This morning Revolution Software broke the news that they are launching Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror - Remastered for Apple iOS devices shortly. Mac and PC ports will follow in early 2011.
To quote the website:
Along with an exclusive new interactive digital comic, from my friend Dave Gibbons, the game now has fully animated facial expressions, enhanced graphics throughout, high quality music as well as a context-sensitive hint system, and diary. The game also features Dropbox integration which facilitates a unique cross-platform save-game feature, enabling players to enjoy the same adventure simultaneously on multiple devices, full Game Centre integration – including in-game achievements – and many other enhancements.
According to Revolution, there is no DS port due to the devastating amount of piracy the console is open to.
I cannot speak for the Wii console but playing pirated games on that is supposed to be fairly simple too.
sanguinehearts wrote:According to Revolution, there is no DS port due to the devastating amount of piracy the console is open to.
I cannot speak for the Wii console but playing pirated games on that is supposed to be fairly simple too.
That is silly. They might as well not make games at all then.
If piracy is their main concern, I wonder if we'll see DRM-free versions on GOG or DotEmu anytime soon.
FWIW, I think the main issues of the DS version of the first game were the lack of voice overs and, to a lesser extent, the tiny resolution. The iOS version was far superior, and significantly cheaper too.
That said, #2 is probably my least favorite part of the series. Not that I'll be able to resist the remake...
Yes that Revolution statement seems a little off.
A reminder to others just in case - if you know of piracy methods don't go into detail on these forums - but from what I've read in the past I always thought it was easiest on PC as well.
You might find that it is the level of piracy compared to the cost of production as it is much cheaper to produce a PC DVD or PC and iOS download than a NDS cartridge.
ezekiel000 wrote:You might find that it is the level of piracy compared to the cost of production as it is much cheaper to produce a PC DVD or PC and iOS download than a NDS cartridge.
Erm, maybe. From what I've read it costs about $2-5k to license the Nintendo SDK. Other than that I can't imagine the costs are all that different. I doubt Sony or Microsoft makes things noticeably cheaper.
It's probably true that NDS flash card readers are more easily accessible than methods of running homebrew apps on other consoles/handhelds, but it's not exactly simple compared to a PC. If someone wants to pirate a game, they are going to pirate it or not buy it. As I said, if you're going to preclude platforms due to the threat of piracy, then there's no point making games at all.
