John-ShepardThird-party exclusivity is basically a thing of the past, even for Insomniac.
After being an exclusive member of the PlayStation family ( Ratchet & Clank , Resistance ) for many years, we learned in 2010 that Insomniac would be going multiplatform. Since then, we really haven't heard anything about this mystery project, but it seems the studio will reveal it at EA's E3 press conference later today. At the time of the initial announcement, Insomniac CEO Ted Price said they were going multiplatform to reach the largest audience possible…thanks Ted, but we already knew that, and strictly from a business standpoint, we don't blame you at all. Besides, we know your team will put the same amount of effort into this new multiplatform game as you've done for the exclusive titles in the past.
It should be an all-new IP, too, as Sony owns the rights to Ratchet & Clank and Resistance 3 remains a PlayStation 3 exclusive, slated to release on September 6.
I'm certainly excited for this Insomniac/EA game and I think there's a good chance it could walk away with GOE3. We know the PS3 will be the lead platform and Insomniac is responsible for two great PS3 series in Resistance and Ratchet & Clank. I can't see this game being anything less than stellar.
I really hope their new game is good. We want those Xbots to see the quality of a Sonyish company.
Also they better lead with the PS3. Otherwise…
Last edited by sirbob6 on 6/5/2011 10:04:51 PM
With their experience, I am going to bet that the PS3 would be their lead platform. The question is if the 360 version would be a port or something that would be built from the ground up. I do wish Insomniac the best on this endeavour though.
They'll be getting that with Dark Souls later this year first. But Insomniac are better with story and linearity than what FROM have proven to me so far. I don't begrudge them, at least Insomniac have been honest.
Whatever insomniac has in the works I will be getting for PS3.
I'm very interested in this but am slightly worried that it will be a platformer, in which case who cares.
I'm hoping for something hardcore, I don't care that they want to make a multiplat. The 360 seriously needs games.
And yet 360 continues to outsell PS3 on a monthly basis (8 out of the 12 months anyway).
How is it that the 360 sells even though there's hardly any games coming to it?!?!
4 words:
Xbox Live
Peer Pressure
Unfortunately, it worked on me.
People have simply been deluded by public opinion or are clueless. The average gamer doesn't even know the names of the best games available, they only know the names of the most popular games. The fact that Call of Duty can sell the same game and make a billion dollars off it every year tells me that there is no reason to believe the best things available sell the most. Quite the opposite in fact.
I can't blame people either, if I was an online gamer and a bit younger and all my friends were playing CoD online on 360 I'd pretty much have to do it too. It's fun ya know? But so are a lot of things that aren't the best of the best.
Dance machine. People are still replacing their 'old' Xbox under the misapprehension that this new 'Kinext 360 box' thing is 'next' generation…
ROTFLMAO!
@ Highlander
Ha!!! So true. From what I've seen at my local EB, a huge lot of people traded their old 360's towards new slim ones or bought the new 360 as a second Xbox to play their Kinect's on, then use the old 360 as a DVD player.
I wonder if there are as many people who bought 2 PS3's as there were people who bought 2 360's?
Since the PS3 Slim was just quieter and cheaper, I doubt many people felt the urge to trade their phatty's towards a slim. 360 S had wifi put in (finally), a hard drive 4 times larger than before, Kinect input AND was heaps quieter. If the rumours are true, 360 S' are still red-ringing, even if it is at a lower rate than the atrocious first generation of 360's, so there's more replacement consoles sold.
It boggles my mind how MS manages to keep out of the negative spotlight with all the stuff-ups, but the moment the PS3 has a problem, BOOM!! Massive news coverage and the Xbots go on a rampage.
I reckon MS is bribing people, like they did with all journalists at E3 2010 by offering a free 360 Slim to all audience members. Talk about buying into popularity. It's like buying everyone's votes for a Best Actor Oscar award.
iwhat dance machine said is true. it is a combination of peer pressure and live. that's why sony can't ovrercome it even with a stellar game line up. .
It's their loss. If these teenagers want to overspend on peripherals and Xbox Live just to get the console up to snuff to an out-of-the-box PS3 because of peer pressure, it's their loss. I'd rather they stay away from the PS3. Not everybody wants to play endless FPS games. A lot of people know all these allegedly "unbiased" websites take dirty money from MS. Let these lemmings have their little world. I don't care. All I know is that the Xbox 360 isn't worth it and if people hate me for saying that, let them hate me. I have no use for that machine.
What's the difference between xbox live and psn? What makes live "better" (if at all)?
Cross-chatting. You can talk to people playing one game while you play another. If you're primarily an offline gamer, it's nothing special. Online gamers like cross-chat since they can invite other people playing other games by talking to them instead of just messaging them. This feature is a big selling point to teenage boys.
