Holy bottomless stomach, Batman! I've been eating so much crap the last 2 days and I'm STILL hungry! Really, you wouldn't believe what I all ate; it's maddening. But on to business:

Recently, I got into an argument about HD re-releases now also getting done in games. Now, I'm not a huge fan of it in movies either, but trying to resell the same game twice took it a little too far for me. Apparently, I also extremely butthurt a wave of fanboys, because from my valid points on, the argument deteriorated in attacking my person and nothing else. So, it wasn't really an argument, as I was the only one trying to divert the assaulting monologues 5 to 6 people were blasting upon me. After repeating myself 5 to 6 times and disproving a lot more "arguments", I decided it was best to let the internet be the internet and create an article about my opinion. Since I had to make myself crystal flippidy clear on every word said in the argument, I had to create an article of equal clarity. Therefore, it became the shocking discourse you will see posted below. It was even so long, I couldn't bring myself to making any more points; so not all subjects were handled. If it means anything: I'm sorry for being so precise. I'll try and make monosyllabic grunts about people's sexual preferences in bad grammar next time, pinky swear.

Enjoy. Oh, and it's only the internet: cool the copulation down, ok buddy? 

High Definition has already set in a while ago. Most people love the addition of watching things in advanced resolutions and that's all dandy for them. Movies have long since picked up on the matter and started releasing their work, or rereleasing it even, to be viewed in this circumstance. Again, it's an understandable move. Movies have a key feature in how their visuals come across and thus updating this illustration enhances the whole experience. But now games have also come into the trend of rereleasing their work with a shiny HD sticker. This is a somewhat lesser understandable move.

Recently, it was announced they were going to bring out Team Ico games once more; specifically Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus. This followed the HD release of God Of War. There are also rumors for a Sly Cooper update, Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, amongst many others being whispered through at the local water cooler. In fact, Sony is already so adamant on the success of the venture, they've started using box art with the subtitle CIassiccs HD". So, it's safe to assume many other older games are on route to take a second bow. But why is that? What is so fundamentally flawed about the games that they need to be remade? Nothing is wrong with the games; they're just being made to look shinier and new again. But that's good, right? Bright new shiny game, what could be wrong with that?

It's coming, might as well get used to it...

 

The main aspect of a game is still the part where you can play or 'game' with the product, therefore having the term gameplay. If its key feature was to merely look at it, it would be an interactive movie, Kojima. So, the part where you pick up a controller (or not now) and go about the fictional area of the world is the part of the game you should focus on. A high definition release doesn't really touch that part. It spruces up your characters and background, maybe heightens the framerate, but it leaves the game aspect as it is and as it was. So actually, you'll be playing the same game or an old game if you haven't before; but it will be the same experience as years before, when it was thrown into the savage game market. The rerelease doesn't add anything to an already existing product; it's all cosmetics. So where is the point in playing something old that already is exists in the exact same state? There isn't really a point to it, but it's worse than simple redundancy I'm afraid. I could fathom people wasting their own time; far be it for yours truly to dictate how people piss away their pointless time, looking at shiny objects.

The fact is a HD release takes up time, effort and resources, just like all other work in life. Luckily, all the major prep work is already done, so the only thing left to do is polish up the silverware or maybe give it the ol' spit shine. But it is essentially repeating the same work once over. Allow me to demonstrate (please take into account this is fiction):

A professional company holds a qualified team of 20 people. These people work on games, on any aspect their respective fields contain. From making games, to illustrating artwork, to doing PR, etc; they all have their job to do and do so well.

Now, this company feels it can take on 3 projects with its team. On one end, they have 12 people working on a large multi-platform title. Then they have 5 people working on a handheld title. The remaining 3 people have been told to prepare the newest HD release. Seventeen people are now working on different material. Three people are revising and tweaking old stuff, which might not even be their own, such as BluePoint Games and God Of War. This basically wastes the time of 3 people capable of either aiding their colleagues or creating something novel themselves. Instead, they're busy doing the work that has already been finished and released and passing it off as if it were something new, which is just lazy.

