Ninja Theory is best known this generation for Heavenly Sword, a PS3-exclusive game that looked gorgeous, even if it didn't play quite so brilliantly. As with all PS3 exclusives, it was subject to console war craziness and fanboy rage, and Ninja Theory did not like it. Such a development process was an unfair drain, claims the team.
"When you are exclusive, sometimes the pressure to demonstrate technology can override other aspects of game development," confesses Ninja Theory co-founder Tameem Antoniades. "Being involved in one side of a format war as if it’s the machines that make great games can also be draining. You get a lot of attention as an exclusive developer which is great, but on the flip side there was a lot of anti-Sony feeling going on which I felt was unfairly being directed at our team."
Ninja Theory's next game, Enslaved, is being developed for both PS3 and Xbox 360, and it's hardly surprising if the team feels this way. Still, I'm sure the fanboys will still find some way to make comparisons and argue and try to derail any legitimate coverage of the game itself. Because that's what fans of videogames do, apparently.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
12:40 PM on 11.19.2009
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Ninja Theory FTW.
Seriously, where the fuck is this coming from all of a sudden?
He was interviewed and probably asked a question about it, so he answered. Remember they're promoting Enslaved now, and naturally as they do interviews, questions about the last game and comparisons to the new one will happen. It's not like he randomly called up a site and said "HEAVENLY SWORD RAWR RAWR RAWR!"
Also to Steel Brotha I don't think he's bitching about the PS3 as much as exclusivity in general. The header kinda leads you on to think otherwise but whatever.
Also, Heavenly Sword kicked ass. Fuck everyone.
It's unfair to label working on the PS3 as 'draining' and 'unfair' today.
But then, I'd expect no less from you Jim...
Seeing as how this is software and it's subject to different rules and expectations to film I doubt exclusives will ever die.
Agreed.
As long as there are multiple consoles, I believe we'll always see exclusive titles.
Good or bad, I don't think it's likely to change.
*Looks at Ninja Theories short and somewhat lackluster gameplay, but good looking game*
Looks to me like it was an issue with them being able to deliver on the technology in a time frame comparative to others, not the need for it if you ask me.
Honestly, moving to a multi-platform role won't solve any of their issues and only magnify them. Now they'll be spending more time to maximize two different technologies and will have the same rabid fanboys pressuring them for either a) not delivering on the awesome technology of the PS3, b) not utilizing the awesome power of the 360 GPU for HQ textures and AA, c) down-grading one or the other build in order to make them both look the same, d) yadda yadda yadda.
I agree- though it isn't going away anytime soon- thank you nintendo for creating the console-lease contract oh so long ago....
personally I think that if it was gone we would see a lot more of a bloom in the industry but then consoles would be more expensive, games cheaper, though you would also see more first party development and a resurgence of custer's last stand type games
Or finding lame ways to make use of SIXAXIS. Camera guided arrows. Yeah, totally.
Sounds like Bioware's original Mass Effect.
That said I would hate that, as one reason I love PC gaming is the tweaks and such which would dissapear.
Steering cannonballs was much cooler than steering arrows, anyway.
I believe he was referring to the stress behind making sure that an exclusive game remained firmly rooted in showing off the prowess of the hardware that development is exclusive to (see: Heavenly Sword, Lair) rather than working on a multi-plat title wherein the game would be judged on its merits as a piece of software alone, and not just a flagship title to be used as a yardstick to measure what a system is capable of. That frustration goes double if it's fairly early in the console's lifespan, as was the case with HS.
Mass Effect is not an exclusive.
Metal Gear isn't exclusive, as Raiden Gaiden is hitting 360 now (and look at all the other ports/projects Konami is publishing, not all of them MGS/Kojima projects), and Mass Effect is also available on PC, and published by EA, a publishing juggernaut in its own right with no apparent loyalty to any platform in particular.
Say what you will about that last statement, but EA's highest selling titles aren't exclusive in the least.
I never said that ME was exclusive.
ok so some devs have pulled more out of a single platform than may have been possible on all of them, but usually all that amounts to is fancier graphics, and realistically my PC would blow them away anyway.
Tameem is right though, fan boys, even those peeking up in this thread are a thorn in the heel of the industry. They are loud, obnoxious and very opinionated. I don't know which one to label as extreme left or right wingers, but they take their causes srsly, serious.
These fan boys will soon grow into pro conservative anti liberal, or pro liberal anti conservative adults, and scream and yell just like they did about their consoles.
It really is hard to take the game industry seriously when you have rabid fanboys jumping about frothing at the mouth on how their piece of metal and plastic is better.
As for heavenly sword, it wasn't a game that broke barriers. Personally I played through it and wasn't too big a fan, my gf on the other hand has been playing it over and over again for the past 2 years.
I just look at exclusive to mean only on one platform is all... if everything people call an Xbox exclusive actually was I would have to own one, but as it is there are like 3 or 4 total, lol.
Anyway, didn't mean to sound nitpicky, which I guess I did.
@Ganjookie: I liked how you both used and didn't use political analogies to the fanboy issue. Pretty clever.
Now, it may suck as an individual who may not have access to the console on which the game can be played, but such feelings are exactly the desired result of such unique capabilities.
"such feelings are exactly the desired result of such unique capabilities."
this made me LOL. an exclusive game isn't a "unique capability" it's a marketing ploy to add perceived value to increasingly homogeneous product. the end result is that less gamers are able to play some great games.
I also like the part where they say "Being involved in one side of a format war as if it’s the machines that make great games", stating that the devs make good games, then blaming their forced exclusivity for making a mediocre game.
Yup, Mass effect effectively demonstrated what kind of graphics the 360 cannot handle.
It's unfair to label working on the PS3 as 'draining' and 'unfair' today.
But then, I'd expect no less from you Jim...
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This.
Also, Naughty Dog and Guerilla would like words with you.
Yeah what the hell, even MGS4 is half original price and Heavenly Sword is still full retail.
Sony doesn't do jack shit for most developers but instead bleeds them for extra, exclusive, content as blackmail for allowing them to have the game on both systems. Just to make the game worth having on the PS3 at all.
O and yeah...Jim, based on your response to every dev who says "This game can ONLY happen on PS3," this is just another example of a bad or lazy developer. And let's face it...Heavenly Sword is a good story, but not really a great game.
It's easily beatable in 6 hours and there's not really much to do other than hack and slash. I enjoyed the game immensely...but I only played it once. Sometimes when I'm excessively bored I'll replay Kai's sniping mission on the bridge...but that's it.
Meh...here's hoping now that they've been "freed," NT can make a full game experience with "Enslaved." I don't put any stock into their whining, though. Again...it's not like Heavenly Sword was a great game. Really good story...but that was it's best aspect.