Topic: News about Nintendo and suggestion for Descent to become official DS game

[Scyphi]

A few million is still a few million, WillyP, a few million more that they have to pay off. It's probably that kind of thinking that landed Interplay in bankruptcy in the first place. If Interplay plans to stay afloat, they gotta stay ontop of their debts, not let them build up.

And we all know how good they are at that. 

[Zantor]

Huzzah to mismanagement, which I think is what got this whole debt snowball running in the first place.

[D2Disciple]

I'd like to clarify that Interplay is not being sued for any monetary damages by Bethesda, simply a wholesale retraction of rights, which seems very reasonable on Bethesda's part. The article was mentioning exactly how much money they were in debt at the time of that writing - the lawsuit will not add anything but court costs to that amount.

Despite this, the total amount of raised money was $16,000, which is hardly anything in comparison to their debts. To their credit, they aren't taking investor money and paying debts with it (a common practice of failing companies), but they still violated the rights to the Fallout franchise, which legally is Bethesda's now (no matter how much Interplay wants to complain that it's their game). I imagine that 16,000 will quickly be paid back, and Interplay will fade to black soon.

However, this begs the question: what will interplay do with the rights to Descent again?

[NUMBERZero]

I beg another question: Is this on topic?


And I beg to answer: The Descent rights will probably go back to square 1 before Interplay made its comeback. Or Bethesda will try to buy those rights.

[D2Disciple]

I seriously doubt Bethesda wants those rights, but if they did, oh hecks to the yeah they'd do Descent up right. Probably more right than Interplay. 

Sorry, yeah, it did go a little off-topic, but it still kinda flows from your original suggestion. After all, we can't discuss the former without discussing the latter here. 

[Scyphi]

I'd like to clarify that Interplay is not being sued for any monetary damages by Bethesda

Actually, as much as I hate to say it, that's incorrect. Gamespot slipped up. If you look at the article now, they added a little update at the end that corrects the error. Bethesda isn't seeking any specific monetary amount punitive damages, however, they do have the attorney fees that Interplay will have to compensate, and Bethesda is demanding that Interplay surrender to them all monetary gain they got from their attempted and unauthorized sales of Fallout, as well as other "unspecified" damages.

You can check the link again for more details.

[D2Disciple]

I stand corrected. Thanks. 

You heard the man. We're doomed. 

[Zantor]

So Interplay tried to screw Bethesda over, which was a foolish mistake on Interplay's part, and Bethesda is suing them. Lovely. Now, Interplay is trying to get themselves out of their debt hole with game rights trade, which isn't working very well. I don't think Descent would work well on the DS. It's so complex. The touch screen can take the place of some buttons, but you still have obstacles to overcome, and not easy ones.

[NUMBERZero]

"Obsticles to overcome"

Like?

[Foil]

"Obsticles to overcome"

Like?

Like multiple controls at once.  For example: Moving forward + moving up + moving left + turning right + rolling right + firing primary + firing secondary.

It's similar to the problems playing the Descent games on PlayStation.  You can do almost everything you need to, but there just aren't quite enough controls.

[-<WillyP>-]

I agree, it's hard enough to play the games that were originally intended for the DS, what with having to press all these buttons as well as using the stylus on the touch screen, and holding the game at the same time!

[NUMBERZero]

Sounds like people who play 4DoF games trying to learn Descent. You will get used to the controls just like those 4DoF'ers do when they put their minds to Descent. I play smoothly with a PS controller when playing Descent on the Playstation (which should be harder considering that you don't have analog stick control). Set up the controls just right and you have it. I have it on the Playstation.

[Scyphi]

Of course, there is also yet another issue that you haven't considered, NumberZero.

Suppose nobody wants to play Descent on the DS?

I certainly don't, I'll stick with the PC it was intended for, and WillyP and Foil have indicated that they wouldn't. And others have voiced the opinion that they think this wouldn't work well, hinting that they might not want to play it either.

Granted, it might draw in newbies who are fans of the DS, but I can use your own words against you on that (no offense). Those DS players are used to the 4DoF style of games, not Descent's unique 360DoF, something that was never intended for to begin with. Trying to play this game on a console that wasn't designed for it would probably make most of those newbies get fed up with the complexity of the controls and give up, regardless of the fact if the controls can be properly mimicked or not. In fact, the original Descent for the PC faced that same problem. More players than would be ideal just couldn't handle the complexity of the controls and eventually just got fed up. And even if you don't, it can take a very long time to master those controls. It has taken me many years to get the degree of control of this game that I have now, and even that's far from perfect. I still have much that I could learn.

In short, I don't think Descent on the DS will fly, at least, not from a marketing standpoint.

And anyway, your idea can't come about anyway, as Interplay is no position to do it right at this moment, and whether or not they even have the rights to do it is, even now, in doubt.

Sorry to put a damper on your day.

[Foil]

I play smoothly with a PS controller when playing Descent on the Playstation (which should be harder considering that you don't have analog stick control). Set up the controls just right and you have it. I have it on the Playstation.

I have both Descent PS games as well, and have played through them both.

Your configuration may be good, but there just aren't enough controls to allow you to do everything at once, especially for Descent:Maximum.  With a regular PS controller, there is just no way to have a config which allows for every combination of four thrusts (trichording + afterburning), two firing controls (primary + secondary), three axes of rotation (turning + rolling), with enough left for things like flares and weapon switching.

The lack of independent controls would be even worse on the DS.

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Note: This isn't to say working on an official DS Descent port wouldn't be worthwhile.  I'm just pointing out that there are control/config limitations, as Zantor said.

[-<WillyP>-]

Some good points, Scy, but even though I would not play Descent (or any other game, for that matter) on the DS, I know my kids would, and against other D>DS players they would probably have fun and do well. Against players using a PC, (joystick, mouse, keyboard, whatever) they would be owned. Although, I don't even know if the D>DS port can connect to a regular server, I can't even get them connected to our wifi net.