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Sony heads dish on the PS4's famous E3 debut
The hour-long interview featuring Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House revealing how Sony strategically changed its E3 script to stray from Microsoft's DRM direction is now online. The video, from last week's Develop Conference in Brighton, also features PS4 architect Mark Cerny, and both Sony bigwigs discuss the brand's past and future.
Has the free-to-play bubble burst?
Richard Bartle isn't alone in thinking the free-to-play bubble is soon to burst. Talking at this week's Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, three mobile game designers with an expertise in free-to-play discussed the negative direction that F2P titles are headed and why that may be coming to an end. "I would rather have 10,000 people who play my game for two years, than a million people who only play for a short time," Matthew Wiggins of mobile studio Jiggery Pokery states. The discussion, as reported by Gamasutra, focused on the unsavory practices of quick in-and-out publishers who were only out to make gobs of cash as quickly as possible. But one industry vet thinks that the F2P bubble has burst. "I think we're moving away from the aggressive initial monetization," CSR Racing studio boss Jason Avent says. "Those people who love your game are happy to pay for it. It's getting people into that longer game... We need to move away from exploiting a small number of people, and instead work to make lots of people stick around."
David Perry 'sure' new Earthworm Jim will eventually happen
David Perry, aside from now being a part of Sony, is perhaps best known for his contributions on the Earthworm Jim series, once 16-bit pride of the '90s that now rests beneath the soil from whence it came. Perry doesn't see that earthly retreat lasting forever."It's one of those things that, no one's got the time right now. I'm sure it's going to happen, I just can't tell you exactly when," Perry told Eurogamer during last week's Develop conference in Brighton, England. "It's just a bunch of guys who all have their own thing. Everyone has their own company. So, to get them to stop what they're doing and work on a game is very difficult, but it's something they all want to do." Perry explains some of the old gang keep in touch on Facebook, and says the obvious idea of doing a Kickstarter campaign was considered."The thing we had talked about in the past is Jim had been in retirement. So, he's been sitting at home watching movies and eating popcorn. He's grossly overweight now. The plan was to start with him literally getting off the sofa, and it's a disaster because he just hasn't done anything since. But he's got to get back into action again." Perry also explained that this hypothetical new game would definitely be 2D, with "little" camera control.
Sony on how PS3 and Vita will play together
During the Develop conference (via Eurogamer), Sony Europe R&D manager Phil Rogers outlined some possible interactions between the PlayStation Vita and the PS3. The systems are already known to share saves across compatible games, and share some interoperable games like Wipeout 2048, but Rogers discussed some other capabilities, including some not yet seen in Vita/PS3 interaction. "PS3 can send data down to Vita and Vita can display it," he said. "You could use the unique features [of Vita] - gyroscope, touch front and back - as a control device for a PS3 game." In what could be a veiled dig at the Wii U, he also said that because you can have games running on both systems, each using its own processor, "You're not sacrificing the PS3's CPU to be able to have a rich experience on Vita." At launch, the Vita will have some cross-platform features, including scoreboards and PSN user data. "For launch we'll also have Remote Play, which does look good on Vita - I saw an early version of it running recently." Remote Play, also available on the PSP right now, allows video of compatible titles to be streamed from the PS3 for play on the PSP. Continuation Play, through which a game can be saved on one platform and played on the other, will also be available early on. The first known game to use that is Ruin.
Sony London Studio chief talks 3D lessons, promises VR headsets
Haven't settled in to 3D PS3 gaming just yet? Too bad because Sony's ready to leapfrog that industry buzzword with another once-vaunted, immersive tech of yore -- virtual reality. Announced ahead of Sony London Studio chief Mick Hocking's Develop conference "3D post-mortem speech," comes word the Japanese electronics giant is underway with R&D testing for a head mounted display. Shown off at CES earlier this year, the unit incorporates twin-OLED screens that put you closer to the game, fried eyeballs and all. If any of this sounds familiar, that's because it's all very 1995. Still, Hocking seems pretty optimistic about the company's lessons learned dipping its toes into three-dimensional waters, and has even created a so-called "3D 10 Commandments" to ensure quality product output. Hit the source below for the UK division head's full 3D musings.
