Saints Row 2 rollin' onto PS3

[cliffbo]

Saints Row 2 rollin' onto PS3, 360 in '08
Sequel to popular Grand Theft Auto-style free-range crime game to debut on both Sony and Microsoft's consoles next year; PS3 port of original canceled.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted May 10, 2007 11:17 pm GMT

Saints Row for the PlayStation 3 is no more. During a conference call with analysts after THQ's earnings report today, CFO Edward Zinser revealed the port, which was originally slated for release during this quarter, has been canceled. He said that as a result the California-based publisher is revising its guidance for the April-June quarter, the first of its fiscal year, downward.

THQ CEO Brian Farrell explained the logic behind the cancellation thusly to analysts. "We think the most important thing for the Saints Row franchise is to have a simultaneous ship into a larger installed base next year," he said. "We think the bigger opportunity is a multiplatform launch."

As one might deduce from Farrell's comments, THQ has reallocated all Saints Row resources at its internal studio Volition to work on a sequel. The game, which currently has no official title, will ship simultaneously on the PS3 and 360 sometime next year. Further details on the second Saints Row were scant, with THQ saying only that the game would "utilize Volition's proprietary open-world engine and deliver an all-new cross platform gaming experience." Farrell did tell analysts the game had been in the works for "some time."

Released last August as a 360 exclusive, Saints Row was praised by critics as being the first free-roaming urban crime game to be worthy of comparison to Grand Theft Auto. It also benefited from the fact no GTA game was released for next-gen consoles in 2006, selling nearly 700,000 copies in the US alone, according to industry-research group NPD Funworld. The has game topped over 1 million copies worldwide, and recently achieved Platinum Hits status.

http://www.gametab.com/news/901098/

[makeitlookreal]

They REALLY need to work on the graphics of this game.

[woundingchaney]

Well not just the graphics but the overall game itself. There is simply going to be too much competition this time around for them to take advantage of the market like they did last time. While Saints Row was a good game its release with little shelf competition and no genre competition was a major selling factor for the title (IMO). There is definetely potential in the title, although I doubt it ever reaches the GTA level of quality.

[cliffbo]

Well not just the graphics but the overall game itself. There is simply going to be too much competition this time around for them to take advantage of the market like they did last time. While Saints Row was a good game its release with little shelf competition and no genre competition was a major selling factor for the title (IMO). There is definetely potential in the title, although I doubt it ever reaches the GTA level of quality.

ye, that's what i was thinking. it seems a bit strange that they have cancelled the PS3 version of the first game, one would have thought that, if they could have got it out before GTA hit, it may well have sold a few copies. perhaps they figure that they can make more more hitting both consoles simultaneously, although the 360 is getting GTA too??!! does this show a lack of faith in their own IP?

[woundingchaney]

ye, that's what i was thinking. it seems a bit strange that they have cancelled the PS3 version of the first game, one would have thought that, if they could have got it out before GTA hit, it may well have sold a few copies. perhaps they figure that they can make more more hitting both consoles simultaneously, although the 360 is getting GTA too??!! does this show a lack of faith in their own IP?

I dont necessarily know about lack of faith but really more of a potential monetary return. I dont doubt that they realize that they simply cant compete with GTA on a development resource basis (or even a marketing basis). Canceling the title on the PS3 probably had a good bit to do with the next GTA looming on the horizon as they may be at a point where they simply cant release before their major competition does. So instead of spinning their wheels with a potentially doomed PS3 port they move their labor and monetary resources into the sequel.

Even if they did somehow release the PS3 version prior to GTA they would have a very limited selling window before the competition hit (which would in all reality kill their sales) and that window would be in a reasonably slow time for game purchases and still a reasonably small market for their games demographic (western sand box title).

[VG Aficionado]

I don't give a damn about SR 1 or 2, but I find it interesting that this week is so full of news. It's like E3's ghost is among us.

[dnpmakkah]

Didn't PSM have like a huge Saints Row blow out of 5-7 pages worth of info a few months back? How do developers just stop production on a game that 'seemed' like it was deep in the development process?

