Coming from one of their developers, this is really big an issue and will have impact in the industry, especially in their relationship. Further proof, that Sony indeed copied Nintendo as well Mircrosofts. http://www.nintendojo.com/infocus/view_item.php?1147230320 The creative director of Ubisoft Montreal had harsh words for Sony during an E3 workshop focusing on next-generation game design. Clint Hocking, the creative director behind titles such as Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory explained how he was disappointed by Sony's attempts to copy technologies from the other consoles. After referring to Sony's mimicking of Xbox Live, and then duplicating components of Nintendo's motion sensitive controller, Hocking paused in frustration. "How much more 'me too' can [Sony] be?," he asked. Earlier in the discussion Hocking attacked the industry's strategy to up the ante in visuals significantly with each console. It's a "fundamental problem of approach" to continue to push for stronger graphics, he said. He argued such an approach puts game developers in situations where they have to be factory workers. Assemble art texture here, model texture shades here. Repeat. Further, Hocking claimed the adoption rate of high-definition televisions is so low, that the approach wastes resources on art that many customers won't even appreciate. At the conclusion of the workshop, Hocking applauded Wii's new controller interface. If it can meet the technical accuracy promised by Nintendo, it can open up the creative minds of game designers, he said. While graphics may add emotion, Wii's new controller interface is more likely to bring emotion directly to the player. (byc) Source: Ubisoft
If you can't stand the heat... I don't really have a problem with console developers stealing from each other. If it makes something industry standard and not just a gimick (analogue control, vibration, more than 2 player controller ports, etc) then we all benefit.
I'm glad somebody at least spoke out. Though I doubt Ubisoft is going to ditch Sony... no matter how much developers bitch and complain about Sony... they never ditch them...
Although you have to applaud Nintendo's way of thinking, I don't really understand why they still make consoles. It seems to me they would do far better as a software developer and as a handheld manufacturer. I like the Wii motion sensing stuff, but it's going to take a lot for them to make it more than just a gimmick. I like playing new games but I also like playing traditional stuff a far lot more. A long session of energetic play using motion sensing isn't going to be possible and I don't know if I will want to be bothered with it after a long day in the office. Therefore it will be a novelty when I get bored or when the family comes over or I have a party or something. For this reason, and Nintendo's past track record in Europe, I am left trying to decide between the PS3 and the XBox360. The Wii will be a definite purchase at some point, but it's nothing more than a curio for me. I hope the Wii gets plenty of third party support and that Nintendo is supportive with it's licensing rather than greedy.
This is the part that always annoys actually. Nintendo, sure they're innovating and taking gaming in new directions, and they're always saying how their goal is to expand the audience of gaming, but no-one has expanded the audience of gaming anywhere near the amount the Sony and its PlayStation brand have done. I see the PS3 announcements made the news down here, but nothing of the Wii or 360. Sure, it may not be original or innovative, but people at least take notice. The fact that shit movie tie-in games sell so much at retail, and that EA and its ilk can deliver the 15th basicially-the-same iteration of a franchise and still be the top seller is a demonstration that the majority of people don't care about innovation.
That'd be the Japanese DS owners... For all the lack of innovation that the PSP displays, in the Western world the PSP outsells the DS by a healthy margin, so much so that worldwide sales of the PSP are ahead of the DS. Japan is by far the smallest of the three main markets. Sony's playing in a global arena. I think (and hope) the Wii will do well in Japan, but I think it'll be 360 and PS3 in the US and Europe, regardless of the degree of innovation. There's a saying, and I can't remember the exact wording, but it basically says that if you want to make money out of an idea, don't be the first the implement it. Nintendo will do all the R&D on this new type of interface, figure out what games work and don't and then Sony and MS will step in and make it mainstream. That's business....
You going to back up your sales figures with some hard evidence? It wasn't that long ago I looked myself, and what you're saying wasn't true then and I doubt it's true now.
The Nintendo and Sony E3 presentations both included sales figures, Sony claiming 17.03m PSP's and Nintendo claiming 16m DS's.
Hold on though - didn't Nintendo claim they'd sold 3 million more DS's than Sony had PSPs during their presentation?
Not according to their official figures they haven't, although Nintendo did cite "independent" figures which suggested they had. Who knows?
Sonys figures are sold to shops. Nintendos are sold to real people. Nintendos are also independent, rather than the sony RDF
I m not the most optimistic person around the block, since I m old enough to understand the magic behind accounting and manufacturing, research and development etc. but this time around Nintendo is up to something vastly superior to what they were on with the GameCube. To their good luck, Sony is passing some gas and I personally believe that it won't be long before the general public, people who don't hang out at forums etc, the casual citizens, will notice that. It's a good time for owning a 360 but a better one for owning a Wii. Fan-boyisms aside, I haven't looked forward to playing new games for many many years. The generic feeling of "go there do this" is something that has kept me from gradiing even "highly rated" games as high as most people. On the other hand, I ve played many more games than most people, and knowing the arts of programming and making the game, makes games all too predictable and triggers all too evident. I'm not saying that any of the procedural aspects of coding will change, but at least this time I can count on getting something that I ve never done before, and in the end it will crack a smile on my face, beyond the cinematic enjoyment of games such as MGS4. Games are about fun, drama is fun too, but pure fun is like sex. It's just funner. EDIT: From what I interpret from the posts, Kevin, I understand that you share a similar opinion on the matter?
Bloody excellent time to own a wii, since its 6 months from launching!! Completely agree with your comments, the wii should have far more success than gamecube- They have everything clear from the get go with the wii, whereas gamecube it was a bit "Well, We might let you go online" "We might be focussing on graphics" etc. No clear strategy to the cube, whereas the wii seems to have that sorted
Uh... you got any statistics for this? I dug around and found this chart, which shows Japan's hardware and software statistics against the rest of the world. Not one specific region. Even so, in 2004 in the midst of Japan's recession, it still counts for 20% of worldwide gamesales (light purple), while hardware sales (cream color) counted far less. One would assume that this includes all of NA, Europe, and the rest of Asia. Looks like Japan outsells everyone in terms of software, but doesn't do so good in hardware. Fewer people buying more games? I'd like to see a world-centered report, other than Japans. Google around. You will find a lot of question marks and sceptecism around Sony's sales figures for the PSP.
Wow I can't believe a developer would openly bash one of their clients like that . That takes balls and I bet that he will be hearing about that on Monday . Leave it to the Creative team to be a bunch of rebels .
True, but based on what we know about how the PSP is fairing in Japan, do we expect the split to be much different? If it is, it certainly would appear that it would not be a change towards a greater Japanese share.
