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Getaway 3, Eight Days not canceled, just 'put to one side'
We're not so swift on the uptake sometimes, so maybe you can help us make this distinction. Nicolas Doucet of Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio told Gamespot that action titles Eight Days and The Getaway 3 aren't "abandoned" per se, just "put to one side." To clarify: No one is working on these things at all while the team focuses on EyePet and Singstar. So, basically, no one has put the files for the games on to a single computer, doused it in gasoline, flipped it off and then set it ablaze. Because that's apparently what it takes for a game to be classified as canceled.
London Studio boss to leave Sony
Sony will say goodbye to Jamie MacDonald, London Studio chief and VP of the company's World Wide Studios on May 29, according to Develop. Neither the company nor MacDonald was willing to provide any further comment.You probably don't recognize the name, but MacDonald was leading London Studio when it launched franchises like EyeToy, SingStar, The Getaway and absolutely not Eight Days. He will also be remembered for his pioneering work in being responsible for a heated, groundless fanboy and girl argument in beloved Joystiq post "London Studio boss to leave Sony."
An uncharted early look at Eight Days' animation
Eight Days is a canceled London Studios project (that's now replaced by EyePet). Videos of the game's early development are starting to leak onto the internet, revealing the game's reliance on the now-standard cover mechanic employed by most every third person shooter on the market. This video reminds us a lot of Uncharted -- but it appears this main character is a lot faster than our good ol' friend Nathan Drake. Check out the video, after the cut.[Thanks, danislice!]
Sony's Choice: EyePet beat out Eight Days
It's harder to single out Nintendo for overlooking its "core audience" when you find out things like this. Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Shuhei Yoshida, Sony's head of worldwide studios, revealed that the company chose to fund development of a desktop toy virtual pet – EyePet – over a promising core audience action title, Eight Days.When asked about the effect that canceling London Studio projects The Getaway 3 and Eight Days had on other titles, Yoshida responded, "There are so many things that we want to do, more than we can do with the resources. So when London Studio was looking at the early work on EyePet and the prototype of Eight Days, they knew they couldn't do all of them." So ... EyePet it was.Granted, we don't know with any certainty that Eight Days was going to be any good, but an original action IP on a still very core audience console would seem like something worth investing more time in over a ... virtual pet.Yohshida also said regarding the London Studio, "There are even more things they're working on at early concept stage." Tip for the staff there: If you don't want your big games canned, don't mention your "pet" projects to Shuhei the next time he pops in for a visit.
EyePet benefited from Eight Days and Getaway cancellations
The adorable debut of EyePet at Leipzig Games Convention was quite possibly the biggest surprise of the show. The innovative use of the PlayStation Eye, coupled with one of fthe most adorable creature designs in recent memory, made it one of the most high-profile titles we showcased on our site during the Convention. Although it's still not planned for a release late next year, it benefited from the controversial cancellations of other SCEE games, such as Eight Days and The Getaway."Yes, there are so many things that we want to do, more than we can do with the resources. So when London Studio was looking at the early work on EyePet and the prototype of Eight Days, they knew they couldn't do all of them - and there are even more things they're working on at early concept stage," Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida told GI.biz. "So your expertise and ideas are best spent on some titles rather than others."London Studios is arguably best known for their work on SingStar and other PS2/PS3 Eye games. Their experience in casual games developent will undoubtedly help EyePet. "London Studio is really best-placed for showing how these things can be done, because they've worked on games in that space for many years - they know how consumers are going to react, how to make it accessible and fun."%Gallery-30069%
Lack of online contributed to Eight Days cancellation
To be honest, when we first heard about Shuhei Yoshida – Phil Harrison's replacement as president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios – we didn't like him. Sure, he's probably outrageously qualified for the gig, but we feel like we went through hell with Harrison, deep in the trenches on the front lines of a nasty console war. So, basically, we're saying that we haven't bonded with Yoshida. Yet.In an interview with Develop Magazine, Yoshida comes semi-clean on Sony's seemingly swift decision to can Eight Days, one of the two London Studios games cancelled earlier this month (the other was, of course, The Getaway). The main culprit: a "key" corporate focus on "online technology and PlayStation Network" ... sort of. Actually, Yoshida safely says the decision was really about budget and how the game fit into their publishing portfolio, but with the aforementioned focus on the PlayStation Network and games that utilize it (like LittleBigPlanet), Yoshida conceded that a lack of online content in Eight Days "was part of the consideration." See, that was a tough call but we made it through together. We feel closer already.
