Batman: The Brave and the Bold
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Looks like simple, classic fun and ideal for the dowbload platforms. Wii and DS, huh? Interesting how Warner are targeting those as the kiddy platforms very definitely, with both their DC Comics and LOTR franchises getting kid-friendly iterations on the Nintendo platforms, while the 'serious' versions of these franchises are on the HD consoles.
Is that because of technical limits or demographics?
Is that because of technical limits or demographics?
Probably both demographics and tech. I'm sure on the PS3 or 360 they wouldn't have much interest in releasing a 90s style 2D brawler. But the whole thing looks simple and fantastic for kids to play, and I think a lot of people buy Wiis for younger kids. And it's a tie in to a tv series.
Looks simple and fun. I'm a big fan of those kinds of games. The artwork looks pretty nice too. I guess the Wii can produce some pretty nice 2D games.
Looks simple and fun. I'm a big fan of those kinds of games. The artwork looks pretty nice too. I guess the Wii can produce some pretty nice 2D games.
Especially since the response would be 'it better be on XBLA/PSN and cost $10'.
If it's getting a full price release on Wii, I suppose this is true. Otherwise not releasing it on Live! and PSN seems like ignoring easy money. The assets are the real cost here in a dead-simple engine. The cost to create PS360 versions would be negligable. I also think the typical PS360 owner would be interested due to nostalgia. Current kids have not experienced either Adam West's Batman nor Ocean's numerous side-scrolling tie-ins. Of course a $10 download price (if it's a good length, they could possibly push $20?) would make the DS and Wii B&M store prices ridiculously high.
But then iPhone prices make PSN and Wiiware prices look abominable, but that doesn't stop devs putting out the same titles on all download platforms.
It could be that they can sell this type of title for Wii for full price where 360 and PS3 they could not. Considering games like Castle Crashers are similar, cheap and have a considerable amount of content. Still, depending on the length of the game, I'm ok with this being a full price title. Wii games do tend to be a bit cheaper though.
Why not? They did that with the TMNT remake. I'm sure people would buy it on the PS3/360. I would buy it if the price is right and, like Shifty said, once the assets are done the cost of porting the game is negligible.
Well, I think they'd have a hard timing selling it for anything more than $10-$15 on Live or PSN, whereas on Wii they'll sell it for $50. People on 360 and PS3 do not expect to pay much for this type of title.
Would that actually affect Wii revenues though? You can buy a game for $8 off PSN and the same title for $1 on iPhone. Does that price comparison discourage buyers on PSN from buying the same game because it's so much cheaper elsewhere? Will Wii owners decide not to buy the $50 dollar game that would be happy to pay $50 for fi they hear that PS360 owners can get it for $10? I don't know the answer to these questions, but I would have thought that typically Wii owners won't be PS360 owners so won't have a choice to buy the download version, and also won't be aware of alternative download offerings to even know that there's the same game (in HD) for $10. Instead I expect the vast majority would just walk into the store and see the game on the shelves and decide to buy or not.
Certainly a staggered release, 6 months after, would prevent boycotting and maximise revenues, although you wouldn't want to advertise that before hand.
Certainly a staggered release, 6 months after, would prevent boycotting and maximise revenues, although you wouldn't want to advertise that before hand.
It's just based on the cartoon series of the same name, so it appeals to the pre-teen crowd.
This just wreaks of the ghetto that comic book games were at in the 90's though. Not quite a platformer, not quite side scrolling action like Streets of Rage or Final Fight.. just a cash-in mishmash of both.
This just wreaks of the ghetto that comic book games were at in the 90's though. Not quite a platformer, not quite side scrolling action like Streets of Rage or Final Fight.. just a cash-in mishmash of both.
Hey, it's being made by the same people who did Contra 4, A Boy and his Blob, and Shantae (WayForward), so I have hopes that it will play well.
And I absolutely HATE the sentiment that just because its 2D it doesn't deserve to be retail/needs to be shoved down as download only. I admire what these guys do to keep the artform of sprite-animation alive.
And I absolutely HATE the sentiment that just because its 2D it doesn't deserve to be retail/needs to be shoved down as download only. I admire what these guys do to keep the artform of sprite-animation alive.
The notion that it's suitable for download isn't because it's 2D but due to expectations of size, longevity, and costs of distribution, such that it probably doesn't warrant a $60 release on PS360. And by 'warrant' I mean won't be valued as a full title by PS360 shoppers. One doesn't mind paying £10 for a DVD of Howl's Moving Castle rendered lovingly in 2D, but £10 for 2 episodes of the Simpsons or some more recent, even less well drawn animation title I cannot name because I have zero interest in them, would be asking too much.
If there's 10 hours of real game here, carefully crafted and polished, then a disc release may be worthwhile. However, it looks to be a simple game of the kind available on downloads. That's where the rivals for this game are on PS360, which means if this game were to get a release on PS360, it'd fit much better into the lower-priced download market. On Wii, the game doesn't look out of place next to other disc-based titles (although I'm really not au fait with Wii's library!).
The game doesn't magically become 4x cheaper just because it's on PS360, though. And with a niche game like this (a 2D beat-em-up based on a children's cartoon) the demand probably isn't very elastic -- selling at a quarter of the price won't get you 4x as many sales.
All that means is: PS360 shoppers don't get to play the game.
Well, then the game isn't intended for you, since you probably wouldn't have bought it anyway. This is intended mainly for people who like that particular Batman cartoon. There may be some appeal among those who know that Wayforward are extremely skilled at 2D, but those people probably all post on GAF.
But that's prejudice at work. You don't really know much about this game, but because it's for the Wii, because it's 2D you're saying 'well, this must be of equivalent quality to other 2D games on PS360'. Nevermind that PSN/XBLA haven't really had any 2D game with the quality of the Wayforward titles.
Don't forget GameSpite Talking Time, insertcredit.com (rip), Hadrcore Gaming 101, Tiny Cartridge, Madman's Cafe, and all the other forum sites who are connoisseurs of these types of games.
This is another thing people keep forgetting: Not all 2D games are made equal. And for the good ones, even with advances in tech, they are definitely still not easy to make. Making sprite artwork is not as simple as scaling drawings down in Photoshop and just pasting the results. There was even a comparison of this method versus retouching/recreating the sprite pixel-by-pixel in the Etrian Odyssey 3 blogs.
Notice the image contrast and definition is greater on the right.
You could also argue why don't artists just make their drawings in vector, and part of the answer would be that vertors are not as easy/flexible to work with when designing sprites.
By the way, you guys get (Contra) Hard Corps sequel as a download, although I would be much more happy if it had gotten the same treatment as a retail product. Heck, even fighting games like BlazBlue make it on disks, so why can't other genres like classic brawling or even action platforming?
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Wasn't that what the Phantom was suppose to do?
(That reminds me of another comic book platformer, btw.)
I say games like this should be on both disc and downloadable form. I don't understand the idea of trying to push DD on everyone, not everybody internet on their consoles, and it's leaving money off the table if more consumers don't various methods of accessing that content.
I could see a plan of releasing $40 XBLA/PSN game compilations (3 or 4 games on one disc) maybe 6 months after their digital debut if they want to maximize sales in that one area first. But overall I don't feel that games like those should be digital-only, especially when more titles come along and previous ones end-up forgotten. Save for a few games that get expansions and patches, most of those types of titles will need something to reinvigorates sales, so brick-and-mortar would be fine. Get three different developers to split up shipping/packaging costs so everybody comes out cheaper, make the number of copies limited to get some initial sales and gauge further demand, and see where it goes from there.
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