• 12.16.2005 | Tread softly Sony, because you tread on my dreams. | Geoffrey Duke
• 05.23.2005 | Virtua Fighter evolves. | Geoffrey Duke
• 02.10.2005 | Did Sega's dream die a premature death? | Geoffrey Duke
• 01.28.2005 | Resident Evil 4 comes to the Playstation 2 after all... | Geoffrey Duke

Ryu ga Gotoku | PS2

     > Toshihiro Nagoshi's "Ryu ga Gotoku" (a name which translates into "Like a Dragon") for Sony's much reviled Playstation 2 has received glowing praise from Famitsu, Japan's premiere gaming publication, scoring 10, 10, 9, 8 (a grand total of 37/40). Rare is the game that manages to earn a nearly perfect 40 score from Famitsu's respected reviewers. Rarer still is the game that can claim perfection in every category for its own. The game that sells on merit alone is the rarest of them all! Sorry: I couldn't resist. The game itself, developed by none other than the former Smilebit staff who merged with Amusement Vision, including the talented Panzer Dragoon Orta team (that would explain why the PS2 seems to be working overtime in this game), was quite obviously tailor-made for a Japanese audience, so a localization seems highly unlikely no matter how much a receiver of praise it might be. I find it best to air on the side of pessimism when it comes to games from Japan with no confirmed plans for a translation. Sega already confirmed that Phantasy Star Universe (PS2, PC) is on the way to all major territories long before the game has even been finished (I wouldn't be surprised if its localization was already underway), but the future of Ryu ga Gotoku remains sketchy at best.
 

Ryu ga Gotoku | PS2

     > Being the Japanese answer to Grand Theft Auto with a violent Yakuza martial arts theme (think of it as a darker, more action-packed Shenmue - I'm not sure if it has any interactive cutscenes), you'd think that Sega would jump at the chance to bring Ryu ga Gotoku to a broader audience. Now that the Playstation 2 has officially sold 100 million consoles world-wide (I can't stop wondering how many of these are replacements), Sega has no excuse not to give this title the localization treatment. Of course, only Sega would blow 20+ million dollars on a new project like this not developed over the safety net of an established brand name (like our good old friends at EA have a nasty habit of doing - EA is only now considering updating "its own" intellectual properties because the licenses it rents are becoming increasingly expensive as their owners wake up to their selling power). The Playstation 3 probably won't be out in Europe until early 2007, giving Sega of Europe some extra time to fill the gaps in the Playstation 2's shrinking release schedule. Maybe there's still some hope. I don't know. Sega hasn't been making many wise decisions lately shown in all these sub-par games designed for the sole purpose of jumping on trends like the run ‘n’ gun trend-conscious Shadow The Hedgehog. Sammy has in fact, given Sega the much needed sense of direction it has been missing (Sega publishing more games made by westerners for westerners like Condemned, for instance, is exactly what the doctor ordered if it hopes to become a true international company once again thinking outside of the box -- Japan). 
 

Ryu ga Gotoku | PS2

     > All will be forgiven if Sega ports the supped up PC version of Phantasy Star Universe (with its greater draw distances and more vibrant textures) to the Xbox 360, however. This game exudes high production values, and this, along with the next-gen Sonic game aren’t games Sega will be willing to screw up; their franchises generate too much money to leave in the hands of those who aren’t prepared to make the most out of them. When you think about it, bringing PSU to the most online-friendly next generation console available would be a no-brainer. The bigwigs at Sega would have to be stupid to have not at least considered the idea. Of course, merely entertaining the idea won’t be very entertaining at all. 

     > I’ll be there to let you know if Sega makes the right decision(s)… for a change. >:) Meanwhile, Condemned was cancelled for the Playstation 3. I'm not sure why exactly, but I suspect the multi-cored Cell processor's lack of compatibility with single-threaded game engines (adopted by most, if not all current games) was to blame (that's a more likely culprit than M$'s wallet).

Good Gaming,
-Geoffrey Duke

What do you think? Email

VF 4: Evolution | PS2

     > Sega AM2's Virtua Fighter 4, and its second incarnation Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution (which includes two extra characters and enhanced graphics to further complete the whole package), were so successful outside of Japan on the PS2 for the following reasons: 1. Although clearly downgraded from the arcade game, the graphics were amazing for the PS2 (all those years of experience coding for parallel processors sure paid off) and still are to this day (AM2 even smoothened the rough edges in the second version). Of course let's bear in mind that Soul Calibur 2 for the PS2 barely looks twice as good as the original game for the Dreamcast, and doesn't even look half as good as Dead or Alive 3 for the Xbox. 2. AM2 gave the artwork a darkly stylish makeover, and made the gameplay friendlier to mass market casual players to broaden its appeal (it can be played without years of practice) while at the same time not sacrificing its complex, realistic martial arts moves in favor of bouncing breasts, exposed panties, flashy fireballs and 100-hit combos (this series prides itself on realism). 3. There was nothing else available for the PS2 at the time that even came close to challenging it, especially with Tecmo moving the Dead or Alive series onto the Xbox to tap into the greater horsepower at its disposal as well as antagonize their rivals at Namco by delivering far more polished games than they ever could on the PS2. VF 4 was the next best, exclusive thing. It was a gamble, and one that paid off for Sega. For the first time, the Virtua Fighter series has taken off outside of Japan (with Sega raking in the profits of a million U.S. sales).
 

