Genki Announces Shutokou Battle Xtreme, Coming to iOS and Android this Month

I should probably point out that since the older thread is 30 pages long and consists mostly of guessing and general chatter, we decided to use the official announcement as a reason to start fresh with a new comments thread. If you want to check out the old one, it's over here.

Frankly, I'm excited at the prospect of a game like this on my iPhone. The entire premise of TXR works in short bursts, so mobile gaming makes sense. And, as @Suzumiya first hinted in the old thread, this could be Genki's Porsche Cayenne: if it produces enough money to help them keep producing sports cars (read: console racers), that's no bad thing.
 
How costly is it really to put a ps2 game up on ps4? (ps2 games can be emulated on PS4 at 4x resolution and 60fps) I think sony would probably do the work for them too.
 
How costly is it really to put a ps2 game up on ps4? (ps2 games can be emulated on PS4 at 4x resolution and 60fps) I think sony would probably do the work for them too.
It's two generations' difference in hardware. The issue there is the PS4 successfully emulating PS2 hardware. While it is possible, it could potentially be too taxing on the hardware.
 
I think that a lot of the frustration on the old thread stems from the fact that everyone wanted GRP to come out with a console game on their return. That probably wouldn't be the best thing for them to do even though many of us want it (Genki brought back GRP just for this IIRC), so they went with the best option afforded to them. At best, it does allow them to get enough money to make a console game. At worst, it will allow them to make improvements to the series if potential series reboots appear in the future (assuming worst case scenario and it turns into a failure- something I personally hope doesn't happen).

The old thread also hinted that mobile gaming is hot in Japan right now, and this may really help them in their home country. I hope it sells well, but either way, time will tell if it will or will not help Genki down the line.
 
Huh, wasn't expecting to see this franchise returning any time soon, though being on Phones it could either be great or awful. I actually own the rare OST CD for one of the first games in this series, Tokyo Highway Battle (or Drift King Keiichi Tsuchiya & Masaaki Bandoh: Shutokou Battle, which is one hell of a name).
 
It is possible and in practice already.
If you're referring to the Xbox One with its 360 compatibility, think about how long it took to implement that after the One's release date and how limited the game pool is. Last I remember, it was a bit over 100 something games out of the thousands out there. And that's one generation difference. The PS2 could be running a completely different database structure which would be difficult to emulate on the PS4.
 
Why do people have the impression that Genki are unsuccessful? They have probably made more money on the stuff they have done since they killed GRP than they made on racing games.

If you're referring to the Xbox One with its 360 compatibility, think about how long it took to implement that after the One's release date and how limited the game pool is. Last I remember, it was a bit over 100 something games out of the thousands out there. And that's one generation difference. The PS2 could be running a completely different database structure which would be difficult to emulate on the PS4.
No, I'm talking about playing PS2 games on PS4. Its already being done. There are already nearly 40 PS2 games available on PS4.
 
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No, I'm talking about playing PS2 games on PS4. Its already being done. There are already nearly 40 PS2 games available on PS4.
Huh, I didn't know that. If that's the case, you could argue that profit is another factor in this.
 
Huh, I didn't know that. If that's the case, you could argue that profit is another factor in this.
Yeah thats why I was wondering how costly it is to do "PS2 on PS4" games. The games run at roughly 4x the original resolution and 60fps. They are also able to add trophies to the games, which is likely the most involved part of the process.

Another possibly larger issue is that "PS2 on PS4" seems to be mostly a western initiative because there are no PS2 games available in japans ps store as far as I can tell.
 
If you're referring to the Xbox One with its 360 compatibility, think about how long it took to implement that after the One's release date and how limited the game pool is. Last I remember, it was a bit over 100 something games out of the thousands out there. And that's one generation difference. The PS2 could be running a completely different database structure which would be difficult to emulate on the PS4.
I think Sony does it so there older consoles hold value instead of just getting dumped. Imagine how any ps1/2/3s would get dumped if you could just play them all on the latest gen. IMO I prefer it this way so when you want to play an older game, it gives you more of a nostalgic feeling.
 
Yeah thats why I was wondering how costly it is to do "PS2 on PS4" games. The games run at roughly 4x the original resolution and 60fps. They are also able to add trophies to the games, which is likely the most involved part of the process.
Oh, makes sense. I bolded a section of concern for myself with PS2 emulation - the highest most PS2 games rendered at is 480P, with only two examples (By PD, go figure) able to render at 1080i.

Also, what @Emmcee said makes sense - the PS2 is the best-selling console of all time so far.
 
No, I'm talking about playing PS2 games on PS4. Its already being done. There are already nearly 40 PS2 games available on PS4.
There must be some underlying issue there though, if only 40 games have been made available in the whole entirety of the PS4's life. It's likely not as easy as you're assuming.
Yeah thats why I was wondering how costly it is to do "PS2 on PS4" games. The games run at roughly 4x the original resolution and 60fps. They are also able to add trophies to the games, which is likely the most involved part of the process.

Another possibly larger issue is that "PS2 on PS4" seems to be mostly a western initiative because there are no PS2 games available in japans ps store as far as I can tell.
How is adding trophies going to be more involving than porting over a whole game? I'm not sure I follow.
 
