210°

Jak and Daxter Ever Returning To The Mainstream?

Jak and Daxter once considered a staple game on the PS2 has since fallen out of the limelight and has yet to be seen on current generation consoles. The game`s primary developer the famous Naughty Dog has metamorphosed into a hardly recognizable company creating triple A titles such as Uncharted that arguably are for a more mature audience. In 2003, Didier Malenfant, a major developer from Naughty Dog left to form Ready at Dawn developers who have since taken the Jak and Daxter to the portable consoles and subsequently taken it from mainstream gaming.

lazertroy4696d ago

Just don't come back looking like the new Dante.

Xof4696d ago

Jak's already been through an emo phase.

velocitygamer4696d ago

Yes, he has. But he looks gooooood in the emo phase.

firefoxprime4696d ago (Edited 4696d ago )

First PS2 titles:
Burnout3
AceCombat4
Madden 2005
Jak 3
Grand Turismo

From CrashBandicoot(platforming) >>> Jak(platform/3rdPS >>> Uncharted(TPS/Cinematic Adventure)

Nice growth. Hopefully more like Jak 3. That'd be awesome.

thugbob4696d ago

Gosh I love Jak & Dax 3 sooooooo much. I really want to see a Jak & Dax 4 this gen.

SilentNegotiator4696d ago

Sony needs to stop letting the Playstation greats die. Crash Bandicoot and Spyro.....guess who owns both of these once amazing characters? Activision! Jak and Daxter are now a second rate PSP/PS2-port gang.

Sony should have bought those IPs long ago.

If an Italian plumber can be one of the most popular game characters for decades.....

iamtehpwn4696d ago (Edited 4696d ago )

I think it's possible after Uncharted 3. Considering Naughty Dog usually makes a triology that spands the entire life span of a console. However, PS3 is going to be last longer, so Perhaps instead of Uncharted 4, they'll make this.

BrianC62344696d ago

This is dumb. Naughty Dog doesn't have to stick with one franchise forever. They like to change with each generation. It would get boring if they only made Jak and Daxter games. Uncharted is a great franchise.

Cajun Chicken4696d ago

I have a feeling that Jak'll be back, old or new. Besides, people really condemned the last PSP game, it was actually pretty good.

Pintheshadows4696d ago

I think we will see Ready at Dawn make a game for the PSV. I hope so anyway. I also believe that ND will not give up on Jak and Daxter as they do tend to listen to fans.

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120°

Report: Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Villain DLC Spotted in Debug Menu

Marvel's Spider-Man villain DLC potentially spotted via the debug menu that surfaced from the New Game+ title update released recently.

430°

Naughty Dog’s Next Game Is “Really Ambitious” And Will Be “Really Hard” To Create

Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

H955d ago

"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough

helicoptergirl55d ago

Members of the team don't have to crunch anymore

helicoptergirl55d ago

According to people who work there

H955d ago

So the people who remained in a studio that had tons of workers quiting and others laid off said that they don't have to crunch, and you are just believing that

frostypants55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

They absolutely will wind up having to crunch. Happens at the end of almost every software project development cycle, especially with release date pressures. It's part of the job. Obviously they aren't in a crunch when they aren't in that late phase. But it's wishful thinking if they think they won't see that stress again. Druckmann himself seems to be aware of that.

helicoptergirl55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Yes I believe them. The people who want to crunch can do it. The people who mentally and physically can't, don't actually have to. Some have young babies at home. Things have changed since the Schreier report.

rlow154d ago (Edited 54d ago )

@helicoptergirl
It wishful thinking to think some workers can choose to crunch or not to do so. That’s akin to people you work with saying they don’t have to do work they don’t like and you’re the one that has to take up the slack. That’s not how things work. Especially if your the person assigned to a specific task that has to be completed for the development to move forward. It’s a team sport when it comes to making a game. As with most things in life. Now that they are a smaller group, it’s even more important for everyone to pull their weight. Peace

helicoptergirl54d ago

@rlow that was exactly the mentality before the exposure and it was talked about and reported on. It's different now. You know, sometimes things and attitudes just change for the better. They knew they needed to change and they have and they're not stopping trying to make the creative environment as good as it can be.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 54d ago
Tristan198255d ago

When someone pays another person to do a specific job in exchange for a certain rate of pay, it's called work.

H955d ago

They didn't sign to crunch and neither were they paid for it, people were hospitalized in Naughty Dog

MatrixxGT55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Exactly most of these people wouldn’t last a season in the trades.

-Foxtrot55d ago

I f******* love how many people are doing a complete 180 on their views of crunch culture despite the awful stories reported on over the many years just because we’re talking about NaughtyDog

You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about

“They signed a contract…it’s called work…that’s life…it’s a job”

I mean really guys, if this was EA you’d be having a field day

I bet you any money if any of these guys regardless of studio went in and said to their superior “Listen, don’t feel like the over time tonight, I’ll just stick to my normal contracted hours if that’s alright” I highly doubt they’d be given a warm response

Crows9055d ago

@h9

Actually yes they did. If overtime is mentioned...that's crunch.

Christopher55d ago

@Tristan1982: The problem is crunch is because of the inefficient management and sudden changes in projects. ND made major story changes based on some feedback, that results in months of rework, redesign, etc. And none of those changes were built into the project from the get-go, so they still have to meet a deadline.

