Pier Solar HD Delayed, Wii U Version Will Now Come With Built-In Achievements

"Apparently it's Microsoft which is kicking up a stink — it rejected the game due to "internal requirements". Rather than stagger the launch, WaterMelon is now holding back all versions of the game (that's over 10 iterations) until such requirements have been met."

It's makes sense they hold back all versions of the game: Microsoft's ID@Xbox programme requires that the game is available at launch on Xbox platforms, and not on other platforms before that date (although I think they won't look at the Mega Drive version, since it was not an official game launch on that platform).

Microsofts archaic, anti-competitive parity clause strikes again

Is there a ps4 version being made?

Maaan, this game just keeps getting delayed again and again. My heart can't take it!

Damn you Microsoft!

But really tho, I can't wait to play this game and it's too bad it got delayed..

Argh, Microsoft! Now that they finally got everything ready, you just had to ruin it for everyone! Thanks for reminding me again why I don't use your stuff anymore!

I guess it's not a huge deal to me. I probably wouldn't get it for some time, anyway. Plenty of other Wuu stuff to catch up on.

Noooooooooooo!!

I cant understand why indie devs in particular dont shun xbox because of their stupid rules

So, is this coming to the 3ds too? 10 platforms, so I guess that's phone's as well. If not I'll get the WiiU version

@Morph I think a fair few have been actually. There has been a fair few Sony exclusives coming out or being announced recently.

At least we get a full version that has even the achievement features from the Xbox version. I wish The Cave had this kind of thing, as there were funny, replay enhancing achievements in the original but they were all cut out from the Wii U version.

@FragRed well hopefully its a sign of things to come

Thanks a lot Microsoft I thought you were warming up to indies but apparently you're not. I wasn't really looking forward to this but it's still unfair. We don't have Forced coming anytime soon because of the same reason

If it will give them time to fix up and improve the game in all versions im all for it. Nintendo themselves are tough on their requirements as well especially finding bugs look at Shovel Knight and Armillo for example those games have been ready for awhile but were held back b/c of bugs infact didnt a few people report sum glitches in Shovel Knight after its release?

Id rather have an incredible game like Shovel Knight that needs a small little patch then a completely broken game like Battlefield 4…im always willing to wait for a good game

@WanderingPB delays are up to the developers you see many unfinished games on the eshop

@readyletsgo Suprisingly no 3ds version... Even though there will be an ouya and dreamcast version.

I've been waiting on my Genesis reprint on this game since LAST Christmas... what's another week or two, huh?

I am not bothered about achievements (If there is only one left though I do get it which can be totally annoying depending on what it is).

There is no need for achievements if finishing the game is an achievement in itself.

@Mega719 u misunderstand my friend im not trying to say every game released on the eshop is bug or glitch free but each of the big Three has certain standards and requirements before meeting approval so if there's a delay in one version it could be used to improve all versions especially when it comes to bugs and glitiches.

And if developers were the sole and only reason for delays then EA just pretty much said they can sell us anything and we would buy it with Battlefield huh but wait they did apologize and offered us more PAID DLC that we could purchase…yay…

@Falchion Theres a Dreamcast version? Finally I can dust off my next generation console and start using it! Its about time I upgraded from my N64

@WanderingPB The thing is, it may not even be that there is a bug in it, it may be something silly like a cultural reference or something petty, that Microsoft want them to change. Then all the other versions have to be held up because of that change, due to Microsofts policy of a game having to be on their console first or at the same time as other machines.

@Morph Touché my friend i didnt even consider that you make a very good point

@WanderingPB Compare it to wiiware though. The quality control from Nintendo is nowhere near as good as it used to be.

Now, if I didn't hate Microsoft and XBone before, I really hate them now.

I wish they would just drop MS... it is coming out on plenty of other platforms...
well unless this was a kickstarter and MS fans contributedI'vet even then there is no reason they couldn't release all of the other versions. I've been looking forward to this, delays for one platform is ridiculous. Eh at least Shovel Knight released. That game has been perfect in this slow summer in gaming and looks to occupy me and loads of other people for a good while!

Well it does make buying Shovel Knight with the rest of my money a little easier.

@unrandomsam Do your really think the people doing the Miiware moderation are doing the Lot checks for the indie games?

I hate how developers had to wait for Microsoft to fix their crap. I mean c'mon, just release our versions, if those idiots don't know how to fix their gaming issue then just forget them, don't make their problems our problems. Developers nowadays needs to take a stand and stop kissing Microsoft's behind.

not big on multiple endings or secret endings...heres a secret, they need to pick up the pace on "project y"

I'm not a huge fan of achievements since they're pointless and gives you nothing for earning it. [Sure now you can have bragging rights, but you can easily say that with completing difficult parts] Though I'm glad that they're not cutting out the achievements since there are people who love achievements.

@jariw Why would I ? I just think with wiiware they used to do proper QA now any old buggy rubbish is allowed to be released. Obviously I don't know other than the basic check of stuff I bought that needed to be patched (Only Gradius Rebirth which was a feature addition not because it was buggy).

for this, they should add one extra dungeon to all versions except for the Xbox version. lol

"What's wrong, Hoston?" Hoston, we have a problem... ahem
On a serious note, that's too bad, it's a day one buy for me. I think the soundtrack is epic.

