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God of War Collection, PS3 BC, and the future of up-ports
The Reverend Dr Galactus
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As you may know, Sony CE announced today something that had been speculated for awhile: an up-port (semi-remake? HD remix?) of both God of War games to the PS3, complete with 720p rendering, some gameplay tweaks, and trophy support, scheduled for a holiday release and a pretty decent $40US price tag.
What this signals for Sony's strategy with relation to PS2-era games is what really interests me here, and I can't imagine I'm alone. Is this the real driving force behind SCE's abandonment of PS2 compatibility? One data point does not a pattern make, but there is also Katamari Damacy Tribute to consider, another PS2 classic to be bundled with its sequel into a next-gen semi-remake.
While this may not be a substitute for BC, it's an interesting alternative strategy that seems to be developing, and could be seen as a novel evolution of the Nintendo-pioneered, straight porting of classics that Sony has tested the waters with for a number of PSX games. Do you think this practice of semi-remaking will catch on?
And now I hope we can avoid devolving this into a simple list thread, but just to get it out of the way... Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Ok.
What this signals for Sony's strategy with relation to PS2-era games is what really interests me here, and I can't imagine I'm alone. Is this the real driving force behind SCE's abandonment of PS2 compatibility? One data point does not a pattern make, but there is also Katamari Damacy Tribute to consider, another PS2 classic to be bundled with its sequel into a next-gen semi-remake.
While this may not be a substitute for BC, it's an interesting alternative strategy that seems to be developing, and could be seen as a novel evolution of the Nintendo-pioneered, straight porting of classics that Sony has tested the waters with for a number of PSX games. Do you think this practice of semi-remaking will catch on?
And now I hope we can avoid devolving this into a simple list thread, but just to get it out of the way... Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Ok.
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Around the webs, the same people who blast Nintendo on this are now praising Sony's genius idea. Go fig. :P
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I assume you're talking about the Metroid Trilogy/Pikmin stuff? At least on here, I haven't heard anyone who thinks that's a bad idea. They just wish they'd come up with new games, in addition to releasing the older games over again.
My friend is pretty stoked. He bought his PS3 solely for God of War 3. He had to get a non BC PS3, though, so he can't play the first two anymore on it. I told him this and he was really excited, especially since he was pretty bummed GoW3 wasn't coming out until next year.
Really, this is a great move. It garners some hype for GoW3, gets Sony some easy money, makes some people happy, and is generally a pretty good buy for the holidays.
No no no no no no no
You've got it all fucking wrong
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Most of the gripers haven't been around here. It's mostly around some of the other sites I go to periodically. I just find it funny is all.
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Now I fully regret doing so..shoulda kept it and upped the dosage of my Xanax...
dammit
Defensive much?
WTB high res 60fps ICO and SotC, I'd gladly buy those too.
...but I hope it sells like mad and starts a trend of remaking games that maybe aren't as easy to find or that are a couple of generations old and haven't aged well.
Not really, I just find it funny when stuff like this happens, and the reactions they cause. Depending on one's personal preference for a console, an announcement like this will cause two completely different reactions for the same person.
I personally can't stand the GoW games, so this would be a no go for me.
Ico/SotC though, I would have a hard time saying no to that. I personally wish that Sony would do this for the Ratchet and Clank games, as I would buy a collection of those in a heartbeat.
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Well you're comparing apples with oranges, this is potentially quite different to Gamecube games I played 6 years ago with added waggle and Sony's first party lineup this year has been a lot stronger than Nintendo's. If this turns out to look barely any different to how my TV upscales PS2 games and the sound isn't Dolby Digital I'll be the first to write this off. For now... guarded optimism.
Actually, there's a lot more to the Metroid games than added waggle... they upgraded the textures and lighting, improved load times, tinkered with the difficulty, etc.
Also, what does this have to do with Nintendo and Sony's first party lineups?
It's still the same resolution, adding bloom won't change that. Regarding lineups: NPC is pretty much all Nintendo have come out with this year for Wii, whilst Sony have been firing on all cylinders. In that context some farmed out ports of old content is a lot more palatable on PS3 because it's not all Sony has to offer. It was a response to Brainiac 8 and it's best to end that there, it will only drag this topic down.
Whether or not it's the same thing (it is) you'll like it/loath it based on your console preference.
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I agree with the OP, Ico and SoC as well.
This really is a fantastic idea from a business standpoint. These compilations can't cost that much to put together and I'm sure they'll do decently well. I'd love to see some more.
(Disgaea 1 & 2 perhaps).
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Most important part: mold the Blu-Ray case out of black or maybe PS2-teal blue plastic so they stand out.
As for the games themselves, though, I think it's important that these aren't just upscaled. With the God of War Collection, since they are having to port the renderer to Cell architecture, they're rendering the whole thing at a native 720p. I don't think they're changing any of the art assets, but they may very well be upgrading the shaders and other finer points. That's where I think the real value in these is: it's a place between a straight port and a full remake where they can keep the price somewhat low and bundle a couple of games together, but still have something fresh.
