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SNK Execs On Game Piracy, Sony Approval Issues
Thanks to SPOnG.com for its interview with SNK's Yoshihito Koyama and Shinya Morishita about the veteran developer/publisher, with topics including the death of the classic Neo Geo MVS cartridge system ("There is no reason why the system could not be used now and in the future... we have not been held back by the hardware platform we use. The main problem is the pirates"), and the scale of the piracy that prompted it ("We released King of Fighters 2003 in Japan. Within two days we were seeing copied versions of our [cartridge] from China hitting the open market across Asia... Our game [ROMs] have also been spread across the Internet, another reason why enhanced hardware technology will help us.") Eurogamer also has another SNK interview, similarly conducted on the occasion of SNK's European publishing deal with Ignition, which talks PlayStation 2 game approval issues, mentioning: "With Sony you have to think about SCEA [Sony America] approval because they don't like 2D games, but SCEE [Sony Europe], they accept 2D games for release, but SCEA say 'no, they must be 2 in 1', or something like this."
Of course 3D games are better! they have an extra D! I'm not going to pay the same price for a game that has one less D in it!!!
This mentality amongst (particularly young) gamers drives me nuts. I have nephews who won't even play a game if it was released last year. If a game is good, it doesn't stop being good over time.
Personally I agree entirely that as of late piracy has been the number one problem plaguing the Neo Geo. To be honest, there's so many pirated MVS games and especially when you get one off eBay, you just don't know what you're gonna get.
my only limit is that i refuse to play any games that aren't released yet... but theres a good reason for that, its more like the Vendor refuses to give the game to me before its released
/. is overrun by bed-wetting elitist nerds
let it be known, for anything other than servers, a *nix OS sucks
"but SCEA say 'no, they must be 2 in 1', or something like this."
/. reaction in the recent games.slashdot article about Famicom Mini GBA releases with not so cheap price tags... but what is funny here is, even the marketing people, not customers, at SCEA understand the American way perfectly and try to exploit on it just like pirates in China demand 10-in-1 cart :)
Amusingly enough, it sounds awfully similar to the
I think it shows that Sony is already comfortable in its position as a quasi-monopolist. People complained about Nintendo's tight regulations, now Nintendo has fallen and Sony has taken its place, inluding the iron fist rule. It might cost them a lot of third party support when the next generation rolls around and devs like SNK decide they don't want Sony on top again. Capcom had similar problems getting some games (Viewtiful Joe, Killer 7, both GC exclusive in North America but not other territories) approved.
I just HOPE this bites Sony in the ass so we can see one of the other manufacturers rise to the top (or an equal distribution of power or something) and quirky games can get released in the west again.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
I have a library full of quirky PS2 games, stuff like Ico and Rez for instance.
Unless you are asking for quirky games that aren't very good?
SNK's decision makes sense as their ROMS are being dumped way to quickly and it doesn't give them any time to make money from their real customer base (high end gamers and arcade machine operators). It's a good decision, but unless the new format is compatible with the old hardware, they may simply not make it.
I do wonder though, how many people download their roms and play via emulator who would simply never buy their games because of the cost.
-- $G
It confirms what many gamers already know, which is that SCEA are a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.
I mean, SCEA declined to distribute Vib Ribbon, Wipeout Fusion, Dropship... It's not just 2D games they reject, it's just about anything that isn't a FPS or movie tie-in.
Maybe they're right from a commercial standpoint; maybe Joe Sixpack is only interested in playing Unreal Syphon Quakesplitters 3. But it's pretty sad for gamers.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I am impressed by your high game quality standards. Viewtiful Joe has to be a pretty bad game to get a weak 92% in Gamerankings.This clearly indicates that the game is no good.Sony's US refusal to distribute VJ had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the game is a 2D side scroller, as TFA says.
I guess somebody will have to tell the guys at Capcom that if they want to be able to sell their PS2 games in NA they better start learning from the companies that made Big Motha Truckers and Army Men:Green Rogue
Remember back in the NES days when (I think it was) Tengen came out with several games that Nintendo didn't like, and so did not receive the Nintendo Seal of Approval? Games like Gauntlet, Tetris (a Tetris that more closely resembled the arcade version than Nintendo's own) and others were available on the shelves. Nintendo tried to get them removed through the court system, and lost.