Also, Gold Members get weekly deals on stuff. Kind of like what PSN+ members get.
Anything else is just rhetoric IMO but since I play 90% offline, I shouldn't be the one talking.
Last edited by n/a on 6/6/2011 10:14:31 AM
Thanks Brighat!
So it's just the cross game chat? Well, yeah, I'd love to have that indeed. But a system seller? Not for me…
@Worldendswithme
Are you suggesting that platformers are not hardcore? Try collecting all 120 stars on any Mario game and then come back and say that again.
Last edited by Cole on 6/6/2011 2:27:46 PM
That's not hardcore, it's collecting.
Great that they're trying to reach a larger audience, and 360 deserves a quality title on their system since most of their games have all but dried up. (Gears, Forza and Multiplats aside of course)
If there are others like me who own both 360 and PS3, it's hard to make a choice as to which platform especially if it's multiplayer. 360 with friends? Or PS3 on the better console? Sucks that 360 dominates in online gaming here in Australia, completely ruined it for gamers like me, forced to get a 360 just to play with friends.
I could just stick to online play on PC with other friends and keep the PS3 for console gaming. Just a thought…
… sorry, a lot on my mind today, the MGS / ZOE Collection article has a comment that explains why I'm so frustrated with this 360 / PS3 fan war.
I think Gears and Forza will be dried up after these new sequels.
I've heard some people say that Gears 3 won't be as big as Gears 2 cos of all the competition around. And Forza 4 won't be as huge as Forza 3 now that Gran Turismo 5 is out and rolling out updates that constantly makes the game better.
Time will tell.
Forza will definitely continue to have life in it. Even with the frequency of main releases in FM, GT proves that sim racing can last a lot longer. Besides, considering that they're both console exclusive experiences, they're not REALLY in direct competition with each other.
As for Gears… well 800,000 preorders for GeoW3 (supposedly the highest preorder levels for any game ever) kinda proves contrary to the thought that it's running out of steam. And with GeoW: Exile supposedly being announced at MS's presser, who's to know?
Peace.
Forza I don't know a lot about except it isn't getting much better, but Gears 3 could be Epic's last exclusive project so yeah.
I think the bigger thud will be the fall of the Halo series now that Bungie is absent.
It may take more than one M$-built dud, though.
Well, it was inevitable… it is the age we live in. The pressure for more and more profits are driving developers to making games across ALL platforms… including for APPLE iOS.
I am still standing by my prediction that APPLE will probably come out with some sort of game machine in the future… Why not?
I hope Insomniac stay true to their quality and originality. I am still rather sad to see them become multi-platform, but what choice do developers have these days. Look at the mighty Kojima productions as another example.
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
I'm actually kind of happy to see Insomniac take this route, as disappointed as I am to see them chasing the almighty dollar, over standing by their honour. I just hope that it isn't a first or third person shooter. I hope that they go for another platformer, or even an arcade racer. I think that it'll likely be story based though so maybe an RPG-light, or a hack n' slash game. Whatever it is, I look forward to it. Insomniac have only managed to let me down with R2 so far, but are looking to rectify that with R3.
Peace.
You can thumb me down for this, but it's true nonetheless…
The reason third party exclusives have died is based on several factors:
1. The PS2 dominated with little to no competition from MS or Nintendo, so third party exclusivity on PS2 was still a safe bet.
2. The 360 released first, and therefore got a huge headstart on the competition.
3. The 360 promoted Xbox Live and social networking while gaming, eg cross-game chat, messaging, achievement comparisons, etc. This was a huge success, and with all 360's containing a headset, everyone could chat while gaming. Hate 360 all you want, but this really was a stroke of genius on their part.
4. Sony kinda stuffed up at first with poor advertising campaigns (the creepy baby doll ad) and creating a console that was far superior, but far more expensive and harder for untrained developers to work on.
5. Developers see 360 sales booming, so decide to go with 360, either multiplat or exclusive between 2005 and 2007.
6. With Sony exclusives dominating review ratings from 2008 onwards, Kevin Butler being the greatest commercial success AND huge improvements to PSN whilst staying free to play online, PS3 sales boom, so more games become multiplat instead of 360 exclusive and vice-versa.
7. Even though 360 has sold more consoles, games sales charts indicate bigger success selling on PS3 than 360. Only popular FPS' like Halo and Call of Duty sell well on 360. So, many developers turn to PS3 as the lead platform whilst continuing to make multiplat games for larger sales.
8. Being the most expensive console during the Great Financial Crisis certainly didn't help things, but Sony combated that with a new slimmer and cheaper version of the PS3. Sales skyrocketed, finally evening sales between 360 and PS3.
Had Sony not turned their game around, we'd be seeing far more 360 exclusives. Had 360 not rushed out their product 9 months before Sony, 360 sales would be far lower and have far fewer machines breaking. 360 sales would be far more realistic too.
