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Golf Hooters will the much anticipated Spore suffer the same fate NEW IN STORES Kratos the angriest man in video games goes on another rampage in Sony s God of War Chains of Olympus PSP . . The national pastime returns a month early in K Sports Major League Baseball K Xbox Wii PlayStation PlayStation PSP and Sony s MLB The Show PS PS PSP . . Electronic Arts invites you to battle with a buddy in Army of Two PS or earn a black belt in Ninja Reflex Wii DS . . Sega unearths Mysterious Dungeon Shiren the Wanderer DS . Printable Version Email This Article del.icio.us Digg Technorati Reddit Facebook Slashdot Fark Newsvine Google Bookmarks Comments Get The Chronicle for up to off Call girl business high pay brief career SF Gate Entertainment Horoscope Suns run Warriors into the ground Davis goes for but it x s not enough Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Layoff notices set to hit teachers x mailboxes He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Is Suburbia Turning Into Slumburbia Sheriff Recommends Charge in Toilet Case He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Call girl business high pay brief career Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Ring in spring with an adventure Threat of closing jolts fishing industry Nevius How helping the homeless can hurt them He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Court ruling limits employment drug testing Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Man accused in sex with girl taught youths BONDS BALL ON BLOCK Homer No. will be sold in online auction Golden Gate Bridge pursuing variable tolls BART revenue plan OKd Roofer denies attacking ex girlfriends Home sales prices continue slide Yahoo x s Yang packs a mean poker face From McGuire Real Estate Russian Hill BR . BA Presidio Heights Laurel Heights BR BA Sunset Golden Gate Heights BR BA Pacific Heights Japantown Nort BR BA Marina Cow Hollow BR BA Outer Richmond Seacliff and Lak BR . BA Belvedere Tiburon BR BA Russian Hill Fishermans Wharf BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Nob Hill Cathedral Hill BR BA West Portal St. Francis Wood W BR . BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Nob Hill Cathedral Hill BR BA See more from this broker About Top Homes Advertisers Return to top Home News Sports Business Entertainment Food Living Travel Blogs Classifieds Jobs Homes Cars Site Index Advertising Services Place a Classified Advertise in Print Advertise Online Media Kit Today s Print Ads Public Notices Reader Services Home Delivery Subscribers Today s Paper RSS Feeds Newsletters Join Community Feedback Buy Photos FAQ Corrections Company Info Contact Us Hearst Corp. Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions Work for Us Chronicle in Education Events Promotions Submissions Hearst Communications Inc. Be the first to share your thoughts on this story. Share your thoughts on this story. be the first to share your thoughts on this question. Sorry comments are closed for this story. The Week in Video Game News entertainment Microsoft Supply Constraints Still Hampering Xbox Sales . . Microsoft has commented on its performance in the February NPD results again claiming that a constrained supply of Xbox consoles explains the system s fall in the hardware charts but adding that the system is extending the lead it has on Sony s PS . Sony Pictures Head Landau To Form New Games Animation Studio . . Following news that Sony Online Entertainment would now be moved to the company s SCEI wing Sony has announced that its Sony Pictures digital division president Yair Landau has left the company to form a new games and animation venture. More News Search News you focus on variety you focus on innovations within the genre and I think most importantly the game has to feel coherent so it s not a blast fest with no purpose. A lot of recent first person shooters have done these things very well. We certainly plan to introduce compelling new elements with Resistance Fall of Man . Especially when it comes to the weapons which is generally what the first person shooter genre is all about. VGJ Let s start with the story line. It s one of the games that stuck out for us immediately at E . Of the games we saw Resistance was one we enjoyed playing and looking at. The story line is interesting and I think there are a lot of people who think it s a World War II shooter. But it really isn t. TP True. In this game World War II never occurs. We purposely tried to create an alternate history setting where events on earth have not happened the way we remember them from our history lessons. And because of this we ve been able to distance ourselves from the glut of World War II shooters that exist and which are continuing to come out each year. We re introducing a more twisted history one with more of a science fiction bent. We hope this appeals to folks who want more than just a retelling of known events. VGJ It seems this alternate history idea allows you to mingle classic human weapons and new weapons of the enemy. Some of them like the Bullseye seem interesting. Can you talk about the weapons what you can do with the type of weapons and not just the shooting weapons but others such as the grenades TP The Bullseye the Auger and the Hedgehog those are just three we showed at E . It s a small sample of weapons in the game but they re indicative of what we did with all the weapons create primary and alternate fire modes that do interesting and unique things. What s great about being in this alternate history world is that we don t have to constrain ourselves to real world physics or adhere to known weapon designs. We can do things like having Auger projectiles that tunnel through objects. We can have Bullseye bullets that not only bend around corners to track enemies but can be collected in traps that can be detonated when enemies approach. We have a rocket launcher where you can stop the rocket in mid air and have it hover above cover positions essentially converting the projectile into an artillery shell. And of course there are many