W-OLF
07-03-2010, 01:42 PM
The Next PS2 Collection for PS3
Here are the franchises that we think should get the HD upgrade.
July 1, 2010
by Colin Moriarty
It's a common piece of knowledge in our industry that the PlayStation 2 is amongst the top echelon of gaming systems ever released. Absolutely trouncing its contemporary competition and easily outselling the GameCube and Xbox combined, the PlayStation 2 was a force to be reckoned with, with an incredibly long shelf-life, a legion of loyal players, and above all else, a noteworthy library of strong games.
Earlier this year, God of War III came out on the PlayStation 3, and only a few months before its release, Sony graced us with a compilation of the first two God of War titles – both PS2 exclusives and amongst the finest games in the console's robust library – in the form of The God of War Collection. Upscaled in HD glory with added tweaks and, most importantly, the inclusion of Trophies, God of War and God of War II brought gamers back to the PS2-dominated era on a current generation system. Fans of the games got to relive them, and those who never got to experience them in the first place were finally able to. With rumors lurking about of a Team Ico Collection that would include two more PS2 classics in the form of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and Sony admitting it's looking into more collections, the question has officially become: what other PS2 compilations could be released on the PlayStation 3?
We've come up with a list of five franchises that dominated the PlayStation 2 and that we'd love to see upscaled, Trophy-enabled and re-released as an affordable series of collections for PlayStation 3 gamers. So let's get to it.
It's true – Ratchet and Clank has already appeared on the PlayStation 3 not once but twice. Yet, Ratchet and Clank remains studio Insomniac's bread-and-butter, otherwise having only released Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 on the PS3. The original Ratchet and Clank tore the PS2 up when it saw its initial release in the fall of 2002, and thereafter, sequels Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked were released each subsequent year. The series is going strong, which is why it's surprising that this collection hasn't been made yet. But in some editors' opinions, it's almost certainly in the works.
By 2005, the PlayStation 2 had four original Ratchet and Clank titles on it, and fans clamored for more. Even with PSP and PS3 releases since the PS2's fall from popularity, some fans' desire hasn't been satiated. At least, not yet. With Insomniac working on a new game that will appear on both HD twins (a first for the studio) and with the third Resistance game deep in development, Insomniac must be keeping itself busy with a Ratchet and Clank project as well, right? Perhaps it's the first three or four PS2 titles being tailored for a PlayStation 3 release?
Onimusha was one hell of a series. The first two titles were especially powerful, as the games effectively wove pseudo-Japanese lore with heavy action play mechanics and the horror aesthetics of one of Capcom's most popular series – Resident Evil. Onimusha was effectively a more accessible (yet still hardcore) survival horror game where your character isn't equipped with a gun and some curative herbs but rather a sword and some nasty magic. Sword-slashing through zombified enemies was fun in its own right, but Onimusha stressed a unique leveling system and puzzle-solving as well, making it a dynamic series that fans fell in love with early in the PlayStation 2's lifespan.
More than most other games, the four Onimusha titles on PlayStation 2 would work well on the PlayStation 3 because of its potential for Trophy support. Onimusha could be beaten on multiple difficulty levels, and there was plenty to collect and find. "Dings" would be nice for finding and solving all unlockable chests, beating the game on the hardest difficulty, and more. But four games is a lot of titles to put in a single, affordable collection, so if Capcom only had to choose three, we'd have to implore them to skip over the series' weakest link, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. Eww.
Final Fantasy is one of those series that has transcended generations and consoles alike. It got its start some two decades ago on the NES/Famicom, and now, dozens of games later, it's one of the biggest franchises in our beloved industry. The core series itself has certainly changed since its sprite-based incarnations on the NES and SNES, and many would claim that Final Fantasy hit its stride for mainstream gamers and RPG enthusiasts alike with the PSX releases of Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX. However, the series was truly turned on its head by the time it premiered on the PlayStation 2 with Final Fantasy X, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay.
But like Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy X , X-2 and XII would work well on the PlayStation 3 because RPGs encourage you to see the entire game to get the full experience. What better way to do that than to have the three titles be Trophy-enabled? Of course, upscaling the games so that they natively run in HD and 16:9 would be a huge plus for fans of the series, too. Then again, we understand that there are Final Fantasy titles that fans of the franchise are pulling for to be released on the console before these three titles. Notably, Final Fantasy VII, though many would love to see a remake of Final Fantasy VI first.
