Tomb Raider dev likes PSN News
PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 News by Games Industry.biz
Following the successful digital release of Tomb Raider Anniversary over Xbox Live, Crystal Dynamics' Riley Cooper has told GamesIndustry.biz that Sony's PlayStation Network should offer more flexibility for delivering future titles.
Anniversary was originally developed for PlayStation 2, with publisher Eidos offering the title to Xbox 360 users via Xbox Live Marketplace by splitting the game into episodic chunks.
But Cooper, lead designer on Anniversary, believes that Sony's PlayStation Network could prove to be the better service for developers looking to bypass retail and deliver full games to users, as it doesn't have as many constraints as Microsoft's service.
"I'm very, very interested in digital distribution and the potential it has," said Cooper. "PlayStation Network is extremely interesting because it's a more flexible space."
"We made an in-road with Anniversary on 360, and it was a full game essentially, but Microsoft is only slowly increasing requirements and opening up the constraints of Xbox Live. It's been a slow process, whereas PSN hasn't been restricted by size, they've just done Warhawk for example."
Riley believes that digital distribution of console games that were only previously available via retail is inevitable, and that technology barriers are being chipped away at an impressive rate.
"In a long enough time line it's inevitable so at the moment it's just a matter of how fast. Within this console generation we're already seeing huge uptake in that direction. Xbox Live continues to get press and the limits are being expanded, Tomb Raider Anniversary was a huge expansion of those limits," he said.
"The additional downloadable content for titles like Guitar Hero is making a lot of money. As well as that, digital distribution isn't just about how to get a game but how to stimulate communities after the game has been released. Once users have bought into the IP you can continue to keep that community alive and get revenue from it," he added.
Crystal Dynamics is working on the next Lara Croft title, Tomb Raider Underworld, due for release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
If GamesIndustry.biz ever gets caught, it makes bail.
Are you excited about Tomb Raider: Anniversary on Xbox 360?
View Eurogamer readers most anticipated games
Related Games
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Latest Features
-
Tomb Raider: Anniversary Review [148]
-
Tomb Raider: Anniversary First Impressions [69]
-
Tomb Raider: Anniversary First Impressions [75]
Latest Videos
Tomb Raider: Anniversary - Ads [0] 7 June, 2007
Tomb Raider: Anniversary - Ads [1] 6 June, 2007
Latest News
-
Next Tomb Raider film to star new Lara [39]
-
Minnie Driver voicing Lara [21]
-
Eidos quiet on Tomb Raider Anniversary for Xbox 360 [34]
-
Tomb Raider Anniversary on Steam [16]
-
Tomb Raider Anniversary demo [16]
Latest Screenshots
1 June, 2007 [27]
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
|
seasidebaz
03/01/08 @ 10:00
0
if psn is as flexible as they say it is then give us indies a chance! give us a free ps3 devkit, then let us pay back the cost from a percentage from the revenue! now THAT would be good business sense...
|
|
seasidebaz
03/01/08 @ 11:22
0
@Dizzy: I've done that in the past, the problem is that PCs are open systems. I don't have the resources to debug every single combination of hardware / software, or the money to get a PC so meaty that I can keep up with the top-end machines for testing on those. At least on the closed PS3 development will mirror the final project.
Plus nobody would buy it on PC anyway, they'd just download it via torrent. (hence Crysis, UTIII selling like crap on PC...) |
|
0
headbog: You sure about being able to pay an exact amount of money? Last time I charged up I still have to "buy" a certain amount of Swedish Crows to be put into my wallet leaving money there which I cannot take back.
While I agree it is easier to see what something actually costs I see that as the only real benefit as I still only can charge the wallet with predefined amounts (unless I completely have missed a 'add exactly this much' option). How does PSN and Xbox Live handle currency changes BTW? With points it wouldn't be obvious as you can say that something cost the same amount of points over the whole world. I'm guessing that the prices we get on XBL/PSN are not in any way connected to the actual exchange rate? So as the dollar plummets games are not getting cheaper on PSN/XBL ... /B |
|
0
What this tool is clearly overlooking is that digital delivery for full games a) takes up shed loads of space on a hard drive and b) means you cannot resell your purchase or c) conveniently rent titles.
Even if digital games dropped to £10-£15 it would still not be worthwhile for me as a consumer. |
|
0
""if psn is as flexible as they say it is then give us indies a chance! give us a free ps3 devkit, then let us pay back the cost from a percentage from the revenue! now THAT would be good business sense...""
Give it a year Sony have made cheap dev kits for homebrew in the past i'm sure they will again EDIT:/ failing that make a demo on PC and send it Sony, if it's something special they'll then fund you to make it for PS3
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/01/08 @ 12:48
|
|
0
@ LazyDan
I reckon they'll take the contents of our bank accounts and call THAT revenue, more likely. @ Jel Aren't we lucky that the high street stores will be with us for a looooooong time then? Otherwise, how is your Mum/Gran going to get ripped off buying the latest Need for Speed game for £40 at HMV? I can only see digital distribution complementing the traditional highstreet and online retail channels, in the same way that iTunes success doesn't mean that Play.com and CDWow have to shut. It'll be nice to see more Xbox games on XBLA, as I only got an Xbox in 2006. I'll pick up a few back compat titles for a tenner or less.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/01/08 @ 13:09
|
|
Ghettomurph
03/01/08 @ 13:47
0
@oreillymj
MS dont restrict sizes so they can fit on a 512mb card. If they did then there wouldnt be any films or Xbox 1 titles on marketplace. Or demos for that matter.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 03/01/08 @ 13:47
|
|
kangarootoo
03/01/08 @ 13:58
0
@seasidebaz
"give us a free ps3 devkit, then let us pay back the cost from a percentage from the revenue! now THAT would be good business sense..." That kind of assumes there will BE some revenue. I'm sure your indy is quite capable, you know yourself there are many more factors that decide whether sales are good or not. I suppose if the kit was returned if milestones weren't met, that could work out. I don't disagree that some kind of "small development" scheme/package would be a great idea. The problem is that if no investment is required on the part of the indie, every man and their dog can get on board, and quality would drop and money would be lost. Of course, the figures involved are at the heart of all of this, so I think in principle we probably agree. |
|
kangarootoo
03/01/08 @ 14:00
0
@Feanor
It seems to me like a legacy restriction, related to shipping a 360 sku without an hdd. At one time they probably didn't want to have a situation where you could buy something on XBLM but then not have the ability to store the download. I think MS are now starting to realise that most owners have an hdd and also that keeping the limits in place is too restrictive. I expect we will see a change in the not too distant. |
|
0
Anything over £5 you can put an exact amount in your PSN wallet, however, as a lot of the content is around the £3.49 - £4.99 mark you do often end up with odds and sods of change around if you only top up in small increments. If you wait for 2 or 3 things that you want rather than buying stuff the day it comes out you can top up to the exact purchase price and never leave anything in your wallet.
|
Comments: 1-25 of 25 in total
Want to comment on this article? Log in, or register!
