Cerny: PS4 will rekindle diversity of PSOne era

Diversity of the PSX era?

Colony Wars
Syphon Filter
Medievil
Rollcage
WipEout
Destruction Derby
Legend of Dragoon
Alundra
Crash Bandicoot
C: 12
Omega Boost

I want all of them.
 
Mainly because of the indie approach though. I hope people don't expect more, like the diversity level of the PSOne era in AAA terms. They are going to be disappointed.
 
I keep hearing quotes from Cerny about how great the PS4 is going to be and how similar it's going to be to the PS1 in terms of game library and development, but until they actually prove it I'm not buying into anything he's saying. Because 90% of the games announced for the PS4 seem to be the same variety of AAA (in terms of budget) western games with bloated development costs that are mainly FPS and open-world sandbox games.

They had 8 or 9 diverse indie titles on stage at E3. Octodad was on stage, FFS. Cerny's point is already proven.
 
If we get another

Suikoden
Vandal Hearts
Azure Dreams
Psychic Force
Legend of Dragoon
Destruction Derby
South Park rally (yes it was a good game >.<)
KKND
Star Ocean
Legend of Legaia
Wild Arms
Grandia
Breath of Fire
Alundra
Arc the Lad
Lunar

then i would be more than just stoked and would call it a PS1 era

Suikoden and Destruction derby...fuck yeah
 
That's a bold promise. I have fond memories of the PS1 era. Things were plenty diverse. The question is will PS4 owners accept that diversity today. Will developers be willing to be satisfied with working within limited budgets and be accepting of only modest sales. To have that diversity not all titles will be million sellers. Titles have to stop needing several million sales just to break even.
 
Yes plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, man I miss those RPGs :(

Personally I think MS & Ninty have the 1 up on diversity due to the their available controls, wish Sony didn't axe the camera from the SKU just for those initial sales. So much potential wasted.
The gamepad and kinect don't add anything significant to core gaming at all.
 
I think with PS4 they are doing their best to have diversified games from smallest to biggest studios. Indie is clearly their focus because of innovative and creative ideas they bring to the table.

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/07/10/sony-to-issue-ps4-dev-kits-to-universities/

It establishes partnerships with University courses at the cutting edge of videogame technology, game development, computer science and research, and aids SCE’s overall goal of supporting Indie developers and established studios by fostering the next generation of PlayStation savvy developers.

PlayStationFirst is now actively seeking ‘Expression of Interests’ from Universities interested in the Academic Dev Kit Programme and PS Vita game development. PS Vita is the system that is most closely integrated with PS4 and an essential part of the connected experience to create and innovate on PlayStation platforms.

Dr Maria Stukoff, Head of Academic Development for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe recently announced that they are licensing PS4 devkits to the Universities.

The next generation of Indie developers are now in education

and PlayStationFirst is at the forefront of enabling students to gain future-fit skills for PlayStation console development by providing access to real professional tools
 
I'm going out on a limb here, but maybe it's not that they're poorly advertised but that to some people JRPGs look the same? I know personally of people who think that just because the artwork is based on manga/anime styles that they think the stories are all the same. Like when people say that Ni no Kuni and Tales of Vesperia are one and the same just because it's the same "animu" artwork. Ugh. Frustrating.

you can't be serious, in what universe ToV and Ni no Kuni look the same? Not even similar!
There is no animu artwark, anime is just other way to say animation, and art styles can be distinctly different. There are many art styles of anime, and if people can't see differences between Ghibli work and Tales, there is something seriously wrong with them. It's not even believable.
By this logic all western games look exactly the same. You know, realistic-gritty-movie look and are dismissable in the same way.
 
I'm going out on a limb here, but maybe it's not that they're poorly advertised but that to some people JRPGs look the same? I know personally of people who think that just because the artwork is based on manga/anime styles that they think the stories are all the same. Like when people say that Ni no Kuni and Tales of Vesperia are one and the same just because it's the same "animu" artwork. Ugh. Frustrating.