more weapons with even cooler functions. The reason we re doing these things is to give players lots of options in terms of weapons strategy. There are many layers to these weapons and when you use them together in combat scenarios we gain the kind of gameplay variety we had in Ratchet Take Two on the PS in the last cycle. TP Yes. You re already seeing original games on PS in the very first wave. Typically what you see at launch for most platforms are sequels or ports and you don t see many original franchises. PS announced a bunch of original franchises any one of which could be a killer application that could drive consumers to the platform. VGJ With Microsoft you had two first party franchises with Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero and you had GUN from Activision. TP True. And with Perfect Dark Zero you had an established franchise. But GUN and Kameo were new. It comes down to execution. If all of us making PS titles can do a good job then certainly it will help drive the PS s success. There has not been a lot of publicity about all these titles to date so I think everyone is waiting and holding their breath to see what will happen. Industry VGJ At a foot level what are the key differences between this cycle versus the last cycle. What feels the same What feels different RETHINKING NEXT GEN ASSUMPTIONS Myth Attach Rate Will Rise June TP I think that online is going to be much more important because we re going to see a change in the way content is delivered during this console cycle. I also think the maturation of middleware will have a huge effect on development in terms on efficiencies in terms where we can save money. I think for the next few years publishers and developers will be grappling with dealing with larger budgets and the demand for more complex content within the games. How can we be efficient and keep raising the quality of games especially in the face of insatiable consumer demand for more content and more detail in the games VGJ So with that insatiable demand what is the threshold for what consumers would be willing to pay Are prices going to be sustainable TP When I was buying Atari games I paid for cartridges back then and I had no problem with it. The question is going to be Do the games warrant the money Will people look at these games and say I must have them and I m willing to pay or We ve paid before and I don t see why it can t happen again. But I m not making any predictions. VGJ So AAA or rock solid titles at but as we ve seen some of these titles have come out at with limited gameplay and it s certainly warranted. But there seems to be two tiers. TP I really can t comment on pricing since I m not a publisher. There does seem to be a lot of opportunity for many pricing levels in terms of the amount of game being delivered. For example you can get episodic content on PC for low prices. That s pretty cool. We re going to see micro transactions or relatively small pieces of games for lower prices. In fact we re already seeing this. This may create more financial opportunities for publishers and developers. I think we re all singularly focused on the retail price of big games and that is not the only area we should be focused on. VGJ Sort of a broad question but what keeps you up at night as a developer What do you think keeps the publishers up at night How about the console manufacturers TP As a developer that s an easy answer hitting deadlines and getting the game done. That s always a huge stress. Plus making sure the content we planned is what is delivered in the game adds to the anxiety. That hasn t changed. We ll have the same stresses regardless of the platform. We want to create something great and memorable. And of course we re always apprehensive about whether or not consumers will like what we ve made. We work in a vacuum so it s hard to judge how players will react until the game is released. Yes we have focus groups but it s not the same as delivering the game to millions of people. For publishers perhaps it s How is PS going to do when it comes out What s the public s reaction going to be Plus there s Where will the next great game come from Will there be another set of killer applications for this generation like the last generation During the last generation there were really two that drove console sales and which got the most attention Halo and GTA . Will we have that this time Perhaps not. Maybe we ll have a slew of great games none of which outshines each other in such an incredible way. VGJ I hear Fall of Man is in the early lead there. TP Laughter . I certainly hope so. VGJ When you talk about deadlines and getting great content the thing that could limit great content creation is game legislation or anti game legislation. You have been proactive in sharing your opinion here. You recently wrote a page amicus brief on the topic. Does all of this noise around game legislation pass with time as it did with movies music and books or is this an issue that gets worse Since Fall of Man will likely be Mature rated this is very topical for you. TP This legislation directly affects us and every developer in the industry. Most legislation proposed has ambiguous definitions for what is violence in games. The legislation that most of the states have proposed or have passed ignores the video game industry rating system which has been well thought out and consistently applied across games for over ten years. As a content creator it s very difficult to imagine what would happen if those laws stood because we re dealing with ambiguous and arbitrary definitions of violence in games and we have to figure out how to make content that doesn t trigger those laws. This can be impossible to do when the vague definitions for restricted content can be interpreted in multiple ways and when each state takes a different approach. Furthermore as a consumer and a parent I worry this is the government attempting to tell us what our kids can and can t do. I prefer to take responsibility as a parent for what movies my kids watch what TV programs my kids watch and what games my kids play. I don t want the