Rethinking remakes and remasters

Everywhere you look these days, it seems that more and more games are being remade, remastered, and re-released, with varying degrees of change (and success). Some are largely a fresh coat of paint to make what was old look sparkly new, like the recent Amerzone; some add siginificant new features, such as co-op gameplay in Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons or voice-overs in Monkey Island’s two special editions. Still others are complete re-imaginings, like the Colossal Cave remake by Ken and Roberta Williams, while some are mainly just light updates for porting to new platforms.

Whatever the reason, remakes are here to stay. But are they a good thing? For gamers, for developers, for the industry at large? Joshua and Jack debate the merits, good and bad, and arrive at the definitive answer of “sometimes, maybe, depends.”

And speaking of re-imagined golden oldies, Marcus Mera from Guillotine Games drops by briefly to chat about his own upcoming remake of the first-ever graphic adventure game, Mystery House, in shiny new 3D splendour. While keeping the spirit of the Sierra classic intact, the new version promises to have plenty of updates and added features, and is going to be SPOOKY.

No show is complete without a top five, of course, and in keeping with the spirit of the topic, this time it’s top five games that should be remade! (Maybe they are a good thing, after all.)

Finally, on a more sombre note, Jack makes a heartfelt appeal for people to check out the behind-the-scenes video of Wildwood Down, a great-looking game whose real-world lead character Daniel is going through a serious health challenge. We're all rooting for you, Daniel, and our best wishes to the entire Crashable Studios team!

Links

• Wildwood Down
• Mystery House 3D

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