Commercial Games

[craigix]

After reading thought the Gizmondo liquidation details I was surprised to see just how cheap they obtained some of their game ports for the console. Of course having those games didn't save the system in any way but...

If we could throw some money at having a commercial game or two ported over which ones would they be and why?

Which do you think would get the Pandora the most attention or the most sales?

Or is the money better spent elsewhere?

 

[Trip]

I'd suggest Wind & Water: Puzzle Battles but I hear they are already planning a port

If money were to be spent on something like this, then I'd prefer it to be spent on one big unique game. Something that doesn't have anything quite like it in the open source world and that can be enhanced easily.

A port of Raven shield (pc version), as this is a very unique game and would work well on the Pandora with the controls available. Not to mention that it's highly modable.

The original Battlefield 1942 is also very unique and modable. A big multi-player game is something that would make the Pandora stand out from the other hand helds. Games like this would easily be worth paying out on IMO.

Depends on if your talking about porting from console games or PC I suppose

 

[TJFBryant]

After reading thought the Gizmondo liquidation details I was surprised to see just how cheap they obtained some of their game ports for the console. Of course having those games didn't save the system in any way but...

If we could throw some money at having a commercial game or two ported over which ones would they be and why?

Which do you think would get the Pandora the most attention or the most sales?

Or is the money better spent elsewhere?

I don't have any thoughts as to which games should be ported over to purchase. I figure though if its going to be a commercial PORT, it should be a game easily recognizable to the community and perhaps in part to the "expanded Audience".
On the other hand, Exclusively built games for the Pandora, IMO, is key for commercial success. I guess what I am saying is if hypothetically the Developers for the God of War series on the PSP decide to port one of their games over to the Pandora... whats the point?? Why would people in this community or the broader demographic purchase God of War for the Pandora when they have it for the PSP?

IMO.. the commercial game or games for the pandora should have some exclusivity to the system or at least to only one handheld device. I don't think we should see a game thats on the DS, PSP, Itouch....AND Pandora.
Its only my opinion ..

PLease take into account porting over apps for the pandora as well.
Not EVERYONE will just be using the Pandora for gaming... consider commercial apps for download.

I beleive the ease of using the Pandora and customizablity and the software (games. Apps) Is what will make or break the Pandora (COMMERCIALLY) outside of our little gathering here.
Within this community... Pandora will be ALMOST bulletproof

 

[Zeno Arrow]

If we could throw some money at having a commercial game or two ported over which ones would they be and why?

Which do you think would get the Pandora the most attention or the most sales?

Or is the money better spent elsewhere?

Probably say the money is better spent elsewhere, supporting coders in the GP32X community that work for free most of the time.

Having said that, if you were going to bring in some commercial devs to do a port to Pandora, they should have a game that really pushes the Pandora to its limits. At this early stage it's tricky to say where those limits lie. You've mentioned Doom 3 in the past, when the source code is released getting a paid dev team to work on that and really optimise it for the Pandora h/w would be awesome.

On the console side, getting someone working on a DS or PSP emulator would be cool.

 

[gruso]

Speaking purely from a mass appeal point of view, Dreamcast ports. I know of quite a few DC fans who aren't paying much attention to Pandora right now, but would if one of their beloved titles became available in handheld form. Obviously we already have one DC "maybe" in the pipeline, and I'm looking forward to the DC fan reactions if/when it is announced.

Just to reiterate, I'm talking in terms of public interest, not whether or not it's a viable option. Call it a hypothetical.

 

[zacaj]

Half Life. The Pandora could easily run it, and its got some of the best mods ever

 

[Trip]

PLease take into account porting over apps for the pandora as well.
Not EVERYONE will just be using the Pandora for gaming... consider commercial apps for download.

Not a bad idea actually.
I've noticed that the other hand helds get decent publicity and exposure when musicians take them on tour etc.
Maybe porting something like eJay or one of the other console friendly music apps, will help to get Pandora a bit of the lime light

 

[Zeno Arrow]

Speaking purely from a mass appeal point of view, Dreamcast ports. I know of quite a few DC fans who aren't paying much attention to Pandora right now, but would if one of their beloved titles became available in handheld form. Obviously we already have one DC "maybe" in the pipeline, and I'm looking forward to the DC fan reactions if/when it is announced.

Just to reiterate, I'm talking in terms of public interest, not whether or not it's a viable option. Call it a hypothetical.

A DC game port would be great, but there are a couple of things to consider. Firstly, the size of the companies holding the rights. If we can get Sega, Capcom, Namco, etc... interested in porting something from their DC releases then we'll have something cool to show off.

Then there's choosing the game to port. Soul Calibur would probably be a popular choice, and would be technically impressive too, will keep stressing how important that is for spending money on commercial devs. Something like Mr Driller or Chu Chu Rocket, whilst they are highly regarded games and would be simpler ports, don't have the wow factor this money needs to achieve IMO.

Couldn't hurt to start finding out costs of various DC ports.

