Every PlayStation fan needs to know who Shahid Ahmad is

PSU writes:

"Shahid Kamal Ahmad is the most important man in PlayStation gaming right now. And you don't even know who he is.

Well, you probably don't, but if that's the case, you most certainly will. Think about how big the last few months have been for Sony and indie development. Shahid Ahmad is responsible for most of it."

[yesmynameissumo]

I'm really impressed by Sony's push to embrace indies. It doesn't feel like a gimmick or afterthought. The people seem to actually give a damn. Support the indie devs!

[Slapshot82]

Shahid Kamal Ahmad is also a really great guy. I've spoken with him many times on Twitter and not only is he fantastic at his job, but he's a very compassionate personal as well.

[No FanS Land]

I just actually tweeted with him about design ideas. and he answered back. I thought I could ask him on how to get a gamer's idea in SCE's hands.

[Tultras]

I'm from Pakistan and I find that statement slightly insulting.

[MakiSaad2]

@zeee
That's racist

[irepbtown]

Reminds me of Dice and their @Battlefield Twitter account. They answer any question you have, they act on any problems and they are just awesome to talk to.

To read about this is great, more people need to embrace this and understand the power of Twitter.

I think it's time for me to follow Shahid Ahmad.

[zeee]

OMG! You guys are crazy! I was IMPRESSED and was NOT sarcastic! Seriously? What the heck is wrong with you people? Why do you think everyone's sarcastic or racist? What the world's full of only crazy racist as**les? What did I even say? SHEESHH!!!

[showtimefolks]

Oh what a shock a gamer like us understands what we want because he wants the same thing

Games

Major Nelson learn something, next time you over hype ordering pizza on kinect instead give us news on a game instead

2 companies who have their priorities very different

One looking to be all in one more cable box than game system
Other trying to be only a gaming console

Waiving fees of indie such a smart moves

[Shepherd 214]

Did you know that MS has embraced indie games for years now? There are hundreds upon hundreds of indie arcade games and an actual section on the XBL marketplace dedicated to amatuer created indie games.

Sony and Steam Greenlight are pretty late to the party compared to MS.

[showtimefolks]

shepherd 214

i know and thats great but did you know ms makes it pretty hard for indie developers, also they still charge a fee to indie developers

so sony with ps4 wont be doing that and i hope ms do the same thing with next xbox

[DigitalRaptor]

@ Shepherd 214

MS has allowed and made it very accessible for indies to bring games to Xbox 360 through XNA and self-publishing.

MS has NOT embraced what it is that indies want after they can get their self-financed games on the system. Look at the issues that indie devs talk about when it comes to MS and you'll see that embracing something is more than simply opening the door.

Sony have become very humbling in their approach to developers and their games in recent years. Especially when it comes to developer relations and their openness to ideas. PS4 is going to blow this wide open, but Vita is the first in line.

[wolokowoh]

@DigitalRaptor XNA does not equal supporting indies. It's not nearly the same thing Sony is doing now and has been doing with the Pub fund. Also "Steam is pretty late to the game" Really? Steam and PC is where most of the great indie games are. PC is the easiest platform to develop for and Steam is the easiest to put games on. There's great stuff on XBLA but there's just as much on PSN and way more on Steam.

[StraightPath]

Indie games have been on xbox live for years now. Sony is catching up and copying Microsoft. You can twll by the comments who are sony fan boys and do not own a xbox thinking it is new loool

[DigitalRaptor]

@ wolokowoh

Well done for not reading my whole comment. Would've served you better.

@ StraightPath

No one is doubting that indie games have been on Xbox Live for years, but that's no reason to brush off factual information as "fanboy" nonsense.

Read my comment above and realize that opening a door to allow indie games to be on your network as Microsoft have done, is not the same as "embracing" indies and truly supporting them, which is what Microsoft HAVEN'T done.

And if Sony is catching up and "copying" Microsoft, they're doing a heck of a better job at embracing the people behind the games. We'll see come May 21st and beyond how deep Microsoft's relationship with indie developers goes.

[arronax-1]

Oh man, even Adult Swim called them out on that.

[Legion]

@DigitalRaptor

Go ahead as a regular person and try and even research how YOU can put an Indie game onto Vita or PS3.

Then go ahead and check out how you can put an Indie game on MSN platform.

MS gives you FREE XNA tools to develop your indie title. You can do EVERYTHING you need with an XNA community that will back you up at every turn.

And a simple small fee when you choose to put it on XBL.

Try the same with Sony... and you won't even get your foot in the door.

Been there done it... Sony is still lagging behind in TRUE Indie support.

