PS3 Fanboy

A good question and one that has been discussed over on the official PlayStation blog. Doling out remarkable insight, Shu Yoshida walks us through the creative steps taken in creating the games we love to play. Yoshida is the Senior VP of Product Development at SCEA, so if anyone knows what goes on in game creation, it's this guy. He starts off by telling us a little about Sony's policy on developers. They don't tell their developers "we need an action adventure game, so make one" rather, they take the ideas in and let the studios work on them until they show them off to Yoshida and Phil Harrison. At that point, they can red-light the project or let it continue, it is implied. That's good for keeping more quality games coming while filtering out the less-than-spectacular works, at least, for the internal studios.

After a concept is chosen, there's the whole budget deal. A Blu-ray project on the PS3 generally has costs from $2-5 million just for a prototype (which takes over a year to create). After the prototype is created, the game gets shown to people inside of Sony to let them see how it's progressed as well as to create some marketing segmentation: who's the audience, what's the competition, how can they get said audience interested, et cetera. They bring in their selected audience to preview the game in the next stage and get feedback before development gets too far along to change the more core bits of a game.

All in all, it's a really interesting read despite our attempts to shorten the explanation. Sometimes it's better to just check out the original article, since you can also see some early concept drawings of Calling All Cars! and leave your feedback and questions so Shu Yoshida can check them out.

During Sony's press conference at the Leipzig Game Convention, the boss of Sony Europe David Reeve detailed sales numbers on a handful of key PSN titles. Leading the pack was Tekken 5 with 103k sold, followed up by flOw with 47k sold. The really interesting thing though is that Super Rub-a-dub outsold Calling all Cars!, 34k to 31k. It's pretty bad when David Jaffe's baby can't even outsell one of the worst reviewed titles on the PSN.

We contacted David Karraker from SCEA who clarified that these numbers were just for Europe, which makes some sense since Calling all Cars! hasn't been out over there as long as it's been out in America. Still, it's got to be a disappointment for Jaffe that even after all the publicity, attention and (generally) good reviews for Calling all Cars!, it still gets beaten by an over-grown tech demo. Oh well there's always next time!

The latest issue of "PSP - The Official Guidebook" includes an interesting wee tidbit of information. The PS3 downloadable title Calling All Cars will soon be available to transfer over to your PSP, just like PS1 games. While there isn't much more information than that, currently, the magazine says that "comprehensive multiplayer modes in both Ad Hoc and Infrastructure" is to be expected. A release date will be available soon.

We think this is a great idea. The game definitely suits a handheld and, with full online multiplayer, we're definitely looking forward to getting it on our PSP. There's no word on how exactly it will work yet. Whether you will need to pay for it again or not is up in the air. We're intrigued with the idea of non-PS1 PSP content. Hopefully this will become a regular thing. The sad thing is, with only one analogue stick, we'll never see Super Stardust HD on the PSP. Tragedy.

We told you it was coming, and today it all finally arrived. Calling All Cars, PS1 games and a little added bonus. Check out the list below for the full release info.

• Calling All Cars (£4.99)
• Rampage: World Tour (£1.99)
• WipEout (£3.49) PS1 game
• Jumping Flash (£3.49) PS1 game
• Crash Bandicoot (£3.49) PS1 game

So there you have it, not a trailer in sight. Yet, ironically, we kind of miss them. Where are the other two PS1 games, though? You know, the ones we actually want to buy. Syphon Filter and Medievil. Perhaps we'll see them arrive next week, along with Super Stardust HD.

What do you make of this update? Pleased, or not? Let us know.

Remember that David Jaffe fellow? You must do. He's that guy that makes those games you love. Games like God of War and Calling All Cars. You must remember him. He had a blog, once upon a time, but it went dark about a month and a half ago. Made a rather scathing post after a certain website commented on him pulling Calling All Cars back just before launch to fix some bugs. Ah, now you remember. Good.

Well it seems that the darkness that once shrouded his blog has been banished after a new post was made today. Jaffe clearly believes in the old cliche "a picture speaks a thousand words," so he's given us two of them. Words? No, pictures.