The only thing I can think of was that it (a) wasn't in much development to begin with or (b) the cost of bringing it out to a console with a small user base was too high and far out weighed the rewards. Either way at least it will be something different and not what we already saw.

[VG Aficionado]

Considering there wasn't any media, I did wonder a few weeks ago what was going on with this one, as it was weird there weren't previews or articles when I think it was supposed to be released this summer.

I wonder why they cancelled it. My best guess is that their PS3 engine wasn't ready yet. If it was ready, I think it would have been released considering they didn't have to create any new content for the PS3 version. I guess they'd still have to make some changes, but most of the asset work should have been already done. It wouldn't make much sense to release a sequel of a game out of the blue when you could have released the original one before to create a bit of a fan base either, albeit possibly very small. Then again, the cost wouldn't have been too great, considering the engine was going to be used for the sequel and the content had already been done and released on the 360 version.

Again, I guess they didn't have the engine ready and they weren't dedicating enough resources to the SR1 port since they're busy working on SR2.

I'm thinking too much about it considering I don't care about either title.

[Junox50]

You ready for this, playa? :)

[LiquidEagle]

I think GTA4's going to demolish this game, but I heard the first one was rather good so I'll keep an eye out on it. I just hope Volition isn't making this one -- I want them to make the next Red Faction!!!

[totobeni]

I think GTA4's going to demolish this game, but I heard the first one was rather good so I'll keep an eye out on it. I just hope Volition isn't making this one -- I want them to make the next Red Faction!!!

Brian Farrell confirmed Red Faction 3..


anyWAY i think botH SA2 and GTA4 will sucks ...one just a copycat the 2nd one is crap cuz of DVD-9

i will wait for za Getaway 3 (powered by PLAYSTATION@EDGE+blu-ray )

[curryking1]

That's great....

...

So there's this game called GTA IV, I hear the series is actually good!

Now go make my god damn RF3 Volition, stop wasting your time with a wankster of a game dammit!

[venomv]

Saint's Row was pretty crappy.....I doubt this will be much better.

[TheGreenElf]

Hmm, gotta take advantage of the GTA market before...you know...an actual GTA game rakes in all the sales and leaves the lackluster rip-offs to die slow deaths I guess...

[OmniCloud]

:whogives:

[HolyPaladin]

Why is it that anything that hits the 360 before it graces the PS3 is automatically labeled as crap on the PS3 board? It earned a respectable average review score of 82% (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928235.asp) which puts it roughly on par with Motorstorm (83%) and the only PS3 game thus far to even exceed 90% is Oblivion, which was also on the 360 first. Saints Row would have been one of the best PS3 games thus far had it been available on the PS3, and yet everybody shrugs it off as trash because Volition made it for the 360 rather than for the PS3.

I don't expect every single gamer out there to like Saints Row. No game appeals to every single gamer. For example, I personally couldn't give two shits for the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not personally being interested in a game doesn't make it crap, though. Don't give a rat's ass about Saints Row? That's too bad. It still doesn't make it crap. The bulk of the gaming community says it isn't crap, so....

I'm done ranting now.

[Smokey]

theres the paladin smackdown :)

[venomv]

Why is it that anything that hits the 360 before it graces the PS3 is automatically labeled as crap on the PS3 board? It earned a respectable average review score of 82% (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928235.asp) which puts it roughly on par with Motorstorm (83%) and the only PS3 game thus far to even exceed 90% is Oblivion, which was also on the 360 first. Saints Row would have been one of the best PS3 games thus far had it been available on the PS3, and yet everybody shrugs it off as trash because Volition made it for the 360 rather than for the PS3.

I don't expect every single gamer out there to like Saints Row. No game appeals to every single gamer. For example, I personally couldn't give two shits for the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not personally being interested in a game doesn't make it crap, though. Don't give a rat's ass about Saints Row? That's too bad. It still doesn't make it crap. The bulk of the gaming community says it isn't crap, so....

I'm done ranting now.

Have you played it? Saint's Row is crap, no two ways about it, it has an crappy stereotypical story, horrid controls and the language was absolutly awful, why does every character in the game have to cuss at least once a sentance? The only feature in the game that was good was the car custumisation, but that got boring after 30 mins. The constant gang wars get extremely old after you own a few areas, because you can't do anything sinse you always have to go defend territories every two mins.....I can't remember much more of the game, but my self-admitted MS fanboy freind hated it more then I did, so I don't think it is just Sony fans....