Super bummed that it's not coming out on consoles or PC, but I might give it a shot anyway.
 
No, I'm talking about playing PS2 games on PS4. Its already being done. There are already nearly 40 PS2 games available on PS4.

Agreed, and it is also the same with import tuner challenge. Xb1 has many backwards compatible games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360. MS has helped every game so far, but it is up to the vendor.
 
Also it really isn't as simple as dumping a rom on the PSN and calling it a day. PS2 emulation on PS4 is treated on a case-by-case basis for every game to ensure compatibility, and trophies are added as Devil mentioned. If the cost associated was that low, I'd imagine every publisher would be doing it and there'd be way more than 40 games.

Don't forget about how Genki skirted around licensing in the early games, either. I don't think manufacturers would be as willing to look the other way anymore, the company would probably run quite a risk of litigation. And re-licensing for the later games that had licensed content presents a different but equally tough challenge.
 
@Devil240Z - Please don't double post, that's what the Edit and Multi-quote features are for.

No, I'm talking about playing PS2 games on PS4. Its already being done. There are already nearly 40 PS2 games available on PS4.

That's nearly 40 games in over three years of the PS4's existence. That actually points to it not being easy.

The PS2 was a bespoke platform. It's not something that could easily be fully emulated via software. There's a reason only the early models of PS3 could play PS2 games: they literally had the CPU and GPU of the PS2 inside.
 
Agreed, and it is also the same with import tuner challenge. Xb1 has many backwards compatible games from the original Xbox and Xbox 360. MS has helped every game so far, but it is up to the vendor.
It might not help that the western publisher of the TXR games Crave are dead.
ITC on XB1 might be our best actual bet since there are so many more 360 games on XB1 than "PS2 on PS4" games. And Ubisoft published ITC.
Maybe this mobile game will make enough of a splash to get something going.

@Devil240Z - Please don't double post, that's what the Edit and Multi-quote features are for.



That's nearly 40 games in over three years of the PS4's existence. That actually points to it not being easy.

The PS2 was a bespoke platform. It's not something that could easily be fully emulated via software. There's a reason only the early models of PS3 could play PS2 games: they literally had the CPU and GPU of the PS2 inside.
Sorry about the DP I thought someone had already posted after me.
They have only been doing the "PS2 on PS4" games for like a year. But still that isn't a huge adoption rate either way.
 
@Devil240Z Could this be listing those 40 games you mentioned? If yes, notice that majority of them were published by Sony, that is the catch. If the game wasn't successful enough during its original release on PS2 or they think porting to PS4 won't bring any profit, I doubt they would consider any of Genki's racers.

And this is a great link - sale results of Genki's games in Japan. Shutokou Battle X for Xbox and two Wangan titles for PS3/PSP weren't really successful. As a matter of fact, SBX was a flop.

Therefore, there is no point in making a console racer if they don't plan on going outside Japan. Launching this game for mobile phones was good and reasonable move.
 
It would be better for Genki to take their time, a rush could make things gruesome, and would bankrupt the GRP organization. This platform is basically what they can do right now, I don't think they would use the assets from the 6th and 7th era of consoles, basically, very unreasonable to port older models to a new architecture. I would love them to plan things out for the new generation of consoles, which are multi-platform, so anyone can play. I have seen a pretty big stigma in the last thread about the disappointment, but at least support the franchise and let's see what they can do for another big project.
 
I'm disappointed, but at the same time, Genki's starting from square one again, and a mobile gatcha game is a good way to prop up the coffers to bring us what we truly wanted.

Porting a PS2 game to the PS4 isn't the problem. It's revisiting all the licenses for the cars, tracks, and music that makes racing games a difficult proposition.

Most of the TXR music were done in house, right? I don't exactly know how that could make it a problem like with licensed music in games like NFS, etc.

Ditto for the tracks too, considering that it's not based on actual courses, more based on the Wangan and subsequent routes in Osaka and Nagoya.
 
I'm disappointed, but at the same time, Genki's starting from square one again, and a mobile gatcha game is a good way to prop up the coffers to bring us what we truly wanted.



Most of the TXR music were done in house, right? I don't exactly know how that could make it a problem like with licensed music in games like NFS, etc.

Ditto for the tracks too, considering that it's not based on actual courses, more based on the Wangan and subsequent routes in Osaka and Nagoya.

Right, just using a blanket example there, but with the TXR games the cars were always a problem even in the PS2 days. Manufacturers such as Ford, Lotus, DeTomaso, and the tuner Gemballa were routinely removed from the Western releases. So were many aftermarket wheel manufacturers and sponsor decals. Hard to see how any of those problems would improve with age.
 
Right, just using a blanket example there, but with the TXR games the cars were always a problem even in the PS2 days. Manufacturers such as Ford, Lotus, DeTomaso, and the tuner Gemballa were routinely removed from the Western releases. So were many aftermarket wheel manufacturers. Hard to see how any of those problems would improve with age.

I imagine Ford and Lotus would probably renew licenses, considering there hasn't been too many problems dealing with them in the past. Hell, Ford is pretty laissez-faire when it comes to what kind of licenses they had out in terms of games, with how you can find them in practically every mid budget racing game of the early 2000's.
 
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