“Dead Rising University” & the other Xbox-reboots we need

To commemorate the inaugural post of this website, as well as the twentieth anniversary year of Xbox, it feels apt to explore some of the classic franchises of Xbox’s past that deserve a new shot at life.

I was initially drawn to this topic upon thinking about the current state of Xbox Game Pass, the now core subscription service for Microsoft’s gaming platform. Like so many other media subscriptions, Game Pass features a wealth of older franchises and IP’s to bolster its content quantity and diversity. To me, it seemed like a logical conclusion that, with their back end user data, Xbox could look to bring back IP’s that performed especially well within the service. Hearing that Phil Spencer would be appearing on the Kinda Funny Gamescast, I decided to submit that very question - whether Game Pass incentivized the rebooting of older franchises. It just made sense: Xbox could bring back fan favorite, cult classics that re-contextualize those older releases all the while releasing a new game for subscribers to get their hands dirty with. And fortunately for the topic of this post, the cool folks over at Kinda Funny asked and he indicated as much on the episode!

So with that in mind, what IPs might we potentially see reboots from? Obviously, our imagination can stretch wildly into the furthest reaches of Xbox history. For the purposes of this post, however, I want to curate selections that answer positively in response to a series of core questions - does a reboot make sense in conjunction with Xbox’s slate of exclusive titles, does it exemplify the advantages of the Game Pass distribution model, and would it be FUN?

To begin, let’s look back at one of the defining franchises from the Xbox 360-generation!

Dead Rising protagonist, Frank West, guns down a zombie in a shopping mall (2006)

Dead Rising University

Not an Xbox-owned IP currently but I would love to see a new take on the Dead Rising franchise. A new entry would be a perfect fit for Game Pass in a multitude of ways:

1. While not necessarily a Games-as-a-Service (or GAAS for short), Dead RIsing incentivizes repeat playthroughs and re-engagement with the game over a longer period of time as the player accrues experience and knowledge. This allows them to replay the game with ever increasing stats in areas such as movement speed or item slots. Despite a difference in genre, Hitman is a decent comparison here (and I think iOi and Hitman would be excellent fits for the Game Pass model.)

2. Building off of the above, DR typically features a zany, item filled open world that incentivizes player agency, exploration, and “memeable” moments - perfect fits for the social media and Twitch-oriented gaming landscape we find ourselves in for the foreseeable future. One could easily imagine a map that changes to align with some real world seasonal event (i.e. Halloween, Christmas, Valentines Day, July 4th, etc.) Item packs could be purchased to generate additional revenue, while providing players with a myriad of seasonally appropriate weapons, clothes, and other usable items.

3. While State of Decay is currently Xbox’s premier zombie title, there really isn’t another that exists in that “genre”, so to speak. Furthermore, they offer totally different gameplay and narrative experiences so their coexistence wouldn’t necessarily be a problem. Having both could enable both franchises to share technology and best practices across each title, enabling more complex zombie artificial intelligence or survivor pathfinding. This technology would be to the advantage of each title, not to mention the flexibility it gives each developer to know they don’t have to regularly churn out their specific zombie game to fill some genre niche each (or every other) holiday.

In my head, I think Dead Rising could go one of two ways: Either they do a RE2-style remake, in which the original is used as an inspiration on a full scale reworking of the original title’s story and mechanics, or they do a new game ambiguously connected to the previous titles (so as not to be hamstrung by the narrative constraints of the previous 4 games.) I want to imagine the latter below:

Dead Rising University

Setting

DRU would be a Dead Rising game set in Dolphin Ridge, Florida - a sea-side college and resort town home to Dolphin Ridge University and the Phenotrans Medical Laboratory. While I think this setting inhibits some of the environmental changes that could be implemented to reflect seasonal events and the like, I think it would be an incredible playground of fun weapons and locations. You could have everything, ranging from chainsaws attached to a water ski, or a beer gun retrofitted to shoot explosive cans.

