270°

Top Developers React To PlayStation 4

In this article, Epic Games' Tim Sweeney, Insomniac Games' Ted Price, and Watch Dogs producer Dominic Guay give Game Informer their initial impressions on the potential of PlayStation 4.

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gameinformer.com
Oldman1004073d ago

Well, they seem to be happy. The most interesting feature to me is the ability to spectate and interact with your friends gaming experiences. Virtual pass the controller ftw!

Gimme PS4 now!

shivvy244073d ago

OMG its TED PRICE !! OMG OMG OMG OMG !!

ABizzel14073d ago

Did it seem like Tim Sweeney was more so trying to push Unreal Engine 4 than give a straight answer. I know you have a new engine to sell, but this was a simple interview about the PS4 not Epic's plans and why developers should support Unreal Engine 4, instead of CryEngine or building their own.

dlpg5854073d ago

well i'm hapy they like it, the console was basically made for them. well it's gonna be great (or at least seems that way). honestly i can't wait to see microsoft try to 1-up them. i hope they just keep shoving money into these consoles until one of them includes a time travel device.

DigitalSmoke4073d ago

Developers will not forget who dared to make the 8Gig GDDR5 jump, its crazy, and i love it.

MasterCornholio4073d ago (Edited 4073d ago )

Jonathan Blow

"Our technical people like the PS4 specs a lot more than the leaked Durango specs."

http://kotaku.com/5986093/h...

Hes the first one to say this and i doubt that he will be the last. Microsoft has to step up their game and replace their DDR3 ram with GDDR5 otherwise they will have a severe disadvantage and the 720 wont be as developer friendly as the PS4.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watc... Just a little promotion of his game because it really is beautiful to look at.

JoySticksFTW4073d ago

Honestly, I hope MS will upgrade their ram, but they don't need to.

MS seems to be after that casual market primarily, which doesn't require top of the line specs as Wii and Kinect's sales success demonstrated.

And what's to stop MS from playing hardball, and forcing parity across all platforms.

It's dirty pool, but it's rumored that's what happened this gen.

And then MS are miles ahead of Sony when it comes to marketing the heck out of their games and system.

I've said that PS4 seems to be the system for gamers and developers, but MS seems to have the marketshare, mindshare, deep pockets, and influence to lowball next gen specs and still get a pass.

Me personally, I'm not sure MS is even full-on competing with Sony. I think they're after that Wii crowd, and are probably licking their chops at Wii U's hardships.

ABizzel14073d ago (Edited 4073d ago )

@JoySticksFTW

I don't know. Things are really starting to ook different and "UP" for Sony. I love the PS3, but it had problems in Marketing, US Mass Appeal, Online communication, and had an uphill battle after launching at $599 without any established IP's to sell the console in the first year.

But this time around it seems like they realized all their mistakes, corrected them, and improved on everything that made them great to being with, as well as, getting the developers to realized and sending a message to gamers that PS is where games come first.

I've seen plenty of ads on YouTube (interrupting my videos) showing the PS4 already. So people are getting informed, but we'll have to see if they keep it up throughout the year. They have a new Marketing team, so things should be better.

I think MS is trying to be both core and casual, and it's a tough sell for them because they don't have a strong enough 1st party to really be that. The COD and Halo fans will stay, but I don't think the Kinect 2.0 is enough to get that Wii casual audience, unless it does VASTLY more than the original Kinect. With the casual it's all about cheap easy access games, and a fad device like the Wii's motion controller or Kinect Camera. The Camera fad has been done, so MS really needs something strong and new to get that audience along with a lower end Price. Wii U is struggling at $299 and $349 w. a tablet controller. MS isn't going to break out the gates with an expected $399 price tag and better version of Kinect.

As for the core, if they continue the same direction their going then it'll be the same Halo, Forza, Fable, Kinect, and paying 3rd parties to do exclusives like Gears, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell, and exclusive content for the biggest games (COD, GTA, Elder Scrolls, etc...). It worked for the 360, but I don't think it's going to work this time around for gamers like myself who enjoy variety. As a core gamer I don't know if I want to buy an Xbox again unless they prove to me it's going to be more than just the same IP's (We'll get 3rd party games on PS4, and know we'll have new IP's every year). I support MS for getting online gaming up to the level it currently sits at, but as a games console they have to do better with their main selling point "GAMES".

