Mighty No. 9 is Mega Man, Funded, Awesome

It's simultaneously easy and incredibly difficult to believe that you have not heard of Mighty No. 9 at this point - on the one hand, it's been a busy weekend in North America at least, and that does sort of make it difficult to find out about Kickstarter news unless you're looking for it, but on the other hand, it feels like everybody already knows about Mighty No. 9.  So for those of you who don't know what the game it, it is basically Mega Man.  It looks like Mega Man, it has the same general concept as Mega Man, the same general playstyle as Mega Man and the same original creator as Mega Man.  Yes, Keiji Inafune, with his company Comcept USA, took to Kickstarter to get funding for the game known as Mighty No. 9 and did so in quite a swift amount of time - just around two days.  For a $900,000 goal on a busy weekend as it has been (PAX and Labor Day), it's rather impressive and it still has a run of 28 days before it closes down and locks in the exact final amount which, thanks to stretch goals, will more or less decide just how much Mighty No. 9 we're going to get.

The base game....well, why don't I let one of the Kickstarter Bullet Points explain that, yes?

• You play as Beck, the 9th in a line of powerful robots, and the only one not infected by a mysterious computer virus that has caused mechanized creatures the world over to go berserk. Run, jump, blast, and transform your way through six stages (or more, via stretch goals) you can tackle in any order you choose, using weapons and abilities stolen from your enemies to take down your fellow Mighty Number robots and confront the final evil that threatens the planet!

Blatant Mega Man comparisons aside (emphasis theirs, by the way, not mine), it says right there that the original goal is for six stages, but that seven and eight can be added through  the Stretch Goals and is specifically the first one at $1,200,000.  At this point in time, it's -almost- there even, being at $1,141,413 as I'm writing this (and updating constantly as I continue writing, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's fully to that goal by the time I'm finished).  It's not broken apart or anything - that stretch goal is the one that will add the stages for Mighty No. 7 and 8 and thus more or less make it even closer to the Mega Man games we all already know and love.  The other Stretch Goals include Mac and Linux versions (btw, base game is set only for PC, however...), New Game Plus and "Turbo Mode", a Making-Of Documentary and, of course, PS3/360/Wii U versions.  There are also two Stretch Goals which are....mysteries?  I guess?  Perhaps surprises along the way to spice things up or something.

If there's absolutely anything to be disappointed in at looking at Mighty No. 9, it's simply that the Console Versions are the very last Stretch Goal, set in at the $2,500,000 mark, and that there's no 3DS or Vita love, nor Next-Gen love aside from the Wii U.  Of course, Kickstarters are malleable by nature and the feedback on their official Twitter has stated that versions for all the consoles left out are possible, depending on funding and feedback.  The official statement re: PS4/XBone versions is that they're not planning on them due to lack of knowledge about the consoles which....is understandable since they're not even out yet, buy by the time Mighty No. 9 comes out, they will have been and for...a little while.  Obviously, I am that guy, always saying how I want everything on my Vita so this is certainly no exception, but mostly because it's a damn good fit.  Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X (which was free through Plus a while back) played wonderfully on the PSP (and the Vita as well) so Vita/3DS versions of the game just make sense, so long as they can work them properly.

Otherwise, I just haven't looked into it all that much because I don't really....need to.  It's a new, improved version of Mega Man with fun, new little twists and such, but is so much built on a foundation that I already know very well.  Conveniently, that means that I know it's going to be good with some level of certainty, which is nice to have.  However, as much as I like looking at Kickstarter projects - I prefer the ability to actually buy them when they're available or, in some cases, while they're on their way to being released, not when they're mere theories and concepts on paper and computer documents and files.  But I'm old-fashioned like that, it seems, especially when I consider that notion to be a silly one, since there are people who will un-ironically agree with my assertion that I'm old-fashioned because of that.  But that sort of stuff just makes my head hurt anymore.

Anyways, Mega M- Mighty No. 9.  It's going to be a thing and it's likely going to be fantastic.  Let's just see where all it ends up landing and how the Kickstarter plays out.  Certainly going to be interesting if nothing else.

