Unsurprisingly, we’re pretty hyped for the PlayStation 5 here at Push Square Towers – but Platinum Games boss Atsushi Inaba isn’t sharing our enthusiasm. Speaking with VGC at E3 2019, he told the site that it’s “hard to get excited about” Sony’s next-gen console when it sounds like “more of the same”. He added that he’s much more passionate about upcoming cloud platforms, like Google Stadia.
“It’s okay,” he said of the upcoming slate of brand new systems. “And by that I mean, I’m sure that things will move faster, graphics will be better and maybe it will be easier with less wait times – that’s good for the consumer. But it’s more of the same, quite frankly, compared to previous generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive or super innovative, if you ask me.”
Inaba went on to suggest that he preferred the more exotic architectures of older consoles, which weren’t built using off-the-shelf parts. Of course, PlayStation famously pivoted from this after the PS3’s exotic CELL architecture caused countless headaches for developers – and probably cost the PS4 backwards compatibility, too.
“For me, things like cloud platforms represent innovation and something very, very different – they’re platforms that excite me and where I feel there is a lot more innovation happening,” Inaba added, although we’d argue that he probably doesn’t know the full extent of the PS5’s features yet. The ingenious Share button was a huge addition to the PS4, for example.
We do understand where the Platinum Games man is coming from – it does sound like the next round of consoles will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. But with new hardware comes new capabilities, and while developers will be working with well-established tools, we’d argue that it’s up to them to leverage the systems in new and unique ways.
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 133
It’s good to hear a different take on it to be honest. As for the ingenious share button, I dunno, I think mine has probably seized up at this point.
He's a Google Stadia mole.
stop with the clickbait headlines pls
It's a bit rich considering their the same studio that allowed a shoddy port of Bayonetta to be made by another team because they prioritized the 360 version instead (probably due to the more challenging PS3).
The fact he puts over Stadia instead speaks volumes.
"But it’s more of the same, quite frankly, compared to previous generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive or super innovative, if you ask me.”
Isnt this exactly what Devs Asked for last gen? To NOT have drastically different architectures? You would think that being able to use your existing in-house engine on next gen as opposed to starting from scratch would be considered a plus. 🤷🏾♂️
well it's hard to inovate without it just being another gimmick
"He added that he’s much more passionate about upcoming cloud platforms, like Google Stadia."
Good, now I know never have to take this man seriously again.
"The ingenious Share button was a huge addition to the PS4, for example."
Hahahahaha! See?
lol this is coming from company that screwed ps3 version of bayonetta and bungled up exclusive games not to mention shoddy pc port [nier]
@Useyourname funny thing is, Stadia is only innovative as a delivery system. As far as spec and architecture it's not much different from PS5 or Project Scarlett. So what is he really saying? Lol
In the end developers want a system that easy to develop, I don’t think there’s any devs that want this exotic hardware anymore. It’s better to use the budget for expensive hardware like ssd rather than weird unconventional tech like cell cpu imo.
Yeah it's better to make Bayonetta 2 and 3 for Switch only cause the graphics are all lower quality and it's easier/less expensive to make 🙂
I'm a big fan of Platinum Games but you can't say to me PS5 and the next Xbox aren't worth getting excited about in one sentence and espouse the virtues of Stadia (or cloud gaming in general) in the next and expect me to take that seriously.
well i thought he had a point about how the next gen will be more of a evolution than a revolution (which isn't necessarily a bad thing)
then he mentioned Stadia and his opinion flew right out of the window
Fair enough. Platinum seem to be loving the Switch so if he isn’t a fan of the PS5, that’s fair enough. I’ll have both so no skin off my nose.
Its not the same though as we are moving from 1080p to 4-8k resolution. Plus backwards compatibility. Prpbably an upgraded vr . Im excited about ps5 especially 8k thats gonna be amazing
@3Above yeah, how is developing for google stadia any different than developing for scarlett/PS5?? they dont code for the stream box they code the game for the server rack themselves, and they're built using the same off the shelf parts (as in off the shelf server parts) right??
Platinum games is hard to get excited about 😯
Snarkiness aside why is a games developer not excited about the prospect have having a very significant CPU upgrade? The potential for what they can achieve surely must increase substantially and I find it worrying that the boss of a developer isn't excited by such a thing
@Amppari The Internet continues to misunderstand the meaning of "clickbait" I see.
We had the share button AND PSVR this gen. That's revolutionary enough for my liking. Title was a little clickbaity though guys 🤔
Give me a break dude. It is plenty innovative. Just not the way you like. I would argue having ray tracing and the fastest ssd drive is great innovation. Cloud gaming is terrible. As soon as I dont own my games it's full time retro gaming for me. I'll break out my rgb modded duo-r and play on my production video monitor with all its spritely glory.
Well I perfectly see where he is coming from. I've a hard time since a year or so to get excited for any of the big upcoming games, regardless of platform. If those games would look even nicer or load faster, it wouldn't change a thing that I'm not excited.
I do think though that everything cloud (especially gaming) is the cancer.
