PSP devs must stop making excuses, says Ready At Dawn boss

[wraggster]

Source GamesIndustry

The president of startup studio Ready At Dawn has told GamesIndustry.biz that developers must stop making excuses for producing handheld games that aren't up to the same standard as their console counterparts.

In an exclusive interview, Didier Malenfant conceded that consumers are becoming disgruntled with the choice of games available for the PSP, stating: "There's obviously not as many titles as people would want on the platform, but at the same time, up until now there hasn't been any title that really gives you the same kind of experience you could find on the PS2."

"Everything is compromised, and it bugs the hell out of me when you hear a lot of developers saying, 'Well, we can't do this that way because it's a handheld game,' or 'We can't do this because it doesn't have a second analog stick.'"

"Those are all excuses," Malenfant continued - observing that the original PSone controller didn't have any analog sticks, "And there were great games on that."

Malenfant, who formerly worked for Jak and Daxter developer Naughty Dog, co-founded Ready At Dawn in September 2003 together with former Blizzard employees Ru Weerasuriya and Andrea Pessino.

The studio's first game is simply titled Daxter, and is based around the character of the same name. Malenfant believes that Daxter "Is not only a really good game, but really something that shows that for the first time, this is a handheld that can give you the same experience you'd find on a home console."

"For me that's terribly exciting, because I tend to play my PSP a lot more than any other console, simply because it's portable. I don't want to end up playing sub-par games just because I'm on a handheld, which up to [the arrival of the PSP] has been what we've had to do."

"We really set out to prove that you can do a game that is as good, if not better, than a PS2 game and really show off the platform. If we do end up becoming the game that opens the floodgates, I'd be really really proud, because it's such an awesome handheld."

Daxter will be published this spring by Sony - a company with whom RAD has an excellent relationship, according to Malenfant.

"You need to get to a situation where you get the support, but at the same time, you're working with people who really understand games, and I think that's the hardest thing to do," he said.

"Obviously you want people who know the business side, but at the same time games are so much about passion that you really need people you can talk to on the same level, who really understand what makes a game great."

"That's what's so hard to find - because there are a lot of talented business people in the industry, but very few talented business people who actually know games."

When asked if RAD would consider accepting an acquisition offer by Sony in the future, Malenfant replied: "I can't say we've really thought about it. What's important to me as far as Ready At Dawn's concerned is that we've been able to build a new company culture with the people we've hired. As long as we keep that together and we're able to maintain that, there's no outright plan, or discussions for that matter."

[Voltron]

Right on, can't say it much better than that. Its been 1 year since PSP debut's in the US and its time we start seeing an abundance of upcoming quality titles.

[slayer2psp]

the game got 9.0 on ign i played the demo but im not into that type of game it looks good

[MaxSMoke]

I think he's either:

#1. Shamelessly promoting his game at the expense of other game developers.
and/or
#2. Has never seen any of the really good PSP game that are out there.

To date, I've seen Burnout Revenge, Star Wars Battlefront 2, GTA, and Katamari, *ALL* of which have great graphics and fluid gameplay on par with their console counterparts. In addition, there are great original games like Mercury, Kingdom of Paradise, and Coded Arms, all of whom are original games for the PSP that also look awesome. This is, of course, just a list of games that I personally own that I've been impressed with. I'm sure alot of you have your own picks for "Best Looking PSP Game".

Sure, there are some games that fall behind. Dynasty Warriors, IMHO, is a mess of popups and bad camera angles. Rengoku is ugly and awful to play. But for the most part, PSP games have looked great and played very well, especially when compared to any other handheld game device out there.

You know what the real problem is? The PSP spoils you. Once you see all of it's graphical power in action, it just blows the doors off what you would normally expect in a handheld. Once that happens, you start wishing for the Moon! Well it can make for some amazing visuals, there are some limits to the number of polygons and resources the PSP can handle. It's not a PS2. Good games handle them well and easily live up to pedigree established by their big-bother, home-console releases. And poor games don't!

Personally, I'm just a little sick and tired of hearing people slam the PSP and it's great library of games. It's not a PS2, you can't expect to have over 1000 games for it, just a year and some months after it's launch. It's still the BEST handheld on the game market and puts to shame all of it's competitors.

[so_cal_forever]

While I agree that some companies are making excuses, Sony really dropped the ball on not having the second anub.

[Produkt]

There are excuses out the ass going on right now, but it takes a good team to solve a problem... the bad team walks away or ducktapes it...

[Napalm-Death]

Source GamesIndustry

The president of startup studio Ready At Dawn has told GamesIndustry.biz that developers must stop making excuses for producing handheld games that aren't up to the same standard as their console counterparts.

He obviously hasn't played the recent fighting game ports/remakes.
Guilty Gear XX #Reload - 98% of the Xbox version. Only difference is screen size.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max/ SFZero 3 Double Upper - 100% of the Dreamcast version + 4 characters and more modes.

[princecharming]

PS2 game and really show off the platform. If we do end up becoming the game that opens the floodgates, I'd be really really proud because it good handled.