government telling me I m prohibited from doing something especially when it comes to the artistic content my family and I enjoy. Finally as everyone understands within our industry these laws tend to create a double standard for games. Despite the fact that the content we create is as artistically relevant and varied as fi lm and television we re not being afforded the same constitutional protection. Under much of the legislation that has passed or is being considered games are treated similarly to controlled substances like alcohol drugs and tobacco. As a content creator I believe that s inappropriate. VGJ Do these state laws get systematically overturned one by one or does something have to bend here TP I think the industry has had an extremely good record in combating these laws. So what happens next I hope eventually everyone comes to their senses and realizes that games are an artistic medium and should be afforded the same protection under the U.S. constitution as other artistic works. VGJ Turning to something you mentioned earlier how much longer or how much time does it take to make this next generation game Fall of Man versus let s say a game that you made for the PS or PlayStation TP I d say that s hard to quantify because whenever we embark on an original title the first game in a franchise generally takes longer than the sequels. The first Ratchet we were in development for at least two years. We ve been in development for many months on Resistance Fall of Man . So despite it being a larger piece of content with a lot more going on graphically there are elements of middleware and tools that enable you to keep the development time reasonable. TP Well we create a lot of proprietary tools at Insomniac. And when I say tools I mean the tools our artists use to put together the worlds and to create the behaviors of the enemies. But we also use commercial tools like Maya Zbrush and Photoshop. We also use plug ins like SpeedTree and we use Anark for our HUD Head Up Display . Those are the kind of things we have been using for a while now and that really hasn t changed too much. That said there are plenty of opportunities to be more efficient by using middleware and we re keeping our eyes open. Miscellaneous VGJ One of the things you point to is development budgets are larger and publishers and developers have a certain relationship. Insomniac has sold almost million units of seven games so you guys have been very successful. Not every developer will be nearly as successful. What s the dynamic that you guys see between developers and publishers and from your experience has that changed much given the rising cost of game development TP It seems like everybody developers and publishers are aware of the increased risks associated with larger budgets. So not having negotiated a new contract with another publisher for a while I m not sure how other publishers actually approach new concepts these days. I will say that Sony has always been extremely positive about taking risks with new content and that s one of the reasons we work with them. Sony has been adamant about supporting original franchises and that dovetails perfectly with our philosophy of creating all of our content in house. That s one of the reasons our relationship with Sony has been so strong for ten years. Our interests have been perfectly aligned. That may not be the case for all publishers and developers who work together. I think we re very fortunate to be in that position. VGJ Given the ballooning budgets for at least the next couple of years do you think first party guys like Sony will have to be more selective in the developers they re committing capital to TP Sure. VGJ You guys are in an enviable position there. We ve also seen a lot of private equity and venture capital coming into the marketplace with Bioware Pandemic and others recently. What s your sense for what s going on in the way developers have attracted capital Is that something we re going to see more of as a trend in the industry TP I think it s actually a good way for the industry to continue to branch out and provide more opportunities for the content producers whether it involves venture capital a structure like the Bioware Pandemic deal or whether it s more non traditional developer publisher arrangements. I think our industry is still in its infancy in some ways we re still the Wild West. We re all still experimenting with different types of relationships and that s fueled by the platform changes. Every time we have a rollover to a different platform the rules change again. And so everybody scrambles and tries to come up with a new way of making things work for both sides and that s what in my opinion keeps the industry interesting and constantly evolving. VGJ A lot people look at the next gen cycle and say it costs so much that the publishers given their financial position have all the power. And then you see venture capitalists and private equity money coming in and saying you can be free of the publishers chains. Do you think in the next fi ve years the publishers have much more power or do you see things like with Bioware and also your independent relationships actually having an opposite balancing effect on publishers TP I think what s going to have the most effect is the shrinking pool of independent developers. There really aren t that many left at least that s the way it seems. Many of the seasoned development teams have been bought by publishers and no longer have the choices to experiment with other types of deals. So maybe in some respects this is a good thing for the remaining independent developers because they become more hotly pursued and have more options. VGJ Ted this is one of those opinion questions clearly but of the Big Four publishers Electronic Arts Activision THQ and Take Two what franchises do you respect most And which franchises of the Big Four are most overrated Group Laughter . TP I can t answer that one I ll get hate mail. But let s see let me think about the first question. I ve always respected the Nintendo franchises. It s what I grew up on. Metroid Zelda those are