Bloober Team rompe su silencio sobre Silent Hill 2 Remake, asegurando que cuando haya algo que saber lo sabremos… aunque no por ellos
Entre los juegos de terror más esperados hay un remake. Silent Hill 2 es un juego que todo el mundo está esperando, pero no parece que haya ninguna información sobre el mismo. Desde que se anunció el pasado octubre de 2022, no hemos tenido ninguna nueva información sobre este remake del clásico de Konami que está desarrollando Bloober Team. Al menos hasta que, ahora, han decidido romper su silencio.
El estudio de desarrollo de este remake, Bloober Team, ha lazando una comunicado para aclarar que el desarrollo del remake de Silent Hill 2 progresa exactamente como esperaban. La desarrolladora polaca —responsable de títulos muy queridos como Layers of Fear y Observer, y de títulos no tan queridos como The Medium y La Bruja de Blair— ha expresado que entienden que muchos juegadores esperan noticias sobre este título, pero que el juego aún no está listo.
Además, han querido incidir en quien tiene la responsabilidad de cada una de las partes. Ellos se encargan del desarrollo, mientras que la licencia sigue siendo de Konami. Eso significa que, cuando haya información que compartir, será Konami, como editora, quien la comparta cuando llegue el momento. Mientras tanto, lo que nos han prometido en Bloober Team es que, mientras tanto, «la espera merecerá la pena».
Esta inquietud ha nacido de que, debido al tiempo que ha pasado desde las últimas noticias, muchos jugadores han empezado a expresar su inquietud ante el futuro del juego. Especialmente, considerando que uno de los proyectos anunciados en la conferencia en la que se anuncio Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill: Ascension, no ha salido precisamente bien.
Lo que sabemos con seguridad es que Silent Hill 2 está en desarrollo para PC y PlayStation 5, siendo una exclusiva temporal para esta consola durante un año. Aunque aún no tiene fecha de lanzamiento.
Ubisoft calls for calm: the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time continues its course, ensuring that it has reached one of its internal milestones
Prince of Persia is one of the biggest cult franchises in video game history. It’s also one of the most mistreated over the last decade and a half. Unfortunately, all the progress it made from the 8-bit era until PlayStation 2 was lost over the last three generations, leaving it as one of those franchises that have a huge cult following and importance within the industry but haven’t withstood the test of time.
The impression wasn’t helped by the fact that the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had to be restarted, taken away from its original studio, and handed over to the Ubisoft Montreal team. With the company stating last May that players shouldn’t expect any new updates on the game this year, any news indeed gives us hope for the game.
Even though the news might not be spectacular, on November 21, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time turned 20 years old. This was something that the official Twitter account took advantage of, stating that “we are happy to announce that the project has reached a significant internal milestone.”
As you know, the passionate team at @UbisoftMTL is reimagining this legendary story, and we are glad to announce today that the project has passed an important internal milestone and development is progressing.
The development of this game has been turbulent and unfortunately, it has seen many setbacks over the years. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was announced in September 2020, initially being developed by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, with a release date set for January 2021. However, due to a negative reaction to the trailer, its release was postponed multiple times until last year when it was announced that the development was taken away from them and handed over to Ubisoft Montreal, the original developers of The Sands of Time.
As of today, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake doesn’t have a release date. Nevertheless, it seems that, for the first time in years, Prince of Persia appears to have a clear direction in which it’s heading.
The Max Payne remake is going from strength to strength, but that hasn’t stopped Sam Lake from reminding us in an interview that making a video game is expensive
Sometimes we underestimate what is involved in making a remaster or remake of a game. As much as a game is old, that it’s not being made from scratch, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. Or that there isn’t a lot to do. At the end of the day, making a video game is always hard work, and when we also have to bring a game from the past and adjust it to the standards of the present, there’s work there too. That’s why we should be more respectful with remakes. And have them in more value.
This is exactly what has been brought up in an interview with VCG by Sam Lake regarding the Max Payne remakes. Announced last April 2022 for Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 and PC, both games will be sold in a single pack. Although there is still no release date, Lake wanted to clarify the scope of this project.
