The Real Insomniac Interview...Linked Up

[thelastword]

This right here is yet another great interview, but this time from the guys at Insomniac. There are pieces or questions answered from various members of the team, as they detail quite a few things as it relates to RFOM, launching a product at launch, the PS3 and it's current and future potential, 1080P and a whole slew of other interesting bits, this along with the latest interview I posted in the Eggebrecht thread, are sure to put many things in perspective as it relates to the consoles, and is intended to dispel many of the ignorant ramblings that goes on and dispel the FUD commitee in kind.

Great read indeed, here goes;


Insomniac Interview, Part I

Insomniac was kind enough to answer some questions that the writers here at PS3Blog.net have put together. It’s a long process, getting all these questions answered, and you can see that several Insomniac employees were involved in answering the questions. I originally contacted them last year, but they were so busy trying to get Resistance out the door that they suggested I contact them again after launch, which is what I did. We spent a lot of time thinking of what questions we could ask, so hopefully you’ll enjoy them as much as we did. Thanks, Insomniac! Don’t forget to check out the Insomniac Full Moon Show podcast for more about Insomniac and upcoming projects.

I’ve divided the interview into two pieces, here’s the first part. The second part comes tomorrow.

1. Generally, launch titles don’t sell a lot of copies just because there aren’t that many consoles out there yet. Why did you decide to make Resistance a launch title for the PS3 when you knew that sales wouldn’t be that great? How does Insomniac gain from that?

Ted Price, President and CEO: First, I think it’s important to note that Resistance: Fall of Man has been the #1 selling PS3 title since launch despite games like Madden and Call of Duty 3 being available on the platform. More important, as more PS3s make it into consumers’ hands, Resistance: FOM’s sales continue to increase. Finally, with the recent European launch putting Resistance: FOM atop the sales charts across all formats and more content coming soon, we’re expecting Resistance: FOM to continue to be high on gamers’ “wanted” lists.

We knew from the beginning that launching with the hardware would mean lower initial sales. But we also felt strongly that the opportunity to establish a new franchise in a very crowded genre was something we couldn’t pass up. With less competition at launch it meant that Resistance: FOM would get a fair shake as the “new kid on the block” and potentially garner more long-term sales assuming we did our job in creating a AAA game. In this business, exposure is EVERYTHING for a new franchise and had we released Resistance:FOM a year later, it would have been much harder for the game to get the attention it deserved no matter how good it was.

2. What development tools and languages do your programmers and artists use? I’m a former game developer myself (I worked on Wizardry 8 at Sir-Tech), so I’m really curious as to what compilers, IDE’s, languages, graphics programs, 3D programs, etc your software developers and artists use.

Luke Petre, Director of Tools: Our artists work with a variety of 2D and 3D applications including Photoshop (for texture painting, marketing art, etc.) and Maya (3D modeling). A lot of our 3D artists are using sculpting software more frequently as we continue to work with higher and higher poly counts to produce HD content. We export data from these 3rd party applications into internal formats in some cases, which gives us a degree of flexibility in choosing the right piece of software to produce specific types of assets. In general, we try to develop technology that allows our artists to work with whatever applications best enable them to produce high-fidelity content as quickly as possible.

Our tools are mostly PC-based and are predominately written in C++.. There’s also a fair amount of Perl that we use to automate tasks and tie various systems together. There are even some Python scripts and some batch files floating around. Our PS3 code is primarily developed using a variety of IDEs, Sony’s PS3 compiler, and SN System’s ProDG debugger. The runtime code is a mix of C++ in the higher level systems and a decent amount of C and assembly for the low level engine code.

Getting all these different environments and tools to play nicely together can sometimes be a challenge, but we try to be flexible in terms of what tools we use to attack different problems. This flexibility often pays dividends in how our games perform and the flexibility our artists have to bring their ideas to life in ever-increasing detail and depth.

3. How many developers and artists did you have working on R:FoM? Will other PS3 games get the same level of allocation?

TP: At times our team, including our quality assurance staff, was up to 100 people. The size of the team varied depending on the phase of production we were in. During Resistance: FOM’s production we developed a lot of proprietary software (our engine, physics system, animation system, level production tools, etc.) that we’ll continue to use and improve during this generation of hardware. Because of this the team was slightly larger than what we anticipate for future PS3 titles.

4. Why did you decide not to do online co-op in R:FoM? It’s something that a lot of people would have liked. I’m just looking to see what you guys were thinking in this regard.

TP: We had to pick our battles. Resistance:FOM is a very large game – most people spend 12-15 hours getting through the single-player campaign alone. And then there are the massive online multiplayer modes we implemented that offer a LOT more gameplay. While it would have been very cool to do online co-op, we opted for offline co-op partially because we simply didn’t have the time or manpower to make a game this large and hit launch at the same time. And I don’t think the game is any less great because of it.

Something I have also said in interviews is that during the design process we did discuss online co-op seriously during production. We concluded that it was just as much (or more) fun to be sitting next to someone playing offline co-op than playing online co-op with a potential stranger. Yet whenever I’ve mentioned that particular reason, people have sneered and said “yeah, whatever dude.” But that’s the way we felt at the time.

Insomniac Interview, Part II

Yesterday we kicked off the Insomniac interview with Part I and some great questions about Resistance: Fall of Man. Today we continue those questions, plus we have some questions about the PS3 in general that I think you’ll find fascinating.

5. Can you tell us what you’re currently working on? I assume Ratchet & Clank PS3 development has started, am I wrong? What about an R:FoM sequel? Any downloadable games?

