Cross Platform Sequels
As a consumer I like having some simplicity when it comes to buying my games. One big thing is not having to worry about buying sequels on different platforms. Typically you buy a game such as Mass Effect and you stick to the console you got for all the games about it and it’s content. Take a game such as Kingdom Hearts though, and you need at least THREE different consoles/handhelds or more to play them all! How can this possibly be a good business plan?
I grew up on The Legend of Zelda. I expected big 3D adventures on my TV, and just as big 2D adventures on my gameboy. That worked out fine because it was within the same company, and 2 systems isn’t a really big problem, especially when one is radically different by being portable. This seems like a plan that works, and seeing how the games aren’t actually tied to each other because they are stand alone titles, so you don’t even need the other device.
Now look at Kingdom Hearts. The 1st game was on the PS2. No biggie. It’s sequel was on… GBA for Nintendo? Okay, little odd… 3rd game was for PS2 again. Sounds fair as the first game was, but you miss out on certain story elements if you didn’t own the GBA game. The 4th game was on the Nintendo DS? What the heck? I guess if you waited long enough you could play the first, then buy a DS and play the GBA game on it, and so on, but you’d have to have predicted the future to know this even! Okay, the 5th game then appears on the PSP? So that’s a minimum of three systems now! Then the new game will be on the DS again. So now more games are on the handhelds then the consoles they started on! What is happening here!
I am unaware of any other games that have such a crazy listing of problems such as this, but I am sure it will only get worse when the inevitable release of Kingdom Hearts 3 will probably be on the Playstation 3. Just add a 3DS title too and it will get ready fun.
I am unaware of any other games that have such a crazy listing of problems such as this, but I am sure it will only get worse when the inevitable release of Kingdom Hearts 3 will probably be on the Playstation 3. Just add a 3DS title too and it will get ready fun.