Are Sony devs aiming higher?

[TheChefO]

I'd say
Sony: Yes.
Msft: Yes.
Mlpt: Yes. Yes.
EA, Activision: No

EA has actually been producing some very nice products lately ... Check out BFBC, FNR3, plus their streetball+hiphop fighter. Much improved this gen and actually in the conversation of some of the best ... unlike last gen.

They get my vote for most improved dev group this gen so far.

 

[Tap In]

EA has actually been producing some very nice products lately ... Check out BFBC, FNR3, plus their streetball+hiphop fighter. Much improved this gen and actually in the conversation of some of the best ... unlike last gen.

They get my vote for most improved dev group this gen so far.

they really are pushing the visuals this gen. (at low performance levels in some games though but I'd expect that to change over time).

the Army of Two trailer on XBL marketplace looks really good too.

 

[blakjedi]

Aiming higher in the context of the original post is:

Sony Dev: Hey look at this cool new game/technique (lets say LBP for example)
Outsider: Cool I've never seen that on 360.
MS Dev: We COULD do that.
Outsider: Well how come you HAVEN'T?

 

[TheChefO]

they really are pushing the visuals this gen. (at low performance levels in some games though but I'd expect that to change over time).

the Army of Two trailer on XBL marketplace looks really good too.

completely slipped my mind ... thanks for the reminder! (not only a good looking game but it actually sounds fun and unique!)

 

[Tap In]

Aiming higher in the context of the original post is:

Sony Dev: Hey look at this cool new game/technique (lets say LBP for example)
Outsider: Cool I've never seen that on 360.
MS Dev: We COULD do that.
Outsider: Well how come you HAVEN'T?

well in that context I'd say the thread title should be "Are Sony devs aiming in a different direction?"

 

[TheChefO]

Aiming higher in the context of the original post is:

From my perspective I was just dissappointed to see many of the features of xb360 going unused compared to ps3 where they were not only using the featureset, they were going beyond what was thought possible... and at an early stage to boot.

 

[Bigus Dickus]

Aiming higher in the context of the original post is:

Sony Dev: Hey look at this cool new game/technique (lets say LBP for example)
Outsider: Cool I've never seen that on 360.
MS Dev: We COULD do that.
Outsider: Well how come you HAVEN'T?

That kind of game concept can be applied to the PS2, Wii, GC, Xbox, PS1, dreamcast.... etc. For each console, confining the game to a 2.5d sidescroller allows graphical techniques to be utilized that aren't available for a full 3D engine. That LBP looks good isn't a testament to the PS3 specifically, but simply to the tradeoffs achieved by that game style.

When you say "never seen that on 360" I'm hearing quite a bit of bias undertones... what you really should be saying is "why haven't these types of games caught on more in the past?"

 

[NERO]

That kind of game concept can be applied to the PS2, Wii, GC, Xbox, PS1, dreamcast.... etc. For each console, confining the game to a 2.5d sidescroller allows graphical techniques to be utilized that aren't available for a full 3D engine. That LBP looks good isn't a testament to the PS3 specifically, but simply to the tradeoffs achieved by that game style.

When you say "never seen that on 360" I'm hearing quite a bit of bias undertones... what you really should be saying is "why haven't these types of games caught on more in the past?"

I agree fully with that assessment. Though it is a bit off-topic, I hope instead of bastardizing the traditional 2d games in 3d, devs get the striders, shinobis and scroll shooters of the world and LBPify them. They could even sell them as dc.

 

[Diamond.G]

I agree fully with that assessment. Though it is a bit off-topic, I hope instead of bastardizing the traditional 2d games in 3d, devs get the striders, shinobis and scroll shooters of the world and LBPify them. They could even sell them as dc.

How well did Viewtiful Joe (1 & 2) sell? It seems like, whilst ppl cry out for LBP it may not fare as well as one would think.

 

[TheChefO]

How well did Viewtiful Joe (1 & 2) sell? It seems like, whilst ppl cry out for LBP it may not fare as well as one would think.

Awesome game btw

/offtopic

Games which to me are aiming high(not necessarily er):
Heavenly Sword
MGS4
Drake
Sigma

All of which are looking to push the genre(or tech) forward in some way.

 

[NERO]

How well did Viewtiful Joe (1 & 2) sell? It seems like, whilst ppl cry out for LBP it may not fare as well as one would think.

LBP looks fun IMO but I don't assume that it is going to be a big hit. I do enjoy the style of it and for my own sake would love to see 2d games resources the way LBP is.

 

[NERO]

Games which to me are aiming high(not necessarily er..
All of which are looking to push the genre(or tech) forward in some way.

I do agree in part w/ the games you mentioned brosef (MGS4 might coax me into buying ps3 only because the series has brought me great joy), but until I see something I haven't seen before in AI or animation I will consider these games (and many others) as "really pretty but no personality."

