Ben-DutkaMany developers seem excited about the Next Generation Portable (aka, the PSP2), and that's primarily because Sony came to game makers first and asked, "what do you want?"
SCE Woldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida spoke to Strategy Informer about this process, and noted the importance of their "developer-first" approach in the development of their next portable device. Said Yoshida:
"It reminded me of the early days of the original PlayStation, when we visited many developers and publishers to get feedback during the development of that product."
Yoshida added that thoughts and feedback from various studios proved "essential" in regards to Sony's final decisions. And so, because they continued to research and gather info, the slick, futuristic handheld we currently know as the NGP "went through many iterations." Remember, Sony was roundly criticized for not putting developers first when it created and launched the PlayStation 3; the company is notorious for producing challenging hardware that developers don't really understand when the unit first arrives.
But we've heard it time and time again since the unveiling of the NGP: Sony has no intention of repeating that mistake. Yoshida said the process was almost like going "back to basics," which of course "should be a good thing."
Nice. It's good to see Sony learning lessons. I hope that they do something similar with PS4. Of course I also hope that they stick to a similar architecture to maintain good backwards compatibility. I'm sure that most developers that have invested time in the CellBE architecture wouldn't be happy to learn a totally new architecture, so that may not be such a vain hope.
Either way, I am optimistic that Sony's approach on the NGP/PSP2 will pay huge dividends in the games for the device.
I definitely hope they have good backward compatibility. The ps4 must play ps3 games. Also the ability to play it online! That's my wish. I'm not so hopeful about the online part though. I assume servers will get cut off or something to support their new, next gen games.
But yeah, I agree. This is excellent news. I think there's no way Sony would have the will to include developer's feedback as part of the NGP's development, and not the ps4. I can imagine how stressful they were when they saw the ps3's architecture for the first time after working with the super easy 360.
Except of course that in the usual "proof of the pudding is in the eating" style, Sony's design choices for the PS3 have been shown to be good ones because it is truly capable of things that the 360 is not. still, I do think that what Sony needs to do is find a way of both being developer friendly and still coming up with designs that have considerable depth to them. One of the primary reasons behind the longevity of the PS2 as a viable platform is it's depth. 5-6 years into it's life, PS2 games were still getting better. If a platform offers 100% of it's capability from day 1, it's life time is far more limited. It just kind of seems a mixed blessing to have such an accessible platform.
i'm sorry, but those design choices led to so much market share erosion they can hardly be praised. the poorly running multiplats did a lot of damage to the ps3. surely, more could have been done to make sure games looked as good as the competition while maintaining the ps3's upside.
it sounds like sony has learned its lesson, and the more i hear about about the ngp the more excited i get.
daus26, as much as I appreciate what Sony has done for the industry, I am very wary now of anything they say will stick.
If they release the PS4, how quickly will it be before we start loosing features again, as we have seen happen on the PS3.
I love my PS3, but I don't think I can ever "trust" Sony as a corporation. From a corporate control attitude they are worst than Apple.
I just found out the Sony will not permit me from upgrading my Sony Experia X10i to Android Gingerbread… that is – the new Android operating system – without having to purchase a new phone. The Experia has just been released, but there seems to be no want for an upgrade path. Even iPhone 4's can be upgraded a few times before Apple forces you to upgrade the phone.
It is not that these devices can't do the upgrade, or run the software, they can, its this corporate greed that gets me.
Regaring my Experia, unfortunately, I will have to "root" my phone and upgrade my rom with a custom firmware of Android Gingerbread, which I will do… it is the only way to have Flash and other newer technologies I want on my 5 week old phone… 🙂
Shame on corporates really!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 3/7/2011 8:42:44 PM
you cant trust sony, but the problem is you NEVER could!
there NEVER true to their word.
they said they would never remove linux, or BC.
THEY DID!
they said there would be a program to register your UMD PSP games so you can download them for the GO.
STILL WAITING!
lord knows how many times sony has f*cked me up!
i had to go out and buy a laptop because the selfish pricks stole my linux!
countless broken consoles.
O, and the piece da le resistance.
someones got my CC details and bought things of the PSN store with it.
i contacted sony to discuss the matter, i reversed the charges via my bank and now sony have blocked my PSN ID because i wont pay for what was illegally charged to my account.
someone has commited CC fraud, and all sony care about is getting their 66 bucks back!
im in the process of contacting the cops and launching a investigation into my CC fraud, and am speaking to a lawyer to take action against sony.
not only is their security insufficient and has caused my CC details to be leaked, but they wont do anything about it!
if that does not demonstrate their lack of customer loyalty nothing will!
looks like sonys going to have another court case on their hands soon!
their corporate greed, and lack of customer loyalty & appreciation is pathetic!
perfect example, yesterday i went to buy some coffee from nespresso.
