Square Enix: Current Console Generation Has Lasted "Way Too Long"

Square Enix's worldwide technology director has said that the length of the current console generation is "the biggest mistake [Sony and Microsoft] ever made".

In an interview with GamesIndustry, Julien Merceron shared his opinion that those developers who grew bored of the current generation were pushed into exploring iOS and browsers, and were now unlikely to return to hardware.

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We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven,eight, nine or even 10 years and it's the biggest mistake they've ever made.

"We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven,eight, nine or even 10 years and it's the biggest mistake they've ever made," he claimed.

"This generation has been way too long, and I say this because you have a lot of developers that work on a new platform, and perhaps will not succeed, so they will wait for the next generation, and will jump on that platform. You could not do that with this generation though. So these developers went elsewhere to see if the grass was greener. They found web browsers, they found iOS, they found other things and a lot of them won't come back to the hardware platforms. So you could look at it that thanks to Microsoft and Sony and the length of this generation, it helped the emergence of other platforms and helped them get strong before the next hardware comes out."

Merceron elaborated by suggesting that future generations could afford to be shorter, thanks to simpler hardware and increased online functionality.

He explained, "With a simple architecture you do give more chances to everybody, which I believe is very important based on the critical business situation we're in. Games will be more costly. If you start to make the entry bar really high, more studios will die, more publishers will die, there'll be less titles on platforms, etc. If you make it accessible, you give more chances to people, you'll have a better portfolio at launch , but now you also have a problem with your longevity.

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Now you don't need to manage longevity by complexity of programming, because your longevity is ensured by your online model. And I would suggest that maybe we don't want long generations.

"Now you don't need to manage longevity by complexity of programming, because your longevity is ensured by your online model. And I would suggest that maybe we don't want long generations."

The worldwide technical director concluded by discussing the company's latest tech demo, Agni's Philosophy, and asserted developers will always be plagued by the Uncanny Valley.

"As soon as we ramp up the quality on graphics, this level of quality on facial animations won't be good enough. Some games succeed to be at the limit of the Uncanny Valley, but … the problem is that as rendering quality will go up, new problems will surface. The quality of the facial and body animations and the acting won't be good enough. So that is why as you evolve, you have to upgrade your physics, rendering and animations," he stated.

"It will always be a problem. As you push something, you have to recalibrate and rebalance these out. You can't have these stunning graphics while characters are acting funny on the screen."

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Is Final Fantasy XIII-3 On The Way?

No further content will be released for Final Fantasy XIII-2, but that doesn't mean Square Enix is done with Gran Pulse and Cocoon.

In an interview with Japanese magazine Famitsu (via Andriasang), FFXIII and XIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama dropped some hints that we may soon be adventuring with Lightning once more.

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The [FFXIII-2] Lightning download content had an ending that left a feeling mystery and hope. The day when the meaning of this will come to light is not too far off.

When asked if whether Final Fantasy XIII would be a focus at the the upcoming Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary event, he replied, "The [FFXIII-2] Lightning download content had an ending that left a feeling mystery and hope. The day when the meaning of this will come to light is not too far off."

Speculation about the possibility of a third instalment in Lightning's story has been rife since Final Fantasy XIII-2 ended with the words "to be continued", but this was later suggested to refer to DLC.  Now though it seems the original idea could be closer to the mark.

Thankfully we won't have to wait too long to find out; the anniversary event mentioned by Toriyama is scheduled to take place at an art gallery in Shibuya from August 31.

Despite the exciting realms of possibility this opens up, there are some drawbacks.  Firstly, while it was never likely the team were going to start work on a Final Fantasy VII remake anytime soon, this pretty much confirms it isn't a priority.

Secondly, Toriyama had some ominous comments for anyone waiting for the HD remake of Final Fantasy X.  It seems a release date is still nowhere near being set, as he explained, "Regarding HD conversions, there is a lot to look into, so please wait a bit more."

