The Games we play...

[furie]

Interesting alleged leaked minutes of a meeting between SCEA and Sega... Includes details of a PS2 emulator and PS2 games available on the PSN. Also Japanese imports!

SCEA Meeting Aug 5th Notes
Aug 6 2009 – DRAFT FOR COMMENTS

Objectives of Meeting
Dyer agreed to regular quarterly meetings with SOA

Sony PS3
SCEA reiterated plans to sell 13 million PS3s this year
Big announcement back half of year they can't talk about (potentially price cut of PS3 to reach hardware goals)
SCEA commented on indexing between PS3 and 360 SKUs, should be around 2:1 to garner most favorable treatment.

Motion Controller
Spring 2010 launch (March in JP)
No bundle/pricing details yet, should come Sept 1
Plan on selling 4-5MM units WW
SCEA agreed to provide a list of Sega IP that would work well with the motion controller, Virtua Tennis was an example
Motion Controller support allows easy way to differentiate PS3 SKU
Other differentiation opportunities include PSP/PS3 interoperability – think of features that would make users want to buy both PS3 and PSP SKUs.

Alpha Protocol
Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. "Mass Effect felt more RPG."
Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team.

Planet 51
Sell in of PS3 SKU – SCEA noted that other movie titles on PS3 had underperformed as well (inc. Transformers) this cycle.
Dyer suggests contacting Susan at Walmart and asking what she wants in the pack to sell this SKU (movie tix etc)
Other possibilities are Hybrid movie disc (BD 25 or 50 with Game and Movie on same disc).

Bayonetta
Collectors edition with Bayonetta Action Figure
Novo recommended launching PSN demo around Xmas based off a Jan 5th Ship date with 2-3 week run out to launch.
3-4 weeks is usually ideal demo timing with fresh content every week leading up to launch (trailers, insider video about PG heritage, video blogs).

Vancouver 2010
HOME, Olympic destination would garner a lot of positive attention from SCEA
Should be doing same with Bayonetta, Marvel etc. Easy to launch in all territories.
HOME merchandizing opportunities (clothes etc).

Sonic Racing
Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes

Yakuza
Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game).
Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles.
SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity.

AVP
Another great HOME candidate
AVP avatars
Hybrid BD disc with movie

Iron Man 2
Great candidate for HOME space – explore Tony Stark's lab etc.
Should have one for Marvel in general.

PSU2
Could do bundle at GameStop with PSP 30-35K units on UMD, Go, or both.

Valkyria 1937
Could bundle with PSP as well.

Vanquish and Aliens: CM
Opportunity for PS3/PSP interoperability (see Eidos Batman, Army of Two, Assassin's Creed for good examples).
If we offer that SCEA would be really interested in having us at their booth next E3.

Thor
SCEA would like a look at the code soon.

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
"Best of Sonic" for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania's flip it over/backwards)

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc...

London Olympics
Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.

DC Digital Titles
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they're interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they'll give us more marketing support.

PSP Titles
For SKU differentiation it's best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version.
Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin's Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises.
SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.

Reproduced here in case the other sources are forced to remove them

 

[kimahri]

Weren't they not supposed to be messing around and in an update make the core able to play ps2 games?

Or is that just another rumor?

 

[spicy]

I been playing Halo ODST all day and its a definate must have for any Halo fan.

You play part of the ODST team looking for your team mates finding clues along the way, each clue has a story behind it which you get to play, its good fun and I would recommend it to anyone thinking of buying it.

It is of course just more of the same though, warthogs, ghosts, sticky grenades all good fun!

Haven't played it online yet as I still haven't renewed my Xbox Live membership. I find it hard to part with £40 when I have online game play for free with my PS3 sitting right next to it.

 

[Antinos]

****

My Xbox broke today. No, it wasn't the red rings. Instead, the cooling system is messed up. I turn on my Xbox and anywhere from two to five minutes later, the fans start going nuts and it shuts off. Urine in wine...

I guess I won't be getting ODST anytime soon...

 

[mrclam]

RUMOUR (but one from a good source):

Microsoft looking at buying EA.

 

[Ollie]

Lemmings on PS3 now has Trophies.
This makes Ollie happy.

 

[kimahri]

If it's one games that doesn't need trophies it's Lemmings.

All it needs the nice applause you got at the end of the original.

 

[spicy]

RUMOUR (but one from a good source):

Microsoft looking at buying EA.

Well if that happens goodbye Playstation. Every single EA game would be for Xbox only surely? No Fifa, Fight Night, Medal Of Honour, Need For Speed etc etc on Playstation.

Unless there is some sort of rule that doesn't let them do that.

 

[Anonymous]

RUMOUR (but one from a good source):

Microsoft looking at buying EA.

Well if that happens goodbye Playstation. Every single EA game would be for Xbox only surely? No Fifa, Fight Night, Medal Of Honour, Need For Speed etc etc on Playstation.

Unless there is some sort of rule that doesn't let them do that.

The money they make out of it, it would mean microsoft profiting on Playstation. So games will be created for Xbox 360 and ported across to other consoles, no different to what happens already.

EU has competition regulations will not allow M$ to have such a monopoly on games, so if they buy EA, the games will still be sold for Playstation, etc.

 

[furie]

Not entirely sure who to take the MS buying EA thing.

The problem is, EA produce same ****, different year. Yes, they have the "franchises", but they're generally showing diminishing returns - with good reason.

If MS made the EA stuff exclusive, then they could potentially focus the buying for those games onto their console.

