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[Haunted]

Snowboarding into a prison omg :lol :lol :lol

gamescoopz exclusive hands-on?

 

[Hypno Funk]

In retrospect perhaps SSX:On Tour represents the original limits of the SSX dev team running out of ideas. Maybe the poor On Tour sales provoked them to do this reboot?

If all the CoD fans eat up this serious SSX and the game sells well then maybe they'll think of releasing the previous games in a HD package?

I guess what this thread also shows signs of is that there are SSX fans and there are people who want a good snowboarding game.

 

[Snakeyes]

For fans of the real SSX it's a lose-lose situation, almost as if the series was still MIA.

1. If Deadly Descents is successful, EA will keep building future entries in the SSX franchise around this new blueprint.

2. If it bombs, the series goes back into the drawer for the foreseeable future.

 

[Alastor]

2. If it bombs, the series is dead forever.

Fixed for higher probability. It's some shitty situation for old fans.

 

[mil6es]

That's funny, because I read the whole article and it made me feel like all my initial skepticism was well-founded.

Now, I don't want to say that there's no chance this team is building what could be a good game -- they do seem very enthusiastic and invested in producing a polished product with a great deal of work put into it -- but much as I suspected, the fundamental lack of respect for the aesthetic of SSX goes hand in hand with a fundamental disrespect for the gameplay of SSX, which is called out more than once in the article as being simplistic and backward, not suitable to anchor a "next-gen" game. They refer to the game as "a reboot, not a true sequel," they go on and on about how important it is to have lots and lots of tracks (instead of a smaller number of well-designed and memorable ones), they say they want to "move beyond" time-trial racing and trick-scoring modes and instead build the game around realistic physics....

what I wanna know is how the fuck do they know this??? focus groups, intuition, spiritual medium, what?? what gave them the idea that SSX warranted a reboot in the first place?

For fans of the real SSX it's a lose-lose situation, almost as if the series was still MIA.

1. If Deadly Descents is successful, EA will keep building future entries in the SSX franchise around this new blueprint.

2. If it bombs, the series goes back into the drawer for the foreseeable future.

pretty much this, so the only real hope original fans have is maybe a HD port of tricky or 3 that will probably never come

 

[Neuromancer]

For fans of the real SSX it's a lose-lose situation, almost as if the series was still MIA.

1. If Deadly Descents is successful, EA will keep building future entries in the SSX franchise around this new blueprint.

2. If it bombs, the series goes back into the drawer for the foreseeable future.

I'm a fan of the old SSX games but I'm not ready to slit my wrists over this game just yet. In fact everything I hear about it sounds cool to me, albeit in a different way than Tricky did.

Anyway this game bombing may mean no more SSX for the foreseeable future, but if it does well I'd say your chances of an older-style SSX game would increase. EA likes trying new and different things. Look at the NFS series.

 

[starchild excalibur]

For fans of the real SSX it's a lose-lose situation, almost as if the series was still MIA.

1. If Deadly Descents is successful, EA will keep building future entries in the SSX franchise around this new blueprint.

2. If it bombs, the series goes back into the drawer for the foreseeable future.

or maybe if it's successful it's because it's a good, but albeit different addition to the series that fans and non fans alike end up enjoying.

 

[charlequin]

what I wanna know is how the fuck do they know this??? focus groups, intuition, spiritual medium, what?? what gave them the idea that SSX warranted a reboot in the first place?

According to the article, they searched for "snowboard" on Youtube and saw videos of people doing dangerous stunts and a little lightbulb came on over their heads.

 

[badcrumble]

Snowboarding into a prison omg :lol :lol :lol

This is going to be one of those irony-is-dead games isn't it

 

[AstroLad]

According to the article, they searched for "snowboard" on Youtube and saw videos of people doing dangerous stunts and a little lightbulb came on over their heads.

hmm well given that approach i guess ted williams would be an upgrade over atomika

 

[mil6es]

According to the article, they searched for "snowboard" on Youtube and saw videos of people doing dangerous stunts and a little lightbulb came on over their heads.

wow ,just wow:lol

hmm well given that approach i guess ted williams would be an upgrade over atomika

:lol I would actually welcome that, he could sell me some kraft mac n cheese as board down the side of the mounting avoiding suffocation

 

[Clemsontigers35]

After reading the article, it seems like the game is going to have some cool things going on. Based on their description, they seem to want to make it very open and sandbox-y, which could be a lot of fun. Also, the whole quote where he compares the game to a shooter is about the simple adrenaline rush of being put in a room with bad guys to shoot, not that SSX will have shooter tendencies.

 

[charlequin]

Also, the whole quote where he compares the game to a shooter is about the simple adrenaline rush of being put in a room with bad guys to shoot

It's also about replacing the gameplay of rushing down a mountain path quickly and efficiently for a good time with gameplay of rushing down a mountain path and not dying in the process.