I personally just love how tongue-in-cheek against Capcom the whole thing is

I Want Soul Sacrifice 2

I am almost 'finished' with Soul Sacrifice in that I only have the end-all be-all fight with Magusaur left to carry out as far as the Story portion of the game goes.  That isn't spoiling anything, of course - the game explicitly tells you in the opening that you are the prisoner of Magusaur and the entire mechanic of reliving memories through your strange journal to gain the ability to wield a Sorcerer's power is so you can take the fight to him, not only for your life, but for the world.  It lends that one fight a...mystique, if you will, an indelible amount of power and significance, that will ultimately create a finality to the game itself.  It's a simple setup, really, but it's executed flawlessly.

It is one of the main reasons why I think doing a sequel will be difficult.  You cannot just re-use that set-up.  You cannot switch out everything but that "End Boss is always available" fight and have it be the same, have that fight have the same sheen to it.  That whole layout, that idea, is ineffably Soul Sacrifice 1 now and simply repeating that will not be anywhere near enough.  Luckily, I'm not in a position where I have to create a sequel to this game, one that will satisfy new-comers and veterans alike.  I can just sit here and demand a sequel and not produce anything constructive to the process.  Not divulge any thought into just how something could be established.  Just clamor from the highest rooftop that I want it and take to any announcement the fact that it's not Soul Sacrifice 2, which is definitely a thing that's going to happen regardless.

But I think we know that's not my style.

The wondrous thing of Soul Sacrifice is that it has so much lore established in just the confines of what it has.  It has created a world, a fleshed out one, even if you don't get to traverse it as some thought you might be able to.  There are any number of places and ways you could actually set another game in the world, and it's not even all that difficult to throw a dart at one to pick if you were so inclined.  If the actual world traversal were a bit more robust in the sequel, that would lend itself all the more towards making just about anything possible.  Not that I'm saying I need that, because I don't - I'd be fine with another Arena game - but I do think it could be seen as the 'evolution' from one game to the next, and it would certainly draw in a few more purchases from folks who found themselves turned off to the 'constrained' (to them) nature of the game.

The most basic setup I could think of would be that you're just a Sorcerer entering Avalon (the ruling body of Sorcerers) to become a full-fledged member.  It's an underwhelming concept, sure, when faced with the one that came before it, but it could be a game based more around the subtleties rather than the direct notion of the world-ending monster that is Magusaur.  Play up the partner aspect just as this first game did, and run far with that angle, or even do something a little different with it.  Perhaps an asychronous mutliplayer system like Dragon's Dogma's Pawn system that lets you pick one of your friends characters to be your friend.  Set your appearance, two or three sets of Offering load-outs and synch it with the network so that it transfers over to whomever is deciding to use your character in their game.  Of course, this will be set aside to the story-important partner as well.

Something that would be, perhaps, a little more dynamic would be to use one of the origin stories for an Archfiend, a new breed, to set things off.  Your character is just someone who happens to get in the crossfire, or is the target of the new fiend, yet survives.  Set it up as a personal last boss, rather than a superbly dangerous and immaculate one, really.  And from that sort of set-up you could go any number of places with it.  Perhaps the character simply seeks tutelage from Avalon to hone a Sorcerer's talent in vengeance on the beast.  Perhaps the town plays host to one of the Anti-Avalon groups and have their own brands of Sorcerers.  Or any of several other possibilities.  Hell, give us the options and let you build your character through that.  Soul Sacrifice 1 played at letting you be an existing Sorcerer molded to your vision.  Let Soul Sacrifice 2 allow you to make your Sorcerer.

There is a literal world of possibilities left open for a sequel thanks to Soul Sacrifice's basis.  That speaks as a strength not only to the game itself, but its potential as one of the Vita's big series that pushes the system itself.  There is a -lot- that can yet be done with the franchise and I'm personally invested in seeing it through, that's for sure.  Not only because Soul Sacrifice is really, really damn good in the story department, but because it's just so damn -fun- as I've stated in the past.  There's a grind to be had, for sure, but it's one that I don't mind because every battle I fight is one for supremacy and it's enjoyable because of that.  Even if I face something that seems insurmountable, well, that's just the next short-term goal on the road to taking down Magusaur for good.  And that victory will be the sweetest of them all.

seriously, I don't know how many times I need to say BUY SOUL SACRIFICE

Sacrifice All of the Things!

