With Lost Planet 2, Capcom will be releasing its first game based on the cross-platform MT Framework 2.0, which the company designed for both internal use and use by external contract studios.
Previous versions of Capcom's cross-platform game engine MT Framework have been used as the basis for titles such as the original Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Devil May Cry 4, and most recently, Resident Evil 5 -- all internally-developed Capcom games. But according to AndriaSang.com (a translation of a Japanese GameWatch piece), the new MTFW 2.0, which is debuting with Lost Planet 2, has been designed with external developers in mind. Capcom probably won't be going into a full-blown engine licensing business any time soon, though, rather supplying external contracted development partners with the engine. Licensing of full-scale engine technology isn't nearly as prevalent in Japan as it is in the West, where we have game developers licensing engines such as Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3, Emergent's Gamebryo, and Crytek's CryEngine. Such a decision to provide external development partners with MTFW 2.0 and tech support could mean new levels of synergy between Capcom and contracted studios as well. Capcom's Lost Planet 2 boasts lush vegetation, sharply detailed characters, and an overall a visual improvement over the 2006 Xbox 360 and PC original. MTFW is designed for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Capcom has been a leader among Japanese game companies in globalizing its games business for the current generation of game hardware. Since the introduction of the Xbox 360, the Osaka-based publisher has taken a measured approach to delivering globally-appealing IP, and has taken into account Western gameplay and content preferences with admirable success.
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