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Sony US and UK teams helping out on The Last Guardian

Broseybrose

Member
I bought a PS3 for this game, this game has still not came out :( Oh well, I found a ton of other cool games.

Pretty much. Im primarily a PC gamer, so if it wasnt for this game being announced way back when, I might never have known the wonder that is Demon's/Dark Souls.

I dont get why most of you immediately think the worst, though. Bringing in help like this means its crunch time and we'll actually be seeing the game 'soon'.

Plus, with that many different sets of eyes on it Im even more assured of the quality of the final game. No artistic vision is being lost here.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Soon

rlwfw.jpg

I'd buy that.

SCEJ this gen is just fucking sad in terms of PS3 output.
 
Sounds like its technicaly realy difficult to archieve what they planned to do with this game. I wonder how much of the trailers ends up in the actual game.
 

Grieves

Member
I was reminded when they talked about the beast having x amount of feathers that moved independently of each other (or was it that they had their own physics? I forget...) of Square's Spirits Within and Aki's hair being made of 70,000 strands.

To me, it seems that these companies (and yes I'm looking at you too Polyphony) get caught up in what they can do rather than what they need to do and it usually ends up hurting the company because they spend too much time on the little things rather than getting their product out the door.
 
How much are they helping out?

This just seems like the usual stuff where Sony's tech teams help improve team engines across the entirety of SCEWWS. Just like how Naughty Dog helped out Guerrilla Games and vice versa.

Though if any team needed some serious assistance, it'd be Team ICO, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if it were something more than usual.
 

RamzaIsCool

The Amiga Brotherhood
So after 6 years they still haven't managed to have something that is playeble. It seems like those western devs aren't only helping out on the tech side of things. Oh well I hope they all have documented this mess on video for the extra features. Would pay money to see what has happened behind the screens all this time.
 

Withnail

Member
They should move this game to PS4.

What makes you think it's a hardware problem rather than a software problem?

They are trying to do stuff with AI, animation, collision detection etc that nobody has done before. I would think that moving to a new and unfamiliar architecture is pretty much the last thing they need now.
 

Vaporizer

Banned
Hey yoshida, if you want serious help, you should ask kaz and polyphony for some tips. Failing that ask those wizards at gureilla games.


On another note, this is one thing i like about sony studios. Helping each other out
 

StuBurns

Banned
I know GAF in inherently negative, but the fact they're getting assistance really doesn't mean anything, lots of games get a hand from SSM, not even just Sony games. Look at Journey, that was a two year project that took three years in the end, also with assistance from SSM, those threads aren't filled with doom and gloom and calls of incompetence.

My real concern is that Sony may have neutered Ueda's vision. When Ueda delayed it, he cited quality of highly commercial games like Uncharted as the reason, in interviews over the years he's talked about struggling with making a product that will have wider appeal. It could be that Sony are pushing for all the Ueda-isms to be buffed out in order to make something broader.

Unfortunately we will never really know, if that game isn't of the quality of Ico/SotC, people will just blame it on the team and cite the long development as evidence for it's troubles. The quote in the OP says the game was going well, so they were able to give a date. It seems quite likely someone was not happy with that iteration of the game.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
are there any exceptions to the rule that games with long, difficult development periods are a bit rubbish when they release?

i guess half-life 2's was pretty rocky
 

StuBurns

Banned
Half-Life 2 and Resident Evil 4 both had troubled, and extended developments, and are two of the best games ever made. I think it's bad, but FFXII is highly regarded.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
oh yeah, resident evil 4's a good one

i never knew ffxii had troubles during development? that wasn't a bad game so much as just a boring one.
 

krYlon

Member
It could be that Sony are pushing for all the Ueda-isms to be buffed out in order to make something broader.

That would be the worst scenario. I would rather have a technically flawed game with Ueda's artistic vision intact than a polished smooth running game that appeals to the lowest common denominator
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
i never knew ffxii had troubles during development? that wasn't a bad game so much as just a boring one.

Matsuno left SE about halfway into the development process from what I can remember, and the official reason was given as 'health problems', but it was speculated back then that he basically had a nervous breakdown.
 
I remember hoping for Too Human and Perfect Dark for Gamecube. If lucky, we'll see this as a PS4 launch title featuring wall guy next year.
 
This is what Sony should have been doing a long time ago. The Japanese studios are inefficient and clueless and need Western studios to bring them up to par. I hope Yoshida gets one of the UK studios to help out on the next Gran Turismo too because Polyphony are incapable of putting out a fully fledged game in a reasonable amount of time.
 

tuffy

Member
There's a vision that we want to realise
"We built the game that Ueda had in mind"
but it's very very tough and technical issue that the team is tackling
"but it wasn't fun at all"
and some plans have to be made to evaluate and go through the process.
"so we're turning it into a first-person shooter with the help of outside teams"
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Half-Life 2 and Resident Evil 4 both had troubled, and extended developments, and are two of the best games ever made. I think it's bad, but FFXII is highly regarded.

Wasn't FFXII also polarizing? Not XIII polarizing though.
 

AAK

Member
This is definitely the worst case scenario possible. It was bad enough with Ueda wasting all the engineers and artists trying to make his deluded vision into reality... now he has Sony wasting every other developer's time trying to salvage this mess. Just cancel this debacle already Sony and have all those teams work on something that is playable.
 

tino

Banned
Wasn't FFXII also polarizing? Not XIII polarizing though.

FFXII wasn't polarizing. FFXII's opinions were pretty consistant, great game, great production value with meh story. Maybe the gamebit system was a little bit polarizing but this game itself wasn't.

Little did most gamers know that the follow up FF stories were much much much worse.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
This sounds like a good idea, honestly. The tech behind some of SCEA's and SCEE's titles has been incredible so they definitely have some good programmers and engineers available.
 

NIGHT-

Member
I don't understand why Sony is pouring so much time and money into this... Didn't the other two games sell terribly?
 

DaBuddaDa

Member
I don't understand why Sony is pouring so much time and money into this... Didn't the other two games sell terribly?

It's been in development pushing 6 years now, to scrap it and get no return on investment now would be a colossal waste of money. They're doing the right thing: throw everyone you got at it and get it finished and on shelves as quickly as possible and recoup what you can.
 

StuBurns

Banned
I'm speaking particular on there gaming division. I know there mismanagement else where is terrible to.
In there gaming division it's nothing. Sony lost billions on launching PS3, they aren't losing sleep over a few million on Ueda.

Most of their games are profitable.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I thought one of the things Sony worldwide was trying to do was have this central technical knowledge base that can be shared among first party (and even 3rd party) teams to improve overall quality? This just sounds like that, perhaps a bit more hands on.

Doesn't say anything like Sony Santa Monica are developing levels or anything
 

NIGHT-

Member
In there gaming division it's nothing. Sony lost billions on launching PS3, they aren't losing sleep over a few million on Ueda.

Most of their games are profitable.

Just seems like a bad business decision.. Could of made 2-3 other games in this amount of time
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Do we have an idea as to how long this game has been in development? 6 years seems to be the magic number (FFVXIII and Half-Life 3).
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Just seems like a bad business decision.. Could of made 2-3 other games in this amount of time

That's the tragedy of Japanese games this gen. They get mired like this but they'll only ever return what a western AAA game would have in 1/2 to 1/3rd the time and (sometimes) budget.
 
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