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Post by dsparil on Jun 6, 2020 6:58:57 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity, there was a Simant game released years ago. Did they ever plan on making a Sims (not The Sims by the way,) game based on bees or termites? SimAnt is fondly remembered by many, but I don't think it did so well as to merit such further consideration. Seems SimMars was definitely a thing and well on its way before The Sims completely took off and became a priority. It still seems very mysterious that the old Sim games haven't been re-released in some retro bundle or another when there is undoubtedly money to be made. It was sad when SimMars got cancelled since it was a pretty unique concept even today. The Sims basically killed the old Maxis which is also exemplified in the more realistic concept for Spore losing out to what ended up being released. I'd say the main issue with rereleasing the old Sim games is that a big chunk are variations on SimCity (Farm, Isle, Park, Safari, Town). Getting them over a period of years was okay, but it's a little samey if they were released together. Earth, Life and Health are literal simulations, Tower is actually the Japanese game The Tower, there's no reason to rerelease SimGolf, Streets of SimCity is awful and SimCopter is mediocre at best. That leaves just SimAnt which is the most explicitly game-like out of anything under the Sim banner and maybe "suitable" for a some kind of rerelease that wouldn't leave people confused. Really though, all of Maxis's non-City games Sim or the handful not are mostly good but semi-forgotten for a reason. It might make sense to have some of them as individual releases on GOG and let people with nostalgia grab them since there's no other reason to. A few are for DOs and easy to run in DOSBox, and it's easy enough to wrap the Windows games in WINE for Linux and macOS, but their age makes running them on actual Windows a problem which could be a reason why nothing has happened. SimCity 2000 through 4 are on GOG, but 2000 is the DOS version, and I'm 100% sure it's due to technical issues with the Windows version.
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Post by zerker on Jun 6, 2020 11:23:26 GMT -5
The Windows version of Sim City 2000 was 16-bit, so yeah... not going to happen easily.
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Post by windfisch on Jun 7, 2020 9:31:36 GMT -5
"We live in a time of racial injustice, inequality, and police brutality against black people. We hope that everyone takes a stand in any way that they can. We’ve partnered with creators from all across our platform to support organizations that are working directly with those affected. We reached out to our community and an unprecedented number of creators donated over 740 projects to be part of what we believe is the largest bundle ever. Over $3,400 of paid works are available Pay-what-you-want with a minimum donation amount of $5. All proceeds will donated to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Community Bail Fund split 50/50."
The games included range from relatively unknown smaller ones to critically acclaimed titles like Night in the Woods, Bleed 1+2, Oxenfree, The King's Bird, A Short Hike, Minit and Glittermitten Grove.
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Post by jorpho on Jun 7, 2020 22:14:30 GMT -5
Today I learned that if you try to uninstall Steam from the Windows Programs & Features control panel, it will gleefully wipe out your entire Steam library without even stopping to prompt you. What bollocks! At least I only lost program data that can easily be re-downloaded - much of it for games I never got around to playing. But I mean, really, what's the most likely scenario here - would people be trying to uninstall Steam because they're having a problem with the client, or because they're urgently hoping to wipe out 200 GB of data all at once? I would try to file a feature request somewhere if it wasn't likely to be totally ignored. I uninstalled Steam because the client wasn't starting up anymore, probably because Valve patched the workaround that let people keep the old Steam Library UI. I still don't like the new UI. The games included range from relatively unknown smaller ones to critically acclaimed titles like Night in the Woods, Bleed 1+2, Oxenfree, The King's Bird, A Short Hike, Minit and Glittermitten Grove. Night in the Woods is a standout there, and Glittermitten Grove is of some interest. It contains Frog Fractions 2. (And of course it is for a good cause.) I'd say the main issue with rereleasing the old Sim games is that a big chunk are variations on SimCity (Farm, Isle, Park, Safari, Town). Getting them over a period of years was okay, but it's a little samey if they were released together. Earth, Life and Health are literal simulations, Tower is actually the Japanese game The Tower, there's no reason to rerelease SimGolf, Streets of SimCity is awful and SimCopter is mediocre at best. That leaves just SimAnt which is the most explicitly game-like out of anything under the Sim banner and maybe "suitable" for a some kind of rerelease that wouldn't leave people confused. Really though, all of Maxis's non-City games Sim or the handful not are mostly good but semi-forgotten for a reason. It might make sense to have some of them as individual releases on GOG and let people with nostalgia grab them since there's no other reason to. A few are for DOs and easy to run in DOSBox, and it's easy enough to wrap the Windows games in WINE for Linux and macOS, but their age makes running them on actual Windows a problem which could be a reason why nothing has happened. SimCity 2000 through 4 are on GOG, but 2000 is the DOS version, and I'm 100% sure it's due to technical issues with the Windows version. You raise some good points - Town and Park in particular are kids' games and are probably of minimal interest. But I think a lot of people would be happy to buy them on name recognition alone and then never get around to actually playing them. After all, the likes of Drakkhen and Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess are still selling. Perhaps the console versions wouldn't be out of the question, considering SimEarth was apparently on the Wii Virtual Console. (Did you know SimEarth had a Japanese Sega CD release?) I thought there were at least 32-bit Windows versions of SimCity and SimCity 2000, but there's not a lot of information about them, which doesn't help matters. SimCity 2000 Network Edition was definitely 32-bit, but for the longest time it was quite impossible to run it on modern Windows. Maybe someone internally is still hoping to get funds to make proper "remasters"? That's a lofty dream.