@carlos82 platinum games loves that unique system archs, they love spending over a year to relearn the unique pipeline,and another just to develop the game and of course Nier automata runs real frickin great on PC when they ported it. no performance dip whatsoever thumbs up platinum games
I'd argue that we've reached a technological threshold where the possibilities are somewhat limitless. All that counts is profitability and this will severely limit creative freedom. Look at the many great indie games out there, they won't need super fast SSDs or ultra high res 24K HDR PRO yaddayadda crap.
Sorry.
"You know that thing everybody wants and can't wait for? It sucks! Now, this other thing nobody at all cares about or actively despises? That's the coolest thing ever!"
Sounds like a Hipster to me... That, or he's paid by Google
It has to be evolutionary because it takes 5years to make a game you'd only get 1 game out of a system's game engine
@Useyourname It wasn't him who mentioned the share button?
@3Above I think it’s in concept... like you can play anywhere so long as you have a decent connection...and can seamlessly go from your smartphone to your PC to your Tablet... which is cool.
Is it hard to get excited about someone possibly swearing off your studio's game when Stadia's unproven tech has some hiccups, Mr. Inaba?
I for one am super excited for Ps5. Let's look at how many amazing first party properties Sony has. That will be even more astounding with increased technology. The biggest thing is the increased cpu speed which will enable innovative ai in games. No matter what Sony does we always have the people who are too cool to be impressed by anything. Especially on this site. Some of the commenters are like caricatures in that regard. But it's good for a hearty laugh!
So just like most of their games tbh. Nothing special.
Well I've been saying time and time again if we're only going to be counting pixels and FPS then it's not really exciting. How about more intelligent and realistic AI. How about characters actually getting things out of their pockets animations. How about wound stains remaining on characters for longer periods. This why Rockstar and Naughty Dog excites me.
What a predictable and salty bunch you are here.... it’s not a personal pop at you....He is right. This next gen and the pro and X... they just aren’t exciting.... games will look better and possibly run and at more stable rate.... hardly gonna change the face of gaming... I feel ps3 to PS4 was same never mind the internal parts.... I just mean the gaming experience.... the leap from ps1 to ps2 and from ps2 to ps3 was huge in terms of game size, graphics etc
@TheArt thats all up to devs tho right?
@Derpie1 yea I agree. But that's a delivery system like Discs or cartridges. If X cloud or PS Now gets apps for smartphones and other devices would he be excited?
It just seems weird that a games developer isnt excited by better hardware but rather by a different way to deliver games that are already out.
@TheArt exactly. This guy is right. FPS and high resolution won’t make deep better games
Better hardware enables more innovation in gameplay, Ai, environments ect. But it's up to the devs to leverage that power and do something cool with it.
@Amplified ya beat me to it 😏
@Amplified Yeah why is it a revolution Google stadia. Its a streaming service i thought these things are already there. But its the same studio that made the horrible PS3 Bayonetta and said that the chip was too hard too program for.
@Amplified Yes and when the consumer keeps getting excited about higher pixels and FPS, Devs are definitely going to push for that and leave us with hands sliding over objects to automatically pick them up, all in glorious 8K. Or a billion armour and weapons all invisibly in your character's pockets. I want something groundbreaking.
@Flaming_Kaiser yeah, I get he's not excited about the next gen consoles but PSVR is still a thing, and I do believe that VR is the next step in gaming yet we barely only have a handful of decent titles and I dont see his company developing one. (heck even from software developed a VR)
'we’d argue that it’s up to them to leverage the systems in new and unique ways.'
That's the most common sense part I take from the article.
The cloud ? Yea sure go for those 2 billion 'gamers" man.
Its hard to innovate when we have realistic 3D environments filled with AI (NPC's, Enemies, Wildlife etc), Spatial High Quality Audio ans a massive palette of colours too.
Where else can 'innovation' come from? Going from 2D to 3D or hearing proper human speech (not digitised) with a full orchestra soundtrack etc etc. You cannot have these 'big' steps in gaming anymore. Its that law of diminishing returns now which may look a bit prettier and more realistic lighting thanks to ray tracing but doubling the Polygon count isn't going to make a massive difference. Having 1billion colours in your palette isn't going to suddenly revolutionise the look compared to the 16million colours that they had before. Everything is more iterative, improving and refining things to a greater degree.
I guess the only thing that can 'change' gaming is the VR where they can literally put you into the game - the Red Dwarf 'Better than Life' version of VR. Anything less is just more polish, more refinement etc of the VR we have today. When the processing power to run to screens and at a high frame rate and resolution to match the quality and density of games on a TV screen.
Even if they made a game that was like watching a movie with real lifelike characters, AI etc, its still more iterative than revolutionary. Games like GTSport and Forza can 'look' ultra realistic now. Nothing can be ground breaking any more because those 'milestones' have all been met. You cannot rediscover 3D for example, cannot unhear perfect audio quality, cannot unsee the realism in games - its all iterative steps built on top of what we have already experienced.