VF 4: Evolution | PS2

     > The cold harsh truth is, Virtua Fighter 4 might not have sold so well if it hadn't been a PS2 exclusive. The PS2 is the most popular console in Japan where this series has always been hugely popular (and where VF 4 is still one of the most regularly played arcade games), so naturally, it was the most logical console of choice for Sega there. Still, that doesn't mean I have to like the fact that it wasn't ported to a console that could've handled the arcade game in all its glory (i.e. the Xbox). Now that Sega has merged with Sammy (a Japanese-based pachinko machine giant) to become one of the richest games companies in Japan with over a billion dollars of yearly revenue, those of you who've made a habit out of thinking that Sega is going out of business all the time will have to find yourselves a new hobby.

     > To be completetly honest, Sega's performance during this generation on the three leading consoles goes from one extreme to the other. Sega's games have gone from a steady trickle of outstanding titles developed for both casual and hardcore audiences like Virtua Fighter 4, Jet Set Radio Future and Panzer Dragoon Orta (with the latter two barely selling one quarter of the amount of copies the former sold stateside combined), to a small flood of mediocrity easily lost in the crowd designed to latch onto mainstream trends (Headhunter 2, Shining Tears and Virtua Quest spring to mind) some of which should never have been bankrolled. Make no mistake; I appreciate what Sega is trying to do: when you're not going with the mainstream flow, you're swimming against a tide. Why is it where Sega used to lead it can only follow now? Why must Sega's games be "mainstreamed" before anyone gives them a second glance? While Sega, as a third party developer, is still finding its footing in the industry, we all hope to see Sega fund more big-budget innovative titles as well as return to the development of one or more of its critically-acclaimed franchises. Rather than let their imaginations run wild, the people at Sega have kept their creative side on a very short leash. I view this as a momentary lapse in judgement; no one was going to approve of risky projects that break the mold with huge budgets when survival was Sega's first priority. With the billionaire backer Sammy, which has made its intention to establish a more international presence in the industry absolutely crystal clear, on Sega's side, hopefully things are set to turn around. By setting up a new racing studio in England, publishing games made by the American industry veteran Monolith (including a new next generation horror game called "Condemned"), enlisting the aid of the Sheffield-UK-based Sumo Digital after being impressed by the team's port of OutRun 2 to the Xbox, and partnering with Ontario, Canada-based Silicon Knights (who have already licensed out the Unreal 3 graphics engine) on creating a brand new next generation franchise, Sega Sammy couldn't make their/its future goals clearer.

Good Gaming,
-Geoffrey Duke

What do you think? Email

Shenmue II | DC

     > No one can take one look at the highly detailed real-time main character models (textured down to the last detail) seen in the Dreamcast incarnation of Shenmue 2 (the above image speaks for itself) and Soul Calibur (a game worthy of this generation), and then tell me that the Dreamcast wasn't adequately equipped to  produce some fine looking "128 bit graphics" that could compete against the Playstation 2. I believe that games such as Shenmue 2 showed how much potential went to waste when Sega was forced to cut the Dreamcast loose after the financial burdens of supporting the console began weighing Sega down. In 1998 before Sega launched the Dreamcast, Capcom's general manager, Noritaka Funamizu, was quoted in an interview with Computer And Video Games magazine (published in England) in the November 1998 #204 issue (before the magazine started going downhill) as saying that even if the Playstation 2 was more powerful than the Dreamcast, it wouldn't matter because the average gamer wouldn't be able to tell  the difference (the PS2 is indeed more powerful than the Dreamcast when it comes to pushing polygons, but not so much so that it makes a huge difference, especially when the Dreamcast's greater texture capacity and ability to perform full screen anti-aliasing with no loss in performance or detail join the battle). If the Dreamcast could render graphics where in-game 3D character models were no less detailed than pre-rendered counterparts (Resident Evil: Code Veronica is a perfect example of this), then who cared if another console could push even more polygons? Games don't even need to exceed a certain polygon count to look great now as Dreamcast games (such as Sonic Adventure which will stand the test of time for this very reason) have shown (how are games like Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future not still visually impressive even to this day?). In an ironic twist of fate, the PS2 relied on this fact the most in the face of far more powerful competing consoles to carry it the furthest.
 