[cliffbo]

Why is it that anything that hits the 360 before it graces the PS3 is automatically labeled as crap on the PS3 board? It earned a respectable average review score of 82% (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928235.asp) which puts it roughly on par with Motorstorm (83%) and the only PS3 game thus far to even exceed 90% is Oblivion, which was also on the 360 first. Saints Row would have been one of the best PS3 games thus far had it been available on the PS3, and yet everybody shrugs it off as trash because Volition made it for the 360 rather than for the PS3.

I don't expect every single gamer out there to like Saints Row. No game appeals to every single gamer. For example, I personally couldn't give two shits for the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not personally being interested in a game doesn't make it crap, though. Don't give a rat's ass about Saints Row? That's too bad. It still doesn't make it crap. The bulk of the gaming community says it isn't crap, so....

I'm done ranting now.

i totally agree with you here! all i can put it down to is denial. i don't like FPSs, i don't like basketball games, American football games, fighting games... but i can still look at them and appreciate how good they are in their genre. the 360 has some excellent games and that's coming from a Sony fan, so come on, credit where credit is due

[dnpmakkah]

Why is it that anything that hits the 360 before it graces the PS3 is automatically labeled as crap on the PS3 board? It earned a respectable average review score of 82% (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928235.asp) which puts it roughly on par with Motorstorm (83%) and the only PS3 game thus far to even exceed 90% is Oblivion, which was also on the 360 first. Saints Row would have been one of the best PS3 games thus far had it been available on the PS3, and yet everybody shrugs it off as trash because Volition made it for the 360 rather than for the PS3.

I don't expect every single gamer out there to like Saints Row. No game appeals to every single gamer. For example, I personally couldn't give two shits for the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not personally being interested in a game doesn't make it crap, though. Don't give a rat's ass about Saints Row? That's too bad. It still doesn't make it crap. The bulk of the gaming community says it isn't crap, so....

I'm done ranting now.I don't hear many people labeling Oblivian as crap so your theory is somewhat miscalculated and shows that a game being on the 360 first has nothing to do with it. I do agree with you that labeling it as crap is wrong. Maybe it's not their cup of tea but it looked like a decent enough game and far from being crappy. If it would have came out for the PS3 I would have given it a rent. Seemed like fun when I played it at a friends house (although I'm really tired of the ganster genre for now).

I can also see the other point of view (i.e. Venomv). The game was not original and the story line had been done before by a last gen game (GTA:SA) and 360 fans were hating on it more than PS3 owner ever have. But ultimately I agree with you that this game is not crap, it's a decent game that could have been a filler for PS3 owners.

[satriales]

Why is it that anything that hits the 360 before it graces the PS3 is automatically labeled as crap on the PS3 board? It earned a respectable average review score of 82% (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/928235.asp) which puts it roughly on par with Motorstorm (83%) and the only PS3 game thus far to even exceed 90% is Oblivion, which was also on the 360 first. Saints Row would have been one of the best PS3 games thus far had it been available on the PS3, and yet everybody shrugs it off as trash because Volition made it for the 360 rather than for the PS3.

I don't expect every single gamer out there to like Saints Row. No game appeals to every single gamer. For example, I personally couldn't give two shits for the entire Metal Gear Solid franchise. Not personally being interested in a game doesn't make it crap, though. Don't give a rat's ass about Saints Row? That's too bad. It still doesn't make it crap. The bulk of the gaming community says it isn't crap, so....

I'm done ranting now.
Saints Row copied too much from GTA IMO. I've only got the demo, but it feels like GTA3 in HD and with better physics. The framerate was poor and just the fact that it was a blatant ripoff of GTA (but with less features) made me pass on buying the full game.

I can't see Sain't Row 2 being much better especially when Rockstar are redefining the genre again with GTA4.

Edit: Also, the best thing about GTA is it's humour (ads, people you talk to, radio chat), which is something SR doesn't have.

