Okamoto invites you to Party

Capcom legend Yoshiki Okamoto - famed for his work on Street Fighter 2 and Resident Evil - has finally unveiled his first Xbox 360 game.

It's titled Every Party, but Okamoto told the Xbox Summit crowd: "You can call it E-Bi-Paa for short.

"I want the game's title to be memorable, like Super Mario," he joshed.

Every Party is a four-person multiplayer party game, representing something of a departure for the veteran developer.

"Up until now, I was probably known for games that involved punching, kicking, slashing, shooting and killing," he said accurately.

"But this is going to be a party game intended for all ages, so there will be no violence or grotesque scenes." And to reinforce the point, he displayed a logo parodying the CERO symbol (CERO is Japan's videogames ratings board), adjusted to read: "No violence, no gore."

"I'm so happy about making a non-violent game that I've created this label," Okamoto explained.

"Up until now, all my games were labelled with that sticker by default."

Every Party sees players making their way across a game board, a system that will be familiar to Mario Party fans, spinning a roulette wheel and, of course, playing all kinds of mini-games. Artist Sakura Momoko - well-known in Japan for his work on the Chibimaruko-Chan anime series - is designing the characters. The game will feature full Xbox Live support, a key factor as far as Okamoto's concerned.

"You should be able to enjoy as much as you can within your free time, which is what games are all about," he said.

"As some people may know, I love board games and party games. I love having a blast with other people. But it's rare for people like me to gather together. The Xbox 360 will alloy anyone to enjoy playing with each other at any time."

And you can keep your high-tech lighting effects and ridiculously large polygon counts, Okamoto reckons.

"I was asked by people as to why I'm making a party game for a next-generation machine, and whether it really needs the specs of next-generation hardware.

"But that's not what games are all about. Even nowadays, people play old-time games such as Famicoms. Games are, simply, supposed to be fun," he said.

There's no word on a release date for Every Party as yet - but the game was looking pretty near completion at the Xbox Summit event, so with a bit of luck it might even be an Xbox 360 launch title. We'll just have to wait and see...