http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15762&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000011

Jaffe: I Would Not Have Included Blu-ray in PS3

In somewhat of a shocker, God of War creator David Jaffe has admitted that if he could change something about PS3, he would have removed its Blu-ray player and sold the console at a cheaper price. He also revealed that he might one day found his own independent studio. More within...

In part two of Geoff Keighley's Bonus Round with Sony Santa Monica Studio Creative Director David Jaffe over at GameTrailers.com, the God of War creator had a number of interesting things to say, but it was perhaps his comments in a teaser clip for part three that will draw the most attention.

 

When asked what he would change about the PlayStation 3, he responded, "I probably would have taken the Blu-ray out and sold it for less money." Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, but Sony certainly doesn't seem to view the inclusion of Blu-ray as a mistake. Jaffe didn't outright label it a mistake either, but he's the first Sony employee (to this editor's knowledge) to even question the need for Blu-ray.

 

SCE Worldiwide Studios President Phil Harrison and other Sony executives have repeatedly stressed the importance of the Blu-ray format, not just as a next-gen movie format, but as a game disc format that provides game developers with plenty of storage space to build highly detailed game worlds without the need for multiple discs. Microsoft has been using standard DVD-9 discs for the Xbox 360 and has thus far (in the U.S.) avoided any multiple disc scenarios through the use of highly advanced compression techniques. [Note: In Japan, Blue Dragon was released on three discs.]

 

Earlier on in part two of the Bonus Round, Jaffe once again commented on his love for smaller downloadable games, such as Calling All Cars. Echoing sentiments he expressed to GameDaily BIZ during a GDC interview, Jaffe commented, "I want to do games that take 10-13 months; I want to do games that aren't always story-driven, that are more gameplay-driven."

 

Interestingly, when Jaffe was asked about the possibility of one day starting his own independent studio, he seemed to embrace the idea as one he's already given much thought to. "I think it's a great idea and it's an idea that I've explored and will continue to explore," he said. "You never really know – Sony's been a great home for a long time and whether or not it's with an independent studio or staying within the walls of Sony, I always want to be able to contribute to Sony's [camp], but the specific way to get to that destination is under discussion right now. So whether or not that becomes a full fledged company or it becomes a more focused role within Sony, which is sort of all about these [smaller] games is sort of TBD at the moment."

 

For Jaffe, it's not just a matter of his enjoying creating smaller titles, but it also comes down to his realization during the God of War development period that he just can't do those big, epic titles anymore. "God of War was an eye-opener for me; all I did was live at that studio," he revealed.

 

"This is your life. It's the one you get, for the moment anyway, and it doesn't make sense to do things other than what makes you excited," Jaffe said. "For me now that I've gotten the 'big game' out of my system, this is what's in my system now."

 

And in typical outspoken Jaffe fashion, he remarked that big games aren't necessarily "better" than smaller ones and added regarding the drive to constantly create big blockbusters, "It's like, 'F**k you capitalist society that says all I need to do is work and contribute to the bottom line. F**k you up your a**.' I want a life."

 

Jaffe also said that while Calling All Cars, which uses the Warhawk engine, obviously doesn't maximize the PS3's power, "It's [still] a pretty advanced game under the hood; there's a lot going on." The important thing to remember, he said, is that it's $9.99 and fun to play. Of note, Jaffe did admit to a "mistake" of sorts on the development of Calling All Cars. He said that because the game is going to appeal to real gamers anyway (not "soccer moms"), it might have been a wiser marketing move to go with an "edgier or more mature" thematic on top of the same gameplay.

 

Go check out the full video interview on Bonus Round; it's definitely worth watching.

 

There is a middle ground between casual and hardcore. That's who Calling All Cars will appeal to.

"Microsoft has been using standard DVD-9 discs for the Xbox 360 and has thus far (in the U.S.) avoided any multiple disc scenarios through the use of highly advanced compression techniques. [Note: In Japan, Blue Dragon was released on three discs.]"

 

Don't get me wrong I love the 360 games I currently have but dammit I love epic games. Blue dragon is right up my alley... its 3 disks. Or imagine dead rising....... spanning the length of that small colorado town.

 

I don't know but anything that makes my dreams closer to reality is a great thing. 

FishyJoe said: http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15762&ncid=AOLGAM000500000000011 Jaffe: I Would Not Have Included Blu-ray in PS3

 I got one guy who agrees with me

 

staticneuron said: "Microsoft has been using standard DVD-9 discs for the Xbox 360 and has thus far (in the U.S.) avoided any multiple disc scenarios through the use of highly advanced compression techniques. [Note: In Japan, Blue Dragon was released on three discs.]"   Don't get me wrong I love the 360 games I currently have but dammit I love epic games. Blue dragon is right up my alley... its 3 disks. Or imagine dead rising....... spanning the length of that small colorado town.   I don't know but anything that makes my dreams closer to reality is a great thing.