The pictures show the insides of an empty building. Empty apart from one thing - potential. Could these be images of his new "small games" studio? Especially considering the title of the post is "coming soon." With a dedicated work space for Jaffe and his casual-games making cohorts, we could be seeing more games being produced by him at a much higher pace. We're intrigued to see how this turns out and will definitely be keeping an eye on his, hopefully frequent, blog posts from now on.

[Via 1Up]

• Calling All Cars - 22nd of June (£4.99)
• Super Stardust HD - 29th of June (£4.99)

Not too shabby, eh? While our US cousins have had Calling All Cars for a month now, Super Stardust HD should be a worldwide release. If you're as impatient for these games as we are then you might also like to know that this coming friday, the 15th, sees the release of the highly anticipated Motorstorm patch.

Looks like Sony are finally pulling their finger out with their PSN releases. Let's just hope it continues beyond the end of June.

David Jaffe, the revered designer of God of War and the more recent, Calling All Cars, delivers some interesting banter via an interview with Three Speech. He says the difficulty of developing a title like Calling All Cars was the inability to rely "on old tricks" to alleviate the obviousness in areas with weaker game play. In regards to arcade titles, he says "if [the] core gaming isn't working, you have nowhere to hide." Near the tail-end of the interview, when asked if he has any more ideas planned for more downloadable games, Jaffe says his team is "in the design phase with two and three." Hmmm ... Calling All Cars 2 and 3? Or maybe a redesigned remake of the original Twisted Metal? Hey, we'd buy it.

Finally, after a month or so of doing the will-it-won't-it dance, David Jaffe's Calling All Cars has a set release date: Today! It will appear alongside Rampart (as promised) as part of the US PlayStation Store line-up tonight. There's no word on when it will be coming to Europe, but we're hoping it'll be within the next few weeks.

The full line-up for tonight is as follows:

• Calling All Cars ($9.99)
• Rampart ($4.99)
• Warhawk video (free)
• Burnout Paradise trailer (free)
• Rampage video (free)

All in all, not a bad haul. You lucky Americans. No doubt we'll have a review up for Calling All Cars before too long. Until then, be sure to comment and let us know what you think. Enjoy!

[Via SCEA press release]

Yesterday, David Jaffe announced on the NeoGaf forums that Calling all Cars! was delayed (again). The general reaction on the Internet to the announcement was disappointment mingled with acknowledgment that fixing bugs is a worthy reason for a delay. Some people took it better than others though and when our parent site Joystiq compared Jaffe to "a little girl struggling to keep her favorite doll out of the garage sale bin," they clearly hit a nerve on the outspoken developer.

Though he didn't specifically call out the Joystiq post as the one that pushed him over the edge, Jaffe posted another one of his infamous rants in which he expressed his ... strong dissatisfaction with a certain 'unnamed' website and declared that he is going to stop blogging:

"I'm going to go dark. My stylings have upset some folks within the biz I care very much about and that I can not live with"

Personally, I'll miss his blog but he's such a volatile guy that maybe some time out of the limelight will be good for him. According to Jaffe, we can expect to hear from him next in July when he announces details on his next PSN title - or until somebody gets him drunk on camera.

Considering the game has only taken 11 months to make, it seems like we've been waiting forever for Calling all Cars. Unfortunately, it appears we're going to have to wait a little longer. David Jaffe confirmed today on the NeoGaf forums that Calling all Cars! will NOT be coming out this Thursday, negating what he said last week.

Evidently, there were a handful of major bugs that were discovered at the last second that caused Sony to delay the release and push the game back indefinitely. It also turns out that the May 3rd release date was never official, and that Jaffe actually got in trouble from Sony for suggesting it did. Jaffe expressed hope that it will pass QA soon, but was clearly wary of offering up an exact release date.

But don't worry, according to the rumors, we are getting Super Rub-a-Dub as a replacement this week!

After delay after delay, Calling all Cars! has finally gone gold and the initial rounds of reviews have started to trickle in. Gamespot, 1up, and IGN have all weighed in on David Jaffe's 'casual' follow-up to God of War, and the response has been... interesting.

• IGN gave it an 8.5, stating that "Calling All Cars is Sony's first truly original, must-have title on the PlayStation Network, and it bests just about everything there is to be found on Microsoft's online arcade center."
• 1up gave it an 8.0, calling it "a chaotic successor to the likes of R.C. Pro-Am and Super Off Road that's easy on the wallet, and it's also among the best examples of how the concept of downloadable content should be used."

