagining Leon
If you watch the recent Darkside Chronicles trailer, you will see the names of some of our staff displayed at the end for a few seconds. We are a very enthusiastic team that is looking forward to bringing you a quality game. I'd like to introduce you to some of the really talented team members, hopefully illustrating some of the cool things about Darkside Chronicles along the way.
First I'd like to talk a bit about our scenario writer, Shotaro Suga.
Mr. Suga has written the scripts for some great Japanese anime such as the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, Eureka Seven, and Darker Than Black. He has also worked here at Capcom on Devil May Cry 4 as well as Resident Evil: Degeneration.
Resident Evil: Degeneration is a story about Leon and Claire, set in 2005 after the events of Resident Evil 4. Mr Suga was the one who created an engaging drama in a rich setting which complimented the stunning CG visuals of the film.
In a previous post I explained one of our themes; that of presence (a heightened sense of reality that enhances the gameplay experience). With Darkside Chronicles we want that sense of presence to surpass what we did in Umbrella Chronicles. The scenario and all the lines of dialogue in the game play an important role in realizing this theme. I asked Mr. Suga to create a script with realistic dialogue filled with raw feeling.
The first big question we had to deal with in moving from drafts to the final scenario was how to portray Leon in this game. Since appearing in Resident Evil 2, Leon has starred in both Resident Evil 4 and the Degeneration film. Resident Evil 2 came out over 10 years ago so we wanted to re-envision Leon's first adventure taking current expectations into account rather than just copying Resident Evil 2 verbatim.
In Umbrella Chronicles, and indeed the Chronicles series as a whole, we want to revisit the true stories of the characters' motivations and intentions. Even if this isn't directly related to the gameplay, it's very important to focus on these things to keep the characters and world of Resident Evil appealing.
However, this was unexpectedly difficult in Leon's case. He's not as simple as Chris or Jill, definitely a tough nut to crack.
Leon was nothing but a rookie police officer when he was caught up in the Raccoon City incident. When did he change so drastically? What do you think Leon's real purpose and motivations are? Money? Love? Duty? Honor? Perhaps revenge?
Mr. Suga already has experience with Leon in writing the script for Degeneration. In re-imagining Leon's Raccoon City exploits, he has strived to create a character that is more consistent with the "resourceful special-agent" Leon we know from newer Resident Evil stories. What happened to Leon that made him choose that life?
Mr. Suga and I have gone through many revisions trying different things with Leon's character, and this process has yielded a great final scenario. The story of how Leon lives his life and the choices he makes is one of the themes I am very excited to explore with you in the Darkside Chronicles.
Source: http://www.capcom-fc.com/re_dc/2009/05/reimagining_leo_1.htmlSo it looks like Leon fans might finally receive an answer to the gaping black whole that is purportedly Leon's past and personality. I have to disagree with the entry about Leon's true motivations being mysterious. That's not the case, he says it clearly. What would be very interesting is to learn more about his past, and how he develops between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4.
The blog writer "reassures" by informing us that the scenario writer is Shotaro Suga, the script writer for the slightly confusing Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Series and...Resident Evil: Degeneration. The only thing we learned about Leon Scott Kennedy in Resident Evil: Degeneration is that he can hold a menacing scowl for hours on end. The script was the weak link in Degeneration, so should we hold high hopes that the rather flat writing in Degeneration could yield something of substance and development for the handsome rookie cop?
I do like the note that Leon is, "not as simple as Chris or Jill, definitely a tough nut to crack." A deep look into Leon's psyche involving Leon and nuts-to-crack, what's not to like? Come on, NUTS!
I'm going to hate the gameplay for this game, but I'm excited to see what new "dimension" they'll dream up for Leon. More news will come!
April 14, 2009
Official News
An Official Press Release issued by Capcom on March 12, 2009 states that Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is a sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. The game will feature Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield, and the story is based on Resident Evil 2. The game is supposed to fill in many missing pieces of the storyline that were not covered in the original "Umbrella Chronicles."
The game play is designed to fix the issues of the first Umbrella chronicles. As visible in the promotional video, you can dodge enemies, and the graphics and cut scenes have gone up in quality. Co-op is another fun feature, you can rely on AI or you can enlist a friend to help you fight. An official website for the Japanese version had a trailer, available here http://www.capcom.co.jp/bio_dc/.
Notes
I haven't played Resident Evil: Umbrella chronicles. And frankly, I'm a little iffy on wii controls. But I'll probably purchase this game, buying into their well-marketed nostalgia factor (Damn you, Capcom!) Resident Evil 2 is the best game in the series, and this is closest thing we may ever get to a complete remake of Resident Evil 2. The graphics (and Leon Kennedy himself) look incredible, but the 'on-rails' style game play and active camera is going to annoy the hell out of me. Oh well, any excuse to see Leon looking awesome in his old uniform.
We'll see more glimpses of this until it's released this winter. Feel free to use the promotional stills provided below, and please e-mail me if you have more images, media, etc. I'll be adding some video footage later this evening.
Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles Screencaptures
Click the thumnails to view the full graphic
These awesome Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles images and screencaptures show beautiful, detailed graphics.
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