Sucker Punch job listings, reveal upcoming 'AAA title'

Fans of inFAMOUS might be excited to hear Sucker Punch is already thinking about their next project. But what might each position allude to?

A 'Lead Character Artist', a requirement of which is to be "aware of current urban style and street fashion".

An 'Art Director' to improve the aesthetic quality of future games.

A 'Lead Animator' to take the character performances to "the next level of depth, believability and impact"

And a 'Network Programmer' to implement an "on-line component for our forthcoming AAA title".

inFAMOUS sequel, with improved graphics/animation and an online component? We'll be waiting a while for the announcement, for sure.

[Natsu X FairyTail]

I shall say the same thing somebody said about Halo today .

Phosphor words

"Terms like AAA and etc were used for reviewers and consumers to rate a game. Then all of a sudden developers started using it as a PR term and its BS. I'm sick of it. You can't announce an AAA game until its been reviewed"

All further comments about this being great and AAA shall be deleted.

[Blaze929]

It's so lame and I'm getting sick of hearing "AAA". What the hell is AAA and why are developers using it now? Like seriously. Then when/if the game flops when reviews come that term will loose all meaning and they will look dumb.

[NO_PUDding]

Huh? How will you delete them?

As for the matter at hand. It's not a 'PR' term, and it's not even a marketing term, which I am sure is what you meant.

It purely means they are creating a game that is going to be aiming for critical and commercial success, and will therefore have a 'triple A' budget.

It's all about the investment and forecast. They aren't marketing it or being arrogant.

[aldesko]

Yeah, I can't wait for a dev to have a job listing for a "AA title"

Also, can't wait for Sucker Punch's next project. Network programmer = co-op, I hope... unless it's infamous 2. I wonder how that would work.

[Johnny Rotten]

I always thought AAA was a battery?

[Blaze929]

ROFL ok, I lol'd

[RememberThe357]

has put out nothing but quality titles. So when they say AAA (not the battery lol) I'll take their word for it.

[Boody-Bandit]

Roadside assistance: battery service, lost keys, flat tire, out of gas, and towing.

[thereapersson]

Considering XBOX 360 fanboys were the ones who started that whole "games must be AAA to be relevant", bullsh1t. Funny how you're only complaining because it's a PS3 developer saying it.

[Whut]

thereapson did you miss the article yesterday talking about halo reach? ps3 fanboys were on it saying how do they know it will be AAA? so this is the same thing and hed did say I will say something somebody said in the halo thread so this should have ringed a bell in your head and noticed that it was a ps3 fan who said that.

[callahan09]

I think AAA is being used in a similar sense as Blockbuster is used for movies. It means that a lot of money and time are sank into it, and it's intended to be a big thing. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with quality.

Like the new Transformers movie. It got horrible reviews, but it was a big, expensive production that was marketed like crazy and people went to see it in droves. When I hear developers or publishers talking about their game being AAA, I think it means they're not pulling any punches with the production, that it's going to be a big, expensive blockbuster of a game with larger than life advertisements.

You know, the first inFamous was advertised in movie theaters. I consider that to be larger than life advertising. Same goes with big billboards for videogames (there's a Left 4 Dead billboard, or at there was a couple of months ago, it may or may not still be there, on the Jersey Turnpike), or murals that take up the sides of buildings (Grand Theft Auto IV, Final Fantasy XIII, Resistance 2). These games were all big, expensive productions, with big, expensive advertising campaigns.

That's what they mean by AAA. They've got something like that up their sleeve. In other words, they're not making a small game, a cheap game, or a game that they are anticipating giving little or no marketing push to.

A game like Braid, for instance, got incredible scores, but you wouldn't call it AAA by this definition. Same goes for a movie like, I dunno, The Hurt Locker, which is getting amazing reviews, but it's far from a Blockbuster. It just isn't that sort of production, and it isn't the sort of movie to get that marketing push. So for me, I liken the term AAA game to Blockbuster movie. It helps to understand what these developers and publishers are implying, because obviously every publisher/developer is going to tell you their game is "good."

AAA connotes a caliber, not a quality.

[shingo]

.

[rbanke]

That isnt actually correct. The term 'AAA' was allways used to refer to the scope of the project. To say 'This is a AAA game' meant that this is a project of high budget, high quality. It NEVER meant anything about the ratings or fun of a game, only the investment into the project. Gamers are who took the term and misused it to mean 'good game'.

So when a dev says AAA game, they typically mean that you should expect this to be above average as far as money put into it (like the reverse of saying 'low budget').

I think it started being thought of as 'good game' because people like to say 'xxx game is a AAA quality game', which would be a compliment to say a low budget game turned out to be very high quality. (not nessisarily fun).

[All Time Greatness]

Rofl wheres Phosphor now?? And whats funny is Infamous wasnt even AAA, Sucker Puncher haven't even made a AAA games this generation...their just saying so. Bungie used it, but they ALWAYS make a AAA game. :)

[pippoppow]

Keep it going. Your almost at the same level as socomiss or whatever his name is. You clearly never have anything constructive let alone anything positive to say about anything PS3 related. Also your delusional threat of deleting posts is beyond dumb. Sucker Punch is a proven high quality Dev that outputs great titles. I'm sure if they would make games for your precious console of choice you'd be practically dry humping them just like a certian manufacturer you worship. Natsu your quickly becoming a laughing stock. Maybe one day your comments will rival the quality of the games Sucker Punch delivers although I doubt it FANBOY.

[mastiffchild]

@Natsu-while I would usually wholeheartedly agree with you that the use of AAA preemptively by devs is wrong I don't see how that's fair here.

They're only using it as they're after top people and are stating their intent for the game to be AAA, no?

In a sense they're just asking for only AAA people to apply. This wasn't PR it was a job ad and in this context SP are doing little wrong, if anything whatsoever. The ad is meant to be read and reacted to by peopl;e ith the tlent neded to make a great game and isn't something intended to be seen or pored over by the l;ikes of N4G users.

[Xbox Avatars Shoe]

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:)

[ObviousTruth]

if you're a ps3 fanboy...and there's a ps3 exclusive title...that means it's AAA. that's what AAA means. that's why really horrid games only need to sell a small fraction of what games like gears of halo sell to be called AAA. but then those games aren't great or even good. it's a hypocrisy.

the games that sell best are trash if they aren't ps3 exclusives, but if they only sell average or worse, they are great. that's why even though prototype destroyed infamous in sales, infamous is still the better game. lol... what a joke. you can't win unless your game is a ps3 exclusive. then even when you're lame game loses money, you're still a winner.

[Blaze929]

If its inFamous 2 this pretty much confirms a co-op mode and/or competitive modes which would be sweet. Battle will be Crackdown 2 vs inFamous 2. *sigh*, I can see it now.

[Beast_Master]

That be Infamous Too and not Infamous 2? jk, Hopefully the sly cooper fanboys have played inFamous by now and can agree that Sucker Punch needs to make the sequel the top priority.

[OmarJA]

Another great exclusive title from Sucker Punch, can't wait. :)

[-MD-]

Hopefully it sells well this time.

[thereapersson]

inFAMOUS is selling at a decent pace, and will continue to sell well throughout its lifespan -- just like Uncharted, or any other quality PS3 exclusive game.

[Aeroglyphics]

As a matter of fact it's sales seem to be increasing as time goes on. It's a great game.

[-MD-]

Nah every week the sales drop quite a bit actually.

254k
132k
74k
54k
44k
35k

[life doomer]

XBOX TROLL ALERT... ALERT... ALERT....!

[Narutone66]

since they don't have any games for their console. And they have the nerve to complain when the PS3 fans troll their pitiful thread.