Shuhei Yoshida
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Sony's PlayStation leadership is changing again
With the PlayStation 5 due next year, PlayStation is no doubt keen to get its ducks in a row. It's seen a number of managerial changes recently, and has now announced two new moves. Hermen Hulst, formerly of studio Guerilla, is now head of worldwide studios, tasked with making sure the PS5 has plenty of first-party blockbuster games on its roster. PlayStation veteran Shuhei Yoshida, meanwhile, takes the helm of a new initiative to encourage more indies to the platform. Hulst co-founded Amsterdam-based Guerilla, best known for the Killzone franchise and Horizon Zero Dawn. Sony acquired Guerilla back in 2005, and since then Hulst has been responsible for driving a number of innovations, including proprietary game engine Decima which has been used to produce a number of titles, among them the upcoming Death Standing. Meanwhile, Yoshida's new role will see him leading a new company initiative designed to support independent developers -- exactly what that looks like isn't clear yet, but Yoshida is well-known in the business for his love of indie games, and Sony could certainly use a boost in this area. Once a staunch backer of independent developers the company's foothold in this market has weakened in recent years -- Yoshida's new position could turn this around.
Sony's Shuhei Yoshida reacts to the 'Nintendo PlayStation'
Shuhei Yoshida said he did play with a device that matched the characteristics of the famed "Nintendo PlayStation" prototype.
Sony's Shuhei Yoshida playable in Super Time Force Ultra
Shuhei Yoshida will be playable in the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita versions of Super Time Force Ultra, Sony announced this weekend as part of their PlayStation Experience event. The President of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment will wield his smartphone as a weapon, shooting out deadly emoticons and laser-beam Twitter messages as he fights robots, dinosaurs and more. You can see him in action via the short teaser above. The Vita version of Super Time Force Ultra was announced alongside a slew of other titles, including classics like Suikoden and several Double Fine adventure games. [Image: Capy Games]
PlayStation Experience panel topics include God of War, Nathan Drake, PlayStation AMA
The PlayStation Experience will host fans of the PlayStation family next month as they try out recently-released and upcoming games, but about 20 panels are also on the agenda for next month's event in Las Vegas. While an exact schedule hasn't been nailed down, a recent PlayStation Blog post has outlined the topics for each confirmed panel. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, voices and animation sources of The Last of Us' respective Joel and Ellie, will be present for a panel on how voice-over and performance capture are integrated into games. Naughty Dog will host two panels, one featuring a video that looks back on the studio's 30 years of existence, the other following the process of character creation (including Nathan Drake's transition to PS4). Santa Monica Studio will offer up a God of War series retrospective, and Sony President Shuhei Yoshida, VP of Publisher Relations Adam Boyes and Software Product Development Head for Sony Worldwide Studios Scott Rohde will also be present for an "Ask Me Anything"-style presentation. A full list of event descriptions can be parsed through on the PS Blog, with additional panels covering N++, Diablo 3: Ultimate Evil Edition, the LittleBigPlanet series and what it's like to work in Japan's gaming industry. If any topics interest you or you just like the idea of playing games before they're released, PlayStation Experience is inviting those 18 and over to Las Vegas for the weekend of December 6. [Image: PlayStation Experience]
Driveclub PS Plus version delayed 'until further notice'
Shuhei Yoshida, Sony's president of worldwide studios, would like to an offer an apology to fans burned by the problematic launch of socially-connected PlayStation 4 racer Driveclub, but his mea culpa comes with more bad news. "[T]he road to launch has been a little rocky, and we are truly sorry that so many of you have not been able to enjoy everything that we had hoped Driveclub would deliver," Yoshida writes in a Facebook status update. He then claims that Sony has dedicated additional resources to fixing Driveclub's connectivity issues, but warns fans that there is currently no estimate for when the game will work properly. From there things only get worse. "With the high volume of new players and additional server load the PS Plus Edition is anticipated to bring, we are currently not confident that we can guarantee the best online experience," Yoshida adds. "Until we can ensure that everyone can enjoy the full social connected online experience, we will be postponing the release of the PS Plus Edition until further notice." For those keeping score at home, the free-to-play PS Plus Edition that Yoshida mentions was originally slated to launch alongside Driveclub on October 7. [Image: Sony]
Yoshida: Project Morpheus is 85% complete
Work on Sony's Project Morpheus virtual reality hardware is nearing its completion, as Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told The Wall Street Journal that the company "finished 85 percent of the work needed to make the product available." Yoshida would not say when the headset would launch, nor would he comment on its price. He did add that a bulk of Project Morpheus' components are also found in smartphones, which would drive the device's price down. Sony announced Project Morpheus at GDC in March as a VR headset that offers a 1080p display with a 90 degree field of view and full 360 degrees of head tracking. Sony will use Project Morpheus to compete for attention in the virtual reality space with Oculus VR, which was purchased by Facebook in March for $2 billion. Sony said Facebook sought out Project Morpheus before acquiring Oculus; Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe later noted in June that the company invited Sony to check out its Oculus Rift prototypes. We went heads-on with Project Morpheus at GDC and took its luge demo for a spin at E3 in June.
