SNK Playmore Pledges Major Support for Wii

[fitbabits]

Recent Webby Award-winning website Gamasutra (http://www.gamasutra.com) is reporting that SNK Playmore have pledged more support to the Wii than any other next generation format.

You can read the full story here (http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=9343).

Talking in an online interview, SNK Playmore USA president Ben Herman has claimed that the Wii will receive the most support of any next generation format from the company, due to its greater suitability to the publisher’s traditional 2D games.

According to the interview on Advanced Media Network, SNK Playmore has no plans to release any further titles on the Xbox, and feels 2D games are not suitable for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Sherman also confirms that Sony of America rejected a number of 2D projects from the company for the PlayStation 2 because they did not correspond to the company’s graphical standards, as well as limiting the number of releases that featured two retro titles in one package.

SNK Playmore has already announced the compilation Metal Slug Anthology for the Wii, making the surprising announcement that the games would be retrofitted to take advantage of the Wii remote rather than just using the “shell” controller.
I do love me some Metal Slug, so this is good news!

[benig]

Oh snap. This is pretty big for some people.

[Kamalot]

of America rejected a number of 2D projects from the company for the PlayStation 2 because they did not correspond to the company’s graphical standards ?????!
SNK titles are full of an attanetion to graphical detail that many companies don't have. They are lovingly crafted, pixel-for-pixel.

This is insulting.

[fitbabits]

?????!
SNK titles are full of an attanetion to graphical detail that many companies don't have. They are lovingly crafted, pixel-for-pixel.

This is insulting.
*prays this thread doesn't turn into a Sony hate-fest*

[joruussuun]

*prays this thread doesn't turn into a Sony hate-fest*
Hahaha good one fit! :D

[jBusy]

?????!
SNK titles are full of an attanetion to graphical detail that many companies don't have. They are lovingly crafted, pixel-for-pixel.

This is insulting.

This is what Sony does to all 2d games that try to get released in the US. It's what killed Working Designs.

[Chameleo]

boo sony!

yay nintendo!

meh microsoft.

end of thread.

[pheriannath]

Well then it's an even bigger miracle that games like Disgaea got released.

[Zaro]

I've never play Metal Slug.
Seems to be great coop games like Contra was.
I'll probably try Metal Slug Anthology.

If it's as fun as it's sound, i'm happy that they will bring more game's on Wii.

[holysin]

and feels 2D games are not suitable for the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360

Yes they are! They are!
Tell them they are!
Look, 256MB of ram! make big big sprites! they are!
Are too!

[fitbabits]

Yes they are! They are!
Tell them they are!
Look, 256MB of ram! make big big sprites! they are!
Are too!
Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have 512 megs of RAM! Which means the sprites could be TWICE AS BIG! OMGSASSENFRASS.

[fitbabits]

I've never play Metal Slug.
Seems to be great coop games like Contra was.
I'll probably try Metal Slug Anthology.

If it's as fun as it's sound, i'm happy that they will bring more game's on Wii.
Metal Slug rocks! It's terribly unforgiving and hard as nails, though.

[Megalith]

Oh, SNK doesn't actually exist anymore.

[Serapth]

Bummer they ditched XBox 360 for their 2d based games. I pay a 1,600+ points for a good metal slug game on Live arcade. Hell, I would be more likely to buy such a game of Live Arcade then I would off a store shelf. These games just dont look good on store shelves for some reason, but stick anything in live it starts looking damned sexy... I cant quite figure out why.

Shit, Im really gonna start hating Live Arcade soon I think. After seeing it make me go giddy for UNO, I am starting to see the power behind it.

[fitbabits]

Bummer they ditched XBox 360 for their 2d based games. I pay a 1,600+ points for a good metal slug game on Live arcade. Hell, I would be more likely to buy such a game of Live Arcade then I would off a store shelf. These games just dont look good on store shelves for some reason, but stick anything in live it starts looking damned sexy... I cant quite figure out why.

Shit, Im really gonna start hating Live Arcade soon I think. After seeing it make me go giddy for UNO, I am starting to see the power behind it.
I know what you mean. SNK's games would sell bucketloads on Live Arcade. Is this a case of SNK Playmore cutting off their own nose to spite their face?

[Lutheran]

Metal Gear rocks! It's terribly unforgiving and hard as nails, though.


Nice analysis but the thread is about Metal slug :eek:

[benig]

I know what you mean. SNK's games would sell bucketloads on Live Arcade. Is this a case of SNK Playmore cutting off their own nose to spite their face?Perhaps this news is very telling of two things. One, that Nintendo's licensing on the Wii is much more attractive then on the PS3 or XBOX 360 and two, that xbox live arcade might not be the money making machine for developers that we hoped it would be. Perhaps MS's cut is too big?