 

[Vimacs]

Ok this one is almost impossible i guess but i would kill for it: Gothic 1.

Jagged Alliance 2
Settlers 3
Anno 1602

There are so many old games which i would totally pay 30€ for again to play them on the go.

Also great would be some indie games, world of goo, lugaru....

Especially gothic1 still has a huge fanbase, mainly in germany and russia, and i would bet that it would get you a considerable sales boost.

 

[u9i]

I would definitely say some indie games. Things that are "hot" at the moment, and aimed at the people in this community, hell we're buying it anyways I reckon the idea is to get more people to buy a pandora.

- World of Goo

- Crayon Physics Deluxe

Both i think would be well suited for the pandora's touch-screen.

 

[streak]

After reading thought the Gizmondo liquidation details

Hey, Craigix , can you post a link for that?

 

[ldesnogu]

After reading thought the Gizmondo liquidation details I was surprised to see just how cheap they obtained some of their game ports for the console. Of course having those games didn't save the system in any way but...

If I'm to believe Wikipedia list of Gizmondo commercial games //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gizmondo_games only 4 games were ports :

- FIFA Football 2005 (EA)
- Richard Burns Rally (Warthog bought by Gizmondo)
- SSX 3 (EA)
- Trailblazer (Mindscape)

Others were games designed for Gizmondo.

This list might be wrong, but it doesn't look attractive to say the least

QUOTE
If we could throw some money at having a commercial game or two ported over which ones would they be and why?

Which do you think would get the Pandora the most attention or the most sales?

Or is the money better spent elsewhere?

What about spending money on existing Indie games (some other posters gave some good examples) and on companies porting games to Linux (such as LGP ; I'm sure Svartalf will like the idea) ?
I think indie games and Linux go well with Pandora's vision.

 

[pubzombie]

HALF LIFE
Battlefield

PLEASE

 

[Clean3d]

There are some excellent suggestions in this thread. If the point of a commercial port is to attract attention to the Pandora, then I would suggest something that either a lot of people know and love, or that is getting quite a bit of good press. World of Goo, Braid, and Crayon Physics Deluxe would all make excellent candidates (although I'm not entirely sure about the likelihood of these titles).

Gog.com might be a good place to look, although getting them to port one of their games would be a little more indirect, as they would probably have to ask the original publisher as well.

And of course it'd be nice if it was something that used the Pandora's features such as the touch screen, etc.

 

[Mutilator]

gothic 1 would kick ass but jowood i very much doubt will port it

 

[Vimacs]

AFAIK gothic1 isn't owned by jowood but DTP.

Edit:
Actually it seems that the dev studio themselves own the rights to it.
CODE

http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?p=8127061&highlight=rechte+gothic#post8127061
http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum/showthread.php?p=4168439&highlight=rechte+gothic#post4168439


I think that makes it way easier then dealing with a publisher?

Also its probably good to mention that they arent hostile towards linux, in fact some of them would probably like to see it on other platforms but dont think its financially worthwile (who can blame them...).
So maybe if someone from LGP (im looking at you svartalf) contacted them with a win-win situation we actually have a good chance.

 

[Alpha2]

If money were to be spent is should be towards games that we arnt going to have a milion free versions of already. We dont need a commecial FPS we'll have 26 of them on day one. We dont need puzzle games those will be a dime a dozen for any programer a week after they perform their first "hellollo world" test.

If money is going to be spent on anything it should be on a game that's going to show the uniqueness of the system; 3d action games that arnt FPS's or games that are made easier to play or that use controller options unique to the Pandora.

 

[ninjamonkey]

I think
Halo
CS:S (counter strike source)
Goldeneye Source (even though its not a truely commercila game)

mainly because that would be awesome and I think having those on the pandora may draw more people to the system. PLus, then we could play Goldeneye source on the pandora if counter strike source is on it.

 

[MDave]

Worms, because everyone knows it and everyone loves it Team17 are a pretty small games developer though, so they might not have the time to port it if they have other projects going. Screen and controls would be perfect on Pandora, and multiplayer play taking turns sharing a pandora with someone or playing through a network.

No point in any of the Quake or Doom games, because they are/will be open source anyway, so if you already bought the game for pc/mac you can play it on Pandora if someone ports the engine

Or you could put the money towards making Pandora exclusive game developer, making original and exclusive games for the Pandora.

 

[streak]

Worms, because everyone knows it and everyone loves it Team17 are a pretty small games developer though, so they might not have the time to port it if they have other projects going. Screen and controls would be perfect on Pandora, and multiplayer play taking turns sharing a pandora with someone or playing through a network.

No point in any of the Quake or Doom games, because they are/will be open source anyway, so if you already bought the game for pc/mac you can play it on Pandora if someone ports the engine

Or you could put the money towards making Pandora exclusive game developer, making original and exclusive games for the Pandora.

I could say, invest in Liero - clone with multiplayer options. This one will catch the attention of hardcore gamers, and it will be cheaper to gain the license than big commercial hit.