3D 'a new creative medium,' according to Sony's Mick Hocking
Delivering a keynote speech -- entitled "Seeing is Believing: 3D a New Creative Medium for Games" -- at the Develop conference in Liverpool, Sony Computer Entertainment's Mick Hocking argued that 3D can give games more than just increased visual depth. The studio director of Sony's Liverpool studio, responsible for Wipeout HD, stated that the technology can make games seem more natural and thus more inviting to newcomers. "Doing things like the way we've used Move combined with 3D in Tumble makes a game more natural and more accessible, which will be great for welcoming more people to your games," Hocking said. The ability to interact within a game's space makes the technology a new creative medium, he added, allowing creators to build on the player's enhanced sense of depth and spatial awareness. Sony has claimed that over 50 3D games (20 internal) are currently in the works for PlayStation 3 -- and Hocking is willing to give developers a push if they're still on the fence. "I really would urge you to start converting your game into 3D now," he said. "We're here to help you and can help with training." Of course, Sony's marketing department will have to train customers to make a significant investment first. Among console games, mainstream-friendly accessibility usually comes with a significant hardware cost (as with the Wii and Kinect), but even Hocking's Tumble example -- which requires a 3D television, appropriate glasses, a PlayStation Move set and a PlayStation 3 -- sticks out more than other offerings.
Develop: Is PlayStation Home the next great game development platform?
These days, every developer and their brother seems to be making a beeline for hot new gaming platforms like Facebook and the iPhone, visions of Farmville- and Doodle-Jump-style riches dancing in their heads. But nDreams CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh says all these gold rushers might be ignoring a more welcoming and neglected platform for their gaming projects: PlayStation Home.
Lionhead talks about Fable 3 voice stats, emotional storytelling
If you thought the amount and variety of spoken dialogue in Fable 2 was ridiculous, then the voice statistics Lionhead is targeting for Fable 3 will... um... also seem ridiculous to you. Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, Lionhead Audio Producer Georg Becker mentioned that the upcoming title would feature about 80 actors speaking over 460,000 recorded words, representing a full 47 hours of speech in the final game. For context, Becker estimated Fable 2 had a mere 50 voice actors speaking a paltry 370,000 words over a laughably short 36 or 37 hours of speech. %Gallery-95691%
BioWare "aggressively" exploring new MMO development
BioWare's ongoing success in the games industry is something that can't be argued, but the company is anxious to keep things moving forward. BioWare co-founder Dr. Greg Zeschuk spoke at the Develop Conference this morning, and had some very interesting things to say about what the minds behind BioWare have been up to. They explored some options that didn't work so well, and some other options that they were very pleased with: "We learned the hard way. The learning there was you have to iterate. The team went back and made some more games that we never released that were way better. Large scale MMOs. Small scale MMOs. We're going to continue to do triple-A console, but we're also going to be exploring pretty aggressively." The fact that BioWare has created both large and small scale MMOs that were "way better," combined with the company's plans to continue exploring beyond the range of consoles raises the possibility of great things to come for MMO fans. From the sound of things, BioWare plans to remain one for the MMO community to keep an eye on well past the launch of SWTOR.
PaRappa creator raps about Natal's musical possibilities
Masaya Matsuura (creator of PaRappa the Rapper and Major Minor's Majestic March) says he and his posse over at NanaOn-Sha are interested in making a music game for Microsoft's Project Natal. "We are thinking about ideas," said Matsuura to Videogamer.com at the UK Develop Conference. " I think any kind of interaction with a camera will be good for music games, but the important thing will be how we can find the new breed of gameplay."Matsuura thinks he can create something fresh -- something other than the rock genre, which he points out Guitar Hero and Rock Band cover quite well. Instead, he thinks there's room to grow for other sounds: "There is other attractive music, so please try to find another style, another interaction, another gameplay with another type of music." Activision is breaking out with DJ Hero. So, what could Matsuura work on? Wait a minute... breaking. How about a pure break dance title? Baraver the Breakdancing Beaver? No?
