Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

[jasongst]

It has to be the cheapest high quality game Sega could possibly make: a port. They ported Soccer Slam to XBox and Crazy Taxi to multiple systems. What would be the big deal with porting WSB to the Cube?

I know ports are time consuming when they occur DURING the development cycle, but why not just hand the source off to another group and have them churn out a kickass Gamecube game in a few months? 95% of the development work has already been done. Baseball season hasn't even started yet let alone finished, there's still plenty of time eh?

The cost of development vs. the sales (admittedly much lower than they'd be on the PS2) would make it more than profitable, and Sega would be regaining some support from Gamecube owners like me who are a bit pissed off, hah. If we aren't buying enough games then fine, put us on the back burner, but don't take us off the menu!

However many copies NFL2K3 sold (HRK doesn't count with the shafting it got from the press), surely it had to be more than many of the games Sega puts time and money into. I'm beggin' ya here! I bought your frickin' Dreamcast, I bought your frickin' WSB2K2, I bought your frickin' HRK, I bought your frickin' Baseball Advance, and dammit I want some WSB2K3!

[HBBFAN]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

Because sports games arent selling well on gamecube Sega & EA or stoping some of there sports line up for game cube for lagging sales.

[HBBFAN]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

Because sports games arent selling well on gamecube Sega & EA or stoping some of there sports line up for game cube for lagging sales.

[pol]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

money.

[pol]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

money.

[Running1st]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

My bro is in the same boat as you. His girlfriend talked him into a GameCube and now he's ready to purchase his XBOX this weekend! All I can say is save up and buy and XBOX.

[Running1st]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

My bro is in the same boat as you. His girlfriend talked him into a GameCube and now he's ready to purchase his XBOX this weekend! All I can say is save up and buy and XBOX.

[imported_Administrator]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

Let's see

Oh here are two fine examples of why Sega stopped making sports games for the Cube.

Beach Spikers $9.99
HRK $9.99


I have purchased each of these games twice. Add the Virtua Striker purchase and Soccer Slam and I have bought more Sega games then half of the EB stores have sold.

[imported_Administrator]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

Let's see

Oh here are two fine examples of why Sega stopped making sports games for the Cube.

Beach Spikers $9.99
HRK $9.99


I have purchased each of these games twice. Add the Virtua Striker purchase and Soccer Slam and I have bought more Sega games then half of the EB stores have sold.

[jasongst]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I already know about the sales situation. That's why I'm talking about a low-cost post-development port here. VC doesn't have to do it themselves if they don't want to, just hire a team that typically handles ports.

And I must say if Sega is experiencing poor sports sales, it's not like they haven't asked for it. As good as Soccer Slam and Home Run King are, let's face it they are FRINGE games with absolutely no name recognition. NBA2K3 was the first time they gave the GC a fair release schedule with a Sega sports game. By that time it was way too late.

Here is a post from some dude on another forum that pretty much sums up how I feel:

"Not that I know everything about marketing, but I don't really think Sega even tried to push the GameCube version of the games from the very beginning.

Sega's first multi-console sports game, NFL 2K2, didn't even come out on the GameCube. NBA 2K2, Sega's first sports game for the GameCube, came out in March of 2002, while PS2 and XBox versions came out much sooner. The general crowd goes to the store and sees PS2 and XBox versions of the game, but no GameCube version, so they don't even know the GameCube version of the game exists. This happened again with the next Sega Sports game released, NCAA College Football 2K3, going on 2 months being released on the Cube after the XBox and PS2 versions.

Sega finally got it right with NBA 2K3, releasing the game at the same time on all three systems, but again, I noticed a problem: where were the GameCube copies of the game? I went to several stores here in Austin, TX and it was the same story: about 30 PS2 copies, 20 XBox copies, and a measely 3-5 copies of the GameCube game. Now how does Sega expect to get sales out of the GameCube version of the game if they don't ship the same amount of units as the other versions?

My note to Sega: Show a little bit more effort in the GameCube versions and maybe it would have done better."

[jasongst]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I already know about the sales situation. That's why I'm talking about a low-cost post-development port here. VC doesn't have to do it themselves if they don't want to, just hire a team that typically handles ports.

And I must say if Sega is experiencing poor sports sales, it's not like they haven't asked for it. As good as Soccer Slam and Home Run King are, let's face it they are FRINGE games with absolutely no name recognition. NBA2K3 was the first time they gave the GC a fair release schedule with a Sega sports game. By that time it was way too late.

Here is a post from some dude on another forum that pretty much sums up how I feel:

"Not that I know everything about marketing, but I don't really think Sega even tried to push the GameCube version of the games from the very beginning.

Sega's first multi-console sports game, NFL 2K2, didn't even come out on the GameCube. NBA 2K2, Sega's first sports game for the GameCube, came out in March of 2002, while PS2 and XBox versions came out much sooner. The general crowd goes to the store and sees PS2 and XBox versions of the game, but no GameCube version, so they don't even know the GameCube version of the game exists. This happened again with the next Sega Sports game released, NCAA College Football 2K3, going on 2 months being released on the Cube after the XBox and PS2 versions.

Sega finally got it right with NBA 2K3, releasing the game at the same time on all three systems, but again, I noticed a problem: where were the GameCube copies of the game? I went to several stores here in Austin, TX and it was the same story: about 30 PS2 copies, 20 XBox copies, and a measely 3-5 copies of the GameCube game. Now how does Sega expect to get sales out of the GameCube version of the game if they don't ship the same amount of units as the other versions?

My note to Sega: Show a little bit more effort in the GameCube versions and maybe it would have done better."

[KymeraGB]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I just bought a refurbished xbox for $150 (came with warranty) and WSB2k3. Best purchace ive made in awhile LOL!!!!

[KymeraGB]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I just bought a refurbished xbox for $150 (came with warranty) and WSB2k3. Best purchace ive made in awhile LOL!!!!

[GameDude]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I'm not positive on this, but I think Blueshift was already developing the GameCube version when Sega made their announcement about not making sports games for the GC anymore.

I can understand Sega's decision to a point. Nintendo markets their systems more for the Mario and Zelda games. This has changed some in the last couple years, but the fact is that people don't buy sports games for this system. As for the comment that Sega doesn't put enough GC games on the shelves, it's the stores that don't purchase as many games as you would like. Places like WalMart and Target only order games that they think will sell well. And the other places such as EB and GameStop do the same thing to a degree. Believe me, if there was more of a demand, the stores would be stocking more. In a perfect world, we'd all be able to get any game we wanted on any system. But alas....

For those of you who don't know, the GC disk can't hold nearly as much information on them as a normal DVD. I think FatPitcher said that there was about 1.5Gb of commentary in the game. That would have to be cut down dramatically. And I'm sure that the stadium textures would have to be reduced. There is so much more to porting a game, and it's not always easy. This is especially true since this game was originally made for the Xbox. I'm sure there was a lot of painstaking time and effort to putting this game on the PS2. It would be a much easier task porting a game from PS2 to Xbox. I've worked on ports from other companies before, and they are never easy.

In the end, it all comes down to money. If they think it'll cost too much and they won't get much of a return, why do it?

[GameDude]

Re: Okay the game is out now, why not hire someone to do a GC port?

I'm not positive on this, but I think Blueshift was already developing the GameCube version when Sega made their announcement about not making sports games for the GC anymore.

I can understand Sega's decision to a point. Nintendo markets their systems more for the Mario and Zelda games. This has changed some in the last couple years, but the fact is that people don't buy sports games for this system. As for the comment that Sega doesn't put enough GC games on the shelves, it's the stores that don't purchase as many games as you would like. Places like WalMart and Target only order games that they think will sell well. And the other places such as EB and GameStop do the same thing to a degree. Believe me, if there was more of a demand, the stores would be stocking more. In a perfect world, we'd all be able to get any game we wanted on any system. But alas....

For those of you who don't know, the GC disk can't hold nearly as much information on them as a normal DVD. I think FatPitcher said that there was about 1.5Gb of commentary in the game. That would have to be cut down dramatically. And I'm sure that the stadium textures would have to be reduced. There is so much more to porting a game, and it's not always easy. This is especially true since this game was originally made for the Xbox. I'm sure there was a lot of painstaking time and effort to putting this game on the PS2. It would be a much easier task porting a game from PS2 to Xbox. I've worked on ports from other companies before, and they are never easy.

In the end, it all comes down to money. If they think it'll cost too much and they won't get much of a return, why do it?