Jeff Minter is making Gridrunner+++ for XBLA

jp · Post by jp » Sun Jul 20, 2008 10:34 pm

http://kotaku.com/5027062/gridrunner%25 ... la-screens

Yay!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:22 pm

...jp?

Why Clyde Arrowny all of a sudden?

jp · Post by jp » Sun Jul 20, 2008 11:47 pm

Don't want the Sega affiliation anymore. No more Reala. No more Sega stuff.

So I'll just kick it with Clyde for awhile. Shadow always was one of my favorite videogame characters, but I also really liked his "pre-Shadow" portrayal. So... Cyde it is.

Anywho, more stuff from Jeff Minter. I loved Space Giraffe, so I can only imagine how awesome this will be.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:04 am

You loved Space Giraffe? I guess it's nice to be easy to please.

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:15 am

professor ganson wrote:You loved Space Giraffe? I guess it's nice to be easy to please.

Space Giraffe was a brilliant true sequel to Tempest. It wasn't just an update, which was nice.

And if you got Space Giraffe's scoring system, then yeah, it was a damn solid game. If you didn't get Space Giraffe's scoring system, then you no, you probably wouldn't like it.

And I can say this, because at first, when I didn't understand how to play for score, I too thought it was lame. But once I figured out how it was supposed to be played, the genius of it became apparent and I really started enjoying the game.

Dremark · Post by **Dremark** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:16 am

jp wrote:Don't want the Sega affiliation anymore. No more Reala. No more Sega stuff.

I'm just wondering, why is that?

Also Shadow/Clyde was always a personal favorite of mine as well.

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:18 am

Dremark wrote:
jp wrote:Don't want the Sega affiliation anymore. No more Reala. No more Sega stuff.
I'm just wondering, why is that?

Also Shadow/Clyde was always a personal favorite of mine as well.

I just hate what they became. They were alright until Sammy gobbled them up. Now they do shit like NiGHTS Journey of Dreams or make Sonic a werewolf, and its just miserable to watch.

So... Clyde FTW!

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:19 am

jp wrote:Don't want the Sega affiliation anymore. No more Reala. No more Sega stuff.

Hmm. Seems appropriate somehow - after all Shadow was running away from his past too.

Edit: I love Jeff's stuff, so sorry for derailing the thread

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:21 am

Turrican wrote:
jp wrote:Don't want the Sega affiliation anymore. No more Reala. No more Sega stuff.
Hmm. Seems appropriate somehow - after all Shadow was running away from his past too.

Good call!

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:22 am

jp wrote:
professor ganson wrote:You loved Space Giraffe? I guess it's nice to be easy to please.
Space Giraffe was a brilliant true sequel to Tempest. It wasn't just an update, which was nice.

And if you got Space Giraffe's scoring system, then yeah, it was a damn solid game. If you didn't get Space Giraffe's scoring system, then you no, you probably wouldn't like it.

And I can say this, because at first, when I didn't understand how to play for score, I too thought it was lame. But once I figured out how it was supposed to be played, the genius of it became apparent and I really started enjoying the game.

OK, maybe I need to give it another chance.

Dremark · Post by **Dremark** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:26 am

jp wrote:I just hate what they became. They were alright until Sammy gobbled them up. Now they do shit like NiGHTS Journey of Dreams or make Sonic a werewolf, and its just miserable to watch.

So... Clyde FTW!

I literally just finished a play through of NiGHTS on my Saturn about 20 minutes ago and I was thinking about running out and getting the second one. I know there's no way the current Sega could produce a proper sequel, but is it really that bad?

Also Sonic as a Werewolf is one of the stupidest ideas i've ever seen, until I saw the other game where he'll be brandishing a sword. Ugh.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:39 am

Turrican wrote:Hmm. Seems appropriate somehow - after all Shadow was running away from his past too.

Just make sure not to take the next step after that one.

"We're startin' over, Sonic..."

jp · Post by jp » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:32 am

Dremark wrote:
jp wrote:I just hate what they became. They were alright until Sammy gobbled them up. Now they do shit like NiGHTS Journey of Dreams or make Sonic a werewolf, and its just miserable to watch.

So... Clyde FTW!
I literally just finished a play through of NiGHTS on my Saturn about 20 minutes ago and I was thinking about running out and getting the second one. I know there's no way the current Sega could produce a proper sequel, but is it really that bad?

NiGHTS talks, and sounds like Mary Poppins.
You no longer collect blue orbs and unlock Ideyas, now you chase a bird with a key.
The children have their own 3D platforming levels.

Yes, it is that bad.

ubersaurus · Post by **ubersaurus** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:30 am

I hear the new Nights is sweet except for the kids stages. But, most of the game is still Nights flying around.

As for Gridrunner, wasn't that announced a while back? Still sounds good to me. I was a fan of Space Giraffe.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:43 am

i though jeff wasent gonna produce any more games since he got outsold by frogger?

jpj · Post by **jpj** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:37 am

got outsold TEN TIMES by frogger.

i can't until space giraffe gets de-listed and jeff goes into a full-on mental breakdown

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:09 am

Jeff Minter has made a career out of taking classic shoot'em-ups and turned them into something less good.

antares · Post by **antares** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 10:25 am

jpj wrote:got outsold TEN TIMES by frogger.

i can't until space giraffe gets de-listed and jeff goes into a full-on mental breakdown

That will never happen!
From the information on mygamercard.net Frogger was downloaded 320,000 times and Space Giraffe was downloaded 120,000 times.
Other downloads: Rez HD 50,000, Ikaruga 38,000 , Omega Five 18,000.

