Kojima, Nomura back PS3

By Tom Bramwell Published 30 June, 2006

For long-term success.

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and Square-Enix's Tetsuya Nomura both believe PlayStation 3 will be the best outlet for their games in two or three years' time.

Speaking in an interview with Japanese Ge-Maga, partly translated by IGN, Kojima, who has been a staunch supporter of PS3 since its unveiling in May 2005, compared the Sony console to a movie theatre - while Xbox 360 "is watching a DVD at home" and "Wii is a television program".

"If you think about the future of the industry and game creators, I get the feeling that the winner had better be the movie theatre," he said.

Nomura, meanwhile, was less flamboyant in his praise but backed Sony nonetheless.

"Thinking two to three years from now, the PS3 will be the most appropriate," he said. "We feel that when the games that we're making are released, the PS3 will be strong in the market."

But while both developers seem to be content with the Sony console, despite its apparent loss of momentum at E3, neither is entirely happy with Sony's announcements.

Unusually for Kojima, who typically echoes Sony's own sentiments about the high quality of the PS3 hardware, the MGS man expressed some concerns about the loss of rumble functionality - and even said he felt that, "The best thing would be a PS3 with controls like the Wii."

Describing the loss of rumble functionality as "unfortunate", Kojima also questioned why, if its removal was down to incompatibility with motion-sensing as Sony has claimed, the company hadn't simply allowed players to switch between the two.

Nomura's criticism focused on the price. "Right now, as a game machine, it's too expensive," he said. "If the hard disk and Blu-Ray spread, in line with that, the situation for the PS3 will change in one to two years," he added, before arguing that "when the games are there", the machine's profile will change "naturally".

Both Kojima and Nomura will have some say in that, of course - with Kojima's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and Nomura's Final Fantasy XIII two of the system's most highly anticipated titles.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Steroyd #1 6 years ago

    See even devs working exclusively for the PS3 don't talk like there's a rainbow round every corner with the PS3. :)

  • Hunamster #2 6 years ago

    "The best thing would be a PS3 with controls like the Wii." - Kojima

    Argh! Im sick of this crap, i like pushing buttons god damn it!

  • peterfll #3 6 years ago

    !

    Japanese developer in "Sony will retain lead market share" shocka!

    Because they're REALLY going to say the 360 or Wii is gonna do better aren't they?

  • nick303 #4 6 years ago

    See, these days i prefer watching a DVD at home instead of going to the cinema.

  • numptyboymatt #5 6 years ago

    I find that going to the cinema, as an experience, is over-priced and over-rated.

    Coincidence? I think not......

  • Azazel #6 6 years ago

    I believe the PS3 is now poised to be the premier format for 1/2 hour long real-time rendered ramblathons, among other things.

  • BartonFink #7 6 years ago

    So basically echoing what everybody else is saying controller meh, too expensive, wait two years and it will all be good? That about the size of it?

  • Blerk #8 6 years ago

    Kojima also questioned why, if its removal was down to incompatibility with motion-sensing as Sony has claimed, the company hadn't simply allowed players to switch between the two

    Amen, Mr Kojima! :-)

  • Xerx3s #9 6 years ago

    Speaking in an interview with Japanese Ge-Maga, partly translated by IGN, Kojima, who has been a staunch supporter of PS3 since its unveiling in May 2005, compared the Sony console to a movie theatre - while Xbox 360 "is watching a DVD at home" and "Wii is a television program".

    Ahh, so on the one hand you can spend faaaaar to much money on tickets & drinks with chavs spoiling your 'film'. On the other hand you could watch your 'film' at home on your HD screen with 5.1 surround in your lazy chair with your mates and GF for a fraction of the price, whenever you want. And best, no chavs. In fact you could watch alot of 'films' for the price that you pay in the cinema and have a lot more fun for alot less.

    Great comparison. Why don't devs and console makers do what they are there for? Shut up and make great games? We have too many ladida filmstars already...

  • speedjack #10 6 years ago

    Didn't Kojima once compare the difficulty developing for the PS2 and Xbox to cooking. I forget the analagy now but basically it was...

    PS2 - Making a 5 course meal

    Xbox - Making a ready meal

    Gamecube - Super Noodles

  • Gurgeh #11 6 years ago

    "Nomura's criticism focused on the price. "Right now, as a game machine, it's too expensive," "

    Should have asked him how expensive the games are going to be. Current speculation is putting them at $70- $80.

  • chacha #12 6 years ago

    bit of a pointless article really. Obvisouly both Kojima and Nomura are going to back the PS3, after all they have a vested interest in the machine as both developers are creating games for the PS3.

  • chupachups #13 6 years ago

    It's very interesting that they used the cinema/dvd/tv analogy, because DVDs make several times more profit than cinema releases, cinema releases are pretty much just big adverts for the DVD nowadays. And of course television networks make far more money than DVD publishers.

    By their own analogy, the PS3 will be something that people only occasionally spend money on, the 360 will be something that people regularly spend money on, and the Wii will be something that people use several hours a day every day of the year.

  • killyourtv #14 6 years ago

    is everything on this site partly translated by ign

  • drumbaby #15 6 years ago

    It's like making love to a beautiful woman....

  • Kiigan #16 6 years ago

    Wow, Kojima is really going out on a limb there... predicting success for the Playstation platform!

