Sony Says Studios Will Help Make the Next PlayStation

[Andy Chalk]

Sony Says Studios Will Help Make the Next PlayStation

It's "lesson learned" for Sony, which says it will involve its game studios in the development of new gaming platforms so they won't be so difficult to work with in the future.

Remember last year, when Sony Computer Entertainment President Kaz Hirai said the PlayStation 3 was intentionally Sony Worldwide Studios [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/92333-Valve-Says-PS3-Complexity-Hinders-Game-Development] chief Shuhei Yoshida said that in the future, platform development will very much involve the software guys.

"When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Hirai became the president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, 'Get World Wide Studios in on hardware development'," Yoshida told Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/35289/Sony-Developers-will-help-build-the-next-PlayStation?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+developmag%2Fifbh+%28Develop%29]. "He wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us [developers]."

The new approach apparently sprung from a "rescue mission" for SCE first-party studios and is also a "core pillar of the design ideology" on the upcoming PlayStation Move motion controller. "I'm spending more time on the hardware platform, connecting hardware guys to developers," Yoshida said. "That's my major role now, and Move is one of those new ways of developing platforms."


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[IamQ]

I think this idea will be alot better. Also, is this a sign of them working on, or soon to be working on, a new console?

 

[JediMB]

Hirai > Krazy Kutaragi

It's nice to know that the "new guy" knows that the hardware is supposed to be a platform for games, and not some kind of architectural art piece.

 

[Firia]

This is a really good idea. I'm surprised its taken this long, to be honest. The PS2 had this problem, if I remember. The PS2 was hard to code for, and as devs learned how to max it out, it really started to shine. I foretold that very thing would happen with the PS3, and it's in the midst of happening now. It works, but there are patches of time where people don't know what to do with the system.

If the ps4 has developers behind the scenes, then we'll really see something! Unless the devs all want to do things the easy way.

 

[twm1709]

sony got a little cocky with the ps3 because of how well the ps1 and ps2 did, and it took a lot from them to come back. Hopefully, they've learned their lesson. we don't need another sega all over again -_-

 

[Andronicus]

More developers = More games
More games = Hopefully more new games/ IP's

Sequels are nice (sometimes), but other times I really want to sink my teeth into something completely fresh.

 

[Jared]

That sounds like a good idea, that way, they know what they are working wirh sooner!

 

[Jumplion]

Now here's something I can get behind without looking like a PS3 fanboy. You need to have a balance between "hard to work for" and "easy to program", or you'll have a bad ratio of good:bad games if everyone can program for it

This is a really good idea. I'm surprised its taken this long, to be honest. The PS2 had this problem, if I remember. The PS2 was hard to code for, and as devs learned how to max it out, it really started to shine. I foretold that very thing would happen with the PS3, and it's in the midst of happening now. It works, but there are patches of time where people don't know what to do with the system.

If the ps4 has developers behind the scenes, then we'll really see something! Unless the devs all want to do things the easy way.

That is true, a lot of people seem to forget that. Though back then the PS2 didn't really have much competition, so developers just sucked it up unlike today where developers have 3 option to go for (4 if you count the PC).

 

[butteforce]

Now here's something I can get behind without looking like a PS3 fanboy. You need to have a balance between "hard to work for" and "easy to program", or you'll have a bad ratio of good:bad games if everyone can program for it

Yeah, because making development a bigger pain in the ass than it already is definitely leads to quality creative output. I guess being able to write in C is a pretty big step up though. Maybe next time you'll be able to just write code rather than having to deal with 38 different processors for different stuff.

 

[mjc0961]

Sounds like Kaz Hirai is on to something here, good for him. I am very disappointed that always hearing his name or voice instantly spurs "RIIIIIIIIIIDGE RACER!!!" in my mind, though. Why Kaz... Why?

 

[CrashBang]

To be blunt, that was quite a dick move. Sounds like they were overconfident at the time due to the massive success of the PS2. I love my PS3 but often choose to buy multi-platform games for my 360 because the PS3 can have serious issues with framerate, online play and so on
At least they learned their lesson

 

[Jumplion]

Now here's something I can get behind without looking like a PS3 fanboy. You need to have a balance between "hard to work for" and "easy to program", or you'll have a bad ratio of good:bad games if everyone can program for it

Yeah, because making development a bigger pain in the ass than it already is definitely leads to quality creative output. I guess being able to write in C is a pretty big step up though. Maybe next time you'll be able to just write code rather than having to deal with 38 different processors for different stuff.

Obvious unnecessary hostilities is unnecessary hostile, plus Strawman.

I never said making something harder to develop for would make a game instantly better. You just don't want your product to instantly give away everything it has to offer otherwise your games will stagnate. Look at the Wii, say what you want about it, you have to admit it has a pretty bad ratio of good:shovelware games. Absolutely anyone can program for it, and as a result everyone wants to make money off of a cheap cash-grab.

At times simple is good, but sometimes simple just hurts and having more complex things to work with expands your options. Pivot: Stickfigure animator (Google it) is extremely simple, but because of that it is extremely limited unlike, say, Macromedia Flash.

 

[luvd1]

Well done Sony. Took you f**king long enough to work that one out. Sometimes I despair.

 

[ggamer2]

I think it's a step in the right direction, making good games is hard enough by itself without having to struggle with a black monolith coded in hieroglyphs.

 

[IamQ]

I don't think it's a good idea... I don't want Activision and Kotick anywhere NEAR platform development, or they'll probably add a coin-slot.

Activision isn't going near it. They're a publisher, not a developer.

 

[Dr. Dan Challis]

I've never really understood the idea that developers not being able to fully tap a console's potential until near the end of the lifespan of the console was a good thing. It's almost like saying: "Don't bother buying our console now because far better games are going to come along when the console is much, much cheaper." Nice to see Sony's attitude is starting to change.

 

[Aurgelmir]

This is a really good idea. I'm surprised its taken this long, to be honest. The PS2 had this problem, if I remember. The PS2 was hard to code for, and as devs learned how to max it out, it really started to shine. I foretold that very thing would happen with the PS3, and it's in the midst of happening now. It works, but there are patches of time where people don't know what to do with the system.

If the ps4 has developers behind the scenes, then we'll really see something! Unless the devs all want to do things the easy way.

The problem is, which it didn't seem Sony understood, is that back in the PS2 era games was produced separately for each platform. Also PS2 was the major platform of the era.
This meant that developers WANTED to make great games on the PS2, and they WANTED to learn how to do it.

Today PS3 isn't really the market leader, which means that developers don't really want to spend a lot of time learning how to make the perfect game on the PS3.
We are talking about cross platform games here. Most PS3 exclusive games have shown how good the machine can be.

In the end I personally think being first on market is what will win you 1st place i nthe long run... Unless you are SEGA, they never seemed to be able to get anywhere. But that is a discussion for another day.