![]() ![]() " looking for a studio to bring God of War and God of War 2 to the PS3 in advance of the next release in the franchise," says Thrush. The fledgling studio - formed by key members of the Metroid Prime team - had made a name for itself by developing the shooter Blast Factor, one of two games that were ready in time for the launch of the PlayStation Network, on an engine built in-house. "In 2009, we had been in operation for just a couple of years," says Marco Thrush, Bluepoint’s chief technical officer and co-founder. We were standing right in front of them." For Bluepoint Games - the team behind acclaimed titles including the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection - securing its first commissioned remaster was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time. The multi-generational maturity of major franchises, combined with the patchy backwards compatibility offered by the last two generations of consoles, has made remastered ports a hugely popular way to enjoy the classics.Īs a result, dozens of studios have sprung up over the years specializing in remastered games. A well-timed release can rekindle interest in a franchise before a full sequel or reboot, or help recoup the costs of previous investments. It offers a way to capitalize on a back catalog for less than the cost of developing a new game, while also representing an opportunity to bring an existing title to a new audience. Polygon recently spoke to staff at Naughty Dog, Bluepoint Games, Nixxes Software, Aspyr Media and Digital Eclipse to see what goes into today’s ported and remastered games.įrom a commercial standpoint, remastering games can be a lucrative strategy for publishers. ![]() The challenges faced by video game archivists are starting to gain legal recognition, while troubled ports continue to expose the difficulties inherent to the reproduction of interactive experiences. HD remasters have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, with over 30 titles already arriving on the latest generation of consoles. Developers must contend with misplaced assets, unfamiliar pipelines and hundreds of thousands of lines of code that, in most cases, they did not write themselves. Success calls for a phenomenal degree of engineering expertise, but also careful consideration of logistical and artistic challenges. The process of reworking a game for a new platform - one which may not have existed during development of the original title - can be a colossal undertaking. Links to subscribe in iTunes, in your podcast player of choice or to download the episode as an MP3 are also available below. You can also listen to this feature below, thanks to Polygon Longform. ![]()
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