Sonic Adventure PSN/XBLA Port

[Gavvie]

Am I the only person who looked at that Trial Game screen and thought "Heh, ASR reference"?

[eXtaticus]

The Crazy Taxi stuff has plagued the various remakes for a long time, I think the PSP version was the last one to have big problems with licensing, but getting rid of the soundtrack because they can't get the licensing back? Hmmm quite bad.

^ It's not the first time that Sega has been forced to rip Bad Religion and The Offspring out of Crazy Taxi; PC gamers of old will doubtlessly remember being sold short, fobbed off, and handed derivative thrash-trash to listen to while driving. I had feared that something like this would happen, and it means that the only way to play Crazy Taxi in its truest, purest form is to play it on a Dreamcast or in the arcades - if the GameCube and PlayStation 2 ports didn't suck the sweat off a dead man's balls, modern gamers would have the same excellent experiences. But no; Sega's reluctance to renew licences (and their stunning and chronic incompetence when it comes to switching games between platforms) means that those who have no access to older consoles will know no such pleasure.

A real shame; I was truly looking forward to this one...

[Tornado]

^ Total overreaction, much? First of all, you should get your facts straight: The Gamecube ad PS2 ports of Crazy Taxi do not show "stunning and chronic incompetence" on Sega's part because Sega didn't develop them. Ditto for the atrocious Windows port of the original. What they do show is a rather free use of their licences, but all of Sega went through that around 2001 and 2002 when they were worried whether they would ever be able to exist anymore.

Now I will admit that I was quite annoyed with the lack of the original songs when I bought Fare Wars. Then I looked up the complete track listing for the game and used Fare Wars' custom soundtrack option. Now, if Sega fails to include that, feel free to be angry; but even for a company as odd as Sega can be sometimes, I'm still having doubts at this point that they would lift the widescreen aspect ratio from the PSP version and not the custom soundtrack option.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Tornado

[Dr. SEGA Monkey]

I'm still having doubts at this point that they would lift the widescreen aspect ratio from the PSP version and not the custom soundtrack option.

But all 360 games have the custom soundtrack option anyway. So it doesn't matter.

[Tornado]

But all 360 games have the custom soundtrack option anyway. So it doesn't matter.

This isn't only a XBLA game.

On a more personal note, I prefer custom soundtrack games where the music plays like it is actually part of the game (like it does in Fare Wars) than just playing in the background like it does for 360 games.

[Dr. SEGA Monkey]

I don't have a PS3, but I thought Sony recently started making it mandatory for games to have custom soundtracks. Or does the music play over the sound effects on PS3?

[Tornado]

It depends on the game. Sony implemented code into the PS3 XMB that wrote around Microsoft's bullshit patents, but it is still up to the developer to implement it and how to implement it (be it constant music streaming like 360 games use, or soundtrack replacement/supplementation like the PSP uses) and the patents prevents Sony from making custom music a requirement for all games on the system. Super Street Fighter IV (and probably Vanilla IV) used 360-style streaming. Gran Turismo 5 has been confirmed as using PSP-style soundtrack supplementation.

Edited June 27, 2010 by Tornado

[DistantJ]

Damn, the music ripped out of Crazy Taxi too? No license I guess? This whole Dreamcast ports thing has been pretty damn disappointing overall, wouldn't you say?

As has been said, I can sit hoping that perhaps between now and September the 360 degree movement is restored, draw distance is fixed and 'stretch' mode is added but it really doesn't look likely, everything we've seen so far reeks of cheapness.

However, as Tornado pointed out, we shouldn't blame SEGA, but rather the group of people making these ports.

Methinks if I feel like playing Sonic Adventure again I'll be getting a Gamecube controller and memory card...

[CrimsonMoonMist]

Hmm, I'm just happy we're getting SA on PS3.

As long as the gameplay is intact, be it with or without glitches, I'm a happy camper.

From the footage it seems as good as I've hoped it would, no widerscreen, but i don't mind.

Edited July 20, 2010 by CrimsonMoonMist

[Barry the Nomad]

Think of it this way:

If the SA1 port is shite, then it probably means that they are spending more time on making Sonic Colours and Sonic 4 and <insert name of 20th anniversary game here>.

This means they are working harder on making a new game good, rather than laboriously improving an old game.

SA1's port is being handled by Yosuke Okunari and his team, employees of SEGA but not members of Sonic Team. So time not spent on SA1 =/= time spent on Colors and 4.