    In other news, Kojima comments on bears' bathroom habits, and the city in which the Pope resides.

  • Zuiyo #17 6 years ago

    I think 360 games will be more reallistically priced than PS3 ones if they are going to go the 70-80 dollars apiece.

  • The_Programmer #18 6 years ago

    Have we missed this information from the same site IGN and the same magazine Ge-Magna:-

    [link url=http ://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/716/716047p1.html
    ]http://uk .ps3.ign.com/articles/716/71604...[/link]

  • chupachups #19 6 years ago

    --Wow, Kojima is really going out on a limb there... predicting success for the Playstation platform!--

    I know it seems inconceivable that PlayStation will tank, but take a look at what happened to Atari in the generation after its market-dominating 2600, or Nintendo after the NES, or Sega after the Mega Drive. Sony have had two generations as top dog, but that's no guarantee they'll rule a third.

    They might succeed, that's true, but no one has ever successfully launched a system that costs two or three times as much as the competition. I realise there's more than just games in the PS3, but Sony's last attempt at combining hi-tech multimedia with a games console, the PSX, was a total disaster.

  • dk_rare #20 6 years ago

    A case of a 2 dollar whore sucky suky love Sony long time, as in Sonys cheque book mega movie critical boner

  • Rambaldi #21 6 years ago

    "SONY EXCLUSIVE DEVS IN SONY IS BEST SHOCKER"

    Please people, shut up and create the games, will you?
    Edited by 1 at 30/06/06 @ 15:13

  • coojam #22 6 years ago

    Wii is like learning to play with yourself...360 is like making love to a beautiful man/woman (delete as applicable, not a he/she lol)...PS3 is like going dogging.

  • Mordum #23 6 years ago

    Kojima, who has been a staunch supporter of PS3 since its unveiling in May 2005, compared the Sony console to a movie theatre - while Xbox 360 "is watching a DVD at home" and "Wii is a television program".

    Interesting the way he uses movie-watching as a comparison for all three consoles... sorry Kojima, I know how much you like to make movies, but when I buy a games console I use it for games. Although to be honest I did'nt expect the creator of MGS to come out and say anything different, anyway, his games are overated, not interested in MGS anymore (not since the PS1 release).
    Edited by 1 at 30/06/06 @ 18:47

  • geek-chic #24 6 years ago

    I agree with Northy!

  • Cyclone #25 6 years ago

    It's like making love to a beautiful woman....

    Isn't that a line by Fernando Martinez in GTA Vice City?

    Personally I don't mind Sony having included the Bluray drive, but I wish they'd used 3.5 inch desktop hard drives in the PS3 instead of 2.5 inch laptop ones. Using a 3.5 inch hdd would have saved a bundle of money.
    Edited by 1 at 30/06/06 @ 23:21

  • chronom4n #26 6 years ago

    Personally for me, the loss of the rumble feature is severely off-putting. And it makes gald that i am not the only person who finds it "unfortunate" that sony has taken out the rumble feature. MGS does not seem as exciting anymore with the rumble feature removed. For the life of me, why can;t sony create their own rumble tech.? It seems to me that the controller that offers the most immersion in gaming seems to be (on paper anyway) and i am sure in pactice as well is the Wii controller. i have to admit that when the Wii is released I can virtually assure myself that i will be getting one. Nomura in my opinion has hit the nail on the proverbial head by saying "as a games machine, it is too expensive" Price wise the Wii is spot on. The 360 seems to also offer quite a good deal overall, but the amount of 'problems' the 360 has had, e.g. backwards comp. issues has left me with niggling issues. and finally, if BD does take off, then and only then will the future look positive for PS3. Until then it is just a case of hypotheticals.

  • space_ace #27 6 years ago

    but does it play hd-dvd? :)

  • chronom4n #28 6 years ago

    ps3 does not play hd-dvd as that is the tech. that bd is up against.

  • Ak1ra #29 6 years ago

    I lost my respect for Kojima after the announcement of Metal Gear Solid 3...

  • Steroyd #30 6 years ago

    For the life of me, why can;t sony create their own rumble tech.?

    Because now Immersion have a patent to every type of rumble going... except Nintendo's for some reason....

  • NegativeZero #31 6 years ago

    Japanese devs paid bucketloads of cold hard cash by Sony support Sony's platform! How unexpected.

  • Kiigan #32 6 years ago

    "I lost my respect for Kojima after the announcement of Metal Gear Solid 3..."

    Err why? Because it was an awesome game and you don't like awesome games?

  • Ak1ra #33 6 years ago

    Because I saw the 2nd DVD with the making-off, and I bought all that crap from Kojima saying this game was about passing the knowledge to the next generation of game creators, and the game history is also about the passing of *something* to the next generation and stuff... and I was, wow, I like this guy, he seems to love games and he gets involved in them.

    A year later, guess what, he changed his mind (it was more like he was payed lots of $$ to change is mind). I like to play great games, but there are tons of great games out there, don't need to take crap from anybody...

  • mash the x button #34 6 years ago

    [link url=http://www.play.com/Games/PlayS tation3/4-/1032615/-/Product.html?searchstring=PS3
    ]http://ww w.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4...[/link]

    £549.99 FFS! Can't see them shifting too many at that price.