TP: We’re working on more online content for Resistance: FOM and you can find the details in a recent interview we did on IGN.com. [Editor: I assume he means this interview.] And yes, we’re definitely working on Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction for the PS3 and it’s looking awesome. Amazing what happens when you move into developing the second wave of software on any hardware platform…I’m going to stay mum when it comes to the other stuff we’re doing.

6. Developers mention 1080p and splitscreen support as performance bottlenecks. For example, with R:FoM you went with splitscreen (which is great!) and 720p (instead of 1080p, which is fine IMHO). MotorStorm didn’t even do splitscreen. What kind of perfomance impact does 1080p or 4 player splitscreen support have on a game? Is it really that hard to do splitscreen? (I have a personal axe to grind on this one, because I like to invite friends over to play.)

Rob Wyatt, Senior Engine Programmer: Split screen is a difficult problem from a performance point of view and it is certainly more difficult from an engineering point of view than rendering 1920×1080. Both together, no doubt, requires a serious engineering effort but it’s not impossible. As the PS3 hardware is better understood it will become easier. Rendering 1080 is more performance intensive than 720 simply because it has two and a quarter times as many pixels, which is not only more pixels to render but also more video memory and bandwidth is used for the bigger frame buffers. The general overhead of 1080 is the same for full screen and split screen, whether you are rendering a single viewport or 4 viewports the total number of pixels on the screen doesn’t change. Independently of the resolution, split screen places a different set of demands on the graphics hardware and graphics engine. For each viewport the engine has to more or less reprocess the entire scene, this is a lot of additional work, and ultimately generates a lot of additional polygons for the graphics hardware to process. The combined overhead of the 1080 resolution with the extra polygon processing required for multiple viewports, while keeping in frame and not sacrificing AAA quality, is a very difficult problem. In the limited development time frame of a launch game there were bigger battles to fight but it’s certainly possible and you will see split screen games running at 1080. For Resistance: Fall of Man, split screen with co-op play simply brought more to the table so 1080 support had to wait.

7. There are some features we’ve seen elsewhere that we haven’t seen on the PS3, and I was wondering if it was because the PS3 was technically incapable of doing these things, or if developers or Sony just haven’t implemented the features. Could you help us clarify whether or not the PS3 can do them, and how hard they would be to do? They are: (1) bringing splitscreen players online with you (like in CoD3 for the Xbox 360), (2) linking several consoles together to play local online, and (3) global voice chat.

Eric Ellis, Multiplayer Team Lead: My first reaction to this question is that we haven’t yet seen a large number of PS3 games released yet, so it’s a bit early to be guessing the limitations of the hardware from the current lineup. And none of these features really pose any sort of a hardware challenge, so the PS3 is certainly capable of all of them. However, I’ll be happy to give you some more specifics on each of the features mentioned.

1. Splitscreen online play is certainly possible on the PS3. Resistance: Fall of Man did not implement this feature because as a launch title we had to make some compromises in the interest of time and that was a feature we didn’t get the time to complete. However, I wouldn’t rule out seeing it in future Insomniac games.
2. Local-only LAN play is also technically not difficult on the PS3, though we see the demand for this being less than some other features as most people who are doing a LAN party these days also have internet access so they can usually play together that way. Another thing about our game is that we use dedicated servers for online play, so it would be slightly more difficult for us than for a peer-to-peer game or a game using one of the consoles as the host.
3. When you say “global voice chat,” I assume you mean the ability to voice chat with anyone on your Playstation Network friends list, regardless of what game they are playing? Because we certainly have voice chat in Resistance, and not everyone realizes this, probably in part because of some of the confusion and questions about other games and the PSN as a whole. The only thing I can comment on with respect to the PSN voice chat is that there is no PS3 hardware limitation that would make this any harder than it is on any other console. We also know that Sony is deeply committed to continual improvements and upgrades to their Playstation Network and it is certainly possible that you’ll see this feature announced in some future update.

8. The PS3 has 256MB of fast video RAM and 256MB of normal RAM. But I’ve heard that all memory can be used either by the Cell or the GPU anyway. Is this split an issue? Does it hinder or help? Would a unified memory architecture have been better? Do you have any clarifying comments about that?

Al Hastings, Chief Technology Officer: In practice, the split memory architecture hasn’t caused us many problems. The GPU can access main RAM at high speed and with very few restrictions. And while there are some restrictions when you want the CPU or SPUs to access video RAM at high speed, so far they’ve been easy enough to work with.

For the PS3, I think the split memory architecture was the right way to go. It allows the Cell and the GPU to both do heavy work on their local buses without contending with each other. It should really pay dividends a few years down the road in the PS3’s lifecycle when everyone’s code has gotten more efficient and bus bandwidth emerges as a one of the most important resources.
Link (http://www.ps3blog.net/2007/04/11/insomniac-interview-part-i/)

[thelastword]

EXCLUSIVE: Jack Tretton talks rumble, Metal Gear, and Microsoft on Folding@Home


GamePro: So we all know you're pushing the 10-year plan with the PS3, but when do you think the PS3 is really going to explode? Is it going to be this fall, 2008?...


Jack Tretton: I'd like to think we'll made some serious headway this holiday season being the first holiday that you're able to have adequate supply and software support. We've certainly seen it on the other Sony platforms like the Psone, PS2 and more recently with the PSP. While that launch period is exciting, it is loaded with anxiety and you cannot win. First we get tortured by not having enough supply at launch, then we deliver and people take pictures at retail and say,"What are we going to do about this?"

Jack Tretton is president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America.