The setting also allows for some really fun and unique spaces to explore and survive. Imagine a psychopath battle against a mentally gone football star who has kidnapped some frightened students under the Saturday night lights of the football field. Or rescuing a spooked-out rapper from the Spring Break festival’s stage. Or battling against a crazy professor in the Science Hall, as he uses a concoction of chemical mixes to deal damage to you and his students.

I think the college town / resort town hybrid really makes for a truly unique locale for a zombie game.

Player Character

The game would enable you to play as a custom character, with the body and voice type contingent upon your selection (aside: I imagine this could negatively impact the volume of clothing options, so I suppose it would be an assessment of tradeoffs.) This feels the current best practice for handling character customization is an inclusive manner, and I would love to see this approach implemented within Dead RIsing.

To manage the impacts of a custom character, however, you could have a gender neutral name for the PC regardless of their selections - something like Avery or Casey.

Most of the previous DR games have seemed to feature protagonists that are fishes out of water. In that vein, your character could be a visiting student coming for the big Spring Break Week celebration or something along those lines.

Miscellaneous Ideas

I mentioned above about the inclusion of some truly wacky weapon combinations, so I’d like to see that feature return from the latter Dead Rising games - I think it fits fine within the larger sandbox, while offering a ton of fun opportunities for the player.

I would also love to see the timer mechanic return for the game - I know that is a bit of an unpopular choice for some, especially those who gravitated more towards the latter entries. But I think the timer mechanic helps to bring that additional level of difficulty and stress - it makes the random choices we decide upon in the game matter greatly. Do you run for the Fraternity houses to rescue the party animals stuck in their backyard, or do you conserve health and resources for the next case happening at 2:00AM? Furthermore, it only incentivizes additional playthroughs. Perhaps you didn’t save all the survivors you had wanted to get in your first run, so with your additional PP and skills you dive back in. I think those are compelling gameplay impulses, and I think the later games really lost their magic without that added layer of pressure.

I think a smart phone could replace both the camera and the walkie-talkie from the previous games, with texts or phone calls alerting you as to the location of psychopaths, survivors, or other miscellaneous activities. This could be used to facilitate a photo mode, or some sort of in-game video recording feature (a fictional Tik-Tok equivalent? I don’t know for certain)

Obviously, there would need to be some core, new mechanic that pushes the experience forward but I am unsure as to what that would be. My thinking goes to something that could take advantage of your PC being a college student - perhaps a limited faction system that provides skill bonuses or unique move-sets/weapons depending upon your allegiance to a particular student group/club. So maybe you could align with the Robotics Club in one play-through to unlock some unique weapons schematics and the ability to repair certain pieces of technology in the open world (Busted security system? Use your repair skills to fix it and unlock a hidden path.) Or join the Football Team to learn some new zombie tackles and unlock the locker room as a remote fast travel point.

Perhaps it could be a more significant environmental destruction system, where you can set fire to green spaces, level buildings, or flood neighborhoods. Not really sure but I am sure there are plenty of options that I have not accounted for.

Concept art from an unreleased Kameo II

Kameo: Elements of Power

Another title from that era, Kameo: Elements of Power deserved better than to be forgotten on the 360 and I would love to see a reboot in that world. In fact, I believe a reboot would be an excellent component within Xbox’s wider games portfolio for a multitude of reasons:

1. A Kameo-reboot would transition excellently into a Breath of the Wild-like open world action adventure title, with the player assuming the role of the titular character, Kameo. Over the past several years, we have seen a plethora of these excellent first party, singleplayer open world titles from both Nintendo and Playstation - with standouts like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Ghost of Tsushima, and even Super Mario: Odyssey embracing wide open spaces to immerse their players. There is clearly an appetite for high quality action-adventure titles, and I believe a new Kameo would be a compelling offering to leverage within Game Pass.