 

[Y2Kev]

gamescoopz exclusive hands-on?

gamescoopz now sells star trek dvds for half price, but yes, gamescoopz was able to confirm there will be prisons and snowboarding into them

 

[mil6es]

yep devs have seemed to forgotten that games last gen didnt need to be tense, life-threatening or "deadly" to be fun, they just had to be fun

 

[Vinterbird]

yep devs have seemed to forgotten that games last gen didnt need to be tense, life-threatening or "deadly" to be fun, they just had to be fun

And now games need to sell to a larger market segment because budgets are fucking insane, and companies might like to make money in order to make more games.

 

[Mrbob]

What is this talk about snowboarding into a prison? A joke, right?

If all the CoD fans eat up this serious SSX and the game sells well then maybe they'll think of releasing the previous games in a HD package?

I guess what this thread also shows signs of is that there are SSX fans and there are people who want a good snowboarding game.

The one thing I don't understand is how will this attract CoD fans? Because it looks more realistic? I don't see a CoD guy getting done with a couple rounds online and go, "Hey let me go play a snowboarding game!"

So my question is who is this next SSX game for? EA has done their best to abandon the fan base who fell in love with this series in the first place for a market which probably doesn't exist.

 

[Vinterbird]

The one thing I don't understand is how will this attract CoD fans? Because it looks more realistic? I don't see a CoD guy getting done with a couple rounds online and go, "Hey let me go play a snow boarding game!"

So my question is who is this next SSX game for? EA has done their best to abandon the fan base who fell in love with this series in the first place for a market which probably doesn't exist.

It's not about appealing to CoD fans, the CoD thing is born out of it being dudebro now. Turning it into this type of realistic thing is to try and get the attention of a broader market. No one cared about the goofy Amped 3, so they're trying to see if people want something a bit more serious (like how the Skate series was serious and very different from the wacky world of Tony Hawk and the 90 meters of air you could get in there).

 

[Fixed1979]

And now games need to sell to a larger market segment because budgets are fucking insane, and companies might like to make money in order to make more games.

Bullshit, a small budget HD SSX based on 1-3 sold even as a downloadable would do well. Budgets are large because the companies think they need large budgets for large sales, and that's not always the case. They're not large because they have no other choice but to make big budget games.

This whole thing may work out great for EA, it may even do so well that they'll add SSX to a regular development cycle again. Either way the old fans of the series get screwed, and that probably doesn't mean much, but it sure is a piss off.

 

[badcrumble]

What is this talk about snowboarding into a prison? A joke, right?

You come to a stop at the end by giving a dap to 50 Cent

 

[Vinterbird]

Bullshit, a small budget HD SSX based on 1-3 sold even as a downloadable would do well. Budgets are large because the companies think they need large budgets for large sales, and that's not always the case. They're not large because they have no other choice but to make big budget games.

This whole thing may work out great for EA, it may even do so well that they'll add SSX to a regular development cycle again.

Doing what you're asking is basically making SSX4, which would still cost a lot of money. Or re-releasing SSX Blur with some upressed graphics, which would make gaf rage because EA is not taking the series serious, or giving it enough respect.

Fact is, in this day and age, you need to go big budget and big marketing if you want to make an name out of yourself. None of the current big IP's didn't become what they are today without a fuckton of marketing and budget money.

 

[Snakeyes]

Meat Boy, Torchlight, Limbo, Minecraft, The Witcher?

 

[Mrbob]

It's not about appealing to CoD fans, the CoD thing is born out of it being dudebro now. Turning it into this type of realistic thing is to try and get the attention of a broader market. No one cared about the goofy Amped 3, so they're trying to see if people want something a bit more serious (like how the Skate series was serious and very different from the wacky world of Tony Hawk and the 90 meters of air you could get in there).

I think we are talking about the same thing. We are looking at a snowboarding game. Your market is only going to be so big. Not sure a broader market exists.

 

[Vinterbird]

Meat Boy, Torchlight, Limbo, Minecraft?

None of those games are anywhere near the vicinity of being known by the broader gaming mainstream. Yeah, they might be well known on gaf and the inside industry places, but we are a fraction of the actual gaming populous, and we are the least important part.

 

[epmode]

None of those games are anywhere near the vicinity of being known by the broader gaming mainstream. Yeah, they might be well known on gaf and the inside industry places, but we are a fraction of the actual gaming populous, and we are the least important part.

And yet these smaller games make lots of money for everyone involved while being a lot more interesting than the vast majority of the multi-million sellers.

Megapublishers are trying their best to strangle the industry but it's not going to work.

 

[Fixed1979]

Doing what you're asking is basically making SSX4, which would still cost a lot of money. Or re-releasing SSX Blur with some upressed graphics, which would make gaf rage because EA is not taking the series serious, or giving it enough respect.