@MadAussieBloke brilliant
@TheArt like I said, leveraging the power of the new systems is up to the devs, whether they want to push for that higher res and FPS or more realistic AI and physics is up to them, and besides Rockstar and Naughty Dog are still big and successful, and attention to detail has been their specialties. They wont stop developing detailed games as long as they can. Each dev/studio caters to a different market, just because games with million loots and weapons are successful doesnt mean all devs will follow suit, e.g battle royales were huge but I dont see a naughty dog title following the Battle Royale craze
P.S just imagine playing Red dead 2 in 60 Fps? isnt that a treat
@Amplified I dont see why he is so full of praise towards Google Stadia even then controller is a Switch/Playstaition mix. 😆
He certainly has a point. What we know about PS5 so far has sounded like PS4 Ultra Pro With Blackjack And Ray Tracing. If new specs do inspire new capabilities (like yet more complex AI, world size and interactive detail, physics etc), then there will certainly be a glass to raise for them. But if most of it boils down to the aforesaid ray tracing (regardless of how many folks like @Exlee300p manage to see some kind of "innovation" in a purely graphical tool that mostly caters to photorealistic artstyles to boot) and trying to eliminate eye strain and dizziness in PSVR... it's nothing bad - just, precisely as Inaba puts it, not as exciting. On the other hand, the same could be said about PS4 before its gamepad alone scored big points in the department. And there's a ton we don't know about PS5 yet either.
As for Stadia... why are you all so surprised? He's Japanese. They may well view cloud gaming in a bit different light than we do, and I think we all know why.😜
And what exactly is so innovative, hardware wise, about Stadia? It's basically a PC server farm, so you're essentially developing for PC, which is largely unchanged in terms of architecture for decades.
I give Stadia about 5 years tops before it goes the way of OnLive. To become a mainstream platform, it'll need global ISPs to raise their game and lower their prices. That will take the best part of 10 to 15 years, and I don't see Google funding it for that long. And I actually say that as a big Google fan.
Im happy too hear that everybody has seen the controllers and all the different stuff VR.
you will hear this a lot from certain game makers they want physical ownership gone & it has been that way for years they hate the fact that the consumer is not falling for it! so they will keep making out something that is not that new the CLOUD is wow I like that.
the innovation is always the games IMO. Stadia is nothing special so he comes across like a paid add to me sorry to say.
I will never use stadia I hate the idea.
Platinum putting Sony/PlayStation on blast... Colour me surprised. 🙄
Almost thought a Bayonetta game was coming to PlayStation after seeing that pic.
@get2sammyb
Maybe because the source is about next gen consoles while the headline sounds like hes not excited about the ps5?
It's certainly overreacting here because it's fair to say that means the ps5 for most readers. Still he has a point given the loose headlines and misleading articles in all web sites these days.
All in all , better stick to true meaning rather than interpretation is my just my point of view. Don't hate pls
Basically, the same thing I said about the Switch. The technology already existed, there's nothing original about the hardware. For a developers, new unique hardware is what thrives motivation. If they are just working with slightly PC parts, how's it different from just working on a PC?
Sure streaming will be a lot more innovative than the next gen of consoles, but that doesn't mean it'll be better.
@Callmegil I think its wrong to assume that motivation relies on hardware rather than the vision the dev has in his mind, some Indie games are a testament to that, hardly consuming any resources yet just as fun if not more fun than some AAA games.
who cares. platinum sold their soul to nintendo... we wouldn't be getting any of their games on ps5 anyways. inaba is going to sink the company if he continues his petty feud with sony.
So Platinum boss prefer to make low graphics games on Switch like Astral Chain?
Stadia is not special, it is the same thing as xCloud and PS NOW.
regardless of what the next gen of console hardware offers, my fear is that i could echo his sentiment about developers and publishers, that it'll be just more of the same. with ps4, it seems we've seen fewer IPs and less innovation imo. it's almost as if inaba is suggesting that the console manufacturers need to drive innovation because developers have no new ideas how to utilise what they have.
@leucocyte perhaps the games themselves should innovate. the hardware is just a tool for the final product after all. we need advances in enemy AI, mechanics, game design, mission scenarios, art direction, etc. that all falls on the publishers/developers.
I came in for the salt and was not disappointed 😂
I wonder how many salty commenters saying Platinum sucks have played even one of their games.
Also, there’s nothing wrong with what he said. Of course we don’t know all there is to know, but from what we know now the next gen doesn’t sound too innovative or disruptive.
Heck, consoles stopped being innovative 20 years ago if you don’t count Nintendo; in the 2000s/2010s the only new introductions were pretty much analog triggers and clickable sticks, not exactly much.
Also, if the greatest innovation of this generation is the Share button (as welcome as it is), well, that speaks volumes by itself.
I’m personally not interested in VR or Cloud gaming, but those are certainly more innovative than the last couple PS’s/XBox’s.
@clvr why do consoles need to be innovative? the games themselves need to be innovative.
@Porco true i would much rather have new and innovating games
@clvr The Suspend/Resume feature and the ability to play while still downloading a game were great additions for me personally. I dont use it much but Shareplay is cool too.