I've been playing a lot of things that are decidedly not Soul Sacrifice lately and I thought that today was the perfect day to remedy that error in judgement.  As it turns out, for once, I was completely right. 

As I mentioned previously, Soul Sacrifice is a game that a lot of people expected to be a lot of things and some walked away a little disappointed because of that.  Myself, I had a few ideas, but none of them seemed to make sense with what the others were saying, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I got it.  When I learned that it was an arena fighter game, basically, I admit I was a bit worried - after all, that just sounds like other games that I'm just not all that enamored with.  Still, a demo was promised for it, and I was dead-set on at least trying that before I decided the fate of my purchase.  And, as you might remember, I quite enjoyed it.  Which has not changed even slightly from the demo to the full game itself, thankfully.

I still haven't quite determined just what it is that I like about Soul Sacrifice, that makes it so enjoyable that I sank my entire day into it and still wasn't sated (in that I really just want to be playing it right this moment), but I do have a few ideas.  And they are all just dependent on the actual chords that Soul Sacrifice plays on which, combined, are a powerful draw it seems.  Though, really, I could be wrong because it's just hard to really quantify the fun that I've been having in any fashion.  Other than assuring you several times that I have been having fun, which I know sounds less and less true with every restatement of it, but I'm sure you can all also understand the difficulty to shape fun into coherent words and descriptors.

I think one of the things that the game really pushes on is the inherent desire to collect and create, since this is ever-present with the Offerings.  Not only is there benefit in getting several copies of a single offering to combine them (and combine their combinations, etc.) over and over again to boost the spell in question, giving you more base castings of it, but you can also collect offerings to fuse them together.  Where boosting requires two of the same Offering, Fusion takes two or more different Offerings and combines them into something else.  That you can then make multiple copies of to combine and boost them.  Both of these together means that you'll be spending a lot of time replaying quests for offerings to make/boost more offerings.  Over and over.  Which seems like it might get repetitive, but so far it hasn't.

Another thing is that it plays off of High Score Compulsion.  You're rewarded with points for doing certain things in a battle like attacking an elemental vulnerability or countering an attack (which you should do anyway since it deals massive damage) and at the end of a quest, you're given a rank based on your points.  Not only is there a trophy tied to getting a certain rank enough times, but the higher-tier ranks sometimes offer extra bonuses as well in the forms of bonus offerings.  For instance, your first fight with a Jack-o'-Lantern might just yield you an offering that will, I believe, allow you to temporarily become a Jack-o'-Lantern for the purpose of doing the flaming roll tackle that it possesses.  This might just be with Archfiends, but still, it's definitely something to shoot for for various reasons.

Those meta-goals aside, I really think what manages to keep Soul Sacrifice fresh as you play it over and over again for offerings is sort of a combination of both of those ideals.  I hardly switch out my Offerings unless I get one that is clearly better than what I have currently in all facets, or if I'm loading up on a particular element to take advantage of a particular archfiend's weakness, but I know that at some point, I will know the game inside and out enough that I will be able to pick out different configurations to rush the level as professionally as possible.  I'll know the strategies for countering at the right moment for this enemy and that.  I'll find the area of expertise that affords me a little wiggle-room for finesse, which I'm already taking, though perhaps at the expense of my score for now.  And that's all just because Soul Sacrifice is, at its basest level, just plain fun.  I'm not sure how it happened, but it did, and I couldn't be happier for that.

the funny text at the bottom here tells you to buy Soul Sacrifice

Soul Sacrifice - Demo of the Year of All Years

In what continues to be a rather pleasing trend, I have picked up yet another something and found little to be disappointed with it.  Because of my whole snafu with the sickness thing, I didn't really get to put any time into Soul Sacrifice (given that afterward, I wanted to enjoy something light-hearted, which I did in Dragon Fantasy Book I as mentioned) and, in truth, I sort of forgot about it.  Earlier, I plugged in yet more time into Disgaea 3:  Absence of Detention, plodding Dinah closer and closer to Level 9999 (which it seems I might just have to achieve to grant her victory over a surprisingly difficult foe) and it was only after a random flip through my pages that I caught glimpse of the icon for the demo again.  And after some outside prodding, I decided to throw my hand back into it - after all, the only time I spent playing it was half-asleep and that's hardly fair to the game itself.