There eftpos machines were down, so to apologize for the inconvenience and to say thank you for being a loyal customer the manager gave me 5 boxes of my choice of coffee FREE!
not the crap stuff, i got to choose which ones i like!
thats $150 bucks of coffee for free just because there eftpos machine was down!
they even give you a rewards card, every time you buy 1 box you get a stamp, buy 50 boxes in one go you get 50 stamps.
every 10 stamps = a free box of your choice of coffee!
so wheres my free PSN voucher, or whatever to say sorry for the inconveniences and thank you for buying every playstation product multiple times since the launch of the brand!?
i rang sony god knows how many times for problems with my ps1, ps2 or PSP and left the phone 100% satisfied every time!
ps3 though, leave the phone 100% dissatisfied every time!
because of that, the ps3 will be my last sony product ever!
not only are they criminals, they rip you off and their products are of poor quality and bleedingly expensive!
"______________ " I understand your frustrations, but there is also a better way of making your angst heard without necessarily being derogatory or heavy handed with words.
Sony, like any corporation, have to "react" to the changing environment around them. Besides the obvious competition they are facing on the games side – such as the rise of mobile phone and tablet gaming, they are also fighting devastating compromises to their security.
This has surely been their most difficult 18 months, and they have reacted pretty "violently" to it to try and save the day. They have to be seen to be doing something drastic so that their shareholders and licencees do not want radical changes brought upon the management team and the organisation as a whole. Their reaction is not surprising, even though it is frustrating for the end user.
Ultimately they are not holding a gun to your head. You can ditch them, buy a gaming laptop and be happy with a dual booting system.
I will question next time whether I really do need a PS4 or not, baring in mind how the PS3 has been stripped over time. It does make me nervous investing in hardware that could be rooted and also dumbed down. We'll see anyway, time will tell…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 3/8/2011 3:29:11 AM
sony can do whatever the %$#@ they please, but when they steal from me they better run thats all ill say!
im ringing consumer affairs tomorrow, and seeing my lawyer in the morning.
im sick of sony treating their fans like this, and acting like their above the law!
im going to prove to them NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW!
you may be able to buy the courts in the states, but you cant buy the courts here!
this is how there going to treat a 10+ year loyal playstation fan, and a 15+ year loyal sony xploid and bravia fan then they can kiss my support goodbye!
i paid for god knows how many PSN games, all my trophies, over 4 years of hard work tied to my PSN account.
hell on high water sonys taking it away from me, and letting someone commit CC fraud!
thats what disgusts me the most, someone has used the PSN to break the law, something that would get you countless years in jail, and sony could not care less!
I had my doubts, but these rants prove you are completely insane. Go seek professional help before you hurt yourself or someone else.
Once again Anonymous Cowherd comes flying out of left field with an insane rant. Tell me, dear boy, where was the outrage nearly 2 years ago when OtherOS was actually disabled in up to date firmware? It seems to me that you've had nearly two years to post this outrage, and haven't bothered.
So, someone got your CC details and used the on PSN. If they got your CC details, did they use them anywhere else, or just PSN? I mean, if they actually have your CC details, PSN is hardly the first place to stop when charging to your account is it? Or was your PSN ID compromised? or was it perhaps not so much compromised as shared and now you have sharer's regret? Serisouly, I'm asking because if someone obtained your CC information, a few games on PSN are small change compared to what else they could do. If your CC details have been compromised, then why did you reverse the charges without canceling the card? If your cars is stolen or lost and you cancel it, your card company will refund your money, and Sony – like all other retailers isn't out a dime. Reversing the charges seems to have been rather a mistake on your part since to Sony it appears that you have obtained content and then 'unpaid' for it. Sorry, but you can't tell me that everyone who's CC is stolen or lost get's their PSN account disabled. Sorry Cowherd, but you seem to have utterly mis-handled whatever actually happened here. Coming on here and posti9ng your outrage doesn't help you, nor does it help your credibility here.
NOw, I have to say, I don't know exactly how Australian law handles CC issues like stolen card numbers, but Visa, MasterCard, AmEx and the other biggies all have the same policies. You have purchase protection and card protection in the event of a lost or stolen card. If you report the card stolen to your card company, they have a process to deal with it. It's not necessary to go through the whole manual process of reserving individual charges and so forth.