And regardless of how good the launch lineup is, the popular conception is that there's no such thing as a good launch game. And I look back at things like Crash and Twisted Metal or any the products we've done a launch on any platform, and it stands the test of time. I really believe that games like Resistance and MotorStorm will be looked upon fondly years down the road. Everyone just assumes that if it makes it out in the launch window, that it can't be technologically superior.


GP: What do you think has been the single best achievement on the PS3 so far?

JT: We've delivered technology that I personally couldn't have imagined a year ago, and I think we've made tremendous strives with the PlayStation from where the market was in the 80s and mid-90s. People said you can't compete with repeat with PS2...there's no way any company ever dominates two generations in a row, and we delivered another quantum leap.I think the game that we're most excited about that we've seen from the third-party community is probably Metal Gear Solid 4."Then we were up here in the clouds and how do you top the PS2? And quite frankly I was expecting PlaySation 2.5...an improvement on PlayStation 2, but not this huge leap. But the fact that we've got Blu-ray, Cell, RSX, Wi-Fi, memory card slots...as quiet as it is...zero problems with returns or overheating. It's that sleek and that effective, for $599, is amazing. And if you looked at it in that context, you'd think it'd be $999, not $599. At least that's the way I look at it as a consumer.


But if you live in the world of $299 platforms...wow that's double the previous platform Sony asked me to buy back in 2000. I think the technology is far and away the thing that impresses me the most, and it's just so intuitive. The fact that I can pop in memory stick and load up a slideshow with pictures I just too...heck, I don't know how to make a slideshow on a PC, but I don't need to know how to do it on a PS3. And then I load up my Ludacris CD and now I have a musical soundtrack to go with my pictures. I guess I could have figured it out on a PC, I just don't have the interest to do it, but it's made so easy on the PS3. So would I spend $600 to just make a slideshow on the PS3, no, I want it as a gaming system, but you might say, "Wow, that's cool, or this Blu-ray movie looks great." With the PS3, it delivers to me and pays me back, just as I think the PS2 did that. This multi-functionality and next-gen technology is blowing me away. And I think the longer you're in this industry, the more jaded you become and it's increasing harder to be impressed.


GP: How important is third-party support for the PS3, and what's the single most important third-party game for the PS3?

JT: I think it's extremely important. We would ideally like to have about 25-30% of the market, and we'd like third-party to occupy the rest just in sheer number of units. I think the third parties have been a tremendous key to our success, not just to one game but also about a breadth and depth of library. I think we need to do a better job of getting the tools in the hands on the third-party development community so that they can know what we know. I think they'll get there with or without us, but we're definitely working on that right now.


I think the game that we're most excited about that we've seen from the third-party community is probably Metal Gear Solid, that's the one people talk about the most. I think recently Ninja Gaiden Sigma is looking pretty cool, and Devil May Cry 4 is looking good, too. The Japanese developers are really producing some great stuff, which is evident by these games.

GP: The PlayStation Network (PSN) is still in a somewhat early state? When is it going to really kick into gear?


JT: Very, very soon, almost to the point of being overwhelming. We have 41 games in development devoted to the Network, not just talking about PSone games being enabled. We're talking about games developed specifically for the PS3. I think because people are seeing the traction from the movies studios and what the trailers can do for them, there is going to be a lot for downloadable content in that area. So, really it will happen this fall...we'll get there well before the holiday timeframe. Every month you'll just see more and more content on there it'll get to the point where it's be really rich by September. And I think that will be timed really nicely with the advent of Home as well.


GP: How big a role do you think Home will play in the movement of PS3 consoles?

JT: I don't think it will move consoles, but it will move a consumer who's been intimidated or disinterested by online into the online world. I think it lends itself into a more common social experience. If you're into the online community, you get the text-based experience, but if you're not into it, it's very easy to visualize, "Oh I get it, I'm talking to that guy...I'm going to go over there and see what EA has for new games, then I'm going to walk over there to see what new shoes are available from Nike, then we're going to play a game, and maybe talk while we watch a new Bond trailer." To me, I get that. You do it everyday in the real world. But I think the online world appeals to a very limited audience that are very passionate about it and they love it, but there are so many people who just aren't interested.
So I think Home will bring a lot of people into the online world and I think that will just enhance the console experience. Maybe as a backhanded result it will sell more hardware. We want to chain people to that hardware device and give them more and more reason to sit there and only play your PS3. Obviously no one is going to give 24 hours a day, but we want your break to be doing something else with your PS3.


GP: Are you satisfied with the way Sixaxis has been received so far, and are you happy with the way it's been implemented in games as of right now?

JT: I'm happy with what the controller can do, but I think we're at day one of showcasing that technology. I think when LAIR's out there and Warhawk's out there, more developers are going to take advantage of it. What I love about it, though, and I think Ratchet showed it very well, is that you're still controlling Ratchet, but you're using the Sixaxis to control the tornado. To me that's really cool, because now you're complementing a game control that you're used to.


You're not saying don't use the analog stick, use the Sixaxis -- instead you're giving more control over a game. Let's face it, to me, it's much easier to move a controller up, down, left and right that it is to move an analog stick especially in something like a flying game. So I think games like LAIR and Warhawk will really showcase that.


I guess the answer is that I'm satisfied with the technology, but I don't think we've got as many proof points as we'd ideally like, but they'll be there by this fall.


GP: Is rumble/vibration coming, and is there a chance at a next-gen rumble feature?

JT: I think there's certainly an opportunity for vibration to be there, but the thing that I like to do is take people to the past, right. We started out with this really cool form factor in the PlayStation controller and everyone really knows and loves the feel, and that lives on today in the PS3 controller. But there were no analog sticks initially and now that we've got them, we have trouble living without them. And there wasn't vibration and then the Dual Shock came out, and that was a really cool feature.