the kind of games that I think got our generation playing and taught most of us here at Insomniac about great game design. VGJ Did we see you crying at Nintendo . . . when they announced the new Zelda game The Smart Guide to E Focusing on the Right Issues and Questions May TP Laughter . No. Group Laughter TP No but I m looking forward to seeing more of it. The Zelda franchise is one I think has always been truly innovative. What s cool is that each Zelda plays on our sense of nostalgia since it s been around forever but still introduces new content that pushes the industry forward. VGJ Turning to movies and games you may have read two of our issues where we looked at Movies and Games Movies and Games Joined at the Hip November Straight to Video Games and Movies May . You see a lot of big publishers licensing movies and launching video games in concert with the theatrical release. If you had to pick one movie you could adapt into a game which one would it be It could have already been done or it could be coming out. What would you pick if someone came to you and said Ok you get your shot at doing a movie based video game. TP None. Emphatically VGJ Laughter VGJ more laughter TP No I m serious about that. I think this is the wrong approach for the video game industry and I think that we should be making sure that our content goes the other way. There s so much great content in video games today that it s a crying shame that movie makers and writers and directors aren t making more good movies from our content. VGJ So the other way around. Excluding pause yes interesting. Excluding BloodRayne and Doom right the movies We would say Uwe Boll but we re going to have to strike that out too. Group Laughter VGJ Game ratings and the critics who formulate those game ratings how much do you focus on or worry about game ratings and critics during game development Debunking the Game Rating Myth Do Game Ratings Matter December TP We spend a lot of time reading what people on the Web have to say critics and players alike. It s hard to use Resistance because it s such a small group of people who have played the game. A better example would be our Ratchet games for example when Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked had their public betas. We spent a lot of time evaluating feedback from hardcore gamers that were playing and their comments allowed us to make the games better. Of course after the games come out we certainly read the reviews and the forums very closely to see where we were right and where we were wrong. And then we try to correct any mistakes we made as we begin on the next game. Hypothetically Speaking VGJ We re going to do a little hypothetically speaking. So hypothetically speaking Ted if you were the CEO of a large publisher e.g. Electronic Arts and you could see their state of affairs what would you do differently You obviously already said licensing content is something you would not focus on. TP Well I didn t say that I was speaking from a publisher s perspective. VGJ From a developer s perspective TP That was from my perspective. Because as a content creator the last thing we want to do is work on somebody else s content. From a publisher s perspective it seems to be a good idea. VGJ Are the movie based games normally so bad because the publishers spend so much on licenses then they go out and fi nd at the lowest cost studio that will do the game TP That could be. It s hard to say because we ve never looked at doing one. VGJ Laughter . But hypothetically if you were the CEO of a large publisher which you re not you re obviously the CEO of a development studio but if you were the CEO of a large publisher any thoughts about what you would do differently TP That s a tough one because I don t know what the day to day stress is and what the demands could be I could only guess. My answer will be influenced by my experience as a developer. Anyway my answer is Find more original content. Look for developers that break the rules and try to do something innovative because that s what really expands the industry and continues to keep our industry evolving. Then again as a publisher it s a huge risk. VGJ Hypothetically speaking if you were an industry analyst what would you say is the best thing about the Xbox and you can t say Xbox Live because that s easy the PS and you can t say the hardware engine and the Wii and you can t say the controller Group Laughter VGJ The obvious things were thrown out the window. TP Oh great. Is that actually going to be qualified somehow VGJ Yes yes we will. It will say in parentheses it will have that. TP Laughter . OK I m not sure if I can come up with a good answer because those really are the ones I would . VGJ Laughter TP Xbox the fact that it got a jump on the other two platforms is a very good thing for Microsoft. For PS I d say VGJ Fall of Man launch title TP Yeah I d say that s getting pretty specific but it s a good answer. I like that. Resistance Fall of Man . A big line up of original IP at launch is something we haven t seen before with previous platforms. The other thing is Blu ray. The fact that we ll eventually be able to unlock more layers for up to GBs of storage is pretty impressive. The Wii well if I can t talk about the controller I d say the presence of franchises that have had such great track records. The traditional Nintendo franchises in a new form should make gamers very happy. VGJ Well we saved the toughest one for last but those are great answers. Ted this has been great and we really appreciate your time. TP Thank you guys. Thanks again to Susquehanna Financial Group analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak for their work reprinted here. POSTED . AM PST Jason Dobson LINK Comments Login to Comment Related news Insomniac s Price Speaks Out Against Louisiana Game Law Insomniac Named Among Best Places To Work . . Next News Story View All. join contact us advertise write my profile news features contract work jobs resumes education product guide store Copyright CMP Media LLC privacy policy terms of service