Because while it would be easy to do it from less, his words make it clear that it’s hard work. To paraphrase what he says in the interview “it’s a significant task in the sense that, even dealing with old games, just the thought of bringing them up to modern standards and combining them into one, you can see that it’s a very, very big project.” Something we’ve already said ourselves, but it sounds more credible when said by the game’s author himself.
Max Payne is a third-person shooter that was originally released in 2001 for PC, followed by versions for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mac Os X, Game Boy Advance, iOs and Android. It was widely celebrated for its dark, mature story, spectacular action and a mechanic they called bullet time, which essentially consisted of Matrix-style slowdowns of gunfights at any point in the game. It would be followed by a sequel, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, in 2003, which was equally acclaimed.
So the next time you’re tempted to complain about a remake, remember Sam Lake. Of all the people who work so hard to bring games forward. Because while it’s true that there may be too many remakes, that doesn’t take away from the hard work they put in.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord receives a remake from Digital Eclipse that offers us a more refined version of this classic.
These days, remakes, remasters, and re-releases are very common. There comes a point where the sheer quantity of rehashed content can become uncomfortable because it can overshadow the quality of what is being published, as seen in the recent Nintendo Direct. Sometimes, what doesn’t need a remake overshadows what truly deserves this treatment. What does deserve this special attention, a fresh perspective, and careful work is the case of Digital Eclipse’s latest project.
Digital Eclipse is a studio specialized in bringing retro titles to life. They create compilations of games from consoles that are no longer available for sale, but they also work on remasters and reimaginings of titles that have been forgotten or become obsolete for various reasons. Their latest release falls into the latter category, and it happens to be one of the most important games of all time: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.
Originally published for the Apple II in 1981 by Sir-Tech Software and designed by Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead, it is considered the progenitor of RPGs. One of the most influential games of all time, it shaped the foundations of what we now understand as an RPG.
In early access, Digital Eclipse believes that the full game will be released by the end of 2024. Promising regular updates every two months, this version of Wizardry is built on top of the original Apple II version. This means that with just a key press, you can switch between the original Apple II version and the modernized version, allowing you to compare the changes between both versions in real-time.
If you want to enjoy this absolute classic of video games that has shaped the medium, you can purchase it on both GOG and Steam for €28.99. Furthermore, Digital Eclipse plans to increase the price as the game’s release date approaches, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on it while it’s still in early access.
Today a Nintendo Direct was held full of gems that, although it has had many rehashes, does not exclude the possibility of having great games buried
Nintendo held one of its classic Nintendo Direct events today. In it, they presented many games, but even so, it left a somewhat bitter taste. This doesn’t mean there aren’t great games, some of them real gems, or that there aren’t games for every taste, but something different was lacking. Something new. There are many remasters and remakes, many games we had already seen before. And while there will be months with two Nintendo games each, a couple of big announcements were missing to make this Direct better. Perhaps even a slight change in the order, getting rid of some repetitive announcements that didn’t quite fit the overall tone of what they were trying to convey.
Again, this doesn’t mean it was terrible. On the contrary, there were some very interesting announcements. And above all, there were many. So, to start, let’s talk about everything Nintendo announced.
Starting with something we already knew, they showed more of “Side Order,” the second part of the Splatoon 3 expansion pass. Announced to be released in spring 2024, both parts of this DLC will cost 24.99 euros. Fortunately, we quickly moved on to more exciting announcements. One thing we can say about this Nintendo Direct is that it will make Mario universe fans very happy.
Firstly, they announced a new version of Mario vs. Donkey Kong. This legendary Game Boy Advance game returns in an enhanced version with cooperative play, with pre-orders already open and a release date set for February 16. They also reminded us that Super Mario RPG will be released on November 17, with pre-orders available. A short video showed us more of Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, set to be released in the summer of 2024, and the final extra tracks for the Mario Kart 8 DLC, which will have a new physical version with all DLC included on October 6. To top it off, they also announced a remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the iconic Gamecube game that gave birth to the Paper Mario series.