So I think the Sixaxis is a nice next-gen evolution of the PlayStation controller, and I think just as we've done through that time period I talked about, you'll see continued evolution in the Sixaxis controller, whether it's a separate controller or whether it's a progression in the Sixaxis controller through analog sticks, vibration...you name it. Nothing to announce, but certainly a natural progression that I'm sure you can envision.

GP: How important is gaming 3.0, user-generated content and community experiences for the PS3, and is that the wave of the next generation?

JT: It all goes with having this very passionate relationship with the consumer and I think Phil's talked about it and I completely appreciate it. You work so hard to establish a relationship with the consumer whether it's to sell them a piece of hardware or software, but every time they walk out the door, that relationship typically gets severed unless you communicate with them through an online community. The ability to add expansion packs, to have the Home environment, or to have the user-generated content are ways to have every piece of software live and evolve until there's no longer consumer interest in it.


That's a really interesting thing we've seen on the PS2, for example with SOCOM, and there's still a very active SOCOM 2 online community, and those users engage each other and we engage with them, much more than an offline gaming experience that we know how many units have been sold, but we don't know how much the game is being played or what interest is left in it, and that's why you have to invest marketing dollars in focus groups and research like that.


When you have user-generated content and an active community, you're getting constant feedback and I think that's worth its weight in gold.


GP: Folding@Home has been a big success. There have been rumors that Microsoft wants to participate, too. Aside from any medical benefit that it might produce, would it be smart from a business standpoint for Microsoft to do join in considering the under-power of the Xbox 360 CPU compared to the PS3's Cell?

JT: I think what's very important to us, and I think is great for our consumers, is the pride that it gives you as a company to say that we're helping to fight and research Alzheimer's and that 250K people signed up in less than 60 days. And what we're doing takes 30 times longer on a PC, and that's a great testament to the PS3, but it's more a real feel-good thing to take your machine when it's idle to help contribute to that cause.


So if other companies can help contribute to that, I think that's great. But let's face it, if your motivation is for PR, to me, that's a little shallow. We go out of our way, correctly so, to make sure that we don't try to sell PS3s on Folding@Home. We try to look at it for just what it is, which is great community service for a great cause, and I think to look at it as a marketing platform is something that a company certainly wouldn't want to do. I'm certainly not insinuating that's Microsoft's motivation, but I'm not even sure how relevant it is to what were doing.


Would they be even having this conversation if we weren't doing it? I don't know. I would guess that the medical community would take help from anywhere they could get it, but the commentary that I heard is that Stanford isn't sure that [the Xbox 360's processing abilities] would help them very much, which is odd to be because if it helped at all, it seems like they would welcome it with open arms.


It's really ugly territory to get into, but let's take fighting a disease and see if we can get some credit for that. It's not a cool game to play one way or the other, so I don't want to even give the impression that that's our motivation and I'd be very disappointed if they're looking for PR value or to try to suck off some of the goodwill that we're doing.


GP: It seems Sony is focusing on creating new IPs and new game franchises? What's the underlying strategy?

JT: That's always been the case, and if heard my presentation earlier, I was talking about Nintendo and Sega had these great gaming heritages, and how we've been a great consumer electronics and hardware/technology company, but software is going to be very, very key. We invested heavily, and when companies like Microsoft said let's leave sports gaming to EA, we said no and that we have to be in it more than even because what's EA's motivation if they have no competition?


They have to build the best sports game on our platform if they have to compete with us. And so we've always believed that we have to set the bar for the third parties to basically keep them honest. Maybe that's not the right term and I certainly don't mean it that way, but if you can deliver good first-party content, then you're not a slave to third-party support. Then, it compliments what you do and doesn't define what you do, and that was very important to us.
Link (http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=112408)


Some really interesting points re-affirmed, this whole folding at home scene with MS is really shameless. I really like his take on doing sports and their strategy with First Party software in general, my exact stand on that issue. Good stuff and a focused read.

[Glockstar]

Eureka! I got it! Thelastword is a Jack Tretton sockpuppet.

[theWacoKid]

Eureka! I got it! Thelastword is a Jack Tretton sockpuppet.

In a batlle of wits between TLW and a sockpuppet, my money's on the sockpuppet.

[Gamer From '78]

Eureka! I got it! Thelastword is a Jack Tretton sockpuppet.

Boy, it sure is a good thing you don't need to speak while you type. It would be pretty hard for LastLoad to do it with a mouth full of Tretton. :p

[ilnadmy]

TLW, I support your cause and I'm on your side and all, but why do ALL your posts have to be really really long? I don't have the mental focus of a martial arts master, so I can't keep focused on a post that's longer than, like, 17 lines or so.

Keep it up though, it's always fun seeing Xbots getting bent out of shape every time you post.

[DrunkenThumbmaster]

The same way Moody bends you milkdrinkers out of shape.

[ilnadmy]

LOL you wish. It's more of a "do you hear yourself when you think?" At least TLW changes his argument according to the posts he reads.

[thelastword]

TLW, I support your cause and I'm on your side and all, but why do ALL your posts have to be really really long? I don't have the mental focus of a martial arts master, so I can't keep focused on a post that's longer than, like, 17 lines or so.
Well these posts are quoted interviews, they're long but they explain alot. Knowledge is better than fudedge IMO, so it serves it's purpose.

[Cuddly Knife]

Personally, I prefer the longer posts than the short 5-sentence posts that are regularly used round these parts, unless it's a quote from somewhere else. Even if I don't agree with what's being said, I'll still read the whole thing, because that's how I roll.

[thelastword]

Another Great Interview, post SONY GAMER's DAY.

