In a refreshingly open and honest portrayal of the whole ‘PSone Classics’ system on the PlayStation Store, team member and all round friend of TSA Ross McGrath has spoken out about how the service works and why certain games are chosen, published, delayed and pulled.
He talks about the overall process firstly, which involves taking a good copy of an original disk, preparing artwork and running it past legal before the game testers, based down in Liverpool, are let loose on the game itself. “The whole process can sometimes take several months,” he says, “depending on the ease of the emulation, the length of the game and how many issues are found in each round of testing.”
There are two main reasons why a game doesn’t make it onto the Store – the first being for legal issues. “Without naming specific games,” says the blog post, “some contain brand-name products that are no longer under license from the brand owner. In the same way, some games have characters in them that are borrowed from other game series and the publisher no longer has the rights to use them, or music that has been licensed for a game and again, those licenses have expired.”
These games require permission to republish, or necessitate a fresh license, which costs money and can take lots of time, even if the original publisher or license holder still exists.
The second reason that a game can fail to make it out is the ever present issue of bugs. “I have seen a lot of PSone QA reports with some weird and wonderful errors,” says Ross. “Menu screens with upside down text, explosions that kill your character at random after watching a cut scene, games that continue to slow down the longer you play them, or music that sounds like it’s coming from the bottom of a well.”
If a game needs to be fixed, there’s a chance the developer isn’t around or simply doesn’t have the original files in order to get the bugs patched out.
The blog also discusses the reasons a game might make it out in the States but fail the approval process here, which include publishing rights or bugs that only appear in the PAL emulated versions. “In some cases the original publisher of the game in the US is not the same publisher as in Europe,” we’re told, “so publishing rights need to be secured – once again, a lengthy process and one that some publishers choose not to undertake because of the costs and time involved.”
To put this into context, the blog concludes with the news that there are some PSone titles that SCEE have been seeking legal clearance to publish from as far back as 2007. It’s an interesting read.
Foxhound_Solid
I am pretty much covered for my PS1 Games as I still own all my favourites, I would like SOULREAVER for PS1 tho and PS2.
A PS3 outing would be nice too
Lordfloyd
i’d love to see a re-release of a game that was on the demo disc that came with my PS. Can’t remember the name but it involved lunging down a road and kicking and punching other contestants, kind of like road rash.
Rocket_345
CRASH BANDICOOT 2. Whoops sorry. Crash was the series that got me into gaming so it will be great to replay the 2nd (I’ve already got 1 and 2)
4lf13
Given my youthful age and parents who were cynical/suspicious/paranoid about gaming, I pretty much missed out on the PS1 era. I had one, but I was only given 3 hours a week at most or “it would turn me into a zombie” (direct quote from my parent there).
Therefore, I would much rather they started doing some re-releases of PS2 classics. Namely, NFS Most Wanted and Resident Evil 4 (and I know it’s above my age rating), which were my gaming bread and butter for about 2 years of my life.
aerobes
Interesting read. There’s lots I’d like to see such as Vib-Ribbon and Pandemonium but I won’t whine about it while our PS3 gaming is so fruitful (and my pockets so empty).
stueeeee
Its good to hear some honest explanations as to what happens. And maybe make some people think twice before they rant about the EU store again. That said, it is annoying seeing Spyro and many many others on the US and Japan store. Btw, I downloaded MGS1 from the US store and everything in it seems to run at an accelerated speed compared to the PAL version. I noticed it in the heliport flashback in MGS4 as well. Anyone know why it might be?
djnino
How do you “buy” from the American ps store mate? I’m interested.
SpikeyMikey23
If you already have a US psn account, buy US PSN cards from ebay, can usually pick up $20 cards for £13-15 quid online. make sure its a trusted seller and they will email you the code as soon as payment clears.
stueeeee
Yeah what he said ^^^. And to set up a US account its not oo much hassle. I don’t think it’s changed much since I did it. Create a new user on the ps3 and sign up for a new account but click US as hometown. Then follow the steps. A lot of effort maybe, but can be useful if there something u really want which EU don’t have!
djnino
There’s some classic games to be played. I just think the European psn has some absolute sh*te games to offer compared to the American PSN. I noticed the other day they had “re-loaded” one of my favourite games from my childhood. So why can’t we have it too? I do admit though, there’s nothing wrong with digging out the old ps1 Doom, or Duke Nukem. Amazing games still to this day IMO.
Charmed_Fanatic
Just give all the licenses to Sony and let them release everything! :P