Shenmue II | DC

     > Many people don't even see the huge leap in graphics between PS2 and Xbox games. Are they too blind to notice? Not quite. The Xbox is without any doubt far more powerful than the PS2 (do I even need to go into the specifics?) with games like Ninja Gaiden and Fable putting anything the PS2 has to offer to complete and utter shame. Most popular doesn't necessarily equate to most powerful. Even last generation PS2 titles like Final Fantasy XII (12) where the developers have pushed the PS2 to its limits to make such games possible pale in comparison to average Xbox games. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but my point still stands. Nothing has surpassed the power of the Xbox yet, and yet no one cares. Ever wondered why? If everyone bought a PS2 merely because it was more powerful than the Dreamcast at the time when both consoles were competing against one another for a position in the market, then why didn't we see a repeat performance with the Xbox, which has more horse power under the hood  than the Dreamcast and PS2 put together? Apart from the PS2's wider range of games, graphics have reached a point where even PS2 graphics are more than adequate for the task of providing all the eye-candy many gamers need. This could have worked in the Dreamcast's favor if Sega hadn't run out of money to support the console.
 

Sonic Adventure | DC

     > Now that the PS2 has dominated the home console arena more or less uncontested, a large majority of games are developed with the PS2 in mind first with other consoles coming second. For years now, the poorly designed PS2 hardware has held games that have been ported across all available platforms back by bringing them down to its level, but no one is complaining it seems. It truly annoys me when the imaginations of talented third party developers like Sega continue to be shackled to the graphical limitations of the PS2 out of necessity. They can't exactly not develop games for the most popular console on the planet. All the consoles on the market are, therefore, only as fast as the slowest ship in the fleet (in a manner of speaking). The old saying "you're only as strong as your weakest link" also seems to apply to more than a few console games today, which to their own detriment, rarely escape the limitations of the PS2. Even when they do, the differences are barely noticeable to the average outward observer. This is part of the reason why many gamers today do not notice the differences between PS2 and Xbox games: many multi-platform games *are* PS2 games! You can't argue with the truth. When games originally developed with the Xbox and/or GameCube in mind are converted to the PS2, the opposite is true because these games suffer for it as sacrifices are made to make the software run on inferior hardware. I can't understand how anyone is prepared tolerate that. I mean, how are jagged lower resolution textures, longer and extra loading times, and all hell breaking loose in slow-motion in any way tolerable when players can completely steer clear of those problems? The choice is theirs. The poorer visuals should be obvious to all who can see (should being the key word here), and it's not as if the original versions of these games in all their original glory are put forever beyond a gamer's reach. 
 

Shenmue II | DC

     > I shouldn't need to remind people that even the Xbox with all its polygon pushing might, is struggling to emulate modern PC games now. The conversion of the graphically sublime Doom 3 to the Xbox is reportedly being downgraded in some areas and upgraded in others to take advantage of the console's specific strengths while avoiding its weaknesses. PC hardware has moved on, leaving consoles far behind in the dust (in another manner of speaking). And some developers are complaining that Microsoft is moving the industry forward too quickly by launching the Xbox's successor too soon? I guess everyone is comfortable developing games for the PS2 forevermore. That's just it: many gamers seem to be content with PS2-quality graphics. The PS2 is nowhere near as powerful as the Xbox, but powerful enough to satisfy the demands of most consumers (when you lay eyes upon games like Silent Hill 3, it's easy to see why). So, why wasn't the Dreamcast? 

     > When asked if the arcade business would come to an end now that home consoles were becoming more and more powerful, Mr. Funamizu refused to accept that as the primary reason. He, of course, placed the blame for this squarely on the shoulders of Sony, and on how Sony's widespread Playstation market had created a new generation of what he called "light users", which had effectively brought what he called the "game era", a time in which people truly loved playing games, to an end, because these casual gamers (casual in this context means "showing little interest in") were incapable of viewing games as anything other than a form of light entertainment (in their eyes, games could never be seen as an artform, and perish the thought of anyone actually embracing games as a serious hobby). He believed that more and more games were based on visuals rather than around actual gameplay to cater to them as a consequence. Was he right? You decide. He certainly wasn’t wrong. The fate of the entire games industry rests tilted in the palm of the hands of people who probably don't even consider themselves to be gamers in the first place all because they happen to spend the most money in this expanding industry now. It's nice to know that true gamers are powerless to steer the course of future game development. Is there any truth to the accusations of too many Dreamcast games being too hardcore? I personally don’t believe even for a second that the Dreamcast deserved to die so young even if it wasn't a casual gamers' dream come true. It certainly deserves to be remembered as more than a mere "stop-gap" for what was to come. Ultimately, Sega’s unmanageable debts inherited from previous console failures coupled with the huge costs of sustaining a console was a marriage heading for divorce (we must bear in mind, though, that that's not the whole story). At least Sega didn’t go down with the sinking ship that was the Dreamcast.

