Interesting interview that was posted yesterday. Not every outlet got a one-on-one interview with Yoshida but The Guardian snagged one.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/feb/22/ps4-shuhei-yoshida-interview?CMP=twt_fd
edit - oops, posted slightly early accidentally! Was trying to add in the bit about one subscription to the title, but hit enter...perhaps a mod could help tidy up the title a wee bit. It was supposed to say something more like: Yoshida on Gaikai - 'our dream' to offer 1000s of games 'with one subscription'
But here's the gaikai quote:
He gives a bit more detail on progressive download also - sounds like it actually does require some developer guidance on the game side. Hopefully it won't be too intrusive:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2013/feb/22/ps4-shuhei-yoshida-interview?CMP=twt_fd
edit - oops, posted slightly early accidentally! Was trying to add in the bit about one subscription to the title, but hit enter...perhaps a mod could help tidy up the title a wee bit. It was supposed to say something more like: Yoshida on Gaikai - 'our dream' to offer 1000s of games 'with one subscription'
But here's the gaikai quote:
On that subject, I really expected you to announce a "Spotify for games"-type service, allowing gamers to sign up and pay a monthly fee to access as many titles as they like. Is that something we can look forward to?
As more and more services and contents become available digitally, we'll have more of an option to create attractive packages. So hypothetically we can look at different models – like a cable TV company. We could have gold, silver or platinum levels of membership, something like that. We can do subscription services when we have more content – especially now that we have the Gaikai technology available. With one subscription you have access to thousands of games – that's our dream.
Some pundits say that consoles are dead or dying, that there's no need for dedicated games machines when we have smart TVs and tablets. How do you answer that?
They need headlines! And they want us to say "no, consoles are important" so they can write more stories! Seriously, unless we show something unique and amazing, consumers won't be interested in dedicated hardware because they can play on devices they already own. So if the experience on PS4 is not greater than tablet, why bother? It's our responsibility to provide that, with the hardware and system features as well as game development. The game experience is not just playing, it's talking about games, it's watching other people play - that's all part of the enjoyment and we wanted to make that easier. It's like Media Molecule said – they want to make creativity easy for everyone. well, in the same way, we want to make sharing great moments of gameplay easier.
He gives a bit more detail on progressive download also - sounds like it actually does require some developer guidance on the game side. Hopefully it won't be too intrusive:
This whole idea of removing the barriers to content seems to be a vital one. People can just switch on a TV and watch a programme, but deciding to play a game can be an arduous process of finding it, downloading it, downloading updates … Do you think that can all be consigned to the past?
Absolutely. Yes. I find myself spending more time playing Vita games and I think part of the reason for that is it's immediate. I can stop at any time without quitting and it's instantaneous to start again. I don't have to quit out or reboot. It's wonderful. That's one part of immediacy – the other is waiting for downloads. That's ridiculous, that's crazy! We want to get out of this madness with PlayStation 4. The games are big, they're 50GB; download isn't instantaneous. So we're making purchase available from any device, so when you're at work, you can spend a couple of moments looking at PlayStation Store and choosing a game, and straight away it starts to download at home. It may take a couple of hours but that's okay because you're still at work.
Also, similarly to progressive download on some movie services, you don't have to wait for all the data to download before you start playing. Once you have the minimum amount of data downloaded you can begin the game, and while you play, the remaining data downloads. It takes some engineering input from developers so we're talking to the community. We're evangelising it.