In an industry where success is measured in units sold -- a notion perpetuated by a landscape perforated by sequels, littered with acquired sports and movie licenses, and bludgeoned to death by extreme soundtracks -- it gets harder every day to distinguish one GTA rip-off or Doom 3 clone from another. Thank god, then, for Clover Studio, the surging development company comprised of some truly talented former Capcom developers, like Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4) and Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry). If not for Clover, gamers would never have had the pleasure of playing with the pint-sized pugilist known as Viewtiful Joe (a Kamiya creation), its first franchise character. While numerous Joe spin-offs have kept the company busy, it is their upcoming Zelda-like epic, starring the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, that has North American gamers at the ready. The game in question is Okami, and to get to the bottom of the game's puzzlingly cool reception in Japan (where the game has been out for a few months), as well learn a bit more about Clover Studio, its people, and its creative criteria, we sat down one July afternoon with Clover President and CEO Atsushi Inaba to discuss his company's prospects.