Sony tangles with the mystery of PS4's success, fights to understand the future
Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida recently admitted he's a "bit nervous" about the success of the PlayStation 4. The console has sold 10 million units and the current generation is trending stronger than last. Will it run out of core customers? "You need to understand why your products are selling well so you can plan for the future, right? It defied the conventional thinking," Yoshida recently told Eurogamer. "Lots of people thought the dedicated game hardware might not be needed going forward, but still lots of people are very excited." The rightful concern Yoshida brings up is that Sony will exhaust the core customer. That the number of consumers interested in playing video games is a finite number that the company will rapidly reach with the new console. The good news for Sony is its initial market research is showing it's obtaining lots of new customers who didn't own a PS3, with some who didn't own any last-gen hardware.
PS4's Share Play limited to one hour increments
When Sony unveiled its upcoming PS4 Share Play feature during its Gamescom 2014 press conference on Tuesday, a few questions remained as to how it would operate. The "virtual couch" feature allows PlayStation Plus members to play any PS4 game of choice with a friend that doesn't own the game over PSN. As Sony explained to GameSpot, Share Play is limited to 60-minute play sessions, though there's no limit on the number of times friends can play the game. Planned to launch this fall as part of system software update 2.0 for the console, Share Play will be an inherent feature for any PS4 game, as "there is no need for developers to do anything for their games to be compatible with Share Play," Sony's Shuhei Yoshida told Famitsu (as translated by Kotaku). However, a Sony representative said that the "visitor" that doesn't own the game technically "takes over the host's account," so a friend that's getting a taste of your gaming library is not able to save their play data to their own account. Rather, save files will stay with the hosting player.
Shuhei Yoshida reflects on his time under 'The Father of PlayStation'
Though Shuhei Yoshida now serves as the head of Sony's PlayStation arm, he once worked under former PlayStation CEO Ken Kutaragi – a man who Yoshida praises, while also noting his mercurial nature. In a lengthy look back at the last two decades of PlayStation transcribed by Engadget, Yoshida says that working under Kutaragi was "incredibly difficult," as the executive had a habit of changing course on a dime, demanding his team go in an entirely different direction without any forewarning. "Every week his direction and instructions could change," Yoshida said. Kutaragi was also hesitant to offer his employees direct praise. "I was complimented by Ken twice," Yoshida said. "When I say this to my colleagues, they say, 'Twice? That's a lot.''' Despite Kutaragi's hard-edged management style, Yoshida contrasts his complaints by adding, "But still, we all love Ken." For more from Shuhei Yoshida, take a moment to pore over that Engadget piece. Yoshida is unexpectedly candid, offering insight on everything from his time in school, to the birth of PlayStation, to the launch of the PlayStation 4. Yoshida's version of history is understandably biased toward his employer, but it remains a vital glimpse at the history of the gaming industry. [Image: Wikimedia]
Couples reveal PS4 streaming on Twitch to be a double-edged sword
Twitch streaming on the PlayStation 4 has allowed for the creation of a call-in show, and it's caught the attention of several higher-ups at Sony. Engadget reports that a Washington couple utilizing The Playroom and their PlayStation Camera streamed what they're calling "The Spartan Show" on November 21, and it wasn't long before Shuhei Yoshida, president of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment, and Adam Boyes, head of publisher relations at Sony Computer Entertainment America, joined in. Boyes even phoned in, much to the delight of the couple. Unfortunately, the combined powers of PS4, The Playroom and Twitch have also been used for great evil not so good; GameRevolution reports [Warning: subject matter NSFW] that a man exposed his drunk wife's breast and later stripped her completely naked during a livestream. Twitch banned the offending account, but we have to wonder if we're going to have a Nintendo-shutting down-SpotPass-for-Swapnote situation on our hands.
