Patrick Klepek
furiously molesting tim burton
that's a pretty out of context quote
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Square responds to PS2 HDD removal
- Thread starter Rhindle
- Start date
Aside from the fact that that is totally unsupported speculation, Squaresoft was pushing PlayOnline even before the Xbox. The very first footage of FFX showed players connecting to PO for hints and maps. The service itself was conceived in 2000, before the Xbox had even really been revealed.....go back in news archives and you'll see references to it from around the PS2 launch.
Why would they need a pretext to say no? Just say no =P
Wulfer
Member
Border yes you right but, that was also visions of what Sony wanted to do. (Which never appeared even now) and designed to take Sega 56K is cool hip away. It was really several years later that Playonline showed up in it's pitiful shape. (No voice chat, no gathering rooms, no messaging service to contact others (like their vision showed). Hell the more you think of it XBL is closer to Sony's vision of playonline. If you can stand there and defend Sony's online vision was fully relized than your a braver man than I.
Wulfer
Member
DarienA come on buddy you and I both know Sony and Square were working together on this from the start. We don't have to sugar coat this. It'll be one those X-files in Sony HQ somewhere.
Riddle me this: why is Playonline only on a Sony system if this is not true hmmm. (The PC equation doesn't count because back at the start of the PS2 Sony didn't care about the PC market and what games it got.)
Riddle me this: why is Playonline only on a Sony system if this is not true hmmm. (The PC equation doesn't count because back at the start of the PS2 Sony didn't care about the PC market and what games it got.)
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen
Banned
wha?
Sony had nothing to do with POL
POL has messaging and chat rooms
POL was never supposed to have voice chat
POL WAS supposed to have a lot of other stuff that was cut, like popular manga, a music downloading service and a sports news service. The (eventually scrapped) extra features were also why the development budget for the POL service alone reached something like $10 million, which is an awful lot to spend on an excuse not to port a game to Xbox when you don't need an excuse anyway.
Sony had nothing to do with POL
POL has messaging and chat rooms
POL was never supposed to have voice chat
POL WAS supposed to have a lot of other stuff that was cut, like popular manga, a music downloading service and a sports news service. The (eventually scrapped) extra features were also why the development budget for the POL service alone reached something like $10 million, which is an awful lot to spend on an excuse not to port a game to Xbox when you don't need an excuse anyway.
WULFER said:
Honestly? I have never heard before that Sony worked with Square to create Playonline, ever from anyone... do you have ANY links or articles about that? If Sony worked with Square to create PlayOnline.... how come it only supports Square products? I think you're very confused my friend... even moreso than usual.
I'll post the links for WULFER:
www.ipulledthatoutofmyass.com
www.imakeshitupallthetime.com
www.cocaineisahelluvadrug.com
www.ipulledthatoutofmyass.com
www.imakeshitupallthetime.com
www.cocaineisahelluvadrug.com
Wulfer
Member
So, you honesty believe Square took this service to Sony and said please only use our games on PS2 and PC. Why not Nintendo since Xbox wasn't a good choice? Why limit yourself if it's suppose to be a multi-platform setup (as Square said) they had a modem service just as good as M$ and it had no fee. You truly believe that Sony didn't pay a dime to keep POL their own service? (Well it's no big deal just a point that seems to show up.)
WULFER said:
Perhaps both are valid answers. Apparently, if the reports from BO3 are any indication, you need to jump through a lot of hoops to get EA games to work on Live because you get shunted to EA's own servers, and that's just a matchmaking system for races. I'd imagine the issues with an MMORPG are a lot more complicated.
Crazymoogle
Member
DarienA said:
...
As was clearly publicized when FFXI USA was announced, Square-Enix and Sony had a cross-promotion agreement in place: Sony would take the hit of marketing FFXI in america (with the HDD that wasn't being released otherwise), while S-E would take the hit of marketing Everquest in Japan.
The Xbox is dead in Japan, Square's largest videogame market (additionally its hard disk is too small for FFXI). The GameCube doesn't have a hard drive and thus cannot support an MMORPG of FFXI's scale.
Considering that FFXI is (thus far) their online PlayOnline project, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out why it's only on PC and PS2.
Considering that FFXI is (thus far) their online PlayOnline project, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out why it's only on PC and PS2.