The SCEA is clearly doing the same thing, "if we don't like your game, you can't distribute it". How about letting *THE PUBLIC* decide if they like a game by purchasing it (or not). I prefer 2D games over 3D games, as the game-play tends to be better. Consequently I sold my PS2 a long time ago, and purchased a GBA SP.
Quit telling me what I want, let me decide for myself.
The funny thing about all of this is that the game makers are putting up all the risk, and they *still* have to pay Sony for each game sold. Why does Sony *not* want additional income?
Perhaps the SNK people should release an "un-approved" disc. If the SCEA takes them to the courts, SNK may have legal precedent on their side.
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
I really hate when companies ignore the realities of what they're saying when they blame piracy for their ills. Did people pirate Neo Geo games because they're scum sucking asses, or because the games cost >$200 a piece? If piracy suddenly became impossible, they would have been lucky to see a few more bucks land their way.
"Derp de derp."
Technically, its only SCEA in the whole world that is against 2D games. There is no industry wide feeling, its just that when the console with the largest installed base says 3D only, you tend to get 3D only.
Of course, every previous time Mike Hawk has said its a problem with SCEA some jerk comes along and tries to dispute it. Once again, Mike Hawk is right and you all are idiots.
Vietiful Joe is a 2d side scroller with 3d cell shaded graphics. Sorta like Street fighter EX is a 2d fighter with 3d graphics and thus gets the go ahead by SCEA.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
What cost them some developers is the difficulty of their system. Their licencing and aproval isn't any different from MS or Nintendo.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
The industry has a congenital hatred towards 2D games, despite the fact that a good 2D romp like metal slug has no counterpart in the 3D world.
Besides Serious Sam, the new Ninja Gaiden, most of the Dynasty Warriors series, etc., etc.
Rob
Let me see, $50 for the legit copy of Metal Slug 3 with a broken continue system, OR $0 for a rom that I can play on pretty much any platform, with as many continues as I like.
$30 and more than one credit, would have sold me.
If they are your nephews then it is your moral duty to pimp-slap them and their parents (your siblings).
Me, I've got my trusty old Dreamcast patched into my 20" SVGA, with Ikaruga superglued to the drive spindle. Whenever the little inlaws waltz over to point and laugh, I just smack them in the teeth with the controller, all without breaking my 40-chain combo.
Only shitty games come branded with an expiration date.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
The Dreamcast has...
RAM: 16MB
video RAM: 8MB
sound RAM: 2MB.
[source: GameFAQs]
The Atomiswave has...
Main RAM : 32 MB
Main Memory : 16 MB
Graphic Memory : 16 MB
Sound Memory : 8 MB
And the NAOMI has...
Main Ram : 32 megs
Main Memory : 32 MByte
Graphic Memory : 16 MByte
Sound Memory : 8 MByte
[source: System16.com]
Now, I don't know what's the difference between "Main RAM" and "Main Memory", that's just what the site says... can anyone clarify?
Well, anyway. It is clear that the hardware is very similar, but not the same. Of course, a good developer come with arcade-perfect ports in a very short time - as Sega, Capcom, Treasure, Sammy, GRev, and Success have done; but I don't believe it is as easy as you make it sound.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Ignore the "Main Ram" number. Check out the official flyer for the Atomiswave at System16 - it clearly states it has 16 megs RAM, just like the DC. It also wouldn't surprise me if the rest of those numbers were wrong, too, though I imagine at least the sound one is correct.
I personally don't think the problem for porting the games to the Dreamcast comes from RAM size differences - going from the fast loading speed of a cartridge to a suboptimal CD-R speed would be the real issue that would require software reengineering.
A bigger deal is the 'couple more years to flawless' DC emulators out right now, as they could be quickly modified to run Atomiswave. I assume Sammy has created some pretty impressive copy-protection on these cartridges, which will theoretically protect them. Still seems silly to me, since I assume they plan to use this hardware for quite a few years - amateur ROM hackers are getting pretty damn good nowadays, and the pros are even better. And the working emulators will just make their job even easier. The best existing arcade board protection systems mostly rely on stuff like custom CPUs holding encrypted ROMs, which is just not something you can do with a cartridge system like this, IMO.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
If you're interested in Ikaruga, you might like this ikaruga fansite, where there are scoreboards, discussion forums, and replay videos of experts playing each level.
There are also some Radiant Silvergun videos.
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Ikaruga scoreboard (supports netranking)