The Case for HD Remakes

The idea of an HD remake sounds like a no-brainer; take an existing game, revamp the graphics, add online to any existing multiplayer modes, and toss in some achievements or trophies and you've got yourself some easy money.

But apparently, the folks actually making the games don't quite see it that way. So far, Sony and Capcom seem to be the only ones that see the real potential of remaking old favorites, and thankfully Sony is going forward with overhauling even more of our PS2 (and in the case of a MGS series remake, PS1 games) favorites. But when are Microsoft and Nintendo gonna get in on this? Or other 3rd parties? I would pay a pretty penny to see some of my favorite original Xbox games like Halo, Halo2, KotOR, Jade Empire, Fable, and many more get an HD facelift, online multiplayer for older Xbox games like Halo, and achievements for all of them.

The addition of achievements and Trophies is one of the biggest reasons I would like to see more of these remakes. I like collections, my game collection, my comic book collection, my card collection, etc., and I love that through achievements and trophies people can see my game collection or that I can compare mine with other people's collections. And since many of this generations games are a part of a series that started in the last generation (or even multiple generations back), I would love to be able to see achievements for all the games in a series in my gamercard.

Now granted I wouldn't pay good money for just some achievements and trophies, but having online options, HD graphics, or even possibly some new parts would definitely get me to hand over my hard earned dollars. In a perfect world all HD remakes would run on brand new game engines with new models, textures and everything. We've seen this in the way of downloadable games like Super Street Fighter II HD Remix and Bionic Commando Rearmed.

In my opinion Capcom has really set the bar when it comes to these HD remakes by completely rebuilding the graphics and sound from the ground up and also adding in new modes and features along with online options. As far as downloadble games this isn't necessarily a new concept seeing as how all Xbox Live Arcade games that are remakes are required to at the very least have smoothed or upscaled graphics and some kind of online options whether it be leaderboards or multiplayer. But Capcom has definitely gone above and beyond the call of duty.

So in closing I would like to ask everyone what games they would like to see re-released with a current-gen overhaul, and I'll start by listing my top five:
(I've left collections that we know are coming or are rumored to be coming off the list)

1. Halo: Combat Evolved
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (running on the Oblivion or Skyrim engine)
4. Socom3/Combined Assault
5. KillZone 1

If your wondering why there no Nintendo games on this list it's because of three reasons:

1. Nintendo doesn't have any kind of achievement system.
2. Nintendo's games don't normally have an emphasis on multiplayer, so adding an online component doesn't really make sense unless it was some kind of leaderboard.
3. Nintendo has always done such a great job with art styles that I can't really think of any classic Nintendo games that I would like to see with new graphics.