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Playstation 10th Anniversary Feature
Chris Leyton
29/09/2005
To celebrate ten years of Playstation TVG asks a range of senior developers 10 questions on the format...
The PlayStation is 10 years old on 29th September 2005 and has become synonymous not only with video gaming but as a generation culture.
Since its early conception as a CD-ROM device for the Super Nintendo, the Playstation brand has gone onto define and expand the industry, taking on (finishing off in some cases) stalwarts such as Nintendo, SEGA and witnessing the debut of Microsoft.
Both the Playstation and Playstation2 have broken through sale records, topping 100 and 90 million units respectively and setting the standards for others to try and emulate. The introduction of the PSP has expanded Sonyâs presence across the videogames industry, whilst only a fool would write off Sonyâs chances in the next-gen battle with the Playstation3.
Sony has actively embraced its position making attempts to broaden the scope of the market through accessible titles such as EyeToy and SingStar.
To celebrate this event, thanks to Sony, 10 different questions were put to a number of game developers and some very interesting answers were forthcoming.
Answers from:
YO: Yoshiki Okamoto (creator of Street Fighter II, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Genji and CEO of Game Republic)
TG: Tom Gillo (Senior Producer EyeToy®:Play 3)
TP: Ted Price (CEO, Insomniac Games)
TE: Takashi Ebiike (Namco)
RF: Ron Festejo (Senior Producer EyeToy SCEE London Studio)
AB: Alastair Burns (Guerilla Games)
CW: Clemens Wangerin (Studio Director SCEE Liverpool Studio)
DJ: David Jaffe (Creative Director SCEA Santa Monica Studio)
DC: Dominic Cahalin (Lead Designer SCEE Cambridge Studios)
EW: Evan Wells (Creative Director Naughty Dog Inc.)
RM: Rob McDaniel (Game Designer Sucker Punch Productions)
*********
When you first started working in the games industry did you ever think it would be as big as it is now? And when you first started playing videogames did you ever imagine they could be this cool?
YO: Actually, I never knew that it was a games company until I landed a job there. I originally intended to be an illustrator, so I felt drawn to the ad that said âPoster illustrator wantedâ and joined the company. Of course, I didnât know about games nor imagine how big the industry would become. However as I played and studied games, I thought this could grow so much. Speed of the growth is within a predictable range, but I think it is growing quite fast.
TG: Yes, I could see that videogame development would not only become a credible industry to work in, but also a credible form of entertainment. It seems as though my contemporaries and I all matured at the same rate as the very platforms that provided the content! I think in my case this certainly gave me an obvious barometer of change by which to measure how cool everything was getting with each new platform cycle...
"Jetpac for the 48K is still one of the coolest games everâ¦"
TP: When I started in the industry in 1994, the shift from cartridge-based games to CD-ROMs had just occurred. Games were beginning to make the transition from being âtoysâ to becoming mainstream fare. And the PlayStation really accelerated that shift. But back then I donât think it was apparent to anyone how huge the industry was going to become. Everyone simply knew that the growth was increasing year after year. Personally, I was just happy that people were buying our games!
As far as games being âcoolâ, since I grew up playing games I never thought they werenât. Yeah, they were definitely niche entertainment but I donât remember any of my friends saying âDude, you play videogames? Thatâs so uncool!â In fact, my roommates and I played a LOT of SNES games in college (in the â90s). I guess it was a little geeky at the time but we were having so much fun that we didnât care.
TE: When I first started working in the industry, I had a feeling that something as fun as video games would one day become very popular. When I started playing, it was already cool...
RF: I used to go to a lot of trade shows where they would showcase arcade games â“ this was before consoles got popular. The shows were always packed and I thought that games were massive then⦠I never thought that the industry would get this big! Iâve always thought playing games were cool. It just took some people longer to see it
AB: Fifteen years ago, parents would joke about their kids getting high-paid jobs playing and making games. I reckon that the kids who got those jobs had a good idea of what they were up to and now nobody really jokes about the potential of the games industry any more. Games are streets ahead in immersive quality nowadays but Iâm an old fart â“ Jetpac for the 48K is still one of the coolest games ever.