So I played the demo some more tonight....and I played and I played and suddenly an hour had gone by.  Let it be known that I was thoroughly entertained by this point, if that much was not already decidedly obvious.  Let it also be known that I had not a single clue of what the hell.

I don't mean that in a bad way, and it's understandable as I'm still a little hazy and sick because of sinus and allergy issues, but I can't effectively quantify what I experienced in the half a dozen missions I slammed through to draw closer and closer to a conclusion of the Ordeal.  It was intense, it was fast, it was chaotic, but most important of all, it was fun.  It was absolutely enjoyable and I have no earthly idea what ideas and executions are responsible for this, but I also don't really care.  To be honest, I feel an itching to jump right back into it now, but I will abstain for several reasons, most of which are completely responsible.  Totally.  Super responsible.  Unfortunately.

The basic gist, I have down and it's actually quite a bit refreshing in that it damn near reminds me of Phantasy Star Online which is a surprise that I never would have expected.  Not in so many ways, but in the particular binding of spells or offerings to the Square, Triangle and Circle buttons, where X is your dash and R switches to a separate palate of the same three buttons with different spells.  That's....where the similarities end, of course, but that momentary familiarity brought me immense pleasure and brought a level of comfort into the experience that I might not have had otherwise.  From there it gets more complicated, depending on the spell you're actually using of course.  Some spells require a charging time, others some aiming and then firing, while still others alter your attack pattern entirely for a duration, such as making a sword out of ice that you can either chain attacks with or hold for a long combo attack.

Perhaps because of the inclusion of "Soul" in the title and the tonal similarities with concept art and such, I think there were a lot of misconceptions about the game early on, thinking it would be a sort of "Souls" game (Demon's or Dark) in that it would be at least semi-open world.  In fact, it could not be more opposite, given that it seems every mission is an arena battle, basically, which is kind of a hard sell I should think.  Though, knowing that it was going to be that type of game also put illusions into some people's heads that it would be Monster Hunter + Grimdark which it decidedly is not either.  It is -far- too fast-paced and, er, responsive to be a Monster Hunter clone, of which I am quite thankful.

Regardless of what its intention was, what Soul Sacrifice ended as was an enjoyable thing to be sure.  The demo is something that I'm going to hop into several times between now and my purchase of the game, and I look for more entertaining fights the caliber of which I saw tonight.  For instance, one battle ended when a Ghoul (basically a large, undead bird) was zooming down towards me and I threw down the Stone Clod offering which brought a giant Stone Fist up through the ground.  The fist uppercut the Ghoul straight out of the air and killed it.  If that is not satisfying, friends, then I cannot tell you what is.

I seriously laughed so much....and then I made a "Flipping the Bird" pun which didn't end well

Yaiba is Keiji Inafune's Latest Game Announcement

Yes.

Yesssssssss.

I would just leave the text of this post as that, because it is just as appropriate as anything else I could hope to follow it up with, but that is not, as you know, the way I roll.  'Yaiba', which I'm not sure if it's the working title or what the game will actually be called when it releases, is a game that doesn't have a whole lot of information out about it beyond what's in that teaser above.  Which, and this is a stance I've taken before unashamedly and I'll take it again here, that's really all I need right now.  And there's a very, very obvious reason for that and it has to do with the whole way this was announced and just how busy of a bee Keiji has been lately.  With his involvement in Soul Sacrifice and no less than three other games already announced, I'm very, very curious to see if this will be anywhere near ready to release by the middle of 2013 at the very earliest.  I'm doubting that it will, and that is just fine by me because I am still so loaded with games to play that I can't even think about next year.  Because I will still probably be playing games from -last year- -next year-.

