561
Entertainment / "PS3 May Launch With Fewer, Less-Powerful Game Titles"
« on: May 16, 2006, 03:17:09 am »
http://tinyurl.com/mvt6e
May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 introduction in November may be hampered by fewer and less-powerful games because the company hasn't given final technical details of the new console, according to video-game publishers.
THQ Inc. decided it didn't have enough information to make a version of "The Sopranos'' for PS 3, according to Chief Executive Officer Brian Farrell. Other developers will release a first batch of games that don't use all the power of Sony's new Cell processor, Sega of America President Simon Jeffrey said.
Sony's delay in providing details and access to the new chip shortens the time that game-makers have to perfect titles before the PS3 hits store shelves. Some games will be delayed, while others won't have features that take full advantage of the machine's power. With fewer titles ready, video-game companies may make less sales during the Christmas holiday season.
"A lot of developers have not gotten the kits,'' Jeffrey said in an interview last week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "There certainly will not be a lot of titles available.''
PS3 will launch with as many as 15 titles, Kazuo Hirai, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in an interview last week. Sony is starting to give video-game companies the final prototypes and software, allowing for plenty of time to prepare games for PS3's debut, Hirai said.
"I don't think there will be too much of an issue,'' he said.
"Developing for Sony's platform is incrementally more complex than what you're looking at for Microsoft or Nintendo,'' Hickey said. "With costs that could go over $25 million a game, you're not seeing third-party content where it needs to be at this stage to have a successful launch.''
A particular concern, Jeffrey said, is that developers haven't been given Sony's new Cell processor for evaluation.
The chip will make the console about 35 times faster than the PlayStation 2 and will render details such as how a light reflects in a character's eye, or strands of hair moving after a gust of wind. PlayStation 3 also includes a high-density disk with about 10 times the storage capacity of a DVD.
Late Kits
Microsoft also was late getting the final Xbox 360 kits to developers, UbiSoft Entertainment SA Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot said in an interview. He said Montreuil-Sous-Bois, France-based UbiSoft, Europe's second-largest maker of video games, is proceeding with development for PS3.
"We won't be able to take advantage of all the components of the machine, but it was the same last year,'' Guillemot said. "It's a challenge for the publishers.''
It's easier for larger game publishers to develop titles for the new console because they can assign more people to study the prototypes and figure out how to use the capacity, said Jeff Brown, spokesman for Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts has more than 5,000 employees at its development studios. Tokyo-based Sega has about 50.
First-generation games offered for the new PlayStation won't use more than 20 percent of the Cell chip's capabilities, Kotick said. That's typical for a new platform because developers need several years to learn how to use the technology, he said.
"This is the most sophisticated piece of consumer hardware ever,'' he said.
May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3 introduction in November may be hampered by fewer and less-powerful games because the company hasn't given final technical details of the new console, according to video-game publishers.
THQ Inc. decided it didn't have enough information to make a version of "The Sopranos'' for PS 3, according to Chief Executive Officer Brian Farrell. Other developers will release a first batch of games that don't use all the power of Sony's new Cell processor, Sega of America President Simon Jeffrey said.
Sony's delay in providing details and access to the new chip shortens the time that game-makers have to perfect titles before the PS3 hits store shelves. Some games will be delayed, while others won't have features that take full advantage of the machine's power. With fewer titles ready, video-game companies may make less sales during the Christmas holiday season.
"A lot of developers have not gotten the kits,'' Jeffrey said in an interview last week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. "There certainly will not be a lot of titles available.''
PS3 will launch with as many as 15 titles, Kazuo Hirai, chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment, said in an interview last week. Sony is starting to give video-game companies the final prototypes and software, allowing for plenty of time to prepare games for PS3's debut, Hirai said.
"I don't think there will be too much of an issue,'' he said.
"Developing for Sony's platform is incrementally more complex than what you're looking at for Microsoft or Nintendo,'' Hickey said. "With costs that could go over $25 million a game, you're not seeing third-party content where it needs to be at this stage to have a successful launch.''
A particular concern, Jeffrey said, is that developers haven't been given Sony's new Cell processor for evaluation.
The chip will make the console about 35 times faster than the PlayStation 2 and will render details such as how a light reflects in a character's eye, or strands of hair moving after a gust of wind. PlayStation 3 also includes a high-density disk with about 10 times the storage capacity of a DVD.
Late Kits
Microsoft also was late getting the final Xbox 360 kits to developers, UbiSoft Entertainment SA Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot said in an interview. He said Montreuil-Sous-Bois, France-based UbiSoft, Europe's second-largest maker of video games, is proceeding with development for PS3.
"We won't be able to take advantage of all the components of the machine, but it was the same last year,'' Guillemot said. "It's a challenge for the publishers.''
It's easier for larger game publishers to develop titles for the new console because they can assign more people to study the prototypes and figure out how to use the capacity, said Jeff Brown, spokesman for Redwood City, California-based Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts has more than 5,000 employees at its development studios. Tokyo-based Sega has about 50.
First-generation games offered for the new PlayStation won't use more than 20 percent of the Cell chip's capabilities, Kotick said. That's typical for a new platform because developers need several years to learn how to use the technology, he said.
"This is the most sophisticated piece of consumer hardware ever,'' he said.