There weren't any games on the PlayStation 2 that were even remotely on the same echelon as the three Grand Theft Auto titles as far as commercial success is concerned. And that's saying something because the PlayStation 2 was home to countless best-selling games for nearly a decade. Rockstar's classic trio of games brought legions of gamers to the PlayStation 2, starting with the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 in 2001. By the time Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were released in 2002 and 2004 respectively, Rockstar made it clear that it was a force to be reckoned with and helped cement PlayStation 2's place as one of the industry's most important consoles of all-time.
The great thing about the Grand Theft Auto games (Grand Theft Auto IV very much included) is the fact that you don't have to dump an incredible amount of time in the game to see what you want to see. There are those of us who can spend hundreds of hours doing every little thing one of those games has to offer, while other, more casual gamers may want to spend only 15 hours getting through the main campaign. Either way, there would be a welcome crew of millions who'd love to replay those titles on the PlayStation 3. We just hope that if they do release a collection like this in conjunction with Sony, that they are a little more forgiving on the Trophy front. Just look at Grand Theft Auto IV's ridiculous roster of Trophies for a reason why.
As if it could have been a surprise, lots of gamers are super-excited about the possibility of Sony and Konami getting together to release the Metal Gear Solid trilogy on PlayStation 3. Considered some of the finest games ever created, Hideo Kojima's masterpieces actually find their roots on the original PlayStation, on which the original Metal Gear Solid was released in 1998 (and, of course, the Metal Gear series itself goes back to the 1980s). A sometimes convoluted story aside, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay popularized stealth-action and is certainly one of the more satisfying series to get through in its entirety. After all, those games aren't easy.
One problem a potential Metal Gear Solid collection would meet that our other four proposed collections wouldn't is the fact that one of the games in the series – the original Metal Gear Solid – is a PlayStation title, not a PS2 game. Of course, that won't be a big deal should Konami choose to simply use the original PSX version of the game and bundle it with the PS2 versions of MGS2 and MGS3. Then again, issuing the Twin Snakes remake of the original Metal Gear Solid on GameCube in lieu of the original could be another solution. Either way, this is a collection that would surely sell like hotcakes, and is no doubt the most-wanted collection for a ton of the PlayStation faithful.
Here are the franchises that we think should get the HD upgrade.
July 1, 2010
by Colin Moriarty
It's a common piece of knowledge in our industry that the PlayStation 2 is amongst the top echelon of gaming systems ever released. Absolutely trouncing its contemporary competition and easily outselling the GameCube and Xbox combined, the PlayStation 2 was a force to be reckoned with, with an incredibly long shelf-life, a legion of loyal players, and above all else, a noteworthy library of strong games.
Earlier this year, God of War III came out on the PlayStation 3, and only a few months before its release, Sony graced us with a compilation of the first two God of War titles – both PS2 exclusives and amongst the finest games in the console's robust library – in the form of The God of War Collection. Upscaled in HD glory with added tweaks and, most importantly, the inclusion of Trophies, God of War and God of War II brought gamers back to the PS2-dominated era on a current generation system. Fans of the games got to relive them, and those who never got to experience them in the first place were finally able to. With rumors lurking about of a Team Ico Collection that would include two more PS2 classics in the form of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus and Sony admitting it's looking into more collections, the question has officially become: what other PS2 compilations could be released on the PlayStation 3?
We've come up with a list of five franchises that dominated the PlayStation 2 and that we'd love to see upscaled, Trophy-enabled and re-released as an affordable series of collections for PlayStation 3 gamers. So let's get to it.
It's true – Ratchet and Clank has already appeared on the PlayStation 3 not once but twice. Yet, Ratchet and Clank remains studio Insomniac's bread-and-butter, otherwise having only released Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 on the PS3. The original Ratchet and Clank tore the PS2 up when it saw its initial release in the fall of 2002, and thereafter, sequels Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked were released each subsequent year. The series is going strong, which is why it's surprising that this collection hasn't been made yet. But in some editors' opinions, it's almost certainly in the works.
By 2005, the PlayStation 2 had four original Ratchet and Clank titles on it, and fans clamored for more. Even with PSP and PS3 releases since the PS2's fall from popularity, some fans' desire hasn't been satiated. At least, not yet. With Insomniac working on a new game that will appear on both HD twins (a first for the studio) and with the third Resistance game deep in development, Insomniac must be keeping itself busy with a Ratchet and Clank project as well, right? Perhaps it's the first three or four PS2 titles being tailored for a PlayStation 3 release?
