Thoughts on the state of the gaming industry today.

I completely agree with you, we are headed to the age of games with expiration date, infinite savepoints and health or god mode always activated, and completely linear game structures. And the sad part is that we probably deserve them.

 

Did you forgot the worst part - insane DRM in all Sqenix Android/iOS remakes ?

 

Both. Question is - how good? 99% of phones suck as players when it comes to sound quality. Games, yeah, ok... with some external gamepad, which makes it less portable. Touchscreen is the worst gaming controller ever, with only a few exceptions like puzzle and TBS games. For example, KOF iPhone/Android got special attack and SDM buttons, looks easier than GC Naruto games, right? But it's not, you still got problems with very basic combos and blocking. Arcade stick, gamepad, keyboard (if it allows more than 3 keys to be pressed simultaneously) - everything is easy and intuitive.

 

Why am I not surprised?

"I want a car. Does it have a built in piano? Does it cook hamburgers under the hood? Then it gets the job done for me."

"I want a refrigerator. Does it tell me the weather outside? Does it record my shows while I'm at work? Then it gets the job done for me."

All I ask of my phone is that it functions like a phone. Games and music have absolutely nothing to do with the functions of a phone. You sound like you want a multimedia device, not a phone. It's neat that phones can do many things nowadays, but there is no way in hell I'd actually want to play games on one unless I'm on a lunch break or I'm waiting for someone and I want to kill a few minutes of time.

Besides, that's not even the main point of my issue. My issue is with releasing games that have no business being on a phone, exclusively for a phone. The FFIII remake was on android and iOS devices, but it was also on the Nintendo DS first and later released on the PSP, so that doesn't bother me. But you mean to tell me, a gamer of the past (nearing) 20 years, that I cannot play the remake to one of my all time favorite Super Nintendo games, because I don't own a particular phone? Really? It's not like it's a spin off built with the crappy touch screen in mind, that's be annoying but it wouldn't be the first time. Even if I had an iPhone, I'd still have to put up with the lame RPG Maker graphics that totally do not fit the original atmosphere and the crappy touch screen controls. The whole thing reeks of Squeenix cheapness.

I don't even know how they intend to release FFVII on iOS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Squeenix lost the source code to FFVII long ago. Wouldn't that mean they'd have to build the game from the ground up? Don't tell me they're actually considering giving FFVII the RPG Maker treatment as well. That'd look like ass, and considering the source, that's saying a lot.

 

That's like, your opinion, man.

I personally haven't had many problems with touchscreen controls. Besides, with Apple adding support for controller devices in iOS 7, it's pretty much going to be a solved problem in the next few months.

That's what you want from a phone.

What I (and, given the success of the iPhone and various other "smartphones" in the past few years, most other people) want is a phone that can play music, movies and games in addition to functioning as a phone. I don't want to have to carry around a bunch of different electronic devices that all do one thing. Space on my belt is limited, and if I can reduce the number of electronic devices I'm clipping to it, then all the better.

Right now, my iPhone replicates the functionality of no less than four devices that I used to have to carry with me: MP3 player, two handheld consoles (DS and PSP) and a mobile phone.

Do those things offer a superior experience for the single function they serve? Probably, but I'm not that bothered because the iPhone does all of those things well enough, and I didn't even have to import it from Japan just so I could play DoDonPachi DaiOuJou on it.

Who says it has no business being on a phone? I can guarantee right now that if Squeenix want to make the most money possible from a single platform re-release, then the iPhone (and Android) by far makes the most sense, as they have a vastly bigger installed base than the PSP and 3DS combined, and the overheads (no need to get cartridges printed) are far lower.

Of course, Squeenix being Squeenix, they'll charge 100% more for it than anyone else does (seriously guys, I love Final Fantasy Tactics, but not enough to pay $20 for it on the iPhone) which will limit their business a bit, but they'll still make more money on it than any DS or PSP/Vita release.

Hey, it's not Squeenix's fault you're still living in 1997.

Given they recently did a HD re-release of FFVII on the PC, I'd say that they likely do have the source code (at least for that version) and could port it from there. Worst comes to worst, it's probably not that hard to emulate a PS1 on an iPhone.

 

Yeah I've often wondered why they price their games on iOS so high. It's ridiculous and has totally put me off purchasing any of them.

 

Try playing something like Street Fighter rather than Angry Birds. You need to buy a physical addon for it to be even remotely playable.

Oh boy! Now I can buy a separate controller to carry around with me everywhere I go!

You know who already gave controller support? Nintendo. Back in 1989. Built in too.

That's the thing though. They won't make as much as they would on a handheld. On a handheld, they charge generally $40 for a game. As long as the game is polished and loaded with content, that's fine. As you pointed out, a $20 game is considered overpriced on smartphones. FF Tactics is way, way, way better than your typical game build primarily for a phone, but not a whole lot of people would want to pay that much. It would be smarter to release the game on whichever handheld, then port it to phones later on once sales start to slow down. At this rate, all they're doing is alienating a chunk of their fanbase and ensuring they won't make as much as they could. Either that, or it ensures Squeenix half-asses the remake because they know the only way it'll sell is if it's priced at $5-$10, so why put money or effort into it?