Regardless, what we can tell from the teaser for Yaiba is that it's going to be a zombie game, which some people shrug their shoulders to, or even worse, scoff at, but it's apparently a liked genre because it keeps getting sales.  However, Yaiba is not going to be your typical zombie game by any stretch of the imagination, so slow your roll on that right quick.  As one of the guys behind the whole idea of Dead Rising which, to be honest, is kind of a game all its own, even a game type all on its own, Inafune knows his zombie games and promises to make this one stand out just as much.  Now, how does one do that, you might ask?  I ask, certainly, or rather I did ask and got....pretty much the best answer ever.  Apparently Yaiba is going to include, on top of the zombies, Ninjas and Mechs which is just one of the best combinations I've heard of and literally made me bring my arms before me as I wiggled them with what I can only describe as 'glee' while a very un-manly "Eeeeeeeee~!" was sounded.  It was quite a scene, I assure you, and it very nearly repeated itself as I took a look at the teaser.

Specifically, what tickled my fancies about the teaser itself was the rather lovely art style that we could see throughout, sprinkled between the instances of the games tag-line which is almost as beautiful as the term REVENGEANCE.  "The Dead Will Die Again"  It's simple in the best, most wonderful way, and is quite appropriate for a game that, and this is conjecture here, will feature you playing a Ninja who jumps into a Mech to stomp on zombies.  Because come on when you hear those three things are all involved, that is -exactly- where your mind goes and don't tell me that it doesn't.  Unfortunately the Art Style doesn't really belie a whole lot beyond that it's pretty - as stylized as it is, I could honestly expect it on just about anything that isn't the 3DS.  Of course, I'm not going to go on and on about the consoles it could release on because I'm sure we all know what I want it on, and with Inafune's work on Soul Sacrifice, well, it could definitely be a possibility.  A possibility that threatens to make me drool, even.

Still, as I said, as this is the fourth game Inafune's announced that he's also attached to in some fashion, I assume he and his company Comcept will likely be very very busy.  Soul Sacrifice will likely be the first game beyond J.J. Rockets (since that's already out in Japan, apparently) that will be released and last I heard, it's a very vague end of the year/early next year sort of window.  So after that's done, this game and the other announced Inafune game, KAIO - King of Pirates, will likely get their own work done and release windows announced for them sometime thereafter.  Really, I don't think there's any other way you'd want to start things off with a new company than by throwing down four new IPs that have a strong chance of 'making it', or being the next series that people look forward to.  And I have no delusions that the dude is anywhere near done making his own shots at things and I'm actually looking forward to what could be next.  I guess we'll see what the approach has done for things when Soul Sacrifice comes out, since I know I plan on grabbing that up.

Soul Sacrifice Looks Brutal, Awesome

Look at the screenshot above.  Now look at your Vita.  The above screenshot is concept art for the oft-teased (at least, in the last week or so) "Soul Sacrifice", a game which has just now started spilling out delicious delicious information.  A game that will be on the Playstation Vita, and a game that looks wonderfully screwed up.  A game that has literally planted itself on my radar simply by being insanity given form in a budding thing.  And a game that I will no doubt be following fairly intensely in its development process.

You've probably been thinking to yourself "Why is he eating his hand?" or something similar while looking at the above picture and I assure you, I will get to that in all due time.  First, I should probably explain the premise of the game, or at least what little bit of it has been shared.  You play a wizard that is the slave of a more powerful mage and, at some point, a demon comes by with a magical book that seems to serve as the 'hub' by the way it sounds, since it apparently lets you 'experience' the different events inside, indicating that it would ideally be the actual storyline and the way it progresses.  The wizard that you play is meant to be -your- wizard and as such, you'll be able to change their appearance to your liking, and I imagine the style in which the wizard specializes in will be up to your whims as well.

Speaking style, I of course mean fighting style, which hasn't been detailed too much, but the little bits that have been pointed out are....quite a thing.  They're the focus of the game for a very obvious reason when you get into it, and will likely be the main thing you either love or hate about the game.  You see, the magic used in Soul Sacrifice all works off of, well, "Sacrifices".  Whether it be an item, likely health or, for the big, bad spells, parts of your body itself.  Literally.  You see, the picture at the top of the post here depicts a wizard using the "Excalibur" spell, for which the required sacrifice is, uh....your spine.  So he literally rips his spine out through his mouth and the body part is used as an instrument of death, likely for a short period of time only.  After which, one could assume it just sort of...uh....goes back in.  Maybe.  Similarly, other spells discussed so far are "Greipnir" which sacrifices....the bones in your fingers, s'far as I can tell, to turn your hand into an extending instrument of torture, and "Gorgon" which requires an eye, thus summoning other eyeballs that fire lasers.  Seriously.