Cloud gaming is exciting to an extent but it is still more of a supplementary thing to me. I would sub for a month to play a specific game on Xcloud like gears or halo. Maybe a shooter on Stadia that feels better with mouse and keyboard. I still want a nice piece of hardware under my TV though and the PS5 should check all the boxes.
Any fellow PC gamers in here will tell you the solid state drive alone will be a huge QoL improvement. If the PS5 can make 60 fps and 4k standard at around $499 or less it will move 100 million units just like the PS4 will by the end of this year. That is a fantastic value. And I for one will be a very happy gamer.
For me im a little disapointed with this point of view. Not because i care a flying fig about someone being critical of the platform holder (that's crucial if Sony are to continue to innovate and improve). But rather because Sony are providing the tools. The box of wires for devs to work with. And they are creating a platform that is easy for developers of all budgets and sizes to work with. That is their role.
But it is for the developers at studios like Platinum Games to find ways to innovate with the software they put onto the platform, using the tools that are available to them. There is some really exciting stuff happening on PS4, be it through indie devs, PSVR, and even some of the best big budget releases. So its all about the developer leveraging what is available to them and making it sing. Guarentee Koj will do something no one expects with death stranding. Just like he has done time over time with playstation hardware.
Guarantee we will see some incredible stuff we never thought of when PS5 is finally here.
@Porco never said one excludes the other.
If anything, innovative consoles allow more innovative games: look at the DS and Wii for example, a lot of those can’t be replicated on other hardware.
Not sure what your point is.
@3Above I can definitely agree with those, they’re nice QoL features.
In all honesty, I was talking more specifically about input methods for interaction with the games themselves, but you’re absolutely right.
“And by that I mean, I’m sure that things will move faster, graphics will be better and maybe it will be easier with less wait times – that’s good for the consumer. But it’s more of the same, quite frankly, compared to previous generations. It’s nothing that’s disruptive or super innovative, if you ask me.”
I feel like the same could be said about most previous generations, minus when 3D gaming was in an infancy. It's actually good to hear that the PS5 isn't anything "disruptive" as it means developers shouldn't have a tough time transitioning from the PS4 to the PS5 from a game development perspective. I'm personally excited to get full 4K gaming, higher frame-rates, and negligible load times. I love my PS4 but I'm stoked for next generation.
Not sure how streaming the game is all that innovative. Im soooo tired if the clouds "potential" because it all hinges on isp packages/data caps/bottlenecking. Make a Stadia exclusive bud and see if your opinion changes. And funny enough he was spot on saying the ps5 is good for consumers lol. Thats partly because it makes game development EASIER and the quality better....what a turd
nobody is telling anyone to
@clvr my point is game design has become stale in the AAA space. that has nothing to do with the hardware. i don't think most gamers want new ways to interact — many did not like the wii-mote controls or ds stylus... not to mention the kinnect was a fiasco as were the move controllers and even VR has not taken off. TRADITIONAL controllers are fine since they are tried and tested and work as intended. they are precise. the GAMES themselves need to change in how they are designed... i.e. better AI, inspired art direction, creative mission scenarios... the list goes on. all of THAT falls on the developers/publishers. the hardware is just a tool after all.
I've been saying I haven't been all that excited about "next gen" since the Dreamcast came out. Walking down the street and seeing a TV in the window of a store playing 2K on Dreamcast and for a second I thought it was a real football game. The leap that gen, basically from 2D to 3D, was near mind blowing.
Sure I've purchased every gen console since then, b/c thats' where the games are, but that doen'st mean I've been excited about the hardware.
Not quite agreeing with him on Stadia but, important but, I do believe he's Japanese and is in Japan. Wireless streaming tech in Japan is bigger than the rest of the world. Switch has a few streaming only games there, and nowhere else. And it does seem to work there. I don't think in Japan peopel worry as much about lag or digital ownership, they are all in on mobile. If you could by 1 device in Japan and reliably stream EVERY game on it, I think they'd gladly take that over a new dedicated home console in a heartbeat. They don't even really seem to care about home consoles over there any more, do they? I mean look at the numbers. Switch sells, but most of those probably only dock to charge.
1 thing I think he's missing out on is VR. The only time in the past 20 years I've felt the way I did watching that football game in the window was trying out my first PSVR game R.I.G.S. That was kinda mind blowing as well. Made me buy 1. Never use it, but I had to have one just in case I wanted to.
So I don't think he's dissing the next gen, he's just not "excited about the hardware", b/c there really isn't anything to be excited about. The games should be great, but in Japan they care more about mobility than 8k TVs. I think people are confusing "not being excited" with "dislike".
well he should just go over google stadia and see how long his company lasts lol
@nhSnork Well since you want to take pot shots at me. Enlighten me oh wise one. What would be innovative in your opinion? Despite Cerny also saying they were going to not only use ray tracing for graphics but for an exponential increase in audio immersion. Maybe they could build a micro distillery in it so we could make our own alcohol. Or maybe a pizza oven. Untimely it is about games. And Cerny is giving most developers what they want.