   One could argue that Xbox is already investing into single player titles that possess a potential emphasis on an open world (with upcoming releases such as Fable, The Outer Worlds 2, and Starfield.) And I do not think they are off the mark with such a note - but few, if any, are focused around the open world in the Zelda-like genre with its emphasis on puzzle solving and acquired progression within the world. Furthermore, there are advantages to the presence of similar content on a service like Game Pass (which I will explore in item three below!

2. Kameo would also be another great addition to the diverse roster of leading heroes within the Xbox Game Studios catalogue, possessing both a potentially iconic look with a truly unique power set. Perhaps more importantly, a Kameo title would bring us one step closer to a gaming future defined just as much by powerful heroines as it is by traditional male leads - a goal cited by Phil Spencer in a recent interview with Ryan McCaffrey on IGN’s Podcast Unlocked.

3. While a more traditional game release model might deter a publisher from releasing a rebooted legacy IP in a difficult-to-monetize genre, the Game Pass model offers alternative incentives that actually boost the viability of games like Kameo! Variety is a central component to the success of subscription services, driving customer acquisition and retention. it is to Xbox’s benefit to build a portfolio of games that appeal to as a wide of a base of customers as possible - where shooters coexist alongside zombie action games, family friendly puzzlers, and, yes, heroine led Zelda-likes. This can refer to the adding of value across the “width” or scope of a subscription service. But there is also benefit to the adding of value within the “depth” aswell. By this, I am referring to the inclusion of titles that bring additional value within a particular segment of that overall service - akin to having Parks & Recreation for users to watch after they’ve completed The Office. There are clear advantages to having even more content to scratch the itch of players after they complete a particular type of game. Once players beat Fable, for instance, a fantasy open world Kameo may offer to scratch that new open world itch!

The central premise of a reboot would not be all that dissimilar to the original - Kameo would be tasked with collecting the various elemental sprites from across the sprawling open world as you attempted to save the kingdom from your evil sister and the troll king, Thorn. These sprites would grant Kameo access to their powerful elemental warrior forms in both combat and exploration, enabling unique dungeon and puzzle dynamics. Envision a segment of gameplay in which you trek across snow covered mountain tops to discover a lair of trolls who seek to topple a nearby village. The bridge to the main fortress is broken, and a gap separates you from the other side. You are gripped by desperation, but you are overcome by a flashing realization: You possess the powers of the elemental warrior Major Ruin!

You transform into an absolute unit of an armadillo, and activate his roll to accelerate across a ramp onto the other side. Perhaps there are alternative routes to access and scale the frozen fortress, relying on the wit of the player or the abilities of the other elemental warriors you have gathered. World navigation, combat, and puzzle solving would be intricately tied to these elemental abilities - empowering you to access hidden treasures or to resolve side quests for NPCs in the world’s diverse assortment of villages and towns.

The player-driven adventure would remain at the core of the experience. Additional paid adventures could even be purchased over the course of the game’s lifetime, with other elements also available as an added revenue stream for the developers (i.e. classic Rare costumes for Kameo, new weapons, perhaps a coop arena mode supported by micro-transactions.)

Regardless of the specifics, we need a new Kameo game - and we need it yesterday!

Viva Pinata: Paradise Lost

A cult classic from the Xbox 360, Viva Pinata was a series of garden simulators that allowed users to build up a beautiful garden environment and care for a variety of adorable pinata creatures. With the massive success of games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, a retooled new entry in this franchise is a no-brainer!

But what would such a game look like? Would it be a garden simulator in the vein of the previous titles, or something entirely new? I want to lay out how and why it can be both (insert the “porque no los dos?” gif!)