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Curt Schilling Discusses the Demise of 38 Studios

Today, former MLB pitcher and 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling gave his first interview since the demise of his Rhode Island-based developer. The interview was given on The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show on WEEI in Boston, a program on a sports radio station that covered Schilling extensively during his days on the Boston Red Sox.

The lengthy interview was distilled by the Boston Globe-owned Boston.com, though you can listen to the extensive interview for yourself. Here’s Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

The crux of the issue, according to Schilling, was that 38 Studios was never able to raise additional venture capital. “We tried for a long time to do that and it didn’t come to fruition,” he said. The money was largely needed to continue the development of Project Copernicus, the MMORPG set to take place in the universe of Amalur. This is the same universe where Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning took place, a game released earlier this year to critical acclaim.

38 Studios, at the time of its Chapter 7 bankruptcy declaration, had outstanding debts of over $150 million, with controlled assets valued at nearly seven times less than what’s owed. The state of Rhode Island is on the hook for a majority of the money, according to Boston.com. The Boston Globe report notes that “The company reported it owed money to more than 1,000 people and companies, most of whom likely won’t recover any money.”

Notably, Schilling talked about how 38 Studios began to fall apart at a rapid pace once a $35 million deal with a still-unknown publisher fell through to allow the development of a sequel to Reckoning. When a private investor, according to Schilling, tried to give 38 Studios up to $20 million of the needed money under an agreement with Rhode Island that would restructure the outstanding loan, the deal fell through. “If that happened,” this investor “would come in and save the company,” Schilling claimed.

Schilling also talked a bit about his own financial stake in the company. The Boston Globe notes that “he personally invested more than $50 million in the company, in addition to the $5 million to $10 million from other wealthy investors and a $75 million loan guarantee it received from the state of Rhode Island to entice it to move to Providence last year.”

“I put everything in my name in this company. I believed in it. I believed in what we built. I never took a penny in salary. I never took a penny for anything,” Schilling told Dennis & Callahan. He apparently told his family that “the money I saved and earned playing baseball was probably all gone... life is going to be different.”

Colin Moriarty is an IGN PlayStation editor. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN and learn just how sad the life of a New York Islanders and New York Jets fan can be.

Source : ign[dot]com

Livingstone Claims We'll Always Want Single-Player Experiences

Eidos president Ian Livingstone has claimed that gamers will always want high-quality single-player experiences, despite the diversifying industry.

In an interview with MCV Pacific, the man behind Lara Croft said that the increased prominence of social and casual gaming doesn't necessarily threaten demand for core single-player experiences, such as the Tomb Raider reboot.

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A game like Tomb Raider has historically been a graphically intensive single player experience, and that’s not simply going to disappear overnight.

He explained, "I think people still want a single player experience. The games industry is diversifying and is making new ways of delivering, new ways of playing games. One is certainly not totally at the expense of each other, and I think games as a product and as a service can live happily alongside each other for a long time to come.

"A game like Tomb Raider has historically been a graphically intensive single player experience, and that’s not simply going to disappear overnight. What we’re seeing is an emergence and a growth in the digital area and a new consumer which has come along (the casual gamer, which has almost reached ascendancy), but niche gamers are still going to be here and want content delivered specifically for them."

Livingstone suggested that consoles will remain the natural home for that type of experience for the foreseeable future, due to the intense power needed by the dependent system to run it.  He compared this preference to choosing to watch a film at the cinema, rather than view it at a considerably lower quality on YouTube.

"Well, you’ve got to create a game that’s relevant to the platform on which it’s delivered, therefore the graphic-rich interactive experience of console Lara is inevitably going to be different to the experience that you’d expect on a mobile device" he mused.

"The important thing is that they’re all linked by the IP and type of experience you get with that IP will depend on the device."

Given the recent furore surrounding scenes from the Tomb Raider reboot, it's debatable whether the same issues could have been rendered as emotively on a handheld device.

