PS2 Ports update

[Dot50Cal]

Got in touch with my contact again. Kinda minor, a non-news event so Ill put it here. Amazingly, RE0 and RE1R are still on the TBA list for release with the 06/07 date. No real news other than this, but its almost a sure thing as they have been on this list despite there being many new lists with added titles. If it was an error it would have been corrected months ago.

[A-J]

so are capcom actually WORKING on it or is it just on their 'to do' list ?

[Dot50Cal]

Its on the To Be Announced list of a major European publisher.

[James]

But, how will Zero work? Unless it's majorly toned down?

[Umon Daisuke]

I wouldn't put much thought into this. In regards to feasiblity, they utilized a test engine of the GC hardware, which was later developed into the RE3.5 and RE4 engines. The games were hardly technical marvels with pre-rendered backgrounds and 30Hz rendering rate (fps). Zero's producer (Tatsuya Minami) told CVG in 2002 that porting shouldn't be a problem, but some aspects, like the CG would look different.

Naturally, if they were done, they'd be quick ports. Expect audio to take the biggest hit because of the GC hardware's larger amount of aux. RAM, and of course, lighting. RE4 took a big hit in sfx overall in the PS2 port, and VJ was even worse (though that port was done by 6 people). Even the CG compression would likely remain intact.

Capcom's recent fiscal report mentions continued support for current gen hardware, but I would assume they'd be doing that with some low budget original titles like Okami (though not low quality, that's for sure). The next Sengoku Basara was announced to be on Wii and PS2. Though incidentally, porting 4 year old games fits the mold of low budget...

[A-J]

true..

Would this be more difficult on PS2 perhaps, because of memory restrictions?

Minami: I don't think it would be a big problem on PS2, but the visuals, such as the movies, would be different.

So if it's not a big problem to do this sort of thing on PS2, why was GameCube chosen for this game? Surely it would have been better to have Resident Evil on PS2 rather than GameCube, simply because of the amount of sales you'd get?

Minami: We were developing this for N64, a Nintendo platform. We discussed this internally with R&D Studio 4, Mr Mikami's studio [Shinji Mikami, creator and overseer of the Resident Evil series - Ed]. We decided to provide Resident Evil games with numbers, and that they would be exclusively provided to GameCube.

[James]

The zapping system in Zero would surely be a burden on the PS2's dated hardware, wouldn't it?

[A-J]

probably a second or two extra of blankness if the two characters are in other rooms

[Saint_Eve]

I expect it to be a bit slower in general, the character models themselves are damn good, image having that plus the detailed zombies and such in 1 room, hell if Billy and Becca are in the same room.... the polys are gonna suffer for sure.

[James]

Though it was relatively fine with RE4 with Leon and Ashley on the same screen. >_> It's been ages since I've played either (I'm a bad RE fan, I know U_U) so I can't remember the detail. Were they on par (PS2 RE4) with the models of GCN REmake / RE4?

[A-J]

well, the character models were obviously not as detailed as the cube version, but they were pretty well done on the PS2 as well. So, the same can probably be done here.

They'll probably reduce the polygon count to match the ps2.

[mohman007]

Are these ports ever gonna happen or has capcom changed their minds again and no ports

[doomed]

I've never heard of this before...?

[Dot50Cal]

Wont be happening, my guess is RE4 Wii Edition and UC got in the way and there was no time left to make these viable.

[Helegad]

This is a little old. Any new updates?