So I really can't understand why Jeff Minter is complaining, did he expect to sell 1 million copies or what?

320x240 wrote:Jeff Minter has made a career out of taking classic shoot'em-ups and turned them into something less good.

The opposite is the case. He took classic games and made something better out of it. Gridrunner on the C64 was ten times better than Centipede and Tempest 2000 is 2000 times better than the original Tempest.
As for Space Giraffe I think it's a pretty good game but he really overdid things a little. I hope Gridrunner on XBLA will be visually a little more clearer.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:48 pm

Gridrunner on the C64 was ten times better than Centipede and Tempest 2000 is 2000 times better than the original Tempest.

Attack of the Mutant Camels C64 is also much better than Empire Strikes Back 2600.

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:23 pm

1. Minter hasn't done anything worthwhile since Tempest 2000. One trick pony.

2. Nights JOD is an insult to a classic.

Fin.

Thread can now be closed.

Rumblecat · Post by **Rumblecat** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:27 pm

antares wrote: That will never happen!
From the information on mygamercard.net Frogger was downloaded 320,000 times and Space Giraffe was downloaded 120,000 times.
Other downloads: Rez HD 50,000, Ikaruga 38,000 , Omega Five 18,000.

So I really can't understand why Jeff Minter is complaining, did he expect to sell 1 million copies or what?

I'm not sure those figures can be correct. According to VG Chartz (which uses the mygamercard info), the latest sales figures for Space Giraffe are 19,151. Rez stands at 133,814, Omega 5 at 45,047 and Ikargua at 94,058.

Frogger got 240,757.

And to continue on a theme, Triggerheart pulled in 23,799.

http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=1552

antares · Post by **antares** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:22 pm

Rumblecat wrote: I'm not sure those figures can be correct. According to VG Chartz (which uses the mygamercard info), the latest sales figures for Space Giraffe are 19,151. Rez stands at 133,814, Omega 5 at 45,047 and Ikargua at 94,058.

Frogger got 240,757.

And to continue on a theme, Triggerheart pulled in 23,799.

http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=1552

Ouch, now I can understand why Jeff is complaining!

Still I'm a bit confused now about the sales figures. If I open my gamercard info on mygamercard.net it says I'm on rank 274 (+89) of 106,922 on Space Giraffe and on rank 1 (+852) of 18,349 on Omega Five.
So how can there be 106,922 players in the ranking if the game was bought only 19,000 times? And how can there only be 18,000 players in the Omega Five ranking if the game was downloaded 45,000 times?

PS: Uno: 1,155,610!!!

antares · Post by **antares** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:23 pm

SuperPang wrote:1. Minter hasn't done anything worthwhile since Tempest 2000. One trick pony.

What about Tempest 3000?

ubersaurus · Post by **ubersaurus** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:08 pm

SuperPang wrote:1. Minter hasn't done anything worthwhile since Tempest 2000. One trick pony.

Didn't he do Defender 2000? I heard that was pretty good too.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 5:14 pm

antares wrote:Still I'm a bit confused now about the sales figures. If I open my gamercard info on mygamercard.net it says I'm on rank 274 (+89) of 106,922 on Space Giraffe and on rank 1 (+852) of 18,349 on Omega Five.
So how can there be 106,922 players in the ranking if the game was bought only 19,000 times? And how can there only be 18,000 players in the Omega Five ranking if the game was downloaded 45,000 times?

The download figures on MGC include the demo versions.

Minter didn't say that he wasn't going to make any more XBLA games, just that he wasn't going to discuss them online in future. The rant about Frogger came about immediately after he'd also been made aware, via his forum, of an exploit that broke the scoring system in SG, meaning he and Giles had to get a patch worked out, then put through the MS certification process. Which fried his head, because the MS cert process is, by all accounts, a huge pain in the arse.

orange · Post by **orange** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:12 pm

game with complex scoring system and 5 well-designed levels: WAY TOO SHORT TOO HARD NO CONTENT ONLY FOR HARDCORE WAPS

"retro" games: COMPELLING GAMEPLAY I LOVE HIGH-SCORES REALLY DIFFICULT HI-SCORES ACHIEVEMENTS

320x240 · Post by **320x240** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:18 pm

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:29 pm

orange wrote:game with complex scoring system and 5 well-designed levels: WAY TOO SHORT TOO HARD NO CONTENT ONLY FOR HARDCORE WAPS

"retro" games: COMPELLING GAMEPLAY I LOVE HIGH-SCORES REALLY DIFFICULT HI-SCORES ACHIEVEMENTS

I can't see why the people love Metal Slug so much.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:35 pm

Because you only need to worry about shooting in four directions?

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:37 pm

And in Ikaruga you only need to worry about one. The fact that you can only shoot in one direction, and the fact that you only shoot in one direction.