PS4′s Share button was Sony Santa Monica’s idea

http://media.edge-online.com/wp-cont...re-610x343.jpgDualShock 4’s Share button was pitched to SCE bosses by Sony Santa Monica creative director Nathan Gary, Shuhei Yoshida has revealed.As part of a far reaching interview on PS4’s creation – in which he also explained why Knack was revealed first at PlayStation Meeting – Sony’s president of Worldwide Studios recalled that the new pad’s headline social feature was pitched after months of discussion about PS4′s social features and implemented into the new DualShock design almost immediately.“After the core hardware, the CPU and GPU, had been decided the project shifted to designing and discussing what should be the user experience of people who be playing games on PS4,” Yoshida told us. “So we formed the cross-functional groups of people from SCEI hardware group and Worldwide Studios and Sony network services teams to meet every month, almost. And Mark [Cerny] was heavily involved and leading some discussions. And the idea of sharing and seamless integration with social networks, that was heavily discussed.”“I think it was [creative director] Nathan Gary in Santa Monica studios who suggested it: how about adding a dedicated button on the controller so that everybody can just press that button to share? He was helping out the external development, heavily involved in helping the development of Journey and Unfinished Swan at Santa Monica Studios.”“So Nathan put together a Powerpoint and pitched in this Share button idea,” Yoshida added. “And we all went, that’s a brilliant idea! So it was a pretty quick decision after he suggested it and I’m sure he’s pretty proud of his contribution. That was after many months of discussion of how people should be using the PS4 system and sharing was one of the central experiences we wanted to include in the system’s development.”You can read more from Yoshida and firstparty studios Guerrila and Evolution in Edge magazine, on sale now. You can buy or subscribe in print, on iPad, on Google Play and through Zinio.You can find out how Evolution Studios influenced the design of PS4′s DualShock 4 pad and why the new console is more than a high-end PC, according to Guerrilla Games, through the links. We also recently published an interview with Michael Denny on the five years’ planning that led up to the PS4 reveal.

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