With Microsoft laying down a 150MB limit to all Xbox Live Arcade titles, it was only a matter of time before players would begin finding problems with the limit. The most prominent title facing issues is the highly anticipated remake: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
With hand drawn images in 1080p, remixed music tracks, and the inclusion of the original Street Fighter II Turbo for hardcore loyalists, it is easy to see why the 150MB limit is causing problems for director David Sirlin.
The biggest issue facing the team is how to cram both the original scores from the game while at the same time including the new remixes. Storing all of this, along with all the game code, HD graphics, plus all the original content of the game may be next to impossible according to Mr. Sirlin.
That is not to say the game won’t come to XBLA, but it may ship with some features not included. Why should this concern 360 owners? Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is also being released for the PlayStation 3 via PSN and for the time being, Sony has no size limit to the arcade games they release on their platform.
The possibility that the PSN version of the game will be the superior purchase is very real. It is understandable why Microsoft imposed the original size limit since the biggest hard drive their console offered was only 20GB. But with the inclusion of the 120GB model now, seeing Microsoft still latching onto their old initiative is puzzling.
Aside from this the other issue facing HD Remix are the controllers. David Sirlin is not shy about his opinion about Sony and Microsoft’s design choices.
"In my opinion, one of the worst ideas inflicted on the Shoryukening gaming public was Sony’s idea to turn the d-pad into four buttons with no diagonal piece. I hated it on the PlayStation. I hated it on the PlayStation 2. I hate it on the PlayStation 3. Microsoft’s d-pad has a much better shape (including the diagonals) and yet somehow, it isn’t any better in practice. There’s something amiss about the mechanism underneath the Xbox 360’s d-pad that makes it mysteriously imprecise. My final tally is that both d-pads tie for badness."
But hardcore fans should be pleased to know arcade sticks can be used with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix since Mr. Sirline has been using both the Hori DOA and VF5 Xbox 360 arcade sticks throughout the entire development cycle.
Without a doubt the SF community is going to go crazy over the release of HD Remix. Let’s just hope for our Xbox 360 owning friends that they don’t get the shaft.
[Via Videogamer.com]
