Late Night Consoling EX

What really baffles me is that they are releasing these games solo. If Sega skimmed off the best of their games, bundled five of them together and sold them for $50 they would probably get far more sales then selling Alex Kidd for $20.

Good read mr. Bergman; really like the LNC-EX thing. I wanna read more wild speculation though. OK, thats a bit difficult with this subject...better luck next week.

BTW, did Nintendo do that "MEGATON" announcement yet? I need mo' games to play :D

Decent article, but you kind of raised the ups and downs of a couple of ideas.

Firstly, you say you dislike being forced into buying 3 seperate games which are bundled together. Then you come out saying that you think sega's choice to release these latest remakes as seperate packages is poor.

Personally I'd rather get 3 different classic games than a classic and two sequels which really didn't add that much to the original concept. If I had Golden Axe 1, 2 and 3 I don't think I'd still be interested in playing that style of game to even make it into the sequel.

The other thing which sounded a bit weird to me was you stabbing at Revenge of Shinobi saying they should have gone with an original title. Then you turn and say that Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms is ok because it's significantly changed the original title. Ummm... what the?

I see these kind of "updated with current tech" style games to be very interesting. They show exactly how far gaming has come in the past how many years. The original concepts from many of these classic games are brilliant, but they're easily considered simple compared to what we're playing now. Don't get me wrong, I love going back to old games and reliving the past..... but I'm not about to play it for 30+ hours a week.

Unless you're talking about QW.... but that's more like a religion than a game :)

Good post Jason. I think you touched on the major point, here, and that this whole thing is driven by economics. These companies already put in the sunk costs years ago to develop the games, and so any additional revenue they can get from that investment is like free money.

A problem is that a lot of companies aren't adding much value. It makes sense for Nintendo to re-release SNES games on the GBA, since the systems have similar power capabilities. Being able to play a great game on the road (that you previously were forced to play in your living room) is added value. Like you said, though, some of these re-releases don't make sense, and just gouge the consumer. Hollywood does the same thing, though. How many DVDs have their been that are labeled "Digitally Remastered" and "Titanium Edition" that add miniscule features to the original DVD release?

The biggest worry is, like Hollywood, every successful game is turned into a franchise, meaning a lot less development time is spent creating new ideas. Sure it's natural for the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat series... but did MK3 or 4 really add anything? I mean, Metroid Prime is a great game, mostly because it really didn't need to be a Metroid game... it's a significant departure from the original.

Taking risks is becoming very costly. Look what happened with Sega and Space Channel 5. You have to applaud companies for innovation... but the reality is that they need more than applause... they need profits. Franchises and re-releases are a much safer bet. That sucks.

How come these dont show up under Articles?

I think it depends on price, really. I think Sonic Mega Collection is a good value, while Phantasy Star Collection isn't. I also think the Mario Advance titles (straight no-holds-barred port) at $30 is a really bad deal. But that didn't stop my Mom from buying one.

Well maybe they are finally listening to the emulation guys(you know we download this shit cause we cant find it/costs too much or we own the originals)...then I wonder if the emulation guys will now actually buy this shit or be full of crap like they always have been ;-)

Anyway, if these game collections are thrown together ala Phantasy Star for the GBA then I think they are worth it but if Jason is saying that you only get Alex Kidd IMW for 20 bucks...screw that, redone graphics or not thats lame as shit.

Also I have seen screenshots of the new Phantasy Star remake and they are sweet, however the fact theres a map in the dungeons bothers me as the dungeons were pretty tough and easy to get lost in.

I'll probably pick up the PS remake definitely, as sad as it is the original stuff doesnt last forever, my battery in PS1 died many moons ago and replacing it is a real pain in the ass.

Probably the best thing this remake stuff can do is give new people a chance to play the classics without being ripped off by extremely high prices on games...see Final Fantasy Tactics...

The one thing that will piss me off would be that the new sega games are emulated with the same shitty ass sound engine that was in the sega smashpack and genesis 2 system...

Jason, alot of these games are going to be totally redone, like Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier in full 3D. Noone really knows what they're going to look like, what new levels they're going to add, what extras (including extra games) these releases might have.

They could have a remixed version, an emulated original version, tons of art and extra stuff like a DVD or Namco Museum, I wouldn't write them off as a bad value just yet.

In Bully, the movie, Marty gets senteced to death by electric chair. Although his motive was one of pure hatred and evil, did he really deserve the electric chair? Afterall, the final killing blow was delivered by The Hitman, and they carried the body into the water.

Yay for classic gaming. I'm on an SNES kick myself. I got a cheap controller, downloaded all those uber-classics, and started playing. In the last two days I got all 96 things uncovered in Super Mario World, and I'm two towns into Actraiser. There's just so much good old stuff, final fantasies, chrono trigger, secret of mana, super metroid, etc.

I have to agree with a previous post that they should be releasing packs of these games for newer systems. You could easily put all the NES games on one gamecube disc, and quite likely all SNES games too. Put a nice front end on it with decent menus and shots of the box art, etc. It'd be worth 100-200 dollars easy to people who wanted it. I'd say either sell all the games for a normal game price though, or sell packs of 50-100 for like $30, and people could just collect a half dozen discs.