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That's certainly different than just releasing the games on the new system with no change while fans are clamoring for an actual new game.
Note that people are saying that they want Ico and SotC in a similar deal because we know The Last Guardian is coming out.
On the flipside, Nintendo's Play On Wii games are simply GameCube games redone to have Wii controls.
On the flipside flipside, Sony's move could be seen simply as a marketing push to ramp up hype for GoW3.
Still, as someone who didn't own a PS2, the price point on this news is certainly welcome (2 games for $40). I'll probably pick it up around xmas and play through it to see if I'll get a kick out of GoW3.
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How is this any different from the New Play Control series on Wii? In both cases, they're ports of last-gen classics retrofitted with the new systems' strengths in mind (added Wii controls and widescreen; improved resolution). The only difference is price.
I think this is a great idea in either case. It seems like it could have even been a killer pack-in bonus deal for GoW3, like the Zelda Collectors Edition disc on Gamecube.
I think the price is really key -- if you can get updated versions of a prev-gen game for the same as if you were buying the old version in the "reduced price because it's popular" version, that's pretty awesome for people who missed out on the game for whatever reason.
As someone who doesn't own a Wii, I do think it's a little lame that the only change for, say, Pikmin is the controls, because it was designed at the time to work very well with a gamepad. I haven't played the new version so I don't know if the controls really change the game at all, or just offer a way to use the "normal" wii controls. Especially because if it controls best with a gamepad still, you can get the old GameCube version for even less and play it on the Wii anyway.
The positive thing is that in this case at least two companies are updating these "classic" games for their new system and releasing them at low prices. But I think how the game is actually updated will dictate how well individual games sell. If people feel that there's no real reason to purchase the "current gen" release, they simply won't. If there's a graphics and framerate boost to make the games look better, or some other minor changes, then that will probably get new people interested as well as encourage some fans of the games to double-dip.
You mentioned Shadow of the Colossus facetiously (and really, how could anyone forget Final Fantasy 7), but I think they're both perfect examples of games that would need an up-port not just because they're awesome to play, but because they are clearly hitting a performance ceiling, and putting them on a new system would allow them to be played like they were originally meant to.
I don't think there's a question it's already caught on. Digital distribution has allowed a lot of smaller, less resource-intensive projects to be given a green light. Turtles in Time is only the latest example of how up-ports are starting to get market penetration. But if you're asking whether up-ports will catch on as a disc you buy in-store, then my gut feeling is to say no. It'll only be used in the cases of blockbuster series that are wildly popular.
The problem, then, with just doing up-ports of all the most popular games is when you're spending money for very little visible improvement. (See the Resident Evil gamecube ports) I don't see myself spending another $50 on God of War Alpha 2 when I was only lukewarm on the series to begin with, and also because it runs fine on PS2 already.
The whole thing feels like an extension of sequelitis to me, so I'm resistant to the idea.
(Another thought occurred to me-- playing Shadow of the Colossus running at 60fps would be a radically different experience. No more slow-mo. It might even remove some of the sense of scale you get from the colossi because they'd seem to be moving impossibly fast.)
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In your attempt to fall over yourself trying to defend Nintendo (you don't even own a PS3, why are you even in this topic let alone bringing up Nintendo?) you failed to notice that until this comes out and we see for sure how much of an improvement it is, I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other. In the context of Sony's lineup I think this is *potentially* a good thing just like in the context of Nintendo's lineup and the minimal improvements therein I find NPC utterly underwhelming as the core of Nintendo's 2009 lineup so far.
I don't see a problem either way. Pikmin's new controls blow the original game away. Same with Metroid Prime Trilogy, the new controls are fantastic. Plus both have been fitted for widescreen, which the originals didn't have.
This is a great and cheap way for people to get into a game that never did on the original release, me thinks. I'm glad Sony and Nintendo have both started doing this. it's good as long as it doesn't get out of control. Pikmin and MP Trilogy are the only ones I upgraded to on the Wii...and I'll do Pikmin 2 when it's released. Not interested in the rest although I heard good things about Donkey Kong.
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What you don't understand is that I'm not blasting Sony for doing this, it's actually a great idea. I was just mentioning a trend in the way gamer's reactions tend to work. In fact, what I said in the quote there wasn't about Nintendo, MS, Sony, or even Atari...it was just an observation.
Heck, I call out Nintendo on all kinds of things they do that I don't agree with, as I do MS, Sony and anyone else. Re-releasing games from the previous gen with improvements (no matter what those improvements are) is good, as it does two things: Allows people who never played them to finally experience them for the first time, and second, as was mentioned, to drum up excitement for a new iteration in a franchise (as both this and MP Trilogy are meant to do).
So don't accuse me of something I wasn't doing. It wasn't meant to come off as anything but an observation on the nature of people. That is all.
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