Some will likely take well to the rather over-the-top insanity that the game clearly has at its core where others will simply say that it's 'trying too hard'.  I'm sure with my history and the praise I've had for it so far makes it fairly clear which camp I'm in.  And still others won't know what to think beyond "How is he walking around if he ripped his own spine out" to which the obvious answer is "Shut up, that's how".  One does not question the merit of using your own spine as a weapon, but rather must simply applaud the ingenuity involved in even -thinking- about that, much less the backbone guts to actually do it.  Of course, with only these three spells being the ones I've seen so far, that's only the tip of the ice berg and I can't wait to see just what else they can think of along those lines.

Of course, there is a downside to ripping apart your own body in various ways to destroy your enemies.  Who would've thought, right?  Apparently, from a few pieces of information pulled together, the baddies of the world may just be other wizards who wielded the same sorts of spells in the same situations (fighting the wizards before them) until they twisted and mutated them into that which they sought to destroy.  It's a vicious cycle thematically, and might just come into play in the gameplay itself, especially with the Multiplayer aspect of the game that plays up on the slight "Monster Hunter" vibe the game carries.  Which is to say that there will be lots of rather large monsters that will be much more fun to take out with a friend or friends, and the Vita's capabilities will allow just such a thing to occur.

Despite the rumors and comments about the art style of Soul Sacrifice, From Software, the makers of Demon's and Dark Souls, has nothing to do with the game.  In fact, it's one of those (I'm assuming) rare games that actually have three different developers behind it working cooperatively.  Soul Sacrifice's trifecta come in the form of Sony's Japan Studio, Marvelous AQL and Keiji Inafune (or rather, Inafune and his development studio Comcept I would assume).  If you had managed to hear word of Inafune accidentally admitting to working on a Vita game, well, this would be the one and it's...certainly not what anybody expected, I'm quite sure.  Still, it looks quite out there and as I've said, I'm already looking forward to it just based on the little information we have.  There should be a trailer here soon for the game, so when it comes out, I'll link it here for your viewing pleasure!

Update!:  As I said, a trailer went up today, so let's take a gander, yes?

Still no real gameplay, but it does show what "Excalibur" looks like in motion and it's just as brutal as you might expect.  Also, at the tail end of the video, it gives a little glimpse at just what you might expect after using such a high-end spell:  Death.  Of course, with a game like this, that might not be quite as much of a barrier as you might expect; after all, the creatures of the world are only creatures because they were so badly disfigured after using so many strong spells.  Death in battle seems to be able to serve as a primary tactic as this siliconera post goes on to say.

This group of players decided on sacrifice and a wounded sorcerer set himself on fire to cast the spell Salamander. The other three players decided to sacrifice Cerberus and claim the reward.

One player sacrifices himself so that the others can finally finish off the creature, or even offer it salvation, after the end of the battle.  They will then be rewarded accordingly.  I've seen elsewhere that such a sacrifice from a player can result in a large buff for the remaining party as well, though I imagine there are other advantages.  And of course, it won't always be completely necessary for three players to reap the benefits of a victory; I'm sure part of the challenge comes in at finding out just what these times are.  With such a system in place, though, I'm curious as to hearing just how the lasting effects work.  After all, after playing your character online with others for so long, you'll likely use enough magic for disfigurement, but it seems a little odd to reward your players for success by rendering their characters to being awful abominations.  Regardless, it's something curious and great to look forward to, since even though localization is just 'an option' at this point, this is almost assuredly coming this way.

Capcom Wants You to Hate Them

So, waaaaaaaaay back, Capcom announced HD Up-makes of RE4 and RE:C:V and everyone was like "Yay, RE4 HD and some other game!" except for me, who said "Oh boy, another version of RE4 I'm not buying" since my distaste for RE4 is well-documented.  (Though, not well-documented enough, yet.  Hint, hint)  Then shortly after, it was said that the game would be DD-only in NA and only a few people lost hype, but figured they would actually print the games on a disk -eventually- and announce it just before the DD versions came out to let everyone know your choice of media is doable for them.  But that hasn't happened and, with just how poorly Capcom has been doing lately, I'm not holding my breath on seeing a two-in-one disk coming out.