[showtimefolks]

Legion

Well that's why they are changing with ps4, no one denying the fact PSN service could have been a lot better

But what you are missing is MS makes it hell for indie developers too just search and google and see all the complains

And Sony is doing away with all fees and stuff so total freedom from the which platform to launch on,date,price etc,

[NobleTeam360]

So you only support Indie development because Sony is making a push for Indie development?

[yesmynameissumo]

No. I support Sony's push for indies so that the indie community can flourish. Don't be mad your console of choice dropped the ball and Sony picked it up.

[felicia88]

my co-worker's aunt makes $64 an hour on the laptop. She has been fired from work for 8 months but last month her check was $21608 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Read more on this site... WWW.FOX86.COM

[NobleTeam360]

I support both Sony and Microsoft. I'm not biased towards any single console like yourself.

[yesmynameissumo]

I freely admit I think the 360 is trash. I went through 8 of those damn things, so my bias is warranted. I don't force others to think like me. Like what you want to like. I do.

[majiebeast]

I know who he is, he is doing a killer job at SCEE. I think the entire 10 man team deserves alot of praise, for what they are doing. Sony as a company is just embracing indie gaming, with the new indie store(can still find them on the normal store pages) and all these delicious indie games like Hotline Miami and Guacamelee.

[ltachiUchiha]

I definitely can see indie games being very successful for the ps4 & if u have a ps vita, u can take your game on the go. PSN will definitely improve drastically with the ps4.

[morgenpimm]

I can definitely see you seeing that, er itachi.
Uchiha Itachi!!!!!

[ltachiUchiha]

I see that u have fallen under my Genjutsu. 1000 years of torcher all in a glance of seconds. Ask kakashi. =]

[PrinceOfAnger]

lol

[sherimae2413]

keep up the good work shahid... ^_^
and can you tease us with more upcoming vita games, pwease.. ^_^

[NastyLeftHook0]

nice name. it flows well, very exotic no hmo.

[GamersRulz]

his name is Arabic, means Witness :)

[AliTheSnake1]

his name is شهيد or شاهد
martyr or witness

[bigfish]

wow, thats freaky,, he actually is a witness for indie development, can anyone else see this connection

[fsfsxii]

The arabic guy on twitter, he brings some good news.

[Sanquine90]

killerorca gtfo !!! racist

[killerorca258]

Far from racist, I'm an Aboriginal, so show a little tact before you go accusing someone falsely. It was a bad joke, and I apologize that i offended you. But it wasn't an attack on Arabs as a race, it wasn't even an attack on Muslims. It was a comment made because I was pointing out that regardless of what anyone says, there are intelligent and friendly Arabs like Shahid. I myself have been subject to racist attacks, and the reason I said Osama bin Laden was because I don't like him because of his actions not his race or religion.

[Sanquine90]

I thought the joke was a little bit ingnorant. Thats all.

[MWH]

@14Feb-R you don't know what you're talking about.

[killerorca258]

He's half right. Whilst most muslims respect other people's rights to life, beliefs, and race, unfortunately their religion is built on the teachings of a man who believes that unbelievers should be murdered without hesitation. My dad spent a lot of time in Arabia 25 years ago and knows what the die-hard Jihads are like. He was in the military and was nearly axed when he and his mates were walking through the streets while the prayers were sounding over the speakers.

[b_one]

another hoax

[Christopher]

More important, IMHO, than anything this article mentions and from his LinkdIn profile: "Shahid is the founder of "Beyond the Final Boss", a movement showing young people that there is hope after bullying, through inspirational stories told by games industry figures."

[ironfist92]

What a boss.

"Vlambeer's Rami Ismail, creator of Super Crate Box (pictured below), told IGN that when his demonstration PS Vita was stolen during an expo last year, Shahid gave Rami his personal Vita so the demos could continue."

[coolbeans]

That's an enlightening piece of info. He seems to be someone who wants to help the little guy on all fronts.

[Gazondaily]

Haha 'Beyond the final boss'. Genius really.

What a nice guy and this grass root approach of Sony's is just amazing. From console development, to the way the controller works, to supporting indie developers, the PS4 appears as if it's been moulded by the industry at large. I never expected any machine to show so Mich promise so early on.

[TheTwelve]

Ok, I'll follow him on Twitter.

[sandman224]

More power to Sony. I hope they put a whooping on Microsoft next gen. This guy is cool. We both have the same middle name. It must be an Arab thing ;-)

[r21]

He's such a fun nice guy. Love what he and his team has been doing for the ps vita. We've got Kaz for all of Sony, Cerny for the PS4 and Shahid for the vita :D

[teflontactics]

I would have to agree completely with this article.