[-Mark-]

^ It's not the first time that Sega has been forced to rip Bad Religion and The Offspring out of Crazy Taxi; PC gamers of old will doubtlessly remember being sold short, fobbed off, and handed derivative thrash-trash to listen to while driving. I had feared that something like this would happen, and it means that the only way to play Crazy Taxi in its truest, purest form is to play it on a Dreamcast or in the arcades - if the GameCube and PlayStation 2 ports didn't suck the sweat off a dead man's balls, modern gamers would have the same excellent experiences. But no; Sega's reluctance to renew licences (and their stunning and chronic incompetence when it comes to switching games between platforms) means that those who have no access to older consoles will know no such pleasure.

A real shame; I was truly looking forward to this one...

Almost a month late, but swing it by me again why the GC version of Crazy Taxi is terrible?

Did they change the soundtrack? I've not played either version (got it on DC too) in years, so I can't really remember. I remember my favourites still being in the GC version, though.

[Tornado]

Its a port of the PS2 version, which was absolutely loaded with popup and (less often but still noticeable) slowdown. It was a bit better than the PS2 version because it had less jaggies, but one also had to play it with the Gamecube controller, so it about evened out.

Edited July 20, 2010 by Tornado

[MrROBOTO1988]

OK, so I have recently been in a Sonic binge, and I was playing SADX the other day on my Gamecube. I had fun, but I felt like something was missing from my fond memories of playing Sonic Adventure back in the day. I have since gone home for a little while (I was at college), and I booted up my Dreamcast and played some of the original Sonic Adventure. And HOLY SHIT!!! I had SOOOOO much more fun. The reason? They really did a shoddy job porting that game over. First and foremost, the controls are WAY more polished on the Dreamcast version. In SADX, they are very touchy, and I found myself having a lot of trouble taking the speedier routes that I at one time had mastered on the Dreamcast, only to find upon playing the Dreamcast version again that I still had those routes mastered... Secondly, I don't even like the updated models on the characters. I feel like if they were going to update the character models, they should have REALLY updated the character models instead of what i believe to be half-assing it.

SO, the whole point of my post is this: Will the new release on XBLA and PSN control as well as the Dreamcast version, or will it be shoddily ported again, losing all the feel that made the game so great?

And I know for sure I am bringing my Dreamcast with me to school when I move back =P

[Ryusuke]

^Well, that explains why it feels so off...aside from the "updated visuals", glitches and what not.

It would have been cool if they had redubbed this game with the current cast, but that probably isn't ideal...for SEGA anyway. Sure hope the game feels a lot more like it did on the Dreamcast (I don't even have it anymore...d'oh).

Edited August 3, 2010 by Ryusuke

[Pikachu in a Sombrero]

So... I'm confused. Is this to be a direct port of the original Dreamcast version?

[Jay H]

So... I'm confused. Is this to be a direct port of the original Dreamcast version?

Unfortunately, no. It looks to be a direct port of the PC version of Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut. By simply porting over, I literally mean that. They didn't even bother to update this XBLA/PSN version with widescreen support, they just put up pillars to fill in the widescreen frame. Lazy, if you ask me.

[Xieldos]

Do we still have no idea on a price or release date? Was expecting this to be out quite soon...

Edited August 5, 2010 by Xieldos

[Shaddix Leto Croft]

Do we still have no idea on a price or release date? Was expecting this to be out quite soon...

The release is in September next month but I'm not quite sure on the price though say about 1200MSP(£15) or 800MSP (£8.50)

Edited August 5, 2010 by Shaddix

[Barry the Nomad]

My guess is Wednesday, September 8th (a usual release day for psn/xbla titles) and the day before the Dreamcast's birthday. Price will probably be on par with Banjo Kazooie, which is $15. Crazy Taxi might release on the same day for $10.

Just my guesses.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Doctor Eggman

[Tornado]

Its hilarious, but it would be so like Sega to do that with the prices. "Here's a lazy as shit port of a game that was already a lazy as shit port 7 years ago for $15. Look everyone, Sonic! Oh, and here's an optimized widescreen version of Crazy Taxi probably with custom soundtrack support for $10."

Edited August 6, 2010 by Tornado

[Xieldos]

Ooh September is good. Really looking forward to this especially with added Trophies

[Cortez]

Although to be fair the AchievemenTrophies for this game actually take the piss.

I'd be surprised if anyone who collected all 130 Emblems on SA/ DX can be bothered to do it again through a shitty port.

[DistantJ]

The video footage is from a very long time ago, so who knows, maybe the controls and draw distance are fixed... Personally I'd be perfectly happy with one which is identical to the Gamecube version (with a better framerate or whatever) and I'm happy with a 'stretch' mode if they insist on no widescreen, but those 8-direction, 1-speed PC controls, and the 5ft draw distance, no, that is just not okay with me....

Edited August 8, 2010 by DistantJ

[Barry the Nomad]

If the date is truly 9/8, we should be hearing about it very very soon.

[empires]

Joystiq.com are reporting a September 15th release date. Game will apparently sell for 800 Microsoft points.