X-Box rereleases
 

I'm beginning to notice a somewhat annoying trend. Game developers release a game for the PS2, then after a while release an X-Box version, which the dub a directors cut, which usually only has a minor change. They did this with Oni Musha, Fatal Frame (I believe) Metal Gear Solid 2, and the GTA games. I like that people like me with just an X-Box are getting these games, it just seems kinda stupid to release them as 'special editions' rather than just the same game at the same time.
Opinions?

i think its cause they dont have the license maybe they buy them from the game companies that make em and not sony in witch case they may have the game but not that specific name exp onimusha becomes genma onimusha
sons of liberty becomes substance just my opinion if im wrong then point it out.

Its not about names, its about console contracts. Most of the companies hop on a major brand name (Metal Gear, Onimusha, etc) and force the developers to make games ONLY for their system. So PS2 gets all the GTAs, XBox gets all the Splinter Cell, Gamecube gets all their Nintendo stuff.

Now, the developers aren't stupid. They want money. Sure, GTA is still gunna sell a bajillion copies, but if they had another console to sell on, they'd sell a bajillion times two. So they get clauses that basically chain them to one console for a few years, but after that they can branch out.

I don't care, PS2 owners aren't usually on the gimme end.

What I don't understand is why drag it out? Why not just release the game for both consoles at the same time, it would cost less in development, less in advertising, and still sell just as many copies.
also, substance was also released on PS2, so it wasn't just a transfer with that one.

As My Lead Airbag mentioned, they have contracts. For example, Rockstar is signed to have GTA games as PS2-exclusive for x number of months. Hence they cannot create a port for Xbox or PC until x number of months has passed.

You can argue whether or not this system of doing things is stupid, sure, but first you need to accept that, right now, that's how and why it's done.

myst from what ive heard its because the companies like sony and microsoft that own the consoles might make more money if they have the game first because if u have multiple consoles ull probly not waitfor it to come out on one when u can get it for another sooner.

I do know that for a while Microsoft was requiring any game ported over from another system to have additional content added to it before they would give it the go-ahead. So a lot of those 'special editions' are in fact slightly different from their counterpart on the system it was originally released on.

Indeed. And it goes both ways. At least in the case of Splinter Cell it does. Though unfortunately the other versions were a visible step down from the Xbox version. But they did have some small bonus content.

I don't see why you're complaining. Considering previous generations of consoles NEVER allowed games to be ported to other consoles, it's a huge step up. And from XBoxs point of view, a highly profitable one (because other consoles usually can't handle XBox's big games, like Halo and Morrowind).

Yea we should be thankfull and happy that there are games that come out for more then one console