http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/30919/End_Of_Ferrari_Deal_Pulls_Segas_OutRun_Online_Arcade_From_XBLA_PSN.php
http://kotaku.com/5662675/an-outrun-game-is-about-to-be-terminated
It's really kind of funny now how my friend isamu noticed this about two weeks ago, yet now it's official news. Then again, it's not like people cared about this game until one person leaked this, then they jump on the bandwagon. So we're sad that ORA is only available for Xbox 360, but it gets worse. The Xbox 360 version will be removed at the end of 2011 because of an expiry on the Ferrari license.
And do you want to know WHY this is happening? This Eutechnyx developer is making another game called Ferrari: The Race Experience which is killing OutRun 2. Isn't that great? So basically, this Eutechnyx company, responsible for such gems as 007 Racing and Big Mutha Truckers, gobbles up the NASCAR (and thus the Daytona) and Ferrari licenses, thus screwing Sega twice. Geez man, this pisses me off. No new Daytona game, no new OutRun game. EDIT: Ok, so the Daytona license is overpriced but not exclusive but come on, two games mirroring Sega classics back-to-back...it's just weird how this company breaks out all of a sudden with this kind of stuff. I find it somewhat intimidating...
Of course you could still release these, but you have to use these crappy generic logos which would really be a burden on the games IMO... Like if I see a Daytona/OutRun game with these phony baloney generic cars like in Split/Second, it would irritate me very much. If they can make the cars look exactly identical to the originals, then maybe not so much, but still, it may be copyright infringement if you copy the original designs anyway.
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Now about this news story. The main reason why this is reported is because it's another instance of digitally-downloaded content being removed forever. Like Paperboy, Root Beer Tapper, and other Midway games. I've already touched on that before--this isn't new. But it does make you think, all these GREAT arcade games and downloadable content (like Rock Band songs) you can download from servers, it's such a wonderful convenience! Until it gets removed from the server forever and then it becomes a relic of the past. You can't just run to the store and buy a hard copy of these games. We saw this back when the original Xbox's plug was pulled, and now I'm worried about stuff like Perfect Dark.
There's no guarantee that Microsoft will get rid of this stuff any time soon, I mean, unless they want half the gaming community to riot. As a matter of fact, if I were a game developer who watched my product disappear into thin air, I would be PISSED. Let me repeat that, PISSED. Games like Limbo, Braid, and Castle Crashers are in harm's way too.
This is just evident of how the game industry works. Release a game, then kill it about five years later, only to be replaced by the next cool thing. I don't like it, I don't like it at all.
Now you might say, "So what, these new games will be better than the old ones!" Really? There's no guarantee! Let me give you a good example--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The old ones were great (2, 3, 4, Underground), but after that, the series went to crap. So there is no guarantee that the new ones are good. Or even worse, what if there is NO sequels to be heard of? Some games off the top of my head are Advance Wars, Star Fox, Monster Rancher, DAYTONA USA, I could go on. Now these aren't digitally-downloaded games--you own hard copies of these (thank God), but if they were downloaded, then that's another story.
I think I'm blowing this way out of proportion, but who knows. Five years down the road, this could be a damn big deal. I think the way to at least alleviate this somewhat is to make all content free and available to transfer from console to console, but Microsoft's stupid policy of prohibiting games not purchased by the original account just gets in the way. So that's great, you can still have the game on the hard drive, but you can't play it. You can't "prove" that you were the original owner because the servers are down forever. I hope MS does something about this, but I don't think so.
...........
But now, back to OutRun 2. It kind of pisses me off that the fact that we won't have OutRun 2 is secondary to the DLC issue. So no OutRun 2, now some people are running to its defense, shedding tears. Which is good, but where were these people back when the game was released? These are the same people that IMO either A. didn't play the game at all or B. played the demo, but went back to playing Burnout afterwards. Like take a look at this comment from Luke Plunkett of Kotaku:
So it's an Xbox 360 exclusive! Well, not really. The Xbox 360's exclusivity is temporary, with that version scheduled to be removed from Xbox Live Arcade in December 2011. After which, the game will just be...gone.
Which is a damn shame, as I loved it. Blue skies, fast cars, big drifts...it's a fantastic racer. Or should I say, was a fantastic racer.
I don't know. It's flattering so I do have to give the guy credit. But come on people, I'm not buying all of it. Besides, this game's still available on the PS2/Xbox (with more content I might add) so are you going to go out and buy that too? At least this news will increase ORA sales a little which is good to see this game get some exposure again.
Anyway, that's about it. Of course, you should go buy ORA if you haven't already. It's just 800 MSP ($10) so if you don't get it, you're an idiot. Plus not to mention that the PS2/Xbox OR2 games are about $5 in bargain bins at GameSpot so that's a great deal too. Goodbye.
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