During this week’s Sony Gamers’ Day in San Diego, both Billy and Kato got a few moments with Sony Computer Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Peter Dille to ask a number of questions. We hit up such pertinent topics as the new PSP download network, second-gen titles, new rumble controllers, PSP 2.0, and much much more.


Game Informer: What’s it like to not have to do E3 until July?
Peter Dille: Well, we are going to have to do E3, so we’re not completely off the hook. I think it comes back to that it’s really important to talk to the press this time of the year. You’ve got long lead press. You’ve got a market that needs to understand what are the plans. We want to show everything. If we waited until July and just showed up at E3, it’s really too late to generate a lot of the momentum behind the products that we want, so we need to start now and that’s why we’re doing a big event like this–focusing on games.


GI: You’ve got a lot playable games here, and you announced SOCOM today [ed: SOCOM: Confrontation]. Can we expect SOCOM playable at E3? Killzone at E3?
Dille: Yeah. I think all the stuff you can have playable at E3. And then the one we’ve been holding back on is Killzone, so it’s a good reason for you to come to E3, because we’ll have some updates on that. By all means, you need to save something to keep people interested.


GI: One of the things that was discussed was the fact that the PSP will have some sort of online network for downloading content. Are you talking music and movies? Is that the plan, and will it be through Sony Connect?
Dille: We were a little bit coy about revealing all of the plans, but I think all of the above. We’re looking at downloading games, and you can do that now via the PlayStation Store on PS3. Download it on the PS3, slide it over to your PSP, take a PS1 classic or other content directly to your PSP. The missing ingredient for us has been making it easier for consumers to get video content or music content to the PSP, because the device has this awesome technical playback capability, awesome screen built for video and yet we don’t make it terribly easy for people to access any content. So we’re looking to fix that. We’ve got a lot of people hard at work on it we look forward to rolling that plan out and that service out later this year. But be patient, we hope it won’t be much further.


GI: Will this be something you’ll be able to do over Wi-Fi, or will you have to connect your PSP to your PS3?
Dille: We haven’t really announced details, but, again I think if you look at that product I think you can get a bit creative and say, it already connects to the PS3, it’s got Wi-Fi connectivity, I think both paths are open to us.


GI: Was the Home feature created as something responding to a need or a want that PS3 owners have expressed? That they want some open world or was it more something that you created and hoping that they’ll adopt?
Dille: It wasn’t in response to what they wanted, because when Home was started there were no PS3 owners so we didn’t know what they wanted. Home has been in development for a while. It would have been nice to have had it on November 17th, but our perspective is don’t announce things too early. You never have a second chance to make a first impression. I think Home really demonstrates the creativity and unique approach that we have to this business. When we were preparing to launch PS3 a lot of people said, “Okay, I guess they’re going to match Live feature by feature and we’ll just expect a derivative approach.” That’s not Sony’s way of doing things. We take a step back and say, we want online gaming for sure. Resistance you’ve got 40-player multiplayer on November 17th. Check that box. But Home from my perspective leapfrogs the competition. What’s going on with community in the console environment, because now you’ve got a true 3D based community. You’re not going to see anything like Home on any other platforms. I think it really speaks to the creativity and individuality you’ve seen in PlayStation products throughout the years.



GI: In one of the demonstration with Ratchet, they were talking about it as second generation of PS3 titles. Do you expect your third-party partners to also be on that second wave even though that some partners, say Ubisoft, may have been holding back from their first titles.
Dille: You have to have a first-generation title to have a second-generation title. Insomniac had Resistance: Fall of Man, so they’re able to share some of that tech, and have a second-gen title like Ratchet. I think if you look at other second-gen titles, NBA ‘08 from the Sony studio, that’ll be a second-gen. But if you go out to the third parties, you have to say, “Okay, who had launch titles? And which of those will be second-gen?” You guys would probably know better than I would with what is going on with the third party community. But you can look at what the launch line-up was last year and say, “Who’s working on a sequel? Is it Madden? Is it Tony Hawk?” I’m not saying those are the answers.


GI: Do you expect those third-party partners to come up to speed a little quicker, a little easier?
Dille: Absolutely. Number one, you always come up to speed on your own, because the first one is the hardest, and things get better with second-gen—that’s kind of the beauty with second-gen. I think some of the things we’re doing on our side are helping them get up to speed. We talked at GDC about sharing our tech with the third-party community, the whole EDGE initiative, we’ve had some really great feedback to that. So I think that’s helping them ramp up the learning curve. The PlayStation 3 is a very technically advanced system. Any help we can give, sharing some of those secrets I think are really welcome by the third party. I think it’s helping.


GI: One thing you said you were doing is sharing your tech. The Hall of Fame and trophies are something gamers are really excited about, and kind of your version of the achievement set up. I’ve been visiting the third parties for the last month or so, seeing their games, and asking them if they’re going to have the trophy system in their games, and so far they’ve been saying they don’t have the tech yet. When do you think we’ll see third party games with trophies?
Dille: Hopefully, as soon as possible. I think its one of those things where it’s a chicken and an egg. We’ve got to build out some of the first-party capability and make sure all of that’s working and then roll it out. You might see some of that in first-party games this year and then, I’m not saying there won’t be any third parties this year, but it would be impossible to catch all of the development that’s going on, having them implement that system, and have that be in the games that are going to be on retail shelves this Fall. We’ll showcase that technology and that ability, and they’ll want to get on board as well, and we’ll share that with them. So it’s kind of a rolling approach to this. Not unlike some of the things you’re seeing across the PlayStation Network, because we did keep our cards a little bit close to the vest behind everything. I spoke a little bit earlier about people just assuming we were going to go down the same path, but I think using the network to create content that was built specifically for the PS3 wasn’t something that people really imagined that we’d be doing. They thought, “Okay it’ll be mission packs, it’ll be microtransactions for a weapon or a vehicle but I don’t think anyone imagined games like Fl0w, or Blast Factor or Calling All Cars, where we’re building games that aren’t retreads, they’re built to take advantage of Cell and the PS3 technology–1080p, et cetera.


