Ubisoft executive slams Sony's next-gen efforts

[Zeus]

Ubisoft's Montreal's creative director has reportedly been snapped up saying that Sony is just adopting a 'me too' by just duplicating ideas from all their rivals. He slams their mimicry of an Xbox Live type service as well as fully believing they copied the motion sensor concept from Nintendo.


According to Nindojo.com, Clint Hocking criticised Sony's mimicry of Microsoft's Xbox Live service during an E3 workshop on next-gen game design, before criticising the introduction of a motion-sensor device in the PS3 controller - an idea which he believes has been borrowed from Nintendo. "How much more "me too" can Sony be?" Hocking said.

He also criticised the industry's drive to significantly boost videogame visuals with each new generation of hardware, arguing that the focus on graphics is a "fundamental problem of approach" that turns game developers into factory workers.

Hocking claims that being forced to spend valuable development time on textures and art shading is detrimental to the creation of entertaining videogames and something that in most cases (referring to the current low adoption of HD televisions) consumers won't even be able to appreciate.

Hocking was full of praise for Nintendo's effort, however, commending the new Wii motion-sensing controller which he believes can offer new inspiration for developers and create emotional experiences more powerfully than enhanced graphics.


News Source: <a href="http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=16847" target="_blank">Gamesindustry.biz</a>

[thePANICHIOteam]

Ubisoft cant be planning on making too many games for the ps3. Maybe his opinion is a little biased as ubisoft have many games they will be releasing for Wii, like the exclusive red steel.

[SLAYERPSP]

i guess he is right im a little happier about the wii becuse at least its in 480p and if devolpers want games to run in 1080i on the wii it can be done like gt4 on the ps2 it just has to be done with software.id have to say red steel looks to be a fun game on the wii. i am one who loves graphics though i just love how good graw looks and plays on the 360 as long as the wii games look as good as say the far cry games on the xbox it will be all good i have to say zelda looked pretty good to me

[c4dm4n]

I'm a graphics freak to.. so it does affect the game selection. He seems a little bias to complain about sony , but let's face it.. Sony HAS push this industry to places we never imagine (of course Nintendo too). We may hear a lot of complains, in the end Sony will sell those 6 millions in a blink... I always though PS3 was a wonderfull system.. much better than XBOX360 .. still I bought my 360 and Oblivion is an impressive game. So as a gamer all this systems... it just can't get better than this!!!! bring them ON!!!!:)

[The5Venomz]

Sounds like some Nintendo spin going on...

[Sepioth]

I fall on the other side of the fence here .. I'm not one to particullarly care about graphics as much as originallity, gameplay, and depth.

As much as graphics can make a game good ... being immersive and fun makes it even better. I use Oblivion as an example of this. Granted the graphics are phenominal (I have the PC version) but the game just felt too "hollow" for me. The outside world was huge and full of trees and grass (Lots of wasted space and nothing much to look at on the way). WAY to many games do nothing but shout out loud how great their graphics are but when you actually play it the game is usually just OK. There is no longer originallity in games anymore. All they do now is rehash game after game after game. And this will happen on all the next-gen systems as well. I just can not wait for the next Sonic or Mario game (woohoo).

Unfortunatally another factor for me is price .. I just can not see spending 500 dollars for a PS3 (as pretty as the graphics are im not interested in another remake of a MGS game, same reason I don't own a PSP and DS same game different system) ... Unfortunatally I believe the consumer is getting f--cked with the PS3. Instead of keeping costs down by using a more mainstream form of media they are using the PS3 as a trojan horse to wedge themselves into the HDDVD market with Blu-Ray and hiking up the cost of the system. Making the consumer pay to get these drives into homes so the can out do HD-DVD is, to me, not very consumer friendly. Looking at the cost of stand alone HDDVD players Sony could have keep the cost prolly around a more reasonable 300-400 price without the Blu-Ray. I think Sony has basically lost their minds.

I think Nintendo really hit the nail on the head (except for the name Wii) with this system Decent graphics and the hope of originallity. Also adding support for Every Nintendo Console (via downloads of course) as well as The best of Sega Genesis and the Turbo Grafix 16 is just a well thought out idea. Older console emulation on newer consoles has been around for a while. So why wait for the emulator (and usually mod chip) when Nintendo has done it for you. The more i read about the Wii the more I want it and the more I see Sony "steal" everyone ideas the more I laugh and the less I want it. Not only did they use one idea but they used many ideas from Nintendo and MS. Usually you take anothers idea and inprove upon it. Take the dual-shock dual analog controller for example yeah Nintendo did that but sony made it better. Now Sony seems to be taking all htese ideas and cramming them into the PS3 with out any improvements or originallity. Instead they just seem to be making it worse.

Just my $1.02 worth of thought.

[AceMilo]

Sepioth I cannot agree more. Sony figured out that they waited too long to launch the ps3 so they decided to cram every bit of technology they could without giving a second thought to games. It is VERY reminisant of the psp, where they tried to put everything they could into a tiny machine, but it does nothing well. It was supposed to be a gaming machine but has terrible games, and everything else it does it does it mediocre. This is what's going to happen with the ps3. They are getting it so wrapped up in the blu ray player that they are giong to put games on the back burner and the consumer will suffer. It looks like if you want online and next gen graphics you should go with 360 and for original gameplay the Wii is the way to go. Coincidentally you can buy both of those for the same price as a ps3 without being forced into buying technology you will never use nor want.

[attachment]

I see, so he would support Sony more if Sony just come out with a console with crappy graphics, no online service, and the same old controller?

[WickedSkin]

Wii will kick ass.

[Sepioth]

I see, so he would support Sony more if Sony just come out with a console with crappy graphics, no online service, and the same old controller?


If by "he" you mean me ...

I said nothing about online support or same old controller ... and for graphics for me they come second over gameplay. Games are meant to be played and fun .. not to watch long boring CGI's movies and look pretty...

I can not remember the last time a game has held my long term interest like the games from when I grew up. Sitting in front of the TV playing mario and zelda, sonic etc ... etc. I want to play my games not watch them. And with the costs in gaming sky rocketing ... systems cost more .. games are now 60$ ... video cards and CPU's get faster and costlier.. I want more bang for my buck. To me it just looks like Nintendo sees it the same way I do.

My biggest gripe about the PS3 is being forced to be the guinea pig for Sony and there beloved Blu-Ray HD-DVD player. They should have just done some more copy-cat tactics and followed MS and release the Blu-Ray as a addon drive. That way they could have been more price competitive ... What happens if Blu-Ray looses the HDDVD war .. now you have a $600 PS3 with a drive thats useless for nothing more than games (and the few movies that where released on that format. The only thing that those Blu-Ray discs would be used for would be storage space ... and lets face it that will never be needed. Current PS2 games barely use the 4.7 gb on a standard DVD (DVD9 discs are barely used). So I hardly doubt that the full storage capacity of Blu-Ray will ever really be needed for gaming.

I want my game console to be just that ... a GAME console .. not an jack-of-all trades .. I don't need all those bells and whistles to enjoy gaming.