@Porco let me rephrase it, then: I’m not sure why you’re tagging me 😅
I absolutely agree that AAA games have become more and more stale, and nothing I said seemed to suggest otherwise 😅
I can’t agree with your take on controllers though. They are not precise, nor do they work as intended.
The core of the pad is the same as 35 years ago, and we’ve seen buttons and sticks being added over the years, but for the last couple generations at least they’ve been quite inadequate.
Take shooters for example: why is playing with KB+M considered an advantage? Because it’s inherently better for aiming, while sticks were never meant for that to begin with; that’s why console shooters have tons of auto-aim even when you disable it.
Is it not weird that controllers nowadays are inadequate for what is the most popular genre in the world?
Is it not weird that games have become exponentially more complex, while controllers are virtually stuck to the first Dualshock?
@rjejr totally agree.
Especially this:
“I think people are confusing "not being excited" with "dislike".”
I kind of agree. There isn’t that much innovation other than chasing specs. From a gameplay perspective I haven’t seen much revolution from PS3 to PS4 though I would argue we have seen some evolution. That said, VR, Switch and so on ARE big changes to how we play games.i am excited about what games are coming out and I need next gen tech to get that really.
@Amplified I get you but maybe like @leucocyte said. Sony should get some console launch exclusives that'll look innovative to showcase the PS5's capabilities, so the console looks exciting rather than rely on multiplat Devs to provide launch titles at 8K and higher FPS. I think it's them crazy PC fanboys who've got the industry going crazy about numbers rather than looking for new ideas. I mean was the PS4 Pro that necessary...it just upped the numbers and performance slightly.
They sold their souls to Nintendo, I am not the least bit surprised they dog on their competition.
I do agree with what he says. It will not be doing anything new that PCs are not already doing. Cloud computing is the future
They're given more processing power to make games with, how they choose to use it and if the game is innovative or not is up to them.
And Stadia? I don't really see how it can do anything the PS5 can't be capable of. Or the new XBox.
If he feels that way, why wasn't he making any games for Sega Saturn?
Seriously, Cloud is innovative? It's actually more powerful hardware too behind the scenes. And its evolution is completely based on more powerful hardware and higher quantity of units. So it's basically the same thing, but without the box.
And let's face it, even if we had the Wi-Fi quality necessary to run Cloud gaming at home, there's no way we will do it on the go in mobile phones anytime soon.
In other words, we'll be playing in a TV or computer monitor with a controller the same type of games we've been playing. Yay, innovation! 😒
@get2sammyb it strange to see so many here under value the contribution to the current streaming explosion off the humble share button. The social aspects of Stadia seem to be a very strong aspect but I would also expect a strong response from Sony
@TheArt the current CPUs really held this gen back as for as AI goes. It is very hard to scale game AI up and down but once the current gen is no longer cross developed for, I think this will be the most interesting change to true next gen games
@rjejr How dare you come here and start be all reasonable!! This is the internet 2019 where only outrage is allowed...
'The ingenious Share button was a huge addition to the PS4, for example.'
lol. Has someone been at the crack pipe again?
Cloud platforms? Eeewww
Its funny that great for the consumer is a bad thing in his eyes. Not worrying about hardware and focusing on making a great game is a win for everybody.
Coming from the guy making games on the switch 😂
Sounds to me like Platinum are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy yet again and Inaba's trying to court those big Google dollars. As for innovation when was the last time Platinum put out anything innovative?
Platinum and Sega just need to give us a sequel to Vanquish.
@Tsurii just like Nintendo fans were when that Jim Sterling guy dared to give breath of the wild anything other than a 10/10 right? This is fanbases in general. Not just sony fans. I like platinum games as much as the next guy (especially with Granblue fantasy relink) but even I think what he said is ridiculous.
I like Platinum games pretty well, and NieR Automata is probably one of my top 5 games this gen. I enjoyed Vanquish and Bayonetta as well. But seriously dude, get off your high horse about lack of innovation. The quote makes him sound so condescending and elitist. Probably that is not his intent, but that’s the way it comes across — like he can’t be bothered to develop for the [insert snooty nasal patronizing voice] boring mundane hardware Sony and Microsoft have coming. 🧐. This from a developer who literally makes the exact same style of combat mechanics over and over in all their games. The innovative part of NieR Automata was the narrative direction of Yoko Taro, not the samey (albeit fun and engaging) stylish combat that is almost a copy and paste from most of their other games. Again, I really like the Platinum games, but I would hardly call them “innovative.” Now if these statements came from the lead executive from Media Molecule I could respect it. They are pushing the innovation of gaming art. Or if it came from a developer whose making a lot of VR then I could respect this statement. Otherwise, it seems like a lot of hypocrisy coming from him.
@clvr @TooBarFoo That's why I waited until post #77 so people had time to go insane, wouldn't want to ruin all the fun.
I completely agree here. He has the same issue with PS5 that I do. It's just a slightly better PS4, which was just a better PS3, and PS2 and Playstation.