So the only places you saw that was Sony. Now the third parties understand that’s an opportunity. Down the stream, you’re going to see that. A little bit of the same thing with the technology, you said to show off the Hall of Fame. We’ve got to build it first and make sure they know how to do it.

GI: Will the Hall of Fame be a requirement for third parties?
Dille: I’m not in charge of third-party requirements, so I’m not sure I can say. Whether or not it’s a requirement, I think there’s a lot of self motivation to do it because it’s a great way to keep people interested in their games. It provides the great challenge to them [ed: gamers] as well as great community aspects. I don’t think it will be a hard sell.


GI: One thing Cory Barlog from the God of War team mentioned at the God Of War II launch event was that God of War III will have rumble capabilities. I was wondering when we’ll start having controllers with rumble in them.
Dille: Well, as you guys know Sony and Immersion settled a lawsuit. The companies are talking about what ways could that technology manifest itself in PlayStation products going forward. No announcements to make yet, but when we do, it’ll be sure to be big news.


GI: Is there a potential for people to–I mean I have a PS3, Kato has a PS3, I bought controllers and they’re expensive–is there any way that Sony will have some sort of a replacement program where you can get the controller that you really want, which is the one with rumble in it?
Dille: Well we don’t have a controller with rumble yet, so there’s no replacement plan. Again, the conversations with Immersion are forward looking, but your question is something I really can’t address because there’s no product that features it outside of the existing controllers with PS2.


GI: When you talked about the trophy system in Home and seen the overview at GDC how open-ended is Home for third parties or for Sony itself to add different kinds of functionalities beyond what we’re expecting to come out in the Fall.
Dille: We’re providing the tools to third parties so they can build their own environments that can live in Home, so that can be, and I’ll just pick an example and I’ll do a fake publisher so it doesn’t look like I’m taking sides, but if Acme publishing wanted to have the Acme publishing area, then a consumer can go into that. But if Acme publishing had a really big game, then they could create a really big themed area, as well. There’s a lot of flexibility there. If you’re talking about is it a really open system so that any other brand could build out a space? No. They’ll have to work through us and we’ll want to work with the right partners to make sure it’s in keeping with the PlayStation brand.

GI: When you were talking about the new SOCOM title for PS3, a lot of people were surprised that you would offer that as a download and as a Blu-ray disc product. Could you explain how Warhawk will work?
Dille: Warhawk from a distribution perspective, it’s kind of a similar strategy as SOCOM. Warhawk will be available as a download from the PlayStation Network, but we’ll also have a retail SKU. There will be differences between the two. The game will be the same, but in the retail SKU we’re able to take advantage of that Blu-ray disc and pack that disc with behind-the-scenes information, developer interviews, demos of other games and again, if you’ve got Blu-ray why not take advantage of that. On top of that, we’ll have a Bluetooth wireless headset so that you can jump into the fray day one and start trash-talking. We think that’s a great way to A. offer consumers a choice, if you’re already involved in the PlayStation Network and want the convenience of downloading, it will make that possible. If you’re not a member yet of the PlayStation Network or haven’t registered and are kind of curious, you have another way to go and get that headset at the same time as well as some other content. That also gives our retail partners another way to stay involved in both so they’re not involved in the Network business


GI: Do you have a price on those SKUs?
Dille: Not one that we’ll announce.


GI: Do you see this model going forward with having separate download and retail? Will this be a common thing or does the headset make it special.
Dille: It’s not going to be terribly common because there’s not that many games that we’ll do this for. The vast, vast majority of our products are Blu-ray disc products that are sold at retail. We have a number of games that are downloadable for the PlayStation Network but they’re very different experiences. Again, Blast Factor and Calling All Cars–they’re not full $60 retail products. They help represent the full range of content that you get on the PlayStation 3. But I think Warhawk and SOCOM are special examples. We’re coming up with approaches for them that fit the needs of those two products.


GI: Microsoft is having a lot of success with downloadable movies, TV shows, that sort of thing. Does Sony have any similar plans along side the PSP?
Dille: I don’t think we’ve been terribly secretive about that. I think you expect a company like Sony that has a motion picture division, a music division, and a device like the PlayStation 3 that offers tremendous opportunities to download content. The PlayStation 3 doesn’t care what type of content it is. But the consumer does. We’re looking for the right model, like with the PSP, to offer consumers an easy to use service to be able to access that type of content. Hopefully gamers aren’t going to have to be too patient; you’ll be seeing those types of announcements in the not-too-distant future.


GI: One thing you’ve been doing a great job with, and I commend you guys, is patching the system with new features such as Folding. One thing a lot of users are waiting for is the ability to stream music, pictures or video from their home computers. Is that something we may see?
Dille: I won’t address those two specifically but what I’ll tell you is we probably have a long list of things that the marketing department has said lets prioritize these. The same time the engineering team in Japan have their own lists and they’re working on as many as they can as fast as they can. I think as you said, they have a pretty good record of pumping out these firmware upgrades fairly regularly, so they’re trying to check them off the list as soon as they can. I think it’s safe to say we know what gamers want, we’re listening, we’re trying to address them as soon as we can, and hopefully we’ll get to everyone’s wish lists as quick as possible.


