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[EmCeeGramr]

Creative director Sean Batty says everyone who sees SSX Tricky and SSX 3 thinks they are Wii games.

Plot: 3 returning characters including Zoe Payne get tired of the typical snowboard competition scene and form the SSX corporation to tackle the 9 deadliest mountains around the world.

Batty says the danger element bridges the gap to an action-adventure game.

In-game equipment like ice axes will be able to be powered up through an RPG-type power-up system

Now the doozy - Batty says they've simplified the process to do tricks from "nine inputs down to two". According to X-box magazine, they watched as he used the two analog sticks for the trick inputs: the left stick jumps and does spins, and sweeping motions with the right stick do tricks. Looks like some sort of Skate mechanic will make it through to the game. I have a strong hunch that Uber tricks will not make it into the game.

Batty says he's got a unique way of including the score-multiplier feature from the old games without resorting to large neon-colored snowflakes that ruin the feeling of reality.

 

[Suairyu]

Ugh.

Just. Ugh.

Seriously, the SSX brand can't have so much capital as to justify slapping it on a very different snow boarding game for sales reasons.

 

[Zeliard]

And finally, X-box magazine says that while fans are wondering "Why So Serious?" with SSX, they wonder if the fans shouldn't give EA the benefit of the doubt. After all, Heath Ledger as the Joker worked out well, didn't it?

They didn't actually say this, did they?

 

[Wario64]

Why do I have a funny feeling this game is gonna get canned?

 

[Dedication Through Light]

This sounds amazing. I cant wait to see what the scripted events are (massive avalanches are vital, but what else could their be...). Definitely a day one purchase for me, baby!

 

[AceBandage]

Why do I have a funny feeling this game is gonna get canned?

Only if there is justice left in this world.

 

[disappeared]

Why do I have a funny feeling this game is gonna get canned?

I hope it gets an overhaul, not necessarily the axe.

 

[TheQueen'sOwn]

Good god. This awful news.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

Why do I have a funny feeling this game is gonna get canned?

Maybe if we hope and pray.

 

[gondee]

They didn't actually say this, did they?

Yeah they did. In an earlier part of the article, Batty likens the new SSX to the Batman Begins franchise or the revamped J.J. Abrams Star Trek franchise, and X-box Magazine literally ends the article with "After all, giving Heath Ledger a shot didn't work out so bad."

 

[SolidSnakex]

They didn't actually say this, did they?

Batty has actually made that comparison

In the latest issue of PSM3, SSX: Deadly Descents' creative director Todd Batty outlines his vision for the new SSX and defends his team's decision to step away from the Tricky era.

Batty compared the reinvention to JJ Abram's Star Trek, which he praised for turning a classic, arguably niche IP into a mainstream hit.

"I look at what JJ Abrams did with Star Trek, turning a hardcore IP with hardcore fans into a blockbuster that anyone could enjoy." said Batty.

He points out two wildly different movie interpretations of Batman villain Joker - by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger - and likens them to SSX: Deadly Descents' makeover.

"You could say the same about Batman. If you look at the evolution of characters, that's where we're going with SSX".

http://www.computerandvideogames.co...ents-is-batman-star-trek-like-reinvention-ea/

 

[Y2Kev]

Uber tricks are so 1993 anyway

 

[ColonelColon]

[*]Now the doozy - Batty says they've simplified the process to do tricks from "nine inputs down to two". According to X-box magazine, they watched as he used the two analog sticks for the trick inputs: the left stick jumps and does spins, and sweeping motions with the right stick do tricks. Looks like some sort of Skate mechanic will make it through to the game. I have a strong hunch that Uber tricks will not make it into the game.

 

[angelfly]

I can finally safely say I will passing on this game. They've ruined it. Hopefully after it bombs they'll go back to what made SSX great.

 

[StuBurns]

I can't see how this has happened. How do you bring back a series with a small but dedicated fanbase, enter a genre that is basically untouched, and do so at an angle no one cares about.

I don't think this game is going to come out in the form they're saying, it'll get canned or the project will get retooled again. It's such a bad idea.

I like EA, they've actually done some cool stuff this generation, and I'm sure they have the coolest yet to come (Mirror's Edge 2 no doubt), but they've made some very strange decisions. I'm pretty concerned SW:TOR is going to be seriously crippling too.

 

[Strike]

 

[AceBandage]

The Star Trek/Dark Knight comparison just does not work here, though.

For one, ST was still a very light hearted take on the series, and didn't change a lot of the core elements of the franchise just gave it a good shot of action.
Dark Knight fit perfectly with Batman, because it's had dark and brooding themes many many times before.

They, however are trying to take a quirky, colorful game and force it into a Medal of Honor/Gears of War shell and completely removing what makes the SSX games so appealing.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

This game man.

This game...

 

[epmode]

icalledit.gif

weallcalledit.gif

Terrible.

 

[Garjon]

What I'm wondering is why use the SSX IP? Surely the purpose of bring back a franchise is to get the fans of that series interested; why change the franchise so much so that the fans will become alienated? Do EA really think gamers will buy anything if it has a certain name emblazoned on it? All it will cause is negative publicity and, at best, apathy.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

This thread is going to be interesting if the graphics are amazing.