Cell phones: The future of gaming!

Give me a break.

That re-release barely qualifies as HD. It's the same as before just with the ability to use 1080p, the option of 4:3 or stretched widescreen, and minor filters. Fan patches and mods have existed long before the release that already accomplishes those things. There's even an mod auto-installer that converts the re-release to the old 97 version. The only difference is the way the data is structured. There is literally nothing added to the re-release (trainers, achievements, filters, etc) that couldn't be done by a dedicated modder. Most of it already was done prior to the re-release (playing non-midi music, higher resolution, trainers). Obviously those modders did not have the source code yet found a way anyway, just like Squeni

I'm 99% sure they do not have the source code. Only Squeenix can officially confirm this, but too much evidence suggests that they don't. When FFVII was handed over to Eidos to be ported, they were given a poorly structured, incomplete mess of code and had to work around that. The videos on the PC version look like shit because they're taken straight from the PSX and converted to AVI, rather than being taken from the high quality original source. Pre-rendered backgrounds also do not look as good as they should for the same basic reason. The fact that the PC port turned out as well as it did is thanks to Eidos working with what they were given.

If anything, the re-release only adds credibility to them not having the original source. Why are the pre-rendered backgrounds not in HD? Because it can't be because the original backgrounds no longer exist. Why is not in true widescreen? It CAN be done. Star Ocean 2 on PSP uses true widescreen despite pre-rendered backgrounds, probably because Enix kept the source. Why is it capped at 30 frames? Possibly because they are unable to update the animations and timing to compensate for it, because they lack the source.

Emulation is a possibility, but obvious legal issues aside, how will they address the controls? The game wasn't meant to be played with a touchscreen, and using the touchscreen to press fake buttons is awkward at best. The resolution will be off as well, either the prerendered backgrounds won't fill up the entire screen or it'll be stretched.

 

Just wondering, where does your sense of entitlement come from?

 

Maybe you should tell them that, you must know something that their market researchers and MBAs missed.

 

1: Angry Birds is a fine, fine game and while it may not be your thing, I've had many hours of entertainment from it, and especially the sequel, Angry Birds Space. So there.

2: I honestly never had any problems playing Streetfighter IV on the iPhone. It was one of the earliest "proper" games I bought way back when it first launched, and it proved to me that touchscreen controls can work for an arcade game. I do think that Capcom could probably have been a bit more creative with the controls for it, but when it launched, the standards for touchscreen controls hadn't really been set down yet.

The only reason it's not still on my phone is that I ended up deleting it to make room for more Cave shooters. All of which are fantastic arguments in favour of iPhone gaming.

 

What entitlement? God forbid I want to play a remake of a video game previously made for a video game system, on a video game system, and not on some overpriced, unnecessary phone.

Right, because their higher ups clearly know what the fuck they're doing. It's not like they, as well as countless other publishers, are in any kind of financial predicament or anything. It's not like the developers are getting shut down left and right, and many publishers are on the verge of bankruptcy.

No, clearly everything is just hunky dory. It'll all work out fine. Just ask Capcom.

Let me know when someone manages to win a Street Fighter tournament using only a touch screen while everyone else uses a controller. I'll wait...

 

This is actually a great question. The answer is installed base. You see phones, even though they are really lesser game devices, have a huge install base. For the most part people playing phone games aren't even hardcore gamers. They are people who have these slick phones and want time wasters to use on them. The people who play phone games would have never brought a gameboy to work. However they have a huge Samsung Note and they're sick of playing card games on them so they buy games from the app store.

Developers are always about making games for the system that has the biggest installed base. Thats why Ubisoft is no longer making games for Wii U (I believe this is true, at the very least not exclusive games). Theres not enough owners. Whats worse for console makers is that the smartphones are now in the hands of kids and teens, which is cutting into what was the gameboy/nintendo ds market. Its also dirt cheap to develop shovelware for phones and you don't even need to render 3D graphics.

Its going to be really interesting to see what sales of the Nintendo 2DS and pokemon is like. Those are guaranteed sellers for the younger market. If sales aren't quite huge it shows just how big Mobile has become.

As for the present state of gaming, I like saves and continues as its an improvement on what came before (like passwords). The rest you can take or leave it.

 

I get what you're saying, but who the hell is going to play a JRPG at work? Playing a RPG requires a bit of time, concentration, and dedication, all of which will be hard to come by unless you have a job where you sit on your ass all day and the boss doesn't constantly check up on you.

I don't bring my 3DS or VITA to work, but if I did I wouldn't play a 60 hour JRPG. I'd rather play something like Super Mario Bros., or a fighting game, or something that you can just "pick up and play".