But the highlight of the Mario universe games, for once, has been Princess Peach. Because more information has been revealed about the game in which she’ll be the protagonist, including its name. In “Princess Peach: Showtime!” we’ll have to defeat an evil witch who has taken over a theater using the theater’s own costumes and the powers they grant us, in a mix of platforming and adventure. With a release date set for March 22, it’s already available for pre-order.
Of course, the stream of games from Nintendo didn’t end here. Amid all the excitement, they also took the opportunity to remind us that Detective Pikachu: The Return will be released on October 6 and that Wario Ware Move It will be released on November 3, adding that it will have pose detection as part of its 200+ mini-games. But the most interesting part was the two games that had not been announced until now.
On one hand, we have “Another Code Recollection.” A compilation of “Another Code: Two Memories” and “Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories,” two iconic games from Nintendo DS and Wii, respectively, which will reappear on Nintendo Switch in an enhanced version on January 19.On the other hand, there’s “F-Zero 99.” Similar to Tetris 99, this game allows you to play the legendary F-Zero with 98 other people simultaneously. Drive as best as you can, use some of the new features never seen before in the series, and outlast everyone else in this race, more deadly than ever before. Moreover, it’s already available for download, exclusively for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.
They have also announced non-Nintendo games. Some of them are coming out during the remainder of this 2023. And although they are the minority, they have given us quite a handful.
Horizon Chase 2 is a very classic arcade racing game, Trombone Champ is a game that became famous a few months ago due to memes, and Wartales is an open-world role-playing game that have one thing in common: they are all releasing today. In October, we can expect Wargroove 2, a sequel to a unique fantasy game heavily inspired by Advance Wars, arriving on the 5th, the Switch version of Dave the Diver, which has garnered attention and will be available on the 26th, and a new map for Among Us called The Fungie, with no set date.
The year will end with Song of Nunu on November 1 and Super Crazy Rhythm Castle on November 14, an adventure game in the League of Legends universe and a cooperative and competitive rhythm game with references to iconic Konami franchises, respectively.
In 2024, things are heating up, as is customary. We’ll start the year on January 18 with the previously announced Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. On February 14, we’ll enjoy Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft, a very descriptive title. And to conclude the early part of the year, we’ll have Contra Operation Galuga and Eastward: Octopia, a remake of the original Contra and a DLC for the RPG Eastward with no specific date, other than they will arrive in the first few months of the year.
Among the most exciting announcements is that on March 8, we’ll get Unicorn Overlord, the new game from Vanillaware. A Tactical RPG made by the people behind 13 Sentinels and Muramasa is something we wouldn’t want to miss. Similarly, Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes, releasing on April 24, is the spiritual successor to the legendary Suikoden from Konami, so fans of Japanese RPGs should keep a close eye on these dates.
For the rest of the year, we have a mix of very interesting games. From the family adventure of SpyxANYA: Operation Memories to the unique twist on classic J-RPG with SaGA Emerald Beyond, and from the more traditional Battle Crush to the farm management game in the League of Legends universe called Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story. However, the most interesting game of all didn’t even appear in the Direct. Or at least, not in the Direct that we saw. Making its appearance only in the Japanese version of the Direct, Onion Games, the folks behind the cult classic “moon,” announced a game called “Stray Children” that, even without a release date, looks extremely promising.
In the end, it was a Direct of contrasts. With many interesting announcements and something for everyone, the only regret is that it feels like Nintendo placed too much emphasis on games they have already released in the past. With fewer games, a different order, and at least one new IP, it could have been a great Direct. As it is, it remains a Direct filled with gems, but in which you have to sift through what may not necessarily interest you. But the search is worth it, there’s certainly no doubt about that.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has been shown in Sony’s State of Play to finally give us a release date, in fact, very close in time
Few games have left such a clear mark on an entire generation as Final Fantasy 7. It was responsible for popularizing J-RPGs, Final Fantasy, and Japanese games. Even today, it is remembered as a masterpiece, and its popularity has allowed it to have the largest remake in the history of video games. Divided into three parts, so far, we have only been able to play Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade, which covers approximately what happens at the end of the first disc of the original game. But that will soon change.