Sony does what it does very well. But what they don't do is innovate.
@Heavyarms55 what do you consider innovative? do you consider control gimmicks as innovative? after the failure of the move, kinnect and wii u, do we need another fiasco on that level? i thought VR was supposed to be the innovative side of gaming that compliments the traditional console, but sounds like you don't want to give sony any credit for that... not sure why. at the end of the day, above all else, it is the games that should be innovative, not necessarily the hardware. game design is stale and that is the fault of the developers/publishers.
@Heavyarms55 - Console wise all Sony can do is make a box that plays games, there is nowhere else to go. Software though they've made great strides with a full featured inbuilt DVR and stuck a copy of Vegas in there as well, not to mention Share Play which is a fantastic feature that nobody else has. I'm not a VR guy myself but they seem to be doing good things there too.
As others have said already it's game devs that need to push forward and innovate, not the hardware guys.
I am someone who has not seen a PS5 working. I’m betting Inaba has. I can’t discount his opinion because I haven’t got the experience he has. And until I see games I want to play on the thing I’m betting I won’t be excited about it.
@Exlee300p like I said, if ray tracing is used for enhancing the worlds and interactivity themselves, great. If it's used only for graphics and audio immersion, okay. Not excitingly more, not embarrassingly less, just okay. But in the realm of "I would argue", yours truly would argue that such advances aren't quite worth their toll on the hardware in interactive fiction and best suited for pure animation domain - the works you simply watch but don't interact with.
Innovations are often justly associated with Nintendo (although Sony and other companies have their track records there, too) and often unjustly mislabeled as "gimmicks" (although even smaller projects like Playdate have learned to flip the bird at this mentality, not to mention mammoths like the aforesaid Nintendo). IR motion controls and gyroscopes, touchscreens and touchpads, gamepad lights and something as old and long mundane by now as shoulder buttons and analogue sticks - they're the usual crop discussed within the topic, but other examples like hybrid or cloud gaming aim to innovate in terms of connecting a gamer's very life with a game (a poster child in this domain is home consoles themselves that brought arcade experiences, well, to people's homes). And even graphic tools of the past could deserve a mention here, like the 3D camera whose advent - rough as it was at first - pretty much helped open a new page in the platformer genre. Whether the ray tracings of today can hope to reprise such an impact, where even Nintendo themselves couldn't quite do it despite remarkable attempts like Super Mario 3D Land, is a different question. And only time will answer it.
As for developers, they already have what they need - even if consumers might not be in the budget zone to replicate that. Although even then, CPU speed alone is not a tool for enhancing and experimenting with games, it's just a somewhat broader canvas - whose breadth can be easily wasted on graphical fluff that tries to cater to sensory immersion (and mostly in photorealistic artstyles at that) that leave about as much, if not less, room for immersion by content (which is the pinnacle of Fiction). But when NEW hardware is developed - as opposed to merely upgrading the old one, - there's always a difference between merely giving developers what they want and giving them something that could well inspire them to want and dare more. And this difference can create new experiences and new staples at times.
Maybe ray tracing will inspire someone, too. For all we know, maybe it can finally bring back adequate mirror reflections back into the spotlight - it's a bit baffling to stare into foggy looking glasses of many AAA worlds nowadays when older stuff like Clive Barker's Undying and even Tales of Phantasia allowed you to see your character reflected in motion. But again, only time will tell. And the market still being drunk on the visual fluff fads doesn't quite boost one's confidence in this regard.
It’s not entirely surprising that he isn’t excited by the next generation as he was able to achieve his vision with last generation hardware. The same is probably true of most current generation games with a graphical downgrade they could’ve run on the PS3.
That’s not a problem the new generations allow new things but old styles and games but could’ve run on the on the previous generations are still fun to play.
This generation did allow the creation of new games would’ve have been possible on the last. Games like horizon zero dawn.
You do still sometimes get Developers cutting contact from games because the current consoles can’t handle it both Dragon Age Inquisition and Assassins Creed Syndicate had to give up on parts of there original versions because the current generation of consoles couldn’t handle what they were trying to do.
Ultimately with each generation that passes less and less developers are hardware limited and fewer of them will be excited by new hardware that only offers quality of life improvements.
As a gamer I’m excited to see what those who were limited by the last hardware will produce. I also quite like quality of life and graphical improvements.
@Heavyarms55 1080p 30FPS is not a lot worse then 4K 60FPS or was it 120 FPS?
Sooo... They get more excited about a tablet console with a Tegra chip from 2015 inside? Okay...
@Shigurui #93 you clearly haven’t played Nier Automata.
@rjejr How so very considerate of you 😆
@clvr - Nier Automata, really? Platinum did NOTHING innovative with that game. They did the combat engine, that's it and there was zero innovation there. Everything else was done by Yoko Taro and the ex Cavia Games team, and Automata itself is a watered down Nier Gestalt. I played both btw.