Let's say Level 5 is working its men (and women, you feminist trolls) on releasing the amazing, upcoming Ni No Kuni. The gross amount is working to release the PS3 version in Q2 of 2011. The smaller team is prepared to finish the DS version on December 9, 2010 (that one is actually correct). The 3 remaining people are reworking Team Ico's ventures. These 3 people could've spent time on helping Ni No Kuni getting here as well. There's no point in them creating Ico; that game is already available, it's here, it's done, move on. With their aid, who knows, Ni No Kuni DS could've gotten here by December 9, 2010!

Wait what; that's the exact same date? Well of course it is; like mentioned these are professionals. They'll take on projects they feel they can finish within in an allotted time. This isn't Daikatana, where Romero spent so much time shouting random things, it basically ruined him. Well, except if you don't count going away from Ion Storm, the creators of Deus Ex, to go work for LOLapps in the end, the creators of Critter Island. My point here is that their talent is 'wasted' on doing something already done, instead of helping to create novel work. Not only that, but someone is sinking funds into old material, bringing in resources and space. Three months spent shining up graphics, a hundred thousand dollars in man hours for the project, 3 office cubicles allotted towards making the release, it's all for naught. This in the end is harmful to gamers wanting games.

Imagine all the people...

 

Note that harmful is in the most indirect and feeble way possible. The developers aren't coming to your home, to destroy your previous copies of games and cutting you up with the shards. But compare it to someone coughing next to you, without having the courtesy to holding his hand up. This act of lazy opportunism may not do much against you; it's not even a direct attack to your person or anything meant to be harmful. But because that person chose to be lazy and not have the effort of holding up his hand, your immune system gets to deal with germs and you could get sick; be it ever so slight. A High Definition release is like a cough in the face; not the end of the world but it's a bit rude and it might smell a bit, you lazybones

(part 2)

Now, let's go into detail in some games in specific and whether or not it's a good idea to plant this on a new console.

- God Of War Collection: This should be an obvious one to see. Not only is there nothing wrong with the old iterations, but their also considered milestones for their era. Brutally attacking the PS2's performance, both games get a ridiculously stunning visual prowess out of the game. Ask any person only even aware of the series: God Of War delivers on the goods when it comes to graphics. So why update something that doesn't even need it? It's not like it's an 8-bit game to be fully re-rendered into graphical art.

Now, both games are also some of the best action games out there, still to this day. The first one redefined hack and slash as a whole even and the second, even though much of the same, was an equally epic adventure into people's entrails. Nothing got altered in this sense, it's still is the same amazing experience, but nothing else. Bluepoint Games should've told this project where to go and start creating the next Metroid Prime.

- Ico: Another game known largely for its artful entry into the game world. The story is amazing, but the real treat here is wandering the landscapes in this story of innocent heroism. I almost tear up just thinking about it. But the fact is, the graphical aspect of the game is more than fine, it's art! So, if there is one thing about this game that doesn't feel outdated, it's the visuals. I could understand reworking some of the more rickety controls which irk many people trying to overcome platforms or fend of spirits. But the controls and such will work on the exact same engine; only the framerate will make failing more fluent. That's a largely missed opportunity.

- Shadow Of The Colossus: Almost all from above statement also applies to this game. If they ever saw the opportunity to update the most dreadful exploration aspect of a game I ever witnessed, this would've been the time. Imagine a desolate, interactive plain such as in Fallout where our hero searches for an epic beast. Unfortunately, nothing of the sort will happen and the boring and dreary desert will just look a little nicer while you fall asleep over your controller.

- Sly Cooper: I don't see much need in altering a cartoon game, since it's not meant to be that crisp; it's a cartoon. Just like with Team Ico games and others, I'm happy that this will bring some hidden gems back into the public's attention, but the game already exists in the state it came out. You could just press it again or make a new campaign for it, if you really want it to get some attention. All the work for it has been done anyway; no sense doing it again.

