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

[Kiken]

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.

Well, that's not entirely true. Neither MileStone nor Warashi have actually announced anything concrete for the DC. MileStone simply wanted to make sure that the option to port future NAOMI titles to the DC still existed and Warashi have stated that they aren't sure whether they will port THE to either DC or PS2 (the very fact that they mention the DC means that it is at least being remotely considered).

My biggest issue is Maruyama's constant response of:
"The option to port to DC is always there but it's not really viable."

Ok, first off, it's proven viable 3 times (I think even Idol Star Seeker saw good sales on the DC)! The awkwardness of this response is made even worse with the fact that UD has pretty much sold out in a matter of weeks.
Second, if the DC really isn't viable anymore, then just say so. I'd much rather Maruyama just come out and say, "Thank you for your support on DC, but we feel it is time to move forward to newer hardware. We invite you to join us." This type of a statement would be perfectly acceptable, and would put to rest all badgering for future DC ports. It's almost as if he's asking to get bombarded by internet petitions and such over his stance.
Third, and this will most likely be a question that he would never answer, "Do you think that since you have ported to only the DC (as of this date), that there is a stigma associated with G-Rev as "being stuck in the past" or something to that effect and you are trying to get rid of?" Some of this stems from the fact that they only do a single homeport... after all, both MileStone and Triangle Service understand the importance of multiplatform releases. I have to wonder if he finds constantly porting to DC somewhat dishonourable or regrettable.

[Frogacuda]

My biggest issue is Maruyama's constant response of:
"The option to port to DC is always there but it's not really viable."

He doesn't say that at all in this interview, actually. It's a total reversal. He says that it is commercially viable, but they're not sure if the option is there.

[Ganelon]

I dunno; your implicit interpretation of his statement seems to be based on a western point-of-view. Is it that hard to believe he actually feels honor-bound to his words?

But whatever, nobody knows, and guessing won't make any of our beliefs more correct.

[Kiken]

I dunno; your implicit interpretation of his statement seems to be based on a western point-of-view. Is it that hard to believe he actually feels honor-bound to his words?

But whatever, nobody knows, and guessing won't make any of our beliefs more correct.

Just for clarification... who are you responding to?

[Ganelon]

My bad; I was disagreeing with Frogacuda's belief that Mr. Maruyama was just withholding his own supposed desire of porting another DC game (since after all, Mr. Maruyama said that not going back to the DC would be an insult to fans).

On the point of viability, it's hard to tell whether Mr. Maruyama is just being modest when he says that Under Defeat wouldn't have been viable without its being "the last DC game ever."

I wish we had someone on this forum very familiar with JPspeech rules and could tell us which parts are modesty and which parts pure truth.

[Frogacuda]

My bad; I was disagreeing with Frogacuda's belief that Mr. Maruyama was just withholding his own supposed desire of porting another DC game (since after all, Mr. Maruyama said that not going back to the DC would be an insult to fans).

I wasn't talking about that part of what he said. He acknowledges that Under Defeat sold well, and doesn't cite sales as a factor (like Kiken said). He says that it's not their decision alone to make, alluding to another issue entirely.

[GaijinPunch]

(since after all, Mr. Maruyama said that not going back to the DC would be an insult to fans).

He said that going back to the DC would be an insult to fans, as UD has been dubbed "the last DC release". He didn't flat out say it, but my take on the whole 'it's not our decision" was that you still have to convince Sega to press the GD-Roms. I have no idea what that entails, but I imagine Sega will one day want to put it all to rest and move on.

Is everyone also forgetting here that this is an Arcade company? I seriouly doubt they lose sleep either way on home console ports. Yeah, it's nice to make a few extra bucks, but he made it quite clear that the companies forte is arcade machines.

[Kiken]

(since after all, Mr. Maruyama said that not going back to the DC would be an insult to fans).

He said that going back to the DC would be an insult to fans, as UD has been dubbed "the last DC release". He didn't flat out say it, but my take on the whole 'it's not our decision" was that you still have to convince Sega to press the GD-Roms. I have no idea what that entails, but I imagine Sega will one day want to put it all to rest and move on.

Well, then this raises an interesting question: will G-Rev feel dishonoured should either Warashi or MileStone release another new DC game through Sega?

Now, honestly, I really doubt that Warashi will release THE on DC. They seem to love the PS2 so I suspect that it's the most likely candidate. But in regards to MileStone, I have a feeling that they would push for another DC port of a new NAOMI project. So would this necessitate a katana duel at dawn between G-Rev and MileStone? Would Fujino get to ref since he's an expert on gaming samurai?