[Balthasar]

This is what Sony does to all 2d games that try to get released in the US. It's what killed Working Designs.
I'd like some verificiation of that statement, considering Working Designs would have ended years earlier than it actually did had it not been for the PS1/2. Also, how does this jive with the fact that the Guilty Gear series is widely available on the PS2?

Edit: Also, since when does Sony have more stringent standards for what is published on the console than Nintendo?

[fitbabits]

Nice analysis but the thread is about Metal slug :eek:
Thankee! :)

[jonat3]

Bummer they ditched XBox 360 for their 2d based games. I pay a 1,600+ points for a good metal slug game on Live arcade. Hell, I would be more likely to buy such a game of Live Arcade then I would off a store shelf. These games just dont look good on store shelves for some reason, but stick anything in live it starts looking damned sexy... I cant quite figure out why.

Shit, Im really gonna start hating Live Arcade soon I think. After seeing it make me go giddy for UNO, I am starting to see the power behind it.

I think there are several reasons why it's more attractive through Live. First of all, it's about effort involved to get the title. Nobody is willing to go out to make the effort to go into a shop and get 2D games. Such an action is only reserved for true next gen games. However, since there's almost no effort involved to get it through Live, suddenly a 2D title gets to be more attractive. Not to mention that online seems to spark our collector's instincts (probably also because of the effort involved).
The price is also a factor, since titles through Live are cheaper.

[Balthasar]

Perhaps this news is very telling of two things. One, that Nintendo's licensing on the Wii is much more attractive then on the PS3 or XBOX 360 and two, that xbox live arcade might not be the money making machine for developers that we hoped it would be. Perhaps MS's cut is too big?
I suspect, on your first point, the issue is more likely that the development costs on those two platforms just to develop a sprite-based 2D game is not as condusive to profit as the cheaper Wii. I think your second point is probably acurate as well (in regards to the cut they take). It might also have something to do with the fact that Microsoft exerts a considerable amount of control over the way games are given through Live (as one might expect from a centralized platform). I really don't see how the Wii controller really lends itself toward the Metal Slug/Gradius types of games. It's going to be more exercise than anything else.

[RPT]

From the article linked by gamasutra.

Live Arcade is something we're talking about. That still gets some of our older games available but yet that has been a little bit of a stumbling block because their base system, the memory capability is not strong enough to take some of our arcade classics. They want us to compress it. Maybe we can't compress it. They don't want to go to a memory stick that has 128 megs, they just feel like it's not fair to their consumer base because if they had only done the larger SKU, this wouldn't be a discussion.

It would seem that restrictions for Live Arcade games is the problem for them bringing their games rather than an issue of money (although I'm sure that will come in to it as well).

[jBusy]

I'd like some verificiation of that statement, considering Working Designs would have ended years earlier than it actually did had it not been for the PS1/2. Also, how does this jive with the fact that the Guilty Gear series is widely available on the PS2?

Edit: Also, since when does Sony have more stringent standards for what is published on the console than Nintendo?
I never said that Sony had more stringent standards. You just have more BS. (edit: I mean more BS to deal with, not refering to you :)

Google cache of Ireland's WD is dead message (http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:7RDGNALMmbwJ:www.workingdesigns.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D118916+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1)
The 2 Growlanser games had to be packaged together to get approval. Sony told WD that Goemon would not be approved for the US.

Broken Sword 3 not approved for Playstation 2 in the US (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=98188)
While it's not a 2d game, it shows some of the BS that goes on for genres that Sony thinks are not popular.

Guilty Gear didn't have problems because it was backed by Sammy. They have enough power behind them to make sure it got approved in the US. Plus, I don't think 2d fighters are considered unpopular at Sony considering the amount of hardcore gamers that love them.

I don't quite understand your comment about WD going out of business except for the playstation 1/2. :confused: There are quite a lot of studios that would have gone under if not for the playstation line. While WD has never been the pinacle of profit, they did well enough for the niche that they served.

[Flatpicker]

I hope the SNK classics like KOF and Sam Sho go to either the wii or the 360.
I was hoping for an announcement last week about their direction.

As for WD's demise? Vic goofed up when he bailed on Sega back in the Saturn days. He should have gone multi-platform instead of just the Sony route. I like Vic, but that was a bad decision and they never recovered from it.

[Kamalot]

I've never play Metal Slug.
Seems to be great coop games like Contra was.
I'll probably try Metal Slug Anthology.

If it's as fun as it's sound, i'm happy that they will bring more game's on Wii.
Metal Slug is a blast. Even the wife likes it. I have a collection on the Xbox that you can even play over Live.

[AnthraxKitty]

I'm actually pretty dissapointed to hear this.