Sony president undaunted by 'mixed' PS4 reviews
The past few days have delivered a flood of PlayStation 4 launch game reviews, many of which have been less than flattering. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida remains unfazed. "Yeah, it's disappointing to see some of the low scores," Yoshida admitted in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. "I haven't spent enough time reading reviews, but I would characterize them as mixed," he added optimistically. In an attempt to partially explain away the lower-than-expected review scores, Yoshida cites an overworked games media. "[W]ith this launch there are lots of games coming out, so the media must be very busy going through the games quickly, and especially since the online functionality wasn't ready until in the last couple days. So we have to look at how much time they spend on what aspect of the games and how that may be contributing to some of the lower scores." "It's disappointing but I don't think it's worrisome for the launch of the system," he added. Finally, Yoshida offers a personal defense of his company's offerings. "I've played through all of our games, Killzone, Knack and Resogun, and I totally enjoyed playing through these games. I'm now on my second run of Knack and Resogun at a higher difficulty - these games really grow on you when you play more," Yoshida said. "I'm very confident that once you purchase these games and play, you'll be happy that you've done so."
New Vita ditches proprietary charging cables for micro USB
The next model of the Vita handheld (officially dubbed model 2000), will not be tethered to Sony's own power cords. Instead, the handheld gaming machine will be able to pull down both power and data through the same micro USB cables currently in use by many portable devices. "You'll be happy to know PS Vita 2000 can charge with a smartphone charger with micro USB," wrote Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Worldwide Studios in a tweet translated by CVG. Alongside the message Yoshida posted the above image which clearly shows the handhelds' micro USB port. This new version of the Vita was initially announced at this year's Tokyo Game Show. As we reported at that time, the 2000 model Vita is both lighter and slimmer than the models currently found on retail shelves. The next Vita is currently slated to hit Japan on October 10. As of now there is no word on when it might find its way to the West.
DualShock 4 will work with Windows for 'basic functions'
The PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller will have compatibility "for basic functions" on Windows PCs out of the box, Shuhei Yoshida, President of Worldwide Studios for Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed via Twitter. When asked on Twitter if Sony would release a driver for the DualShock 4 to make it compatible with Windows PCs, Yoshida tweeted back, "the analog sticks and buttons will work just fine." When pressed if this meant the controller would feature Windows compatibility by default, Yoshida responded it would, for "basic functions." What those functions are remains to be seen. What's also unclear is whether Windows will recognize the DualShock 4 as a DualShock 4. Many non-Microsoft controllers feature the XInput API, which makes them register to the computer as though they were an Xbox controller. The current-generation DualShock 3 lacks Xinput, so it would mark a significant change if the DualShock 4 supported it. When asked if games on PC would automatically recognize the controller as a DualShock 4, Yoshida said to wait until a post-launch field report. Waiting may not be the most fun thing in the world to do, but this wait won't be too long: the PlayStation 4 launches November 15 in North America.
Sony's Yoshida: Mobile has 'shifted our way of thinking'
Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida notes that the iOS App Store and Google Play have "totally shifted our way of thinking," detailing the company's plans for mobile cross-promotion in a recent interview with GamesIndustry International. "Lots of people don't seek out game-specific info -- they're busy," Yoshida explains. "But because they use social network services, App Stores... Let's push our info to them. That's why we are creating the hook, releasing the official PlayStation apps on Android and iOS at the launch of PS4." Yoshida cites specific plans the company has in mind for the PlayStation 4 launch title Knack. "We're releasing a puzzle game themed around Knack that you can play for free," Yoshida said. "It's fun, and by playing the game you earn some items that you can use on PS4. People might be motivated, because they've already unlocked some items, to take a look at what this Knack game on the PS4 is all about."
