Curmudgeon Gamer
08 May 2008
Chains of Olympus for PS2 for Xmas '08
This isn't an announcement, but a prediction. Provided the porting of Daxter from the PSP to the PS2 is true (see here, originally seen here), then Sony has to be seriously considering porting God of War: Chains of Olympus to the PS2 as well. Keep in mind that both Daxter and God of War on the PSP share some engine code, so a port of the former would accelerate a port of the latter.
According to NPD's figures, Chains of Olympus sold well over 300,000 copies in its first month on the market. A PS2 version would easily sell a million and would complement a $99 PS2 model quite well.
Given that I completed the PSP game twice (something I almost never do for long-form action games), I'd probably end up picking up the PS2 port. So make that a million copies, plus one.
In an ideal world, Sony would also get someone to port the game to the PS3 and sell it for $15 on PSN. But this is Sony we're talking about, so it will never happen.
According to NPD's figures, Chains of Olympus sold well over 300,000 copies in its first month on the market. A PS2 version would easily sell a million and would complement a $99 PS2 model quite well.
Given that I completed the PSP game twice (something I almost never do for long-form action games), I'd probably end up picking up the PS2 port. So make that a million copies, plus one.
In an ideal world, Sony would also get someone to port the game to the PS3 and sell it for $15 on PSN. But this is Sony we're talking about, so it will never happen.
--jvm at 09:24
Comment
[ 0 ]
21 January 2008
Short Memories Proclaim: "best year ever for gaming and Apple"!
A Macworld Expo report from Ars Technica claims:
I'm having a hard time thinking there's ever going to be a better year than when Tomb Raider 2 was ported, Madden came to the Mac, and, most impressively, Quake 3 Test was Mac-first. I recall some mainstream mag with a cover of a blue & white (iirc) tower asking if that'd be everyone's next gaming box.
Hopefully the move to Intel does mean good things, long term, for Mac-specific gaming. Boot Camp is still a significant barrier to entry for most Mac users. Look, folk, we're mainly talking about one-button mouse, iApp lovers, even if we include Mighty Mouse's hidden right button, MacBook Air's gestures, and FileMaker Pro. I'm happy to see more positive Mac gaming press, but until DirectX is Mac-native, I'll continue not holding my breath.
Which makes me wonder... Why doesn't Microsoft buy out Transgaming and put them down? I can't recall Matt's stance on Transgaming; it seems like something seedy was going on with what they'd "borrowed" from WINE without giving back what common courtesy, if not the letter of the license, says they should. If Transgaming has done enough in-house work to make Cider, wouldn't buying them effectively kill the gaming resurgence on Mac? And we're back to Blizzard and Ambrosia...
(Technically, Mr. Jade said it's "the best year ever for gaming and Apple", which hardly precludes Apple and gaming having great years having nothing to do with one another. What with a recession coming, I'm not sure that's true on at least one count, but it's always good to have a quality fall-back position. And hyperbole sells! Always! It's the best sales tactic EVER!)
It turns out 2008 will likely be the best year ever for gaming and Apple. Who knew?
I'm having a hard time thinking there's ever going to be a better year than when Tomb Raider 2 was ported, Madden came to the Mac, and, most impressively, Quake 3 Test was Mac-first. I recall some mainstream mag with a cover of a blue & white (iirc) tower asking if that'd be everyone's next gaming box.
Hopefully the move to Intel does mean good things, long term, for Mac-specific gaming. Boot Camp is still a significant barrier to entry for most Mac users. Look, folk, we're mainly talking about one-button mouse, iApp lovers, even if we include Mighty Mouse's hidden right button, MacBook Air's gestures, and FileMaker Pro. I'm happy to see more positive Mac gaming press, but until DirectX is Mac-native, I'll continue not holding my breath.
Which makes me wonder... Why doesn't Microsoft buy out Transgaming and put them down? I can't recall Matt's stance on Transgaming; it seems like something seedy was going on with what they'd "borrowed" from WINE without giving back what common courtesy, if not the letter of the license, says they should. If Transgaming has done enough in-house work to make Cider, wouldn't buying them effectively kill the gaming resurgence on Mac? And we're back to Blizzard and Ambrosia...
(Technically, Mr. Jade said it's "the best year ever for gaming and Apple", which hardly precludes Apple and gaming having great years having nothing to do with one another. What with a recession coming, I'm not sure that's true on at least one count, but it's always good to have a quality fall-back position. And hyperbole sells! Always! It's the best sales tactic EVER!)