Chronicles of Mystara is proof that bugs are not the reason why Microsoft wants the game delayed. In that case it was Nintendo who refused, and that did not delay the other, buggy versions.

And I think that devs who do not put achievements on Nintendo systems because there is not a Gamerscore/Trophy Level are just lazy. SSFIV 3D has them, and exclusives like W101 and Kid Icarus Uprising have them. They could take the Nintendo way and turn them into stamps or other ingame rewards like Smash Bros does.

@RIC616 Agreed, Microsoft has been poopiedoop since Bill Gates was ousted from the corporation.

"Note" No profanity was used I just used TBD's method of censoring to replace what I really wanted to say.

Also Damian, technically the game is a hybrid it's not exactly 16-bits. In some aspects it is, but in others it's over 128-bits.

You can't make a true HD game without increasing the bits to at least 128 since bits represent pixel count and anything less than 128 bits has noticeable pixelation which makes it impossible to obtain a crisp HD image.

Tch, of course it's Microsoft. They sure enjoy being a plague to the gaming industry.

I know a fellow game developer who is partnering up with Watermellon to get his game "Elysian Shadows" on Dreamcast discs. It's cool being a new indie dev and meeting other developers

These kinds of policies anger me. Just because one company has a problem with a game, it shouldn't affect everyone. I'd say Watermellon should just skip Xbox, but indie devs need to be on as many platforms as possible.

@Iggly I love achievements. It gives you more reason to finish or to come back to a game

Ugh, stupid Microsoft. >.>

the achievements part was random as f*ck, nice to see that i guess. might be a good way to try and 100% it

Its a bit odd since if was announced that Nintendo was the cause for delay most of you would be practice jg their QA quality.

@retro_player_22

You do realize that isn't how QA even works. The platform holder checks for problems and notes the bugs, than the game and documentation is sent back to developer to fix said problems.

@shingi_70 I think most people are more annoyed by the fact that if the delay was caused by Microsoft it would hold back every version due to their policies. I'd still be annoyed by a delay caused by Nintendo but I doubt other platform owners would be quite as annoyed, as their versions wouldn't be held back.

This essentially holds back 9 different versions of the game. A delay by Nintendo would have effectively delayed 1 version of the game.

@Ernest_The_Crab

Nope a Nintendo delay would have delayed every other version as well. If anyone bothered to read the blog the other versions are being delayed to check if the bugs in the Xbox version are present in the other skus.

Delaying all the version was a personal choice by the dev.

The wii u has Achievements now! its about time!

@shingi_70 The major problem is that Microsoft has a track record of incurring delays due to exclusivity contracts. It also doesn't help that the article doesn't make it clear.

The original Joystiq article has it worded much better than over here. Not everyone has the time to do more than a read over of an article and an additional search on the topic so you may want to add an additional link in your comment that leads to the blog. Odd that this article doesn't have it included, usually the other indie posts have links to their respective blogs if I remember right.

Here's the blog post.

Coming from Watermelon's dev blog...

We're starting the submission process for PSHD. Valve already approved it for release on Steam so that's done and done. We may contact some of you who subscribed to beta test to test the game on Steam using a beta key. Stay tuned. Microsoft already evaluated Pier Solar as well but we failed some internal requirements on the certification and we're correcting them for the next submission. This also impacts Wii U and PlayStation(s) submissions since we want to send it as clean as possible so that we don't get another failed certification. Luckily, the process doesn't take as long as we thought, so the perspectives to getting a release date gets better. As soon as we're certified on all platforms we'll announce the date and put it on the street. We're also submitting PSHD for PEGI, which is slightly more complex than ESRB, but required for a release in Europe. We're expecting a rating of PEGI 7. One last thing, we're working to get a publisher to release PSHD in Japan. Due CERO regulations it's only possible to release a game if a studio has an established working office in Japan and we don't have it. So once we get it we're secure to release in Japan, this, hopefully could also lead to having a publisher for 360. Fingers crossed.

I don't buy games that make me wait to appease Microsoft. Tons of other stuff to spend my money on, thanks.

@shingi_70 Nah, Microsoft is known to wanting to get multiplat titles on their machine first or at the same time otherwise they'll rule out the dev that doesn't follow their policy. It clear that there's something about Pier Solar that Microsoft wanted to altered.

@DiscoGentleman Don't know what you're talking about, all my Wii games play freaking fine.

I hope the decide to do a 3ds version. Would be sweet

Parity clause strikes again. That's why I'm glad some developers opted not to release on Xbox consoles because of that reason.

Microsoft has poopy software and poopy policies.

This is just ridiculous, I still can't believe devs put up with this. It's asinine to force delays to let someone make a game for your system, especially when they could just up and go somewhere else because the intended audience is almost always never on Xbox systems.

IMHO They should port this game on the 3DS too. Heck, if this is going to be published on the Dreamcast too, the 3DS should have enough horsepower to handle it.

Microsoft is annoying to say the least... there is a reason why i have owned every Nintendo and PlayStation console but have never touched the Xbox brand... arrogant bastages!