thatgamecompany's third Sony project is 'something you've never experienced before'
thatgamecompany, aside from giving us a chance to start this paragraph off with a lowercase letter for once, is currently hard at work on its third contractual Sony project. At the Develop Conference in the UK this morning, tgc's Jenova Chen had a handful of artfully abstract information to drop on conference attendees regarding the upcoming game. He said the project "feels like a natural progression" from the company's other titles and will be "something you've never experienced before." So, Flowest confirmed? Not quite."In the future there's a lot of feelings that video games haven't explored that are open for us to find," Chen said -- he specifically cited God of War as "a really good game about hatred." As Eurogamer points out in its coverage of the conference, Chen repeatedly cited the iteration time necessary for a game concept to go into full production -- he says that the concept for Flower took about two years -- and as such, may very well not have any solid information to talk about regarding his company's next game. Have you considered the fourth dimension, Mr. Chen? Hmm? [Image]
Realtime Worlds explains shift to MMOs, says online market is 'untapped'
(click to MMO-size) Crackdown developer Realtime Worlds -- currently working on upcoming MMO All Points Bulletin -- is pretty excited about cashing in on the online market. During his keynote at the Develop conference this week, RTW exec David Jones explained his company's shift to MMO development as one with the intention of heading where "the big dollars are." "Online ... is very, very much untapped -- it's kind of like winding the clock back 10 or 15 years," he said during the speech. Jones apparently cited Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 as examples of games where players "invest hours" in the single-player campaign but "ten times that online" -- but isn't your game PC-only, Mr. Jones? We're not so sure, considering Jones' repeated references to "next-gen technology" throughout the keynote, 100-person servers for online play, and the recent EA partnership announcement -- though we'd be a lot more inclined to believe it if even a single MMO existed on current-gen consoles in any real capacity. When we asked RTW for comment on the possibility of APB coming to consoles, a representative told us, "There's no update on that front." Hey, we tried, right?
Alien Breed Evolution to spawn trilogy on XBLA, PSN, PC
Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, England today, Team17 leader Martyn Brown described his studio's forthcoming digital release, Alien Breed Evolution, as a trilogy -- "one of the most expensive digital titles to-date," too -- according to GamesIndustry.biz. Said to be costing in the realm of $2.5 million to develop, Team17's Unreal remake of its Amiga shooter will be distributed in three parts, spanning an estimated 15 hours of gameplay. The first "episode" will include three, one-hour levels and an additional three-hour, co-op scenario, and is scheduled to hatch on Xbox Live Arcade around October and destined for PSN at a later date, confirmed VG247. The underlying message of Brown's presentation, titled "10 Things Nobody Tells You About Digital Distribution and Self-publishing That You Must Understand to Succeed," seemed to be one of caution, as summarized by Gamasutra. Brown dispelled much of the get-rich-quick myth of independent, digital development -- and publishing. Sure, one in a billion basement programmers might strike gold, but to enjoy lasting success, as Team17 has for nearly two decades, expect to spend money to make money and employ a staff with a "wide variety of skills" (a team of 30 or so is currently working on Alien Breed, for example). Brown warned, "if you don't know something, get someone who does, because you will not be able to wing it." Update: It's coming to PC too. Source - Alien Breed trilogy cost $2.5 million to make Source - Alien Breed trilogy: PS3 version coming later Source - Develop 2009: Team17's Brown Talks Challenges Of Self-Publishing Online
Sony to talk 'a lot more' about motion controller at Develop Conference
According to the official programme for this year's Develop Conference (a UK soiree for game devs), the recently totally confirmed PlayStation Motion Controller will be a highlight of a keynote titled "PlayStation: Cutting Edge Technologies." Specifically, attendees are being told to "expect to hear a lot more about the new PS3 controller shown at E3, together with vision processing and advanced graphics techniques in the PS3 libraries" during a presentation by SCEE staff.The keynote description also makes mention of "several real-world examples of such techniques as used in recent and soon to be released PS3 and PSP titles from both Sony Computer Entertainment first party and external developers," but don't take that to mean "OMG actual games using motion control;" it's referring to the aforementioned "adavanced graphics techniques," which should still be pretty ... and pretty ace. The conference runs July 14 through 16 in Brighton.
Survey: Developers still worship Miyamoto, Blow too
Luminary Shigeru Miyamoto hasn't lost his shimmer in the eyes of game developers, with a recent industry poll finding the Nintendo icon to be without equal. The survey, commissioned by organizers of next month's Develop Conference, asked 9,000 devs to name their game development hero, with nearly a third of respondents pointing to Miyamoto as the man with the plan. The popularity contest also named id Software's John Carmack as the next most idealized developer, followed by Maxis and now Stupid Fun Club brainpan Will Wright. The top ten list of industry highlights was rounded out by Braid dev Jonathan Blow, who's likely too busy rewinding time (to see if he can somehow land higher on the ballot) to care.
You gotta believe Masaya Matsuura and Jenova Chen will speak at Develop Conference
Develop has just announced the addition of two speakers to the Develop Conference's 2009 lineup, both respected game designers whose works tend to be more than a little unconventional. Parappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, whose last game was the Wii marching adventure Major Minor's Majestic March, will present "It's Time for Music Games 2.0," in which the developer will "map out unexplored gaming possibilities and reinvent our understanding of the genre." thatgamecompany's Jenova Chen will present a retrospective about flOw and Flower, and "explore the relationship between games, entertainment and art."The Develop Conference will be held at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Brighton from July 14th through July 16th. If you're flying there and the pilot looks like this guy, get off and wait for the next plane.
