Good News and Bad News for Zone of the Enders

So remember when the Zone of the Enders HD Collection was announced and I was all "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee~" because it's friggin' Zone of the Enders in HD?  And then remember when it came out and was, er...less than well-received because of speed and framerate issues which are absolutely debilitating to fast-paced action games like this?  And then it was...largely unspoken of from any angle as they just went ahead and did other things?  Well, there's where the good news comes in, as there's a patch for the game in the works.  For the PS3 version.  And....maybe don't click that link just yet.  It'll become a little obvious as to why in a few minutes here, so just bear with me.

In reality, the article makes it seem like the patch is already more or less 'done' and they're just testing it out and such before it's released.

Zone of the Enders HD Collection’s transition from 30 FPS to 60 was not as smooth as Kojima had hoped for. While it wasn’t as noticeable to first-time players, those who enjoyed the original seamless fast-paced games were able to feel the choppiness. (For a comparison, check out Spencer’s playtest.) Kojima believes that such action-heavy games deserve nothing but the smoothest gameplay to fully enjoy. Due to this problem, Kojima and his team have re-programmed the entire game, and will release a free PlayStation 3 patch that should fix the problem and greatly enhance its performance. There won’t be a patch for the Xbox 360 version for the time being.

It's hard to tell if the 360 version won't be patched for the same "technical reasons" as the Silent Hill HD Collection or if it's just because it didn't sell well at all, but in either case, I'm not too sure there'll be the same Konami out-reach for people who have purchased the 360 version.  Which is a shame, of course, and I might be wrong, but it's reasonable enough to think as much considering how low-profile this whole thing really is coming across as.  And to be fair, I'm not quite sure the extent of the issues with the ZoE Collection versus the Silent Hill HD Collection, while knowing that the latter has been described as 'dire' at times.  Which is, you know, a Bad Thing™.  Still, issues are issues and I haven't personally played my copy of the ZoE HD Collection (that I literally picked up for the REVENGEANCE demo and then never played), but knowledge that it might become 'flawless' in comparison to the originals sparks an excitement in me that only the original announcement managed to get.

So that's the good news.  But, as stated, there is bad news and....well, bad news might be under-stating things a bit here.  In similar fashion to the good news, remember when The Enders Project was announced?  As in the threequel in the Zone of the Enders series where actual, literal models of the robots were being made and then scanned into computers and rendered with the FOX Engine to look badass as all hell while also being fully-functional and such as a regular model?  Well, er...okay, now you can click the link above (or this re-link).  Maybe also sit down if you're not already.  Because, well, The Enders Project might just be cancelled.  Or at least postponed for a while which...might ultimately lead to the same fate as that sometimes happens.  Regardless of the future of it, the present of it is that the game has entered a period of re-evaluation, which is never a good statement to hear.

Not only has this incident prompted Kojima to work on a patch to fix the problem, but it has also put a halt to the Enders’s Project which was announced last year as a Zone of the Enders sequel. The entire team behind the project has been dismantled, as Kojima would like to re-evaluate the franchise before moving forward, he says. Furthermore, he also wants to re-evaluate fans by asking once more, whether they would still like to see a Zone of the Enders sequel.

Obviously the most worrying piece of that is the statement "The entire team behind the project has been dismantled" as that really hammers in the idea that it's just out-and-out done.  Yet, as the eternal optimist, I can't help but say that maybe it was just dismantled to be...you know, reassembled, reconfigured at a later date once they know for sure whether or not they're going to go forward with the project.  Which will most likely be once more work on The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes has been done, since, well, I can't imagine Kojima Productions has enough manpower for three AAA-Quality games to be worked on simultaneously, or at least not to the degree of quality that we expect from the studio.  Because, especially with the FOX Engine involved in all three projects, it's likely a bit tasking to work on all three games, no matter how many people are around (though it's likely not enough, as stated).

Yet another piece of optimism that I can't help but attempt at is wondering if this realization of the HD Collections issues, and the subsequent work in re-programming the entire game, has been the reason for the radio silence on the announced Vita version of the collection.  Obviously, it's easier to say that it's just been quietly cancelled and that could very well be the truth to it, but the issue was likely apparent right from release and the programming work probably didn't start right away, but as soon as it was feasible, meaning a 'hold off' order on the Vita version for the...ahem, very busy High Voltage Software, if they, indeed, were even tapped to work on that version as well.  Or if anyone had been tapped by that point.  Basically what I'm saying is now that the PS3 version has been entirely re-programmed and it's apparently very easy to port from PS3 to Vita that perhaps the game -will- see a release on the handheld, given Kojima's support for it, if nothing else.