*If* your CC is compromised, *why* did you reverse the transactions instead of canceling the card? If you did cancel the card, why did you reverse the transaction without first telling Sony that your card details had been compromised? This just doesn't scan at all. If your card is lost, stolen or you have reason to believe that your CC number is compromised, call your CC company and cancel the bloody card, tell them which transactions you think are fraudulent. Let the card company deal with it.
If it wasn't your credit card, but was in fact your bank account and debit card that was compromised, if you don't have the protection of Visa or Mastercard or whatever, then it's really down to your bank. But either way, arbitrarily reversing charges isn't the way to go about it.
Oh, but hey, whatever, you just go ahead and blame Sony – as usual. Sorry to sound so heartless, but your post just doesn't add up – in so many ways.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 3/8/2011 10:44:17 AM
Lol Jawk/Highlander… maybe he has difficulty in expressing himself with the right words…
We all have issues, and we can all rant sometimes to vent frustration, but there is always a nice way or better way of letting the world know how you feel.
With sensible scripting and some facts to back-up what you say, usually the odd rant is ok, but its the way it is told and how it comes across that puts people off…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Last edited by Qubex on 3/8/2011 8:43:38 PM
LOL! Qubex. Indeed. It just seems like Mr Cowher'd rant is ever so inconsistent and incoherent. Reading it, it just doesn't scan.
"It reminded me of the early days of the original PlayStation, when we visited many developers and publishers to get feedback during the development of that product."
I think this is very much the future of gaming hardware. With the stakes being so high concerning game development expense, manufacturers need to design hardware that is as accessible as possible for the needs of the creative individuals who make this industry possible.
MS very much approached the 360 with this mentality by working with and listening to the desires of dev studios at the time. And years later we see now that the majority of PS3's potential is left untapped by multiplat devs who don't want to risk the expense of the optimization of SPUs, leaving only PS3 exclusives to show the world what the system is truly capable of.
On a related note: Gametrailers actually has a great new Bonus Round up (no Pachter!) with guests from major dev studios (including SOny Santa Monica and Jade Raymond)
Oh, and it's too bad MS missed the quality control memo for RRoD.
Kudos to Sony for thinking of their partners first.
*sniff* ahhhh…. smells like good, fresh business, right there.
typo Yoshida added that <thoughs> and feedback from various studios proved "essential" in regards to Sony's final decisions.
Not being funny or anything, but since sony and their playstation brand is a multi billions pound enterprise, shouldnt they be doing this for every playstation released?
Well it might be THAT exact reasons (being super rich) that they were willing to risk all they did with the launch of the PS3; new format, advance architecture, advance technology, etc. They were really looking to not just evolve gaming back then, but lead. Unfortunately, MS nor Nintendo went as hardcore in terms of technology as Sony did.
While their risk did pay off, they now learned that its best to have developer's feedback if they don't want it to have as slow of a start as the PS3 did.
Looks like Sony may be onto a winner here if they manage to win the developer support that the PSP was never able to. And again, Sony themselves will lead the charge with a combination of old franchises and new IPs. I get the feeling that 'old is new again' will become the mantra of the NGP, and we'll eventually see a lot of old games receive sequels of updates on it.
Either way, going to the devs was the first step in making sure they can be dominant.
Peace.
PSP did receive support initially, didn't it? I remember having a *pile* of PSP games and lots of them were pretty darn good too (to this day I regret trading them in…!), but then it all of a sudden just… Died!
I dunno about that, I've bought more PSP games in the last 2 years than I did in the previous 3.
Really? *New* releases? Well, I only have the local Gamestop to support my claims, over there the psp shelf has shrunk from what used to be at least 20-30 titles on display to merely 5 or less(!), and that's how it's been for the last couple of years.
It'd be interesting to see some statistics on released psp titles over the years. I'd be hugely surprised if the stats showed anything other than a rather apparent decline in # of new releases during these years.
Last edited by Beamboom on 3/7/2011 3:01:28 PM
There were quite a few early releases for the system, like the GTA Stories, Burnout and a few others, but they just seemed to taper off. Although the number of games coming out has increased again in the past two years. Just a mid-life crisis I think.
In other relevant news that came out today and that is related to the new strategy to be employed with the PSP2, Sony confirmed that with said device, they're branching out (just like I wished that they would do!).
"Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment worldwide studios, says PSP successor NGP will cater to all types of gamers with a wide variety of software and applications".
Yoshida went on to say that they are looking to expand from hardcore to casual games, children's games and also non-game applications.
IMO this strategy is ideal in order to compete not just with the 3DS, but also with the iPhone/iPad and other mobile devices out there. Sony is on the right track!