CW: I remember when I went for my first interview for a job in the games industry in 1992, that both my parents were of the opinion that I was wasting my time with this âfadâ. To be fair though, I donât think anyone at that time envisioned the explosive growth that our industry has seen in the last 10-years alone and the mass-marketâs adoption of gaming as one of their favorite past-times.
When I first started playing videogames â“ which was back in 1979 on the Atari VCS â“ I remember thinking that games like Pac Man and Night Driver were just the coolest games ever. And that notion hasnât really changed over the past 25 or so years â“ every year thereâs a game you think is the coolest thing ever, and I think itâs a major reason why videogames manage to surprise and captivate peopleâs imagination.
"...Sony always has talked about games as being as important a medium as film."
DJ: I always thought games would eventually emerge as the next great entertainment medium. It just seemed obvious. Part of that may be because I'm a sci-fi geek and anyone who has seen the Holodeck in action KNOWS that this is where entertainment is going. And part of it is that I've always worked for Sony and since I started back in 1993, Sony always has talked about games as being as important a medium as film. So this thinking â“ that I think you see applied in the PlayStation brand â“ has always just been part of the Sony culture.
DC: I clearly remember the nervous excitement and uncertainty in the build up to the launch of the original PlayStation. Of course, strange as it might seem now, at that point nobody was certain that it would be a success. Thankfully, things started well and then just got better and better. Working for SCEE at that time was a bit like riding a rollercoaster that just kept on getting faster and faster. To be honest I donât think anyone at that very early stage could have confidently foreseen the massive scale of the phenomena that PlayStation would become.
Being a games enthusiast throughout my younger teens I always thought that videogaming was the height of cool! In retrospect though, I can see that many (especially older) people thought of it as a pretty geeky and childish past time. I guess I never imagined that videogames would become so sophisticated, diverse, and aspirational, but Iâm glad they have!
EW: Itâs certainly amazing to me to see how mainstream videogames have become. When I started in the games industry it was definitely still seen as a very âgeekyâ pursuit. Now when you are at a party or a bar and the topic of jobs comes up, being in the games industry definitely gets a lot of respect.
RM: I started in the industry in 1998, so it was well into its major growth to what it is today. It has grown about as I would have expected in the past seven years. Now, the changes from when I first played Pong and Atari as a kid are just amazing. From the sheer number of play mechanics, to the immersiveness, and the quality of the visuals and sound that the best modern games have is just staggering. In 1979 when I was running around as a block fighting duck-like dragons in Adventure I would not have imagined games like God of War would be here for my monster crushing pleasure in 2005.
What have been your favourite PlayStation projects to work on?
YO: It has to be the series of Street Fighter II. The arcade game named âFinal Fightâ is the beginning of it, and by attracting many users at game arcades and transplanting the game into home game systems while keeping its quality, the series developed. Since the really good title is not the first one but maybe the second or the third in the series, we were trying to always measure up to usersâ expectations. With this series, I was able to have direct contact with the users the most through the games.
TG: That's a really tough question! I think it has to be the EyeToy games because EyeToy is so ground-breaking and innovative. I'm very excited about the unique gameplay opportunities that it offers now and will offer as this area of development evolves.
TP: Every one was a little different. Disruptor, our first game, was the craziest. We had no idea what we were doing and I think we really surprised ourselves when we actually finished it and saw it on the shelves. The first Spyro the Dragon was pretty stressful but since the story was so much more light-hearted, even the most tense moments during development were bearable. For me, Spyro was a lot fun because the characters were so goofy. In particular, the stupid things we had the gnorcs do kept everyone entertained.
TE: Some of them are: MotoGP, Time Crisis 2 and Tekken 4
RF: For me it has to be working on EyeToy®. To be able to go through the whole process of being inspired by seeing the technology and then creating a product around it. I am extremely proud of what it has achieved.
AB: Itâs got to be Killzone â“ what a ride.
