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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Insomniac's Brian Hastings speaks out on the PS3

This IS a long winded talk from Brian Hastings. I DO NOT plan to start a flame war or any kind of biased comments. This is a very LONG read and may answer some of those questions people keep asking. I will point out that this 'Source' is taken from the site that requires membership... it's really long but the links are in it for reference...Happy reading (Phew!) Secondary Source I didn't want to post it all on this site... really because it would take up a HELL OF A LOT of space...



Good to see this site is still going 

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Honestly I think he doesn't really understand why Sony will lose ... He says:

When I started this blog post I was planning to write about Home and Little Big Planet from a developer’s perspective. But as I read some of the media and message board responses to Sony’s GDC presentation, I wanted to address an ongoing industry phenomenon. Specifically, the sheer volume of negative spin toward Sony from both the mainstream press and the internet community. Mere minutes after Sony announced a beautiful, ground breaking, free, community-enhancing online PS3 service, 100 internet posters were trying to argue that this was somehow a bad thing. Whether you love or hate Sony, if you’re trying to spin Home as a bad thing I can only conclude that you’re part of Microsoft’s $3.2 billion viral marketing campaign. I’ll be the first to say that Sony has had a very rough road from last E3 up through this year’s GDC. Some of their wounds have been self-inflicted, but they’ve also had to face a conspicuously hostile media. Take the New York Times article “How the PS3 will kill your dog, steal your girlfriend, and infect you with Ebola.” And Time magazine’s piece “Global Warming: Is It The PS3?” And more recently, GameSpot’s “Ten Complaints We Thought Up While Everyone Else Was Watching Little Big Planet.” For the last nine months it has been fashionable to bash the PS3. At first it was controversial, even titillating, to make sensational and dire predictions about the PS3’s future. You could watch it happen again and again – a rumor starts on a message board (“The PS3s all caught on fire at TGS!”, “Blu-Ray won’t have any Porn!”), then it gets picked up by a games industry website, and a few days later USA Today runs the story with the headline “Experts Say PS3 Doom3d!1!!” But the tide has changed so much now that it’s downright controversial to suggest that the PS3 may yet be a success. So, in the spirit of sensationalism and controversy, let me present to you 10 reasons why the PS3 will be the console market leader by 2010:
And fails to recognize that this backlash is from people who owned the PS2 and are pissed-off that Sony would force them to spend $600 if they want a PS3; by the time the PS3 is at a price people want to pay the console war will be over ... He also follows it up with:
Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the Wii does have many characteristics of popular mainstream fads. It’s instantaneously accessible, it’s unlike anything you’ve tried before, and it’s great fun to share with friends. In short, it’s everything Nintendo said it would be and it has captured the world’s imagination. The only downside is that the world is easily distracted. Tickle Me Elmo captured the world’s attention at one point, as did Furbies. They were both instantly accessible, were unlike anything people had seen before, and were fun to share with friends. But a year later, after everyone had seen them and tried them out, their popularity waned. The Wii is currently riding on a massive wave of mainstream attention and has been purchased by lots of people who don’t normally play games. But how many of those people who are hooked on Wii Sports will also buy Wii Need For Speed? Mainstream fads usually run their course within a year. As the honeymoon period fades, the Wii will be going up against more and more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. More people will be buying HD televisions and looking for the most immersive and stunning experiences available. For these reasons, I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3.
and fails to realize that (in 18 months when the fad dies) every major third party publisher in the world will have focused all of their attention on the Wii because of its initial sales; essentially 75% of the best games will be completely exclusive to the Wii and the PS3 will seem like an overpriced console without any games. Edit: Whether or not he admits this, his company has invested a huge ammount based on the assumption that the PS3 will be successful; he is not an unbiased source.



I'd agree with you on the last bit... he does seem like a bit of a 'Lone Voice'. Also, yes a hell of a lot of PS2 owners are currently dissapointed.



Good to see this site is still going 

First of all, let me make it clear that Insomniac is a 100% independent development studio. Sony has neither endorsed nor authorized what I’m writing here.
I bet Sony really likes what he's writing. That was a really big waste of time reading that, since it is obviously biased. I don't think Insomniac has ever published a game for any company other than Sony. Of course he wants the PS3 to succeed.



Wii Code 8761-5941-4718-0078 

I got questions for you... who the hell is Insomniac, who the hell is Brian Hastings and what games are they notable for producing?



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souixan said: I got questions for you... who the hell is Insomniac, who the hell is Brian Hastings and what games are they notable for producing?
They're notable for developing: Spyro the Dragon (Published by Sony) Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage (Published by Sony) Spyro: Year of the Dragon (Published by Sony) Ratchet & Clank (Published by Sony) Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (Published by Sony) Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal (Published by Sony) Ratchet: Deadlocked (Published by Sony) Resistance: Fall of Man (Published by Sony) And are currently developing: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Published by Sony) Resistance 2: Rise of Man (Published by Sony) They have always produced games for Sony Platforms and (with the exception of 1 game) Sony has always been their publisher.



Happy, Sony never forced anyone to buy a PS3 at $600. In fact, they went out of their way to offer a cheaper model that does everything you could want as a gamer and gamers acted like it was the plague. Seriously, the $600 model was never made with gamers in mind, yet so many have their minds wrapped around it that it's silly. Sony will, in all liklihood, offer a yet cheaper model once again with the gamer in mind by Christmas. I wonder if people will finally realize by that time that the $600 machine was never made for them in the first place.



You do not have the right to never be offended.