--ruffin at 09:26
Comment
[ 6 ]
11 June 2007
Cider? You cider, you brought...
From MacWorld's coverage of the recent Apple developers' conference:
To me, that's the most interesting news short of Windows Safari and the "built-in" Vista drivers.
So how is EA getting those games onto the Mac? Inside Mac Games gives us a good hunch:
That there would be no PowerPC compatibility was a no-brainer. Proof? I figured it out. That they would use Cider wasn't quite as obvious, though one might argue it was close. (Tiger Woods had been ported recently, I believe. The rest? Forget it.)
I'm eager to hear the official jvm slant on that one.
Update: No longer a hunch, it would appear: Aspyr's Brad Oliver says it's Cider on the IMG forums. Interesting that it appears Aspyr will continue porting the Sims (no reason to throw out ported engine at this point? Wonder if it'll drop away with a major Sims update...). He also says that the sports games and BF1942 didn't do well enough for Aspyr to keep porting.
As he says, that old ports of those games didn't do well is old news, but how does this striate Mac game development now? There are games that get ignored, the Cider treatment, and the red carpet port now? That one can Cider a game playably apparently much more cheaply than porting it says something bad about Asypr's porting future.
What's more, EA will be bringing sports games to the Mac in August, beginning with simultaneous launches of Madden 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08.
To me, that's the most interesting news short of Windows Safari and the "built-in" Vista drivers.
So how is EA getting those games onto the Mac? Inside Mac Games gives us a good hunch:
According to our sources, EA is using TransGaming's Cider for its Mac titles. This means that there will be no PowerPC versions of the games.
That there would be no PowerPC compatibility was a no-brainer. Proof? I figured it out. That they would use Cider wasn't quite as obvious, though one might argue it was close. (Tiger Woods had been ported recently, I believe. The rest? Forget it.)
I'm eager to hear the official jvm slant on that one.
Update: No longer a hunch, it would appear: Aspyr's Brad Oliver says it's Cider on the IMG forums. Interesting that it appears Aspyr will continue porting the Sims (no reason to throw out ported engine at this point? Wonder if it'll drop away with a major Sims update...). He also says that the sports games and BF1942 didn't do well enough for Aspyr to keep porting.
As he says, that old ports of those games didn't do well is old news, but how does this striate Mac game development now? There are games that get ignored, the Cider treatment, and the red carpet port now? That one can Cider a game playably apparently much more cheaply than porting it says something bad about Asypr's porting future.
--ruffin at 16:19
Comment
[ 3 ]
21 May 2007
Devil May Cry Kills WinPC Gaming
I'll admit I was surprised to find a version of Devil May Cry that Matt hadn't mentioned, and one that includes an extra boss to boot. Yes, you guessed correctly; it's the WinPC version, and I saw one line in the PC Gamer magazine review for DMC3: Special Edition that tells me PC gaming really is going the way of the dodo.
But DMC3:DASE nonetheless reveals the big advantage of being a PC gamer who enjoys the occasional console port: We let console gamers sift through the interminable catalog of crappy console games, and enjoy the cream of the crop in budget-priced, spectacularly generous special editions later.
Wasn't that the Mac gaming line? (Sadly, the only reason it's not the Mac gaming line any more is because now Mac gamers use Windows to game.) And all this after our buddy, Logan Decker, said that the game "feels like a cheap-a$$ port," with cruddy controls, "textures [that] look like they've been through too many washer-dryer cycles, audio [that] drops out occasionally, and the in-game camera seems to be controlled by a demonic force that's rooting for your enemies."
Why is it better to play console ports on PCs again?
But DMC3:DASE nonetheless reveals the big advantage of being a PC gamer who enjoys the occasional console port: We let console gamers sift through the interminable catalog of crappy console games, and enjoy the cream of the crop in budget-priced, spectacularly generous special editions later.
Wasn't that the Mac gaming line? (Sadly, the only reason it's not the Mac gaming line any more is because now Mac gamers use Windows to game.) And all this after our buddy, Logan Decker, said that the game "feels like a cheap-a$$ port," with cruddy controls, "textures [that] look like they've been through too many washer-dryer cycles, audio [that] drops out occasionally, and the in-game camera seems to be controlled by a demonic force that's rooting for your enemies."
Why is it better to play console ports on PCs again?
--ruffin at 17:05
Comment
[ 2 ]
Feedburner
