pari
07-21-2007, 04:12 PM
Interview (http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200707/N07.0719.1908.25222.htm?Page=1)
GI: I was a little bit confused about something – the Unreal Engine announcement. They announced they were working in conjunction with Sony in optimizing the Unreal 3 engine for the PlayStation 3.
Harrison: Correct.
GI: But that was one of the things two years ago at E3 where you showed Unreal Tournament – with Epic and nVidia – why is this a reannouncement?
Harrison: If we’re honest, we didn’t do enough of a good job supporting them and getting them the tools and technology early enough. Also, Epic isn’t a huge company. They don’t have unlimited resource. We have parachuted in some of our SWAT team of super engineers to help them. Specifically, to optimize for SPUs, which are the point of difference that the Cell Processor has. That process is under way. The benefits that it yields to end developers whether they’re writing exclusive titles or multiplatform titles is that the performance on PS3 goes up exponentially, and it will make for a much better game experience.
GI: I’ve heard from a number of developers that one of the problems with porting a game that’s based on Unreal, or having a multiplatform game that’s based on Unreal, was because Epic didn’t have their tech up to speed and they were waiting for updates. Is this basically saying, “It’s going to get fixed, it’s going to get better?”
Harrison: Yes, I think that’s a fair summary. We know that there are a lot of developers who are using the technology, so this is a significant impact for the industry.
GI: At GDC, you introduced the Home setup with your Hall of Fame and trophies, yet most of the developers I’ve spoken with don’t know anything about it and haven’t gotten the software, or don’t have the know how to implement them into their games. It seemed to escape everything at this press conference, and even the first-party developers that I’ve spoken with say, most likely they aren’t going to be able to get them into their games this year. What’s going on with that?
Harrison: We’ve built Home on top of the core libraries of the PlayStation Network platform. The trophy functionality is going into PlayStation Network libraries in the next revision, which will be in August.
GI: So, will we see first-party games this year with trophies in them?
Harrison: I hope so. I mean, this is a long-term plan. Yes it would be great to have all games enabled with trophies this holiday season, but we’ll see that roll out as quickly as we can, but we want to get it right and make sure that it’s a fun and rewarding mechanism for everyone.
GI: Will this system be backwards compatible with games that are already out? Will you be able to patch for example Resistance, MotorStorm, and Lair?
Harrison: Yes. We’re looking into a couple of different way of doing that but yes, we hope to be able to retro-award trophies.
GI: Will you have a score? I know I’m comparing Achievements versus Trophies, but people walk around and wear that score as a badge of honor. Reiner from the magazine has a Gamer Score of 35,000, and he’s Mr. Big Shot. I just cleared 3,000 and I think I’m doing OK. People like wearing that badge of honor, so how are you guys going to do that?
Harrison: We have something, which I can’t share with you today, but we are going to do something which is…how can I answer this without answering it. (laughs)
GI: Well, you can answer it! (laughs)
Harrison: So Gamer Points is kind of macro where that is persistent over all of the games that you play, and then you’ve got the micro based on the individual games. So that idea of being awarded for skill in that particular game, having that mechanism that arches over that entire library – we will have something that performs that function in a different way than points.
GI: Gamers want vibration back in their controlling experience. That’s why it was added in the first place, it adds that immersion. When you’re getting shot in the face in Resistance, I want to feel that. A lot of people expected, alongside the new PSP announcement, what was going on with controllers with vibration. Is this something you see on the horizon for this year, or is this something or 2008?
Harrison: You’re going to get the stock corporate answer here, which is that we’ve kissed and made up with Immersion and we’re working with them, and you’ll see some announcements about future technologies relating to controllers from them and us at another time.
So expect the shockaxis at TGS?
GI: I was a little bit confused about something – the Unreal Engine announcement. They announced they were working in conjunction with Sony in optimizing the Unreal 3 engine for the PlayStation 3.
Harrison: Correct.
GI: But that was one of the things two years ago at E3 where you showed Unreal Tournament – with Epic and nVidia – why is this a reannouncement?
Harrison: If we’re honest, we didn’t do enough of a good job supporting them and getting them the tools and technology early enough. Also, Epic isn’t a huge company. They don’t have unlimited resource. We have parachuted in some of our SWAT team of super engineers to help them. Specifically, to optimize for SPUs, which are the point of difference that the Cell Processor has. That process is under way. The benefits that it yields to end developers whether they’re writing exclusive titles or multiplatform titles is that the performance on PS3 goes up exponentially, and it will make for a much better game experience.
GI: I’ve heard from a number of developers that one of the problems with porting a game that’s based on Unreal, or having a multiplatform game that’s based on Unreal, was because Epic didn’t have their tech up to speed and they were waiting for updates. Is this basically saying, “It’s going to get fixed, it’s going to get better?”
Harrison: Yes, I think that’s a fair summary. We know that there are a lot of developers who are using the technology, so this is a significant impact for the industry.
GI: At GDC, you introduced the Home setup with your Hall of Fame and trophies, yet most of the developers I’ve spoken with don’t know anything about it and haven’t gotten the software, or don’t have the know how to implement them into their games. It seemed to escape everything at this press conference, and even the first-party developers that I’ve spoken with say, most likely they aren’t going to be able to get them into their games this year. What’s going on with that?
Harrison: We’ve built Home on top of the core libraries of the PlayStation Network platform. The trophy functionality is going into PlayStation Network libraries in the next revision, which will be in August.
GI: So, will we see first-party games this year with trophies in them?
Harrison: I hope so. I mean, this is a long-term plan. Yes it would be great to have all games enabled with trophies this holiday season, but we’ll see that roll out as quickly as we can, but we want to get it right and make sure that it’s a fun and rewarding mechanism for everyone.
GI: Will this system be backwards compatible with games that are already out? Will you be able to patch for example Resistance, MotorStorm, and Lair?
Harrison: Yes. We’re looking into a couple of different way of doing that but yes, we hope to be able to retro-award trophies.
GI: Will you have a score? I know I’m comparing Achievements versus Trophies, but people walk around and wear that score as a badge of honor. Reiner from the magazine has a Gamer Score of 35,000, and he’s Mr. Big Shot. I just cleared 3,000 and I think I’m doing OK. People like wearing that badge of honor, so how are you guys going to do that?
Harrison: We have something, which I can’t share with you today, but we are going to do something which is…how can I answer this without answering it. (laughs)
GI: Well, you can answer it! (laughs)
Harrison: So Gamer Points is kind of macro where that is persistent over all of the games that you play, and then you’ve got the micro based on the individual games. So that idea of being awarded for skill in that particular game, having that mechanism that arches over that entire library – we will have something that performs that function in a different way than points.
GI: Gamers want vibration back in their controlling experience. That’s why it was added in the first place, it adds that immersion. When you’re getting shot in the face in Resistance, I want to feel that. A lot of people expected, alongside the new PSP announcement, what was going on with controllers with vibration. Is this something you see on the horizon for this year, or is this something or 2008?
Harrison: You’re going to get the stock corporate answer here, which is that we’ve kissed and made up with Immersion and we’re working with them, and you’ll see some announcements about future technologies relating to controllers from them and us at another time.
So expect the shockaxis at TGS?