14
Jan
2010
TPR – Rant 3: Third Party Support for the Wii Waining
Pardon some of the background noise in the podcast. I just recorded my thoughts while I was driving down the road, and it actually turned out to be something interesting. Let me know what you think.
-Will
21
Sep
2009
The Effect of Next-Gen Re-Releases on the Gaming Industry
Because of the issue of backwards compatibility only being available in select PS3 SKU’s and it being limited among select X-Box games on the 360, a new phenomenon has started to arrive on the scene: Next-Gen Re-Releases. This has been something that has been present for a while in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC), some of the more recent and bigger names of the titles span from Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 which received a graphics update as well as online compatibility, all the way to the recent release of TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-shelled.
The market is obviously there for these past titles to be re-released and consumers are demanding them. But more recently Sony’s Santa Monica offices are trying a new approach by releasing the God of War collection on a Blu-ray disk for the PS3. This package will include the original two titles in the series completely remastered from their PS2 states to run in native 720p HD graphics at 60 frames per second. Not only this, but unlike other classic games that are just offered through the various online marketplaces: PSN, XBLA, and Wii-ware, this God of War bundle will come with full trophy support, adding a new twist to two classic games. But really, the icing on the cake is that despite all of this work in remastering and adding new code to existing games, the release price for this bundle will only be 2/3 of what a standard new game retails at. $40 for next-gen updates to classic titles may just be the sweet spot.
But, why would a company spend all of this time and effort on games that have been out for years? Well, the developers surveyed the fans (Source) and simply asked them what they wanted done. This comes at a great time, because it will lead hype and anticipation for the March 2010 release of the sequel God of War III on the Playstation 3. Obviously it pays to listen to your fans, because as of now, a month and a half before the release of this new collection, it is in the Top 5 sales of all PS3 games on Amazon.com. (Source)
Now the question really is, knowing all of this, what effect will this have on the industry? If developers are focusing all of their resources on remastering classic games, then there will never be any forward progress made in the way of new IPs. There has to be a balance, and I do think that God of War has struck that balance. The way they are handling this timeline, they are allowing 4-5 months of play on the release of their classics collection in order to build the anticipation for the release of the next iteration in the series. In this you have the best of both worlds.
People that never got the chance to experience the original games (because they lived under a rock on in inner Siberia) will be able to play them in their remastered HD glory, but even more important, fans of the series will be able to wet their appetite on 720p Kratos months earlier than they expected to. This God of War collection really is an experiment as to how well the public will receive remastered games in disk form rather than just as Downloadable titles. Depending on the success of this title, we could potentially see lots more “collections” rolling out. Possibly a remastered Team ICO collection (ICO and Shadow of the Colossus)? It’s important to keep in mind that one of the most highly demanded titles is a remastered version of Final Fantasy VII.
In the end, the best part about this scenario is that everyone benefits from it. As long as developers don’t become complacent by ONLY remastering their classic titles, then gamers, developers, and the entire industry will all reap the rewards from seeing the most demanded games resurface in this generation.
Please leave questions or comments at the end!
9
Apr
2009
Death of Exclusives: Why It’s a Good Thing
Everyone remembers the “good old days” of Dreamcast, PS1, and the SNES; and they also remember the reason why they owned all of the systems: Exclusives! 3rd party developers would have a favorite console of choice and would develop for that specific system for one reason or another, although they were not required to by any binding agreements. Those days are drawing to an end, and it’s unfortunate. Or is it?
Besides the 1st party studios, exclusives have become few and far between. The world is becoming a smaller place, technologies are getting much more powerful, and developers are looking for much larger audiences for their projects. Where does that lead them? Multiplatform development. (This does not include the Wii, because that console is not part of this generation; it’s an N64 with added bells and whistles.) Even games that were once exclusives have opened their eyes and crossed console lines: Devil May Cry 4, Bioshock, Lost Planet, possibly even the Mass Effect series.