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Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:52:37 +0000
Golf Hooters will the much anticipated Spore suffer the same fate NEW IN STORES Kratos the angriest man in video games goes on another rampage in Sony s God of War Chains of Olympus PSP . . The national pastime returns a month early in K Sports Major League Baseball K Xbox Wii PlayStation PlayStation PSP and Sony s MLB The Show PS PS PSP . . Electronic Arts invites you to battle with a buddy in Army of Two PS or earn a black belt in Ninja Reflex Wii DS . . Sega unearths Mysterious Dungeon Shiren the Wanderer DS . Printable Version Email This Article del.icio.us Digg Technorati Reddit Facebook Slashdot Fark Newsvine Google Bookmarks Comments Get The Chronicle for up to off Call girl business high pay brief career SF Gate Entertainment Horoscope Suns run Warriors into the ground Davis goes for but it x s not enough Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Layoff notices set to hit teachers x mailboxes He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Is Suburbia Turning Into Slumburbia Sheriff Recommends Charge in Toilet Case He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Call girl business high pay brief career Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Ring in spring with an adventure Threat of closing jolts fishing industry Nevius How helping the homeless can hurt them He bit into some Nigerian spam to fight it Court ruling limits employment drug testing Housekeeper sues Atherton couple Man accused in sex with girl taught youths BONDS BALL ON BLOCK Homer No. will be sold in online auction Golden Gate Bridge pursuing variable tolls BART revenue plan OKd Roofer denies attacking ex girlfriends Home sales prices continue slide Yahoo x s Yang packs a mean poker face From McGuire Real Estate Russian Hill BR . BA Presidio Heights Laurel Heights BR BA Sunset Golden Gate Heights BR BA Pacific Heights Japantown Nort BR BA Marina Cow Hollow BR BA Outer Richmond Seacliff and Lak BR . BA Belvedere Tiburon BR BA Russian Hill Fishermans Wharf BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Nob Hill Cathedral Hill BR BA West Portal St. Francis Wood W BR . BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Twin Peaks Diamond Heights Noe BR BA Nob Hill Cathedral Hill BR BA See more from this broker About Top Homes Advertisers Return to top Home News Sports Business Entertainment Food Living Travel Blogs Classifieds Jobs Homes Cars Site Index Advertising Services Place a Classified Advertise in Print Advertise Online Media Kit Today s Print Ads Public Notices Reader Services Home Delivery Subscribers Today s Paper RSS Feeds Newsletters Join Community Feedback Buy Photos FAQ Corrections Company Info Contact Us Hearst Corp. Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions Work for Us Chronicle in Education Events Promotions Submissions Hearst Communications Inc. Be the first to share your thoughts on this story. Share your thoughts on this story. be the first to share your thoughts on this question. Sorry comments are closed for this story. The Week in Video Game News entertainment Microsoft Supply Constraints Still Hampering Xbox Sales . . Microsoft has commented on its performance in the February NPD results again claiming that a constrained supply of Xbox consoles explains the system s fall in the hardware charts but adding that the system is extending the lead it has on Sony s PS . Sony Pictures Head Landau To Form New Games Animation Studio . . Following news that Sony Online Entertainment would now be moved to the company s SCEI wing Sony has announced that its Sony Pictures digital division president Yair Landau has left the company to form a new games and animation venture. More News Search News you focus on variety you focus on innovations within the genre and I think most importantly the game has to feel coherent so it s not a blast fest with no purpose. A lot of recent first person shooters have done these things very well. We certainly plan to introduce compelling new elements with Resistance Fall of Man . Especially when it comes to the weapons which is generally what the first person shooter genre is all about. VGJ Let s start with the story line. It s one of the games that stuck out for us immediately at E . Of the games we saw Resistance was one we enjoyed playing and looking at. The story line is interesting and I think there are a lot of people who think it s a World War II shooter. But it really isn t. TP True. In this game World War II never occurs. We purposely tried to create an alternate history setting where events on earth have not happened the way we remember them from our history lessons. And because of this we ve been able to distance ourselves from the glut of World War II shooters that exist and which are continuing to come out each year. We re introducing a more twisted history one with more of a science fiction bent. We hope this appeals to folks who want more than just a retelling of known events. VGJ It seems this alternate history idea allows you to mingle classic human weapons and new weapons of the enemy. Some of them like the Bullseye seem interesting. Can you talk about the weapons what you can do with the type of weapons and not just the shooting weapons but others such as the grenades TP The Bullseye the Auger and the Hedgehog those are just three we showed at E . It s a small sample of weapons in the game but they re indicative of what we did with all the weapons create primary and alternate fire modes that do interesting and unique things. What s great about being in this alternate history world is that we don t have to constrain ourselves to real world physics or adhere to known weapon designs. We can do things like having Auger projectiles that tunnel through objects. We can have Bullseye bullets that not only bend around corners to track enemies but can be collected in traps that can be detonated when enemies approach. We have a rocket launcher where you can stop the rocket in mid air and have it hover above cover positions essentially converting the projectile into an artillery shell. And of