@nhSnork I appreciate the thoughtful response my friend. Too many people would have continued just a petty back and forth. So thank you for respectfully responding. I see what you mean. And I agree with you on most counts. Unfortunately this is mostly a profit driven industry which would prefer to iterate than take risks. At the same time within this framework there still can be a lot of unique and interesting games. We find ourselves at time when certain companies are simply stagnating because they are risk averse. While at the same we are seeing a wide breadth of unique and often innovative gaming experiences, particularly from the indie developers, but not just them. I'm enjoying many of the retro styles being refreshed with new technology. You could also argue however that innovation doesn't always lend itself to a fun experience. Despite being only iterative hardware you could make the argument that the Ps4 has been one of the best hardware cycles ever because of all the amazing games. As you say time will tell what legacy the Ps5 secures for itself. But as I've said I'm excited and hopeful. And of course we still dont have all the specs. Again thank you for the respectful response
This guy likes disruptive? Must be a big fan of the Ouya!!
@bbq_boy I don’t think that’s what he means. The Ouya’s Makers viewed consoles is a commodity and aim to be cheap. In which they succeeded but the quality was so poor they no one bought it anyway.
I think he’s more talking about Nintendo’s approach they view their consoles as toys each one with a very different look feel and controller. So with each new generation you need to look at the new controller and work out what you would best do with it.
Sony view their consoles as a means of delivering entertainment there are refined with the new technology to give a better experience and allow new experiences but if you played with a PS2 pad you’ll probably recognise and be immediately comfortable with a PS5 pad. Of course there are innovative accessories like PSVR but the core feel of the product has remained unchanged.
Streaming might give an inferior experience on cross-platform single player games but there is potential for new experiences to be created that couldn’t work on the old hardware in online multiplayer games.
Hard to believe a studio head would come out with this. Surely just the advance in the hard drive technology would be enough to spark the embers of possibilities... 🙄
Think gaming has hit Moore's Law in its own way. Power isnt the answer, although it could help in certain ways.. More about innovations and changes, however with most playing games in living rooms or via handhelds, there isnt much room for maneuvere just yet.
How can you get excited about just streaming games?!?! I LOVE the EXCITEMENT of getting a New PlayStation console and unboxing it and feeling it and caressing it(did I just type that)
@Shigurui well, if you’ve played it and don’t think it has one of the most peculiar story structures in games of the last 10 years at least, you gotta be a pretty jaded person.
Eh, can kinda agree I guess. I'm still happy with the quality of PS4 Pro games, but I'm excited for PSVR improvements.
Also, he's primarily a Nintendo guy now right? Hard to be excited about PS4 -> PS5 when the Switch is more inline with PS3.5. The PS5 isn't likely to add anything novel (except improving VR probably), just improve on a great formula. Sony got out of the gimmick market.
@clvr - Again, Platinum had nothing to do with NA's story structure. That was all Yoko Taro and that had been done before in 2010 with the original Nier. But hey, seeing as you'd rather make assumptions about the type of person I am than tell me how Platinum are innovative I guess we're done.
@Tsurii This.
@Shigurui ok, I wanna trust you on that, but even if it were that way, they also made The Wonderful 101, MadWorld, Infinite Space and Vanquish, just to name a few unique games.
Have a good day 👍🏻
@TheArt this. this right here. I could care less about how realistic a game can look or crap like that. How about destrcutive environments that stay destroyed? Or like what you said adding damage to a characters clothes or something. But no. Theyre too worried about the pores on a characters face
@clvr platiunm is my favorite dev. I can hardly compare their games to other devs games cuz theyre just so different and stand out one way or another. They arent perfect ofc but theyve made some awesome gaming experiences for me. Its like people just refuse to give em credit. but instead they always bring up starfox, that ninja turtles game and korra and ignore wonderful 101, bayonetta, or metal gear rising
@ronb44 Yep and I'm sure things like that would require powerful memory. I've always wanted a character's damaged cars in GTA to stay damaged even if the game is reloaded or the console is shut down, now that's evolutionary.
I have played on my PS4/PC 3X more than any so called "innovative" gaming device in the last 7 years
I'm excited for being able to run PSVR and RayTracing on PS5.
I fell for this "innovation" back in 2011 - never got a refund for the 5 games I bought on it 🤣😅
@Porco Sony was hardly the first company to do VR. They added a function that was already becoming popular elsewhere. I give Sony plenty of credit for doing what they do well, very well. But they don't innovate.
Innovation is doing something new or different that either hasn't been done before, or at least hasn't been done well.
Sony doesn't take any chances or try anything new or different. They look at what works and say "let's just go with that and give it our A-game" and for Sony that's usually more than good enough.
@clvr Everything you're saying is subjective. Every feature that is developed, is an innovation by default, despite our own personal opinions in regards to them. Games themselves can certainly be innovating without too much innovation within hardware. 3DS was an interesting device with a 3D feature, but was barely used by most developers that most would consider groundbreaking. I'd say that's why the 2DS was developed later. Plus a lot of innovations that people mention such as touch screen has been around many years before. If I'm not mistaken, Game.Com was the first to use touch screen technology for portable gaming. It was a dud for sure, but I'd say it's fair to give credit where it's due. Of course, many companies such as Nintendo and Sony improved on the concept, and even non-gaming tech giants such as Apple applied it to their phones.
