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  The State of PlayStation Network: John Hight Interviewed
by Brandon Sheffield [Interview, Console/PC]
5 comments Share on Twitter Share on Facebook RSS
 
 
March 4, 2008 Article Start Previous Page 5 of 6 Next
 

This is something that's probably not your area of expertise, but do you know if we will ever see any of the Japanese PlayStation 1 titles coming over here within the PlayStation Store? I know it's not quite your area.

JH: I'm pretty darn sure they will, but I don't know which titles.



So it'll be title-by-title. You won't just open the store up, necessarily.

JH: And here's the deal. Even with those titles, you want to make sure that they look good and play fine, but there are rights issues. Unfortunately, our legal team has to go through and determine, "Okay, what exactly are the rights on this?"

I don't think they ever contemplated, in that time, having a digital distribution for the titles, so a lot of it is going back and clearing it up with the original authors and making sure they're okay with us selling each game.

I'm pretty impressed with the ability to download some of these games to the PSP. Do you think that we'll be able to see more original titles downloadable from the PS3 to the PSP?

JH: Yeah. We actually have a couple that are at least in concept phase right now.

That's quite a good thing, for me anyway. I play on the train most of the time, so I've been waiting for a vehicle through which we can get smaller-type game content in that sort of way. So keep doing that. (laughs)

JH: Well yeah, we want to see things that are made for the PSP. It has a unique interface, and games always feel better when they're built for that particular platform.

Have you heard anything about WiiWare yet? What I've heard is that it will be releasing games on a larger scale. Like, the only limitation is something like one game per publisher per month, or something like that. I don't know how much you've heard about it.

JH: No. Unfortunately, I really don't.

Are you worried about mindshare? Because they have a dominant number of platforms.

JH: I think a lot of the gamers that we work with on things that we look for in games... we're always looking at the visual side, gameplay, and audio, and I think the PS3 is unquestionably the most powerful hardware out there. What that translates to for our artists is that they can really make some beautiful stuff.

I think that we've tried to break the mentality people have of downloadable games somehow being for kids, or trivial, or are somehow of a lesser quality than their counterparts that are selling for $60. Instead, they're different. There's different gameplay.

They're little capsules of gameplay that are very specific, and they entertain in one particular area. But the quality overall is very high. With flOw, it's full 3D graphics, 1080p, 60 hertz, THX sound. I think that's what makes that a worthy experience.

I don't think we're necessarily going to talk to the same developers. I think that some games will probably be well-suited for the audience Nintendo has found. I don't know that we have exactly the same audience for our two platforms.

 

 
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Comments

Robert Schultz
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Sony sounds like the republican party in the United States.

Declare victory regardless of the actual reality.



XBox 360's online network is far and away the best of the three right now.

In fact Sony's whole approach is so different, I doubt that it will ever catch up.

This isn't a problem if you listen to Sony however, they kind of admit that and say 'Well our approach is better'.



XBox 360's indie game approach with the XNA toolkit and being able to develop a game on the PC and then just move it over to XBox is amazing power.

Sony's approach of 'well we have more power, so you have to do more work to develop on our platform' is just backwards thinking.



I find it amusing that Microsoft with it's Live Arcade and XNA toolkit is embracing the openness that has allowed Open Source and Linux to trounce Windows products.

It's like Microsoft has learned a lesson and is reaping the rewards on their XBox 360.



Sony meanwhile holds on to old concepts of control, control, control. Complexity is king.



Sigh. If I were a Sony investor, I would be VERY worried.



Ahhh well, at least Sony has Blu-Ray to keep it alive :)

Chad Thomas
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Robert, did you read the article?



Sony talks about how they work with independent developers instead of just throwing them an SDK and leaving them to fend for themselves. They are interested in growing products and careers; XNA Studio is interested in becoming the YouTube of games. So far, the XNA Studio games are incredibly underwhelming; they play like unfinished Flash-games. I can't see paying $5-$10 to actually buy one. Jelly Car is not the next Everyday Shooter.



Microsoft is not embracing openness on Arcade, which is why Epic has been unable to get permission to allow user-created content on UTIII. XNA Studio games still have to be peer-reviewed before they are allowed to be posted. You may see more bite-sized games as a result of XNA Studio, but I'm not sure you'll see more quality games.



The statement on page 1 kind of says it all: "We're very careful about how too much quantity could kill us, because it's more about having really well-selected, cool experiences." That's a different stance from their competitors. It is not necessarily wrong. There's so much I dislike about XBL that I welcome a different approach.



JET

Robert Schultz
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@Chad



I suppose your right. A lot of good indie games come out on the PC platform all the time. Being able to easily download XNA and develop games that can work on the XBox, with it being so easy for 'anyone' to do, I see a HUGE potential for some amazing games to surface on the X360.



YouTube may have hundreds of thousands of total junk videos, but there are a large number of very good videos that drive insane amounts of traffic and profit (through ads) to the site. I can easily see this sort of scenario surfacing on the X360 with indie games. Some awesome games are sure to arrise, games that will only exist on the X360. As the months and years roll by the number of great games on the X360 will continue to rise and the PS3 may look far less attractive to the gamer consumer.



I guess that's OK with Sony. They are going after the more 'grown up' market I suppose. They also have Blu-Ray and other 'features' to help sell units too.



The PC indie game movement is growing and growing. Very high quality games are being created by very small teams usually numbering in the single digits.



I suppose the huge, complex, massive budget, multi-year, mega games that Sony is going after will still exist, I just question whether or not it's wise for Sony to be betting so much on it.



Maybe I'm just looking at things wrong...

Joseph Hight
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I actually think the Nintendo Store on Wii is well positioned for digital downloads for the casual to med core gamer. You can currently purchase (via credit card or Wii card) retro games but I think the indie games and full scale games are close behind once the consumer gets educated. For the hard core gamer, I think X360 and Microsoft will be tough to beat. Sony has not even figured out how to get their licensed music and movies in a live on demand service. They had the opportunity to be one of the early adapters with a connect service to their PSP and failed miserably. I worked for Sony before and as great as they are, the last time they were truly innovative was the transistor.



And tell John Hight to quit using my name... :)

Anonymous
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I think that it's a really smart article, a lot different from Reggie's bluster or some other PR people(including Sony's) are, and it makes a lot of good points, and although they are beating a zombie horse to death again with acting like this is news, the fact is, the PS3 has vastly more potential than the 360, and Wii as a piece of hardware. I hope Sony continues with their strategy of sticking with their console until its had its run, because the PS3 could easily wind up in the lead again in the end if they can get some actual exclusive killer apps and super ambitious developers like Bioware to build titles specifically to take advantage of the Cell processor.

It's still funny to me how much shouldve been obvious by now, like having a comprehensive online service around launch, but its also kinda ironic to call Sony the republicans when all ms does is buy studios they like outright.


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