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A glimpse of Sony Japan Studio’s future under Allan Becker

H

Hyuga

Banned
They are a sign that Allan Becker’s touch is “still very much alive”, according to David Jaffe, creator of God of War and Twisted Metal. Jaffe’s comment comes as part of a TwitLonger post which begins, “Very proud this week of Allan Becker, my former Sony boss and the man who started Sony Santa Monica.”

Jaffe describes him as “instrumental” in kick-starting his career and credits him for spearheading some of Sony’s biggest games, from bringing Gran Turismo 2 to the US to pushing God of War, Flower and Twisted Metal: Black. Becker is now head of Japan Studio “after a very, very successful run as the SM studio head”.

Rain and Puppeteer are the first two titles to come out of the revamped Japan Studio under Becker’s leadership, and Jaffe wanted to give him a shout out, “since the press NEVER covers him (which is prob. how he likes it)”.
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Back in February, Sony Worldwide Studio boss Shuhei Yoshida discussed with GameInformer the changes that were happening at Studio Japan and Becker’s role:

“But in terms of the state of the studio in Japan, we have a new head of studio, Allan Becker. He’s been with PlayStation from the beginning. He founded Sony Santa Monica Studio. I asked him to move to Japan to instill his philosophy of making games. He’s also bringing these two different cultures together. He started in April last year as the head of the Japan Studio and has already made a big impact.”

Judging by Puppeteer and Rain, that “big impact” has been Becker championing some of Sony’s most inventive and stylistic games. We’re sure that’s a philosophy we can all get behind.
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Link
 
K

Kazuma Kiryu

Member
very glad to hear. Rain and Puppeteer show that there is mismanaged talent in those studios, hopefully he can sort out GT development issues and salvage team ico now that ueda is leaving (don't let the guy leave!).
 
S

Solid warrior

Banned
jooey said:
call me crazy but I'm pretty sure they have plenty of them actually making the games.
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I hope so. Last time I checked, A guy named "Gavin Moore" announced a game he has been working on all that time called "Puppeteer". It's a "Japan" studio game, IIRC.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Solid warrior said:
I hope so. Last time I checked, A guy named "Gavin Moore" announced a game he has been working on all that time called "Puppeteer". It's a "Japan" studio game, IIRC.
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Gavin has been at Sony Japan for nearly 10 years now working on games. Here's some of the other staff for Pupetteer

Gavin Moore, Director
Lead animator on The Getaway, he joined SCE Japan Studio in 2003 and worked as lead animator on Siren 2 and Siren New Translation.

Kazunobu Sato, Lead Planner
Lead character designer on Siren and Siren 2, and system director and game designer on Siren New Translation. He's overseeing the full game design as lead planner.

Takashi Mizutani, Producer
Served as lead artist on Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid The Twin Snakes and Anubis Zone of the Enders. At SCEJ, he served as technical artist and art director on the Ape Escape series.
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http://andriasang.com/con28b/puppeteer_announced/
 
I

I-hate-u

Member
elcapitan said:
"Japan, this is a game."
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avenjap.jpg
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INSULTING
 
sublimit

sublimit

Banned
As long as he doesn't interfere with their game design and art direction choices (and judging by Rain and Puppeteer he doesn't),i'm ok with this.
 
P

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Was sorely needed, and another great move by Sony, Santa Monica have become like some godlike touch for all peripheral Sony projects and their own. That the guy's only been over there a year and we already have 2 great looking titles heading to PS3 from SCEJ shows the magic this man can work.
 
C

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
Good, SCEJ seem to be the developing side of the company that need a little kick up the arse now and then to get things moving.
 
A

apana

Member
patsu said:
I missed the panel. Do you know where I can find a video ? Doesn't seem to be on Youtube.
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I looked for it but can't seem to find it. I guess we have to wait for Sony to release it, if they do release these videos, which I can't imagine why they would not.
 
C

Chun-Li On A Bike

Banned
I know its a lot of work but can anyone make a list from their head or know a site that has it?

A list of japan studios and what games each developed for PS1, PS2 and PS3 and what studios may not be around anymore.

I strongly feel they are the most creative teams in the industry for the past 15 years or so, but that obviously didn't work out going toward PS3
 
C

Corto

Member
Solid warrior said:
I hope so. Last time I checked, A guy named "Gavin Moore" announced a game he has been working on all that time called "Puppeteer". It's a "Japan" studio game, IIRC.
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I understand your fears but they seem a bit exaggerated and considering the previous state of SCE Japan anything would be better than the previous situation. Competency and good management shouldn't change the quirkiness of Japanese games whatever the nationality of the higher ups.
 
H

Hyuga

Banned
On "Puppeteer":
Gavin Moore who worked on Siren and The Getaway is Puppeteer’s creative director. Kazunobu Sato from Team Siren is a senior designer and former Metal Gear Solid art director Takashi Mizutani is the game’s senior producer.
Click to expand...
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Chun-Li On A Bike said:
I know its a lot of work but can anyone make a list from their head or know a site that has it?

A list of japan studios and what games each developed for PS1, PS2 and PS3 and what studios may not be around anymore.
Click to expand...

Japan Studio really is just one big group of developers. Polyphony Digital is the one exception to that rule. But outside of them there aren't any official names for the teams within Japan Studio. Even Team ICO is just a fan made nickname. It's not official.

Edit: You mght be able to throw Playstation C.A.M.P. into there. But i'm not sure if they're a team or just a group of developers that help indie talent.
 
T

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
Allan Becker need to kill The Last Guardian, put a new lead on Team Never and let them work on smaller games for PSN/Vita.
 
L

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
Solid warrior said:
I hope so. Last time I checked, A guy named "Gavin Moore" announced a game he has been working on all that time called "Puppeteer". It's a "Japan" studio game, IIRC.
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God forbid there's some multinationality to Japanese studios, right? I mean PixelJunk has been making such crummy stuff.
 
J

jooey

The Motorcycle That Wouldn't Slow Down
Solid warrior said:
I hope so. Last time I checked, A guy named "Gavin Moore" announced a game he has been working on all that time called "Puppeteer". It's a "Japan" studio game, IIRC.
Click to expand...

Okay, so that's two. I think you'll need a few dozen more white guys to better represent your silly concern here.
 
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