Onimusha was one hell of a series. The first two titles were especially powerful, as the games effectively wove pseudo-Japanese lore with heavy action play mechanics and the horror aesthetics of one of Capcom's most popular series – Resident Evil. Onimusha was effectively a more accessible (yet still hardcore) survival horror game where your character isn't equipped with a gun and some curative herbs but rather a sword and some nasty magic. Sword-slashing through zombified enemies was fun in its own right, but Onimusha stressed a unique leveling system and puzzle-solving as well, making it a dynamic series that fans fell in love with early in the PlayStation 2's lifespan.
More than most other games, the four Onimusha titles on PlayStation 2 would work well on the PlayStation 3 because of its potential for Trophy support. Onimusha could be beaten on multiple difficulty levels, and there was plenty to collect and find. "Dings" would be nice for finding and solving all unlockable chests, beating the game on the hardest difficulty, and more. But four games is a lot of titles to put in a single, affordable collection, so if Capcom only had to choose three, we'd have to implore them to skip over the series' weakest link, Onimusha 3: Demon Siege. Eww.
Final Fantasy is one of those series that has transcended generations and consoles alike. It got its start some two decades ago on the NES/Famicom, and now, dozens of games later, it's one of the biggest franchises in our beloved industry. The core series itself has certainly changed since its sprite-based incarnations on the NES and SNES, and many would claim that Final Fantasy hit its stride for mainstream gamers and RPG enthusiasts alike with the PSX releases of Final Fantasy VII, VIII and IX. However, the series was truly turned on its head by the time it premiered on the PlayStation 2 with Final Fantasy X, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay.
But like Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy X , X-2 and XII would work well on the PlayStation 3 because RPGs encourage you to see the entire game to get the full experience. What better way to do that than to have the three titles be Trophy-enabled? Of course, upscaling the games so that they natively run in HD and 16:9 would be a huge plus for fans of the series, too. Then again, we understand that there are Final Fantasy titles that fans of the franchise are pulling for to be released on the console before these three titles. Notably, Final Fantasy VII, though many would love to see a remake of Final Fantasy VI first.
There weren't any games on the PlayStation 2 that were even remotely on the same echelon as the three Grand Theft Auto titles as far as commercial success is concerned. And that's saying something because the PlayStation 2 was home to countless best-selling games for nearly a decade. Rockstar's classic trio of games brought legions of gamers to the PlayStation 2, starting with the release of Grand Theft Auto 3 in 2001. By the time Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas were released in 2002 and 2004 respectively, Rockstar made it clear that it was a force to be reckoned with and helped cement PlayStation 2's place as one of the industry's most important consoles of all-time.
The great thing about the Grand Theft Auto games (Grand Theft Auto IV very much included) is the fact that you don't have to dump an incredible amount of time in the game to see what you want to see. There are those of us who can spend hundreds of hours doing every little thing one of those games has to offer, while other, more casual gamers may want to spend only 15 hours getting through the main campaign. Either way, there would be a welcome crew of millions who'd love to replay those titles on the PlayStation 3. We just hope that if they do release a collection like this in conjunction with Sony, that they are a little more forgiving on the Trophy front. Just look at Grand Theft Auto IV's ridiculous roster of Trophies for a reason why.
As if it could have been a surprise, lots of gamers are super-excited about the possibility of Sony and Konami getting together to release the Metal Gear Solid trilogy on PlayStation 3. Considered some of the finest games ever created, Hideo Kojima's masterpieces actually find their roots on the original PlayStation, on which the original Metal Gear Solid was released in 1998 (and, of course, the Metal Gear series itself goes back to the 1980s). A sometimes convoluted story aside, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay popularized stealth-action and is certainly one of the more satisfying series to get through in its entirety. After all, those games aren't easy.
One problem a potential Metal Gear Solid collection would meet that our other four proposed collections wouldn't is the fact that one of the games in the series – the original Metal Gear Solid – is a PlayStation title, not a PS2 game. Of course, that won't be a big deal should Konami choose to simply use the original PSX version of the game and bundle it with the PS2 versions of MGS2 and MGS3. Then again, issuing the Twin Snakes remake of the original Metal Gear Solid on GameCube in lieu of the original could be another solution. Either way, this is a collection that would surely sell like hotcakes, and is no doubt the most-wanted collection for a ton of the PlayStation faithful.