Hideo Kojima; Crazy Analogies, part 2.

[.Melchiah.]

http://www.xboxic.com/news/1107#more-1107

Amir0x: Kojima-san, what do you think of the current console landscape? What type of food is the PS3 like now?

Hideo Kojima: To refresh your memory, last year I said the PlayStation 3 was a big meal that you have once a year, the 360 was a special meal that you have on weekends, and the Revolution - as it was called at the time - was your everyday meal. Last year, it was the same family changing meals according to the situation; that was my line on it.

Right. And now?

Hideo Kojima: Now, the PlayStation 3 is like a movie theater for people who want to see this movie on the big screen with THX and 5.1 audio, even if they have to pay a high price. The Xbox 360 is DVD. Basically, you don’t know what movie you want to see, so you go to the store and see if you can pick up a good one. The Wii is like a TV for when you’re home and you don’t know what you want to watch but you [want to] have that variety.

Enlightening. Go on…

So I think the three platforms are really distinctive and they mostly don’t overlap each other — people who love movies watch TV all the time. We have to be very quick [with what we’re doing in terms of games]. We can’t wait long to turn on TV, and also, the programs have to be in all varieties so everyone is satisifed, as opposed to the movie theaters, where everything has to be high spec. People want high emotions. You want to be touched watching it on the big screen. For DVD, or the 360, you need to have a lot of variety so when people stop by they’ll pick up your product. Maybe in the future, you’ll see three DVDs for $10.

Hilarious, but I think the meal analogies were better.

The Xbox 360 is DVD. Basically, you don’t know what movie you want to see, so you go to the store and see if you can pick up a good one.

Is that a reference to the quality of the units, or the quality of the games?

 

[Arty]

I watch movies in the theatre fornightly and rent/buy a dvd every week and watch tv daily.

 

[russo121]

He need to promote PS3 at any cost... his game will only work in PS3, right?
It could be a big meal but it is hard to digest also (price).

 

[Guden Oden]

His meal analogy was more humorous (even though perhaps inadvertently, or maybe you need to be japanese to understand it...), this one is more descriptive.

He has some good points I think.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I seriously doubt that the quality difference between PS3 and X360 games' presentation could be described as big screen THX whatever and DVD. Whether he meant to say this or not is irrelevant as everyone will get this impression from his comment. FUD.

 

[Brad Grenz]

I don't think his comments should be taken seriously, but I don't think you could accurately call them FUD.

 

[Urian]

I don't think his comments should be taken seriously, but I don't think you could accurately call them FUD.

I am sure that Sony is funding MGS4 entire development.

 

[Acert93]

I am sure that Sony is funding MGS4 entire development.

Since we are talking imagery, your comment brought a funny smile to my face. I can see it now:

* MS approaches Kojima and says, "We will give you this nice DVD player if you make MGS4 for the Xbox 360".

* Sony pushes the MS chump aside and says, "Kojima, we will give you a movie theater with THX and 5.1 audio".

* Nintendo does not even bother approaching Kojima to see if he is interested in the 14" TV.

 

[LunchBox]

I am still waiting for an analogy based on cars
That would be sweet!!!

 

[Arwin]

The only point about this analogy that makes sense, is that most people go to the movies, buy DVDs, and watch TV at home, and therefore is an example of how all three systems can coexist, if they do their respective jobs as advertised (i.e. PS3 versions of games are really top of the bill, there are plenty of DVDs available for the 360 from Fox till XXX-rated, and there's more than just Fox TV for Nintendo).

But you can't take the analogy too far - after all once you have the PS3 in your home, it's not like it's only there for one day every two weeks.

I think it'll actually be easier to find a proper car analogy.

 

[drpepper]

I am still waiting for an analogy based on cars
That would be sweet!!!

That would would be so wrong...

 

[TheChefO]

I love the analogy and it's interesting that a third party dev views the market in this way, but I wonder how many other devs see it this way and how that will affect what games are available where.

In other words:
ps3:
+High production value games
-High dev costs (potentially difficult to get return on investment)
-Potentially less frequent games due to high expectation/ high cost
-Potentially less experimentation due to high expectation of production values (bigger "bomb" potential)

I'm all for high production games as I think the industry is in dire need of meeting a significantly higher standard for what we call a "great game". But there are some negatives to consider with this theory of setting this standard for the console as a whole.

Gotta love the FUD though

I wonder how long it'll be before mgs4 is ported to 360/Wii

 

[Arwin]

I love the analogy and it's interesting that a third party dev views the market in this way, but I wonder how many other devs see it this way and how that will affect what games are available where.

In other words:
ps3:
+High production value games
-High dev costs (potentially difficult to get return on investment)
-Potentially less frequent games due to high expectation/ high cost

What comes to DVD has first been in the cinema, yes? Except in this analogy, the DVD version isn't the only one with special features / extra content.