Which is why I'll be getting Sony's console again at launch.

The next decision is between Wii U, Nextbox, Steambox, PC upgrade.

JoySticksFTW4073d ago

Good stuff. Well said.

I can see MS also pushing backwards compatibility and seamless transfer of gamerscore points to the Nextbox.

Those can actually mean a lot to people, as some find it hard to cut the cord and lose their accumulated gamer points or don't want their older Xbox taking up space.

But if those always online, no used games Durango leaks are true, I'd be shocked if Sony doesn't stress repeatedly that PS4 will still play used games

I hope you're right about Sony stepping up their marketing. I think it's their biggest weakness this console gen; that and development learning curve which they already solved with the PS4 specs it seems.

Angrymorgan4073d ago

What's the difference between GDDR 5 and DDR 5 ram?

ApolloTheBoss4073d ago (Edited 4073d ago )

Nothing, really.
GDDR 5= Graphics Double Data Rate ver. 5
DDR 5 = Double Data Rate ver. 5

It's basically just a marketing thing. They call it graphics DDR because it's DDR dedicated to graphics memory, which is the case for all DDR on gfx cards.

Angrymorgan4073d ago

Oh thanks for reply dude + bubbs

Sarcasm4072d ago (Edited 4072d ago )

Its not just a marketing thing. It also had to do with latency and timings. DDR had lower latency and tighter timings, while GDDR has higher bandwidth.

It has been proven by multiple tech oriented websites that latency and timings does not improve GAMING performance. See Tom's hardware or anandtech.

Clockspeed and bandwidth has also been shown to dramatically improve performance on AMDs APUs.

The reason we only see this on high end graphics cards is because it needs to be faster to handle the textures, shaders, effects, post processing, etc.

Now that Sony chose to use 8GB GDDR5 unified meaning it is both for the CPU and GPU to use freely.

Gamesgbkiller4073d ago

Big difference.
double the speed.

nikoado4073d ago (Edited 4073d ago )

The Watch Dogs guy described how they're using the touchpad.

"in Watch Dogs it allows us to directly refer to the way our main character, Aiden Pearce, interfaces with his smartphone, his primary tool to hack into the city systems.So the player has a natural and direct way of using his avatar's device."

That sounds nice and intuitive to me. It's a cool little addition in my opinion.

190°

Epic CEO: Apple Is Next after Google; We'll Put Fortnite on Any Store (Even Steam) Without 30% Fee

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney promised to continue his fight against Apple. He also said he'd put Fortnite on Steam if it lowered the 30% fee.

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wccftech.com
Sciurus_vulgaris128d ago

Apple has a right to not allow Fortnite on its store and platform. Epic intentionally broke a contract, and publicly gloated about said infraction.

CrashMania128d ago

Unless I'm missing something, but what gives epic the right to host their game wherever they want and dictate the cut that storefronts charge for this service? Without these storefronts they wouldn't make any money.

But I've not been following all these cases closely so correct me if I'm wrong.

sparky77128d ago

Exactly this.

Epic can easily just go ahead and make their own Android storefront like they did on PC but they won't instead they want to use Google's and not have to pay for the privilege of doing so.

127d ago
ApocalypseShadow128d ago

No correction needed. You've summed up the issue Apple has with them and I have with them. Epic has gotten bigger and has become greedier. And willing to break rules to get what they want. But act as though they are in the right.

It would be like my walking into a retail store with my products and telling the company that I'm going to sell my products and services inside there and that they will not charge me a fee or have to lower that fee to my benefit. I'd throw them out and never look back.

They are trying to kill Apple's cut and dictate what others can charge them for setting up shop in other stores.

I like UE Tech. But in this instance, F em.

shinoff2183128d ago

Exactly shadow. I'm not understanding epics logic. Go try that sh at Walmart mart and see what they tell you, Costco, or any store. They sell shelf space essentially.

gerbintosh127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

"Unless I'm missing something, but what gives epic the right to host their game wherever they want and dictate the cut that storefronts charge for this service? "

It has been rumored that Netflix and Amazon did this exact same thing, lower the cut of the product that they sell on the app stores. Epic probably thought they were big enough to do the same

"Without these storefronts they wouldn't make any money."