Resident Evil 4 HD just came out this week on PSN and XBL and has generated quite a few issues in the short time it's been out.  What some call a blessing, others, like me, call a curse is the fact that the gameplay has remained largely unchanged (except for the fact that Dash and Attack are mapped to the wrong buttons and unchangeable) which is not a surprise.  Usually, these HD updos don't do a whole lot to the gameplay itself, as it's more or less about the graphics, and that's generally where you see the biggest difference.  Though....apparently that's not really so with RE4 HD.  I've only seen a couple reviews and I haven't bothered to read them through, but they mention that the GameCube version of RE4 was clearly the basis of the game and the textures and graphics really reflect that.  While they're still HD they're only barely so and they do nothing to address the fact that parts of the game are just ugly and would need completely re-touched, rather than just upscaled.

Another issue, albeit a likely minor one depending on where you stand, is that, after promising "Full Trophy/Achievement Lists" for the games, RE 4 HD came packed with a whole 12 Achievements/Trophies.  The numbers are broken up enough on the 360 version of the game so that you'll end up with 1000 points upon completing all twelve tasks, so that's all...well and good there, I suppose.  But what about the PS3 version?  A trophy was certainly dropped in lieu of reserving a Platinum spot, right?  I mean, it's a full game.  Full Games get Platinum.  Well, no.  No it was not and apparently Capcom is strictly about the numbers.  And here's the numbers for you:  Of the whole twelve trophies, Nine of them are Bronze, Two are Silver and One is Gold.

After doing a little looking around, it would seem that the game also has some fairly noticeable audio issues (admittedly not from the best source, but honestly I wouldn't be surprised), and all of this honestly just has me wondering what the hell Capcom is thinking.  This rabbit hole goes much, much deeper, as I've only been talking about one single port of a game they just released.  I could bring up any of the multitude of other issues like how poorly their new IPs did (Dark Voooooooooid), how....honestly damaging they've been to their own reputation lately, and all of the poor decisions they've made in the clear and public eye.

Keiji Inafune recently spoke about the 'truth' behind MML3 and it's cancellation (despite never being green-lit in the first place) and said, basically that Capcom's antics were what drove him to want to get out of the company.  But, not wanting to leave his projects un-finished, he offered to keep working on them even at his new company.  Capcom was...less than thrilled with the idea, clearly as Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends 3 will likely never see the light of day.  It's quite unfortunate on both parts, really, as the former really would have lent itself to getting more people trying out these Creative Sandbox titles, to maybe think a little better of them and broaden horizons, whereas the latter would have...well, just made a lot of people happy.

In one of the classier statements out of this sort of situation one could expect, Inafune doesn't really point fingers, though he should, and says simply that he left behind "a great team" who he hopes somebody will step into his vacated role and really fight for these games and try to see them through Capcom's unwillingness to cooperate.  He's not too optimistic that anyone will fight Capcom as he did, but he's not really talking bad about anyone here, which seems a little hard to do, given the circumstances.  I guess saying that he had to fight Capcom to have his two projects even considered is sort of a strike against them, but he's being fairly diplomatic about it.

I don't have to be, though.  I, like many others, think Capcom's taken up the rotating mantle of "Game Company Insanity" and I'm not quite sure when they, or anyone currently wearing it, will give it up, but as we know, it is a burden that is able to be gotten rid of.  EA did for a while after their massive show of goodwill towards new IPs, creating both Mirror's Edge and Dead Space, as well as plenty of other moves that were, well, good ones.  Only Dead Space stuck (for now), but it stuck good and it's a good thing.  Faced with the prospect of Dead Space 3 is a great one, even though I haven't even played the second one yet, and Mirror's Edge hasn't been completely forgotten, though there's not a lot to show for the repeated talks that say as much.

I guess we'll just have to see how this pans out; eventually Capcom will be everyone's friend again, as the cycle starts anew, but I'm wondering at this point just what they'll have to do to make that happen.  It certainly won't be easy, but if you give gamers something they really want, it's hard to not win some good will; usually enough to forgive the past.  After all, if that wasn't true, then gaming would've died out long, long ago after all those bridges were burned.