Let’s get the following out of the way: a living, persistent, and online connected garden management sim in the vein of the previous games would be a perfect fit for the Game Pass model (and quite frankly, I am surprised we haven’t seen it already.) Animal Crossing: New Horizons embodies the high potential for this genre of game. It is clear that developers can build a casual simulation experience that also integrates live content features quite naturally. Nintendo regularly drops seasonally-appropriate items and content into the sandbox without dramatically impeding the player with obtrusive micro-transactions that slow down the experience. The gameplay loop of Animal Crossing is inherently structured around regular logins over the course of an extended period of time - sometimes months or even years! - and I believe Viva Pinata could easily incorporate some of those elements to provide additional long term value for the player. In an ideal reboot, I wouldn’t want progress in the game to slow down to the time scale of Animal Crossing (where day/night cycles are tied to a real world clock.) But there is a balancing point where an enjoyable user experience is optimal in both the short and long term.

Viva Pinata in this form would become a platform upon which additional content, crossovers, and experiences can be built - similar to another Rare title, Sea of Thieves. An in-game marketplace could allow players to purchase seasonal and crossover-themed costumes for their pinatas, or novelty decorations. Perhaps you could purchase or unlock unique garden sandboxes inspired by other Xbox Game Studios titles - Envision a coastal garden inspired by Sea of Thieves, or a magical garden inspired by Fable. Such offerings would provide the developer an ongoing revenue to sustain the game over a longer period of time, perhaps mitigating part of the risk of a more niche Game Pass title.

A perspective change may be optimal to build out a more intimate gameplay experience, both in singleplayer and in any optional cooperative experience that would be incorporated. Similar to Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, players could visit each others gardens, help out with any maintenance, interact with the cute little pinatas as they roam about, and partake in some fun mini-games - all seamlessly managed over the Xbox Network and/or local coop.

Such a straightforward remake/reboot, with contemporary quality of life and live service features, would be incredibly fun in my opinion while also being financially feasible at the same time. Furthermore, its a genre that would translate very well across console, PC, and cloud streaming on phones & tablets.

Viva Pinata: Paradise Lost

Alternatively (to pivot in a completely different direction), I think you could do a really neat, stylized platformer (2D or 3D) to bring the franchise back into the spotlight while the traditional garden simulator is developed - and I think Dlala Studios would be an excellent fit for such a Viva Pinata: Paradise Lost. Most recently known for their work on bringing back the Rare classic Battletoads, Dlala have demonstrated skill in building a quality platformer that evokes the traditional style and themes of the older entry. While Viva Pinata was not a platformer in its original games (although, there was a party themed spin off for the Xbox 360), I believe the colorful world, memorable pinatas, and the premise of a lost garden in paradise (and reclaiming it for the pinatas) would make for a price conscious yet highly engaging spin off for the beloved Xbox franchise.

“Paradise” is an oft used phrase within the franchise, and it is a riff on the epic poem of the same time. The game would be centered on Hudson Horstachio, the horse pinata featured on the game covers and in the children’s animated series, who we discover to be a washed up wreck. The beautiful island paradise of the previous games has fallen into disrepair, now ruled by an evil corporation who seeks to corrupt its wonder for precious resources. Realizing what he must do, Hudson is tasked with saving the other party animals and restoring the garden to its natural state.

Such a smaller title would help to build hype amongst lapsed VP fans (many of whom may now exist on other platforms) while engaging with a newer, younger audience. Viva Pinata could also be an excellent IP to adapt for a mobile-specific F2P title, if none of the above is meant to be.

I just know that I’m ready to water some grass and see some cute pinatas.

Crimson Skies

Crimson Skies seems like another obvious reboot, and is often included on the wishlists of hopeful gamers around E3 time each summer. The Crimson Skies IP is perhaps best known for its video game entry Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, which flew on to the Original Xbox in the fall of 2003. The game features the uncommonly used dieselpunk setting of an alternate 1930s America, with gameplay centered around aerial dogfights in both singleplayer and multiplayer action. The title has long been referred to as an Original Xbox cult classic, and was even featured by Phil Spencer as he unveiled Original Xbox backwards compatibility for the Xbox One.