The game could be cool but that tricks news basically is a dealbreaker.

 

[edgefusion]

I can finally safely say I will passing on this game. They've ruined it. Hopefully after it bombs they'll go back to what made SSX great.

Unfortunately what will probably happen is the higher-ups will say "Hey I guess nobody likes SSX anymore lol, lets trash the franchise!"

 

[Empty]

I can finally safely say I will passing on this game. They've ruined it. Hopefully after it bombs they'll go back to what made SSX great.

bu bu how can they have ruined it, i mean it now appeals to TWO more gamer types and we all know looking at that is how great games are created.

 

[AceBandage]

This thread is going to be interesting if the graphics are amazing.

The game could be cool but that tricks news basically is a dealbreaker.

The game could look like a movie shot in 1440p at 60FPS. Doesn't change the fact that it's not SSX and is just a brown shooter on snowboards.

 

[The Crimson Kid]

It seems like a good time to start placing bets!

Worst current gen re-invention of a popular series from EA:
A) SSX Deadly Descents
B) Def Jam Icon

 

[Visualante]

The fuck, EA? I admire you for doing something different- but this ain't for me. To be fair, it sounds like they're making a lot of sound improvements to the UI, controls, bringing it in line with the rest of the industry (rewinds, autolog, HUD).. it's more this RPG structure bullshit that I'm totally not into. I can't imagine how they could possibly compartmentalize such fundamental features without tarnishing what the SSX of old was.

 

[Zeliard]

Batty has actually made that comparison



http://www.computerandvideogames.co...ents-is-batman-star-trek-like-reinvention-ea/

That makes utterly no sense, since the Joker as a character already had some very dark qualities to him. The guy's a murderous psychopathic villain. What Nicholson and Ledger did was simply emphasize different aspects of the same character.

The old SSX and whatever this is are clearly not the same character.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

It seems like a good time to start placing bets!

Worst current gen re-invention of a popular series from EA:
A) SSX Deadly Descents
B) Def Jam Icon

2 of my favorite franchises from last gen, and 1 of them has already been ruined. I still hold out hope that SSX doesn't end up the same, but this ain't looking good.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

What I'm wondering is why use the SSX IP? Surely the purpose of bring back a franchise is to get the fans of that series interested; why change the franchise so much so that the fans will become alienated? Do EA really think gamers will buy anything if it has a certain name emblazoned on it? All it will cause is negative publicity and, at best, apathy.

I find myself asking this question about XCOM all the time.

 

[epmode]

The fuck, EA? I admire you for doing something different- but this ain't for me. To be fair, it sounds like they're making a lot of sound improvements to the UI, controls, bringing it in line with the rest of the industry (rewinds, autolog).. it's more this RPG structure bullshit that I'm not into.

Perhaps you've forgotten that the earlier SSX games also had an RPG-style stats system.

Which isn't to say that Deadly Descents isn't the worst franchise reboot in recent memory! Just that the RPG stuff has been around for ages now.

 

[thy_]

The only thing that sounds bad to me is the two-button trick system.

It's two analog sticks not buttons for the tricks.

Creative director Sean Batty says everyone who sees SSX Tricky and SSX 3 thinks they are Wii games.

Perhaps they will make some kind of "SSX BLUR 2" or so. I liked the first one.

Gondee i think your avatar is currently to big.

Edit:

This would have the right size. (But it got a bit of resizing artifacts)

 

[I AM JOHN!]

I can't see how this has happened. How do you bring back a series with a small but dedicated fanbase, enter a genre that is basically untouched, and do so at an angle no one cares about.

It's like gondee said earlier in the thread - EA has absolutely no confidence in classic SSX's ability to sell. They need something to fill the hole that Skate has left now that they're done with that series, and they're convinced that things need to be gritty and realistic to sell. I mean Christ, look no further than the new Fight Night for proof of that; and this is after they tried rebooting EA Sports Big with Facebreaker.

 

[Visualante]

Perhaps you've forgotten that the earlier SSX games had an RPG-style stats system.

Which isn't to say that Deadly Descents isn't the worst franchise reboot in recent memory! Just that the RPG stuff has been around for ages now.

And I completely ignored it and it didn't ruin the experience.

 

[xxracerxx]

Fuck this guy if he didn't like Tricky. I feel like my fiance will want to chop off this guy's balls when she reads this because she loved Tricky so much.

 

[epmode]

This is everything wrong with modern videogames distilled into a single goddamned article. Absolutely vile.

 

[ShirAhava]

Creative director Todd Batty says everyone who sees SSX Tricky and SSX 3 thinks they are Wii games. He says that there are 10 "gamer types" for video games including "Explorers" who love big open worlds, "Managers" who love bartering and trading goods, and "Monsters" who mess people up. He says World of Warcraft hits nine of these types, and SSX DD currently hits 8, which is 2 more than SSX 3

 

[StuBurns]

It's like gondee said earlier in the thread - EA has absolutely no confidence in classic SSX's ability to sell. They need something to fill the hole that Skate has left now that they're done with that series, and they're convinced that things need to be gritty and realistic to sell. I mean Christ, look no further than the new Fight Night for proof of that; and this is after they tried rebooting EA Sports Big with Facebreaker.

