Wednesday, August 11

The Benefits of Time Travel

For reasons I can't explain, I was excited at the prospect of God of War Collection being released last year (in the States at least). I purchased two import copies of the game as Christmas presents for friends, and had laboured for weeks over the prospect of owning it myself. I had never finished either title on the Playstation 2, but the prospect of these High Definition reissues with trophy support gave me the horns. I, and the gaming media at large kept thinking of the possibilties: Final Fantasy Collection, Team Ico Collection, Metal Gear Solid Collection, (Insert Popular Intellectual Property Here) Collection; but for nearly a year now, Kratos' PS2 adventures have so far been the only recipients of a current generation makeover.

While The Sly Collection has been announced, this fails to generate much excitement with me because I never played the originals. The rumour of both Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia HD reissues however is infinitely more promising. Not because I played through these games (because I haven't), rather it demonstrates that perhaps third party publishers have noticed the commercial validity of this nostalgic premise. Perhaps that (Insert Popular Intellectual Property Here) Collection isn't that far off.



Why do I care? Is it the trophies? Possibly, I'm a recovering Achievement addict. Is it because no good games have been released in this generation? No! Some of the greatest games I have ever played have been released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. My theory: I am an advocate for these collections of past generation content because Sony and to a more limited extent, Microsoft have removed backwards compatability from current hardware; and the ability to now play games from that technically lost age of hardware (with all the modern trimmings) is appealing because normally I would not not be able to. I still have a copy of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (PS2) sitting in my collection, ready to go. If only my Playstation 3 would read the bloody disc.

Do you want to see more HD collections of previous Playstation 2 games? If so, what franchises should get the treatment? Tekken, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy would be at the top of my list.

9 comments:

  1. I would like a Bioware collection, dont care if its XBOX exclusive. Featuring Jade Empire, KOTOR and KOTOR 2. Would be rad! Cant really think of anything at present.

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  2. Bioware collection would be rad. A FF collection would also be good. I don't know about tekken. the earlier games would feel really dated in their movements now. I would liek to pay Tag Team with sexy visuals though.

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  3. Think about this, if the home console versions of Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 were on one disc for the PS3; you would have Tekken 1-5 plus TTT on one disc! Remember Tekken 5 had Tekken 1-3 on this disc?

    I love Tekken Tag Tournement!

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  4. That is true. Tekken 4 was probably my fav, but Tekken Tag Tournament will forever hold a place in my heart. My combo of Law and Jun is still the greatest combo ever. Also, bryan wasn't ridiculously overpowered in TTT. I did love Kazuya and Jin in 4 though

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  5. meh panda and kuma or jack and kuma/panda best team ever, if only gon was in TTT.

    by the by, my spoon is missing!

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  6. Remember playing Tekken 4 after that party at Matt's place back in 2002 Sambo? You lost your hubcap on the drive home lolololololol

    TTT had Tekken Bowl which was the best mini game ever.

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  7. Was I smashed when said hubcap was lost? And I so don't remember that, there were many tekken 4 experiences. I used to hate fighting Tim's Bryan. He was such a cheap character!

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  8. You were the previous evening. Still a bit fuzzy on the day after I believe. Bryan, such a mixed bag of speed and robotic limbs.

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  9. Good Jesus, metal gear solid 2 was made with time travel in mind!

    you'll see...

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