GI: There’s been some talk that some third-party publishers have games ready in the chute but have held back in releasing them until the install base for the PS3 grows. Is that something you anticipated when you released the system or is that more of a surprise.
Dille: First of all, I haven’t heard that. Any specifics? It’s sort of counter-intuitive, because the question suggest that, first of all you have to take a step back and say most third parties are doing cross-platform development, so that suggests that they’re holding back a 360 SKU and a PS3 SKU, and if that’s the case then that speaks to our position in the marketplace as a force to be reckoned with . Because they’re forgoing the headstart that we gave Microsoft, and if they want to wait for us I guess that’s good news from our perspective.


GI: Some of the talk is like with Ubisoft and their Rainbow Six title, which is a SKU that’s already available for the 360.
Dille: I hadn’t heard that they were waiting. That’s an economic decision that a publisher makes, and they’re entitled to make those decisions. I think our focus, I think this event hopefully communicates it, we feel that we’ve got the horsepower to drive each of the platforms. If you talk about PlayStation 3, we’re not going to rely on the third parties to come up with exclusive content, we’ve got 15 games that are just shipping this fiscal year, so that doesn’t even include Resistance which will still be relevant, Motorstorm which will still be relevant, it doesn’t include the content you’ll find on the PlayStation Network. 15 Blu-ray games that we’ll use to differentiate the PlayStation experience across every genre you can think of, from RPG, to shooter, to racing, sports, action, and then stuff that defies being put in a box, like LittleBigPlanet, SingStar, Eye of Judgment—I challenge anyone to offer that type of lineup on any other system, so again I think third parties can make the decisions they need based on how they run their business.


GI: Speaking of LittleBigPlanet, some people that are into Xbox Live Arcade complain that the games aren’t timely enough. They’ll hear about a game, the release date shifts, and some of the Live Arcade games didn’t come out as fast as they would have hoped. Do you have a concrete time table for when you want to bring out your PlayStation Network titles like Bowling or LittleBigPlanet.
Dille: We do have timetables, every development team has their schedules–we keep track of it. Our approach is to try to have a steady stream of new content so when consumers go back to the PlayStation Network there is always something new there’s a reason to come back and surprise them with compelling content. As we map out the schedule and put it on the wall, you know, some of it will move but by and large I think we have a pretty good track record of hitting the dates that we need to hit. Again, when there’s a studio organization as large as ours, as Jack said our organization is larger than Microsoft and Nintendo combined, we have a lot of teams working on a lot of stuff. Hopefully, we’re able to have that type of content so if something does move, there’s something else going on.


GI: You mentioned that with the price drop of the PSP a lot more units are moving of shelves, but there’s also been recent talk that there’s some sort of PSP 2.0 in development. Will you have both SKUs or do you think with the price drop you won’t need to release that next-gen PSP this year?
Dille: You know, we get a lot of questions about rumors and speculation. Sony’s a technology company so there are lots of people out there wondering what we’ll do next. But as a rule, we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.


GI: It was someone from Sony Europe who said it, I think.
Dille: I’m not aware of that. Again, people can speculate about what Sony is going to release. What I can tell you is that we’ve shipped 25 million PSPs and 8 million sold through in North America. The platform is doing really, really well. We’ve got a lot of momentum behind the platform now with the price drop. There are 140 games in development. We are 100% behind PSP as a format, and that won’t change going forward.


GI: Would you also say the 10 year cycle also includes the PSP as you said it would for the PS3, PS2 and PS1?
Dille: Absolutely. We consider the PSP a platform, just like the other two hardware systems. Again we now start talking about the PlayStation Network as our fourth platform with its own focus. By all means, the PSP is still early days here. There’s a plan in place, and we get a lot of questions, “Are you going to react to this, are you going to react to that.” The ability to be able to bring the price down to $169 is based on the manufacturing facilities being able to get 25 million units out and be able to drive the manufacturing price down. That’s all planned out when you start architecting a system way back before it ever gets manufactured. So far, so good, with the PSP. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing and round out the offering. I personally believe that download service is something that could be the missing ingredient that will energize the market and give people that much more reason to keep the PSP that they bought by their side everywhere they go.
Link (http://forums.videogamereview.com/showthread.php?p=97361#post97361)

[thelastword]

Another informative read, this time Dave Karraker is being interviewed @ Gamepro


GamePro: You've been doing game PR for a long time. What's changed over the last 10 years?

Dave Karraker: I actually cut my teeth in PR working at Crystal Dynamics...the big game at the time was a really great platformer called "Gex" for the 3DO Multiplayer. About the same time, I helped launch a graphical Windows interface called "Bob" for Microsoft, but let's not share that with anyone. The funny thing is, so many of the people I worked with back then are actually still around in some fashion, whether as journalists or on this side of the fence. The biggest change has got to be the advent of the Internet. It simply wasn't a factor back then. Now, it is arguably what I spend the majority of my time working on when it comes to speaking with media, and consumers, for that matter.

How long have you been working for Sony?

I've been with Sony since two months before the launch of PS3. It was certainly a crazy time to come on board, but any PR person will tell you that a launch of that scale is exactly what they dream working on. There are just so many opportunities and so many challenges that you can't help but learn something almost every minute of every day. That is what I really love about working at Sony -- every day there is something new to experience. Plus, I am a gamer, so you can't beat being able to play games whenever you want. Getting to see early builds of a game is really fantastic. I was playing the new Ratchet & Clank for PS3 yesterday and it is simply amazing. I have also been spending a lot of time with LittleBigPlanet lately, as well as Uncharted. These development teams are really doing some cool stuff with the system.

