Nintendo Okie

So Splinter Cell: Conviction finally came out.  It’s only three years late.  I hear it’s very good.  I hope it was worth the long wait.  I am always baffled how games can be delayed so many times.  The accountant in me says the longer it takes to make a game, the more it will cost to produce.  Thinking about it now, the more time a developer gets to work on their game, the better it should be.  Right? 

Splinter Cell: Conviction was originally announced for a November 2007 release.  About a year after it was first announced, it was reported to be undergoing a reconstruction.  Go back and look at that first trailer.  The game looks very different now, especially Sam Fisher.  I remember reading articles on how this Splinter Cell would introduce new and detailed environment interactions.  The article in mind focused on Sam picking up a chair that was standing verses a chair on its back.  After such a long delay, I can’t help but wonder if all that had been dropped to make way for a simpler engine.  I can’t imagine all that work being abandoned but then again, several art assets were probably left on the floor when the game was retooled.  Regardless, why did Ubisoft feel the game needed to be rebuilt?  We can guess at their reasoning but we will probably never know for sure.  As long as the game comes out, does any of this matter anyway?

How many times was Ocarina of Time delayed?  I don’t think anyone will argue that all the extra time helped make the game one of the greatest ever.  The development of OoT was happening right around when the internet was starting to catch on.  I have always wondered, would the wait for OoT have been so grueling if we didn’t have the internet to tell us to wait more.  I imagine A Link to the Past had it share of delays and missed deadlines.  The only difference is that we just didn’t know about it.  I guess that is the price we pay for having the information of the world at our fingertips. 

Remember when Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption we going to be launch titles for the Wii.  My taunts in Brawl are still al the missed release dates for Brawl.  But man, was that game worth the wait.  Nintendo was brilliant with the Smash Dojo too.  Every day I rushed to my computer to see what new tidbit I could get.  It kept all us rabid Smash fans on the edge of our seat.  Just in case you didn’t know, Brawl was playable long before it made it to store shelves.  The developers were using that time to tweak and tune the game to perfection.  Well, maybe adding Sonic threw a wrench in the gears too but still, the balancing to a fighting game is key.  Sora, Ltd. did not disappoint. 

I can only imagine that Retro was doing the same with Corruption.  When it was announced that Prime 3 wasn’t going to launch with the Wii, I remember thinking, “either they are making the most awesome multiplayer ever, or the single player is going to be even better than ever.”  It turned out to be the latter.  Does anyone else remember how a month before the game came out that it was delayed a week.  A week!  What on Earth was the point of that?  Some explained that the delay had to do with packaging and shipping but I am still convinced someone enjoyed watching me suffer. 

How can I write an article about game delays and not talk about Duke Nukem Forever?  That game was in development for twelve years before it was finally canceled.  I am all for taking your time on a project but come on.  What on Earth could have caused 3D Realms to continuously work on this game?  Were they really working on it the whole time?  I don’t know which is crazier, 3D Realms working on the game for twelve years of somebody paying them to do it.  At a point somebody had to realize there was no way DNF wasn’t going to turn a profit.  How awesome would it be to play all the versions of that game?  I think it would be fascinating to see how DNF evolved over the years.  Also, please note the irony of the title Duke Nukem Forever and its abbreviation DNF.  You can’t make that stuff up.  Trust me, I try to every week.   

There are so many layers of game design that the players never get to see.  I wish studios would start including playable versions of a game at different stages of development with the final retail copy.  It would help keep things in perspective.  I realize that these demos might not be the most stable builds, but it would be a nice bonus for a collector’s edition or something.  This would work great for the Resident Evil games since most of them undergone very public changes mid development.  Think of it as a playable art book.  Am I the only one that wants something like that?  I do have some weird ideas sometimes.