HD Remakes: Blessing or Bore?

IGN: "Debating the merits of the high resolution re-release."

[MrKingofVideoGames]

Bore...

[Canary]

Not at all. HD remakes are a beautiful thing. Final Fantasy IV complete and Chrono Trigger on the DS were both fantastic.

What -is- rather boring are HD ports, which is what this article is really about. Leave it to IGN to think that Sony's PS2 ports are remakes.

I honestly don't even understand why it's necessary in the first place. Why can console games only display at a certain resolution? Well, the 3D ones, I mean. Prince of Persia on PS2 can only display at, what, 480x360? Why's it locked into that? The PC version could display at multiple resolutions, and could be modded to display at -any- resolution simply by tweaking the .ini file.

Shouldn't game developers know that whichever console they're developing a title for could, concievably, be replaced by a newer model, that future games could, in fact, be built to display on higher resolution screens, that backwards compatibility (no matter how Sony and Nintendo act) is an increasingly important aspect of the hardware market? Shouldn't they realize all of this, and then code their games so that, in that all-but-certain future, they might display at higher resolution?

PC developers learned this decades ago. I can whip out a 15 year old PC game designed to operate on an OS six generations old and get it to display in in HD. I can apply filters to make old games look better, even.

So why is it when I stick a PS2 game into my PS3, it either looks like ass or blurry ass?

[MrKingofVideoGames]

Interesting points. However, to be fair, Chrono Trigger on the DS was a port not a remake (like FFIV). I actually had a disc for the PS2 that would "upscale" any game to 720p or 1080p. I think Action Replay made it and I sold it on Ebay when I git a backwards compatible PS3 (somebody out there has to remember this thing,too). Anyhow, somehow this disc managed to squeeze some extra resolution out of a standard ol' PS2 so what you say certainly seems feasible.

[Canary]

@Pastorjake: a port, not a remake? Are you sure? I've only played a bit of the SNES version (Wiiware) and am currently playing through the DS version. It is my first experience with the game, so I don't know first-hand, but I'd thought all of the sprites were re-done and that new content was added.

But, hey, for more examples of -awesome- HD remakes, again I'd have to point to the DS and the three Dragon Quest remakes. The new sprite-work, particularly in DQ4, really blew me away. Absolutely fantastic.

This is one of the reasons I prefer the idea of a low-budget remake of Final Fantasy 7, among others, w/ new art and models to the CGI cluster-**** everyone else seems to be rooting for. On the DS, I've seen a number of these re-makes turn out remarkably well.

Conversely, I can't think of a -single- big-budget remake that was worth anything.

[flappersack]

Blessing.
The games you love, touched up and made better and a chance for people to play something they might have missed and/or is now hard to track down.

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy the re-releases, so it's not an issue if you don't want them.

[SamPao]

"Nobody is forcing anyone to buy the re-releases, so it's not an issue if you don't want them."

It's SO SIMPLE! Thank you!!

ya haters would kindly read this comment? k? thx!

[deletingthis34675334]

Bore. I have backward compatibility on my PS3. I have no reason to buy any of these. It is Sony praying on the owners of a non-backward compatible PS3 (the majority of all PS3 owners) to buy the same games they already have on PS2 just to suck more money out of their pockets. If it wasn't for Sony discontinuing backward compatible PS3s, none of this would happen. What a shameful cash grab. I am guessing trophies and HD graphics are good enough for people to lap it up.

[moegooner88]

And for those who missed them, what do you suggest, paying 20-40£ for each original PS2 title at Amazon, what you are saying would have made sense if all Sony did was release HD remakes, but that is not the case, there have been plenty of new PS IPs and exclusives this gen.

[SKUD]

Less remakes. More new IP's. Most of the time they can't seem to really improve upon the classics of yesterday. Wasted resources.

[Qbanj69]

Bore.

Didn't read the article, however, I'd rather they not waste their time remastering a game and actually work on something new. ZOE3 comes to mind.

[izumo_lee]

HD remakes are an option to play games that the younger generation did not have the opportunity to play before. So having them available is only a good thing.

Sure some of us are lucky to have played classic games when they were first released & what to relive them in HD. Some did not have the chance to know what ICO/SOTC were like when they came out & what made them special. With HD collections they can.

Though still some of these classics that have yet to have the HD remake are still playable to this day. Everyone wants a FF 7 remake. The game although is dated can still capture a player with its gameplay & intense story. For a Final Fantasy game that is all that matters personally.

[dorron]

Only a few games deserve an HD remake, but lately it seems they're releasing them as cakes.

Still, I'd love to buy Dragon Quest VIII HD.

[PirateThom]

I've been a fan, ever since Super Mario All-Stars... they're entirely optional and, now, it's never the original studio who work on the remasters so it's never taking resources away from new games or new IPs. It makes a bit of extra money and may make it possible to play games that I may have missed because I'm an idiot or the game was hard to acquire or it's just something I want to play again.

Again, no one is making you buy them, so why does it affect you?

[MrKingofVideoGames]

Hey, I am the biggest Mario fan around and All-Stars has its place but what they did with the music on some of the levels has always bothered me.

[Aggesan]

For me it's been a blessing. I stayed loyal to Nintendo all the way up until this generation, when I switched to Sony, so I missed all the good stuff from the PS2. It's great to be able to play better looking, better running versions of the games I wanted to play. MGS Collection and Ico collection so far. Will probably get the GoW collection at some point too. Maybe ZotE as well. Oh, and FFX of course :)

[SandwichHammock]

Great. Especially with a trend developing of the HDs coming out on the Vita. Zone of Enders is a good example of this. I am looking forward to FFX HD for Vita, and hope they do FFXII as well.

I hope they do something really special for FFVI. Something along the lines of a combination of FFIII (DS) and FFIV Complete (PSP) with trophies for PSV.

[MWH]

depends on the game but if overdone then its a bore pure laziness as if the devs are laughing at us gamers with these games instead of making new ones.

ZOE is a great game and not to be missed but i think Konami should've worked on the 3rd instead of wasting resources on a port that may or may not hit.

[aNDROiD17_]

kingdom hearts HD= BLESSING!

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Sometimes its a blessing, other times not so much. Take RE4 for example, not really an HD remake but its been ported to so many consoles/handles. There's a point where it really becomes to much.

[ps3alldayeveryday]

Its only a blessing when they do HD upgrades on classic games not on ones that no ones wants...

[NastyLeftHook0]

blessing

[Chrono]

Not remake, just remastered. Big difference.

[ChipChipperson]

...can I please just have ZOE 1 & 2 already.

[moegooner88]

Just got the Ratchet and Clank HD collection, and have been having a blast, gave my original PS2 titles to my cousin, and now they cost around 20-40 £ each on Amazon UK, even if i had a backwards compatible PS3, i would still have gotten them, nothing like reliving the good old days.

[FinaLXiii]

Well i just want to play good old singleplayer games with better resolution and all look quite good on my screen but some people just want to complain how pointless it is.

But that´s their point of view not mine, im loving playing MGS3 in HD.

[Sainox16]

IMO I think its just a way for companys to make a little bit of extra cash but then again its good to relive the glory days without no bull of this so called dlc