KOF is my favorite fighting franchise out there, as is Sam Sho, and Garou.

I don't want them to Wii-fy these games. I love the Wii and can't wait to get one, but 2D fighters are hard enough to come by as is, we don't need some of the purest franchises screwed up without a proper method of control.

[Anju]

How is the Wii remote bad for Gradius/Metal Slug games? First off, you don't HAVE to play these games with motion sensing capablities, meaning the remote would be just as useless as a Nintendo controller back in the day. Gradius only needs two buttons - shoot and upgrade. Metal Slug needs just three - I'm sure they can work that one out somehow, maybe the Grenade button being B. Comfortable? Not really, but it still works. I'm not being imaginative at the moment but I can tell you that controller held sideways WILL work. As any old school Nintendo experience will show.

Finally, though, if they DO decide to use motion sensing capabilities, that will be the shit. Why? Have you ever played the somewhat obscure but good obscure game called Abuse? It's basically a 2D side scroller shooter with a mouse and keyboard. You control your character, with the keyboard, while you aim everywhere with the mouse. If that's the route they pick for the control for Metal Slug, it would be a pretty fun, yet different sequel for the series.

[AnthraxKitty]

I didn't say the remote would be bad for the shooters.

[MAbans]

Isn' SNK pledging support like me saying saying I got to protect mike tyson. All the same, SNK made some great games..

[Anju]

Sorry, I was really more disputing this statement more than anything else.

...I really don't see how the Wii controller really lends itself toward the Metal Slug/Gradius types of games. It's going to be more exercise than anything else.

[Fyd]

nice, more games for wii :D wii is getting better and betterr

[captainspankypants]

Sony doesn't approve SNK's games because they are all recycled graphics and regurgitated gameplay mechanics. Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, etc. are all dinsaurs dug up and put on display. The "newer" stuff like SvC:Chaos and Battle Colluseum are still recycled, it's just that they're bits and pieces taken from a bunch of different SNK games instead of being an entire game repeated wholesale. The fact that the games are made for hardware older than any piece of electronic equipment I currently own in my entire apartment also hurts them quite a bit.

This is why games like Disgaea and Guilty Gear are released and SNK's stuff isn't. They have evolved gameplay and high-res sprites that better utilize the hardware, respectively.

That said, I'm still excited by this news. We may get a local, home console release of Samurai Shodown 6 after all. Kickass.

[Balthasar]

I never said that Sony had more stringent standards. You just have more bullshit.
Um, what? Quoted from Kamalot's response:

"[Sony]of America rejected a number of 2D projects from the company for the PlayStation 2 because they did not correspond to the company’s graphical standards"

Now try again.

The 2 Growlanser games had to be packaged together to get approval. Sony told WD that Goemon would not be approved for the US.

While it's not a 2d game, it shows some of the BS that goes on for genres that Sony thinks are not popular.
Do you honestly believe any of these games would have sold at all on the XBox? Also, please explain to me how Disgaea and Katamari Damacy were released in the U.S., given Sony's tyranical import policies.

Guilty Gear didn't have problems because it was backed by Sammy. They have enough power behind them to make sure it got approved in the US. Plus, I don't think 2d fighters are considered unpopular at Sony considering the amount of hardcore gamers that love them.
But a game like Katamari only gets released by virtue of being 3D?

I don't quite understand your comment about WD going out of business except for the playstation 1/2. :confused:
Where else were games like Growlancer going to get published?

There are quite a lot of studios that would have gone under if not for the playstation line. While WD has never been the pinacle of profit, they did well enough for the niche that they served.
Not really, considering they went under anyway. I had a great appreciation for them after Lunar and one or two titles they released on the Saturn (the title is escaping my mind).

[Nessus]

While they're probably not tyranical, I have read about Sony restricting 2D games on PS2.

The Castlevania producer said as much in an interview, which is why he's been doing Castlevania games on GBA and DS.

[Balthasar]

While they're probably not tyranical, I have read about Sony restricting 2D games on PS2.
Why not release it on the XBox or Gamecube, then?

[jBusy]

Also, please explain to me how Disgaea and Katamari Damacy were released in the U.S., given Sony's tyranical import policies.
Katamari was released because it was Namco. They have power as a publisher so getting approval isn't much of an issue. As for Disgaea, I'd love to know myself. I'll have to ask someone at Atlus if I ever get the chance. My guess is they probably made the argument that Disgaea isn't fully 2d since the battlefields are 3d.

And yes, I would say that Sony's approval process can be tyrannical at times given that Broken Sword 3 was allowed to come out in Europe and not the US. I'd love to say that getting approval is a fun thing where just the quality of your game is being judged, but it isn't. It can be very political and Nintendo was bad about this back in the '80s. They had issues such as putting a limit on the number of games a studio could put out a year. (I think it was only 2)


Not really, considering they [Working Designs]went under anyway. I had a great appreciation for them after Lunar and one or two titles they released on the Saturn (the title is escaping my mind).
That's kinda what happens when Sony doesn't allow you to sell your games.