But who does this benefit in the end? The consumer! With developers being able to reach a larger target audience, there are more games for each owner to choose from. Not only that, but it gives developers exposure to developing on multiple platforms, and the ability to choose which one will lead development for each project. We have seen the benefits that this can have from EA recently, as they learned their lesson from just trying to port games earlier. *cough* Orange Box *cough* The gamers are the ones reaping the benefits from all of this, as all console owners are getting access to more and more amazing titles.
This has been showed as a great thing especially with the multiplatform release of GTAIV, and this is the case about 99.9% of the time. The only time it’s not? When the transition to multiplatform does not benefit the customer at all, rather it is only in the self-interest of companies. I’m sure I don’t need to point any fingers as everyone knows what I’m talking about. When your company forgets who they are making games for, and is only concerned about dollar signs, then they need to have their priorities examined. To clarify, I’m not suggesting that the game shouldn’t have gone multiplatform, just that PS3 owners shouldn’t have to wait an additional year for a game that has already completed production on their platform. However, that’s the reason that I’m glad that Blu-rays are region free. Shout out to PlayAsia.com!
8
Apr
2009
E3 Preview: Sony Shows their Cards Early, Microsoft Stays Silent
Some big news items have come up recently related to Sony and announcements that are going to be made by them at their E3 press conference. By far the biggest on so far is the information about the PSP-4000 or PSP2 that is surfacing. According to sources, it is going to be debuted at E3 and is slated for release in December of this calendar year. This is big news for Sony as a company, because they are the only company successfully competing with three separate consoles on the market at the same time.
Besides the PSP2 news, there have also been new talks about God of War 3 gameplay demos, as well as the same coming from the upcoming title M.A.G. It seems like they are showing all of their cards early, in order to try to ride a wave of hype heading into E3 this summer. While this is just the opposite approach than what Microsoft is doing. They are…. Silent.
Just like last year, heading into the conference they mentioned no specifics, but just slated that they would be unveiling “big things”. This was an understatement if anything, as the FFXIII bombshell was one of the biggest announcements in all of gaming history. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something close to this level of magnitude or importance. Maybe even FFXIII going multi-platform in Japan? There are rumors swirling as to what Microsoft is going to announce. The only thing that everyone can be sure of is: It’s bound to be more interesting than Nintendo’s press conference last year.
6
Apr
2009
No More Excuses: XBox 360’s Lack of Browser
Xbox Live is touted as the premiere online experience on consoles, and understandably so. This service has had a year headstart on both the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation 3. They offer services that are unparalleled by either of their competitors, thus are able to charge a premium for access to such exclusive offerings. However, despite all of this, there is still one key essential that the XBox Live Experience is missing: a browser!
One would think that it would be easy to implement Microsoft’s proprietary browser (IE) onto their own company’s console. The architecture is even similar to a standard windows based PC, so… What is the holdup? Especially since both the PS3, and the “kid friendly” Wii have a browser, why wouldn’t this be offered on the 360? There are a couple of different theories as to why this is:
1) Offering a browser on the console would make the system more susceptible to piracy and homebrews.
- This argument is absurd, because the 360 is already the most pirated console of this generation. Hackers have already found out how to easily break into the system and bypass the lack of browser. They’re only hurting the people who own their console and are “playing by the rules”.
2) Offering unrestricted internet access from the console would allow their users to browse offensive or pornographic websites, and this could potentially damage the reputation of Microsoft as a company?
- Once again, this argument is ridiculous. The Nintendo Wii offers internet!!! If anyone has to worry about offending their target audience it would be them, as they are perceived to be the most family friendly of all of the consoles.
The only reason that would remotely make sense would be that Microsoft doesn’t want their hardware to be infiltrated by viruses. Since the architecture is so similar to Windows, it would make sense that viruses would be able to seemingly make a pretty smooth transition onto the 360’s operating system. However, this is unproven and only speculation.
While the other two consoles are offering this very useful feature, (ability to watch Hulu.com, Youtube.com, etc) Microsoft, the first console to be released this generation is seemingly lagging behind. If the 360 didn’t implement a browser in their next season firmware update, I believe the entire world would be in shock. Microsoft, get your head out of the sand and listen to what your customers want. This would only give them more of a reason to be on your console for longer, and would transition the 360 to potentially be a better media center than the PS3.