Sony wants developer opinion on new hardware

[wraggster]

Developers will be involved "at the very beginning of concepting new hardware", says Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida - as he admits the company is currently work on new platforms.

Speaking to website Develop, Yoshida admitted that previous Sony home consoles have been difficult to develop for and had suffered by not being designed with enough input from software engineers.

"When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Harai became the president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, 'get Worldwide Studios in on hardware development'," Yoshida said.

"So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us [developers]," he explained.

"I’m spending more time on the hardware platform,” added Yoshida. "Connecting hardware guys to developers. That’s my major role now, and Move is one of those new ways of developing platforms."

Yoshida admitted that he was currently involved in plans for new Sony hardware, saying: "We are undergoing many activities that we haven’t yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities.”

Although the research and development departments of all three console manufacturers are constantly prototyping new devices, it is unusual for Sony to refer specifically to such work. Rumours suggest that a new PSP is likely to be the company's next major new platform - with a reveal at this autumn's Tokyo Game Show thought likely by some.

As a matter of course the company will be also involved in ongoing development for an eventual PlayStation 4, although an actual release is not expected for several years.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...n-new-hardware

[John Vattic]

ask the consumer for opinions

[NeoXCS]

Exactly what I was thinking! Why not ask the people who buy your hardware? Sure developers can help out but the consumer is the important factor in your sales.

[Eviltaco64]

Well, there's only one problem with asking consumers, and that problem is that consumer demand changes rapidly.

What most consumers want to see now will be outdated or forgotten by this same time 3 years from now. So many companies choose to be secretive so that their product can gain hype and possibly set a trend in the consumer market.

If anything, asking developers for their opinions on their hardware is one of the best things that a console manufacturer can do since they're the ones that are making the games. The easier the console is to program for, the more developers are attracted to it.

The PS1's simple design attracted so many developers that it's sales were double that of the N64 and Saturn combined.

The Dreamcast was another example of more easily programmable hardware (especially compared to the Saturn). Of course, we all know it didn't last long in the market due to other almost unavoidable issues, but it's library of games was so great that it's still loved by many.

The Xbox 360 has been very successful as well because of it's pc-based architecture. Even though it is behind the Wii in sales, it's library of games (once again) is pretty respectable.