Mmmm....I´m going with a exclusivity period, and then 6 months later or so a GCN version will show up. Xbox will be pretty much forgotten in the US (all the attention will be on Xenon, and look at its release schedule, its clear MS wants Xenon to show up as soon as posible) by the time the game is released and GCN is the only other viable platform aside from PS2. Also, GCN is still hanging on to life in Japan, whereas Xbox has already decomposed and been eaten by maggots.
Soul Calibur III: PS2 exclusive!
- Thread starter Deepak
- Start date
mckmas8808
Legend
Oh trust me its a lost on Nintendo and M$ side. A game like SC is not just some other game. Did you forget SC was the most talked about game when it came out on the Dreamcast years ago. SC3 could be one of those games that is talked about highly like God of War is now. But the fact that it's coming out so close to the Xbox2 launch will kinda hurt it. Or could it help slow down the Xbox2 launch? :?
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london-boy said:
I would not go as far as to say there are no decent fighting games. Maybe not a lot, but there are some good to great fighting games on the Cube:
SSBM
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Bloody Roar: Primal Fury
And then there are your tweeners (like boxing games, Godzilla Melee, Dragon Ball Z Budokai 2, Viewtiful Joe, and Wrestling games.
So while SCII and SSBM are the only games in the same breath as a Tekken or VF, I think it would be unfair to say SCII sold well because there are no other good fighters. Few, yes. None, no.
But the arguement that SCII sold well due to no competition also ignores the fact that most gamers who want fighting games went to the PS2 to begin with. I think this is a very accurate statement considering the fact most cross platform sales do very poorly on the GCN. Why? Because more often than not more players have other consoles for those games and/or Cube owners get shafter with late, poor ports.
Personally, I think the inclusion of Link into SCII is the clear reason it sold well on the GCN. Lack of heavy competition may have helped spotlight a quality game, but the fact still remains most gamers who want quality fighting games got PS2s.
How many of those were available when SC2 was released though? And really, how many of those would u say could be any competition to a huge game like SC2? 
BlackAngus
Newcomer
V3 said:
HAHAHA.... Whats an "arcade"? Didnt all those closed down a while back =)
for the person who said Xbox sales will dry up so there isn't a reason to make SC for it;
on the contrary, it may sell very well on Xbox since it lacks games for this year. the only big titles coming for it are waht? Jade Embpire and Doom3? the GTA version may be the most antisipated. so SC may do as Team Ninja did and take advantage of that. on PS2, SC will have hard competiton from games of its genre or others. PS2 is alwasys seeing a steady triple A offering throughout the year.
on the contrary, it may sell very well on Xbox since it lacks games for this year. the only big titles coming for it are waht? Jade Embpire and Doom3? the GTA version may be the most antisipated. so SC may do as Team Ninja did and take advantage of that. on PS2, SC will have hard competiton from games of its genre or others. PS2 is alwasys seeing a steady triple A offering throughout the year.
Teasy said:I don't play these games so I don't care personally. But Namco are making one massive mistake if they make Soul Calibur 3 PS2 exclusive.
Soul Calibur II US sales
GC - 778,821
PS2 - 723,377
Xbox - 520,113
Kolgar
Well if Namco felt that they needed to put link into Soul Calibur III (GC) to make it outsell the PS2 version again and make then boat loads of cash then why do you think they wouldn't want to do that?
Since when is there no cost involved when planning a multi platform title opposed to an platform exclusive one? Also, how do US sales stack up to the respective sales in Europe and Japan? I sure hope you're not basing this on US sales alone, now are you?
Maybe it's just easier to recycle Tekken 5's engine and make an exclusive PS2 version rather than going through the hassles of designing a more port-friendly version onto other consoles (that mind you, would have to be ported as well, which does take even more resources)?
SCII wasn't designed to be port friendly. It was designed for System 246.
Namco could port Tekken to Xbox and GCN, but that doesn't mean it was designed to be port friendly.
Anyway SCIII doesn't offer enough to make people go out and buy it at full price, considering SCII is around $20 and almost maxes out the PS2 hardware. Also the SC engine has already been ported to Xbox and GCN, so releasing SCIII on those platforms will be trivial.
Namco could port Tekken to Xbox and GCN, but that doesn't mean it was designed to be port friendly.
Anyway SCIII doesn't offer enough to make people go out and buy it at full price, considering SCII is around $20 and almost maxes out the PS2 hardware. Also the SC engine has already been ported to Xbox and GCN, so releasing SCIII on those platforms will be trivial.
By Namco's own confirmation, Soul Calibur II had been designed specifically for System 246/PS2. Lead development continued that line as the focus, and the project to make two very even multiplatfrom ports was kept separate. Namco expressed their surprise at how well it all turned out in the end.
Just because a game is designed for a specific architecture does not mean it cannot be redesigned for an entirely different piece of hardware. Namco has always been good at getting a bit out of a system and it owuldn't surprise me if they overhauled at least 70% of the SC game to make it work on Gamecube and Xbox. I imagine there was a lot more work done to the game for it to run good on Xbox and GCN than a game like Sonic Heroes that wa smeant to be multi-platform from the very beginning. In other words, it may just as well costed Namco quite a bit of money for them to turn out much better versions of a PS2 fighting game on the Xbox and GCN. But now that the SC engine has been ported for GCN and Xbox I see no reason not to adapt it to make superior versions of SC3 for those consoles. Of course this can be negated if Sony offered to pay for exclusivity, in which case it all comes down to business.
marconelly!
Veteran
It is actually amazing that GCN SC2 outsold the PS2 version in the US. Sony has a 4:1 advantage in global install base. Obviously Nintendo's brand and mascots are still strong (at least on the GCN).
Yep, 'Link power' and lack of decent fighters on GC were strong factors. Also, the GC version was advertised probably 10x as much as the other two combined as Nintendo was airing their own commercials (saying even that the game was exclusive to Gamecube) and Namco had their own.
Yep, 'Link power' and lack of decent fighters on GC were strong factors. Also, the GC version was advertised probably 10x as much as the other two combined as Nintendo was airing their own commercials (saying even that the game was exclusive to Gamecube) and Namco had their own.
A thin selection of a particular gaming genre for a console usually means an audience for that type hasn't been established, and any such game which tries to crack in is likely to sell worse, not better.
I seem to remember each platforms' version of the Soul Calibur II commercial working in the term 'exclusive' loosely.
I seem to remember each platforms' version of the Soul Calibur II commercial working in the term 'exclusive' loosely.
Erm, who said there is no cost in porting a game? The cost of porting for SC2 was a drop in the ocean compared to the money Namco made from the GC and XBox versions of the game.
BTW no I'm not only looking at U.S sales, though obviously they would have already been enough to make the GC port of SC2 a large success. SC2 sold over 1.5 million worldwide on GC.
What's easier isn't important, what's profitable is. Making a PS2 exclusive version of SC2 would have been easier then also porting it to GC and XBox. But had they done that they would have sold only about a third of what they ended up selling.
Teasy said:
That's true, but it's true for every game. However we still have exclusives all over the place, so obviously there are other factors to take into consideration (see: big payouts from the company that gets the exclusive).
Teasy said:
Revenue yes. What if Sony put their hand in the production? That would lower the cost payable to Namco. Anyway, whatever, we're just speculating...
Personally, i lost interest in fighting games long ago.