Want to see an interview with G.Rev's president? I need help

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 12:02 am

You can spoil that question since I already brought it up. I wouldn't mind the clarification myself.

Btw, got-next.com is a website, not a magazine (or did you just mean magazine in the sense that it's part a recurring periodical feature series, like how G.Rev calls their Q&A section a mail magazine?)

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 1:54 am

I could've swarn you said it'd be published in a mag/fanzine. Oh, well .

Anyways, yes, he says that there are "multiple companies" inquiring about acquiring Senko no Ronde for the western market. Of course, there were multiple companies inquiring about Radiant Silvergun back in the day, and we saw how that turned out.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 3:24 am

RSG was not released Westernized because it was on Saturn, a dead format.

Hardly the same situation. 360 is still growing in popularity and it less than 6 months of its life cycle.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:02 am

I think Senko no Ronde makes sense for a US release. Fighting games are accepted by the public despite being short, and completely arcade. I think Senko no Ronde, by using a fighting game structure will dodge the usual complaints about length and difficulty that shooters get saddled with in the US.

GaijinPunch wrote:I could've swarn you said it'd be published in a mag/fanzine. Oh, well .

I said got-next.com in the first post... Hope I didn't misrepresnt somehow.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 4:16 am

I was thinking that Senko no Ronde's overall style is parallel to the image Microsoft's trying to express with their new console, hence they should have no excuse not to release it over here.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 9:13 pm

Just waiting for the ok from GP on my style edits and this is ready to launch.

PUSH THE BUTTON!

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 10:50 pm

*pushes button*

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:05 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:RSG was not released Westernized because it was on Saturn, a dead format.

I happen to know for a fact that Activision was interested in attaining and porting it to the Playstation, but the license was too expensive.

EDIT: Reading through the edits now. Might be able to push the button if my users don't throw a crying fit.

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:15 pm

Dr. Forrester: "Push the button, Frank!!!"

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:58 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
neorichieb1971 wrote:RSG was not released Westernized because it was on Saturn, a dead format.
I happen to know for a fact that Activision was interested in attaining and porting it to the Playstation, but the license was too expensive.

EDIT: Reading through the edits now. Might be able to push the button if my users don't throw a crying fit.

I believe a PS1 port was attempted but proved to be too hard to pull off.

Not impossible, but expensive and time consuming.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 11:58 pm

Alrighty, launch time!

http://www.got-next.com/features_read.php?id=344

Dylan1CC · Post by **Dylan1CC** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:42 am

^^^^

Nicely written and very enjoyable interview, Frog. I especially liked his thoughts on overemphasis of production values and glad to hear some U.S. companies are at least "interested" in publishing Senko No Ronde. His thought that interchangeable cabs might become a thing of the past was both intriguing and sobering. Props to Gaijinpunch for the translation.

ArrogantBastard · Post by **ArrogantBastard** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:02 am

Thanks for posting it up. It was a great read, and I enjoyed it.

I enjoy reading interviews with developers or WR players, because it gives me an interesting insight on what they do and such.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:06 am

Seems Mr. Mruyama put in not-so-subtle JPspeech that he won't port his games or make another DC game unless he has no other choice. Sounds like a man of his word and of realistic thinking.

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:23 am

None of my questions were asked. In fact I think alot of the questions just verified what most of us already knew. But saying that I'm sure any future project questions would have bared little fruit.

However, I think supporting Naomi and not Dreamcast is a bad idea for them. Who cares about what is the last game?

UD sold because its a good game, not because it was the last game.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:32 am

Because he's honor-bound. He marketed the game as the last DC game so it'd show him as a complete hypocrite if he backed off that position. I might not care much and would buy another game, as would anyone here, but I'd sure have less respect for the company for lying to get more sales.

As for RSG, I heard the game was ported over (with noticeable graphical quality loss) but was canned by SCEA.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:36 am

neorichieb1971 wrote:None of my questions were asked.

You only mentioned one question, and I answered it the following post. G.rev's only 2D game was StarSeeker, and they didn't work on 2D games at Taito. In fact, they were among those responsible for the shift AWAY from 2D graphic in shooter, so it would be a silly thing to ask.

ResOGlas · Post by **ResOGlas** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:11 am

Very good read, much more informative than the last G.rev interview. I'm glad to hear that every response was honest as opposed to the usual "we can't disclose that information at this point" that we're all used to reading in interviews.

As for the name G.Rev, I still vote that they're named after the G.Rev Naomi bios.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:14 am

I believe a PS1 port was attempted but proved to be too hard to pull off.
Not impossible, but expensive and time consuming.

That's very likely, but the point still remains, they wanted way too much for the license for a shooter to be profitable in the west. According to my friend (whom worked for Activision, and I'm still in contact w/ today) said they could only count on selling 40,000 copies in the US.

Who cares about what is the last game?

Loads of people apparently.

I still vote that they're named after the G.Rev Naomi bios.

Worth noting, the URL for CCB's Game Review is http://www.g-rev.com/ -- a great source for news that I've read for years now. I got the two confused when Border Down first came out.