Multplat is the only way these days for 3rd party devs. With over 50 million PS3's and over 50 million 360's sold, it makes sense, right? Last gen, making a PS2 exclusive catered to 90 million console owners, whilst only ignoring 10 million others with an Xbox. All sales would've covered the cost on one platform, the PS2.
Only way Sony can win back 3rd party exclusivity and the larger majority of marketshare is to make the PS4 dominate in sales once more, with an online network better than Live but free to play, a console cheaper than the competition and plenty of hardcore and casual games that everyone loves.
Sony needs to innovate with something simple yet addictive, like 360 Live did with online FPS' or Wii did with casual waggle or fitness games. PS2 had Singstar, Buzz, Guitar Hero, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow of the Colossus, plus a whole heap more hardcore games. Xbox had Halo and Halo 2.
What do you think Sony needs to do to get back the competition? I say a cheaper console than the competition, and a headset included with the console for online gaming. Worked for 360, didn't it?
I agree with everything except:
1. "far more expensive"
Never actually true, though it could be spun that way by comparing 360 Arcade to 60 GB PS3.
2. "Had 360 not rushed out their product 9 months before Sony…far fewer machines breaking."
IIRC M$ cut a major corner by not having a third-party check the 360 design. I think cost rather than time was the main motivation. In any event, the design is flawed to the Core (get it?) and probably would have been so regardless due to M$'s arrogance. Also, 12 months, at least most places.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 6/6/2011 4:56:00 AM
Dancemachine,
I can't speak for anyone else, but I certainly wouldn't want to see a mic bundled in with the PS3.
That would just cause more than a few crazy bot-box superfanboys idiots like this guy to start spamming us with "friends requests"(at least till Sony's ban-hammer got him)…
What Can We All Learn from the Xbox Live Banning of "Pound Her Stank"? (May 20, 2011)
Xbox Live technical support will be extra busy over the course of this week and the next as a new software update rolls out, bringing sweeping bans to those with modified consoles. But one fresh account banning from this week is more educational than the rest.
An Xbox Live member with the gamertag "pound her stank" found himself permanently suspended from the service after what he argued was three years of good standing membership.
His plea:
My xbox account was permanently suspended due to my gamertag. shouldn't this be temporarly suspended? i've been a member for 3 years and a lot of downloads and xbox live points attached to this account. i dont want to start all over again. is there a way to request lesser suspension? my account gamertag was "pound her stank". i would change my gamertag to get my account back.
Seems like a reasonable request. What say you, Xbox Live Policy and Enforcement Team?
XLP&ET:
While we apologize for the inconvenience, we made the decision to permanently suspend the account due to the excessive number of forced name changes due to Code of Conduct violations that have occurred over the life of the account. We felt that giving you 34 chances to create a gamertag that did not violate the aforementioned document should have been more than enough of an opportunity to turn a new leaf.
That's right!!!!
After an impressive 34 gamertag changes, none of which appear to abide Xbox Live's Code of Conduct, you can be banned. Now you know!
Source: http://kotaku.com/5803972/what-can-we-all-learn-from-the-xbox-live-banning-of-pound-her-stank
Probably some generic first person shooter 🙁
soooooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed EA are not allowing streaming of there conference!
come on, WTF!?
i was really looking forward to watching insomniac and respawn game announcements!
Very curious indeed. Insomniac seem to be a very competent game company I have no issue with them what so ever, I cant wait to get my hands on Resistance 3 😀
As for the new titles, It cant be a FPS or Platforming game again can it. Or maybe a platforming game which does not involve shooting the f*** out of everything… I can dream right?
Well, my gut tells me that Insomniac's new IP will follow the same road as NT's new one.
Mediocre sales here we come.
I wish Insomniac the best, I can't blame them for trying to make more money but please don't scale back the quality of your games. It obviously doesn't matter to Xbox users that multiplatform games are on 3 disk for them.
… And why should it matter to them, if the games are worth it. If a large game demands several it's better with three disks than no access to that title.
I for one welcome this trend. Platform independence is the way of the future! Consumer options is a Good Thing.
Kind regards a java developer and open source enthusiast. 🙂
Last edited by Beamboom on 6/6/2011 9:33:13 AM
Seems like a similar move that Bungie made last year.
I hope its not a FPS or platform title though. The inevitable comparisions to their previous franchises would sprout up. Make something fresh, Insomniac!
I'm interested.. but I have this sinking feeling that it's going to be a shooter.. The fact that they're releasing it for the 360 seems to suggest as much.
ps3 will suffer (a little) because of multiplat games. on one hand, you have a console showing its age (xbox 360) on the other hand, you got the ps3. unless a game is created on the ps3 than ported to the 360, we (ps3 gammers) will suffer.