course there are many more weapons with even cooler functions. The reason we re doing these things is to give players lots of options in terms of weapons strategy. There are many layers to these weapons and when you use them together in combat scenarios we gain the kind of gameplay variety we had in Ratchet Take Two on the PS in the last cycle. TP Yes. You re already seeing original games on PS in the very first wave. Typically what you see at launch for most platforms are sequels or ports and you don t see many original franchises. PS announced a bunch of original franchises any one of which could be a killer application that could drive consumers to the platform. VGJ With Microsoft you had two first party franchises with Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero and you had GUN from Activision. TP True. And with Perfect Dark Zero you had an established franchise. But GUN and Kameo were new. It comes down to execution. If all of us making PS titles can do a good job then certainly it will help drive the PS s success. There has not been a lot of publicity about all these titles to date so I think everyone is waiting and holding their breath to see what will happen. Industry VGJ At a foot level what are the key differences between this cycle versus the last cycle. What feels the same What feels different RETHINKING NEXT GEN ASSUMPTIONS Myth Attach Rate Will Rise June TP I think that online is going to be much more important because we re going to see a change in the way content is delivered during this console cycle. I also think the maturation of middleware will have a huge effect on development in terms on efficiencies in terms where we can save money. I think for the next few years publishers and developers will be grappling with dealing with larger budgets and the demand for more complex content within the games. How can we be efficient and keep raising the quality of games especially in the face of insatiable consumer demand for more content and more detail in the games VGJ So with that insatiable demand what is the threshold for what consumers would be willing to pay Are prices going to be sustainable TP When I was buying Atari games I paid for cartridges back then and I had no problem with it. The question is going to be Do the games warrant the money Will people look at these games and say I must have them and I m willing to pay or We ve paid before and I don t see why it can t happen again. But I m not making any predictions. VGJ So AAA or rock solid titles at but as we ve seen some of these titles have come out at with limited gameplay and it s certainly warranted. But there seems to be two tiers. TP I really can t comment on pricing since I m not a publisher. There does seem to be a lot of opportunity for many pricing levels in terms of the amount of game being delivered. For example you can get episodic content on PC for low prices. That s pretty cool. We re going to see micro transactions or relatively small pieces of games for lower prices. In fact we re already seeing this. This may create more financial opportunities for publishers and developers. I think we re all singularly focused on the retail price of big games and that is not the only area we should be focused on. VGJ Sort of a broad question but what keeps you up at night as a developer What do you think keeps the publishers up at night How about the console manufacturers TP As a developer that s an easy answer hitting deadlines and getting the game done. That s always a huge stress. Plus making sure the content we planned is what is delivered in the game adds to the anxiety. That hasn t changed. We ll have the same stresses regardless of the platform. We want to create something great and memorable. And of course we re always apprehensive about whether or not consumers will like what we ve made. We work in a vacuum so it s hard to judge how players will react until the game is released. Yes we have focus groups but it s not the same as delivering the game to millions of people. For publishers perhaps it s How is PS going to do when it comes out What s the public s reaction going to be Plus there s Where will the next great game come from Will there be another set of killer applications for this generation like the last generation During the last generation there were really two that drove console sales and which got the most attention Halo and GTA . Will we have that this time Perhaps not. Maybe we ll have a slew of great games none of which outshines each other in such an incredible way. VGJ I hear Fall of Man is in the early lead there. TP Laughter . I certainly hope so. VGJ When you talk about deadlines and getting great content the thing that could limit great content creation is game legislation or anti game legislation. You have been proactive in sharing your opinion here. You recently wrote a page amicus brief on the topic. Does all of this noise around game legislation pass with time as it did with movies music and books or is this an issue that gets worse Since Fall of Man will likely be Mature rated this is very topical for you. TP This legislation directly affects us and every developer in the industry. Most legislation proposed has ambiguous definitions for what is violence in games. The legislation that most of the states have proposed or have passed ignores the video game industry rating system which has been well thought out and consistently applied across games for over ten years. As a content creator it s very difficult to imagine what would happen if those laws stood because we re dealing with ambiguous and arbitrary definitions of violence in games and we have to figure out how to make content that doesn t trigger those laws. This can be impossible to do when the vague definitions for restricted content can be interpreted in multiple ways and when each state takes a different approach. Furthermore as a consumer and a parent I worry this is the government attempting to tell us what our kids can and can t do. I prefer to take responsibility as a parent for what movies my kids watch what TV programs my kids watch and what games my kids