Last edited by Bonampak on 3/7/2011 12:42:55 PM
*sigh*
Sony's been doing that since Day 1. PSP has always supported all types of gamer. With the PSP minis and other less expensive downloadable games the PSP has a array of options for gamers at all price points. NGP won't change that, it will simply extend it.
The statements being made are simply posturing to make sure that the smartphone makers can't run around saying that only they cater to this or that niche market.
But as one game developer recently wrote, the average revenue for an App store application is $4000 (gross revenue). Unless your $0.99 game sells several hundred thousand copies or it was developed by a lone programmer in his hobby room over the course of a few months, it's kinda difficult for most of the games on the smartphones to actually make much money. Not to mention the simple fact that you can't possibly compare the gaming experience or quality of a AAA PSP game against a $0.99 P.O.S. on a smartphone. The casual gaming fashion right now is being driven by those god-awful facebook games and the positively nasty, pernicious $0.99 games on smart phones. The $0.99 games on smart phones prove the truism that "you get what you pay for". The Facebook games are textbook examples of behavioral addiction. They hook people in, and then drive them with a mantra of social gaming, sharing, friends, friend requests, co-operation and so on, and so forth. Then the pay off is the $$$ that those hooked on these insidious time wasters spend on all the micro-transactions for a special item here or there to help their farm/city/ restaurant, not to mention the "keeping up with the Jones" effect of seeing a friend with something special on their farm/city/restaurant and wanting one for your self, no wait, you want something even better…
I ******hate****** casual gaming. It might be better termed "button pressing for $$$".
Since day 1? Well I dunno about that. In theory that was the general idea.
But what happened in reality was that Sony didn't take serious action to branch out to non-traditional consumers until 2009. Heck, Sony even went public with that new and improved strategy and it made headlines.
That was around the time when people were giving the company a lot of crap because they seemed like they were trying to compete with Apple and its popular mobile devices.
Now, Sony had to take such action, in part because study after study showed that the PSP was attracting mainly young and older males to its handheld system. Not really a surprise though, considering that such a demographic usually gravitates to high-tech devices such as the PSP. The fact that the PSP mostly offered core-oriented software, only made it difficult to reach to other type of consumers.
So what Sony did in 2009, was to adopt a more aggressive strategy to reach non-gamers and casuals. And it surely paid off, didn't it?
So yeah, I feel a bit elated at the news that Sony will adopt a similar strategy SINCE DAY 1 with the NGP. And I believe that they're more conscious of the importance of such a strategy.
i don't want sony competing with the iphone or ipad. i want a hardcore game machine.
What Sony really need to discuss is the economics(e.g. game development cost) of making games for the NGP given the fact I can already see tons of developers being left out into the cold.
Last edited by A2K78 on 3/7/2011 1:40:50 PM
Got any information behind that, or just a baseless assertion again? I seem to remember that during the original presentation Sony indicated that they were keeping dev costs low, not to mention they had a list as long as your arm of devs who are committed to doing a game on the NGP. Don't forget that the NGP will also be a PlayStation Suite device, so the barrier to entry for developing on the NGP is actually very low already.
LOL, buddy…. which devs are going to be out in the cold? Like… seriously… who are you thinking?
Seriously… I'm not annoyed by the fact you post stuff I disagree with… I'm annoyed that you state your opinions as fact with absolutely no basis to support yourself!
Like… just… give me a reason to at least respect your thoughts and opinions. It's frustrating to listen to your assumptions.
Last edited by Underdog15 on 3/7/2011 2:19:04 PM
A2K78,
The one one that will be left out in the cold will be M$.
Zipper needs to take notes
While its great that they are listening to the devs it almost sounds like sony is trying to dumb down their devices for the devs.
Maybe the devs should learn new tech, not complain about it.
nice to see them going back to the old ways of getting devs input.
one of the biggest problems with the ps3 was it launched so quickly and took forever for sony to get tools to developers.
which is why only now are we starting to see new engines built for todays systems.
cry engine 3, frostbite 2, should of been built years ago but devs got the word so late they did not have time so we have had to make do with older engines since release.
will be interesting to see what these new engines can really pull out!
especially frostbite 2, that has me utterly gobsmacked!
DICE have outdone themselves yet again!
hmm, it was very good way to ask developers first and then think about new PSP, but they could ask players too :p
hmm, it was very good way to ask developers first and then think about new PSP, but they could ask players too :p
I find it somewhat distracting trying to hold the PSP properly while playing games. I think for PSP2, they should move the d-pad down and put the left analog stick on top. This is going to give me much better hold of my NGP. I hope that they make that necessary change instead of thinking – "oops, its like the xbox 360 controller". I think it really improves the design.