@H9: One person. And they did sign up for crunch, ND is notorious for hiring people who don't mind it. That's the problem, they tell you who they are, people just aren't listening. And, they did get paid, just their QA level of people are paid shit, which is an industry issue for something so freaking important. And people wonder why we have such broken games at launch. Because companies don't want to pay to deliver as long as people will buy enough to get them past first few months of patches and then re-release a major patch with an expansion to get people to come back.

@-Foxtrot " You can’t just cherry pick what to be mad about " -- N4G home of 'hold my beer' on that alone.

CantThinkOfAUsername55d ago

The kindda guy to guilt trip others into overwork or tell them to be better slaves ('employees'). Exactly what corps like. How does it taste?

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 55d ago
anast55d ago

They get paid and they signed the contract. It's not a slave factory.

Shane Kim55d ago

Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people.

jwillj2k455d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Assuming you have a job, how would you feel working 80 hours a week for the same pay? You’ve not experienced crunch otherwise you wouldn’t be speaking like this.

senorfartcushion55d ago

As somebody who has crunched before. No, it wasn't my choice, no, you couldn't handle it, and no, you don't work in a better industry than I do.

Markusb3354d ago

exactly, get the game out before PS6 and if it takes crunch, or over time which you get paid for, get on with it

anast54d ago

"Assuming you have a job"

Assuming I haven't worked more for less, I suppose. And yes, I do.

"Shh... your in the era of feeling sorry for people."

I feel awful for the people that fought for the workers and got stuck holding the bag and lost everything.

"no, you couldn't handle it, "

You mean "I"

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 54d ago
Christopher55d ago

I really hope this isn't management BS stress. I get wanting to put the best out, finding the best new ways and concepts, and ensuring your design is just top notch and not wasteful and fulfilling, but when I hear some manager talking about this my first thought is "Are these jerks changing paradigms on a regular basis that's making people play catch up and redo work to meet their new goals?"

54d ago
Kiryu199255d ago

They lost so many great experienced talented people over the past 5 years

anast54d ago

Burnout is real. I even had to change my job because of it.

Markusb3354d ago

as if you dont get paid for crunch, get on with it,

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 54d ago
Stuart575655d ago

That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”

Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.

Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.

S2Killinit55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

From the article:

“Working on this new game, it’s really ambitious, parts of it are really hard,…”

That is the actual quote. They are already working on it.

LucasRuinedChildhood55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Yeah, a lot of people push fake narratives about NaughtyDog and misquote things. That quote is very straightforward.

https://twitter.com/MitchyD...
Above is the complete debunking of a false story that still gets spread around all the time. And the bad faith actors doing it also only pin it on Druckmann for some reason and ignore Straley. They want to portray Druckmann as an evil schemer, even when the false story they're spreading doesn't align with their narrative. They don't care about reality ...

SuckerPunch doesn't get even 1% of this criticism and they haven't provided any update whatsoever on their next game, and it's a sequel not a new IP, so turnaround would be quicker. That's not logical.

Markusb3354d ago

probably 7 years out at this point after wasting all that time on factions

Stuart575655d ago

Also, just off-topic slightly but..

Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.

isarai55d ago

Nah, quite literally every industry around is having layoffs.

shinoff218355d ago

I work in manufacturing. Layoffs here to. Especially people with no skill. I feel bad for them more then anything.

isarai54d ago (Edited 54d ago )

I work in advertisement, Im being laid off in may despite being the 3rd best on my team of 15 just under the team lead and assistant team lead, and the assistant team lead is out next week. Yet the last two years we've all been congratulated for record numbers. Times are weird.

shinoff218355d ago

Game drought. Lol what. I can't keep up. There's so many dope games releasing. I gotta ask what do you play

Stuart575654d ago

Not Naughty Dog games, not this gen. You know, Naughty Dog? Who the article is about?

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 54d ago
Brazz55d ago

I hope they remember to make it realy fun to play.

FunAndGun54d ago

I hope it's extra woke and really fun to play.

Kneetos55d ago

And then Sony will lay off 900 more staff to save costs

Christopher55d ago

Is this supposed to be a big gotcha after Microsoft laid off 1,900 and we're ignoring that? Let alone the over 16,000 other layoffs from Microsoft in 2023?

Kneetos55d ago

This is an article talking about Sony, no one said anything about Microsoft

And we should always be reminded of it like people are doing with Microsoft, Sony shouldn't get a free pass either

Christopher55d ago (Edited 55d ago )

Yes, and this article is 100% about Sony firing people.

ND says new game is ambitious - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony publishes new gameplay video - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!
Sony announces weekend sale deals - until Sony lays off 900 more staff to save costs!

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130°

Judge Delays Ruling on FTC's Attempt to Exclude Evidence in Microsoft's Favor in Activision Case

The legal battle for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues, with Microsoft countering one of the FTC's latest moves and the Judge delaying a relevant ruling.

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techraptor.net
thesoftware73072d ago

Look, to be honest the FTC should just stop.

MS has A/B and nothing has really changed yet...if you are worried about 5-10 years from now...just drop it cause the future is unpredictable.

Take this week's news, that 4 Xbox exclusive are going Multiplatform.