What's the difference between reboot, remake, remaster, definitive, deluxe, ultimate and game of the year edition?

[Espire]

stated in the title

[Psychlapse]

Well they all basically mean
"We can't come up with new ideas, so we're just going to take this old franchise, slap a new coat of paint on it, and flog it off again for full price."

[Quint the Alligator Snapper]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Psychlapse:

Well they all basically mean
"We can't come up with new ideas, so we're just going to take this old franchise, slap a new coat of paint on it, and flog it off again for full price."

To be fair, sometimes the players are the ones asking for it. Earlier today I ran across someone's YouTube comment saying that Nintendo should remake Ocarina of Time in Breath of the Wild's engine, for example.

[WhiteKnight]

Początkowo opublikowane przez EvametryE:

a reboot is a restart of the series.

a remake/remaster mostly mean the same, usually an old game with modern/better graphics

deluxe usually indicates that you get some extra content along with the base game vanilla purchasers wont get.

definitive usually means the base game but with improved graphics and with all the updates the game had.

and GOTY means it won an award and you get the main game and its DLC in one package.

You are mostly right but remake tends to be almost different see Demons Souls, Shadow of Colossus for instance. It almost like a new game.

This three links explains it better.

https://www.techradar.com/in/news/game-remakes-vs-remasters-whats-the-difference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSMiqoqgLSo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vlhnyYlU0g

[Sir Dookface McFerretballs]

Like this thread getting necro'd...

Would that make this thread a reboot or a remaster?

[Haruspex]

Reboot:
They took an existing game, threw out everything except for the initial pitch, then started development from scratch. The end result usually has different characters and story. Can be controversial, especially if the original had fans.

Remake:
Similar to a reboot, but they don't throw out the story or characters. It's basically like asking "What if this older game had been made today?" Usually has added content.

Remaster:
Literally the original game, but "improved". Expect sharpened "HD" textures, Support for higher resolutions and widescreen. May have other quality of life fixes like better controller support, more graphics settings. Graphical additions can be present, but minimal.

Definitive:
Marketing gimmick. It's a way to sell the game again bundled with previously released DLC.

Deluxe:
Another marketing gimmick. Can mean the game sold with previous DLC, but can also mean a new game sold with DLC that was with held from the regular release so it can be sold as a "Deluxe" or "Collectors" edition.

Ultimate: More stupid marketing gimmicks. Can mean the same thing as "Definitive" or "Deluxe".

Game of the year: Marketing gimmick. Your game was critically acclaimed, and you want people to know it, so you'll sell this GOTY edition, usually bundled with previously released DLC.

[nightnight]

I'll tell you what they usually all wind up being: ♥♥♥♥.

[Nomad]

reboot is essentially meaningless. It basically means when you shut down a system and... reboot it.

[Nomad]

ultimate and goty tend to be the same thing. it's when you buy a game with all frills included. you don't pay extra for DLC, it's all there.

[WhiteKnight]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Sir Dookface McFerretballs:

Like this thread getting necro'd...

Would that make this thread a reboot or a remaster?

....I did not see the date. I assumed it was new....

[the vampire of time and memory]

thread: GOTY edition

[Devsman]

Did you know that the term "boneless wings" is an anomaly in marketing and economics? Strictly speaking, wings are considered lower-quality meat than breast meat, but "boneless wings" sell better and at a higher price than "buffalo chicken tenders." It's not actually accurate to call them "boneless wings" since they aren't made from wing meat, either. The reason for all this is association with (traditional) buffalo wings, which actually are named appropriately.

The remake/remaster situation is no different. These terms do have technical definitions, but marketers just use whichever term they think will make the thing sell best. So while it won't always play out this way, here are what these terms are supposed to mean:

Remake: They remade the work from the ground up. Similar to how a movie remake will usually recast characters, make adjustments to the script and/or story, and alter some of the film work, a video game remake will redo textures and models, adjust design elements, alter the script, redo voice acting, etc etc.

Remaster: They touched up the existing work. Similar to how you used to see those commercials on TV for a classic film "digitally remastered" when DVD first got big. They mostly replace some textures and support higher resolutions, and/or reconvert audio for higher fidelity.

Enhanced port: A port of a game with a few extra features. These generally won't have much in the way of core design changes, graphics or audio updates, but they might have an extra dungeon, boss or a couple of new weapons, or even QoL features. Many games that call themselves remasters are sort of a combination of a remaster and an enhanced port.

Reboot: Has nothing in common with the above. A reboot is a new work, much in the way that a sequel is, but reboots will in at least some way reset the continuity. Batman Begins was a reboot: the events of Batman 89, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, etc were not considered in its writing. Can be hard (straight-up contradicts existing story) or soft (simply ignores existing story).

Definitive, deluxe, ultimate, GotY: These all mean the same thing. It's the original game packaged with some or all of the DLC, but otherwise unaltered.

[the vampire of time and memory]

can I have an uhhh boneless pizza

[Devsman]

Początkowo opublikowane przez the vampire of time and memory:

can I have an uhhh boneless pizza

Sure. They sell better than "lasagna with pepperoni" anyway.

[Pantoni]

A reboot is when you take story & characters and "rearrange" them and retell the story. Sometimes is retelling the same story as if it was the begining (Amazing Spiderman movies), and sometimes you retell the story but with new characters and continuing the story (Force awakens).

A remake is retelling the same story with the same characters (not necessary), but sometimes imply a different point of view, or a different interpretation of the story. If you see the original "Dawn of the Dead", the movie had a strong social commentary. If you watch the remake, is more action focused.

Remaster is just picking a movie/game/whatever and "clean it". You apply some filters if needed, and "clean" image and sound to make it look better, but you don't need to change or add anything. In games, most of the time is just adding some resolutions.

Director's cut as the name suggests is just the movie/game/whatever that director wanted to make in the first place, but due to studio interference, time restrictions, budget or any other reason, he had to cut things out.

As for De luxe, Definitive, Game of the Year, etc... is just an excuse to make more money. Usually implies that the movie/game/whatever will come out with all the extra content (dlc's, making of, deleted scenes, alternative scenes, etc.)

I think this is the most accurate description I can give you. And to be honest, it probably sounds bad, but I think it's the right one. Feel free to disagree, tho.

Cheers!

P.S. I didn't read any posts before writing. But Devsman did a great job explaining it too.