In case you've missed this, Phil Harrison, head of development at Sony, has been talking about the console's downloadable game service. In an interview with 'semi-official' PS3 blog Three Speech, he claims that the company is funding studios to work on the platform and currently has over 40 titles in development, including flOw, shown off at the Tokyo Game Show earlier this year.
Naturally, Harrison grasps the chance to favourably compare the PS3 service with Xbox 360's Live Arcade...
"My strategy was to encourage developers to push the machine technically, creatively, artistically - to innovate in lots of different ways. But don't be restricted by ghettoising games into a particular genre, or a particular display mechanic, because what we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3."
Hmm, well, it'll be interesting to see how many developers Sony coaxes into producing downloadable games with next-gen 3D graphics engines. Presumably, a key reason a lot of games are 2D on Xbox Live is that it's less time consuming to make a visually attractive title in that format. Downloadable console games inhabit an uncertain market so few studios will want to commit a 10-20 man team to a long-term project if they're going to get just several thousand ten dollar downloads out of it.
Also, gamers of a certain age positively welcome the chance to play in 2D again. Re-visiting titles like Scramble and Joust on Xbox 360 has been a real treat - not all of us can be arsed with MAME and all that ROM searching. Plus, new games like Mutant Storm and Geometry Wars are anything but retro - instead they're modern games using 2D visuals to provide pinpoint, twitch gameplay. They're re-interpretations of classic game staples, but they're also totally contemporary in execution.
The blog claims several developers have set-up dedicated divisions to work on downloadable PS3 games. Allegedly, there are even whole new studios being set up exclusively to work in this medium. Brave stuff if true. It will certainly be interesting to see how PlayStation's historically mainstream audience will adapt to buying games in this way.
But really, there was no need to get a dig in at Live Arcade's expense. I'm no Xbox fanboy, but it's the most innovative, intelligent and well implemented community feature I've ever used. Sometimes it's just better to admit that someone got there before you and got it right.