I understand that, but like ZombieSupaStar's excellent XCOM parallel, why is this called SSX? Call it Deadly Descents, job done. Using the SSX IP does attract a preexisting fanbase to this product, that is fair enough, but if they're not happy with the direction, they're going to be pissed off, and still not buy it.

If this is a hit, it's nothing to do with the SSX prefix, the worst that could happen is you have a second snowboarding IP that isn't so highly regarded, the worst this can cause is to fuck up the one they have.

It just seems like a very poor decision to me. But a lot of people a lot smarter than I'll ever be decided this, so maybe I'm well off the mark.

 

[Calcaneus]

I played devil's advocate after the announce trailer. Not enough to judge, pandering to a broad audience, wait for real info I said.

No more.

I felt the same way after the first trailer, but this info is not encouraging. Dumbing down the controls, adding in set-pieces, and "bridging the gap to action-adventure" it isn't exactly what I wanted to hear.

It really seems like the studio wanted to make a snowboarding game, EA dug up the SSX name and gave it to them, and they begrudgingly had to find a way to tie it in. 'Cause from the quotes, it seems like the guys don't actually like the old SSX games, at least their aesthetic.

 

[I AM JOHN!]

I understand that, but like ZombieSupaStar's excellent XCOM parallel, why is this called SSX? Call it Deadly Descents, job done. Using the SSX IP does attract a preexisting fanbase to this product, that is fair enough, but if they're not happy with the direction, they're going to be pissed off, and still not buy it.

Because they're douchebags.

 

[EmSeta]

First X-Com, and now this.

Must publishers dig up graves and perform public necrophilia on treasured franchises?

If they want to test out some wild gameplay experiment, why not just make a new franchise? It's not like fans of the old games will buy the new, completely different games.

 

[SnakeXs]

OH GOD THE GAMER "TYPES" LINE

WOW

I'm gonna be sick.

 

[apana]

I understand that, but like ZombieSupaStar's excellent XCOM parallel, why is this called SSX? Call it Deadly Descents, job done. Using the SSX IP does attract a preexisting fanbase to this product, that is fair enough, but if they're not happy with the direction, they're going to be pissed off, and still not buy it.

If this is a hit, it's nothing to do with the SSX prefix, the worst that could happen is you have a second snowboarding IP that isn't so highly regarded, the worst this can cause is to fuck up the one they have.

It just seems like a very poor decision to me. But a lot of people a lot smarter than I'll ever be decided this, so maybe I'm well off the mark.

Many have heard of SSX even if they are not fans or have ever played. People are just a little more comfortable with brand names. I bet EA is hoping for something like this:

Dude 1:Hey look bro, they are bringing that SSX thing back.

Dude 2: Woah really? OMG they got flying squirrel suits and hardcore mountains.

Dude 1: Day one, mofos. Its on like Donkey Kong!

 

[Anticitizen One]

This game could have been good as its own thing but why the fuck are they doing this to SSX???

 

[AceBandage]

OH GOD THE GAMER "TYPES" LINE

WOW

I'm gonna be sick.

And it's funny, because they appeal to a very narrow definition of gamer. One that is not likely to buy a snowboarding game just because it's gritty and realistic.

Give me more of this:

 

[EmSeta]

I can't see how this has happened. How do you bring back a series with a small but dedicated fanbase, enter a genre that is basically untouched, and do so at an angle no one cares about.

I don't think this game is going to come out in the form they're saying, it'll get canned or the project will get retooled again. It's such a bad idea.

I like EA, they've actually done some cool stuff this generation, and I'm sure they have the coolest yet to come (Mirror's Edge 2 no doubt), but they've made some very strange decisions. I'm pretty concerned SW:TOR is going to be seriously crippling too.

Uh, I'm pretty sure that's cancelled.

EDIT: Google Swenglish source:

My straight questions, straight answers. Patrick notes that Mirror's Edge did not go as expected in terms of sales, and that it inhibited the sequel - actually been in development. EA showed a prototype seen in isolation, but turned in disbelief no. The project has stalled - the parties involved in the Dice now works with another. Patrick himself seems to Mirror's Edge near the heart, but doing so does not do enough to charity.

 

[Buckethead]

I take back all the nice things that I said about EA.

 

[Mrbob]

Plot: 3 returning characters including Zoe Payne get tired of the typical snowboard competition scene and form the SSX corporation to tackle the 9 deadliest mountains around the world.

There are not enough lols and jakncokes for this!

Game is gonna hit 8 of the 10 known game types! Inputs from 9 down to 2 for tricks! Comparing SSX to reinvention of movies how can any of this awesomeness go wrong??!?!

 

[charlequin]

ITT we all discover that small anatine birds that waddle and quack are in fact usually ducks

 

[Shiggy]

Do only I expect this to be a commercial flop?

 

[Hot Coldman]

Spoiler

I'M A WIZARD AND

THAT SOUNDS FUCKED UP