Unfortunately, this is something that we might not ever really 'know' about, in the realm of it actually being announced.  If the game actually comes out on the Vita eventually, well, we'll know, but if 2014 rolls around and there's still no word on it...then, well, we'll probably know that way as well.  Still, it doesn't hurt to have some -hope- for something like this, as a portable version of Zone of the Enders:  2nd Runner is always something to hold out hope for.  Without an official statement, it'll be something that I'll consider a possibility for a time yet, and it'll only be when the time for 'timely' release has come and gone and left the house cold that I'll accept anything less.  Since, as stated, a fully-functional version of the HD Collection on PS3 (as well as the very loose release window of it) could very well mean good things and a simultaneous announcement.  We'll just have to see how KojiPro handles it, really, but the patch is certainly something to look forward to for PS3 owners.

in all seriousness, I will choke a bitch for ZoE HD Vita

Zone of the Enders 3 Is a Thing In Development

Now, while it might not officially be called Zone of the Enders 3, as ZoE 2 was simply called Zone of the Enders:  Second Runner, the game that is in development is likely a third game in the main ZoE series.  Well, okay not -likely-, as the above image of the newly re-designed Jehuty means definitely and I just....I couldn't be happier about it.  I contemplated actually writing about it yesterday because that's when the news of it broke, but I held off because I imagined that something like this was outside of the realm of possibility, an impossibility if you will, and figured that it would come out that this is all just for something else, but nothing of the sort has been mentioned and in fact it just looks more and more like a reality.  Just the way the situation unfolded seems like one of those things you talk about with your buddies and say "Wouldn't it be cool if" and then talk about how a company, in anticipation for something, announces something related to it to build off the hype because it actually makes sense.  Yet it never happens.  Except, well, this time it did.

As it's simply an announcement of development being started, there is practically zero information about it, but at this stage, the fact that it exists is quite enough for now.  Semi-officially, the game is being called simply the "Enders Project" for now and whether that will end up being the game's subtitle or have nothing at all to do with what the game is called (aside from having Enders in it) is up in the air because of the lack of outside information.  That means platforms, time-frames, setting, all of that is just non-existant at this point, which makes it hard to write down anything other than "Eeeeeeeeeee!" and other such exclamations of excitement.  On the other hand, I don't want to just bullet-point the two pieces of information on the game and then run off, since that just won't do.

They did state that the game might potentially be developed using the Fox Engine which does mean a few things as a base, of course.  First off, I would suggest that this is your first reason (if you didn't have one already) to be excited for the next round of consoles (that likely won't come out til 2014, not counting the WiiU) since the Fox Engine has been stated as a 'High-spec' engine, which cuts a few things out right off, like the 3DS and the Wii if not more.  Considering that the game was just officially announced as being a thing and thus will likely be in development for a few years, I wouldn't expect it on the PS3 or 360 since those consoles aren't likely to be kicking around for -that- much longer.  Second off, that sort of explains the above picture of a sculpted model of a Jehuty with a slightly new look to him.  For the Fox Engine (not specific to all projects, but at least with this one) they're making models of the Mechs used to be scanned in as a base to work off of for the animation and modeling.  Which is just....-awesome-.

That's pretty much the entire gist of it, unfortunately.  "Enders Project" is a Zone of the Enders project that features Jehuty and is almost definitely a third game in the proper Zone of the Enders series.  (We don't count Fist of Mars)  It's almost certainly going to use the Fox Engine (slight editorial on my part, but -come on-) and as a first step towards that, they're crafting models of the Mechs to be scanned in so they can be worked with in-engine.  With all the foresight in the world, they decided to announce this right alongside a release window of "Fall" for the Zone of the Enders HD Collection (for the Consoles, at least, apparently the Vita version might not be same-day unfortunately) and now I'm just looking forward to getting my hands on the Vita version (sometime) and playing the hell out of it whilst I wait for more information on all this.

Of course, since Kojima seems in the mood to make dreams come true, I'm just going to float the idea of Metal Gear Ac!d 3 on the Vita (or digital versions of 1 and 2 or an updated twin-pack or -something-) and doing something video game related with Snatcher.  You know.  Just leaving those two things on the table here, feel free to do whatever you want with them, Kojima.

Just sayin'.