Remakes I wish they would make one day

I've been playing "Bionic Commando Rearmed" recently, I'm loving it, if you haven't got it, get it now! Its a good example of blending old school gameplay inspired by the orignal's retro roots with modern conventions that we all have grown to be used making the whole experience feel modern and fresh. Anyway This is the reason,I started thinking about remakes I would to like to see in the future and how I would do them if I were to making them.

Final Fantasy VII

This is bound to happen but I can't wait for it even since seeing that tech demo of Final Fantasy 7 on PS3 and also with all these other Final Fantasy 7 spin-off games and the film referred as “Compilation of Final Fantasy VII” makes you wonder when are they going to finally produce the the remake of FF7 that everyone wants. During the development, I hear they had to cut out lot of story sections/villages they didn't have time to finalise/polish them cutting down the game from 4 discs to 3 discs. This would be interesting to see if they include these sections giving a player choice to play director's cut version or the orignal version to play it how you remember it. Let's face it, this remake would make “Square Enix” mountains of cash but the question remains “When will it happen?”.

Goldeneye/ Perfect Dark

“Goldeneye” was the first FPS on console that designed ground up with console in mind taking advantage of their aspect of the Nintendo 64 console especaily the console's abltly to split screen multiplayer featuring so many modes and ways of playing for hours of fun. Still to very day, both “Goldeneye” and “Perfect Dark” remain be very playable although obviously the graphics are so dated now. I hear rumours that Microsoft wanted to re-release/remake “Goldeneye” as Xbox Live Arcade game with online play but “Nintendo” and “Microsoft” couldn't agree on a deal as “Nintendo” wanted to release it too but “Microsoft” wanted to exclusive rights and obviously nintendo has the rights. I can't see why they can't come with up with some form of compromise where both can release “Goldeneye” on their consoles as these days, their markets they appeal to are very different it's not as if they would be confronting each other's interests and everyone wants to play “Goldeneye” is winner. Although who actually knows if this rumour is true, certainly like to think so gives us some hope that it will happen one day.

Alien Breed

“Alien Breed” is getting remake by the original development studio “Team 17” being released as Xbox Live Arcade game in 2009. The orignal classic was released in 1991 on the “Commodore Amiga” as its been a long wait for fans. Unfortunary there is no other details comfirmed yet but its good news that its actually making it.

Metal Gear – very 1st in the series

This is any Metal Gear fan's dream having the orignal “Metal Gear” remade. This would be great opportuntidy to link up the whole Metal Gear universe/story arch with modern filmic production values creating the link between “Metal Gear Solid: Portable” to “Metal Gear Solid” titles. “Metal Gear” is about how “Solid Snake” discovers who “Big Boss” is and of course defends him and from the most recent revelations of MGS plot within “MGS 4” (I'm going to reveal any spolters/details for anyone who haven't played it yet). I think it would proud to be very interesting to see this chapter of the story retold.

Half-life

There is actually a remake of “Half life” being made as mod called “Black Mesa” using the “Half life 2” engine and its been in production for 3 years now, check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa_(game_mod) It is very suprising that “Valve” don't make it themselves but I'm sure they have many other projects on their plate which will push the industry.

Shenmue 1 and 2

This is one of my favourite adventure and dreamcast games/series ever due to it's vast ambition of story telling, game design/mechanics, pushing the boundries of 3D environments. Shenmue was one of a kind series which was orignally planned as trilogy (at the time, this was unheard of) but sadly only able to produce two although they both did sell well for a dreamcast title (1.2 million sales) but it wasn't enough to make profit due to high production valuess of $70 million making the most expensive video game of all time. Shemue was too ahead for it's time and the market wasn't there, whereas today I believe there is such an market for such story driven/filmic game. I think as the whole foundations of the game are already there, it wouldn't cost too much to remake it with updated graphics and perforance. Also in today's market, there are many options how to approach a remake from such title, if I was Sega I would either:
Market it towards the casual/non gamer releasing on “Wii” being people's first adventure game experince as people would be relate to it being set within realisation world.
Release in episodes like “Siren” for PS3 or “Sam and Max” on pc.
Release it on all three main consoles as one big game including the yet unmade “Shenmue 3”
You never know they may do this with the success of the “Yakuza” games being more focused towards action than adventure/story.

Beyond Good and Evil
I feel qulity saying this but I've never played this game which received critical acclaim with a underground cult following but typically was a commercial failure. It was designed by “Michel Ancel”who created Rayman who has creativity colorful flair to his games and certainly see that in this title. I think it was overshadowed by a lot of completion with many adventure games released at the time like “Persia of Prince: sands of time”, “Siren”, “Manhunt”, “Zelda: Wind Waker”, “Silent hill 3”. I think this game deserves another chance and especailly as the sequal is being made making it good reason to recap on the story.

