This is a comment/reply on a recent blog post by Seth Killian on the CAPCOM BLOG from which I’ve stolen his posting image because it’s a pretty accurate representation of whats going on. Except maybe Sony Ken is 4 feet lower and getting nailed in the balls by Capcom Ken.

In the post he outlines reasons for not including a Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD remix beta with Commandos 3 on PS3, unlike our X360 counterparts will be enjoying on live:

1. We are resource constrained. This project already has gone over the original budget (we had a new budget approved to accomodate our dedication to its quality and the new features… there were even a few we wanted to do that had to get cut in the end… more on that in a post mortem blog or something). Anyway, we wanted to do a beta to test the new network features but even if it were possible for Sony to do, it would require 3 submissions (US, Europe, Asia/Japan) to reach the same global audience we can with MS in a single test and global submission.

2. We treat the PS3 extremely seriously. To date, we are still the only third party publisher doing cross platform, simultaneous digital releases (still working on the global simultaneous, but see the issues above on multiple submissions per territory as an issue). Believe it or not, this is not easy and to suggest we aren’t treating the PS3 as important would be ignorant of what we’re doing for it.

3. In my ideal world of worlds, we would have done a beta on each. That said, the effort and time (not to mention money) that would have taken, if it even could be done, probably would have pushed the project back another few months on our side. I suspect you guys would still like to play this title in this calendar year.

4. The beta for 360 will absolutely help the PS3. There is code parity across the two and any issues found in 360 will be fixed in PS3. So while PS3 owners won’t be able to participate in the beta, they will still benefit in the finished product.

5. Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 will be an excellent title on PS3. The lack of a bonus beta doesn’t make it not worth its asking price.

6. When you show me someone running a cross platform beta… I’ll be impressed, because that’s a hell of an investment.

Lets go over these shall we?

1. Okay, fair enough, you’ve spent too much money and running two betas is more expensive. However, how big a hurdle is multi region submission? And really how “multi region” is an Xbox Live submission anyway? The console is sucking in Japan, and so you’ve pretty much barred your Japanese fans from participating, and the PS3 is stronger in most European markets except the UK. Is that a good trade off for not having to submit to multiple stores?

2. I think you just have to read the comments beneath the blog post to get the general opinion from people on how they feel the PS3 has been treated. Lost Planet has obviously generated a lot of bad PR for Capcom with PS3 owners, and while I didn’t really care about the game too much and thus didn’t follow it, here are the facts. A not so great “port” was just released for PS3 over a year after its X360 counterpart, and subsequently an enhanced version was just announced as exclusive for X360 and PC called Lost Colonies. That’s a pretty asshole move on Capcom’s part.

3. Sure will, but obviously netcode problems specific to each platform won’t be helped, and most likely, Xbox360 will have more robust network code. Looks like you guys really appreciated the no hassle download limit the PSN gave you.

4. This is kind of a weird comment to make since most demos Capcom has released are multi platform and face the same issues a multi platform beta would. Unless the actual bug fixing, network monitoring and of course, the work involved producing the beta were too much, I can see the point, but THIS HAS been done before, there were just called demos.

5. Well, that’s up for debate when it is released, however, is it worth as much as the Xbox 360 version without the beta? No. Are Xbox Live subscribers getting a better deal? Yes.

6. Whoa, hold on there, CROSS platform beta? When was it mentioned that there would be CROSS platform support? Yes that would be a huge investment, but no where was it mentioned CROSS platform play was even being considered. If so, you’ve heard it here first folks, otherwise that’s just a typo, and it should be MULTI platform, in which case see point 4.

Bottom line, X360 is getting a beta, PSN users aren’t, and it stings an already open wound. Come on Capcom, throw us a bone here, a lot of PS3 users are fans of Japanese game company’s and the “different” types of games they produce, and its time to show them some love. Remember the PS2? How about the Dreamcast? We’ve been friends for a long time, lets not ruin a beautiful thing.