The anime art style has always been there though. I think the past 8-10 years have clearly shown that the western audience for JRPGs is maybe 500k, and very few games are able to transcend that boundary to reach a wider sales base. If the same groups of people in North America and Europe are largely buying all of these games, perhaps more titles should just be $30-40 and digital only. The diehards are going to buy their JRPGs regardless, and the lower price may encourage additional pickups with no risk of over or undershipping. At the price point I suggested above, publishers would be taking a $21-28 share, which is in line to what they would earn on a $60 retail title. It's Sony's responsibility to ensure that the Playstation Store on PS4 is well advertised and easy to use. Usability (and download speeds) on the PS3 has left a lot to be desired.
 
That's a bold promise. I have fond memories of the PS1 era. Things were plenty diverse. The question is will PS4 owners accept that diversity today. Will developers be willing to be satisfied with working within limited budgets and be accepting of only modest sales. To have that diversity not all titles will be million sellers. Titles have to stop needing several million sales just to break even.

The share button is going to have a huge impact here. It's going to really help the better indie titles rise to the surface. This has been happening a lot on PC. It was a youtube video of someone playing Surgeon Simulator 2013 that got me to buy it, for example. I hope there is a way for people to record voice at the same time as gameplay on PS4. It's going to really help word of mouth.
 
PC has rekindled it. Or has become the home platform for that movement.

But PS4 is the console that looks to most leverage that work, and that's great. It might even be, voluntarily, a 'first'/home platform for some indies, but PC will still be the starting point for the bigger majority I think.

I'm not sure how big indie PC development is in Japan, though? Maybe a console like PS4 could actually help start a new approach there, vs riding on the coat tails a movement already in force on another platform.

This. Obviously there's no guarantee of specific genres being better supported than in years past, but Sony is making all the right moves if they want to make the landscape of gaming more diverse and receptive to experiences that aren't your typical AAA fare.

Only time will tell, but I've got my fingers crossed for Sony.
 
I love what he is saying but don't see it happening. I just see publishers as the ones who will kill diversity. Until I see more games in the 29.99-49.99 dollar range I just don't see it happening. Indy games are ok but are not going to be solution to make gaming like it was during the PS1 era. It will be the return of the B-tier game that has been killed by 59.99 pricing.
 
The share button is going to have a huge impact here. It's going to really help the better indie titles rise to the surface. This has been happening a lot on PC. It was a youtube video of someone playing Surgeon Simulator 2013 that got me to buy it, for example. I hope there is a way for people to record voice at the same time as gameplay on PS4. It's going to really help word of mouth.

I hope so. That diversity certainly won't come from the big publishers.
 
I love what he is saying but don't see it happening. I just see publishers as the ones who will kill diversity. Until I see more games in the 29.99-49.99 dollar range I just don't see it happening. Indy games are ok but are not going to be solution to make gaming like it was during the PS1 era. It will be the return of the B-tier game that has been killed by 59.99 pricing.

The return of B-Tier will only happen if people don't expect AAA graphics/production values from those titles. With all the b-tier HD bombs this generation, I don't think that was the case. Even some of the titles that launched at $30-50 bombed.

Going digital only with a $20-40 price tag would help a lot of the smaller budget niche titles. People are more forgiving of production values for digital titles, especially if they are cheap. Console retail is quickly following the same path that PC retail did in the early 2000s, where only the AAA games flourished.
 
Indeed we do.

Damn, Cerny would make a great cult leader. His soothing voice would convert everyone.

"Would make" lol? He's beginning to take over the cult of Kaz.

I love good Indie games but I can't help but feel that their importance is being overstated for this coming generation. Just my gut feeling.
 
I love what he is saying but don't see it happening. I just see publishers as the ones who will kill diversity. Until I see more games in the 29.99-49.99 dollar range I just don't see it happening. Indy games are ok but are not going to be solution to make gaming like it was during the PS1 era. It will be the return of the B-tier game that has been killed by 59.99 pricing.

What about self publishing? Does that not nullify this argument?
 
I have been wondering, aside from putting up with the cost of getting a PS4 dev kit, what else is stopping the people who create projects via crowd funding to self publish their product on PS4?
 
So if something like that came out, it would automatically be negated because it's download only?

I don't get this logic.

exactly. I try not to buy stuff which is download only. So no Pay games on my Phone, no PSN Games, nothing from XBL, no Indies, no Movie streaming, no Series streaming, no mp3s from itunes or amazon, no ebooks, no spotify etc. Everything on Paper or Disc.
 