Fact is, in this day and age, you need to go big budget and big marketing if you want to make an name out of yourself. None of the current big IP's didn't become what they are today without a fuckton of marketing and budget money.

This discussion is going to go way off the OP topic so I'll just say that I can see where you're coming from, but EA and SSX already have enough of a fan base to give something like that a try. Maybe they looked at the numbers and decided that this was a better way to go, EA aren't stupid and I'm sure they made a decision that makes them the most return on investment.

I'm sure this works great for EA, but it still annoys me that my favorite last gen series (and probably most played games of last gen) are being confirmed as dead. I suppose that it's something myself and other people will just have to get over.

 

[Vinterbird]

And yet these smaller games make lots of money for everyone involved while being a lot more interesting than the vast majority of the multi-million sellers.

Megapublishers are trying their best to strangle the industry but it's not going to work.

Those games have a smaller scope, and in some cases government funded (like Limbo), and making a 2D platformer is somewhat different then creating a 3D snowboarding game. There's a totally different production pipeline.

And would you really want an SSX made by four people who had 18 months to pull it together? People would go fuckballs crazy because it would never live up to expectations.

 

[AstroLad]

This discussion is going to go way off the OP topic so I'll just say that I can see where you're coming from, but EA and SSX already have enough of a fan base to give something like that a try. Maybe they looked at the numbers and decided that this was a better way to go, EA aren't stupid and I'm sure they made a decision that makes them the most return on investment.

I'm sure this works great for EA, but it still annoys me that my favorite last gen series (and probably most played games of last gen) are being confirmed as dead. I suppose that it's something myself and other people will just have to get over.

I dunno man they are pretty stupid, especially when it comes to exploiting their IP vault. That is a decade-long pattern of incompetence now.

 

[HK-47]

And now games need to sell to a larger market segment because budgets are fucking insane, and companies might like to make money in order to make more games.

The first three SSX sold really well until they fucked with the formula in the wrong direction. Also they had a lot of resources put into them.

 

[bridegur]

I've now seen the article and it looks to be as joyless and gray as the trailer let on. My last bit of hope that they might be making an actual SSX game is gone.

 

[Vinterbird]

The first three SSX sold really well until they fucked with the formula in the wrong direction. Also they had a lot of resources put into them.

I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just saying that I don't think that the SSX style of the last generation would work in todays climate. What the mainstream game consumer wants is not what SSX 1-3 was about.

By doing what EA is doing, they're trying to appeal to the current consumer base, and as a business, that is the right direction to go.

 

[BlueTsunami]

I dunno man they are pretty stupid, especially when it comes to exploiting their IP vault. That is a decade-long pattern of incompetence now.

Ultima being one of the more tragic cases. Its like some Disney vault shit.

 

[AstroLad]

Ultima being one of the more tragic cases. Its like some Disney vault shit.

Yes!

 

[D2M15]

What the mainstream game consumer wants

This isn't intended as a dig, but you have about as much an idea of what 'the mainstream game consumer' is or wants as EA apparently does.

Kudos for not typing 'the mainstream product consumer' though, which will definitely have factored into the high-level brief for rebooting this franchise to the next level.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Sounds kick ass awesome

 

[RedSwirl]

Just got done reading the EGM feature, and while it could turn out to be a good game on its own, I don't see any part of SSX in there.

In the feature they were talking about how "limited" the level design of SSX was and how they want to move it beyond just a racing and trick game. To me, introducing stuff like ice picks, wind sails, and oxygen tanks is moving more towards "cool movie" and more away from "fun video game".

SSX to me is an arcade game where you slide down tight, colorful tracks at high speed, do crazy flips, and watch numbers go up and sparks fly in every color of the rainbow. Come to think of it, this is what's happen to all of EA's former BIG franchises.

DefJam got turned into the slightly more realistic and grey Icon, NBA Street got Homecourt (which I have not played, is it any good?), and now SSX is getting this.

 

[Net_Wrecker]

That's funny, because I read the whole article and it made me feel like all my initial skepticism was well-founded.

Now, I don't want to say that there's no chance this team is building what could be a good game -- they do seem very enthusiastic and invested in producing a polished product with a great deal of work put into it -- but much as I suspected, the fundamental lack of respect for the aesthetic of SSX goes hand in hand with a fundamental disrespect for the gameplay of SSX, which is called out more than once in the article as being simplistic and backward, not suitable to anchor a "next-gen" game. They refer to the game as "a reboot, not a true sequel," they go on and on about how important it is to have lots and lots of tracks (instead of a smaller number of well-designed and memorable ones), they say they want to "move beyond" time-trial racing and trick-scoring modes and instead build the game around realistic physics....

