August 9th, 2007 BennyB
Sometimes the most unexpected news will hit you in the oddest places. That was the case tonight as we sat merrily eating dinner with developers and journalists from around the industry at the Tengu Restaurant in Westwood, California.
We were coming from a joint Sony, Activision event there in Southern California, when we were told something we definitely weren’t ready for.
The discussion at Tengu was fairly simple in its scope: various sources in the press and development team state that Sony is looking to take Rockstar “under their wingsâ€. While we learned that any agreement Sony and Take Two entered into would not affect the upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV, such an agreement would presumably affect any future releases from Rockstar, including the new franchise Sony has been discussing and L.A. Noire, which looks likely to be a PS3 exclusive at this point as well.
Rockstar, which is currently a part of Take Two Interactive, has produced several blockbuster franchises, including the Grand Theft Auto series of games, Manhunt and Bully. The studio has become famous for both the games it produces and the controversy surrounding their production. Rockstar has earned itself a reputation however as a developer which is focused on making excellent games, something that many of the studios that make up Sony World Wide Studios are known for.
As with any news this interesting, we must affirm that we trust our sources, but that our sources do not constitute an official confirmation. PSU will report back to all of you when we have more.
Source: http://www.psu.com/Sony-To-Buy-Rockstar-News–a928-p0.php
Posted in Industry News, Playstation 3 | 6 Comments »
August 6th, 2007 BennyB
Looks good.
Posted in Playstation 3 | No Comments »
August 6th, 2007 BennyB
According to the latest Cheat Code Central Podcast, they mention that Rockstar has gone Sony Exclusive, and that their upcoming titles other than the ones already in production, will be some sort of a PS3 exclusive.
They start talking about it at around around 50:00 minute into the podcast.
Source:Â http://www.n4g.com/industrynews/News-57037.aspx
Around the 51 minute mark:
Person 1: Apparently Rockstar is going to be PS3 exclusive from now on. So I remember that you guys were looking for those exclusive games, well you might just get them!
Person 2: Nice! Did they mention any titles in their announcement?
Person 1: Uhh, not any specific titles. They mention Grand Theft Auto but they didn’t mention the current one because we all know GTA IV is going to both, but I guess maybe future titles that are in the works are going to be just PS3?
Person 2: Ooh, that could be interesting.
Person 3: Heh-heh, let’s just hope it’s not Rockstar Presents Water Polo.
Person 1: Nooooooooo!
That would be a nice catch for Sony if true.
Posted in Playstation 3 | No Comments »
August 3rd, 2007 BennyB
Mark Rein on how UT3 development for PS3 is shaping up:
Rein: “It took us a year after Xbox 360 and here we are less than a year after PlayStation 3 and I’d say that today Unreal Tournament 3 runs better on PS3 than Gears did on Xbox 360 at the same point in its development. So, that bodes well for how well the engine will run on PS3 as we’re already ahead of where I thought we’d be in terms of optimisations.”
Mark Rein on UT3 in Home:
“Oh yeah. We’ll definitely do an environment in Home, no question. We’ll let you go into Home and enter the game, like Phil Harrison showed at E3.”
Source: http://www.n4g.com/News-56553.aspx
Posted in Playstation 3 | 2 Comments »
August 3rd, 2007 BennyB
The development kit for Home has been in the hands of the developers for a few weeks and will allow them to develop super awesome environments, trophies and games for the Home platform. Eventually. Currently the dev kit is at version 0.1 and contains basic tools for creating scenes. Right now it only supports models created in Maya, though that will no doubt be expanded to other 3D graphics packages, such as 3D Studio Max and Softimage XSI.
This information comes from a lecture given at the Develop Conference last week by James Cox from SCEE. He laid out the plans for upcoming versions of the development kit, saying that version 0.8 will allow 3D game creation for within Home spaces. Version 1.1 will be the first time the exporter for trophy achievements will be made available.
We’re a little worried at just how functional Home is going to be this Autumn, if the kit currently has such limited tools. Will all the upcoming titles for this year support trophies, minigames and Home spaces? That depends on how quickly the new versions are shipped out to developers. Sony is still determined to release the Home platform this year.
Source:Â PS3 FanboyÂ
Posted in Playstation 3, Playstation Network | 2 Comments »
August 2nd, 2007 BennyB
Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, stated, “With Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar is setting a new standard for next generation video games. Certain elements of development proved to be more time-intensive than expected, especially given the commitment for a simultaneous release on two very different platforms. We all recognize that perfecting the game is vital and I can assure everyone it will be worth the wait. We owe it to the game’s millions of fans, to our dedicated development team, and to our shareholders to make sure that Grand Theft Auto IV is a groundbreaking gaming experience that takes maximum advantage of next generation technology.â€
Sam Houser, Founder and Executive Producer of Rockstar Games, added, “The new consoles are allowing us to create the Grand Theft Auto game we always dreamed about. Every aspect of the game and its design has been completely transformed. The game is huge and is pushing the hardware platforms to their absolute limits. The top engineers from Sony and Microsoft are working closely with the team in Edinburgh right now, helping us to fully leverage the power of both platforms. As always, our goal is to surpass even the wildest expectations of the game’s fans, and to create the ultimate high definition video game experience.”
Next Gen just took a huge hit this holiday season. :\
Posted in Industry News, Playstation 3 | No Comments »