- Odin Sphere: Now, this is the only game I'm on the fence about, strangely enough. All above statements still apply, but this is a game that came to fruition very late into the lifespan of thePS2, after the PS3 had already been released. Therefore, a lot of people haven't even heard of this game, while it is brilliant. Not perfect in gameplay, but a jewel nonetheless. Bringing this back into attention might be a good thing for the game. Although again nothing of the actual game will be tweaked and there are still loads of PS2 copies available, so that seems wasteful at best.

But why not bring these games back? They're ports and ports exist, what's so bad about them? Well, it is correct that ports exist. Good thing too, since exclusives are annoying for any consumer. But there's a large difference between a port and a lazy port. I can still remember clearly the days that people looked down upon lazy rehashes of the same game. And I'm not talking in nostalgia about how grand Super Mario All-Stars was (since it's the equivalent of this). I'm talking about present day, where people frowned when developers pass off a PC RTS on a console. This still happens today. There is essentially nothing different about that occurrence, which gets harpooned and a HD release, which gets praised. It's a strange world like that.

No work gets done in tweaking or altering gameplay, only graphics get done over. Take for instance Ico, where the controls could use a decent tweaking. Even if the people in charge of reproducing it do that, this would be nothing more than a glorified patch. And last I checked you can't pass off a patch as original work. That's what it basically boils down to: You can't pass of old work as new work, simply because you added some glitter and a few smiley stickers; just enough to distract the 30 second attention span of today's modern young gamer. I can't turn in my article about Ys Seven's coding as a new editorial because I update it; it's an update, it's not a different creation. In the same line if you alter nothing to a game, it's still that game and nothing more. For this same reason I'm not a fan of virtual consoles and all that junk reselling ancient games. I appreciate the fact that developers want to see their masterpieces revived, but there are other ways. This is just the exact same thing. If kids had an interest they would look into tracking down said game and platform and play it then; it's much more fun this way anyway (he said, frantically waving his walking cane).

So, let's have an example of someone who used a game and added to it, as it should: New Super Mario Bros. The name itself couldn't have said it better; it's the same game, but this is actually new! For good cause as well, because the developers went out of their way to rework everything. Simply watch footage of 'old' Super Mario Bros on NES and then come back to the DS version. You'll notice the similarity but it ends there. This is a port fleshed out with such expertise, it deserves nothing but praise to revive a cIassic that already is a masterpiece on its own. That's how it should be done and it would be asinine to accept any lesser from developers and to ourselves.

I'd love to see an update in God Of War where Kratos now has to do a choreographed Quick Time Event (QTE) before leaving the underworld. In an epic dance-off, you can now implement an attachment to your old QTE system and create an unused resource. Or you could have him divert a certain path on the way to Olympus, where he now has a Cooking Mama sequence. I assure you Kratos Cooking Mama will flabbergast any –and everyone that ever plays that game.

How about Ico, where certain monsters trigger a 2D beat'em up battle in a completely new, cel-shaded, visual styIe. Or you could have hidden chambers open up, where a mushroom gives you 3 treasure chests to choose from. You'll now whisk away Yorda in your snazziest horned raccoon suit. I'm just saying, it's not hard for developing geniuses to add subtle (subtler than mine) touches to enhance your experience, instead of merely repeating it.

More than probably this debacle will turn out futile. As Sony spearheads 'CIassics HD', it's safe to say this trend will be coming to pass more often. Not only that, but it's also been confirmed that the Team Ico duplication will be done in 3D, another pointless update. Don't expect anyone to have time left to actually create a game after that making a 3D game 3D-ier.

So, buy into cheap capitalist moves if you must; you're free to feed any machine you'd like. Just know that this only keeps you an inch further away from something that doesn't exist yet and you'd like to see. You can already see the existing product, but if you'd like to pay for it again, it's your choice. If you don't mind getting further away from exciting original content, then buy new old work. Even yours truly sometimes buys the same water bottles and veggies at the local grocery store; I just expect those to be novel as well, not a tomato someone went to get his shinebox for.

Alas, Billy Bats, we knew thee well.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed.