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By
David Jenkins
Gamasutra
October
2, 1998
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 News
Analysis
Eurospeak
Sony
Gives Short Shrift to Euro Markets
Console
owners outside of the US or Japan are second class citizens. This is the
only conclusion that can be drawn from the attitude of companies that,
as a matter of course, release titles up to 12 months late and with vastly
inferior PAL conversions. Most countries outside of the US and Japan use
a television system called PAL (Phase Alternating Line) which provides
a higher resolution picture compared to NTSC.
The problem is that converting any console game for use with a PAL system
requires some effort. Without it, consumers are left with a game that
runs up to 25% slower and often has large black borders at the top and
bottom of the screen. Increasing the size of these borders, although it makes
the game look like some bizarre widescreen movie, is often the only additional
effort by some developers in the conversion process .
This has been going on for years though, largely because the average punter
is completely unaware of the problem - without an NTSC system to compare
it with, there’s never any indication of anything amiss. This has
lead though to a flourishing ‘grey’ import market for the clued-in
hardcore gamer--A market that has been getting larger and larger as gamers
become aware of just what a bad deal they’re getting.
The worm could be about to turn though, as Sony
has reported disappointing sales for it’s high profile release of
TEKKEN 3. As ridiculous as it sounds TEKKEN 3 has only just
now been released in Europe, despite appearing in Japanese stores nearly
12 months ago.
One might at least think that this wait would produce a perfect PAL conversion,
but no. The PAL version of TEKKEN 3 looks positively arthritic
next to the NCTS version and sports a very buxom pair of borders. Although
it did enter the charts at the number one spot, against no real competition,
the game sold less than 35,000 in it’s first week of sales.
This is compared to RESIDENT EVIL 2’s 59,000 record and GRAN
TURISMO’s impressive 44,000. TEKKEN 3 was expected to
at least equal the latter’s performance. SCEE
(Sony Computer Entertainment Europe) are, of course blaming everyone but
themselves, accusing all manner of factors, including coverdisk demos
to grey importers (who are of course the personification of evil in the
eye’s of console publishers) of being the cause for the reduction
of demand.
In fact, rather than making any sort of policy change on PAL conversion
and release dates, Sony has refused to comment on the situation specifically
and merely announced a new, improved, campaign against pirates and importers.
Europeans, it seems, just don’t deserve to be treated as well as
Americans or Japanese. In a turn of events that come as a great surprise
to absolutely nobody CARMAGEDDON II: CARPOCALYPSE NOW has been
delayed while it waits for the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)
to decide on an age rating for it.
However, the reason for the delay isn’t because of some extended
debate on the morality of computer games - it is instead because the BBFC
couldn’t get the game to work on a PC! What’s more, this ridiculous
state of affairs might not even have come to light if not for a passing
comment made to an ELSPA
official, while talking about an unrelated matter. Said official then
had to quickly get in contact with SCi
to inform that their game might not make a Christmas release after all
- because the BBFC couldn’t be bothered to read the instruction manual
which clearly indicated the required minimum spec of the game.
SCi had tried to avoid the classification problems experienced with the
original game by working on two versions of the sequel from the start.
A toned-down 15-rated (i.e. you must be 15 year old to buy it) green blood
ZOMBIE version of the game was due to be released in early November
with the 18-rated FULL BLOOD PEDISTRIAN version following
soon after.
SCi are hoping that a disaster has been averted and the game will be out
in time, but this has done little to improve the BBFC’s already poor
image in the eye’s of publishers. The ZOMBIE version of the
game should at least cause less problems in the more puritanical territories,
such as Germany, many of which banned the original granny-murdering CARMAGEDDON.
ECTS Post-Post Mortem
On the heels of his less then flattering comments about this year’s
ECTS,
Bruno Bonnell has indicated that Infogrames
are unlikely to attend next year’s event. Sony
have also gone on record as being dissatisfied with the format of the
event, although they haven’t yet decided that they won’t be
attending next time. Many expressed irritation at the show’s circus
like atmosphere, not to mention apparent lack of air conditioning, and
have indicated they would like a quieter, more sober environment to conduct
their business.
Even so companies such as Acclaim,
Nintendo,
Interplay,
MicroProse,
Intel,
and 3Dfx
have already signed on the dotted line to turn up next year. This suggests
that perhaps Infogrames and Sony are most disgruntled with the amount
of time and money they have to expend creating monster sized stands.
Sacrificial Virgin
At long, long last it seems that the ridiculous "carry-on" style negotiations
that were used to sell both Psygnosis
and Virgin
Interactive have come to an end. Somewhat surprisingly Psygnosis’
buyer has turned out to be none other than - Sony!
After months of uncertainty and panic the Liverpudlian heavyweight has
aborted any large scale sell-out and are now, once again an "independent
multi-format publisher within the Sony Group."
Although Psygnosis has been keen to stress that this will mean business
as usual, two projects have been cancelled in its San Francisco studio.
CONTROL FREAK and REAPERS are ixnayed, and around 40 members
of staff have been made redundant as a consequence.
Virgin’s fate is less solid but it does now seem as if Interplay
will be the one to purchase it, after recent interest from Sega
and Midway.
What remains of Virgin’s highly regarded European operations, after
it lost all their big name affiliates (see previous EuroSpeaks), would
be an obvious asset to Interplay who have recently announced its intention
to become one of Europe’s top five publishers. It is
still in the process of completing due diligence on the firm’s assets,
which means that other companies, or the proposed management buyout, could
still take place before they get a chance to make their move.
David Jenkins (david.jenkins@dial.pipex.com)
works with British Telecom's Wireplay, an online gaming service. He also
contributes to Develop, Europe’s premier newsletter for computer
game developers and publishers, and CTW, the weekly trade magazine.
He has also been involved in the organisation of the Develop! and Online
conferences in London.
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