HappySqurriel said: Honestly I think he doesn't really understand why Sony will lose ... He says: When I started this blog post I was planning to write about Home and Little Big Planet from a developer’s perspective. But as I read some of the media and message board responses to Sony’s GDC presentation, I wanted to address an ongoing industry phenomenon. Specifically, the sheer volume of negative spin toward Sony from both the mainstream press and the internet community. Mere minutes after Sony announced a beautiful, ground breaking, free, community-enhancing online PS3 service, 100 internet posters were trying to argue that this was somehow a bad thing. Whether you love or hate Sony, if you’re trying to spin Home as a bad thing I can only conclude that you’re part of Microsoft’s $3.2 billion viral marketing campaign. I’ll be the first to say that Sony has had a very rough road from last E3 up through this year’s GDC. Some of their wounds have been self-inflicted, but they’ve also had to face a conspicuously hostile media. Take the New York Times article “How the PS3 will kill your dog, steal your girlfriend, and infect you with Ebola.” And Time magazine’s piece “Global Warming: Is It The PS3?” And more recently, GameSpot’s “Ten Complaints We Thought Up While Everyone Else Was Watching Little Big Planet.” For the last nine months it has been fashionable to bash the PS3. At first it was controversial, even titillating, to make sensational and dire predictions about the PS3’s future. You could watch it happen again and again – a rumor starts on a message board (“The PS3s all caught on fire at TGS!”, “Blu-Ray won’t have any Porn!”), then it gets picked up by a games industry website, and a few days later USA Today runs the story with the headline “Experts Say PS3 Doom3d!1!!” But the tide has changed so much now that it’s downright controversial to suggest that the PS3 may yet be a success. So, in the spirit of sensationalism and controversy, let me present to you 10 reasons why the PS3 will be the console market leader by 2010: And fails to recognize that this backlash is from people who owned the PS2 and are pissed-off that Sony would force them to spend $600 if they want a PS3; by the time the PS3 is at a price people want to pay the console war will be over ... He also follows it up with: Obviously I’m exaggerating, but the Wii does have many characteristics of popular mainstream fads. It’s instantaneously accessible, it’s unlike anything you’ve tried before, and it’s great fun to share with friends. In short, it’s everything Nintendo said it would be and it has captured the world’s imagination. The only downside is that the world is easily distracted. Tickle Me Elmo captured the world’s attention at one point, as did Furbies. They were both instantly accessible, were unlike anything people had seen before, and were fun to share with friends. But a year later, after everyone had seen them and tried them out, their popularity waned. The Wii is currently riding on a massive wave of mainstream attention and has been purchased by lots of people who don’t normally play games. But how many of those people who are hooked on Wii Sports will also buy Wii Need For Speed? Mainstream fads usually run their course within a year. As the honeymoon period fades, the Wii will be going up against more and more graphically impressive games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. More people will be buying HD televisions and looking for the most immersive and stunning experiences available. For these reasons, I think the Wii will be more successful than the GameCube or N64 but in the long run will still be outsold by the PS3. and fails to realize that (in 18 months when the fad dies) every major third party publisher in the world will have focused all of their attention on the Wii because of its initial sales; essentially 75% of the best games will be completely exclusive to the Wii and the PS3 will seem like an overpriced console without any games. Edit: Whether or not he admits this, his company has invested a huge ammount based on the assumption that the PS3 will be successful; he is not an unbiased source.
Do you really think the "war will be over " and the PS3 will dissappear into the sunset or something like that ? .Winning or not winning the PS3 will be a viable plattform and when it reaches a determinate price point most people will buy it despite who was winning until then .If being a viable plattform ,having great occidental and oriental software ,free online and growing community thorough Home isnt enough for you ....



I just wanted to refute the whole "Brian Hastings is biased; there's no point in listening to him" opinion. I'm not gonna say he's not biased at all, but Sony doesn't own his company. Insomniac's effectively a second party developer, and a damn good one at that. If Sony were to fail, Insomniac would probably not suffer all that much because they have the flexibility to develop for whatever system they want. As for the console war being over after 18 months, that is the most ridiculous statement on this thread. This generation of consoles will probably be the longest lived generation ever. With development costs sky high, this industry would collapse if a new generation appears in 5 years. Just look at all the studios that were closed down as a result of this generation's changeover. If there were a new generation in five years, so many more would be shut down. Therefore, the PS3 and 360 are gonna be around for a long time. Considering the PS2 lasted 7 years, these systems are gonna last at least 8. The console wars aren't gonna be over in just 18 months. It's all gonna depend on long term sales; anything can happen in 8 years.



My Top 5:

Shadow of the Colossus, Metal Gear Solid 3, Shenmue, Skies of Arcadia, Chrono Trigger

My 2 nex-gen systems: PS3 and Wii

Prediction Aug '08: We see the PSP2 released fall '09. Graphically, it's basically the same as the current system. UMD drive ditched and replaced by 4-8gb on board flash memory. Other upgrades: 2nd analog nub, touchscreen, blutooth, motion sensor. Design: Flip-style or slider. Size: Think Iphone. Cost: $199. Will be profitable on day 1.

Diomedes1976 said: Do you really think the "war will be over " and the PS3 will dissappear into the sunset or something like that ? .Winning or not winning the PS3 will be a viable plattform and when it reaches a determinate price point most people will buy it despite who was winning until then .If being a viable plattform ,having great occidental and oriental software ,free online and growing community thorough Home isnt enough for you ....
If the PS3 averages a $100 price drop every year (starting in 2007) it will be 2009/2010 before it hits a price that people bought their PS2 at ... We still have too little data to determine where sales will be in 2009/2010, but one would assume that monthly sales would be lower and sales spikes (associated with big games and holiday seasons) would be smaller because of the higher price; if the PS3 is sitting under 18 Million units sold in 2009 it is plausable that the PS3 wouldn't have many exclusive games and would be struggling to get ports of games. I'm not saying I know what will happen, but the higher price (and angry customers) will have a massive impact on the sales of the PS3