Talking to Gamasutra as part of an in-depth new interview, D3 Publisher of America COO Yoji Takenaka has been discussing the state of the Japanese game biz, suggesting the "learning curve" of PS3 and Xbox 360 development "is hurting the industry" in Japan.
Takenaka explains that the expense of development has something to do with it: "It takes money -- 10 or 20 million dollars for the first title on the PlayStation 3. I think Japanese publishers are treating 360 like a second or third format, or not thinking about it, except for bigger publishers. That learning curve is hurting the industry, I think.
At the same time, Nintendo's business model is great. Selling hardware at a low price point... it's very affordable, whereas 360 is more expensive, and the PlayStation 3 is initially a big loss. That's why I think Nintendo's gaining more share. It's like 70 or 80 percent of the business is Nintendo, now, in Japan."
In the full feature, Takenaka talks beyond Puzzle Quest, the title that put the publisher on the map in the U.S. to the early 2008 release of its Digital Extremes-developed Dark Sector, providing a candid and in-depth look at the little-known but significant publisher's business strategy for next-gen development.
From GamesBeat: "505 Games and its parent company Digital Bros announced today the acquisition of Infinity Plus Two, the studio behind puzzle game hits Puzzle Quest and Gems of War.
The deal gives 505 Games a studio with free-to-play experience. Infinity Plus Two’s titles have earned over $200 million in revenue. 505 was already the publisher for Gems of War."
RPG elements are everywhere! Lots of games add these extra features, creating surprisingly impressive hybrids.
Carl Williams writes, "The PlayStation Portable was Sony’s first stand alone portable and boy was it a special platform. The power of this bad boy was about on par with the PlayStation 2 console, could play PSOne titles, had a large library (over 1,300 games worldwide), and it was one of the first portables to offer Internet surfing out of the box. Whew. That is a lot of games for fans to sift through, a lot are region specific releases (but the PSP is not region locked). Here are my Top 10 PlayStation Portable games – got a beef with one? Let me know in the comments!10) Mega Man Powered Up"
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This could just be D3 crying out for attention because according to wikipedia, they really made a big impact game since Puzzle Quest. All their hope right now depends on Dark Sector and it really hasn't been attracting that much attention last time I checked.
Just because of that, I'll buy more cereal than Nintendo products
Dark Sector is an upcoming survival horror game. And by upcoming I mean in a year or so. It was featured in a past issue of Game Informer.
EDIT: Apparently, when I said "in a year or so", I meant it in dog years. It's coming out in early '08. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets delayed though.