I'm in love with New Sony. All this "hey guys, remember when we were the best? We're gonna do that again" is music to my ears.
 
Whenever that is the case, I will get the console. Of course, the quality must also be right, which I'm not seeing with Knack for example.
Also, I'm not gonna get any machine for a couple of small download titles - so lol if that's all he's talking about.
 
Nothing was better than the PS1 or PS2 days, so I doubt PS4 will recreate the glory days of gaming. There seems to be much less Japanese support and presence which was imo what mostly built the Playstation foundation back then. It seems like genres or games that dominated back then can barely even sale today. We will see, but I really have my doubts. The industry changed too much and I doubt most casual gamers would even appreciate or understand a PS1 type console.
 
Holy shit I just find out Level 5 is making Ni no Kuni 2 for PS4, I discovered it after I was wondering what is Level 5 is doing now so I looked it up on google and ta da they are making Ni no Kuni 2 ^_^

Did anyone knew about that?
 
Holy shit I just find out Level 5 is making Ni no Kuni 2 for PS4, I discovered it after I was wondering what is Level 5 is doing now so I looked it up on google and ta da they are making Ni no Kuni 2 ^_^

Did anyone knew about that?

Where did you see/hear this? News to me.
 
I love what he is saying but don't see it happening. I just see publishers as the ones who will kill diversity. Until I see more games in the 29.99-49.99 dollar range I just don't see it happening. Indy games are ok but are not going to be solution to make gaming like it was during the PS1 era. It will be the return of the B-tier game that has been killed by 59.99 pricing.

Indie games that diversify and become more and more ambitious can very much be the new B-Tier games we enjoyed back in the day.

Games like minecraft and Journey prove that true innovation and creative ambition can thrive on the console DD platforms. I would expect those kinds of devs, e.g. Notch's team, and Jon Blow's guys, to be the ones to usher in a brand new tier of games on the DD platforms. Games priced higher than your £7-£15 Journeys, but less than your full fledged £40 AAA games.

If PS3 with all its technical hurdles and bottlenecks gave us games like Journey, then imagine what a much more performant and streamlined PS4 will yield, given all the internal SCE changes Cerny also mentions?

We could potentially see a renaissance in Japanese home console games. With really quirky and unique titles in the same vein as Parapa the Rapper, coming down the pipe on a regular basis.

If there's one thing that's evident to me, its that Sony's current management gets it. And they at least have a plan and a vision for how they expect to preserve the kinds of creativity, uniqueness and innovation in console games that gaming needs so desperately right now. MS on the other hand has shown anything but. So even if Sony's plan fails and it doesn't work out as planned, at least they are making a go of it, and trying to support those developers who could grow up into the next superstar dev houses of the industry. Which is more than most other platform holders can say.
 
I get the impression Sony's constant talk of indie developers is more about reflecting the changes done internally at the company as opposed to suggesting indie devs being a selling point for the hardware (take the Vita, for example). It's great that these small developers are getting better support now, but its not something that really entices me to spend hundreds on a box, Sony. I'm actually part of the contingent that wants to hear about polygon count and console features.

I disagree, actually. I think they are touting the indie support as a selling point, to counteract the AAA-fatigue people have been complaining about in games (especially in the press) for years. Not to mention that they're the only meaningful 3rd-party console exclusive.

I love what he is saying but don't see it happening. I just see publishers as the ones who will kill diversity. Until I see more games in the 29.99-49.99 dollar range I just don't see it happening. Indy games are ok but are not going to be solution to make gaming like it was during the PS1 era. It will be the return of the B-tier game that has been killed by 59.99 pricing.

He's not talking about established publishers. At all. He's talking about self-published indies. And at some point, they'll be indistinguishable from the PS1-era 'B-tier' game.
 
If he can do that, I WILL buy a PS4. PS1 had so many kinds of games and it was amazing. Favorite Sony console by far.
 

iH8zB84WDSrKS.gif


So beautiful.
 
exactly. I try not to buy stuff which is download only. So no Pay games on my Phone, no PSN Games, nothing from XBL, no Indies, no Movie streaming, no Series streaming, no mp3s from itunes or amazon, no ebooks, no spotify etc. Everything on Paper or Disc.

Wow so you've missed out on some of the greatest games of the gen :p
 
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