"If that's the case why do some of these developers continue to punish themselves like that."
I can't give a complete answer, but there seems to be a prevailing culture in the industry where bosses pressure developers into feeling they should be lucky to work in the industry at all (even if it is for scraps).
And devs, for the most part, can't afford to be picky because there's a surplus of talented young programmers, artists and so ...
Exactly. Just keeping $60 in a Paypal account is enough now that anyone can buy a game to check it works alright. So the "try-before-you-buy" thing no longer applies.
This is part of a long line of recent games with powered-up DRM where cracks either fail to surface (last I checked that was still the case for MGSV) or take so long that the DRM has effectively worked.
It doesn't matter if someone else gets a crack done at this point, what matters is that chances of anyone getting it done is getting smaller, whilst the timetable for them achieving it is getting further and further away.
It's naive (the part about developers) because publishers typically pocket the difference in earnings. There's no trickle down effect that would benefit the developers themselves in that scenario. If publishers made more money off games it would benefit them, and them alone.
I'm cool with getting sell through numbers. But maybe these guys should make it the rule rather than the exception?
Nothing is difficult about it. In fact Sega have arguably reinvented and refined the gameplay in the series several times now before wiping the slate clean again.
Jim Sterling had a video on this: Sega can't seem to stick to one idea and just keep polishing it, so they end up not getting anywhere.
Maybe they could celebrate it with Sonic Generations 2? Because it's truly criminal how little of the Sonic universe that game touched, doubly so when it was a short game.
Those would all be awesome additions. Sega actually has a really storied back catalogue (it's easy to forget that they were once one of the most prominent game publishers in the world), filled with gems that few got the chance to play.
This actually complements the rumours that the Xbox One was going to get a "less powerful" GPU. "Less powerful" meaning less power hungry (better performance-per-watt).
It's likely this will be quietly slipped in and we'll start seeing model revisions that are quieter, cooler (though TBF there isn't much room for improvement) and may not even need an external power supply brick anymore.
But I don't think we'll actually ...
FFIX was never hard to begin with though.
Given that most people have beaten the game, and that the booster occupies a layer outside of the actual game, it's quite clear it's a modification tool and not a mechanic within the game. It doesn't need removing because you can simply opt not to use it.
It allows people to play the game without the several hours of pre-final dungeon grind they'd otherwise have to go through.
Which, I...
If all the source artwork could be acquired it's possible some intrepid modder could get those backgrounds working. Which would be amazing.
You're also picking and choosing which client/DRM you'd be launching the game from in the long-term.
In that sense it's more like choosing a mobile phone contract for the same price, from two different mobile service providers.
Steam has a very robust refund policy that asks no questions.
It has an official Steam page. And not one that went up by accident (it's been up there for days without being pulled). So a Steam store release is guaranteed.
That ratio is actually a pretty accurate description of RoTR.
85% non-shootouts (exploration happens outside of tombs too, though puzzles are mostly within tomb areas) to 15% of shooting action.
It really stands out in contrast to TR2013, but even on its own terms because not only is there relatively little action over the course of the game, but it's also quite sparsely placed as well.
It's 2D sprite art... it's going to look 100% identical after a certain resolution threshold is reached. That threshold being where every pixel in the art is rendered with clear seperation.
Given that you can already see pixellation at the current resolution that threshold has either been reached, or exceeded.
No DLC IIRC but the new DE version will have (what is promised to be) a lot of new stuff.
So I'm thinking along the lines of what Ninja Gaiden Black is to Ninja Gaiden.
I'm actually how surprised how consistent the scores for this game have been. It's okay-ish. Good even. But never much more than that. And that lines up with my own assessment of 6/10 (6 being a positive score as it is above 5, but a mild positive).
I think they have a good mix in the current roster of varied fighting styles whilst balancing the old, new, popular and obscure.
@Rainslacker
What you're saying is probably on the mark for the performance of any given title leading to some degree of compensation/return.
But I think the issue at hand is more about general profit margin increases being reflected in what development staff get paid. And, to my knowledge, that simply doesn't happen.