[Stormwatcher]

The "effort to get it" issue is silly. SNK fans are know to spend fortunes importing stuff and making MVS machines. They won't pass on buying SNK games for the Wii because they have to go to a store to pick the game up... And have you heard about the internet and usps?

[jonat3]

The "effort to get it" issue is silly. SNK fans are know to spend fortunes importing stuff and making MVS machines. They won't pass on buying SNK games for the Wii because they have to go to a store to pick the game up... And have you heard about the internet and usps?

I wasn't talking about SNK only. I was referring to 2D games in general. You have got to admit that Live gave 2D a boost once more. Or do you perhaps have another explanation?

[ShooterMcgavin]

I really don't see how the Wii controller really lends itself toward the Metal Slug/Gradius types of games. It's going to be more exercise than anything else.

I suspect that they will release a gamepad-type add-on. If anything else, you can still use the Gamecube controllers. I think Nintendo even said that Super Smash Bros. Bash won't be compatible with the Wiimote, that you'll have to use a game pad.

[Balthasar]

I suspect that they will release a gamepad-type add-on. If anything else, you can still use the Gamecube controllers. I think Nintendo even said that Super Smash Bros. Bash won't be compatible with the Wiimote, that you'll have to use a game pad.
Has the gamepad been finalized yet? I keep forgetting that is still an option for games that can't rely on the wand.

[Balthasar]

Katamari was released because it was Namco. They have power as a publisher so getting approval isn't much of an issue.
Ahh, I don't buy that, but there's no way to prove or disprove that without being in the room, so to speak.

As for Disgaea, I'd love to know myself. I'll have to ask someone at Atlus if I ever get the chance. My guess is they probably made the argument that Disgaea isn't fully 2d since the battlefields are 3d.
Namco arcade classics? Pac-Man?

That's kinda what happens when Sony doesn't allow you to sell your games.
But there were two other consoles. Why not publish there? My point in asking this is that Nintendo has been notoriously strict on what it will allow to be published on it's system, and there is nary a Japanese-made game on the XBox, so I don't see, relatively, how Sony is so horrible in this respect. Do they hold games back? Absolutely. There were many RPG titles back in the 90s that took forever to make it Stateside because Sony didn't think Americans liked those types of RPGs (which wasn't entirely false at the time). But Sony was still their best option for those games getting released at all.

[Johan]

boo sony!

yay nintendo!

meh microsoft.

end of thread.

On the money! Apparently, several have ignored your last statement, however...myself included :-) I'm gonna follow your suggestion now, though!

end of (my part of the) thread

[Draft]

Sony doesn't approve SNK's games because they are all recycled graphics and regurgitated gameplay mechanics. Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, etc. are all dinsaurs dug up and put on display. The "newer" stuff like SvC:Chaos and Battle Colluseum are still recycled, it's just that they're bits and pieces taken from a bunch of different SNK games instead of being an entire game repeated wholesale. The fact that the games are made for hardware older than any piece of electronic equipment I currently own in my entire apartment also hurts them quite a bit.

This is why games like Disgaea and Guilty Gear are released and SNK's stuff isn't. They have evolved gameplay and high-res sprites that better utilize the hardware, respectively.

That said, I'm still excited by this news. We may get a local, home console release of Samurai Shodown 6 after all. Kickass.
You know what? I want to punch you right in the eye, but you are 100% correct.

[jacktion]

My Wii needs some major support.

[Balthasar]

You know what? I want to punch you right in the eye, but you are 100% correct.
You are an angry man. But at least you are being a rational, angry man (today).

Anyway, am I the only one that misses Samurai Showdown? I, II, and III were some of the best arcade/console 2D fighting fun I've ever had.

[Adam Blue]

While I agree that games should evolve along with hardware through generations, it does not hurt at all to add some old-school style classics to a library.

It's what I grew up with and I love it. There's always room for some old-schooling.

[mightbe]

I <3 you bootsy. You read my mind.

[mightbe]

You are an angry man. But at least you are being a rational, angry man (today).

Anyway, am I the only one that misses Samurai Showdown? I, II, and III were some of the best arcade/console 2D fighting fun I've ever had.

Great abilities, good character balance, outstanding control, and easy to pickup and play. Such a great series!

My fave 2d fighter is definately SSII. Although having I & III certainly would trouble me one bit.

[King Chaos]

For 2D games the machine will use the Classic Controller shown at E3, a mix of SNES and GameCube design... worked perfect on Mario, Sonic and Bonk ;)