Sony: Gaikai may deliver PlayStation content to other devices
Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, sees the Gaikai streaming service as key to his goal of transforming PlayStation from a hardware platform to "something closer to a service." Sony acquired Gaikai in June of 2012 from former Shiny Entertainment head and Gaikai founder David Perry. It's long been known that Sony hopes to use Gaikai's technology to stream PlayStation, PS2 and PS3 games to the PlayStation 4 in lieu of hardware-based backwards compatibility, but now it seems that Sony wants Gaikai to spread PlayStation software to non-PlayStation (and potentially non-Sony) devices. "Speaking of the ultimate goal, we would like to deliver PlayStation games to all devices," Yoshida stated in an interview with Dengeki Online (translated by DualShockers). "So we're considering various things like PC, TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones, and tablets." "We hope to continue to expand not only to Sony devices, but even to devices other than Sony's," Yoshida added. Yoshida's ultimate goal is to create a web of devices capable of streaming PlayStation content, with Sony's latest console serving as a hub for this activity. "We previously spoke about PlayStation going from hardware to something closer to a service, regardless of the device - of course PlayStation will still be the center, but I think we would like to expand to different things," Yoshida said.
Sony bringing PS3 titles to Gaikai in 2014, future PS4 owners rejoice
At the Tokyo Game Show today, Shuhei Yoshida announced that Sony will soon launch a library of PlayStation 3 titles via its Gaikai cloud-gaming service. Yoshida also confirmed that the games will be available to play on the PS4 -- as previously rumored -- as well as on the PS Vita and Vita TV. Given that the PlayStation 4 won't natively support PS3 titles when it launches stateside later this year, the cloud-based options should come as a huge relief to those looking to pick up the company's latest console and, you know, have something compelling to play. Look for this service to hit the US in 2014 -- no word yet on when it will launch in Europe. Check out all our Tokyo Game Show 2013 coverage right here at our hub!
Yoshida: Party chat works between PS4 and Vita
Audio party chat will work between the PS4 and PS Vita, according to a recent tweet from Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios. We've inquired with Sony PR for further details. Cross-game online chat has been available on PS Vita since its launch, but the feature never made it to the PlayStation 3. With the launch of the PlayStation 4, which also supports cross-game chat, we can all finally talk to each other no matter what we're playing. But can we, you know, communicate?
Yoshida: Gran Turismo 6 would be 'hard to move' to Vita
Revving up Gran Turismo 6's engines on the Vita would be "really hard" on a technical level, Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida told IGN last week. "As you can tell looking at GT6, it really is using PS3 to a very high level," Yoshida said. "In terms of Vita support, I don't expect the whole game to be able to run on PS Vita." Yoshida's statement follows Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi's comments concerning the possibility of GT6 evolving into Gran Turismo 7 for the PS4 during its development cycle. GT6 will be tuned to race on December 6 for the PS3. In the meantime, fans can race to GameStop or Amazon for pre-order bonuses in the form of exclusive cars and in-game credits.
Yoshida takes a leisurely look at PS4's interface
Sony opened its Gamescom 2013 press conference with a subdued presentation of the PlayStation 4's interface by Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida. The exec explored the menus, watched and then joined a game stream, showed off some social functionality and concluded with a tweet to start the show. Hang on, we're not sure we can use the word "subdued" to describe a video with several minutes of Killzone: Shadow Fall gunplay, so let's say "confident."
PS Plus not required to record & stream PS4 games, says Yoshida
Sony Worldwide Studios boss and Twitter info desk Shuhei Yoshida revealed PS4 owners won't require a PlayStation Plus subscription to access the system's game recording and streaming functions. After yesterday's news that the Xbox One's Game DVR recording is tied to Xbox Live Gold, several Twitter users asked Yoshida if Plus was needed for the PS4's similar functionality. Yoshida not once, not twice, but thrice replied in the negative. When approached, A Sony Computer Entertainment UK spokesperson told Joystiq a PS Plus subscription doesn't confer any extra functionality regards recording and streaming games. As confirmed to CVG, the PS4 can continually record 15 minutes of gameplay in the background, which users can edit and publish online, as well as stream video.