play. I don t want the government telling me I m prohibited from doing something especially when it comes to the artistic content my family and I enjoy. Finally as everyone understands within our industry these laws tend to create a double standard for games. Despite the fact that the content we create is as artistically relevant and varied as fi lm and television we re not being afforded the same constitutional protection. Under much of the legislation that has passed or is being considered games are treated similarly to controlled substances like alcohol drugs and tobacco. As a content creator I believe that s inappropriate. VGJ Do these state laws get systematically overturned one by one or does something have to bend here TP I think the industry has had an extremely good record in combating these laws. So what happens next I hope eventually everyone comes to their senses and realizes that games are an artistic medium and should be afforded the same protection under the U.S. constitution as other artistic works. VGJ Turning to something you mentioned earlier how much longer or how much time does it take to make this next generation game Fall of Man versus let s say a game that you made for the PS or PlayStation TP I d say that s hard to quantify because whenever we embark on an original title the first game in a franchise generally takes longer than the sequels. The first Ratchet we were in development for at least two years. We ve been in development for many months on Resistance Fall of Man . So despite it being a larger piece of content with a lot more going on graphically there are elements of middleware and tools that enable you to keep the development time reasonable. TP Well we create a lot of proprietary tools at Insomniac. And when I say tools I mean the tools our artists use to put together the worlds and to create the behaviors of the enemies. But we also use commercial tools like Maya Zbrush and Photoshop. We also use plug ins like SpeedTree and we use Anark for our HUD Head Up Display . Those are the kind of things we have been using for a while now and that really hasn t changed too much. That said there are plenty of opportunities to be more efficient by using middleware and we re keeping our eyes open. Miscellaneous VGJ One of the things you point to is development budgets are larger and publishers and developers have a certain relationship. Insomniac has sold almost million units of seven games so you guys have been very successful. Not every developer will be nearly as successful. What s the dynamic that you guys see between developers and publishers and from your experience has that changed much given the rising cost of game development TP It seems like everybody developers and publishers are aware of the increased risks associated with larger budgets. So not having negotiated a new contract with another publisher for a while I m not sure how other publishers actually approach new concepts these days. I will say that Sony has always been extremely positive about taking risks with new content and that s one of the reasons we work with them. Sony has been adamant about supporting original franchises and that dovetails perfectly with our philosophy of creating all of our content in house. That s one of the reasons our relationship with Sony has been so strong for ten years. Our interests have been perfectly aligned. That may not be the case for all publishers and developers who work together. I think we re very fortunate to be in that position. VGJ Given the ballooning budgets for at least the next couple of years do you think first party guys like Sony will have to be more selective in the developers they re committing capital to TP Sure. VGJ You guys are in an enviable position there. We ve also seen a lot of private equity and venture capital coming into the marketplace with Bioware Pandemic and others recently. What s your sense for what s going on in the way developers have attracted capital Is that something we re going to see more of as a trend in the industry TP I think it s actually a good way for the industry to continue to branch out and provide more opportunities for the content producers whether it involves venture capital a structure like the Bioware Pandemic deal or whether it s more non traditional developer publisher arrangements. I think our industry is still in its infancy in some ways we re still the Wild West. We re all still experimenting with different types of relationships and that s fueled by the platform changes. Every time we have a rollover to a different platform the rules change again. And so everybody scrambles and tries to come up with a new way of making things work for both sides and that s what in my opinion keeps the industry interesting and constantly evolving. VGJ A lot people look at the next gen cycle and say it costs so much that the publishers given their financial position have all the power. And then you see venture capitalists and private equity money coming in and saying you can be free of the publishers chains. Do you think in the next fi ve years the publishers have much more power or do you see things like with Bioware and also your independent relationships actually having an opposite balancing effect on publishers TP I think what s going to have the most effect is the shrinking pool of independent developers. There really aren t that many left at least that s the way it seems. Many of the seasoned development teams have been bought by publishers and no longer have the choices to experiment with other types of deals. So maybe in some respects this is a good thing for the remaining independent developers because they become more hotly pursued and have more options. VGJ Ted this is one of those opinion questions clearly but of the Big Four publishers Electronic Arts Activision THQ and Take Two what franchises do you respect most And which franchises of the Big Four are most overrated Group Laughter . TP I can t answer that one I ll get hate mail. But let s see let me think about the first question. I ve always respected the Nintendo franchises. It s what I grew up on. Metroid