 

[Shifty Geezer]

How well did Viewtiful Joe (1 & 2) sell? It seems like, whilst ppl cry out for LBP it may not fare as well as one would think.

Why are you looking to Viewtiful Joe to determine how LBP will do?

 

[Diamond.G]

Why are you looking to Viewtiful Joe to determine how LBP will do?

How many other side scrolling 2.5D adventure games are there? Some people can't bring themselves to play games like that cause they aren't in a 3d free roaming world, I was thinking of that mentality. I liked Viewtiful Joe, I also like LBP so I thought to ask the question.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I dunno that people refuse to buy games if they're not full 3D. It's also wrong to call LBP a 2.5D adventure game, as it's more open than that. Whether it sells or flops will be on it's own merits I believe, rather than constriction of motion along a single plain (which hasn't bothered sale of many a nostalgia title, DS, and Live Arcade games has it?)

 

[NovemberMike]

Why are you looking to Viewtiful Joe to determine how LBP will do?

I think he might have a point. Certain genres don't seem to do as well as others. Sports is probably the easiest genre to sell, followed by FPS (at least in the west), and action games (how does God of War compare with Madden?) and some other niche genres don't do that well even if they are critically acclaimed.

One problem is that good games don't necessarily sell well. Okami was probably one of the best games last year, but Clover studios was closed because their stuff wasn't successful. LBP will probably do better because it is partially free, but we will have to see how well it does when it is actually on sale.

 

[Diamond.G]

I dunno that people refuse to buy games if they're not full 3D. It's also wrong to call LBP a 2.5D adventure game, as it's more open than that. Whether it sells or flops will be on it's own merits I believe, rather than constriction of motion along a single plain (which hasn't bothered sale of many a nostalgia title, DS, and Live Arcade games has it?)

I think he might have a point. Certain genres don't seem to do as well as others. Sports is probably the easiest genre to sell, followed by FPS (at least in the west), and action games (how does God of War compare with Madden?) and some other niche genres don't do that well even if they are critically acclaimed.

One problem is that good games don't necessarily sell well. Okami was probably one of the best games last year, but Clover studios was closed because their stuff wasn't successful. LBP will probably do better because it is partially free, but we will have to see how well it does when it is actually on sale.

I was trying to say/ask what novembermike said. I want games like LBP to succeed. More variety the better.

 

[blakjedi]

That LBP looks good isn't a testament to the PS3 specifically, but simply to the tradeoffs achieved by that game style.

When you say "never seen that on 360" I'm hearing quite a bit of bias undertones... what you really should be saying is "why haven't these types of games caught on more in the past?"

The bias implied is not just implied but explicit. Its not a bias toward Sony but rather a bias against some MS devs who are not really taking advantage of the next gen label the 360 offers. The 360 will be 2 years old this year and launched with strong online capabilities but... LBP comes out of nowhere and shocks people with its graphical style (the lighting, textures, animations and physics are amazing frankly) designed for online.... Where is the creativity in the 360 dev pool that has prevented something like this from being produced in the last two years? Or Afrika?

The 360 being the cash cow that it is, and with UE3 being as rampant and accessible as it is... has that hampered the creative coding and design decisions of 360 devs? Lost Planet was a game that hinted that this is not necessarily the case... Gears also... but where are the teams that are looking at the 360 architecture and saying "theres this game I always wanted to make and have it look like THIS and the 360 is best way for me to actually get there..." Not because they got paid or were convinced by MS but because they were inspired by the hardware, middleware and other tools available for the platform.

This is no disrespect at all to the resident 360 devs here (Fran and cloudscapes and i think shootmymonkey come to mind). Its just that passion, zeal, optimism and ambition that i hear from folks like Marco and DeanoC for their hardware of choice seems to be something I read in most devs interviews who work on Sony's platform. Why are the 360 devs so mum?

 

[bRoNx]

^^Great Post!^^

I agree. I totally see where you're coming from, and frankly, this is why I have faith in the WWS that SONY has put together for its 1st and 2nd party dev's. They do seem to be more ambitious and are aiming to create something amazing and different for the PS3, whereas I see quite a few UE3-esque games being developed for the 360.

Not that it's a bad thing, but it seems to be a 'safe' move.

This is a matter of opinion, of course. For me, I'm more excited at what the SotC dev's will bring to the PS3 than anything else.

 

[NovemberMike]

BlakJedi, I am not entirely certain what you mean. Microsoft has games that are similar in terms of creativity, like Viva Pinata or Condemned. If you are talking about UE3, from what I understand RoboBlitz was really a unique idea (fully physics driven gameplay in a 50MB game) that showed how the 360 could be used to a small team.

Also, what is so creative about Afrika? As far as I can tell we know absolutely nothing about it, and while there has been a fair amount of buzz about it there hasn't been anything that has struck me as being incredibly special.