Good Gaming,
-Geoffrey Duke

What do you think? Email

Resident Evil 4 | NGC

     > As many gamers already know, Capcom buckled under the pressure of their shareholders and fans of the popular Biohazard/Resident Evil series alike by deciding to bring the widely-anticipated Resident Evil 4, a game many were originally led to believe was coming exclusively to the GameCube, to none other than the most overrated console the world has ever known: the Playstation 2. Many people were left with a bitter taste in their mouths after hearing the news, because it meant one less reason to own a GameCube... but is it really one more reason to own a PS2? It seems that since Capcom's games have met with a lukewarm reception on the GameCube, Capcom have come to the conclusion that they can no longer afford to ignore the Playstation 2's 70+ million strong installed userbase. The whole reason why Capcom originally intended for Resident Evil 4 to be a GameCube exclusive in the first place (on top of the Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil Zero) was to deprive the PS2 of the game in order to stop Sony's PS2 from monopolizing the games industry. That tends to happen when one console receives all the best games. Now that stopping Sony from gaining a stranglehold on the market has proven to be futile, keeping Resident Evil 4 on the GameCube would be equally pointless, and would no doubt be tantamount to financial suicide. Unfortunately for PS2 fans, converting a game that pushes even the GameCube to its very limits to the aging PS2 hardware is surely destined to yield questionable results. But of course, who are we to dare to question the polygon pushing prowess of a console that almost put Sega out of business with false promises of power? I bet that Capcom wish they had had this change of heart sooner, then they could have developed RE 4 with the PS2 in mind from the ground up rather than go through the painful process of "shoe-horning" the game into "inferior hardware".

     > I actually can't wait to see the Playstation 2 conversion job of Resident Evil 4, though; the game will almost certainly be downgraded beyond all recognition. In fact, converting the game to the Xbox would be a breeze by comparison. It would be rather hypocritical for Capcom to proudly state that they have every intention of bringing RE 4 to the PS2 in order to deliver the game to "the widest possible audience", yet have no intention of keeping their word by ostracizing the Xbox as if it didn't exist. The way I see it, Capcom have no excuse not to convert the game to the Xbox now. We must also remember that the Resident Evil series has always been developed with a global audience in mind (the Japanese games even have English voice overs), so using the Xbox's non-existence in Japan as an excuse not to port the game really holds no water, especially when Capcom is struggling to stay afloat at the moment. The days when Japan was the center of the gaming universe has long since become a thing of the past. Most big name Japanese publishers couldn't even survive without overseas sales.

     > It never ceases to amaze me how a console that is only about four times more powerful than the Dreamcast with inferior texture capabilities has managed to dominate the games industry. I am, of course, referring to the PS2. Did you know that the DC can render up to 6 million polygons per second and still have room on its video RAM for textures? That's not bad for a console that came out 16 months before the PS2. Much to the surprise of many media outlets which delighted in reporting that the PS2 could render 75 million PPS long before it was even released to the gaming public, most PS2 games rarely go beyond displaying 20 million polygons per second when texture mapping, filtering, light-sourcing, etc. come into play.  As it turns out, much of the media has ignored the fact that the 75 million PPS is merely a theoretical figure for the most flat-shaded, smallest, identically-shaped, non-textured polygons possible. Of course, the mindless masses didn't hesitate to compare that 75 million PPS figure to the DC's originally predicted 3 million PPS, and thus make the DC seem like it possessed only a tiny fraction of the PS2's overall power. Talk about misleading. When the undeniably more powerful GameCube and Xbox finally arrived, PS2 owners conveniently stopped obsessing over graphics all of a sudden, and miraculously started to
realize that the quality of the software is what truly matters (I must emphasize the *sudden* part). Better late than never I suppose. Thanks to the aid of prominent third party developers, quality software is something the PS2 has in abundance.

     > But I digress. The question I'd like answered is: how can any sane PS2 owner seriously want to play a seriously downgraded version of Resident Evil 4? Like it or not, there's no way in hell the PS2 can fully replicate the graphical beauty of this game, or do gamers somehow believe that the PS2 isn't straggling far behind the GameCube in terms of raw power? Don't tell me that PS2 owners still believe that the PS2 can render 75 million lit up texture-mapped polygons per second? To be honest, nothing surprises me anymore. If anyone believes that the PS2 can accurately reproduce the awe-inspiring visuals seen in Resident Evil 4, then you are only deluding yourself unless you don't expect the game to run in real-time anymore. Perhaps the extra content Capcom have promised to include alone will make the PS2 version worth the price of admission. The truth, however, is that any extra content contained in the PS2 version would amount to little more than a consolation prize. It might even fit the description of compensation.

Good Gaming,
-Geoffrey Duke

What do you think? Email