However, who is actually going to invest in a 360 to play Fight Night 5, Need for Speed: Complete tosh or Medal of Honour: Not as good as Call of Duty.

Fifa is the only feather in their cap, but will Fifa themselves allow the name to be used if it's on limited release? We may see PES getting the official Fifa title.

I guess Rock Band would be a blow if it was lost from the other platforms - but again, the bottom is falling from that market, and Activision would clean up with GH.

The Sims? It makes a huge amount of money, so must be tempting, but how many 360 owners would go for it?

Looks like it's true:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... EK20090924

Denial like that usually means it is

Oh, and new Last Guardian trailer and interview out!
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/09/ ... new-video/

Seriously cannot wait. Want to play Shadow of the Colossus again now!!!

 

[Anonymous]

The Sims kinda blows on anything other than PC, in my opinion.

But with the US being the major marketplace, NFL game, Madden, would also be effected, and that is a massive selling sports game, outsells Fifa for sure.

I still think the only major difference would be these games being developed for the 360, and ported to other consoles. So I don't think it will be that major, plus M$ would cash in on Playstation. The only difference that there would be more XBL downloadable content for the games, compared to that available for the PS3 and Wii.

 

[furie]

Madden sales are down:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/10/ ... e-outlook/

They shifted 67,000 units on the Wii!!! Less than the PS2 version :lol:

Other people seem to be doing well with sales though, it's just EA are struggling. I don't think they quite see that releasing the same game year after year isn't something that is going to work forever. NFS: Shift has sold well though, but it's a reboot of the franchise, putting it against Grid rather than a crap arcade racer.

We'll see how Fifa 10 does, but I just don't think EA have the product portfolio of fresh content it needs to keep on going. Everything they seem to do just seems to be a rehash.

However, as Halo has shown us (and Burnout and lots of other franchises) - they tend to sell to the mindless masses. Until the mindless masses have less money and better games to buy (Arkham Asylum for instance ).

 

[Anonymous]

True.

EA used to have great games years ago. I think it because there is greater competition, its just making less and less money.

But hey, thats what happens in the business world

 

[kimahri]

Oh, and new Last Guardian trailer and interview out!
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/09/ ... new-video/

Seriously cannot wait. Want to play Shadow of the Colossus again now!!!

 

[furie]

True.

EA used to have great games years ago. I think it because there is greater competition, its just making less and less money.

But hey, thats what happens in the business world

It's due to a short sighted business model really.

Game sells 1.2 million. Marketing say Game V2.0 will sell at least as well, if not better.

So Game V2.0 is released which is pretty much the same with tweaks and updates for the next season.

Repeat on and on with steady returns from the buyers. Then some point, the buyers have to get tired. There's a degree to which you can perfect a game. Then you have to make fundamental changes to keep selling the thing, but fans don't want a change - they want the best version of the game they played.

Hype machines help, but there has to be a point where the bottom drops out. EA lay almost everything into sequels and rely on it. They're not pushing for new IP that is breaking boundaries like the original IP other companies are bringing out. Is there any game in the EA line-up that stands out as being anything new, different or original? Nope, and they've dug their own hole.

They WILL succeed, there are still more than enough people buying into their series to keep them going - but they're stuck in that rut now.

 

[mrclam]

It's due to a short sighted business model really.

Id agree with you.. but at the same time, i strongly believe that gamers dont actually want new, original fun games. Gamers just want to play the same carbon copy fps games featuring some faceless bloke in a helmet over and over and over again.

You can put an interesting new game out there, the press play it and every single on go on about how good it is.. And the public isnt interested, because it's not a sequel to "massively overhyped shooter #54356346"

As for the microsoft buying EA thing.. I cant see it. From a pure business standpoint - do you buy a company and then immediately shut down 2/3rds of that companies business? (2/3rds being ps3/wii). That'd be commercial suicide!

As for EA not making many good original games recently.. not many of the big publishers are! And who can blame them when the same carbon copy shooters sell year after year?

People scoff at nintendo for always making mario games, but at least most mario games have major gameplay changes and risks in them (playing on odd shaped planets wouldve taken a lot of R & D to get right - big risk). Releasing a new shooter, with a different plot/environment and maybe a new gun isnt as big a risk at all - in fact if it wasnt for the plot, it'd feel like you were playing the same game again.. HOWEVER which one sells more?

Why bother with risk, when gamers prove time and again that its not something they want?



Disclaimer (As there are a fair few of you now i dont know personally) : All views in this post are from me as a gamer, not as a developer and are not the views of the company i work for or have any relevence to the games i'm working on.

 

[kimahri]

Does anyone know as to what would happen if I were to try and play a Japanese game on a European console?

Would it just load up, diplay message in japanese and not run, just simply not run or would it be all OMFG JAPANESE GAME ALERT MICROSOFT HAXXORS DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! and I'm then permabanned from xbox live, PSN and what ever wii uses?

 

[mrclam]

Ps3 games are for the most part region free (up to the publisher). As long as they're legit games, msoft have no problems you playing them online.

wii & 360 games are region locked in the hardware, so without modification - they just wont run.. As you need a hacked machine to play these games online - the end result could be nasty (potentially banned accounts, etc), although i've never heard of this happening.



EDIT : Typed this while in the middle of doing something else and got ps3/360 the wrong way around.

 

[Ollie]

PS3 games are region free so you can buy games from Japan and they'd work on your console. Not sure about 360 though.

 

[kimahri]

Play Asia has a compatibility guide. I'm not too familiar with it but if they says it'll work, it'll work?