jamie-macdonald
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Former EyeToy exec warns of the difficulties facing Natal, 'Arc'
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Jamie MacDonald, former Vice President of Sony Worldwide Studios (the company responsible for EyeToy), gave out a few pointers to Sony and Microsoft regarding their respective motion controllers. MacDonald warned that gamers are expecting more from the 360 and PS3's motion gaming than they do from the Wii, due to both consoles' beefier hardware. However, he also warned about implementing "traditional long-form gameplay," lengthy sessions of which would leave players "completely knackered." MacDonald's wisest words came when speaking about pricing the two pieces of hardware. He suggested they follow Sony's strategy with EyeToy, where the peripheral and a piece of software came bundled for the price of a normal game, which kept consumers from "paying a premium for the hardware." That's a sweet thought, but it's a little presumptive -- after all, we've yet to hear a price for the two devices. (Hell, we haven't even heard a name for one of them.)
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."
Why the PS3 is worth the price, Jamie MacDonald edition
We've barked up this tree so many times that the tree would probably bark back... even so, SCE Worldwide Studios Europe VP Jamie MacDonald has some more reasons why the PS3 is worth your pocket change loan. Kind of. More like... he defends Sony from the interviewer. We'll do our own Q&A session here, taking liberties to reword the interview questions to reflect their ulterior motives.Q: I already know the answer, but let's start this off on a negative note: Are you disappointed about Sony delaying the PS3 in Europe?A: "I was gutted...of course I'm disappointed."Q: Let's ask leading question: What would you say to people who want Sony products but feel they're thought of last, being in Europe?A: "European consumers have shown that historically they don't mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan."Q: Will the delay change your chances of winning the console battle?A: "I think in the long run, PlayStation 3 will succeed because of the great product it is and the great software we make for it."Q: What do you think of the Wii60 concept? For the price of the PS3 you can get the Wii and the 360 (Not... really... but whatever)?A: "A PlayStation 3 console comes with a Blu-ray disc player in the box, it comes with an HDMI connection in the box, and it comes with a hard disc drive - so the kind of entertainment experience you can get with a PlayStation 3 out of the box really is unique amongst the consoles...it isn't comparing apples to apples."On and on... the annoying part of the interview was where the interviewer blatantly tried to corner Jamie MacDonald with the PSP and it's supposed shortcomings (supposed only because he defended it really well). There are hard-hitting questions, then there's just pestering. This overall media bias is kind of annoying, but perhaps we're overanalyzing. What do you think? Is there a horrible anti-Sony fog hovering amidst the media outlets to the point of ridiculousness?
CE-Oh no he didn't! Part XV - Europeans "don't mind" waiting for Sony products
Alright Sony, this is just getting ridiculous. It's not like you guys haven't been a featured guest in this series before, but we had no idea it was such an honor. The third "CE-Oh no" moment for Sony this week came out of the mouth of SCE World Europe VP, Jamie MacDonald, who was asked: "What would you say to consumers who like Sony and want to buy your products, but perhaps feel that because they're in Europe they're always last in line?" Apparently Jamie feels little love for his whiny constituency, since his clueless response was thus: "European consumers have shown that historically they don't mind that, because they end up buying as many PlayStations, if not more, than the US and Japan. In Europe, it doesn't seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel." We're not even sure how to respond to that, so we'll continue with more "CE-Oh no" sound bite gold from our pal Jamie. In response to a query about Sony's UMD failure, he stated: "I think you'll find in general the market for movies on discs of any type is not particularly great at the moment." Again, we really have nothing to add, so we'll just hit up one more sound bite for good time's sake. When asked about the Wii60 concept, where prospective next-gen buyers compare the price of purchasing an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo Wii to the cost of the PS3 alone, Jamie further demonstrated his ignorance: "To be honest, I haven't heard that." Not a banner day for Sony PR by a long shot, but at least they're not trying to hide their seeming disdain for consumers and plain logic.[Thanks, Xavier G.]
Sony again says we're nearing the end of the road for discs
Will digital distribution take over the disc format in a mere five years? Vice President of SCE Worldwide Studios Europe, Jamie MacDonald, believes so, just like Phil Harrison. Let's clog this drain with a big quote: "In five years' time, my belief is that the majority of content won't be delivered on disc. That has many implications for developers and the way we organise our industry. It also brings with it great opportunities because it means you can touch your consumer in many different ways and at different times - it's not just a one-off relationship where a consumer buys a disc from the store. In terms of object sales, episodic content, in-game advertising and merchandising, there are many, many opportunities to have a relationship with the consumer - which is a great challenge to us as developers because that's not what we're used to." This actually makes sense -- it's costing more and more money to produce games, so cutting out the middleman (in this case, the disc format) saves both the developers and the consumers a bit of change. Also, to decrease costs, game developers could get money from advertisements that could pop up like a PowerPoint presentation while you download your game (think of the ads that scroll before a movie begins). What do you guys think? If it meant saving a lot of money both for developers and we, the consumers, would you mind cycling through some ads while a game downloads onto your console? Would you miss the discs all too terribly?
