Sony's Plea To Third-Parties
Developers should make the most of "interesting extras"
Posted 4 Sept 2007
Follow us on...
Share on...
Sony is pining for third-party developers to make the most of the PS3. That's what Sony Computer Entertainment president Kaz Hirai's comments would suggest, anyway.
Speaking to Japanese website ITMedia +D, Hirai said, "I think it’s really important that we talk with third party developers so that they can have these interesting extras in the PlayStation 3 version.”
Aw, Kaz. You're breaking SPOnG's heart. He gave some more detail on what those “interesting extras” are, saying, “...I think it’s important that third parties use the unique characteristics of the platform to add a little bit of extra flavour to their games. For example, with the PS3, you’ve got the Sixaxis controller, or you could utilise the extra capacity provided by Blu-ray to add more levels, put on interviews with the developers or have your videos able to play in 1080p.”
Sony, it would seem, is not oblivious to the merits of developing titles for multiple platforms. “When you consider the cost of developing on today’s platforms, I think it’s a logical progression that they’re all thinking of making their games cross-platform", said Hirai.
It would appear that Sony is starting to give up the ghost on securing third party exclusives for the PS3, instead hoping that its "unique characteristics" will sell gamers on the merits of multi-platform games on the PS3.
Recent comments from Epic's Mark Rein about how Blu-Ray on the PS3 offers more "leg room" for Unreal Tournament 3 seem to support Hirai's plea for developers to make the most of Sony's console's "interesting extras".
At least Sony can take consolation that Ubisoft's upcoming political shooter, Haze, is a PS3 exclusive. Well, maybe. Sort of.
Speaking to Japanese website ITMedia +D, Hirai said, "I think it’s really important that we talk with third party developers so that they can have these interesting extras in the PlayStation 3 version.”
Aw, Kaz. You're breaking SPOnG's heart. He gave some more detail on what those “interesting extras” are, saying, “...I think it’s important that third parties use the unique characteristics of the platform to add a little bit of extra flavour to their games. For example, with the PS3, you’ve got the Sixaxis controller, or you could utilise the extra capacity provided by Blu-ray to add more levels, put on interviews with the developers or have your videos able to play in 1080p.”
Sony, it would seem, is not oblivious to the merits of developing titles for multiple platforms. “When you consider the cost of developing on today’s platforms, I think it’s a logical progression that they’re all thinking of making their games cross-platform", said Hirai.
It would appear that Sony is starting to give up the ghost on securing third party exclusives for the PS3, instead hoping that its "unique characteristics" will sell gamers on the merits of multi-platform games on the PS3.
Recent comments from Epic's Mark Rein about how Blu-Ray on the PS3 offers more "leg room" for Unreal Tournament 3 seem to support Hirai's plea for developers to make the most of Sony's console's "interesting extras".
At least Sony can take consolation that Ubisoft's upcoming political shooter, Haze, is a PS3 exclusive. Well, maybe. Sort of.
Comments
2/5
Well well well, maybe $ony (thats for you hollywooda lol) your comments about "we dont bribe companys" is a bad thing it appears maybe if you did as you pointed out MS does and because they habe how many 3rd party exclusives have they got and better still GTA will have episodic only for 360, its a shame sony honestly , i loved your PSone and Your PS2 and why because you had the games loads of em some (lots) of crap but you had some of the best games ever on those consoles, and now you have nothing and pretty much nothing to look forward too, i cant even look forward to FF13 or MGS4 because i feel like that i bough a £400 console for two games!, sort it out sony sort it out.
more comments below our sponsor's message
3/5
Weren't Sony saying, before the PS3 hit stores, that this generation would be decided on who had the best first party products? Seems like spending all that money, setting up new development studios, may have been better spent elsewhere, afterall.
4/5
That Cell processor isn't all its cracked up to be and developers are not afraid to say so. Typical Sony misleading. They say its a 7 core processor. It has 1x 3.2Ghz core and 7 SPEs which are essentially extremely simple, stripped down cores that can only perform very simple tasks.
The 360 has 3 proper cores each with the ability of processing 2 threads. Probably best to think of the PS3 as 1 pizza with 7 toppings and the 360 as 3 pizzas with 2 toppings each.
SIXAXIS is looking a bit sorry for itself too. It was obviously rushed in last minute due to the Wii. I don't know of anything that uses it very well. To be fair though, Blueray is looking like a good decision albeit being underused. Its the same deal with PS2 and Gamecube ports to the XBox. It had an 8Gb hard drive but it was never used in those games because they develop for the weakest system first then work up. Sony can't seem to accept that when they're in this position. Although I still maintain the 360 is not a "weaker" system in terms of horsepower when all things are considered.
The 360 has 3 proper cores each with the ability of processing 2 threads. Probably best to think of the PS3 as 1 pizza with 7 toppings and the 360 as 3 pizzas with 2 toppings each.
SIXAXIS is looking a bit sorry for itself too. It was obviously rushed in last minute due to the Wii. I don't know of anything that uses it very well. To be fair though, Blueray is looking like a good decision albeit being underused. Its the same deal with PS2 and Gamecube ports to the XBox. It had an 8Gb hard drive but it was never used in those games because they develop for the weakest system first then work up. Sony can't seem to accept that when they're in this position. Although I still maintain the 360 is not a "weaker" system in terms of horsepower when all things are considered.
5/5
Here's a developer's (and probably publisher) perspective on Sony's plea. Development time costs money. More levels cost more money. Adding more levels to one version of the game may be great for the platform holder so they can say "It's better on our system" but it doesn't bring in any extra profit to pay for the extra development time.
It's not like the good old days of the 8bit systems any more, games take a long time to create and publishers make the same game on multiple systems for a reason, they get more return to pay for the massive development costs. Spending time tarting up a single version is not cost effective.
It may even have a negative effect on sales. If you have two systems that have similar capabilites, owners of the console which gets the "lesser" version might be a little alienated by that fact.
It's not like the good old days of the 8bit systems any more, games take a long time to create and publishers make the same game on multiple systems for a reason, they get more return to pay for the massive development costs. Spending time tarting up a single version is not cost effective.
It may even have a negative effect on sales. If you have two systems that have similar capabilites, owners of the console which gets the "lesser" version might be a little alienated by that fact.
Related News
Latest Features
| Interview// F1 2009: David Croft and Anthony Davidson |
| Review// Assassin's Creed II |
| Interview// SCEE's Alison Turner on the PSN Video Store |
| Interview// F1 2009: Sumo Digital's Ned Waterhouse |
Good to see him trying anyways. Only so much you can do to persuade people.