More PS3 concerns

26 November 2004 by Johnny Minkley
Tecmo president Junji Nakamura launched a fierce attack on Sony’s strategy for PS3 this week, slamming an apparent dearth of information available to third-parties, while commending Microsoft on its relative openness with Xbox 2.
“There’s not much information from Sony (about PS3) – the situation with Microsoft is very different,” Mr Nakamura told a conference in Japan. “Microsoft should be able to use its experience of the current machine\'s failure to succeed, even in Japan.”

But while these comments were met with little surprise, given the Dead or Alive publisher’s current favouritism towards Xbox, further investigations by MCV have revealed a nascent and widespread concern over Sony’s next-gen plans - leading some of the biggest players in the business to reassess where their loyalties lie.

“There is a lot of uncertainty amongst Japanese companies that Sony is unsure of what direction to take with PS3,” said a senior figure at a major Japanese developer and publisher. “Everyone’s business model has traditionally been built around Sony hardware, but given the lack of info, people are nervous about putting all of their eggs in one basket.”

Highlighting the difference in approach between Microsoft and Sony, the source added: “If we ask Sony technical questions, we don’t hear back for four-to-six weeks; Microsoft answers (Xbox 2) queries there and then.”

What will be of most concern to Sony is that an apparently groundswell of support for Xbox 2 emerged between Japanese companies at Tokyo Game Show: “The vibe between most of the major parties was: ‘Is PlayStation such a safe bet? Maybe we should take Xbox 2 more seriously’,” the source added.

These feelings were echoed by a source at a separate Japanese games company, another strong Sony supporter, who said: “With Microsoft there’s a clearer indication of what’s going on – Sony is being sketchy about a lot of things. We’re now planning joint releases on PS3 and Xbox 2 for next-gen, where we have always lead on PlayStation hardware in the past.”

>>>Link<<<

Why is Sony being so secretive?

[Evi]

Why is Sony being so secretive?

Why is Nintendo?

I\'ll take any comment from Tecmo with a grain of salt :o

Of course, the next generation of consoles is one huge
question mark imo.

[Evi]

It is a big question mark...but Tecmo still sucks. They sound like little, obnoxious, whiny kids that you just want to backhand to make them shut up...

They\'re coming off as just silly. I can\'t take anything they say to heart...

Why is Sony being so secretive?

because you dont tell your oponent what weapon you are going to use.

Sony probably just stay tigh lip untill MS makes a movem then they will drop their "hype bomb"

[Evi]

then they will drop their "hype bomb"

Either that or they\'ll bomb the hype

I think that either:

1) PS3 is a bit of a disappointment and Sony doesn\'t want people (devs) to know already

2) PS3 is better or at least on par with the hype (CELL being 1000x faster, better, can make toast etc.) and they want to reveal all with a bang to dwarf the competition

[Evi]

2) PS3 is better or at least on par with the hype (CELL being 1000x faster, better, can make toast etc.) and they want to reveal all with a bang to dwarf the competition

That would make everyone look pretty stupid. I don\'t think it\'s going to be 1000x faster, but they said they want to achieve at least a Teraflop in mathematical power, which would make it roughly 162x faster in that respect. If this were true, it would be about 50 times the power of the Xbox 2\'s "unofficial" specs. But again...we know nothing for either of them...or Nintendo (they better have something insane)...

You people obviously didn\'t read the whole thing, or you jumped to a conclusion.  Only the first paragraph statement is from Tecmo, which was said over a week ago now, the rest of the article is from other Japanese developers.

[Evi]

I did, I just didn\'t address the issue. If all this is true, Sony needs to stop being so blind, and pull their heads from their rear-sides. But of course Microsoft will be the most open right now, as they will be releasing their system a year early. But if Sony is scaring developers into moving to Xbox, the PS3 may not have such a pretty picture painted for them in the future...

Originally posted by Nolaws
because you dont tell your oponent what weapon you are going to use.

Sony probably just stay tigh lip untill MS makes a movem then they will drop their "hype bomb"

Yeah, because Sony is DEFINATELY known for innovating the gaming industry.

My guess is that Sony is waiting for a little bit so they can jump out and shock the world with the announcement that the PS3 will have a staggering 3 controller ports and the coolest cd tray ever. Welcome to the Future.

[EDIT] Because Evisceration made me look like an idiot.

[Evi]

My guess is that Sony is waiting for a little bit so they can jump out and shock the world with the announcement that the PS2 will have a staggering 3 controller ports and the coolest cd tray ever. Welcome to the Future.

The PS2, huh? Just kidding, I know what you meant. But actually, this time around, I think Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony will all have something innovative to bring to the videogame industry. But...um...people still don\'t know what the hell those innovations are...

Ok, I gave all this some thought and imho, the discussion went into the wrong direction.

The hardware itself will not be THAT decisive anymore in the next round.

The next generation it\'s advancements could be it\'s issues as well ;

- development complexity : longer and more expensive game development needs more time, expertise and funding. The games industry will need more and more highly educated ppl to get those more complex games done within a financially viable timeline.

- bigtime publishers : above mentioned, means more independant
game devs being \'eaten up\' by the likes of EA and MS pumping out less & less original / innovative game content. I am very very wary of Hollywood movie franchise games.

Then there\'s part .B of this issue : publisher/dev content control. See recent news with Valve\'s Steam and the required internet connectivity. Will disc based distribution go out of the window. Will we all be forced to subscribe to a download service which prescribes to us what and when we can download and when and how much we can play that content ? This is what scares me most !

- the next gen games themselves : they WILL  feature more complex realistic & stylized visuals. The violence in games will look more realistic and we\'ll probably have tons of social discussions
on age ratings again.

That, my friends, will imho be the decisive points in the nextgeneration of gaming.

^^^I disagree with almost everything you just said.

why am i not surprised about that ? :o

You always disagree with me about that topic. I say ; more power to the individual consumer. Object to the hive-mind big companies wanna do on us. If you oppose to my stance, be my guest. It\'s just opinions dude. ( at least state some well written arguments as to WHY you disagree with me on said topic...just plainly saying you disagree and then leaving isn\'t very productive.)