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Steve Ranck discusses more H2Overdrive and dispels console release rumors

Shaggy 8

Here’s a little bit more H2Overdrive info to whet your appetite, this is the last part of the interview series that Noe V. did with the Specular Interactive team and in this part he finishes discussing the game with Steve Ranck, CEO of the company. Instead of posting this to his 1up blog, Noe V. has provided us with the video link first, to which we thank him! They talk a little bit about track and game design, delve further into the hardware running the game and then comes the question about a home release. I have seen rumors in different spots that a console version is in the works but as it turns out, this is not the case. See the video for the response and the reason why.

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Personal thoughts on H2Overdrive being an arcade exclusive: As an operator this pleases me tremendously. As unprofessional as this sounds, nothing sucks more than to buy a big expensive game that has a console release come along and undermine sales a short time later. We can always debate the real effects of home ports but either way I look at it like this (as both an operator and a player): consoles get their exclusives that never come out on anything else and so I do not see why arcades cannot share the same idea. Granted home releases are a little different due to accessibility, but a great arcade game generally will see awesome sales that can lead to the game showing up all over the place.

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8 comments
editor

We need to find the consumer game journo that is spreading the rumor about the consumer release of this game as they have a serious vested interest in undermining this game in arcades.

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arcads4ever

to be honest I would rather play games like this in the arcade than on my consoles at home. at home you can play all sorts of games and theres so many to choose from. from my point of view I think if they released this on a home console I don’t think it would sell very well because there are so so so many games at are out their to buy and not to mention the ones that are coming out particuarly popular ones like super mario galaxy 2, wii fit plus, LEZ spirit tracks, little big plannet 2, call of duty next installment, sonic series etc… the list just goes on and I think if they released H20verdrive on a console it would get lost in the crowds of other games that are available and the ones that are just about to see release.

he also says that their were shows in greece, but I thought that 7 years ago that greece banned are video game including arcade games. I went to greece last year though and I found some arcade games and they even had a few recent releases like lets go jungle, time crisis 4 and virtua tennis 3. maybe the ban has been dropped perhaps?

never played hydro thunder as it didn’t look good to me at the time but this looks to be quite good and I’ll deffinatly give this a go

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    R

    fuck you ass hole people like you are the reason games like this don’t get released at home, Hydro Thunder is the best racing game ever and so is part two, just fucking play the game it’s fucking good.

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      arcads4ever

      No need to be rude, there were just too many arcade games at the time that were better than hydro thunder in my opinion. daytona, aqua jet, the house of the dead, alpine racers, time crisis 1 and 2, sega rally etc… hydro thunder hardly had the best graphics when you look at say sega’s scud race, house of the dead or even daytona, plus the frame rate looked crap. what do you mean by part two, did they do a sequal?

      H2Overdrive looks way better than hydro thunder though.

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      Shaggy

      Wow, way to be mature there.

      It’s highly unlikely that arcade companies pay much attention to people making comments on blog posts about their policy towards porting games over. Instead they listen to operators whose business is directly impacted by home ports. Besides, why does EVERY arcade game have to be ported to home consoles?

      Reply
      Novastorm

      @Shaggy: not EVERY arcade game needs to be ported to consoles, but i think great games like this need to eventually come to the people who live in areas where there is no such thing as arcades anymore. I’m lucky that the local bowling has had a Hydro Thunder 2-player cab since as long as i can remember, but they’re not going to invest in H2Overdrive, and i doubt there’s anywhere in my country that i will be able to play this.
      I’m not saying that they should release this for consoles anytime soon, since that would certainly be unfair to arcade operators, but saying it will never get ported at all (which means i will probably never be able to play it) is a big slap in the face for a Hydro Thunder fan like me =(

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        Shaggy

        I understand what you mean, there are plenty of arcade-only games that I haven’t had a chance to play since they never made it home. My point is more about mentality – some people seem to demand that every single arcade game goes home and while I understand that from a player’s perspective (I’ve been a gamer my whole life too) from an operator’s perspective it’s not so great and it’s part of the reason behind the demise of the industry at large. We need something exclusive to our venues to help us stay in business, which leads to more arcade game development.

        99% of the games out there are made for the home in some fashion so the small amount that gets released just for arcades isn’t too much to ask I believe. But if they want to release a home version down the road when the arcade itself is passed it’s prime, I don’t have a problem with that. But a couple of years ago we had companies releasing the home version only a couple of months after the arcade release! That actually still happens in the case of fighting games, such as BlazBlue or KOF.

        One nice thing about popular games like H2O is that the chances of someone in your area grabbing one is pretty high – if the game is popular then venues beyond arcades, whether it’s a theater, bowling alley, bar or other out-of-home entertainment venue is likely to pick it up. I also advocate bugging a location operator about it. I listen to what people ask for at my own place here, as long as I can afford it and I’ve had people ask for H2Overdrive. Now that they have a 32″ version that is cheaper then there’s a stronger possibility I could grab one.

Jason

Its cool for a game to remain exclusive to arcades, however, what about places that don’t have an arcade
nearby or at all?
A console port would make the game more accessible
to everyone.
Now when it comes to Hydro Thunder, its one of my
all time favorite racing games.
Playing it at home is great but at the same time
not the same experience as sitting in the
rumbling seat with the throttle.
I am glad that Microsoft swooped in and bought the
license to HT and hired a new dev team to create a sequel that certainly lives up to the original in pretty much every respect, they saved the original from obscurity with Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Vector are obviously fans of the original game too, but the downside is its missing the authentic coin-op experience that the first game had.
As for H2Overdrive, the game is amazing and I was lucky enough to find an arcade that had it and I played it constantly, and it was nice to know that it was created by some or most of the Midway team who gave us the first game, so how could anything go wrong?
I think the reason that H2Overdrive isn’t getting a port is because it would be essentially competing with itself in the form of Hydro Thunder Hurricane and consumers would probably be confused.
All three games are great and maybe its for the better that H2Overdrive stays in arcades to help keep the scene alive but also, its where the roots of this series began.
I would buy a home port if there ever was one just so I could play it whenever I wanted to, its nice to have a game that exists in both the home and arcade market, the best of both worlds as each version is unique unto itself unless its a straight port with nothing tacked on.
I love arcades though and having H2Overdrive as an arcade exclusive gives me reason to actually go to the arcade in the first place.
So if anyone wants a home port, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is your only option, and not a bad one either, it’s as close as anyone is going to get to a home version of H2Overdrive right now.
I can’t wait until this next summer, I will be right back in the driver seat with my pocket of quarters and my ID code from last year.
Thank you Midway for such a great series of games that continue to endure along with their arcade legacies!

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