PS3 Fanboy

The CEO of Square Enix had some strong words about the state of console development recently. Speaking with the Financial Times about the company's recent decision to develop Dragon Quest IX only for Nintendo's DS system, Yoichi Wada believed certain consoles were "over-engineered for today's gaming environment," saying "there are too many specs." The CEO provided elaboration, stating "you also need a high definition TV, a broadband connection and a deep knowledge of gaming," and clarified that in "a year or two" the consoles would fare better when they are not as "mismatched."

We'd have to disagree, only because we're a part of the hardcore category of gamers that are always thirsting for faster and better hardware. Broadband has been a staple of our diet for the last ten years and most of us already have an HDTV in our living rooms, if not a second one for the bedroom. But Mr. Wada's statements were made about today's global gaming consumer, and we'd have to agree that in a year or two, the PS3 will likely come down in price and become more accessible to those that (still) haven't yet adopted to HDTV or broadband technologies. Again, Mr. Wada was elaborating on recent decisions for the company to focus on handheld development due to their widespread appeal and market share (units sold).

As always, we'd like to invite your thoughts and comments on Mr. Wada's recent statements as they pertain to our console of preference. Should the PS3 have been watered down, so as to cater more to a global audience immediately (aka, those without broadband or HDTV's right now)? One could assume that in doing so, the price point would be lower, making the entry a lot easier to swallow for non-hardcore types. Along that line of thought, a second and third assumption can be made in that PS3 sales might have been higher and third-party support might be increased due to the system's affordability and widespread appeal. What do you think?

[Via DS Fanboy]

This is turning into some kind of Square-Enix day. However, this bit of news is a little more managerial and mundane. Still worth noting. Yoichi Wada used to be the American CEO of Squeenix, but that's changed. Now the torch has been passed on to John Yamamoto. He's also the new company president, replacing Daishiro Okada. Don't get us wrong -- Wada is still involved, he's just been moved to president and representative director for the global operation of Square-Enix. Sounds important!

With all this talk about America and Square-Enix, it makes an old school RPG'er think back to the days of Squaresoft, USA. Does anyone remember those days? They're best known (in my heart/mind) for using the Secret of Mana engine and tweaking it to release an incredibly fun, but understated and overshadowed by poor localization, title known as Secret of Evermore. Loved it. People hated it because they thought it was a Mana sequel. No, fools. It wasn't. The point is -- will the American side of Square-Enix ever release anything again? Or will they continue to sit back and let Japan flex its muscles? I, for one, would like to see some stateside Squeenix action.

Yoichi Wada put on his "President of Square-Enix" hat and recently talked about the future of the PlayStation 3 and, uh, Dragon Quest. Here's what's worth gleaning:

• Even though Dragon Quest IX is being developed for and released on the Nintendo DS, Wada claims that Square-Enix is not changing its development strategy. The DQ titles aren't moving permanently to the handhelds.
• Wada follows that with: "Following portable machines, we see the market for the PlayStation 3 and other next generation consoles taking off, so we will develop for that."
• Wada feels that the PlayStation 3 will take off once HD-TV's are in place in most homes. "We have expectations from the PS3. However, it's still early. For us to do business [on the platform], it will take a bit more time...Once the television environment is in place, at last the true game business will form. I see the PS3 market taking off starting around 2008."
• Wada even takes a shot at us bloggers, who seem to fully encompass the terms "impatience" and "rumor hunting mercenary flamebait revolution-inciting bastards"... or something. "Some journalists don't understand that there's a difference in the amount of time hardware takes to spread and have taken the tone of 'the world of high vision, high quality gaming has come to an end.' However, once you see the world of high vision, there's no going back." That's true. I can't play on my other, non-HD televisions anymore.

Wada concludes with saying that casual gamers will snag up the Wii, DS, and PSP. Those who want a "fuller experience" will seek out the PlayStation 3 and XBox 360. All we can say is: indeed. Personally, I don't mind waiting until 2008. I've a huge backlog of games to get through anyway.

Yoichi Wada, president of Square-Enix, recently gave some opinions about the game industry over at GameSpot. He said that users will demand more innovation and originality. He makes note of the Nintendo DS and the iPod and their subsequent successes in the industry for being innovative. Wada also said that "entertainment is not a necessity, so the users don't know what they should demand." Whatever! I demand nine-thousand more World War II FPS's! Not really.

Wada describes that in three years, things may be changing as the next big thing could come from anywhere (maybe even Squeenix, nudge nudge). He summed up his speech with this statement: "This is one of the reasons Square Enix will collaborate with Taito, a company that produces physical hardware. In our talks with Taito, ideas for an actual physical product have come up. In any case, we will be releasing some 'thing.' It's interesting in that it's not the sort of thing you expect from Square Enix." It definately isn't! What's your take on it? What could Square-Enix-Taito possible create that would be innovative and new as far as hardware goes? Will they pull support from PS3 to make this hardware a success? PS2 was held up pretty well by the Final Fantasy franchise. What would happen to the PS3 should it lose that?

At a press meeting in Tokyo yesterday, president of Square-Enix Yoichi Wada and vice-president of Namco-Bandai Shin Unozawa talked about the next generation of gaming and the importance of online features. They stressed this was not limited to MMO's but all future titles. A lot of the talk seemed to beat around the bush for lower development costs, citing ad placements in games (ramping it up for the online world ... ads are in a ton of games already, so possibly a randomized billboard or something? You know?) and software updates rather than gratuitous amounts of bug testing. Which is a patch, more or less.

So, is releasing software updates better than actually going through bug testing? Sure, it costs less, but those who've played games like Oblivion know that these updates can come too late -- eternally trapped as a vampire since the quest to cure was bugged, unable to enter this guild or that, effectively losing many hours of work on the game. But would such a thing have been caught by bug-testers anyway? If nothing else, the release of next-gen games would be pushed back a lot farther without patches as an option.

Hopefully the PS3 will smartly incorporate software testing but not allow unfinished or unpolished games to reach the market (although it does happen...). Oh, about the Playstation 3, Unozawa tossed in: "The Playstation 3 will definately sell." That's nice of him to say! That's "definately" reassuring.