Top Three things that Sony should copy from Microsoft
I’m a huge PS3 fan, and (IMO) it’s easily the best system. However, here are some things that I think Microsoft does better that I would like to see Sony imitate. This is intended to be lighthearted, so please make comments accordingly.
1. Timely Western Releases of Japanese Games.
There are great Japanese PS3 exclusives like Yakuza 3 that take forever to get released in the west. Yakuza 2 is taking at least two years. WTF! The game is done: the code, art, plot, game mechanics, everything is built, written, finished, and tested. Does it really take years and years to add some sub-titles? Of course, not. There’s absolutely no good reason for such a long holdup. Westerners love Japanese games. Even the smaller niche titles are important to the influential taste makers in the west. Microsoft knows that and has nipped this issue. There are no three year localization periods for Japanese developed 360 titles. Sony needs to do the same thing: Get on the phone, schedule some meetings, knock on some doors… make it happen.
2. Shift PS2 Developers to PS3.
Microsoft was smart. When the Xbox 360 was coming out, they moved all Xbox developers over to the new system very early. Obviously, PS2 is a little different in that it’s more profitable and still very popular among a certain demographic. Clearly, games like Madden and Guitar Hero sell very well on PS2, and some poorly reviewed budget priced license heavy titles such as Iron Man even sell better on PS2 than on newer systems. However, why are we still seeing new titles like Persona 3 FES, coming to the PS2, even in 2008? That kind of highly-detailed niche RPG title appeals to the enthusiast crowd in the west and that’s the exact type of crowd that has lost interest in the PS2 platform. If they just did a quick and dirty recompile and put the same game in a PS3 box it would have sold much better and it would have served as a brand halo as well.
3. Milk your back catalog.
Microsoft has developed quality remakes of every back catalog title that has a shred of credibility. Look at games like Marathon. Fans love this stuff, and it’s way safer and cheaper than doing original game development. Why can’t Sony give it’s fans the same thing? Sony has a much larger back catalog to draw from and plenty of untapped PS1/PS2 gems. People would kill for downloadable emulated versions of older favorites, and enhanced remakes would be even better. This is low hanging fruit. Take the fruit, Sony. I don’t want to hear about legal complications and IP restrictions: Maybe your legal team can scale back on some of those three hour lunch breaks and get the paperwork done to make this a reality.
I´m waiting for KZ2, and thats not out before feb 09 .. Now that is a loong wait 
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I agree on getting PS2 developers to work on PS3. As much as I liked God of War II, Final Fantasy XII, etc. and appreciate Sony continuing to support their system rather that dropping it like a bad habit (as Microsoft did with the original Xbox) this seems like a good deed that hasn’t gone unpunished. Microsoft launched with souped up Xbox games, Nintendo launched with were quite literally Gamecube games, and it worked because they were recognizable brands. I never understood Sony’s approach of using new IP’s at the system launch. They’re just now getting the games they needed 16 months ago.
The other issues are slightly more complicated, but also have a bit to do with PS2’s continued to success. I just don’t see them putting games that are still available at retail onto PSN (the original Ratchet & Clank is almost six years old and you can still buy it just about anywhere). The other issue is for third party games, those publishes would rather sell overpriced compilations rather than just giving people the particular game they want at a reasonable price. It’s easier for Microsoft to get a Marathon remake made when they (at the time) owned Bungie and the game was never really easy to find in stores to begin with.
As for developers still making PS2 games, this probably isn’t going to change. The hardware cycle has been sort of a dividing line between developers that can step up their game and those who cannot. As long as the combined pool of customers for PS2, Wii, and PSP is huge (and it’s only going to get bigger) there isn’t a lot of incentive for them to put in the effort of making a great next gen experience. Looking at the hardware sales, I’m amazed that a good number of developers put any effort into advancing the medium. This is an issue that is hard to compared between Sony and Microsoft, for a few reasons. One, Microsoft basically has no presence in Japan so they are not as effected by that market’s aversion to technological advancement (what else can you call it at this point?). Secondly, they’re the place to go for western developers, specifically those that used to be PC-centric (Infinity Ward, 2K Boston, etc) and are used to improving their technology (or using more advanced engines created by someone else every few years) on a regular basis. This could get a bit complicated for them since having newer more powerful hardware was the draw at both system launches, but on the PC side people are basically not buying new hardware to play games like Crysis anymore. 360 could have a longer lifespan if only for the fact that there really isn’t an audience yet for games that require more power.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Just as a side note, but your second point is not really valid. Sure, there are still PS2 titles coming out (which is good as the platform is still vivid), but none of them are potential PS3 developers. Those games coming out on PS2 are low-budget titles mainly and a few 1st party titles like SingStar that don’t require massive resources to be build. Meanwhile ALL major developers switched to the PS3 platform.
What is truethough, a lot of people still buy the cheaper PS2 in favor of a PS3, which is ok as the PS2 really competes against the Wii in this case. In other words, Sony still needs the PS2 badly as long as the PS3 is above the 199 price point.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I totally agree on points 1 and 3. As far as point 2 goes, I’d love to see Sony start a certification programme like Microsoft. Where Developers can get hands on materials and proof that they know how the cell works. Then you get certified ps3 developers. Also it could proof a stepping stone to general developers to get into game development. Development communities are also needed (if they don’t exist already) endorsed by Sony. restricted membership for certified developers of course. This will be an investment, but so many other industry giants like Microsoft, Sun, Oracle and Cisco already proved that it is viable and profitable in the long run.
June 24th, 2008 at 5:52 am
I’m not sure I totally agree with any of those.
1. MS doesn’t really have a timely release of Japanese games. In fact I’d say its quite opposite…its Japan that has timely release of US games. They are losing Japan so they are making special attempts to try to win them back. So they are probably putting special effort in localizing games for Japan..not the other way around. I could be wrong.
2. MS all but dropped the original Xbox. Like it never existed. I’m sure most people are over it now but when it happened alot of people had a sour taste in their mouth from MS. Now that MS said they want to be the first to the market with the new console….we can only assume they will do it again.
3. PS2 has too large of a back catalog to milk. With 90 percent of it being shovelware. Sure there are a few games I’d like to see happen (give me another Lunar)…but I’d definately rather see new IP’s.