Noting the PS3's unique approach, how do you deal with negative consumer perceptions from a public relations perspective?

That's kind of a tough question to answer. I am pretty sure if you asked just about any real gamer out there if they would like to have a PS3, their answer would be a resounding "Yes!" I think a lot of this goes back to the proliferation of the Internet, where a very vocal minority can make a lot of noise and potentially alter perceptions of the masses, whether they are accurate or not. A lot of this, naturally, is driven by the media who seem focused on taking swipes at us lately, without taking in the full picture. It is funny, but I remember people bagging on the original PlayStation when it first came out, and look where it ended up. Our biggest job over here is to continue to push out information on PS3 and our other systems and remind people that there are things you can do on our platforms you simply can't do on our competitor's. It is all about explaining those points of differentiation, particularly the value over the lifetime of the system, that is key in selling any Sony product.

Are some of those [negative] perceptions justified, assuming you feel they exist? Why or why not?

A lot of the perceptions are not justified and seem fueled by people who don't have all the facts or have some kind of axe to grind. I think you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who wouldn't say PS3 is an amazing piece of technology.Yeah, the price of PS3 is higher than other system, but look at what you get - the Cell processor, Blu-ray Disc, built-in hard drive, HDMI 1080p, Wi-Fi, the SixAxis. That is a lot of truly cutting-edge technology in one box. It is funny how myopic people can be when a new system comes along. They seem to forget that launching a truly next-generation gaming platform is never easy and it never has been. I like to say it is like birth: "The actual labor may not be all the pretty, but the result is pretty darn amazing."

But, as a gamer, I like to concentrate on the gee whiz factor when something new launches. No matter who's platform it is, I look at what is truly new and exciting. I am confounded by people who say they are true gamers but all they do is look for the negatives in a system, or a company, or in the industry in general. Some media, in particular, are just too easily caught up in all the bashing. It feeds on itself, and to what end? How do you benefit the real gamer by bashing on something? These are very smart people who can see through most of the BS.

Sure, there were some perceptions on PS3 that were justified. For example, we didn't have nearly enough hardware at launch to meet consumer demand. That was difficult for all of us and contributed to a tough climate with press and analysts. That's behind us now, but a bit of that still lingers. Frankly, I have stopped talking to media about the launch and am now really just focused on the games.

What is Sony doing to address concerns of gamers who are interested in owning a PS3 but haven't yet made the jump?

The first thing is to continue to educate people on the benefits of the technology and how it does things no other system can do. The second is to explain the value of all that cutting-edge technology: Cell is hands down the most powerful processor in any home entertainment system. Blu-ray gives developers a huge amount of space to create games. We also have free online gameplay, a hard drive in every box, Wi-Fi, and so on. This is a system that is just barely being tapped by developers at this point. There is so much upside potential that will continue to be uncovered years down the road, just like PS2.

And lastly, we have to deliver the content, which we are doing. We will have 15 PS3 exclusives this fiscal from our first party studios. Games like Ratchet & Clank Future; Tools of Destruction, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Heavenly Sword are looking amazing and are really showing what is possible when you harness the power in a PS3.

Now that the launch dust has settled, it appears the PS3's reception is improving. What do you attribute that to?

The GDC reveal of Home and Little Big Planet certainly helped. Those titles show not only what you can do with the technology in PS3, but also demonstrate vision and infinite possibilities. Those are the things that get people excited. I think the further we move away from the launch -- and the media dwelling on the perceived negatives -- the better the reception will be for PS3. At that point, it is all about the games.

How has SCE's culture changed over the years? What have you as a company done to evolve that culture?

Well, I have only been here eight months, so that would be tough for me to say. I have noticed since when I was working at Sega, that Sony is a lot more open and inclusive, particularly to third parties. There is a real willingness on SCE's side to help third parties develop outstanding content.

What is your vision for overhauling Sony's perception in the media? Should the company be more accessible to journalists and bloggers?

Access and education are the two things I talk about most over here. We want to be as accessible as possible and provide as much information as we can so media can properly cover our products and give the gamers all the news they want and need. That focus will never change. At launch of PS3 we gave an amazing amount of access to media. Kaz, Jack, and Peter must have done hundreds of interviews. That kind of access hasn't stopped, and in fact, I think it has increased with the amount of contact we have on a daily basis from folks in the blogging community.

In a world quick to criticize incumbents, what's the best thing the PlayStation brand brings to the gaming table?

Innovation. You can see it in our hardware and our software. I think if we had just put out PlayStation 2.5, people who have had every right in the world to criticize us. The fact is, we went above and beyond and delivered the most technologically advanced system ever created, which is now being supported by the most amazing games you have ever seen. PS3 will drive the market for the next 10 years, just as PS2 is doing and PSone did before that. That vision and technological leadership is what the PlayStation Brand is all about.

What do you consider your greatest triumph to date, both as head of PR for Sony and as company?

I think you would be hard pressed to find a product launch in the past several years that matched the buzz generated by PS3. The amount of coverage that came out of the launch was staggering. It even surpassed when [Sega, who Dave formerly worked for] launched the Dreamcast, if you can believe it! To a PR person, that is pretty much nirvana. Sony's greatest triumph I would view as bringing gaming to the masses and helping to make the world wake up and realize that gaming is a legitimate form of entertainment, along with movies, music and television. For too long, people who didn't play games thought they were just for 11 year old boys, when that is simply not the case. I think we helped them see the light.
Link (http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps3/games/features/112768.shtml)

[NEO-360]

The same way Moody bends you milkdrinkers out of shape.

The milkdrinkers never could handle the truth since last November.:p