In today’s State of Play, Sony has given us a closer look at Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second installment of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy. Covering at least the first half of the original game, the trailer showcased the game’s system, characters, and some of the changes.
As we already knew from the ending of Final Fantasy 7 Intergrade, this remake will not follow the story of the original Final Fantasy 7 in the exact same way. In addition to many scenes that are not immediately recognizable in the trailer, there are characters who shouldn’t even be present at the point in the game where it takes place. This means we are looking at a very significant remake that will bring about a quite substantial change to the game, aiming to be more than just a modernized version of a cult classic.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is scheduled for release on February 29, 2024. Unlike the previous game, it will be released on two discs. Furthermore, you can already pre-order the game separately or in a bundle with Intergrade, which they’ve called the Twin Pack, ensuring that you don’t miss out on what is expected to be a strong contender for Game of the Year next year.
Ubisoft would be thinking of retaking the Assassin’s Creed that laid the foundations of all the modern games in the franchise with an ambitious remake.
Despite having plenty of Assassin’s Creed on the horizon, Ubisoft isn’t resting on its laurels. Aware that fans of the franchise are always eager for more and that it’s one of the few games that even non-gamers are drawn to, Ubisoft is constantly planning their next move in the franchise. And it seems that their next step will be returning to one of their most popular installments and exploring one of the themes that has worked best for them: pirates.
According to information from Kotaku, who claim to have had conversations with two sources close to the publisher, Ubisoft is working on a remake of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. They are enlisting the help of Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind Skull and Bones, the company’s new IP that began development in 2013 as an expansion of Black Flag before becoming a separate project.
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, the fourth main installment in the franchise, was released in 2013 and, departing from the stealth aspect, focused on the action, combat, and exploration that the series is known for today. It introduced naval combat, allowing players to embody an assassin during the 18th century in the Golden Age of Piracy. While the franchise could benefit from such a change, it also makes this remake feel a bit strange. Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag doesn’t feel particularly aged. However, a version with updated graphics and some slight refinements to its gameplay elements could make it feel just as, if not more, innovative than any of the recent entries in the series.
In any case, we shouldn’t expect this remake to arrive anytime soon. According to the sources from Kotaku, this remake is in the early stages of development, and we shouldn’t expect it to be released for at least a few years. This is partly due to Ubisoft Singapore being heavily involved in Skull and Bones, which doesn’t have a release date beyond sometime between 2023 and 2024, with a promised closed beta in August. Therefore, we’ll still have to wait to learn more about this remake, which, whether necessary or not, seems inevitable given its significance to the origins of modern Assassin’s Creed games.
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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has closed the Summer Game Fest gala, being Geoff’s big surprise for a gala full of great titles.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has been the big surprise of Summer Game Fest. Closing out the gala, the trailer showcased the open world and everything that comes with it, including glimpses of the story and what appear to be some highly probable changes to everything we know. This officially confirms that we’re not dealing with a mere remake, as many things have been altered from the original Final Fantasy VII, making Final Fantasy VII Rebirth one of the most anticipated and mysterious games currently announced.
Announced for an early 2024 release on two discs with no confirmed platforms yet, it is expected that they will announce new information in the near future. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth promises to be at least as impactful as Final Fantasy VII Remake, a game that managed to surprise us even as a remake of the first disc of a game that is 26 years old like Final Fantasy VII.
The best-selling products are remakes. Did you like this dish? Well, we are not going to give you variations of the recipe: we are going to give you exactly the same.
You’ve noticed it too. No matter how hard you try to avoid the feeling of deja vu, you live in a continuous creative Groundhog Day: not only do video games, books and popular movies increasingly resemble each other, leaving the way open for algorithms to create what the public apparently wants to consume and using the human hand only as an executor… but also, the best-selling products are remakes. Did you like this dish? Well, we’re not going to give you variations of the recipe: we’re going to give you the exact same thing. Over and over again. And what’s better: you’ll end up asking for more.
