Phil Harrison has signalled Sony's intention to make user-created content a significant aspect of the PlayStation 3 platform - and he's not just talking about wacky avatars.
"I have to be really careful not to give the game away because we're keeping this secret," he told the UK's official PlayStation mag, "but don't think about it in terms of maps, think of it in terms of behaviours, environments, physics, rules... all the tools that you could want, but in a very consumer friendly way."
Pointing to Second Life as "a very, very powerful metaphor for where we're going," Harrison went on to say that users would be able to use a USB mouse to find "a deeper level of finesse, that you could get in terms of pixel manipulation and paint programs or fine tuning things". (The PS3 also supports USB keyboard input throughout.)
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"We've got two things in development," he specified. "One in this building and one with an external developer that, [and] when we do share them with you, I think you're going to go 'Ah now I know what he was talking about.'"
News that Sony is considering how to make use of content creation facilities is likely to draw comparison to Microsoft's XNA Studio Express suite, which has been up and running in beta for a bit, and will soon allow users to make their own playable Xbox 360 games using simple tools - albeit for the cost of a subscription fee.
Elsewhere in today's latest excerpt from Harrison, the Sony man talks about old-days PS3 prototypes, whether there are any Easter eggs in the Cross Media Bar ("There are some secrets"), and how Afrika is a sort of metaphor for his wanting to be a striker for Liverpool (good man).
That illustrious Sony press event on February 20th is just one week away, and with the PS4 reveal entirely possible (in a huge venue nonetheless), we wanted to end our three weeks of PS4 questions on the games. So, the PlayStation LifeStyle staff was asked:
Which Launch Title Would Make You Buy a PS4?
-PSLS
Uncharted 4 (Got Vita day 1 because of Golden Abyss)
Gran Turismo 6
Killzone 4
The Getaway... would be epic, think Sony cancelled that because the PS3 couldn't handle a fully mapped City of London with HD visuals.
Idk uncharted 4 will be like a bonus..
for me it will be more like the PS4! And the new technology ..
good games will come out eventually ..
But if it launch with
Killzone or a new GG IP, or MS4, TLOU I will make lines a day before!! Or will find a way to get it earlier from the "black market"
it doesn't matter to me because it is a day one purchase regardless of the games...This is the same with the new Xbox also...
Are we sure there will be one? I mean, look at the history of Naughty Dog. Crash 1-3(PS1), Jak and Daxter 1-3(PS2), Uncharted 1-3(PS3). Those are main games sure, but they seem as if they like making new trilogies for each generation.
The Last Guardian or FF Versus XIII.
(I know they are supposed to be PS3 games)
WHAT GAME WILL MAKE YOU BUY A PS4??
any game that not a first person shooter,multiplat.
GRAN TURISMO 6, NEW RATCHET AND CLANK, SLY COOPER,JAX AN DAXTER,NEW GRADIUS, NEW NEED FOR SPEED, HD METAL SLUG,CONTRA......
Need for speed nahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhh
That picture feels so inappropriate... but it's just a rocket with Kaz's face... right? Is that the first look at a first party launch game?
Not really. If I tried to be specific, I'd come up with SO MANY titles.
Legend of Dragoon
Gran Turismo
Uncharted
Killzone
.hack
Xenosaga
Valkyria Chronicles
And probably a good thirty I can't think of.
The thing I'm wondering about the next gen consoles is, for example, whether we'll see a second round of titles like Crysis 3 come out for them. You know, it'll initially launch on PS3, 360 and PC ... but then down the road will the new consoles get a version with improved graphics, etc. !!! Ya? Na?
I'm expecting this with GTA V, and wouldn't be surprised to see an upgraded version of Bioshock Infinite
IGN:
Last week, we brought you the games that time forgot - those games stuck in development limbo that they may never escape. But there's another category of lost games: the ones that never make it out of Japan. Back in the PlayStation 2 era (and the SNES era before that), there were hundreds and hundreds of them every year. Now there are many fewer, but the odd one still slips through the net.
A quick glance through this generation's consoles reveals a range of gems which have sadly never been given the chance to shine on the global stage. While there's always the option to import, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could forget about exchange rates and taxes and pick up these titles a little closer to home?
BigShinyRobot: Afrika is Rhino Studio’s first attempt at creating a game on the PS3. Unfortunately, reviews have been mostly unfavorable as it just doesn’t appeal to most audiences. Most people I talk to about it just assume that it’s just insanely boring. Actually, I’d be willing to bet that most gamers today who would even turn it on wouldn’t last 15 minutes before switching it out for Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. The reason, I believe, is that modern gamers need that constant barrage of stimulation to the senses and this game is presented at a much slower pace. However, I have always been a huge supporter of new ideas because the thought of another cookie-cutter FPS makes me gag. I will admit that my first impressions of Afrika were……well, a bit off.
i wanted this game a lot, but when i tried it it sucked a lot.
It could have been very good game if:
1. Huge open world
2. Rpg elements, like stats how long you survived in the wild, what you acomplished, many side quests, secrets, seling rare photos and for cash buying all kinds of cool items and so on.
But i repeat first and most important thing should have been huge open world and freedom.
It's not that the game sucked, you just don't have a passion for animals and a lot of patience.
This game focuses on the habitats of real animals, not pokemon.
it also goes on to show you the lifestyle, in a sense, of a photographer who takes pictures of animals for a living.
The game takes a very realistic point of view, it doesn't do fantasy which is why people like you dislike the game.
you do not get me, i liked the idea a lot and it could have been very good game. (i like animals)
If it would be posibble to have freedom and huge area to explore not instanced missions it would have been much better game.
The areas are already huge, the sense of how big they actually are would really sink in if we didn't have the jeep to drive around in.
Also any game would be far more awesome, or at least we may think (sometimes areas are too big for one's liking), with bug areas but it also puts a strain on what is within that environment. Notice that the biggest area had the most open space? That's to reduce lag with so much going on at once in a small area. It is easy to spot a slight lag in animal movements when driving really fast in a tight area.
Edit: What I'm trying to say is enjoy it for what it is, not what you want it to be or could of been.
And MS still tries to screw their poor customers :-(
There will be a lot of user made cheat on the ps3 since it's so open. we saw it on the xbox and we will definitely see it on the ps3.
This is good news and hopefully the nerds return and start making some cool things!
Good luck to Sony developing something like the XNA framework, and Visual Studio 2005 just so some people can make games for the PS3. Microsoft has being working on the .net framework for years and the XNA is just a set of components that integrate with the already robust and existing .net framework. Also, lets not forget that microsoft has enable xna developers to use exising tools like visual studio 2005, C# and the .Net framework otherwise this would not be possible. If microsoft would not have done this it would take years to create the xna from the start.
Now Sony believe they can create a set of tools like visual studio, the .net framework and the xna in 2-3 months. Yeah... I'll believe it when I see it. I will draw my conclusions about this, if Sony succeed with the xbox live killer later this month.
By the way, Sony should start by making easier to develop tools for companies making games now (which are complaining that developing games for the PS3 is hard) before trying to make tools so people with no game development experience can try making any game.
A very good thing. That means MS pushed Sony to make this and in turn Sony pushes MS to make more of this.
We're in for goooood times my dear gamers :) Keep the competition going!