New ITAGAKI interview touches on 360 and PS3 comparison

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GI: You’ve said before you want to develop for the most powerful console out there. You must be pretty confident in the Xbox 360.

Itagaki: Yes. I hope so. I think Xbox 360 is the best game console on the earth. It’s better than PlayStation 3.

GI: Can I ask you why?

Itagaki: PS3 has too complicated of architecture.
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http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200509/N05.0923.1500.24632.htm

Now I am sure some sony fans will jump on TeamNinja and say thier development team is stupid and they should hire smarter programmers becasue cell is to complicated for them.

GI: We were very surprised with the online lobby setup for DOA4 with the Halloween theme. Are there multiple themes? What made you decide to do something like that for the online lobby?

Itagaki: You’ll start out with one that is free, but there will be lobbies that you can purchase from the online marketplace. Even if you don’t purchase any more from the online market place – if you’re a casual gamer – of course you’ll be able to play the game online without spending money. The free set of avatars will be ninja themed. You’ll be a lesser ninja. You’ll have to upgrade to get out of this sort of low class, lower set of ninjas.

GI: Is the Halloween one you showed at the event one going to be the one that is the default free lobby?

Itagaki: No, only one will be given away for free. If Ninja is the free one, the Halloween lobby you’ll be charged for.

GI: Will any of the lobbies or avatars be unlockable in the game?

Itagaki: No, we can’t do that. The story of DOA happens on the other side of that little TV screen. The side in front of the TV [ed: the lobby] isn’t part of the DOA world. I don’t know which side we consider is the virtual world. However, since we don’t allow character customization in the game, we are allowing it in the lobbies.
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I think this is F'ING rediculous. Who the hell wants to pay for a stupid lobby and avatar. I would love to pay to customize all of the hot girls like Tina or Ayane. Hell every other non online fighting game, TEKKEN 5, VF4, and SC3, has Free charachter customization. I hate that they are passing up such a great opertunity to extend the life of the game by not having new costumes or accesories to download.

I find it very stupid they waste time on something that few people would want or pay for instead of what every DOA fan always wanted and would gladly pay for. He already gave us customization in DOAX. He should at least give us the same amount of customization and Swimsuits he gave us in Xtreame Beach VolleyBall for download. They would make a total shite load of money if they put those swimsuits and accesories to buy for download.

GI: You’ve always pushed the hardware you’re working on quite a bit. What have you been able to do on the Xbox 360 that you haven’t been able to do on the first Xbox?

Itagaki: At E3 we were one of the few developers to show their game demo on Xbox 360. Although it wasn’t playable. Most of the games were 15 fps. Our E3 trailer we tried getting it to 60 fps, but it ended up turning out to be around 45. That was E3. Now we’ve brought it up to 60. To be more specific, maybe it’s about 55 fps. From now until launch we’ll bring it up to 60. Other developers are now trying to bring their games up to 30fps. That’s a fact. Can you think of any other games that are running at 60 fps? Every Party? (laughs)

......So of course, for the last 8 years, our focus was to improve the graphics quality, and of course without having enough power, that became a challenge. From this point forward, obviously that won’t be the focus, and we’ll be working more on interactivity – things like this lobby – more about the actual game concept and gameplay. That’s where I think my focus will be on.
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I think DOA Ultimate was the best looking game ever Until ConkerReloded came out to take the title for best graphics of all three systems for the current gen. But untill we get a direct feed DOA4 trailer of the newest build, I think even though there not at 60fps, GOW, PGR3 and MGS4 all look better than DOA4 does. The DOA4 charachter models even still look the same as DOAU and that really sucks.

I hate how he rushes the game because Microsoft is forcing Tecmo to make the 360 launch. He did the same thing to DOA3 and gave the US an incomplete version that he only fixed for Japan and Europe. And never released for the US. If he doesn't give us hurricane pack like downloads to upgrade DOA4 then I probably will not buy the game.
 
I remember a time when Itagaki wore his team's ability to harness "complicated" hardware like a badge of honour :p I guess he's just not as hardcore anymore ;)
 
I wonder if Itagaki is a real fa... console loyalist or did MS just throw insane amounts of money at him. He is a bit crazy that's for sure.
 
I respect his answer, but we can't act like he's completly innocent here. If this guy is litterly blowing up X360 devs kits, then why is the PS3 so hard to program for? Last I heard it is easier to program the PS3 right now than the PS2 is 5 years after it's debut.
 
Not every developer has the same budget, design goals, abilities, development window, background, or preference.

Devs of different walks are each going to find a console that matches their design goals best within the limitations they have. ALL games have limitations of some type. Limitations being a very vast word for both technical issues, real world issues, and game design issues (one game may be limited on System A and not B, but another game may be limited on System B and not A).

And of course there is politics and money.

All this stuff goes both ways. I think it is sufficient to say developers from all perspectives have spoken up on what they like. This is NOT an issue of lazy, one being better than another, etc...

In the context of the above developer, he gave an answer to his reason (which is much more than most devs will say, and further a more relevant point than 99% of the "my console is better than yours" in online forums). This reason is valid for his team and design objectives. This is not true of every developer, so the limitation is not universal. Obviously there are others who agree with him, and obviously there are some who would say, "Not for us!"