There are many other innovations that have existed long before Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft were in the market such as analog sticks and D-Pads, but that'd be drawing this comment too long for my tastes. All in all, some innovations stand the test of time, while others slowly fade away.
@Heavyarms55 Innovation is more than just hardware, it's also games. Also, if you think that Sony has done nothing innovative in all this time, then you're certainly misinformed, let alone quite jaded from where I sit. I'm also putting you on ignore because we are far too apart in any agreement on this topic. Good luck.
@Heavyarms55 well, they took a chance with the cd format at a time when nintendo was too afraid to during the ps1 era. it cost nintendo that console generation. cd-based consoles had a stigma as there had not been a single one that was successful up until that point. sony essentially made disc-based consoles the industry standard. sony co-created the cd format as well as dvd and bluray formats-- that counts for something and is very innovative i would say.
they introduced the first removable hdd with the ps2. they also introduced the eye toy which was the first motion/gesture sensing camera for gaming as far as i know — that would later be known as the precursor to the wii and kinnect.
the psp go was the precursor to the switch — so long as you had the cradle, you could play on the go and then play on your tv simply by placing the handheld on the dock, just like the switch today. sony did this more than 10 years before nintendo. the psp go was also all-digital which for the time was laughed at, but has aged very well and was forward thinking.
while not the first streaming company, sony invested in the technology in its infancy and turned it into something feasible. no other company was able to achieve this. now streaming is all the rage and considered by many to be the future. sony HAS innovated in the past. that said, innovation is not always a good thing since it often results in failure and financial ruin... you can look to nintendo as a company that fails just as often as it succeeds due to its innovative mentality. if there is no need for risk, why bother? gamers for the most part like gaming exactly the way it is. i would rather see innovation with the games themselves.
@Porco Spot on with everything you said. Anyone who says that Sony has been just getting by with little to no innovation is very jaded or perhaps doesn't know much about gaming history due to being born late. I also agree that being too innovative, can certainly cause a lot of financial ruin for any company. Anyone who can push their bias to the side can say that all companies have innovated in many ways over the years in the gaming industry. Most credit Microsoft for innovating online gaming we have today.
@InsertUsername indeed. very few companies create an idea that is completely out of left field and mind blowing — rather, most ideas are iterative and based on previous efforts. one could argue that sega was the first to introduce online with the sega channel back in the 90s and then the dreamcast took it to the next level thereafter... but to say microsoft and sony weren't also pioneers of the online landscape for consoles would be false. sony and microsoft were revolutionizing the world with halo and socom respectably... all the while, nintendo was telling us that they don't want to support online gaming with the gamecube... they ultimately did with an additional accessory (very late to the party), but less than 10 games were supported with online play. even to this day, nintendo continues to struggle in this area. nintendo innovated in other ways, such as the dual screen ds, etc., but my main point is that every company (from the big 3 at least) have contributed to the evolution of the industry in one way or another.
@Porco Indeed. Everyone has done their part. The real issue with fans and even the media themselves, is that they are too obsessed with who did it first, or who is copycatting. Honestly...who cares? Everyone is copying each other and that's not a bad thing. It brings improvements and further innovates current technology and makes way for new concepts in the future. Not sure why it's always got to be some kind of contest with some people.
@Ryall I get ya. So... Does this mean Platinum games are gonna produce tons of new games on this 'disruptive' Stadia gadget? I'd like to see Mr Inaba back up his rhetoric with proof. If what he says is true then Platinum should diversify and release many games on the super innovative platform. I love spending my hard earned salary on devs/bosses with proven integrity by backing up their opinions with solid products/services. And if Mr Inaba loves disruptive and super innovative tech... Um where's the tons of Platinum games on mobiles? VR industry? Bayonetta in VR would be awesome... Nope. You can have streaming Bayonetta instead. Hmmm.. Which is more super innovative?
Pretty moronic comment tbh. Personally I don't think ANYONE should be excited about ANY cloud based gaming platform for at least another 10 years. The stuff just isn't reliable and responsive enough. Nobody reasonably in the know will trade out traditional consoles for this gimmick, and it still IS a gimmick despite what some may think. Oh and good luck selling input lag to jacked in teenagers. The only people who will favour these machines will be pretentious troubled little turds and the clueless over 50's who lost out on their youth.
@t0nyth3t3rrific Let's watch the language please.
@kyleforrester87 You are correct. I can not read very good, it seems. Oh, well...
I really pity the fact that people are ignoring me just because we disagree. If you cannot handle polite disagreement, you're going to have a real hard time in real life.
Nier Automata a PlayStation 4 game not PlayStation 3 tells you why new hardware doesn't bother them, and it has everything to do with graphics.
So, platinum games, famed for its need for fast response for it ultra fast gameplay, prefers a platform with lag...! Maybe he likes the challenge of it, but just seems weird to me. I'm excited for PS5, moreso than I was for PS4 and PS3
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