Video Game Tuesday: Remaster vs. Remake

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m covering the differences between two different things. It’s Remaster vs. Remake!

Remaster?: Remasters are games that have been ported and than had the basic artwork improved on to suit the new system that it was ported to. This may mean improved models, improved textures and frame rates, sometimes even improved music. However it is not a complete redo of everything, just somethings are improved upon. Skyrim’s recent rerelease is an example of a remaster, but given that it’s from Bethesda not a very well done one. Bugs are just as prevalent in the remaster as they were in the original launch.

Remake: Remakes are completely redone games that have everything redone, from the base code to the gameplay. It isn’t done very often, but when it is done it’s usually worth looking at. Usually, sometimes it happens because the original developer lost everything of the original game, like what happened to the first Kingdom Hearts game.

So if you are getting requests for a Remake or a Remaster for this holiday season, make sure you are getting the correct thing! That Skyrim you see for $15 at a local game store isn’t probably going to work on the recipient’s Xbox One or PlayStation 4.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday. Happy Holidays!

Video Game Tuesday: Ports vs. Remakes

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m covering a subject that some people from older generations might not fully get, but frustrates the hell out of us younger folks. It’s all about Ports vs. Remakes!

What is a Port?: A port is a direct transfer of a game with little to no updates to the game at all, and if any updates occur usually they are only in terms of control or UI updates to better fit the new hardware. A good example of a port would be the various re-releases of games to the Wii U Virtual Console, it’s pretty much the exact same games with only control updates.

What is a Remake?: A remake is a game that’s been completely remade from the ground up to suit the new hardware, from graphics to controls to game engine everything is new and usually improved. An example of a remake is the remake of Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS. It had completely new controls, new graphics and mostly new systems. However the story of the games stay the same, except maybe they add a new epilogue or something like that.

Why is this frustrating?: Some people think there is no difference between the two, generally these are people who little to nothing about games, however for gamers we’d rather have the latest and greatest. Most of the time, sometimes you just don’t mess with perfection. A Link to the Past is a great example, it had a GameBoy Advance port, and it was mostly unchanged, with only the addition of a seperate game on the cartridge that had a very small impact on A Link to the Past.

What’s better?: It depends on the game, if someone remade E.T., the game that was famously buried in a landfill because no one wanted it, people might be interested. But if they ported that piece of crap? No one will pay for that.

Video Game Tuesday: My E3 Reactions

This week on Video Game Tuesday I’m covering what I thought about this years E3. It’s all about My E3 Reactions!

Conferences: Well Sony and Microsoft did the best this year in terms of conferences, Microsoft did great with the HoloLens and pushing that tech. I’m looking forward to seeing that technology become amazing. Sony did great with dropping all sorts of bombshells. That being said there were problem areas in those two conferences, the EA interlude in the Microsoft one and Sony had some people on stage that were just boring to listen to. Nintendo on the other hand did it’s own thing, which I can only think of shooting itself in the foot. Ubisoft, EA and Square Enix were the publishers who had conferences this year other than the Big 3 and they had medicore conferences, with Square being the best of the three. EA’s was easily the worst.

Big Announcements:

Fallout 4 console editions will have Mods: I’m excited for that, although the PS4 may not get them which makes me sad.

The Last Guardian is alive: It should be coming out in 2016, but I won’t believe it until I have the game in my hands.

Shenmue III is on Kickstarter: Holy crap, I’ve always had a soft spot for the series since my cousin introduced me to it years ago.  It got funded within hours, making it the fastest funded and most expensive video game on Kickstarter! I’m hoping they also re-release the older games for the PS4.

Final Fantasy VII is being remade completely: I never saw this coming as it’s the console gamer equivalent of Half-Life 3. Hopefully the remake is good, but I personally would’ve preferred it if they had chosen IX or VI instead of VII.

Xbox One is getting a new controller: Sort of, it’s a $150 version that includes neat features that are completely unnecessary and it probably won’t sell very well.

Xbox One is getting backwards compatibility: The only thing I can see that the Xbox One has over the PlayStation 4 at this point, having backwards compatibility. I wish the PS4 would have this coming too, but it sounds like it’s not going to happen. Oh well.

Xbox One is getting Early Access: This will probably become a nightmare, if the Steam Early Access is anything to go by.

What Didn’t Get Announced:

Final Fantasy XV: No release date was announced, although this may be announced later in the year at another conference. I’m hoping so at least.

Zelda Wii U: No release date or window. Nintendo has been slowly losing my trust over the last 7 years, but I keep hoping they’ll bring their heads out of the ground soon.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!