Topic: Sin & Punishment 2 Coming in 2010?

[Nick DiMola]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=18785

 

UPDATE (6/5): A new fact sheet in Nintendo's E3 Press Kit has confirmed that the title is coming Q1 2010    

After talking with many of the reps in Nintendo's E3 Booth, it seems like Sin & Punishment 2 won't likely see release until 2010.    

Many of us attending found it quite odd that Nintendo hadn't offered up a release date in all of their E3 press kit. As a result, I made it my mission to figure out exactly what was going on with the game.    

My first target were the two reps who had been demoing the title throughout the show. Both told me independently that the title wouldn't be seeing release until Q1 2010.    

I then moved my attention to other reps that are typically reliable source points for the site. They all claimed they had no idea, and referred us to the Fact Sheet on the game (which incidentally doesn't exist). My final target were the reps working the booth desk. They did as previous reps had, referring us to the press kit and claiming they had no idea. I informed them that other reps had given me the Q1 2010 date, and their only response is that they didn't know, but never denied the date.    

From the various interactions I had, it seems likely that the title won't see release until early next year. The various Nintendo reps would've been quite eager to at least tell me that it would definitively be out in 2009 if that were the target release date.    

I'll continue to question Nintendo reps, and will alert all of you if anything new develops.    

P.S. - I've also been asking about Fatal Frame IV and have yet to find a rep to comment on the status of the game. While this is sad news, no one told me it wasn't coming either.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Looks like Tecmo wouldn't bother to fix Fatal Frame 4.  Oh well.

I'll get Ju-On instead!

[Ian Sane]

There's some damn good stuff being shown at this E3 by Nintendo.  BUT with this likely being a 2010 title it looks like New Super Mario Bros Wii is the only first party core game being released between now and the end of the year.  That's pretty lame since we just had a huge drought.  Nintendo's first party output since Mario Kart Wii has been REALLY sparce.  This is N64 level stuff with months and months going by between games.  And with Wii third party support being as useless as it is you would think this is the last place console instead of the first.

My big concern when Nintendo got into this whole non-gamer thing was that it would eat up their resources and thus from the perspetive of the old market they would essentially release less games a year.  Since I discount ports or "practically ports" like AC: City Folk, Nintendo has released only THREE games aimed at the core audience since last year's E3.  And now we have exactly ONE core game planned within the next six months.  By the time S&P2 comes out we may very well have had at least a year and half go by with effectively only FOUR GAMES released in that time, less than one a quarter.  This is completely and totally unacceptable.

Are people still going to claim that non-games and ports like the NPC titles do NOT eat up Nintendo's resources?  It isn't like Nintendo is sinking years of development time into HD games like other devs are.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"It isn't like Nintendo is sinking years of development time into HD games like other devs are."

2010 is pretty crowded when you think about it.  In the grand scheme of the past 2 cycles, it looks busier than any year Nintendo's had, not even considering the fact that Nintendo puts a lot of energy into the DS projects.  (N64's output was terrible, so it has no place in this conversation.)

But then again, why is your world so small that you don't play non-Nintendo games?

[broodwars]

Well, in all fairness to Treasure it takes a lot of time; energy; and manpower to create a 5 minute-long game for a console as graphically powerful as the Wii.  I can see why they need that extra year to work on it.

[NWR_pap64]

Well, in all fairness to Treasure it takes a lot of time; energy; and manpower to create a 5 minute-long game for a console as graphically powerful as the Wii.  I can see why they need that extra year to work on it.

5 minute long? Just what are you talking about?

People seem to forget that third party support is very, very strong this year. And before you say anything the concepts look very strong and polished. I think Nintendo realized this and decided to once again give them a chance to shine.

This year's E3 focused A LOT on third parties, on both DS and Wii. This to me says that Nintendo is more than confident that they don't need to release a ton of first party titles. New Super Mario Bros. Wii will be a MASSIVE success for both core and casual fans. Wii Fit Plus will be a darling with the expanded audience. On top of that third parties are offering very good support, better than last year. This isn't the N64 and GC eras where they needed nothing but first party games to stay afloat. They are relaxing and enjoying the ride.

And Ian, would you PLEASE stop the "ph noes ports and casual games are delaying the good games bullcrap"? ALL GAMES TAKE A WHILE TO COMPLETE. In fact, its the big, core games that take the most time and resources to complete. Miyamoto just confessed that Pikmin 3 just completed its planning stage and moving onto development.

Why do people believe that games can be done in less than 9 months?

[broodwars]

Well, in all fairness to Treasure it takes a lot of time; energy; and manpower to create a 5 minute-long game for a console as graphically powerful as the Wii.  I can see why they need that extra year to work on it.

5 minute long? Just what are you talking about?

I was mocking Treasure's history of making incredibly short games.  If Treasure's true-to-form with this game, that's probably the case here.  I was under the impression with the Wii that the big draw to developing for it was a quicker turn-around on development with lower budgets.  Given that, I just don't understand what's taking them so long with a game this simple unless Treasure just completely overloaded themselves with new projects.  It's an on-rails shooter/slasher, so what's holding up production?

[NWR_pap64]

Well, in all fairness to Treasure it takes a lot of time; energy; and manpower to create a 5 minute-long game for a console as graphically powerful as the Wii.  I can see why they need that extra year to work on it.

5 minute long? Just what are you talking about?

I was mocking Treasure's history of making incredibly short games.  If Treasure's true-to-form with this game, that's probably the case here.  I was under the impression with the Wii that the big draw to developing for it was a quicker turn-around on development with lower budgets.  Given that, I just don't understand what's taking them so long with a game this simple unless Treasure just completely overloaded themselves with new projects.  It's an on-rails shooter/slasher, so what's holding up production?