His comments paint a contrasting picture of the diversifying industry when compared with the claim by EA's Peter Moore that the future of games lies entirely in going free-to-play, regardless of content quality.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Sony Talks About PS Vita’s Lack of E3 Presence

In a revealing interview with Develop Online, Sony Worldwide Studios’ President Shuhei Yoshida admitted that Sony may have made an error at E3 by not concentrating more on the PlayStation Vita.

When asked if he was “happy with the Vita’s first showing at E3,” Yoshida answered that he “got lots of Tweets” to his Twitter account noting that people wanted to see more Vita games. “In retrospect,” he admitted, “we should’ve spent more time showing and talking about PS Vita titles.”

He notes that there were 25 Vita games playable on the floor, and there were indeed some games to look forward to. The likes of Snapshot, Sine Mora, Sunflowers, New Little King Story and Zen Pinball 2 all looked promising. But they weren’t mentioned at the press conference due to Sony trying to keep it shorter this year, attempting to stray away from the longer press conferences Yoshida says Sony is “notorious” for doing.

Still, he admits that “from the perspective of people who are waiting for more information on Vita titles, we weren’t able to provide that.”



Source : ign[dot]com

Christopher Nolan's Catwoman Concerns

Director Christopher Nolan was initially reluctant to include Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises. So what prompted the change of heart?

In an interview with Empire (pointed out via /Film and CBM, Nolan credits his brother and TDKR co-screenwriter Jonathan "Jonah" Nolan with helping him see the value of including the feline fatale. "I was nervous about how she would fit into our world. But Jonah was very much convinced that there would be a great way to do it and eventually turned me around," said Nolan. "Once I got my head around the idea of looking at that character through the prism of our films, saying, 'Who could that person be in real-life?' we figured it out. She's a bit of a con-woman, something of a grifter. A hard-edged kind of criminal."

Jonathan Nolan added, "Chris often comes from a position of, 'Why should we do this?' You know, presumed guilty. But I said, 'What we're endeavouring to do here is tell a complete take on the Batman mythos'. And a complete take of the Batman mythos without the character for me was sacrilegious. You've gotta gave her, because she has a delicious greyness to her that helps define who Batman is. She keeps wavering on this line of, 'Is she a good guy or a bad guy?' Well, she's kind of neither. And that's why, to me, that relationship and that character only enhances the universe - and the Batman character." He also said that "Anne Hathaway threatens to steal the show."

And what about the much-hyped secret ending of The Dark Knight Rises?

David Goyer, who co-plotted the Batman trilogy with the Brothers Nolan, said the final scene of The Dark Knight Rises is "completely unchanged" from the one the filmmakers envisioned years earlier at the start of the franchise's reboot. "We both knew in our hearts that we were onto something special. I have to tell you, having finally seen everything strung together a little while ago and seeing that scene, I got a complete lump in my throat."

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/29/christopher-nolans-catwoman-concerns

Is Kingdom Hearts Coming Back to Consoles?

The next Kingdom Hearts game could finally see the series make its long-awaited return to consoles, according to a new interview.

In the new issue of Game Informer, series director Tetsuya Nomura said he felt "it's about time" that the Kingdom Hearts series had another outing on consoles.

Talking about the current direction of the series, he explained, "The PS Vita is definitely a powerful device that is very interesting, but because of its high power, there isn't much of a difference with a console. So even if we were to make a game, we would have to be very careful about how to create it for that device.

"I also feel that it's about time that Kingdom Hearts should go back to being on a console."

The last time the Disney/Square hybrid had an outing on consoles was in 2004 with Kingdom Hearts 2. It's too soon to tell whether Kingdom Hearts 3 would make it onto this generation of consoles or the next, but Nomura has some advice for anyone wanting to know more.

He said, "I'm not able to disclose any information on what's coming next or any other future plans, but you may be able to find a hint if you play through Dream Drop Distance to the very end."

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance will launch on the 3DS in Europe on July 20th.

Thanks, VH247.



Source : http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1224505p1.html