Agent X
Member
I don't think this is going to be as big a deal as some of the naysayers are squawking about.
There are enough North American PlayStation 2 consoles in existence that anyone who really wants to play it on that system (rather than a PC) should be able to obtain one somehow, and then get the HDD for it. There will be a market for used systems for quite some time.
Also, you know how Nintendo has retained a stockpile of older production GameCubes with the component video out, so that they could exchange them for people who buy newer GameCube systems that complain about the lack of component video? I wouldn't be too surprised if Sony is also sitting on a small stockpile of "classic" PS2 systems for a similar reason.
In any case, this isn't killing off Square Enix's market. The PC version of Final Fantasy XI will continue to be produced, and it will probably be playable online for years to come. For that reason, Sony stands to lose more than Square Enix with this move.
There are enough North American PlayStation 2 consoles in existence that anyone who really wants to play it on that system (rather than a PC) should be able to obtain one somehow, and then get the HDD for it. There will be a market for used systems for quite some time.
Also, you know how Nintendo has retained a stockpile of older production GameCubes with the component video out, so that they could exchange them for people who buy newer GameCube systems that complain about the lack of component video? I wouldn't be too surprised if Sony is also sitting on a small stockpile of "classic" PS2 systems for a similar reason.
In any case, this isn't killing off Square Enix's market. The PC version of Final Fantasy XI will continue to be produced, and it will probably be playable online for years to come. For that reason, Sony stands to lose more than Square Enix with this move.
If you've followed PlayOnline as long as I have (and I don't think many sane people have...), you'd realize that SquareSoft didn't know what the hell it was doing. They had plans to incorporate news, internet browsing, gaming, cellphone access, chat, email, instant messaging, downloadable content, strategy guides, etc. Not only that, the original plan was supposed to allow cross-platform play between PS2s and... arcade cabinets. Seriously.
The service has changed considerably over the years, has gone from supporting 7 platforms to 2, from offering a ton of features to only a couple (email, chat, friends lists, and instant messaging), and from supporting 3 publishers' games to 2 (was originally Square, Enix, and Namco). But never in this time, at any point, was it funded by Sony.
Now, you want to know why it's not on XBox? Why they can't use PlayOnline? Simple. No cross-platform play.
If you don't believe me, what about the news of XBox being a supported platform?
Of course, this was before the announcement of Live!, which flew in the face of SquareSoft's main goal of cross-platform play between all of their users.
It's that simple.
Everybody has their own tastes, and I'm perfectly ok with that. I've had civil discussions with IJoel, MrCheez, Ryu, etc about the game, and they all don't really like it overall (well, IJoel just hates farming). I don't care that they don't like it. Why? Because they have reasoning.
You, on the other hand, go into damn near every single Final Fantasy XI thread simply to troll. It's obvious from your posts about the game (the "corpse retrieval" complaints, for instance), that you know absolutely dick about even the basics, have never even touched the game, and have about as much right voicing your opinion on it as I would about, say, your mom's lack of skill in bed.
So really, stay out of the threads already.
Square Enix is still able to develop for other platforms, and if they really want to succeed at their "#1 Videogame Publisher" ideal, they'll have to branch out, and they know this. This is why they've been developing games for Nintendo systems, why they've been talking about the possibility of development for XBox 2, and why they've been branching out into the ever-growing Japanese mobile phone market.
I believe that next gen, we'll see Square Enix on all platforms, just with the bulk of their focus going to PS3, PSP, and PC.
SCEA only publishes the PlayStation 2 version in the US, and only because of the HDD. Were the title not bundled with the HDD, Square Enix would be able to publish it themselves, like they just did with the "Chains of Promathia" expansion pack. It's just a simple publishing agreement made between SCEA & Square Enix USA, and has no influence on PlayOnline itself. No link.
As for the EverQuest II portion, that's actually not a SCE thing at all. It's SOE, which is a completely different section within Sony, and thus has next to no ties to SCE. And besides, the deal was: SOE provides Game Master & technical support for Square Enix in the US, and in exchange they handle everything EverQuest II related in Japan. No link.
The service has changed considerably over the years, has gone from supporting 7 platforms to 2, from offering a ton of features to only a couple (email, chat, friends lists, and instant messaging), and from supporting 3 publishers' games to 2 (was originally Square, Enix, and Namco). But never in this time, at any point, was it funded by Sony.