Zelda those are the kind of games that I think got our generation playing and taught most of us here at Insomniac about great game design. VGJ Did we see you crying at Nintendo . . . when they announced the new Zelda game The Smart Guide to E Focusing on the Right Issues and Questions May TP Laughter . No. Group Laughter TP No but I m looking forward to seeing more of it. The Zelda franchise is one I think has always been truly innovative. What s cool is that each Zelda plays on our sense of nostalgia since it s been around forever but still introduces new content that pushes the industry forward. VGJ Turning to movies and games you may have read two of our issues where we looked at Movies and Games Movies and Games Joined at the Hip November Straight to Video Games and Movies May . You see a lot of big publishers licensing movies and launching video games in concert with the theatrical release. If you had to pick one movie you could adapt into a game which one would it be It could have already been done or it could be coming out. What would you pick if someone came to you and said Ok you get your shot at doing a movie based video game. TP None. Emphatically VGJ Laughter VGJ more laughter TP No I m serious about that. I think this is the wrong approach for the video game industry and I think that we should be making sure that our content goes the other way. There s so much great content in video games today that it s a crying shame that movie makers and writers and directors aren t making more good movies from our content. VGJ So the other way around. Excluding pause yes interesting. Excluding BloodRayne and Doom right the movies We would say Uwe Boll but we re going to have to strike that out too. Group Laughter VGJ Game ratings and the critics who formulate those game ratings how much do you focus on or worry about game ratings and critics during game development Debunking the Game Rating Myth Do Game Ratings Matter December TP We spend a lot of time reading what people on the Web have to say critics and players alike. It s hard to use Resistance because it s such a small group of people who have played the game. A better example would be our Ratchet games for example when Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked had their public betas. We spent a lot of time evaluating feedback from hardcore gamers that were playing and their comments allowed us to make the games better. Of course after the games come out we certainly read the reviews and the forums very closely to see where we were right and where we were wrong. And then we try to correct any mistakes we made as we begin on the next game. Hypothetically Speaking VGJ We re going to do a little hypothetically speaking. So hypothetically speaking Ted if you were the CEO of a large publisher e.g. Electronic Arts and you could see their state of affairs what would you do differently You obviously already said licensing content is something you would not focus on. TP Well I didn t say that I was speaking from a publisher s perspective. VGJ From a developer s perspective TP That was from my perspective. Because as a content creator the last thing we want to do is work on somebody else s content. From a publisher s perspective it seems to be a good idea. VGJ Are the movie based games normally so bad because the publishers spend so much on licenses then they go out and fi nd at the lowest cost studio that will do the game TP That could be. It s hard to say because we ve never looked at doing one. VGJ Laughter . But hypothetically if you were the CEO of a large publisher which you re not you re obviously the CEO of a development studio but if you were the CEO of a large publisher any thoughts about what you would do differently TP That s a tough one because I don t know what the day to day stress is and what the demands could be I could only guess. My answer will be influenced by my experience as a developer. Anyway my answer is Find more original content. Look for developers that break the rules and try to do something innovative because that s what really expands the industry and continues to keep our industry evolving. Then again as a publisher it s a huge risk. VGJ Hypothetically speaking if you were an industry analyst what would you say is the best thing about the Xbox and you can t say Xbox Live because that s easy the PS and you can t say the hardware engine and the Wii and you can t say the controller Group Laughter VGJ The obvious things were thrown out the window. TP Oh great. Is that actually going to be qualified somehow VGJ Yes yes we will. It will say in parentheses it will have that. TP Laughter . OK I m not sure if I can come up with a good answer because those really are the ones I would . VGJ Laughter TP Xbox the fact that it got a jump on the other two platforms is a very good thing for Microsoft. For PS I d say VGJ Fall of Man launch title TP Yeah I d say that s getting pretty specific but it s a good answer. I like that. Resistance Fall of Man . A big line up of original IP at launch is something we haven t seen before with previous platforms. The other thing is Blu ray. The fact that we ll eventually be able to unlock more layers for up to GBs of storage is pretty impressive. The Wii well if I can t talk about the controller I d say the presence of franchises that have had such great track records. The traditional Nintendo franchises in a new form should make gamers very happy. VGJ Well we saved the toughest one for last but those are great answers. Ted this has been great and we really appreciate your time. TP Thank you guys. Thanks again to Susquehanna Financial Group analysts Jason Kraft and Chris Kwak for their work reprinted here. POSTED . AM PST Jason Dobson LINK Comments Login to Comment Related news Insomniac s Price Speaks Out Against Louisiana Game Law Insomniac Named Among Best Places To Work . . Next News Story View All. join contact us advertise write my profile news features contract work jobs resumes education product guide store Copyright CMP Media LLC privacy policy terms of service
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