GameSpotting

Safety Monkey
GuestSpotter

Now Playing: Freelancer (PC), Battlefield 1942: The Road to Rome (PC), Kung Fu Chaos (Xbox), Mario Party 4 (GC)
Last Holiday I Invented: St. Monkey's Day

The Lowest Common Denominator

And now it's time once again for everyone's favorite game, "Spot That @#%($& Trend," with your host, Safety Monkey.

I'm here today to talk to you about simultaneous cross-platform gaming releases, why they bug the bejeezus out of me, and why they should bug you, too. First, I ask you to consider that not all gaming hardware is created equal: Fanboys can argue back and forth about the virtues of the "POS2" over the "LameCube" or the "X-Flop," but few could argue that there aren't major discrepancies in the abilities of these systems. For example, the Xbox has a built-in hard drive, and no other console does, period. Furthermore, the Xbox has an established online service, whereas the PS2 and GameCube merely have broadband and dial-up adapters that require developers to come up with their own matchmaking solutions. The GameCube has an adapter for connectivity to a handheld gaming device (namely the Game Boy Advance), and the Xbox and PS2 do not. There's no disputing these kinds of factual differences.

However, when publishers decide to simultaneously cross-ship, they are designing, drawing, and testing each port at the same time. What does this mean for us, Joe Consumer? Well, for starters, it means that each release of the game will look and feel strikingly close to what it does on the worst platform, which is (sorry, guys) typically the now-underpowered PS2. Second, it means that there's no chance for developers to incorporate items into a game to take advantage of the differences in the consoles, like the aforementioned hard drives, handheld gaming adapters, and so on. Why should any of us be subjected to this garbage?

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Oh, Tony...why can't we play you on Live?
As a recent example, I offer forth Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, a fantastic skating game in an already fantastic franchise. There's just one problem: THPS was released long after games started shipping with Xbox Live functionality. Why were Xbox owners denied this kind of cool multiplayer feature? It's certainly not due to lack of demand, as evidenced by Neversoft's release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X. I can't think of a single Tony Hawk fan who wouldn't enjoy the experience of playing multiplayer over the Live service, and there's just no good reason for them not to have it. The truth of the matter is, I rented but never purchased THPS4, and I know full well that inclusion of online multiplayer would have pushed me over the edge.

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Splinter Cell for the PS2--now with 20 percent more snow!
There is a right and a wrong way to go about solving this problem. Publishers (and developers) need to learn that it's OK to start at the top of the console ladder and work their way down, taking an extra month or two or three to strip features and retune as needed. Despite the loudmouthed whining of forum users around the world, these complaints represent a minority of gamers, and most people would really rather have a port of a game that was obviously tuned for the console they happen to be playing it on, even if they have to wait a bit longer.

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Simultaneous cross-platform shipping is the equivalent of publishers leaving the consumer's lifeless body in a dark corner.
Case in point: Splinter Cell. The original release of Splinter Cell did what any reasonable game should, and that's take advantage of the hardware, in this case offering future downloadable content via the Live service. The PS2 version of the game has had the engine reworked to better run on that system, and it includes brand-new levels and missions to compensate for the lack of the Xbox's downloadable content. Furthermore, Ubi Soft recently announced that not only will plugging your GBA into the GameCube version of Splinter Cell unlock new levels, but it will also integrate with the controls of the game.

That, my friends, is the way things are supposed to be done. There's no reason for any gamer to ever have to feel like the lowest common denominator, regardless of which purchasing decisions they made when they picked up a console. When each release of a game is specifically designed and tuned for the platform it's released on, it's a rewarding experience for consumers, who are in turn going to reward publishers with their hard-earned cash money. So, come on, guys--help me help you.

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