It seems rediculous to pay $20 for a single old game. Compared to today, an old game that won't even let you save and only lasts an hour is barely worth anything by itself. (as in, people won't buy it. It might be worth a lot to a few people)

Alright, we know that the remake of PS1 has enhanced graphics and (I assume) sound. Are all the Sega Ages games going to have a similar face-lift? I heard that only some of them would, but damned if you can find a list of which ones...

Can anyone shed some light on this?

I'm not that much of a graphics junkie- I think my graphics threshhold is at 16-bit games (some 8 bit). I saw screenshots of Phantasy Star 1 online and originally I was excited by the release, I'm pretty much meh over it. They should take a hint like Square is doing with FF1 and 2 and Nintendo did with Super Mario Allstars and update the artwork for the games. I know it's more work, but I'd be more inclined to pick it up.

Personally I would absolutely love to get an Arcade perfect SegaRally1 on the PS2 (or any system)...I would pay 20 dollars for that in a heart beat.

I liked what they did with Maximo, and spy hunter wasnt bad either.

I'm wondering why Alex Kidd and not say, ESWAT?

What ever happened to the articles about online consoles? one per week right? Wheres the other 2?

I agree that if a company is going to port a classic game, they should try to include more incentive to get us to buy it. It seems only logical that fans of these classic ports will be the first ones to buy them, BUT being a fan of said classic game, there is a good chance that fan already owns the original game and may not buy the new port. Why not give us more games packed in? Of the three Mario ports on the GBA I only purchased the one I didn't previously own, and will not buy any others, because I own every Mario game. I'm not against ports, if a campany wants to cash in on old classics to stay afloat in this time of economic slump, I could care less if they made a port of every franchise. I even welcome it, I would hate to see Sega go under. But, if this is the strategy, make sure to give us more incentive to buy a game we already own, since it's us fans who will be the first to buy them, not Johnny new-comer who may write off the classic game before giving it a chance because it "looks" old or "Isn't cool like FFX or GTA," or any other game by today's standards. Honestly, do they think Johnny13yr-old will appreciate playing Final Fantasy I after playing part X? I think all these ports should be treated like the "New SPECIAL Edition vs. Old Regular Edition" DVD's out there on the market, give us more incentive to buy what we already own.

please please PLEASE port FF6/Chrono Trigger to the GBA. PLZ! >:O

Sonic: Check my profile.

WOOOOHOOO!!!! XBOX LIVE MECH ASSAULT DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT COMING!
here's a few of the things they're adding in.

Content saved onto hard drive
Everything you download can be deleted from your hard drive at any time. You can also copy saves (if your memory card is big enough) and take them to a friend's house.

Those without Xbox Live won't be left behind
If you don't have Xbox Live, all of the online content will be made available to all gamers. The method for delivery hasn't been decided yet, but the content won't be offered until after it's available for download on Xbox Live.

Are they gonna fix the interface?
Likely. Microsoft realizes the Xbox Live lobbies aren't perfect and could be better, but the MechAssault team must work with the Xbox Live team to help create a more suitable interface. It's not bad as it is, but it should get better in a few months.

maps, new ctf game mode (OMFG!), new Raid game mode, NEW MECHS(!!), objective maps. OMFG!!! WOOHOO!

Sega is just looking for a cash cow - you can't really blame them. After all one of their main competitors are EA who just re-release (almost) exactly the same games year-after-year.

Huh, I was under the impression that Sega was remaking these games (like this year's Shinobi) and not porting them. Odd, that.

If you ask me, Ports have their place: on a game boy advance. Otherwise, whats the point of buying them? -If I wanted to play Alex Kidd on a TV, Id just buy a sega master system (or genesis) for 30 or so dollars... Or, I could just use the 20 dollars to buy a pc gamepad and just download it for free. (I dont recommend it,however, because console games are best kept on their respective systems and it just doesnt feel right playing blades of steel or donkey kong on a 19" crt)

Another good article. I like LNC EX. I have to say that some of those ports are great for nostalgia but pretty much stink when you actually start playing them. It's a crying shame that Sega didn't bring over the Genesis Revenge of Shinobi to GBA. I have fond memorys of that game. It looked and sounded great in its time and was just fun to play. While we're on the subject, can somebody tell me why they haven't ported Blaster Master to the GBA? I can still hum the theme song to the first level.

The whole topic brings to mind the revival of old songs that became so prevalent during the 90's in hip hop and R&B. At first it was cool to hear beats and some songs completely redone, like Sailing and such...... but then it got to the point where it was just overload.

I see this happening with game remakes just from that list that was released. Alex Kidd is a great point, it was a so-so game, I don't think anyone will say Alex Kidd was one of their favorite games from the Sega Master System. So why rerelease it solo? I'm sure from the first release and subsequent sales figures Sega will learn their lesson, or we will be surprised at the improvements and popularity...

But all in all, I'm glad Space Harrier is being rereleased, since I never was able to complete the full game :)