An interview with Prime developer Retro Studios offers a glimpse of what the game and the Revolution hardware might be like.The Luminoth Temple website is a special invitation-only Nintendo website for registered My Nintendo members with a special interest for the Metroid series. While not everyone is allowed access to the site, information that comes from it is fair game.
Luminoth Temple members were allowed the opportunity to ask questions of Retro Studios, developers of the first two Metroid Prime games for the GameCube and the upcoming Metroid Prime 3 for Revolution. The Q&A session revealed some very interesting things about not only Metroid Prime 3, but also possibly the Revolution hardware itself.
First, details on the game. Prime 3's plot is said to be one of "closure," implying that game three will be the last of the Prime series of Metroid titles. Additionally, the mysterious Phazon material seen in the Prime games will play a "major role" in Prime 3's story, with Samus exploring various environments along the way.
Changes and improvements to the gameplay engine seen between Echoes and the Revolution version of Metroid Prime will likely be even more drastic than the improvements made between the original Metroid Prime and its GameCube sequel. That doesn't mean the Retro team will dump the first-person view or Samus' Power Suit visor abilities, with the developer commenting there are no plans for using a 3rd-person perspective "for the times when Samus is in a suit." (Morphball sequences will still use an external camera, however.)
Two familiar names will also be back working on the Revolution version of Metroid Prime. Andrew Jones, the talented artist behind much of the concept art for the Prime series, is back. Also returning is Kenji Yamamoto, music composer for the first two games. With the increased disc capacity that the Revolution's DVD-sized discs will carry, Retro hopes "to take the music into some new directions."
Although most of the questions asked of Retro were specifically about Metroid Prime 3 the game, only one directly adressed the Revolution hardware and its revolutionary controller. To the question of whether or not the game would use the controller's unique features, Retro Studios produced this answer:
We plan on taking advantage of a number of new features in the Revolution, including the controller.
What sort of new features does the Revolution have that would benefit a game like Metroid Prime? The internal flash memory? Built-in Wi-fi? It's anyone's guess at this point in time, but at least now there's a little bit of info to chew on while the speculation regarding the Revolution continues.