You have to remember that their forte lies in 2D shooters. 2D is easier to work with than 3D. Sin and Punishment 2 looks to be very elaborate and cinematic. A game of this magnitude COULD be delaying the game since they are used to something simpler.

[Spak-Spang]

Nintendo Published games for Core Gamers:

Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
Punch Out
Wario Land Shake
Super Paper Mario
Battalion Wars Wii
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Excite Truck
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

I actually think there were several games that appealed to the core gamer from Nintendo...but some of the games ALSO appealed to the casual gamer at the same time.

 

[Djunknown]

Why do people believe that games can be done in less than 9 months?

Rogue Squadron for Gamecube was made in 8 months...

At least they didn't answer "When its done".[/id]

[ShyGuy]

Third parties will pick up the Slack in 2009. Silent Hill, Red Steel 2, people are excited about Dead Space Extraction...

[Ian Sane]

People seem to forget that third party support is very, very strong this year.

I don't "forget" something that I see to be outright false.  How is the third party support ANY different than it has been the entire Wii life cycle?  It's still EA and Ubisoft providing most of the support which is mostly junk.  It's still PS2 or PSP ports.  It's still spin-offs, usually of the on-rails shooter variety, while the PS3 and X360 get the REAL game.  I don't see ANY difference at all aside from Dragon Quest X looming over the horizon, though we have not seen any footage of it and its existence has not had any effect.

I don't really pay much attention to third party Wii games because the third party support is mostly crap.  Regardless of what Nintendo's focus may be in the eyes of third parties the Wii is a joke.  It's the casual console that gets half-assed shovelware trash.  This isn't necessary what Nintendo wants the Wii to be but it's what the Wii has become.  There is the odd niche third party title that is decent but would be completely ignored on a console with decent third party support.

So the third party support is such that Nintendo has to pick up the slack but their output is even more sparce than the Gamecube, which ironically had BETTER third party support.  To call this third party support acceptable to me suggests a strong ignorance of what decent third party support is, most likely due to the fact that Nintendo consoles have not had that in 14 years.

Yeah the reality is that games take time to develop.  I understand that.  But the reality is also that the Wii release schedule is pathetic.  I don't care about the excuses.  I'm not going to cut Nintendo slack on that.  The Wii just ain't cutting it for me and Nintendo seems quite indifferent to this because non-gamers that don't know better are making them rich.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Seriously, sell your Wii.  You're not getting anything this year, so save yourself some typing.

"Major" 3rd Excuse Makers are outputting crap, so I'll just let them die out (bankruptcy, close up shop, takeover, whatever goodbye).  But simultaneously, I'll continue to support the less established developers in hopes they can grow up to be the new successful 3rd party game makers, as they've provided more significant "old school" entertainment value than Nintendo has thus far (with the exception of Mario Kart).

[Ian Sane]

Seriously, sell your Wii.  You're not getting anything this year, so save yourself some typing.

Why would I do that?  I am very interested in many of the games Nintendo showed at E3 this year.  So since I already own a console that plays them I might as well keep it.  It's just clear that the Wii isn't sufficient enough on its own.

[BlackNMild2k1]

& PunchOut!!

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Seriously, sell your Wii.  You're not getting anything this year, so save yourself some typing.

Why would I do that?  I am very interested in many of the games Nintendo showed at E3 this year.  So since I already own a console that plays them I might as well keep it.  It's just clear that the Wii isn't sufficient enough on its own.

Then buy a PS3.  I'm sure you'll love RE5 and Lair (major 3rd party support) and Ratchet & Clunk.  They fit your tastes of AAAA gaming.

[Nick DiMola]

Well this is now confirmed.

[Caliban]

I'm sure you'll love RE5 and Ratchet & Clunk.

Hey now, Ratchet and Clank is great.
Don't care for RE5.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I'm sure you'll love RE5 and Ratchet & Clunk.

Hey now, Ratchet and Clank is great.
Don't care for RE5.

It's so great that we're excited about SpyBorgs.

/not

[Caliban]

with this likely being a 2010 title it looks like New Super Mario Bros Wii is the only first party core game being released between now and the end of the year.

Core from the Wii generation, or core from past generations?
You do play other games other than Nintendo's, right?

[Caliban]

I'm sure you'll love RE5 and Ratchet & Clunk.

Hey now, Ratchet and Clank is great.
Don't care for RE5.

It's so great that we're excited about SpyBorgs.

/not

I'm excited for both.

[Armak88]

To be honest, I have a lot of wii games compared to other systems that I have owned, but I haven't really bought anything for my wii in quite some time. There just aren't that many games that I feel compelled to get and I don't have the money right now to take chances on full price games like I did when the wii first came out.

To be fair both Wario land shake it and PunchOut  appeal to me, I just can't bring myself to buy them. I'm concerned about the length of PunchOut (and I never played any of the other ones) and I don't really have an excuse for Wario... I'm pretty sure I'd like that game.

However, I can name 5 games off the top of my head that I will be buying day 1. Red Steel 2, Conduit, Mario Galaxy 2 and NSMBW (although I might wait and see on that last one). I think that this is a marked improvement over last year. I mean, at least i'm looking forward to something right?

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I'm sure you'll love RE5 and Ratchet & Clunk.

Hey now, Ratchet and Clank is great.
Don't care for RE5.

It's so great that we're excited about SpyBorgs.

/not

I'm excited for both.

I invite you to Reggie Kart.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

"I'm concerned about the length of PunchOut (and I never played any of the other ones)."

I'm no fan of the previous games, maybe the first one's music, but i'll tell you that I haven't beat it yet.  BUT, the last thing I did was play one of the mid-game's title holders in exhibition mode for at least an hour until I cramped my shoulders.  Phenomenal feedback.

[King of Twitch]

Hm, I thought an N64 sequel could be done fairly quickly.