Without Google/Apple storefronts Epic would just make their own. A lot of kids like fortnite and they would install the Epic store to play it. Problem solved.

People tend to forget that the app stores are in a symbiotic relationship with the developers. Without the developers Apple/Google don't get paid the billions in fees they charge. The developers need the app store to get their 70% cut of the product they generated.

If another store came along, that charged less fees, developers would test the waters and probably leave Apple/Google store, eventually. This is what Apple and Google don't want, free market choice.

Seafort127d ago (Edited 127d ago )

Free market choice hasn't changed much on the PC platform. Steam is still the number one digital store. Epic is so far behind it's not funny and they still haven't made any profit whatsoever.

This all started with Epic breaking the ToS of the Apple store by circumventing their payment system so Epic could get 100% of the profits.

There is only one bad guy here and it's not Apple or Google. It is their stores and Epic will play by their rules or have their games banned forever.

Jin_Sakai128d ago (Edited 128d ago )

“Epic CEO: Apple Is Next after Google; We'll Put Fortnite on Any Store (Even Steam) Without 30% Fee“

These companies that allow your games on their store are bringing you million upon million of users so they should get some cut, possibly 15% or even 10% would be acceptable.

Tacoboto127d ago

The problem is that Epic decided on their own one day they were too good to pay Apple's 30% royalty (that's consistent across most digital marketplaces).

Should it be lower? Absolutely. But Epic acted selfishly and stupidly; they risked the future of Unreal Engine on Apple platforms, and Fortnite got removed from a platform with hundreds of millions of devices and users that love buying anything on the App Store.

Who knows, if they didn't cut off that huge revenue stream and launch expensive self-serving lawsuits, maybe they wouldn't have had those layoffs

shinoff2183128d ago (Edited 128d ago )

Yay another overly rich company suing another overly rich company. Bet when they win all these cases, that your still spending the same amount of money on your skins and whatever other bs they sell on fortnite. These guys aren't looking out for the consumers interest only their own.

By chance if they do the opposite of what I said I'll eat it, but this is the same publisher that couldn't even bother to bring a aaa title to physical release. Fking j offs

anast127d ago

I wish it was another game than Fortnite.

Show all comments (21)
120°

Epic Games CEO addresses layoffs, reveals future of Fortnite

After laying off numerous employees, Tim Sweeney, the company’s founder and CEO, sent an email about the situation. The 52-year-old businessman clarified why the layoffs happened and even shed some light on the future of Fortnite.

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epicgames.com
Jin_Sakai202d ago (Edited 202d ago )

Good on them doing this at least.

“we’re offering a severance package that includes six months base pay and in the US/Canada/Brazil six months of Epic-paid healthcare. We’re offering to accelerate people’s stock option vesting schedule through the end of 2024 and are giving two additional years from today to exercise the options. In the US we’re also offering to vest any unearned profit sharing from their 401k. And we’ll provide benefits including career transition services and visa support where we can.”

Knightofelemia202d ago

I wonder how much of a bonus the CEO will get after this decision?

PRIMORDUS202d ago

Too much will be the amount.

BISHOP-BRASIL201d ago

Would be "too much" for us, but probably it's "not enough" for the greedy bastard...

INMATEofARKHAM202d ago

Epic makes way too much money to have to lay people off of the spent that money smartly. Tim wasted money on exclusives for their store when it could have gone to paychecks for people.

Mikeyy202d ago

Epic put all their eggs in one basket with fortnite, they should have continued with the development of unreal tournament and got that game going as an arena shooter that's free to play with a huge cosmetic cash shop.

But your CEO knows what their doing.... laying off people so the board doesn't see exactly how much you stuck. The usual playbook.

70°

Making Starfield with Bethesda's Todd Howard - The AIAS Game Maker's Notebook

Ted Price chats with Todd Howard about Bethesda's much anticipated spacefaring RPG, Starfield.

anast204d ago

Take notes people, you are about to get a masterclass in hustling.