And then there's Gamespot.

• Gamespot gave it a 6.7. They said it was a "frantic good time that's cut short by a serious lack of content." They dinged the gameplay for being too random and luck based, and practically rioted over the inclusion of only four maps, saying "that it feels more like a demo than a full game."

As you can see, there is some interesting contrast in reviews between the 'big three' gaming sites. Unfortunately, we cannot really give a rebuttal at this point, since us mere mortals will not be able to get our grubby little hands onto it until next Thursday.

Conveniently though, David Jaffe has posted a rebuttal for us! It is a surprisingly thoughtful critique of the Gamespot review and game reviewers in general. Check it out, I highly recommend it:

(P.S.: First post!)

ThreeSpeech, the semi-official blog under Sony's umbrella of ultimate justice, have posted a quick reminder of what titles are coming to the PlayStation Store in the next month or two. Not surprisingly, more delays! Awesome.

• Calling All Cars - May 18th
  
• Nucleus - May 25th
  
• Super Stardust HD - June 15th

Will Calling All Cars ever come out? Probably not. Will the US ever get Super Rub-a-Dub? Of course. While it is surprising to see the two crazy spaceship-ish shooters coming out so soon, we really wanted to get our hands on Calling All Cars back on March 22nd. Jaffe, you're a crazy guy, but you shouldn't drive us to insanity, too.

David Jaffe is the closest thing to a mascot Sony has right now (we've actually got a nice feature detailing that coming up -- so long as this weekend allows Nick the time to research and write it up), so naturally whatever he says will be taken with a grin, nod, and written down to report on later. GameDaily had another interview with the guy, and we'll take the honor of posting some of his fabulous quotes.

What would you change about the PS3?

• "I probably would have taken the Blu-ray out and sold it for less money." Fair enough. Is this the first time someone affiliated with Sony said something like this?

Any plans to start up an independent studio or anything?

• "I think it's a great idea and it's an idea that I've explored and will continue to explore." He talks about how he's not sure whether the studio would be within or outside of Sony, but he plans to continue contributing to Sony either way. However, he's not sure about the idea.

Are bigger games better than smaller titles? How do you feel about being driven to create blockbuster titles one after the other?

• "It's like, 'F**k you capitalist society that says all I need to do is work and contribute to the bottom line. F**k you up your a**.' I want a life." Now that's what we're talking about! It was strange how Jaffe's attitude was absent from the rest of the interview. Heh, capitalism.

He's certainly entertaining. His games are, too. Even if he decides to shy away from those "bigger" titles permanently, he'll definitely become a force to be reckoned with once those downloadable games start rolling out. His latest, Calling All Cars, should be out next week. Probably Thursday, since the PS-Store loves updating on Thursday. Just like Phantasy Star Universe... speaking of, there's a huge update in that game today.

The Full Moon Show, an Insomniac podcast, recently released "Episode 2" where they interviewed some guy who called himself David Jaffe or something like that. Ever heard of this lout? He thought he could explain why Calling All Cars, made by this other guy named... hmm... well, shoot, we completely forgot! Was it something like Javid Daffe? Either way, here's the explanation from the man himself.

During their extensive playtesting, there were instances where one player would just blow away the other players, creating a gap in score that kept growing to silly amounts. Sensing that it would draw away from the fun, Jaffe retreated to some devs who worked on older, arcade-style games for some coding help. Enter the image of Jaffe conversing with a Council of Elders in Developerland. Jaffe and crew are currently testing out some of the strategies for fixing the issue as given by these other developers. At least he's trying to make it fair for everyone, right?

It's really closer to three. David Jaffe's insanely hyped downloadable game, Calling All Cars, was supposed to hit the PS-Store right around the launch of the European PS3. Obviously, that is no longer the case, as the title has been pushed back to mid-April. Why? No idea. No word from Sony on it, but we're going to assume it's because there's already a lot coming out at the end of March -- Sony wants Jaffe's game to get as much attention as possible.

While we're on the topic of downloadable games, what is your favorite? We'll include game demos here because, well, sometimes demos can be really, really fun. I've had the most fun with flOw... not myself, but because I enjoy everyone else ask to play it and grin as they awkwardly begin learning the SIXAXIS, then smile softly once they've mastered it.