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Lets talk about the curious case of Q*Bert


Soufwar

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I know we all saw Q*Bert in Wreck It Ralph and didn't give a shit, then we saw him again in Pixels (terrible movie stay away from this one) and didn't give a shit, we see him in the PS Store sales all the time aaaaaand guess what? we don't give a shit. But now that his game Q*Bert Rebooted is one of the PS Plus free games of next month (April 2018 if you're reading this post in the future) we give a fuck, not really but just a slight one. 

 

So, i did some digging online and the results i found are fascinating. Let me start by saying this, Sony has a history with publishing games on other platforms, like Helldivers under the PlayStation Mobile name on Steam and their recent announcement to publish games on PC and Nintendo Switch under their Sony Music branch and their new founded game publishing label callled Unities. 

To my surprise, Q*Bert is a Sony IP. But its not owned by SIE or Sony Interactive Entertainment for you Colin Moriarty folks out there. So, not to get lost explaining. Let me explain. 

Q*Bert was developed by Gottlieb, Gottlieb themselves were owned by Columbia Pictures at the time. Then Gottlieb and Columbia parted ways but Q*Bert stayed with Columbia because they owned the IP, kind of like Bungie and Microsoft and Halo, Sony acquired Columbia in 1889 and Q*Bert was just one of the assets of Columbia so they had it in their catalogue, you have to realize that Q*Bert while not being a juggernaught  in the video game industry at the time like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, it is still one of the most merchandized video game icons of all time (not today anymore but you get the point). So, Sony owned Q*Bert and for the next few years they made games in that franchise, almost all were shit except some good ones here and there, Sony Pictures is the company that handles Q*Bert today, they're sitting on the IP not doing anything instead of transferring the IP to SIE to actually do something with it. Also, Q*Bert Rebooted is on every platform even the Xbox One, which begs the question if Sony internal devisions dont play well together just like Sega US and Sega Japan back when Sega was a hardware manufacturer as well. 

 

What do you think? Are you going to play Q*Bert when it goes free next month?

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I picked this game up last year from a bundle with Whispering Willows, Fluster Cluck and Back to Bed (Which were all enjoyable and easy 100%'s to say the least), but I never gave this one a try until last month on a blank. I didn't bother with Rebooted as I was more distracted with Classic, but the controls are terrible. From what I saw, in a earlier patch pressing circle will back you out of Q*Bert Classic completely with no warning or anything. Haven't played it since that day, but maybe sometime in the summer I'll suffer and give it a shot at the 100% for real.

 

What's more on my mind is how low is the rarity going to fall on these lists.

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14 minutes ago, LunaKishi said:

I picked this game up last year from a bundle with Whispering Willows, Fluster Cluck and Back to Bed (Which were all enjoyable and easy 100%'s to say the least), but I never gave this one a try until last month on a blank. I didn't bother with Rebooted as I was more distracted with Classic, but the controls are terrible. From what I saw, in a earlier patch pressing circle will back you out of Q*Bert Classic completely with no warning or anything. Haven't played it since that day, but maybe sometime in the summer I'll suffer and give it a shot at the 100% for real.

 

What's more on my mind is how low is the rarity going to fall on these lists.

I don’t care about rarity at all, I care about finishing my games 100%. But like you said, it’s quite embarrassing seeing one of arcade gaming’s mascots being fucked with like this, Q*Bert really deserves better, a reboot of a reboot is needed and the IP should be transferred to SIE. 

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2 hours ago, Soufwar said:

I know we all saw Q*Bert in Wreck It Ralph and didn't give a shit, then we saw him again in Pixels (terrible movie stay away from this one) and didn't give a shit, we see him in the PS Store sales all the time aaaaaand guess what? we don't give a shit. But now that his game Q*Bert Rebooted is one of the PS Plus free games of next month (April 2018 if you're reading this post in the future) we give a fuck, not really but just a slight one. 

 

So, i did some digging online and the results i found are fascinating. Let me start by saying this, Sony has a history with publishing games on other platforms, like Helldivers under the PlayStation Mobile name on Steam and their recent announcement to publish games on PC and Nintendo Switch under their Sony Music branch and their new founded game publishing label callled Unities. 

To my surprise, Q*Bert is a Sony IP. But its not owned by SIE or Sony Interactive Entertainment for you Colin Moriarty folks out there. So, not to get lost explaining. Let me explain. 

Q*Bert was developed by Gottlieb, Gottlieb themselves were owned by Columbia Pictures at the time. Then Gottlieb and Columbia parted ways but Q*Bert stayed with Columbia because they owned the IP, kind of like Bungie and Microsoft and Halo, Sony acquired Columbia in 1889 and Q*Bert was just one of the assets of Columbia so they had it in their catalogue, you have to realize that Q*Bert while not being a juggernaught  in the video game industry at the time like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, it is still one of the most merchandized video game icons of all time (not today anymore but you get the point). So, Sony owned Q*Bert and for the next few years they made games in that franchise, almost all were shit except some good ones here and there, Sony Pictures is the company that handles Q*Bert today, they're sitting on the IP not doing anything instead of transferring the IP to SIE to actually do something with it. Also, Q*Bert Rebooted is on every platform even the Xbox One, which begs the question if Sony internal devisions dont play well together just like Sega US and Sega Japan back when Sega was a hardware manufacturer as well. 

 

What do you think? Are you going to play Q*Bert when it goes free next month?

If some one own a Sony Ericsson around 10 years ago (like me) he remember this game (on sony mobile phone it was a pre-installed game obviously, like snake for Nokia 3310). For me he was so good for breaking time, but damn hard. I don't think i'll go for this 100%, just good luck if some one want to do it. Some level (a lot) are just..crazy you know..

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1 minute ago, killer91ITA said:

If some one own a Sony Ericsson around 10 years ago (like me) he remember this game (on sony mobile phone it was a pre-installed game obviously, like snake for Nokia 3310). For me he was so good for breaking time, but damn hard. I don't think i'll go for this 100%, just good luck if some one want to do it. Some level (a lot) are just..crazy you know..

Its just sad that the franchise is in the hands of people at Sony that don't give a fuck about games, i would love to see the series get back with a proper game, maybe put an easy mode so people who missed it back when it was in the arcades or just cant play hard video games can play it today! i would love to see them hand the franchise to SIE. 

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On 3/28/2018 at 8:57 PM, Kittet3 said:

I ran out of upvotes, but that scene is extremely fitting for our current conversation. Thanks!

There i upvoted for ya :) But yeah, Q*Bert saw a massive boost in popularity after that scene and his role in Pixels that Sony Pictures had to bring him back...in the worst way possible. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/12/2018 at 0:48 PM, noahriggs said:

I was actually excited to see this as one of the free game this month. At least I can play classic Q*Bert which has been one of my favorites for almost 30 years. I’ll never be upset about a free game of Q*Bert. 

We’re not upset we got Q*Bert for free, we’re upset this game exists. The classic game is awesome and we all agree. The reboot is a disaster of a cash grab. But I guess you’re right, at least the classic game is there if you want replay it! 

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