Develop 2009's speaker lineup partially unveiled
A selection of the 2009 Develop Conference speakers has been revealed today. Realtime Worlds' David Jones will be keynoting at the conference and will cover "how to make a game successful." Having created titles such as Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, he should know. Nevertheless, we're expecting an hour long speech about how to bundle your game with an online beta for a Halo game. Usually does the trick.Other notable speakers include Team 17's Martyn Brown, SCEE's Arran Green and Climax Studios' Simon Gardner. Check out the Develop website for the full list. There will be more speakers announced closer to the event, which will take place in July.
Mythic's Paul Barnett on believers and heretics
Paul Barnett, the Creative Director at Mythic Entertainment, is not a man who minces his words, particularly when it comes to Warhammer Online. We covered how Barnett envisions Warhammer Online being free of the 'corruptive' influences of World of Warcraft. Gamasutra expanded on Barnett's talk at the Develop Conference and Expo in Brighton, distilling other aspects of the speech down to his top lessons learned. Barnett emphasized the importance of simplicity in game design, citing other titles that became mired in complexity. "People like the illusion of choice... they like a long menu at a restaurant despite the fact they will always order from the same three things," he said. On the topic of having a singular vision, given the time and cost involved, he stressed that game developers tend to fall into two camps: heretics and believers. Mythic hasn't "got time for people who have no morale or don't think we're going to succeed, and mess around in palace intrigue. Heretics must be burned publicly. It doesn't matter how talented they are. If they're a heretic, they go, because cancer spreads." Conversely, he stated his preference to hire less-talented 'believers' with intense drive over those talented 'heretics' whose skills come with limitations. Have a look at the Gamasutra piece for more of Barnett's views on game design and a little more of what we can expect from Warhammer Online. Some of his ideas are bold and intended to stir up controversy, but the man definitely has some memorable lines.
Develop 2007 dated, detailed: July 24 to 26 in Brighton
Develop Conference organizers Tandem Events have announced new information regarding the 2007 edition, which is taking place July 24 to 26 in Brighton, England. The conference, which is the British equivalent to US-based Game Developers Conference, will purportedly include 45 sessions and over 70 speakers. Currently known speakers include Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, movie special effects expert Peter Chiang and LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule, according to Gamasutra.The sessions are spread over seven tracks: design, production, coding, business, art, audio, and newcomer world vision. The latter category is intended to provide European developers an international perspective and give them the chance to learn from their global peers.Running alongside the conference is the Develop Expo, which will serve as a venue for hands-on demoing of the latest developer tools, technology and very likely a few games.The first day of Develop is being set aside for Develop Mobile, focusing on mobile development, and GAMES:EDU, focusing on serious and educational games.Registration is now open. Develop Mobile and GAMES:EDU is will take place Tuesday, July 24, and the Develop Conference and Expo will be July 25 and 26. Currently, there is no schedule of events set and the keynotes have not been announced. [Via Gamasutra]
Hype begins and ends with the gaming press
Wanna see a hype fest? Do you? You do?! Well just head over to Eurogamer, where the site decided to give Peter Molyneux a free license to hype up his unannounced projects. In an "interview" that in fifty years will be regarded by scholars as the definitive example of hype creation, Eurogamer asked Molyneux "what's your next game, and when are we going to find out about that?" The rest of the interview consists of Molyneux spouting hyped, fluffy nonsense about how he can't tell us what the game is about, but that it'll definitely be awesome+1 to the max! I just can't blame Molyneux for this mess -- if you give one of the game industry's most savvy game developers/marketers an open microphone, it's practically a law that he will use it to hype his product. Since Molyneux didn't actually say anything about his next game that might not be included in the game (like what happened with Fable) Molyneux is totally covered. The real blame lies with Eurogamer. This goes way beyond them failing to rein him in; they've gone out of their way to construct hype out of the interview. The accompanying article is dedicated to encouraging readers to guess the word that defines Molyneux's next project. Do they think that the average Eurogamer reader is five years old?! As Winston Smith says in 1984, "if there is hope, it lies in the proles gamers", so it's encouraging to see commentators calling Eurogamer out on this trash. Stoatboy says "Oh ffs - that was a terrible interview. Love him or loathe him - that interview said NOTHING above any beyond "it'll be GREAT", which is the very least anyone would say about any game they happened to be working on." See also: Joystiq's interview with Peter Molyneux