A reboot of this classic flight combat series would be a great addition to the Game Pass library. I am not quite sure that a dedicated flight combat game would sell amazingly well on its own - Ace Combat is perhaps the last big mainstream holdout - but as a component in a larger subscription library? I think it can fill some gaps.

There are probably a couple of different avenues you could take with the IP - In terms of the most likely, I could see Xbox doing something akin to Sea of Thieves but with planes. I imagine this would look like the following:

1. The game would feature a dedicated and persistent open world for players to cooperatively and competitively interact with others in (note: this could feature spontaneous battles with other players, or perhaps locations to trigger dogfight PVP instances.)

2. Separate from the PVE and PVP zones refereced above, you’d also need some sort of hub space where players can walk around and interact with other players and NPCs, all the while acquiring cosmetic gear and other knick-knacks for your plane. Speaking of which, I envision a personal hangar where you can store your specific plane, customize its parts and designs for various gameplay enhancements, and invite friends over to chat before the next outing.

3. A living platform also presents the opportunity to progressively release narrative-focused content, or novelty-skins and planes, over the course of multiple in game-seasons (perhaps you have a Snoopy/Red Baron Crossover, or a promotional event for InXile’s Steampunk RPG.) An ongoing meta-narrative can keep your deeply invested players coming back for more, while providing new players narrative hooks to get them engaged in the community.

Alternatively, you could build out some sort of smaller scale, yet focused dogfighting game - similar in scope and scale to Star Wars: Squadrons. I could see the inclusion of a singleplayer mode, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a MP-focused game.

Regardless of approach, a new Crimson Skies would fill a niche within Game Pass filled by few other titles. And you could funnel customers to the Enhanced backwards compatible version to sate their interest for the time being.

BONUS: Forza Burnout

Another non-first party IP that I’d be ecstatic for an Xbox reboot of, would be Burnout. In its current lineup of racers, Xbox has a traditional sim (Forza Motorsport), and a “simcade” (Forza Horizon.) As of yet, there is no arcade focused game. With a mixture of hype, and perhaps some delusion, I believe that Burnout would be the perfect fit to fill that genre gap, and to serve as the third pillar in the Forza franchise.

Forza Burnout

Forza Burnout would be a high octane arcade racing franchise generally set in urban/street environments with a focus on crashes and heart stopping takedowns. Contrary to Forza Horizon, I think setting Forza Burnout at a lower price point (let’s say, $39.99) would help to establish a clear expectations on the title’s first release - it would likely not feature as exhaustive of a lineup of supercars due to licensing concerns over damage/crashes, and I envision it as a track-focused racer as opposed to an open world driven title. For subsequent entries, as the franchise matures, that price point could tick up to the standard cost of a new game. But I do think a lower price to entry at first would be beneficial for establishing those expectations and building a wider audience.

You could have your progression-focused singleplayer mode, the return of the all time classic Crash mode, and a comprehensive multiplayer suite. Regular updates could provide additional tracks, cars, and crash scenarios - with the ForzaTech engine powering the racing experience under the hood.

The introduction of a third pillar to the Forza franchise on Xbox and PC would help alleviate potential time pressure on Turn10 and Playground games from their typical biannual release cadence, aligning with their newfound direction (seemingly, anyway) of building out each of their releases into living platforms that operate for 2-3 years+. The first iteration of Forza: Burnout likely wouldn’t be as successful off the bat as those other two franchises, but an additional three years to build out the framework of another arcade title using the lessons learned from the first release would be optimal. Perhaps you’d see an alternation in the arcade pillar between Forza Burnout (a high-octane, takedown focused racer) and a newly rebooted Forza Street (a street racing game with a heavy emphasis on tuning culture and police evasion, akin to classic Need For Speed.)

We don’t get many of these types of games anymore, and I’d love to see them brought back into the fold - especially since they would fill a complementary role within Game Pass to the other Forza racing titles.

What Xbox franchises would you want to see back in the action?