Square-Enix announces their new game engine

[schild]

Yes, I did. Everyone's fanatical about something and your PS3 love is fairly innocuous. And while it may be hard to substantiate during a launch year, everyone knows it's going to be a necessary purchase within a year or two if you like console games or... fun.

[Velorath]

Quit going back and forth. Who gives a fuck if Stray likes the PS3. It's inevitable, he'll get a 360. Just like anyone else who likes games this generation. Whether it's three years or four years, it'll happen. People knock me for liking the Japanesey shit. But you know what? When you add up Amiya Soft, D3P, UBISoft, Eidos, Mistwalker, Nippon Ichi, and a ridiculous number of other Japanese developers supporting the 360 HEAVILY, it just means the times are fucking changing. Cope.

I don't care if Stray likes the PS3 or not, or whether he buys a 360 or doesn't.  I just don't get his baseless argument that MS goes around actively preventing 3rd party developers from making innovative games on the Xbox systems.  I'm just having a hard time picturing MS agents going to developers HQ's like the Men in Black, and warning big name companies against putting out shit that isn't bland and Americanized.

[schild]

MS doesn't do that at all. But who cares? I don't remember him flat out saying that, but I'm pretty sure it stings him to say something like that since it's entirely wrong. Microsoft has given more devs carte blanche this time around than Sony did last time.

[Velorath]

MS doesn't do that at all. But who cares? I don't remember him flat out saying that, but I'm pretty sure it stings him to say something like that since it's entirely wrong. Microsoft has given more devs carte blanche this time around than Sony did last time.

Maybe I'm misreading Stray's point, but when he got to this part of his arguement:

And hell yeah DMC would never originate on the XBox. At the time, it pretty much wrote the book on how an action adventure beat em up should behave in 3D. Most games of that sort are like it now. If MS was around back in the day, they would probably have felt the need to get involved, and would have encouraged a game on "established beat em up" principles or some shit. The end product would have been some pseudo 3d, hoppity side scrolling version of Castlevania.

Same goes with Silent Hill. They would have requested Konami to make a hyper Resident Evil knockoff with a bald Phil Anselmo look alike, instead of the subdued, creepy game that it is.

It certainly sounds like what he was trying to say.


Getting back to the original topic at hand though, I wouldn't be suprised to see Square developing more games for the 360.  Hell, they're working on DS, Wii, PS3, and PSP stuff right now.  They've gotten pretty far away from the days when they used to focus mostly on one platform, so I don't know why it would be much of a surprise to anyone.  Hell, Bioware hired a DS development team and lately has also been rumored to be working on something for the PS3.  To me, that's more surprising than Square trying to cash-in wherever they can.

[schild]

Devil May Cry never could have originated on the Xbox. Now did it write any books? Nah. People like being able to control their camera. Playing What Ifs with gaming timelines never works as an argument though. Easy to ignore. Microsoft also doesn't have the cojones to push around Silent Hill. They have a history of selling games. They were lucky to get any of that stuff. But still, he's not saying they actually do it. He's envisioning that they might have. And maybe they would have. But who gives a shit? It's a hypothetical past.

It's not surprising that PC titles aren't bringing in enough cash to fund their Xbox titles. Biowares foray into gaming is 10x less the shock than possible focus from one of the most japancentric companies on the 360. In fact, at this point, nothing Bioware does could shock me. Except making good games again. Mass Effect had better lick my balls clean.

[stray]

The Bioware news does come as a surprise. If it is true, I'd say it's much like Square though. I wouldn't expect any of the current flagship titles to move over (i.e. referring to my point about Kingdom Hearts, and that's mainly because of Disney's involvement).

Mass Effect is MS funded. That wouldn't go. Who knows about Dragon Age. It's very possible that they could make their MMO multiplatform though. It's going to need it.

[Velorath]

I guess I find Bioware more surprising just because they've been pretty slow to branch out when you consider how successful they are as developers.  Square always been a bit more... whorish I guess is the term I'd use.  That MS gets a chance with her after everyone else has gotten themselves a piece at some point just doesn't surprise me I suppose.  I doubt the 360 will be getting any FF games from the main series, but if Square can make another side game to slap the FF name onto and sell it, it would certainly fit with their M.O. these days.

[schild]

And if Bioware can make some lore-laden piece of dreck with 10,000 lines of dialogue and a religion, they'll throw it in a box and sell it too, quality be damned. I mean, comeon, Bioware really hasn't made a stellar good game since NWN1. Though, for those who can deal with anything Star Wars related, I suppose Obsidian managed to crank them out a couple games, though they didn't compare to the stuff a lot of the same guys did at BIS. We've been over this a thousand times. Squeenix is probably twice if not 3 times the size of Bioware-Pandemic and they've been that large for a while. In addition, they took a hell of a lot longer to branch out than Bioware did, and up until this generation, they've only been on Japanese systems. Bioware on the other hand developed games that made it onto the PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox, and of course PCs. Square might have done a lot of whoring, but they most certainly didn't do a lot of Windows and Xbox whoring. Or even Nintendo whoring, post SNES. It's only recently that they started back on that shit - and only because the DS spanked the PSP in Japan.

[Velorath]

Aside from Jade Empire (which wasn't great, but wasn't terrible either) are there some shitty Bioware games that I missed?

[stray]

Actually, I think Jade is better than NWN1. But I don't think they're a shitty company by any means. Schild's just mad because Planescape is gone. Understandable, I guess.

[Velorath]

Square's had a number of games at least ported to Windows.  FFVII, FFVIII, FFXI, Front Mission Online (not released in the US), Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion (again only in Japan), and probably some other stuff have all made their way to PC's.  Square's done cell phone games (presumably because they're popular in Japan).  Hell, they released like 8 or 9 games on the Wonderswan.

Going back to Fantasy Earth for a second, didn't that game release a year ago in Japan?  The last news I could find on it was the beta and the release date announcement, and then no game sites had anything to say about it.  I don't think I've ever actually read anything about the gameplay and I'm kind of curious if they made it just as grindy as FFXI.

[Sairon]

Bioware can't compare with BIS, they're not in the same league. BIS made the unquestionably best games to date in the very market place Bioware is living in. That doesn't necessarily mean that Bioware stinks, just that BIS was a godlike studio.

[Velorath]

In other Square news, Nomura apparently confirmed in a recent Famitsu article that FFXIII will not be released in 2007.  It doesn't come as much a surprise obviously, but there you go.

[stray]

Hell, release a demo at least (and White Knight for that matter). Sounds ridiculous, but it'd probably push the system a bit.

[Velorath]

Hell, release a demo at least (and White Knight for that matter). Sounds ridiculous, but it'd probably push the system a bit.

They've mentioned a demo this year, but from the announcement I can't tell if they're talking about something for the public, or if they're just talking about a playable demo at E3 or TGS.

[stray]

Add Capcom to the list now.

Capcom announced that it has entered into an agreement to license the Unreal Engine 3 from Epic Games, Inc., for an unannounced project being developed in North America.

"The Unreal Engine is one of the most powerful and versatile tools available for next-generation game development," said Mark Beaumont, executive vice president, officer and head of Capcom consumer software publishing in the Americas and Europe. "More than just a graphics engine, UE3 will empower the development team to create the quality experience that gamers expect from a Capcom product."

"Capcom is known for the quality and artistry of their games," said Mark Rein, vice president, Epic Games. "We're glad that Unreal Engine 3 can be a part of their creative process."

[HaemishM]

That sound you heard? It's the screams of the Quake engine being kicked in the nuts.

[stray]

And Source too. Though that's because Gabe Newell is a nut.