The social networks were recently full of praise for ‘Resident Evil 4‘, the new version of the 2005 game that lengthened and changed the plot enough (but without great follies) giving one more reason to come back to that zombified Spain. The graphics are impressive, the gameplay has been improved, but, in the end, it is still the fourth installment of ‘Resident Evil’ again, a saga accustomed to that every few years their games are re-released on as many consoles as possible.
After all, a remake of ‘Resident Evil 4’ is preferable to suffer the continuous Groundhog Day with which, for years, Nintendo threatened us: Or don’t we remember the fiasco of ‘Mario 3D All-Stars’ that left the games as they came out on Nintendo 64 or GameCube and charged them at the price of novelty? Luckily, the big N learns from its mistakes (sometimes): ‘Metroid Prime Remastered’ or ‘Kirby’s Return to Dreamland’ are two of the best games of the year, partly because they were already two of the best games of 2002 and 2011, respectively.
The examples can be counted by dozens: ‘Dead Space’, ‘Lollipop Chainsaw’, ‘Bayonetta’, ‘The Witcher’ or ‘Max Payne’ have already appeared or will do so in the coming months. There are three main reasons for these unexpected returns. The first, it serves as a metadrone for the fan in the face of the morbid slowness of current developments, which mean that a game can be created for more than a decade. The second is useful to check the public’s interest in forgotten sagas with a view to launching a new installment. The third and most important, they give a lot of money with an effort that sometimes borders on the absolute minimum. The important thing is the important thing.
It is also true that this has been happening since the beginning of consoles: the very same ‘Mario Bros’, in its arcade version, had a remake with improved gameplay and graphics for NES in 1988 and the NES ‘Dragon Quest’ appeared seven years later on SNES with some of its mechanics improved. The remake is part of the DNA of video games, but we can’t deny that some of these are frankly ridiculous… And that in recent years the production has increased twenty-fold: How many consoles can we play ‘Skyrim‘ on right now?
The same thing, again, everywhere
Of course there are useful remakes, which serve to introduce classic games to a new generation, touching just enough to keep them feeling original but without leaving aside the retro touch. Monkey Island‘, for example, or the future ‘Alone in the dark’, are perfect examples of how modern gameplay and retouched graphics can help to recover jewels of the past. However, not all of them need to be recovered.
Did ‘Life is Strange’ need a remake in 2023? The game is from 2015! Was it necessary for PlayStation 5 to have its ‘The last of us, part I’ when the original is still fresh? All the remakes that are developed (from the remastered version of ‘Alan Wake’ to the already usual versions of ‘Pokémon‘) is time stolen from other more original productions, sequels capable of innovating and telling a new story: they accommodate the player in a continuous state of lethargy and nostalgia that does no one any good.
It’s one thing for a new game to take inspiration from a previous one and reimagine it for a new audience, as happened in 2009 with the fabulous ‘A boy and his blob’ or that alternate history that was ‘Dead Rising 2: Off the record’. It makes sense, it’s creative, it makes you want to see what has been created out of love. A remake, no matter how much it improves facial expressions and changes some dialogues, will never be as interesting as a new game.
We live in a world with access to everything. Literally. There isn’t a game we can’t play, from the classic ‘Arkanoid’ to the more modern ‘Dead Island 2’. And sure, sometimes you feel like going back to ‘Resident Evil 4’ or ‘Goldeneye 007‘, but it’s inevitable that, as gamers, we feel like we’re the cow that they’ll never stop squeezing over and over again by giving us exactly what they already know works.
And this is something that only happens in the world of games. How would we feel if tomorrow they remade ‘Iron Man 3’ or rewrote ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’? Would we like a remake of ‘Friends’ with more modern jokes? So why is it so accepted in video games to live the same experience over and over again? Let’s think about it: Is this really the future we want for an industry in the middle of a bubble -at first sight- with no signs of bursting? Let’s hope not.