Final Fantasy 5 and 6

This is another no brainer for “Square Enix”. Without a doubt it's going to happen, just the the question of when? As Final Fantasy 3 and 4 have already been remaked for Nintendo DS, so I can't see why they won't do the same for final fantasy 5 and 6 unless “Nintendo” or “Sony” releases a new portable console which I can't see happening anytime soon.

Earthbound series
I've been very curtious about this niche nintendo RPG francshie even since I saw the character “Ness” in Smash Bros: Melee on gamecube and sadly none of the games in this series have been released in europe so I never played one. This series has a big cult following among nintendo fans and I hear it has very unique story and characters making something which you must experience and it has to have such a following for an reason and I would like to find out why. I think this warrents a remake for Nintendo DS which would be perfectly suitable console for this remake as it already filled with many old school RPGs.

Kid Icarus or Ice climber

These are “Nintendo Nes” classics have remained to be individual sole titles for years but I certainly would like to see some form of remake with an either 2D meets 3D approach like “Bionic Commando” or complete 3D makeover like mario with “Mario 64”. These are the only Nintendo classics games which haven't been remake yet for modern gaming even “Excitebike” been made again for Nintendo 64 although at the same time, I feel they shouldn't touch them, leave them as you remember them to keep that classic status.

Written by: Jonesy

Jeff Minter and the rest of the industry, what a interesting fellow!

I have to say that I’m neither the biggest “Jeff Minter” fan with his game creations such as “Gridrunner”, “Tempest 2000” for Atari Jaguar, “Attack of the Mutant Camels”, “Revenge of the Mutant Camels”, “Sheep in Space”, etc to name a few, I certainly see the hook to his games but just too hardcore for me. It’s amazing how he survives with such aggressive gaming market these days, when you hear about “EA” and “Activision” spending multi million/ sometimes billions dollars deals doing this or buying that development studio up, etc. It is such breath of fresh air and sign of hope to see such figurehead among retro gamers can remain producing games that he loves and presents him as person without compromising. This is video is talk/presentation from “Jeff Minter” talking about his history of video game production. To be honest, it isn’t the most informative or insightful presentation by any means but certainly very inspiring and interesting to see such personality able to do what he loves, he certainly touched my soul. I wouldn’t recommend watching it all but at least skip to 25 minutes in where he talks about his ideal/process of games development which I found to be uplifting and profound approach to where refers to games development as “moulding some clay which you don’t know what it’s going to be till you get there” which sounds so liberating. Anyway I you hope watching it and be inspired by it like I did.

The Old, the Modern and the Future of DLC

These days I'm loving indie gaming with titles like “Braid”, “Castle Crashers”, “Bionic Commando Rearmed”, “Geometry wars 2”, “The Last Guy” and “Pixel junk Eden”, etc this trend of gaming has finally taken off with a wide range of creative original titles taking advantage of their low budget and small team development process. It's refreshing to see that this notion/approach is finally being taken seriously within the industry as a profitable and desirable game development form, giving indie gaming it's own identity away from traditional £40 game model. As Digital Distribution is becoming a more acceptable form of gaming, capturing the attention of both hardcore and casual gamers and possessing the vibes of art house and simplicity, games developers are becoming more ambitious exploring many avenues of this model. These games certainly have very promising bright future reflecting the latest trends and needs for a wide array of gamers.

Another digital download trend which is mainly pushed by Microsoft is DLC (Download Content) which hasn't got such a clean cut bright future ahead as it still has many hurdles to overcome, especially appealing to mainstream audiences. Also there is the challenge of placing DLC appropriately as many people feel that DLC is a con/gimmick to generate more revenue for less extra content, and to a degree I believe their argument is valid, but the real question here is, how can the approach towards download content change to broaden it's potential and change people's attitude towards this concept?

With indie games, the demand and profits are there and growing, therefore development studios can afford to become more adventurous with price models, content and game structure like “Sam and Max”'s episodic paced game structure. However, DLC lacks such options due to the demand and profits being limited primarily towards the first person shooter genre for hardcore gamers, to fund experiments for such concepts. Obviously due to this fact, the content itself is priced highly to cover development costs and DLC is typically customized towards multiplayer which benefits from a high volume of players. This works very well for AAA titles like “Halo 3” and “Call Of Duty 4” but with smaller titles like “Stranglehold” or “Timeshift”, DLC proves a risky option for both developer and player as there is no guarantee that there will be the numbers willing to invest to make a profit for the development studio and to create a worthy solid experience for the players. That’s why this traditional method of DLC only works for established titles and as a big Halo fan myself; I love DLC as I just want more, although I can see the cracks appearing within this system that requires reconstruction for modern demands for a new generation of gamers. The current method can prove to be very uninviting and intimidating unless you are part of the FPS gamer generation who grew up with such games in late 90’s and early 2000’s. You could argue that these new gamers who wouldn’t normally invest in DLC are the type who never will, or the games (genres) they play aren’t designed with DLC in mind. So therefore the concept doesn’t appeal to them but I think the concept itself is appealing to everyone as “human beings” we always desire more of things we enjoy, but in the case of DLC I think it’s down to how it’s delivered to make it desirable for users fitting into the subject of the game for their overall experience.