Neon · Post by **Neon** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:03 am

As for RSG, I heard the game was ported over (with noticeable graphical quality loss) but was canned by SCEA.

Judging from the Treasure interview Gaijin translated, companies typically get a 'go ahead' from the console manufacturer before starting work on a game to prevent situations like this.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:39 am

I should've posed a question to see if they had heard of a employee who used to work in Taito that now calls himself ZUN and single-handedly makes danmaku games in the doujin scene. Too bad it didn't occur to me before the deadline, and I doubt he'd disclose that kind of information to us anyway if he knew about it.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:51 am

Judging from the Treasure interview Gaijin translated, companies typically get a 'go ahead' from the console manufacturer before starting work on a game to prevent situations like this.

Well, they defintiely have to get the okay at some point, but I doubt any Treasure game at that time would've been rejected by Sony of Japan or America.

Without any other proof, I would assume that any PSX version would've been done by another company. I don't see Treasure quitting something due to technical issues, and I definitely don't see them proposing something that would be bad enough for SCEA to shoot them down. I guess anything's possible though.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 4:31 am

Thanks, Frog.

The bit about "interchangeable cabinets" eventually disappearing saddened me slightly. It looks like Japan could someday end up stuck with the same relatively craptastic style of arcades found in the US.

Have I seen any Type-X or Naomi cabs in my arcades? No. It's been chiefly $1+ per play gun games/racers/DDR clones for the most part. The "novelty" games are actually getting to be a bit mundane for me. I don't mind a Namco gun game (I actually look forward to Time Crisis 4) or some DDR, but the arcades in the US lack variety.

If I noticed that a tech had just finished kitting a new shooter board into a standard cabinet, I would most definitely abandon a game of Out Run 2 or Lethal Enforcers 3 in progress to go check it out. Seeing a shmup appear in local arcades would be a novelty for me nowadays.

louisg · Post by **louisg** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:29 am

the arcades in the US lack variety.

Man, the arcades in California have a lot of variety (including shooters), you just have to know which ones to hit =-)

neorichieb1971 · Post by **neorichieb1971** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:33 am

I did want to know if they were planning another 2D sprite based game

The introduction states that G.REV are considered a up and coming hot property.. Whilst I agree they are moving forwards and upwards, I believe they will remain an underground developer to the likes of Konami

Did UD sales rise upon the sales pitch that it was the last DC game ever? I find that utterly impossible to believe. When Capcom announced the last saturn game was going to be Final Fight it hardly sold millions of copies did it? And I believe further Saturn games were released there after in some shape or form.

zinger · Post by **zinger** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:58 am

Frogacuda wrote:Alrighty, launch time!

http://www.got-next.com/features_read.php?id=344

Excellent! Very well written, and I did get some old questions of mine answered. Thanks a lot, good job!

Kiken · Post by **Kiken** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:50 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:Did UD sales rise upon the sales pitch that it was the last DC game ever? I find that utterly impossible to believe. When Capcom announced the last saturn game was going to be Final Fight it hardly sold millions of copies did it? And I believe further Saturn games were released there after in some shape or form.

I think the question of, "Why was DC chosen for a release of UD?" would have helped clear things up. G-Rev always seem rather defensive when it comes to discussing the DC and in some cases I can understand this (realistically, they can't just keep making DC games forever... they are going to have to move forward to a contemporary console), however, their two shooting games have sold well enough to warrant small reprints, I'd say the fans are more than happy to support them on this hardware (in a way, their apprehension becomes almost hypocritical given their fanbase). Plus, we have MileStone actively seeking to continue DC support as well as Warashi (in the very least) considering the option of DC in regards to THE.

So will G.Rev reconsider should another game get released on the DC... or would Senko No Ronde Rev-X have to completely bomb? Is that what it's going to take? Because I doubt any of us would see them as going back on their word... considering most of us didn't interpret the message that way to begin with.

There was only one official Saturn release after Final Fight Revenge and it was a collection of a prior released series.

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:03 pm

Yes, by now Maruyama must surely know that Under Defeat will definitely NOT be the last Dreamcast game, so his statement concerning new DC games was somewhat dishonest; a question like "Now that other developers have announced future Dreamcast ports which means Under Defeat won't be the final Dreamcast game anyway, will you consider porting Senko no Ronde?" would have been in order, in my opinion.

Frogacuda · Post by **Frogacuda** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 2:09 pm

neorichieb1971 wrote:The introduction states that G.REV are considered a up and coming hot property.. Whilst I agree they are moving forwards and upwards, I believe they will remain an underground developer to the likes of Konami

I said they were one of the hot independent developers to watch. Just talking about the small, privately owned companies like Treasure, Milestone, etc.

The opinions about UD selling well because it was marketed as the last DC game seem misguided to me as well. I think it sold well because it was good and because their previous DC game was good. Maybe if someone else sees to it that it will not be the last they'd be more willing to make another.

drsmoo · Post by **drsmoo** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:33 pm

I don't see Treasure quitting something due to technical issues

They quit their ps2 port of ikaruga for that exact reason