Jimquisition: Konami

[5-0]

I do love a good Jim Stirling rant. And that was certainly a good one. Konami have never been a publisher I've connected with really, so I don't feel anger. In fact I don't think I've ever bought one of their games, so I'll just laugh at their business decisions.
I am pretty interested in their Metal Gear Solid HD Collection though, which of course I didn't even know was out. I suppose the MW3 thing explains why there aren't many reviews.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

Silent Hill Downpour has also been delayed. It was supossed to be out in the UK last October but now it's not out until the end of March. I only know this because I keep an eye on Amazon's release dates. I don't anticipate the game to be any good.

I refuse to buy the Silent Hill HD "Collection" which only contains 2 games out of the series' 7 games. Plus what they did with the voice acting and textures is just criminal.

I bought the HD collection of MGS and it's actually pretty good. But then again... we're looking at games between 2 and 11 years old that have been re-released and as Jim said, it's not a hard task to complete.

Oh Konami... killing my favourite franchises is not good PR at all.

 

[De Ronneman]

Also note that the Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship series that normally is released in february in Japan and Arpil/May in USA/PAL, has now not yet been mentioned.

Added to the horrible HD Silent Hill and arbitrary releasedate buggery (forgetting that press release with pseudo-anime characters for one second), has lead me to conclude that Konami has gone raving mad. It's sad. I like a lot of their games and franchises...

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Is it me, or are the Japanese publishers especially prone to boneheaded decisions? Sure, EA and Ubisoft frequently enrage people, but at least what they do mostly makes sense from a business perspective.

Really, how can Konami fuck up what is essentially ports of their own games, except with a fresh layer of varnish over them? It would be quick and easy money. Or do they think consumers will buy anything as long as a big enough franchise name is attached to it?

 

[daxterx2005]

Since I don't follow MGS or Silent Hill I was unaware of Konami's current bullshit...
I feel bad for their fans.

 

[doublenix]

Dead on. Nothing else needs to be said here.

 

[Alufear]

It was Castlevania's 25th Anniversary this year. How does Konami celebrate one of its most beloved franchises?

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

 

[portal_cat]

To be honest I had no idea that Konami was still making games. Now how sad is that? They really need to get off their ass and reboot their marketing department or face the the way of the Dinosaur...extinct!

 

[Something Amyss]

Konami seems to be okay financially.

http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88775/konami-profits-73m-in-q4-2011-raises-fiscal-year-forecast/

They made more money last quarter than

Capcom
Take Two
THQ
EA
Square-Enix

To be fair, I'm pretty sure you can make more money than THQ by fishing change out of the sofa.

 

[Irridium]

Konami seems to be okay financially.

http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88775/konami-profits-73m-in-q4-2011-raises-fiscal-year-forecast/

They made more money last quarter than

Capcom
Take Two
THQ
EA
Square-Enix

To be fair, I'm pretty sure you can make more money than THQ by fishing change out of the sofa.

Same with Square-Enix, actually. I think Deus Ex Human Revolution was their only profitable game last year.

 

[CoL0sS]

Oh God, that press conference /facepalm.
Skipping the whole PS2 era I was looking forward to these HD collections. Decided to wait for the European release of MGS HD, pre-ordered the regular edition (didn't even know Limited Edition existed) and it turned out a number of European discs were bugged. In Snake Eater it was minor stuff like missing textures, audio falling out of sync and glitched trophies, but Sons of Liberty had this game breaking bug where (if you played it on hard difficulty) one of the bombs wouldn't spawn, preventing you from progressing.
Now this with Silent Hill HD. I really wanted to buy it, but now I think I'll pass. Wouldn't do the game justice by playing this version.
Oh well, there's still DMC and Team ICO collections I need to get

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Yeah I never saw Metal Gear Solid HD Collection when it was released in the UK. I though it had been delayed until the spring because no uk site I visited had a release date for it even after it had been released.

Konami has really been going down hill for a while, I noticed this after the recent Pro Evolution Soccer games which has shown that Konami is prepared to sit back on the past successes of its games and not try and improve them.

 

[RaikuFA]

You should look at Capcom.

"Lol. Ace attorney 4 below 80 Metacritic? Next game not getting english translation"
"Whats that. Ace Attorney investigations below 80 metacritic score? No english translation on the second one!"

"Layton+Ace Attorney? Western gamers? Lol. They would not understand. NO TRANSLATION 4 U"

Well. Enjoy getting your game fantranslated and pirated you jackasses! Because youknow. Its the only way your fans can play the game now.

They said "It didn't sell yet Okamiden did.". Yet AAI couldn't be found. I can find Okamiden at any Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy or Gamestop in my area yet only one store had AAI and it was after a month had passed.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Wow, I just found out Downpour was released a few days ago from a meme, and I just attributed that to my lack of connection to the game's industry now, but seeing others who had no clue has me really taken back.

WHAAAT, it's OUT?!?

I haven't seen any reviews for it yet!! What the hell?! It's actually out?!

Konami, you fail. I was actually looking forward to that game, and then I hear no news, see no reviews, or anything for it in the weeks leading up to release?! Wha?

 

[MrBaskerville]

A remember a time when every new release from Konami was something interesting and spectactular. Those days i had a ps1... Then came the ps2 and suddenly the quality of their productions slowly started to decline, the only games worth mentioning were the first couple of silent hill games and the metal gears stuff. After that it just seemed to get worse and worse, and now all their major series seems to be outsourced to random western developers :/. Isnt MGS one of the last major franchies that are still handled by konami themselves? Except for MGS rising that is.

 

[RaikuFA]

A remember a time when every new release from Konami was something interesting and spectactular. Those days i had a ps1... Then came the ps2 and suddenly the quality of their productions slowly started to decline, the only games worth mentioning were the first couple of silent hill games and the metal gears stuff. After that it just seemed to get worse and worse, and now all their major series seems to be outsourced to random western developers :/. Isnt MGS one of the last major franchies that are still handled by konami themselves? Except for MGS rising that is.

Zone of the Enders is apparently very good. I looking forward to the HD collection

 

[sordcooper]

oh wow, i'd no idea Konami was screwing up period, let alone THAT bad. my heart goes out to all the konami fans out there; who got deeply invested in their legendary franchises that i never bothered playing and getting deeply invested in enough to suffer like this...

...now im going to go back and weep over lionhead and their classic franchises that got screwed up hard by a parent company instead.

 

[MrBaskerville]

A remember a time when every new release from Konami was something interesting and spectactular. Those days i had a ps1... Then came the ps2 and suddenly the quality of their productions slowly started to decline, the only games worth mentioning were the first couple of silent hill games and the metal gears stuff. After that it just seemed to get worse and worse, and now all their major series seems to be outsourced to random western developers :/. Isnt MGS one of the last major franchies that are still handled by konami themselves? Except for MGS rising that is.

Zone of the Enders is apparently very good. I looking forward to the HD collection

It´s decent, but also released early on the ps2 before the decline became obvious. Never played the sequel though, as it slipped under my radar back then.

 

[Surpheal]

One thing that I find funny is that people think that Konami might actually care what their fans think, and no I'm no just being cynical. Think of it this way, Konami releases a game from one of their major franchises and it is shit. The fans of those franchises will be all up in arms about it, see Mass Effect 3(and that actually physically hurt to type in). Konami really doesn't care, and do you know why? Because they know that, more often than not, people will by those games on either the title or the publishers name.

 

[Johnson McGee]

Would anyone mind telling me if Silent Hill: Downpour is any good? I'm not interested if it's anything close to the steaming turd that is Homecoming.