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Post by mainpatr on Jun 7, 2020 23:49:13 GMT -5
Remember,there are two different SimGolf games.
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Post by dsparil on Jun 8, 2020 10:43:34 GMT -5
You raise some good points - Town and Park in particular are kids' games and are probably of minimal interest. But I think a lot of people would be happy to buy them on name recognition alone and then never get around to actually playing them. After all, the likes of Drakkhen and Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess are still selling. Perhaps the console versions wouldn't be out of the question, considering SimEarth was apparently on the Wii Virtual Console. (Did you know SimEarth had a Japanese Sega CD release?) I thought there were at least 32-bit Windows versions of SimCity and SimCity 2000, but there's not a lot of information about them, which doesn't help matters. SimCity 2000 Network Edition was definitely 32-bit, but for the longest time it was quite impossible to run it on modern Windows. Maybe someone internally is still hoping to get funds to make proper "remasters"? That's a lofty dream. Those are maybe not the greatest examples as they both came out in 2018. The Steam page doesn't seem to list the actual publisher which is Piko Interactive, a company that focuses exclusively on rereleasing old titles. The economics and process are totally different in that situation. Poking around the EA page on GOG, there's a steady drip of their 90s catalog from Origin, Bullfrog and Westwood between 2011 and 2013 for $6 with only a few 2000s and later titles for $20. I have most of the 90s games, and didn't realize how close the releases were to each other. I get the feeling that they experimented with doing some rereleases of the most major dormant series and some smaller ones and deemed it not worthwhile after exhausting the absolute classics and moving to the B-list. Ordering by bestselling is clearly price weighted—the free UIV and two Worlds of Ultima games are at the bottom—but it seems fairly clear that the most famous titles sold well enough to expand out to lesser ones only for those to not do well enough to continue. For a company the size of EA, it probably takes 3 levels of management to even bring up the idea of rereleasing older games. I guess they deemed it a failed experiment even if there are some Sim games with DOS versions that wouldn't be too hard to release. It's all a bit mysterious, but the potential profit probably doesn't rise high enough even with the low cost of doing it. I don't want to go so far as to say they'd loose money, but I do see that as a real possibility. I also think the extreme ease of piracy also keeps smaller games from seeing rereleases especially since Archive.org seems to be a little more ethically loose these days with an audience that more likely to know that as an option. I think if there was a real clamoring for them, they would do it but I don't get the sense that there is much. Edit: GOG's announcement for the initial addition seems like they were actually the ones that pushed for it which would explain why they're not Steam. Some but not all are on EA's Origin so maybe not?
Remember, there are two different SimGolf games. The newer SimGolf is really a Firaxis game not a Maxis one despite sticking to The Sims' general aesthetic and beyond the period anyway. It is a little interesting that EA experimented with expanding the Sim line in the immediate wake of The Sims, but that didn't really go anywhere.
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Post by windfisch on Jun 8, 2020 11:13:36 GMT -5
Night in the Woods is a standout there, and Glittermitten Grove is of some interest. It contains Frog Fractions 2. (And of course it is for a good cause.) Some of the lesser known games in this bundle are also worth checking out, like Tiny Dangerous Dungeons, a fairly polished mini-Metroidvania.
2.4+ million $ have been raised so far. And I'm sure people will need every penny of that, so I hope it will become even more. Hats off to all the artists/devs who are doing this without compensation.
edit: The amount being raised keeps growing and so does the list of contributers to the bundle. Some more noteworthy titles: Underhero, Neversong, Octodad, 2064: Read Only Memories, Nuclear Throne, Master Spy, Runner 3, J.U.L.I.A.: Among the Stars, Celeste...
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Post by mainpatr on Jun 10, 2020 15:44:27 GMT -5
Alex Kidd in Miracle World remaster coming(!!!). The best type of announcements.
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Post by lurker on Jun 10, 2020 16:08:15 GMT -5
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Post by windfisch on Jun 10, 2020 16:32:26 GMT -5
Pretty sure that Alex Kidd remake used to be a fan project at some point. Good for them it's become official now!
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Post by mainpatr on Jun 10, 2020 17:07:42 GMT -5
With the perception of "heroic" cops right now,Rockstar really needs to bring back Max Payne. Max Payne certainly is more appropriate for right now than say,Police Quest:SWAT. Max Payne definitely wasn't a hero.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Jun 10, 2020 17:12:24 GMT -5
Interesting how often fans are working on Sega's old franchises. Sonic, SoR, Wonder Boy, and now Alex Kidd. What's next, Phantasy Star V? Also interesting how there's like barely any Sega branding on this (or on Streets of Rage 4...is Sega's name even anywhere in that game?). Alex Kidd was Sega's mascot at one point in time, even!
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Post by lurker on Jun 10, 2020 17:20:11 GMT -5
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Post by lurker on Jun 10, 2020 18:47:26 GMT -5
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Post by lurker on Jun 11, 2020 9:04:56 GMT -5
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