Now, you want to know why it's not on XBox? Why they can't use PlayOnline? Simple. No cross-platform play.
If you don't believe me, what about the news of XBox being a supported platform?
Source: http://www.square-x.com/news/21
Of course, this was before the announcement of Live!, which flew in the face of SquareSoft's main goal of cross-platform play between all of their users.
It's that simple.
That is a very good point, as well. I guess I was a little too focused on simply answering the questions in here, as I didn't really think of that.border said:
I believe the problem in Europe, much like in the US, is Sony. They don't seem to have any plans to release the HDD at all, and the PStwo news is probably just going to strengthen their stance on that.Die Squirrel Die said:
Nobody is asking you to "waste money" on the game. Nobody is asking for you to like it. You don't like it? Fine. Why would I mind?firex said:
Everybody has their own tastes, and I'm perfectly ok with that. I've had civil discussions with IJoel, MrCheez, Ryu, etc about the game, and they all don't really like it overall (well, IJoel just hates farming). I don't care that they don't like it. Why? Because they have reasoning.
You, on the other hand, go into damn near every single Final Fantasy XI thread simply to troll. It's obvious from your posts about the game (the "corpse retrieval" complaints, for instance), that you know absolutely dick about even the basics, have never even touched the game, and have about as much right voicing your opinion on it as I would about, say, your mom's lack of skill in bed.
So really, stay out of the threads already.
Well, what about Square Enix's titles for GBA, GC, and DS?Spike said:The only place Square-Enix is going is to PS3. Thats what happens when Sony owns 8% of you.
I think.
Square Enix is still able to develop for other platforms, and if they really want to succeed at their "#1 Videogame Publisher" ideal, they'll have to branch out, and they know this. This is why they've been developing games for Nintendo systems, why they've been talking about the possibility of development for XBox 2, and why they've been branching out into the ever-growing Japanese mobile phone market.
I believe that next gen, we'll see Square Enix on all platforms, just with the bulk of their focus going to PS3, PSP, and PC.
Nah, still no link.DarienA said:
SCEA only publishes the PlayStation 2 version in the US, and only because of the HDD. Were the title not bundled with the HDD, Square Enix would be able to publish it themselves, like they just did with the "Chains of Promathia" expansion pack. It's just a simple publishing agreement made between SCEA & Square Enix USA, and has no influence on PlayOnline itself. No link.
As for the EverQuest II portion, that's actually not a SCE thing at all. It's SOE, which is a completely different section within Sony, and thus has next to no ties to SCE. And besides, the deal was: SOE provides Game Master & technical support for Square Enix in the US, and in exchange they handle everything EverQuest II related in Japan. No link.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
border said:
Which does put a bit of a dampener on them developing for other platforms, that so far their one game on a non-Sony console, they had the development paid by someone else.
Anyway I don't see SE just randomly sticking FFXI(-2) onto any old platform. If there is going to be 300k-odd disenfranchised PS2 players floating about Square are probably going to try pick the platform most likely to capture them.
Why do people keep saying X-BOX and GAMECUBE??? Logic alone says that it would make NO sense to "switch" from the market leader to another console this generation and the quote is CLEARLY referring to when PS2 is phased out. To me this doesn't say GAMECUBE or X-BOX, it says PS3, "Xenon" or "Revolution" instead...der!
relentlessflame
Member
Because the PS2 that supports the HDD is being phased out (at least that is widely believed), therefore attracting new PS2 purchasers won't be an option. The only question is, would there be enough time left in this generation to support the launch of a MMORPG (FFXI) on another console platform, and on that the prevailing wisdom also seems to be no. Can S-E continue to attract customers who have an old PS2 model? Of course... But anyone who buys one of the new PS2s can't play FFXI on it.DrGAKMAN said:
(I guess that turned out to be a basic summary of this thread...)
I'm quite sure an Xbox version of FFXI is feasible, if the server situation could be agreed between MS and Square.
- The Xbox is quite effective at reading data from DVD as well as HDD so they could come up with a system where only the dynamic stuff is stored on the HDD and textures and sounds are all loaded from disc.
- The broadband issue doesn't need to be addressed because Xbox Live users are broadband only anyway. But Square would still limit the connections to narrowband size so they don't kill their servers.