Shuhei Yoshida explains Eight Days, Getaway cancellations
Remember when Phil Harrison left Sony Worldwide Studios to join Atari? He was replaced by Shuhei Yoshida, a man who finally steps forth for an interview and, among other things, tells us why games like Eight Days and The Getaway got the axe. He first describes the state of the consoles pretty well: each console is going for a different target market and are actually working together to expand the gaming market as a whole.Online technology and the PlayStation Network are the big pushes, Yoshida says. LittleBigPlanet, SingStar, and Buzz! are all going to push online tech with the PS3 in new ways. This was partly why Eight Days and The Getaway were canceled -- no real online components. There's a shift away from big-budget single-player experiences and more towards online functionality. Not that you can't have both; but only single-player? Unless it's a huge name, it probably won't fly. Yoshida seems to have his head on straight. Let's hope he can help forge a bright future for Sony!
Sony stops production on Eight Days and The Getaway
Sony Europe announced today that production at the Sony London Studios for PS3 titles Eight Days and The Getaway has ceased. The company says the decision was made after an internal review found that resources would be better allocated to enhance the "incredibly strong list of exclusive first party titles" coming in the near future.GI.biz reports that The Guardian recently ran a piece that Eight Days was going into full production. The game had not been seen -- or really heard of -- since a debut trailer back at E3 2006. The Getaway was apparently going to be the studio's next project after Eight Days. No word yet what'll happen to those who were working on the title.
The Getaway and Eight Days have been cancelled
In another Sony announcement made today, it appears that two games being developed by the internal London studios have now been potentially canned. The Getaway and Eight Days are now out of production, thanks to budgetary redistribution. Gamesindustry.biz have the full statement from Sony, in which they state that "this decision was made following an internal review of all games and it was deemed that with the incredibly strong list of exclusive first party titles coming up both this year and in the near future, resource should be reallocated to enhance those projects closer to completion."It's thought that this is a direct result of Phil Harrison's successor, Shuhei Yoshida, becoming President of Sony's Worldwide Studios. We heard relatively recently from The Getaway's lead writer that the game was still in production and UK newspaper The Guardian had a recent article claiming Eight Days was ramping up to full production, so it's disheartening to hear that the projects have been canned.[UPDATE] CVG states that "A Sony UK representative assured CVG that both titles had been "completely cancelled", and so will not be rescued from the bin at a later date."
Rumor: Eight Days resurfacing in March with new title?
As far as rumors go, we generally don't trust them any further than we can throw them. Since throwing something that is intangible is an impossible feat, you can see our conundrum when presented with one gigantic bombshell. Some dude on MySpace (GamesBlow, which we assume is a pseudonym of some sort for an anonymous dev for the game) spoke up about Eight Days, a game we've not seen for nearly two years, and how it is going to reappear next month with a new name.The game is supposedly ready for an October release and takes place in eight cities over eight days. You can play as one of two characters, each with different story lines and abilities and whatnot. Google maps has been incorporated into the game, so the cities are to scale and accurate. Like Animal Crossing, when you play the game dictates when the game is taking place. Play at night, the game's set at night. There's more, but we have to change our pants. It sounds really cool. Too cool. We'll see what happens.[via NeoGAF]
Rumor: Eight Days and Getaway 3 revived in November?
It's been over two years since we've heard anything about Eight Days and The Getaway 3. We just saw a video of them way back when the PS3 was trying to find its legs. It seems the website LusoPlay has stumbled upon some information about the games, however, and it may or may not be true we'll see some information on both in the coming month.Says a poorly translated LusoPlay: "We know that the month of November will be the month of all revelations, and even prepared a small event for these two games." So if Sony has prepared a small event, we should be hearing something pretty soon, right? As far as we know, there's nothing planned in November besides the Great Influx of Games (GIG for those with an acronym fetish). Still, we don't know everything. We'll file this under the big ol' rumor section for now.[via PS3Forums]
Ask PS3 Fanboy: Volume 2
Welcome to Ask PS3 Fanboy: Volume 2: The bad news edition! Today I disappoint people on a variety of topics, including Eight Days and 720p game upscaling. Read on to have your hopes crushed! And as always, you can e-mail me with your questions and comments, and I'll do my best to answer your questions during next week's column.Q: I've read in the manual for PS3 that EDY viewer is only available on PS3 systems sold in Japan. Is their any way of using this system on American PS3 units?A: No, unfortunately the EDY integration is something that's limited to only Japanese systems right now. And since the EDY system is purely a Japanese service, it's unlikely that this will change any time soon. If the service is ever rolled out to Europe and America, like originally planned, than maybe we'll see our PS3s updated -- but thats a pretty big if. Q: What is going on with Eight Days?A: Eight Days was one of the most impressive titles shown at last year's Sony E3 event, but has completely fallen off the radar since then. Earlier this year there was rumor swirling around that it was going to be turned into an episodic game, with each day consisting of one episode, but it turned out this was just a case of mistaken identity. The rumor actually applied to a point-and-click adventure title for the PC, called 8 Days. Overall, I'm pretty skeptical of the game actually coming out though. The complete lack of information for over a year is never good and the trailer was pretty clearly a mock-up. Info may come out at next month's E3 -- but if it doesn't, there's a very strong possibility that this game DOA. Hit the jump for the last e-mail!