[professor ganson]

Sorry, I've lost track of this thread: Is there a published interview yet?

[Kiken]

Sorry, I've lost track of this thread: Is there a published interview yet?

Go back one page.

[neorichieb1971]

Sega don't seem to mind offloading refurbished DC's off the back of new releases

With Revolution taking a step backwards and supporting VGA (surely thats a naomi port positive), maybe companies can still port Naomi games to DC and Revolution.

[Frogacuda]

Sega don't seem to mind offloading refurbished DC's off the back of new releases

With Revolution taking a step backwards and supporting VGA (surely thats a naomi port positive), maybe companies can still port Naomi games to DC and Revolution.

NAomi shmups do seem to make sense on Rev, but we'll have to see if they will treat the unique features of the controller similarly to how they have the DS's touch screen.

Maruyama has spoke very harshly about the DS and Nintendo's handling thereof. He said that the new control features are more of a burden than a benefit because developers are expected to use them wether or not it really makes sense for that particular game. If Revolution is the same, I'm sure G.rev will stay far away.

[GaijinPunch]

Back to the point about G.Rev not really being a console maker, you can bet your house the only reason the games are on the DC is that they take minimal effort to port. In fact, if Sega really doesn't allow any more DC ports (they've hinted so at Sega Direct), then I'd say we have even less likely of a chance of seeing G.Rev ports.

[Frogacuda]

Back to the point about G.Rev not really being a console maker, you can bet your house the only reason the games are on the DC is that they take minimal effort to port. In fact, if Sega really doesn't allow any more DC ports (they've hinted so at Sega Direct), then I'd say we have even less likely of a chance of seeing G.Rev ports.

I disagree. I think G.rev has made it clear that they're an arcade company first and foremost, but they've never neglected to do a home port, and they've put more than just the "minimal effort" into each one. The 360 port of SnR demanded completely remade art assets, even. They're definitely interested in getting stuff out to the home market, but I think they feel they need the arcade market for their games to get noticed first.

The part where he talked about why he liked arcade games, he said that he liked the fact that the low price of admission means a good game can be successful on its own merit. Similarly, he implied in the question about doing a console-exclusive, that success in the arcade can help a game sell on the console.

[neorichieb1971]

I think G.REV take the stance that porting is not as important as making new product which up until this point its mostly debuted in arcade format.

Obviously with DC ports, its just a case of breaking down the Naomi code to fit in the DC ram and maybe a front end menu.


It would be nice if Sega made a console based on Naomi 2, which was compatible with Naomi 1. Therefore it would be easy to make the console compatible with DC games as well. I know its never going to happen, but it would at least inspire more DC games to be made. Sega just shoot themselves in the foot releasing Lindburgh and other proprietory chipsets.

[Frogacuda]

Obviously with DC ports, its just a case of breaking down the Naomi code to fit in the DC ram and maybe a front end menu.

Actually, Treasure said the GC port of Ikaruga was easier than the DC port, so you might be underestimating how tough those RAM constants are. DC ports will be the most accurate though.

[Kiken]

I disagree. I think G.rev has made it clear that they're an arcade company first and foremost, but they've never neglected to do a home port, and they've put more than just the "minimal effort" into each one. The 360 port of SnR demanded completely remade art assets, even. They're definitely interested in getting stuff out to the home market, but I think they feel they need the arcade market for their games to get noticed first.

However, it takes them roughly 3 months to do a DC port (and that's including adding some sort of console-exclusive content) which is relatively 100% arcade-accurate (well, minus some birds). It's taken them 8 months, thus far, to port SNR to 360 and it's still not finished. This would countermand his statement of "We'd like to do a port but it would take too long and we'd prefer to work on something new." And that's not even going into the fact that they're about to release the 3rd arcade revision of the game.

[Kiken]

Obviously with DC ports, its just a case of breaking down the Naomi code to fit in the DC ram and maybe a front end menu.

Actually, Treasure said the GC port of Ikaruga was easier than the DC port, so you might be underestimating how tough those RAM constants are. DC ports will be the most accurate though.

And yet the GC rev suffered from loads of glitches... :/

[professor ganson]

Sorry, I've lost track of this thread: Is there a published interview yet?

Go back one page.

I read this with great interest and learned a few things. Nice work.