But the article is clearly talking about the next generation. Personally, I hope they don't port FFXI to any next generation machines. The effort involved would be much better spent on creating an all new online Final Fantasy. One with non-broken gameplay and that doesn't rely on 8 gig installs. I know they keep saying they are undecided between keeping FFXI going and starting a new game instead, but I think deep down they know they have to go with the latter. FFXI has reached a threshold in terms of audience. What they gain in Europe and America is being lost in Japan nowadays. The new servers being added to cope with the EU launch could potentially be the last new servers in the lifetime of the game.
- The Xbox is quite effective at reading data from DVD as well as HDD so they could come up with a system where only the dynamic stuff is stored on the HDD and textures and sounds are all loaded from disc.
- The broadband issue doesn't need to be addressed because Xbox Live users are broadband only anyway. But Square would still limit the connections to narrowband size so they don't kill their servers.
But the article is clearly talking about the next generation. Personally, I hope they don't port FFXI to any next generation machines. The effort involved would be much better spent on creating an all new online Final Fantasy. One with non-broken gameplay and that doesn't rely on 8 gig installs. I know they keep saying they are undecided between keeping FFXI going and starting a new game instead, but I think deep down they know they have to go with the latter. FFXI has reached a threshold in terms of audience. What they gain in Europe and America is being lost in Japan nowadays. The new servers being added to cope with the EU launch could potentially be the last new servers in the lifetime of the game.
Scott said:
Haven't really entered anything but 2 threads; one dissuading based on my play of the beta (which was over a year ago and I didn't touch the game in retail) and this one, so I'm sorry that I don't have all the details memorized. Doesn't mean the game isn't horrible suckage played by people who want to feel l33t by triumphing over the awful gameplay mechanics, or Square fanboys, though. I can say it did a couple things right: the auction houses and not requiring you to make an alternate character to try out all the classes (although that's more of a plus because the game just isn't fun to play). I got into the WOW alpha not long after the FFXI beta ended and quite frankly it's a sea change to a much better game. So really, I'm sorry I didn't remember if it had corpse runs or not, although what's more important to me about FFXI's death penalty is that the leveling down was retarded, antiquated, moronic gameplay... and the game is just plain fucking atrocious on a keyboard and mouse compared to pretty much every other MMORPG out there (it isn't really unplayable, but when you're better off buying a ps2 gamepad adapter instead of using pretty much the basis of the PC, it's just bad design), the game itself is one big PVE grind (which is mainly why I say it has no endgame - yeah, there are the big encounters, but nothing I saw was fresh or interesting, and really all you can do is win those points for your faction as far as "pvp" goes, at least from how far I played - maybe they implemented some real pvp/dueling in the game), the heavy grouping requirements for most jobs, or that the job system isn't as flexible as I wish it was (i.e. you pretty much have to pick one good pair of job + subjob or else you tend to be screwed, rather than having the versatility of FF5). I find it kinda funny, though, that kiryogi is ragged on for playing Ragnarok Online or PSO (and admittedly, RO is shitty as well, and PSO isn't worth the online fee for the most part) yet both of those games seem to do a LOT of things better than FFXI did (namely, providing fun content and not forcing people to group up to do most of the game content). Plus, FFXI has all the problems of MMOs from a generation or two ago: boss stealing, camping, training, etc. that make the community horrible. If they'd do something as simple as instance a lot of the major quests and so on, the game would be be a lot better even with all the other flaws. But it seems to me like Square-enix would prefer keeping it pretty bog-standard, and why not? Japanese gamers (quite naturally the target audience) who don't get to play a lot of the better MMOs aren't going to realize the genre can be done so much better. And, as proven by things like Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts, Square can put FF into almost anything and make it sell on name alone.
Way out of context quote. A British website (I think it was CV&G, but I can't remember which) asked about the future of FFXI in an interview preceding the European launch. Square Enix said they hope the game continues after this generation ends and they could bring it to other platforms like X-Box 2 or PS3 so the game could continue after this generation. It has absolutely nothing to do with the new PS2 model.
Spiritreaver
Member
IJoel said:I would just like to say: DAMN YOU SPIPI!
:lol
I've killed him a few times. My only frustration is when I run into him and I'm level 1 or so. It's so disappointing. Leaping Lizzy is even worse.