My next question is: why do certain genres like adventure games do not typically contain DLC feature? The design mentality towards the adventure genre requires a coherent structure within a game world and the FPS DLC model doesn’t provide that as it just attaches/adds elements to the game system (like a dessert with a meal) rather than placing them inside the game world (ingredients of a meal). This is where new forms of DLC need to be introduced to work with other genres and game requirements which introduce many new game design challenges and choices where the most trivial feature can make such a difference towards the user’s experience. For example, Halo 3 has separate matchmaking playlists for the new content/maps whereas Call of Duty 4 incorporates the new maps within the same playlists everyone uses creating a bigger number of players (always guaranteed a match) but mixing the skill levels of pro/casual players. These games have been developed with DLC in mind from day one that’s why their model works for the target audience whereas with experimenting with other forms of DLC is hard to determine and structure towards the impact of final product/ game playing experience without long term pre-plan or focused objective the game is trying to achieve. For example, let's say in “Metal Gear Solid 4” (minor plot spoilers ahead about MGS 4, if you haven’t played it yet) you could download alternative story arches about “Meryl” seeing more development of her relationship with “Akiba/Johnny” or how she really feels about “Solid Snake”, and this gameplay being based in middle east, covertly backing up “Solid Snake” without his knowledge. This could be great idea adding depth to the plot, etc but there are many consequences and design elements to consider for such a concept like wouldn’t this rid the surprise for the story for people who aren’t yet aware of this story event to come, what would this DLC explore gameplay and story wise without it feeling like an add-on?

Many gamers are looking forward to Grand Theft Auto 4’s DLC with the so far announced two episodes within the story universe of Liberty Island. I think this could be the game to break this attitude towards DLC making it commercially acceptable for mainstream, although the question is: how are “Rockstar” going to execute their DLC?

The title “Crackdown” (Sandbox game made by: Real Time Worlds – ex Rockstar) is a good example GTA may be inspired by which has evolved the design mentality towards DLC. Crackdown’s DLC introduces new features/modes which as an player I didn't expect see from such a title, like the access to an debug mode (Like Halo's Forge mode), co-op and competitive multiplayer modes that expanded the playing style scope adding diversity that creates a different flavor/side to the crackdown experience which you wouldn’t think would co-exist/work within such a title. This DLC also includes typical game elements that we all want from “Crackdown” such as extra cars, weapons, characters, etc it was designed to have a balance of filling in with more of the same as well as expanding the experience which creates an broad spectrum of freedom allowing players to play with this content in any way they choose making it feel very coherent within the game world. In a way, it is like adding toys to the toy box (game system/world) and this is very smart approach towards DLC allowing anyone to enjoy the DLC allowing the player to have their own experience via flexibility without requirements rather than to rely on linear structure of FPS DLC where huge numbers of players are needed to enjoy, required for competitive FPS gameplay.

Burnout Paradise is another title that has been built in such a way, its evolution of MMO design ideals within racing genre where elements like weather, bikes, extra islands are added to Paradise City seamlessly without charge (free, shocking isn’t it?) and even the radio DJ gives the player hints regarding future DLC, making the experience feel fresh and exciting every time you play it, organically inserting the DLC expanding the experience further without DLC feeling like separate unity. Even though I don’t like racing games, this design approach has added a whole new perspective to my thinking and feelings about how racing games and DLC should be produced in the future.

Imagine the possibilities with GTA 4’s DLC: each episode is about different character in Liberty City with different timeframes, before or after Niko Bellic’s (GTA 4’s main character) story arch within Liberty City and all their stories all interlink with each others like a Quentin Tarantino movie, or each character has completely different gameplay styles and not just the alpha male gangsters/ex-solder like Niko Bellic, therefore players could buy only DLC with characters that interest them with their personality. The design approach of DLC needs to change to suit the gamer's needs and requirements, as the FPS DLC remains suitable for the hardcore gamers for competitive multiplayer games as there is need to reach out to other demographics by addressing their needs as gamers. As gaming technology is constantly developing and progressing changing the way we interact with games and how we experience them so does the way content is imported into the game worlds, making the world feel coherent and organic with the extra content. The beauty of DLC you can explore many venues of gameplay, idea and business models without risk of high development costs, like indie games and also if a development studio can’t complete features by their deadline, they have no excuse to not release it at a later date as DLC. DLC certainly has a bright future and I look forward to it.

Written by: Jonesy