Shahid is the man when it comes to indies on the Vita, and us Vita guys got to stick together! =D

[Swiggins]

This guy kicks ass, much love.

[radecGaming]

I know who he is .... he's an awsome guy!

[abzdine]

we gamers need passionate guys like him!

[Arai]

One of the cases of give credit where it's due.
The guy even works at 05:36AM on his tablet, trying to find indie games.

That's some serious love, dedication and passion for one's job.
What you're seeing is the thriving force of the industry (and gamers of course).

[remanutd55]

Frankly i dont really care who he is but im starting to feel a little concern about psvita's future because this guy is excited only about one amazing title, but why only one? why not 5? 7? 9? AMAZING titles coming to the psvita? and that amazing title he is talking about needs to be released like yesterday!!!! vita is in need of amazing AAA games right now, is concerning to me that after Soul Sacrifice we dont have another AAA title coming out before Killzone Mercenary, this is the time sony needs to push the psvita.

[DoesUs]

You don't know who he is and your only basing things from what he said about one title? If you did your research about him...you might surprise yourself.

[remanutd55]

lol that doesnt change the fact that the system is in need of more AMAZING AAA titles right now, why all the tease? why they dont unveil the game? heck even better why they dont release it ASAP? Vita needs more than one AMAZING title right now, i would be very happy if he would have said there are at least 5 AMAZING titles coming to the system soon, now that would be awesome but you guys pee yourselves for just one game? you have to be kidding me.

Open your eyes, demand more.

[DoesUs]

Whoose pee'ing themselves again?

And bombarding him via Twitter will get you nowhere.

[remanutd55]

He needs to know there is at least one playstation fan demanding more and not kissing his ass.

And if i see him at E3 i will let him know how i feel about their support to the little system, i have invested in their product so i have the right to demand.

[BlaqMagiq24]

I highly doubt you'll see him at E3 if you don't even care who he is. You have the right to demand, however demanding more instead of showing respect for what he's trying to do not only will get you nowhere but makes you look like an ass at the same time. PS3 and PSP went through the same thing the Vita is going through. How about you have something called patience? Sheesh, the sense of entitlement from people like you is truly absurd.

[remanutd55]

Some of you fanboys are something else. Long live sony uh? they cant do any wrong, happy with what they always offer? no demand for improvement? the system is struggling a lot there must be a reason (if not reasons) but hey in this site one is not allowed to have their own opinions, just look at all the disagrees, some of you are really funny.

Patience? yea i have been hearing that word for over a year now, this E3 is a make or break for me as a psvita owner. Tired of all the promises (yea Killzone3 im looking at you) but ps4 here i come!!!!!

[DoesUs]

Top man doing a top job. I know him and he's a really genuine guy who cares very much about the job he's doing.

[illtornworld]

Every PlayStation figure has passion for their jobs :-)

[WickedLester]

Indie titles have been some of the most enjoyable on PS3. Titles such as Journey, Flow, Flower, The Unfinished Swan, Fat Princess, Super StardustHD, Pixeljunk Shooters, Guacamele, etc have been a blast to play! I welcome even more indie titles to appear on PS4

[gazgriff2k12]

Bastian and minecraft would be cool on vita

[KillrateOmega]

Very cool guy.

[OllieBoy]

I've been following him on Twitter for a few months now. He's doing an amazing job.

[stuntman_mike]

I still wanna know when the walking dead comes out on vita.

[strigoi814]

Shahid Kamal Ahmad now I know your name be warned I will freaking hunt you down.. strap you and cover your eyes.. and I will hug you tightly to thanks for the effort anonymous style.. lolz

[S2Killinit]

Yes we get it, he is arab and you are proud, we are happy for you haha jk

[DivineAssault]

I like the direction sony is going with their business.. Everything too a turn for the better

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Chad Warden is far more important in the Playstation community.

[whamlollypop7]

Sony knows how to cultivate talent, just look at all exclusives they have released this gen many of the best titles.

[Subzero200]

"Every PlayStation fan needs to know who Shahid Ahmad is"

know or care?

[-Gespenst-]

Seems like a cool guy. Together with Mark Cerny I think Playstation's at least partly in some good, genuine hands.

[isyourhouseonfire]

Indies have proven they don't sell enough to make a difference in the bottom line. Sony, don't take this step in the wrong direction.

[BABY-JEDI]

Popularity is a curse that I will never suffer from... LoL.
Anybody want to review my stamp collection ?