After reading the article, I'm more skeptical now than ever. The art of Elise gave a glimmer of hope, but then every single screen shot of something close to gameplay looks so "NOT SSX" and there was barely any talk of the trick system. I don't know, the way they're talking about this Mountain Man gimmicky way of creating 70 tracks or w/e just makes it seem like the tracks will have no identity whatsoever.

And the lack of color omg. This whole game will be like Untracked from SSX Tricky won't it?

 

[charlequin]

I'm just saying that I don't think that the SSX style of the last generation would work in todays climate.

This is what empty suits in the film and music industries always say when people complain about how homogeneous their product is.

 

[Neuromancer]

So I got my hands on EGM. Nothing really new to report. Sounds to me like the wingsuit will only be used on one particular mountain (or maybe a select few), I hope that's not true. Elise looks pretty non-descript, in fact she's unrecognizable which is a bummer I'll admit.

 

[cuyahoga]

Just got done reading the EGM feature, and while it could turn out to be a good game on its own, I don't see any part of SSX in there.

In the feature they were talking about how "limited" the level design of SSX was and how they want to move it beyond just a racing and trick game. To me, introducing stuff like ice picks, wind sails, and oxygen tanks is moving more towards "cool movie" and more away from "fun video game".

SSX to me is an arcade game where you slide down tight, colorful tracks at high speed, do crazy flips, and watch numbers go up and sparks fly in every color of the rainbow. Come to think of it, this is what's happen to all of EA's former BIG franchises.

DefJam got turned into the slightly more realistic and grey Icon, NBA Street got Homecourt (which I have not played, is it any good?), and now SSX is getting this.

Homecourt was fine — that's probably the best I could say about this; the grittiness of the presentation was absurdly heavy-handed, particularly considering that the didn't change the basic game. This makes me concerned about the new SSX, to be honest.

On the other hand, it does sort of like Stoked with a defined personality.

I liked Stoked quite a bit, but it was certainly lacking in some sections, so this is welcome news.

 

[The Chef]

This sounds completely awesome. HYPE!!!

 

[apana]

I'm not saying otherwise. I'm just saying that I don't think that the SSX style of the last generation would work in todays climate. What the mainstream game consumer wants is not what SSX 1-3 was about.

By doing what EA is doing, they're trying to appeal to the current consumer base, and as a business, that is the right direction to go.

I don't really care because I prefer a realistic and perhaps cinematic snowboarding game. What you said, however, is basically a self fulfilling prophecy by these companies. Also I didn't hear anything about flying squirrel suits:

 

[diamondstar]

We need gameplay vids or pics asap! EA killed football, scrapped basketball and now on the verge of killing one of the greatest franchises of the last generation. F U E A.

F U

 

[Neuromancer]

Something I remembered reading: the path you will be take will be marked by flares dropped by a helicopter, and not painted snow. I know that won't make some of you guys happy but there it is.

 

[Natural]

Ah well, there goes my enthuasim to buy this game. It sounds so shit.

 

[diamondstar]

BUMP

Was playing SSX3 last night and just had to post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-zJhPmcHcY

Played that over and over.. If the new SSX is nothing like that..WILL NOT BUY!

 

[Keyser Soze]

BUMP

Was playing SSX3 last night and just had to post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-zJhPmcHcY

That looks like a Wii game

 

[ScOULaris]

BUMP

Was playing SSX3 last night and just had to post

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-zJhPmcHcY

Played that over and over.. If the new SSX is nothing like that..WILL NOT BUY!

I'm still holding out hope that the new SSX will be an enjoyable, albeit different experience... but god DAMN you for reminding me how awesome the PS2 entries in the series were. Why can't the series evolve in that direction?

God damn you, sir.

 

[Cerebral Assassin]

Fact is, in this day and age, you need to go big budget and big marketing if you want to make an name out of yourself.

Or if you want to go bust.

It makes no sense to make a big-budget snowboarding game,as other people have stated the "extreme sports" have less popularity than a few years ago, it makes far more sense to make a smaller budgeted game(perhaps a traditional SSX game with less content than the older versions) & then assess from there. If they really believe in the change( & going by the interview they are) then they should have announced it as Deadly Descents with a tiny SSX logo, maybe that way SSX fans may have judged the game on its own merits rather than shitting on it from the 1st reveal(also may have enticed them to buy it regardless as they may believe future games will be more to their taste).

If this fails to sell well that is 2 failures from the Creative lead, surely EA won't fall for "3rd time lucky" syndrome.

 

[Tokubetsu]

I STILL play SSX3 to this day. Loved everything about that game. From the courses to the score and how the music would drop out during big airs. Love love love. I swear i can hear the landing sound fx and ubers level _ in my dreams sometimes. Always have my ps2 hooked up just for this and the Persona games.