 

If the "higher ups" didn't know "what the fuck they're doing" these companies would already be bankrupt.

 

Rome wasn't built in a day. It takes time to run a multi-billion dollar company into the ground. Again, ask Capcom.

 

There's a difference between playing something well enough to just have some fun with it and playing well enough to win a tournament. Not everything has to be one extreme or the other.

One of my biggest concerns about the state of gaming is how more and more games seem to be getting shoved out the door with bugs and glitches and the companies just have a "meh, we'll fix it with a patch later" attitude. I'd rather wait an extra month or more and get a stable game from the beginning but I guess that's crazy talk to some people. Looking further ahead, what are people going to do 10+ years from now when they pick up a game and XBL/PSN no longer have the updates available (assuming they're even still up at all)? They're stuck with a buggy, potentially incomplete game. That thought honestly concerns me.

 

And so to reverse this trend, they should ignore the massive install base of iOS/Android, and put all their eggs in the portable consoles you, Prometheus, deem suitable?

There are 32 million 3DS units sold, and 2.2 million PS Vitas. OTOH, iOS is on over 300 million devices, and Android is on double that and probably more. So it seems pretty reasonable that devs and publishers would be moving the way they are.

I'm not saying that any of your other arguments are invalid either. I'm not a fan of where gaming is going either, believe me.

 

Didn't say it had to be. But how is it fun when you can't properly pull off special or even basic moves because the controls simply do not work with game in question?

It's fine though. I'm not advocating for a lack of Street Fighter IV on smartphones. After all, I can already play the game on my consoles and my 3DS if I wish. If someone wants to play Street Fighter IV with gimped controls during their coffee break, then more power to them. My issue, again, is if it was released exclusively for a phone. But it's not, so I don't care. The FFV and VI remake, on the other hand...

I agree. I also hate this.

No, they shouldn't. But the only way the game will sell well is if they are charging around $5 for it. If that's what they're charging, then we're not going to get the best possible product. It'll likely be cheap and shallow, which admittedly isn't a new thing from Squeenix. It would be smarter in the long run to focus on the handhelds first, then port it over to smart phones later on like they did with III.

Plus consider that out of the 600+ smart phone users, not every single one of them is a non-casual gamer that would be interested in something like FFVI, much less paying $20+ for it. And no, I don't mean casual as an insult.

 

I figure I'd throw in my two cents concerning smartphone gaming since that's relevant to modern gaming, so: I honestly don't think mobile phone gaming can be considered as viable a market as the console/PC gaming market, at least until such issues are taken care of:
-Micro-transactions. Out. The. Ass. A lot of these micro-transactions are either for things that you can get in the game in the first place, or things that should be accessible from the get-go. ("hey kids, for just $3.99* you can buy three extra lives!" or "you enjoy drawing in red/yellow/blue/black? WELL HOW ABOUT SOME GREEN FOR THREE DOLLARS, FUCKER?") While this sort of issue exists in console/PC gaming, smartphone games seem to take it to ridiculous lengths.
-This is often linked to sort of promote micro-transactions, but any game that forces you into an arbitrary waiting period for getting a game over needs to go fucking die, especially if it's an increasing time penalty. For instance, I tried out this "Colormania" game recently at the behest of my brother and I only got a few game overs, which started off at ten seconds, then after a couple more fuck ups jumped to thirty seconds, then one minute... then fucking twenty five minutes. Naturally, you can buy the ability to knock that down to a generously paltry five minutes! What a steal!
-Some games (particularly ports of console/handheld titles) suffer from the fact that they simply are not designed with touchscreen controls in mind. Plus, as a personal note, I don't like getting fucking finger streaks all over my iPhone screen more than I already have to (but on the other hand, I'll be goddamned before I drop $40-70 on a decent smartphone controller for these types of games).
-A lot of the "original" games for smartphones are designed as short-term diversions, so it'll be hard for the smartphone platform to take away a large amount of console gamers (most of whom seek more long-term experiences) while this sort of philosophy is instilled in smartphone game devs.

*remember how Action 52 boasted that each game was worth $4? Yeah, that wasn't as much of a gyp as these micro-transactions are.

 

It's the textbook definition of entitlement.

Square doesn't owe you anything, in fact, I think they're going above and beyond keeping this game in circulation. Keep these facts in mind:

1) You can pay this specific game (FF6) ten times til Tuesday. You can already play various ports/remakes of it on the following videogame systems: SNES, Playstation, Playstation 2, GBA, DS, Wii, Playstation 3, PSP, Wii U (only in Japan so far), and soon android and iOS devices.

I get it, though, you want to play the new remake, so keep this in mind:

2) You will not need to buy a phone to play this either on iOS or android. You will even be able to play this remake on a videogame system.

I thought I'd point this out, since that seemed to be a real deal breaker for you.