So no point being defensive about it. The game development world is HUGE. All kinds of companies and teams.

Apart from the above, the only thing I can get out of this of any significance is that some developers are attracted to one console over the other due to approachability. This is not an issue for most AAA dev teams, but since the majority of the market are the smaller/medium sized fish this is interesting. It fleshes out the dynamic we are seeing in the market to a degree (at least in the context of the games these teams are trying to make... again EVERY project and EVERY team is different).

Ps- I guess his quote is less offensive than some because it is more subjective within the construct of HIS TEAM. Its not a "X is better than Y absolutely"--although we SHOULD dismiss ANY notions of that--but his response to his feelings are in the context of his team and project.

Ditto if a PS3 dev said the PS3 was best for their project. The problem arises with absolutes or "console X is just too slow, console Y is just 4x as fast in every way" kind of garbage. When we hear Valve Software, id Software, Team Ninja, etc... speak we should understand what they say from their perspective. So far id and TN have done a good job of that, giving reasons and presenting it within the construct of their design philosophies.

Obviously a 400 person Square-Enix dev team working on a new FF has a different cap than a small 30 person team with 18 months to complete a game.

I guess I take ALL these comments with a grain of salt. TN's opinion is just that. Valid for them, but no more, no less.

Xbox fans: Be happy MS made a dev happy. Don't gloat as if this is universally true--because it of course is not.

Sony fans: meh, one dev--they all have preferences so nothing to worry about. But don't bash him either because it makes you look like a defensive system advocate who can only spam and slam and only look at things through the "my console is best at everything" angle.

This end Acert's public service announcement.
 
Acert93 said:
*snip*
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Acert, you make lovely points, but given Itagaki's comments in the past about development difficulty on certain platforms, and insinuations he has made about other dev's capability on such platforms, and given his attitude to "difficulty" and "challenge" in general, his comments are quite amusing ;) The understanding you call for is not understanding Itagaki has shown in the past.
 
Titanio said:
Acert, you make lovely points, but given Itagaki's comments in the past about development difficulty on certain platforms, and insinuations he has made about other dev's capability on such platforms, and given his attitude to "difficulty" and "challenge" in general, his comments are quite amusing ;) The understanding you call for is not understanding Itagaki has shown in the past.
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Never played DoA series and am not familiar with the quotes. Do you have any direct quotes in context of an interview?

You may be right in his case (I have no clue as I have not seen them), but without seeing them I have seen devs appear to "flip flop" on issues when that is not their intent. Some developers like the task of difficult hardware; others like the task of difficult software designs. Those two can overlap or be unrelated... if that makes sense.

He is an Xbox dev after all, he may have liked the "challenge" of making difficult software (with the aid of a console with a balance of power/ease of use). But not knowing much about him I cannot say.

Money changes people too. Not only money from companies, but also budgets. So is this amusing? Yeah. But circumstances of all kinds can put the words we say at tension when the underlying motivation is the same or the situation changes so our stance does based on the new situation. Does not mean our opinion of the former circumstance has changed.

He could be totally bought, but he is not the first express views on either side of the fence. Easier to see things my way, even if there will be blatant examples of PR, being bought, etc. Let the games give a verdict :D
 
Acert93 said:
Never played DoA series and am not familiar with the quotes. Do you have any direct quotes in context of an interview?
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He's talked a lot in the past about power, the importance of power over all else, and about how complex architectures are "easy" for him and how that doesn't matter. Here's one example I was able to find that neatly contrasts with his comments above:

"XBN: Is PS2 harder to develop for than Xbox?

Itagaki: No, not really. PS2 development was easy for us. Do you know something? We converted DOA2 to PS2 in just three months. If your programmers are good enough, PS2 development shouldn’t be anything to complain about."

He has made a point in the past of boasting about his ability to harness machines that others think are difficult and complicated, and has implied less than kind things about other developers who are having difficulty - so when he makes comments like this about PS3, his past attitude should come back to haunt him.
 
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I also seem to remember him stating that he would always develop for the most powerful console no matter what... Of course we don't know which one that is or even if it will be a clear cut difference, but if it's found out later that PS3 is for some reason more powerful he's going to have to go back on one of his previous stances and either develop for the PS3 or ignore the fact he's not developing for the most powerful platform. :) Of course this is a hypothetical what-if situation just to point out a previous statement from Itagaki.
 
ecliptic said:
Considering he has both consoles development kits. I am sure he knows enough about the two to form his opinion.
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No one's questioning his opinion. I think everyone agrees, in fact, that PS3 is more difficult to develop for. Just pointing out that his complaint about that is at odds with his previous opinion on such matters (an opinion he was quite forward and "aggressive" with).

I think it is and was a foregone conclusion that Team Ninja will develop only for X360, and that has little to do with technical matters. It's just funny to see interviewers bring such issues up, and now to see his response, and how it contrasts with his stance on these issues before.
 
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Titanio said:
He has made a point in the past of boasting about his ability to harness machines that others think are difficult and complicated, and has implied less than kind things about other developers who are having difficulty - so when he makes comments like this about PS3, his past attitude should come back to haunt him.
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OR...PS3 is sooo hard to developer for even the glorious Itagaki can't manage it!
 
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