I thought this was an interesting article: Gaming - News - Sony confirms UK studio cuts, cancellations - Digital Spy If this is true, maybe the development of NA Home can go to Japan too!!
Well when you see a lot of recolored rehashed releases like we got today calling it Spring Break one has to wonder exactly what is going on with respect to home development. Home cannot be just about selling content. We need quality spaces where people can socialize and hangout and not just spend time buying things. That model isn't going to work.
Spot on Jo. Can you imagine, with the foundation of this technology already in place, what good management, a renewed creative vision and an ambitious understanding of its potential could actually do for Home?
I'm just very depressed today after seeing the shovel ware they are giving us and trying to pass it off as some new Spring Break content. Recoloring content and using new patterns requires how much effort? There is so much good content region wide they could localize and this is what we get. Furthermore where do we hang out in public spaces now that are meaningful. We might as well just hang out in our personal spaces which I find myself doing more and more of. There are very few if any free public venues with games that would draw people to them over extended periods of time. EA is a great example of a space where we could hang out, play games (that were free) and socialize and make friends. I just don't see them as thinking that is important anymore. It is becoming all about the money.
I saw this posted on the EU forums today. If it's true, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Japan Home is a model of excellence with regards to Home development. On the other hand, if Japan is going to have a stronger hand in developing content for other regions, will they also have the cultural knowledge needed to direct that development? European and American cultures are very different from Japanese and Asian cultures.
I don't think SCEE have done a very good job with EU home, hopefully this might improve things but I'll wait and see.
Did you notice that alot of the "Exclusive" Gold Manor's rewards were just stuff repainted with gold? The gold tree was new, but I'm wondering how much was new and how much just recolored meshes.