You also neglect Xbox Live Arcade and its Sony equivalent. In many cases relatively simple Direct3D / OpenGL development will suffice and games are allowed to be smaller. This should be a lot cheaper to develop for.

-Potentially less experimentation due to high expectation of production values (bigger "bomb" potential)

Again negated by the online distribution network of the other two consoles.

I wonder how long it'll be before mgs4 is ported to 360/Wii

The 360 might get a reduced version (I'm assuming reduced cinematics, but who knows he'll have time to compress something or other). It will be something like MGS2 Subsistence, if anything. But apparently it hasn't sold that well - where's MGS3 on Xbox, eh?

Interesting also to remember is that previously, Kojima said that the 360 and PS3 were similar, so this new analogy is a change from that.

The Wii will never get a direct port, as the system is just far too different. But there's a decent chance it will get something. But what, who knows? Perhaps one that targets the Wiimote.

 

[Eleazar]

I am going to write this one down as a false analogy. There isn't anything saying that an X360 can't be a movietheater as well. Especially since one of the things he uses to describe movie theaters are high emotions. Both the Wii and X360 will be capable of doing this. All the systems have the role of filling the movie theater position. Looking at past gen we see that there was overlap between the systems. Looking forward to this gen, I think we are going to see that same overlap. Kojima is attempting to put the PS3 on a pedestal that the other systems have the capability of filling as well. I like Kojima and his games, but this is an instance I have to say I don't agree with him on.

 

[Teasy]

Since we are talking imagery, your comment brought a funny smile to my face. I can see it now:

* MS approaches Kojima and says, "We will give you this nice DVD player if you make MGS4 for the Xbox 360".

* Sony pushes the MS chump aside and says, "Kojima, we will give you a movie theater with THX and 5.1 audio".

* Nintendo does not even bother approaching Kojima to see if he is interested in the 14" TV.

Who in the world still watches Television on a 14" TV?

 

[scooby_dooby]

Sounds to me he has started talking about them in terms of price much more than performance. Rev is basic cable, 360 is like a movie rental $5 not bad, ps3 expensive is like a a theatre, $10-15 ouch.

 

[slider]

Nope, I still think he's talking about capabilities: after all he mentions THX sound and a big screen. What people think of his opinion is their own business.

In the age of dissecting quotes on forums, this was... I dunno. Most likely he was ordering the 3 machines in a line based on capabilites (purely from his POV) - the direct analogies to TV, DVD and Movie Experience have left people guessing how far apart the 3 are.

Pfff, what a pointless exercise!! I mean of all the people to try and decipher... Hideo??

 

[TheChefO]

What comes to DVD has first been in the cinema, yes? Except in this analogy, the DVD version isn't the only one with special features / extra content.

You also neglect Xbox Live Arcade and its Sony equivalent. In many cases relatively simple Direct3D / OpenGL development will suffice and games are allowed to be smaller. This should be a lot cheaper to develop for.



Again negated by the online distribution network of the other two consoles.



The 360 might get a reduced version (I'm assuming reduced cinematics, but who knows he'll have time to compress something or other). It will be something like MGS2 Subsistence, if anything. But apparently it hasn't sold that well - where's MGS3 on Xbox, eh?

Interesting also to remember is that previously, Kojima said that the 360 and PS3 were similar, so this new analogy is a change from that.

The Wii will never get a direct port, as the system is just far too different. But there's a decent chance it will get something. But what, who knows? Perhaps one that targets the Wiimote.

While I agree Sony looks poised to develop a similar "Arcade" system, the comments from Hideo do not suggest this will be the majority of the games available (I also doubt it on either system). What he suggests is "if you want extremely high quality games there is only one place for it and that is ps3 because that is the ps3 standard". That is a fine point of view and like I said I'm wondering if this is purely his pov or if this something pushed by sony as a general focus.

With this focus though comes a few things to consider which I listed. Those issues on the list are not overcome by digital distribution even if it had become standard in every home by this time next year. The cost to develop the game will still be through the roof and there are still questions of whether or not devs will risk running a red bottom line for exlusivity. Sony would have to cover the costs of developement or some other means of financial support to curb this concern.

Variety can be had through a live arcade type setup but from the sounds of his (and others?) tone, the standard is too high for "simple"/experimental games.

 

[liverkick]

I am sure that Sony is funding MGS4 entire development.

I am pretty sure you couldn't be more wrong about that.

And wow, we're correlating one of HK's kooky comments with FUD now? Reactionary much?

 

[Dave Baumann]

I am pretty sure you couldn't be more wrong about that.

Actually, do you have any basis for this? Personally I'd assume that for exclusive launch titles on any platform there would be some hefty, if not entire funding, given that the userbase is not that big.