 I would like to see how much space Blue Dragon is using on those anime FMV scenes they put in that game.  One thing about multi-disc games is that just because it is a 3 disc game doesn't mean it is 27 gigs of data.  Usually half or more of each disk is repeated data from the previous discs (music, the need to go into same areas).  For example FF7 the game was really 200 megs repeated 3 times, then the rest was stacked FMVs and other goodies. 

This can depend on the game because perhaps you will not need to revisit old areas, or perhaps they will use different music.

With how good games are looking nowadays they should be able to do FMV in the game engine. There shouldn't be crazy amounts of this stuff on the discs anymore. I just don't see why blu ray is needed for this gen of gaming.

johnsobas said: staticneuron said: "Microsoft has been using standard DVD-9 discs for the Xbox 360 and has thus far (in the U.S.) avoided any multiple disc scenarios through the use of highly advanced compression techniques. [Note: In Japan, Blue Dragon was released on three discs.]"   Don't get me wrong I love the 360 games I currently have but dammit I love epic games. Blue dragon is right up my alley... its 3 disks. Or imagine dead rising....... spanning the length of that small colorado town.   I don't know but anything that makes my dreams closer to reality is a great thing. I would like to see how much space Blue Dragon is using on those anime FMV scenes they put in that game. One thing about multi-disc games is that just because it is a 3 disc game doesn't mean it is 27 gigs of data. Usually half or more of each disk is repeated data from the previous discs (music, the need to go into same areas). For example FF7 the game was really 200 megs repeated 3 times, then the rest was stacked FMVs and other goodies. This can depend on the game because perhaps you will not need to revisit old areas, or perhaps they will use different music.

 How big was FF9? FF7 was almost a launch game. It was a 1st gen PS1 game tho.

FF9 was 4 CD's I think, been awhile. ;>

Kwaad said: johnsobas said: staticneuron said: "Microsoft has been using standard DVD-9 discs for the Xbox 360 and has thus far (in the U.S.) avoided any multiple disc scenarios through the use of highly advanced compression techniques. [Note: In Japan, Blue Dragon was released on three discs.]"   Don't get me wrong I love the 360 games I currently have but dammit I love epic games. Blue dragon is right up my alley... its 3 disks. Or imagine dead rising....... spanning the length of that small colorado town.   I don't know but anything that makes my dreams closer to reality is a great thing. I would like to see how much space Blue Dragon is using on those anime FMV scenes they put in that game. One thing about multi-disc games is that just because it is a 3 disc game doesn't mean it is 27 gigs of data. Usually half or more of each disk is repeated data from the previous discs (music, the need to go into same areas). For example FF7 the game was really 200 megs repeated 3 times, then the rest was stacked FMVs and other goodies. This can depend on the game because perhaps you will not need to revisit old areas, or perhaps they will use different music. How big was FF9? FF7 was almost a launch game. It was a 1st gen PS1 game tho.

I'm not sure what you're getting at, but being first gen didn't necessarily mean less data is used. It also means data isn't optimized, so less is being done with the same amount of data. Although that applies to game data, which is about the same in all the PS1 FFs. In terms of FMVs, 8 and 9 had more complex ones, that are even intergrated into real-time graphics, while 7's FMVs were seperately loading videos. So that's why the latter two had four discs instead of three.

johnsobas said: I would like to see how much space Blue Dragon is using on those anime FMV scenes they put in that game. One thing about multi-disc games is that just because it is a 3 disc game doesn't mean it is 27 gigs of data. Usually half or more of each disk is repeated data from the previous discs (music, the need to go into same areas). For example FF7 the game was really 200 megs repeated 3 times, then the rest was stacked FMVs and other goodies. This can depend on the game because perhaps you will not need to revisit old areas, or perhaps they will use different music.

Awesome I would like to know where that tidbit of information comes from. Also when referring about FMV's in PSX games and certain PS2 games you have to remember thatalot of them werent just cutscenes you watched. Actually quite a few of them were part of the environment( moving elevators, smoke comming out of pipes, waves crashing against a beachs shore). This generation is actually alot different so I am not even going to hazard a guess about how much FMV takes up 3 disks.

I am going to bet that kojima was not kidding when he said the space of blu ray seemed small..... and I don't recall him using FMV's in the previous metal gears. They all seemed to be engine cutscenes.

Dev's used up the space of cd's quickly, then they have filled dvd's, now that blu ray is there I believe that Developers will eventually find better uses and pratical applications for the space.

Besides I never understood this less is more approach to disc space size.

EDIT: Lord, FFVII also had cutscenes during the game. And it is not about whether or not the games were different sizes (which I believe they were anyway) it was about developers techniques. Eventually they could fit more data onto the disks yet the later final fantasy's still had multiple discs.

 Back onto what jaffe said: he stated after the release of god of war that epic games were not important and he would like to work on smaller more emotional games.Somehow I don't think his smaller emotional games would need the space of a BR disc (probably why CAC is relegated to the PSN) So what makes his opinion so valid after claiming to go away from epic games?