[curryking1]

i totally agree with you here! all i can put it down to is denial. i don't like FPSs, i don't like basketball games, American football games, fighting games... but i can still look at them and appreciate how good they are in their genre. the 360 has some excellent games and that's coming from a Sony fan, so come on, credit where credit is due

I can do that too, I don't like hockey, I don't hate hockey or people who like it or yada yada yada.

But Saints Row is a terrible game, in my opinion. How on earth it averaged 8.2 on the net, that is beyond me. It's a horrible freaking game.

And why are we measuring games by ratings on press reviews? Why? Motorstorm is a decent game, not great, it's pretty good, it's missing a lot of things I thought should've been there, could've been more, less, but it did go out and make a pretty interesting game that was kind of different and crazy with all the destruction. But Saints Row sucks. End story. It's the epitomy of a GTA ripoff.

Take all the guns and the city from GTA, but none of the substance, and you get SR.

This is Saints Row. Ok... let's take a city. Let you make a guy. Put some generic swearing in. Have terrible acting, story and dialogue. Give the man a bazooka and an assault rifle. Put some fancy inbetween generation graphics and presto! You have Saints Row. Oh.. and let players rob banks and mod cars. Amazing. What an amazing game.

Holypaladin, I dunno, maybe you're just going to leave this topic and come to the conclusion we are all dumbass fanboys or something. But I mean.. give me a break. When Oblivion came, not many of us were complaining. Why? Because our community of members here actually liked that game, because we have our own personal taste too. But this same community of members just doesn't like SR. None of us said 'we can't understand if people like SR.' All we said is that 'we don't like SR.'

[TheGreenElf]

i totally agree with you here! all i can put it down to is denial. i don't like FPSs, i don't like basketball games, American football games, fighting games... but i can still look at them and appreciate how good they are in their genre. the 360 has some excellent games and that's coming from a Sony fan, so come on, credit where credit is due

I really gotta say 360 has the best titles so far, but that to be expected with their head-start. At the same time, I don't see anything changing soon.

[woundingchaney]

I think the titles are definetely going to blur in the fall and both line ups will be very respectable. For the most part I agree with a lot of the posters that if they werent overly interested in the line up of Xbox titles they arent going to be overly interested in the 360 titles (although they are definetely branching out into other genres this gen).

The main problem with all the consoles is that right now there simply isnt anything to play, the only thing I actively play is Gears (love the damn mp) and spend most of my gaming time on my pc (dont buy infernal). I honestly cant wait till the fall just to get some quality gaming time (its a shame that most of my free time is in the summer when there is a lack of released titles).

[OmniCloud]

Warhawk Wounding...Warhawk

I'm about to get Oblivion for PS3, NGS, Warhawk and Lair-and anything cool that comes on the store.

That's about it until Fall though..

But what a way to end 07!!!! I think PS3 will have the best lineup this year.(only if Killzone is a great FPS though) If Ps3 doesn't have a Halo supplement, X360 will dominate this Holiday season...

And if both GTA4 are identical, X360 will probably pull in more sales in the U.S market as well:shrug:

Interesting year this one...can't forget about Home either..

[FantasyGhost]

We have just received confirmation (from EB of all places) that THQ have not canceled Saints Row. According to an EB-Employer (Yeah I hear your audible moans already!), but hang on.

We are hearing that they have received word that THQ has said that Saints Row is still in development for the PS3, anything else you may hear is just a rumour.

Now this sound fishy to us as well, as just a few days ago..

CFO Edward Zinser during a quarterly conference call stated “The most important thing for the Saints Row franchise is to have a simultaneous shipment into a larger installed base next year. That’s what we’re looking for with Saints Row 2.” and that the PS3 version of Saint’s Row was officially canned.

So were officially calling this Speculation and we are following up to find out if it’s just wishful thinking or possible a change of heart? According to EB not only have EB Games received an audible confirmation from THQ themselves but they now also have the display cases for the upcoming title.

No date appears to be set for this title as yet, follow the link below to view images of the upcoming Box Art.http://www.gameswank.com/?p=578
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n317/bitbydeath/Saints%20Row/Saints_Row-Front.jpg
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n317/bitbydeath/Saints%20Row/Saints_Row-Back.jpg