CW: Most recently, both Wipeout Pure and Formula One 05 have been an absolute pleasure to be involved in â“ the teams behind both games consistently exceeded expectations and delivered fantastic games at the end.
Overall in my time with SCEE, I have fond memories of working on (in no particular order): the original F1 and Wipeout, because of the impact they had when released; Alundra, because it was such a fantastic Action RPG and did really well in Europe; Colony Wars 1 & 2, because they were visual masterpieces that broke new ground for space-shooters.
DJ: They've all been a blast to work on but I would say TWISTED METAL was my favourite working experience because 3D gaming was so new and the PlayStation was so new, and there was just this energy and excitement everywhere you went within the company about what we were all working on.
DC: My first really exiting project for SCEE was working as an assistant producer on a groundbreaking 3D platformer called Jumping Flash. The development team even incorporated some of my design suggestions, which I was extremely chuffed about!
Next I was asked to devise a game appraisal system for the approvals group, which proved to be a really interesting project. Rather than focusing solely on gameplay and graphics, the finished system also took into account many other different aspects of a title that might contribute to its commercial performance. This proved to be extremely useful for estimating the likely marketabilty of a game, as well as its artistic merits. More recently, I helped to kick off World Tour Soccer, and have had great fun updating the MediEvil franchise for the sexy new PlayStation Portable.
EW: Crash Team Racing still ranks as one of the most fun projects to have worked on. It was an extraordinarily arduous development process but the end product made it all worthwhile. Of course we just finished up Jak X, which will also enter into one of my top development experiences.
RM: Well, I've worked on all three Sly Cooper games and they have all been great to work on for different reasons. In the first game it was our first PlayStation 2 project so we got to do better visuals and animation than we were able to do before, and the game design was straightforward enough that most of the levels I could create and have working on my own. Sly 2 was great because we got to step back and really change the structure of the game with the more open environments, and getting Bentley and Murray in on the action. In Sly 3, we've had fun adding more playable characters to the team and finally getting behind the barrel of Carmelita's shock pistol and also multiplayer. We keep asking for more from the coding team and somehow they've been able to get more and more out of the hardware.
With the advent of PS3, are there been any concepts that have you've be dreaming about for years that, with the new technology, can now be brought to fruition?
YO: Of course there are plenty of them! Not simply about how much capacity it has, but I feel that whatever ideas I come up with can be realized into games. There have been many kinds of restrictions so far, but from now on, the issue of having to give up due to hardware ability will be decreased dramatically. However, by just that much, I cannot ease up on the job and ideas need to be developed elaborately, so it is tough. I wonder if my ability as a planner gives up first.
TG: Oh yeah! I have a fairly endless list of game concepts...If I was given the opportunity I would love to make a game with story-telling and characterisation that truly rivalled a movie experience â“ something that I think is only really possible with the technical horsepower of PS3.
TP: Weâre keeping those concepts under wraps for now J.
"If I was given the opportunity I would love to make a game with story-telling and characterisation that truly rivalled a movie experience"
TE: Technology wise I think so...but it all depends on good game design!
RF: Thatâs a difficult one to answer⦠Any concept can be made â“ given the time. Itâs going to be interesting to see what the PS3 brings into the mix. I would love to see artificial intelligence truly working in a game of some kind. It always seems to be the hardest thing to do. I would like to think that the PS3 could do this really well.
AB: Weâre thinking of putting the moon on a stick. Ha ha ha. In all seriousness weâre simply not talking about current plans.
"We're thinking of putting the moon on a stick..."
CW: I think new technology always opens up new possibilities that have previously been thought unattainable â“ we already saw that with the PSP and the notion of downloadable content for Wipeout Pure, for example, which was unheard of for a handheld before PSP became a reality.
The sheer power of PS3 will definitely enable us to make a huge step visually from where we are now, but games will have to really push the gameplay side of things to keep enticing people into our world of games.
DJ: Not really. I'm not a tech head...don't care much about new technology in that â“ more often that not â“ we don't see it affecting game design. Yes, it DOES affect design, but for me, it's usually at a level that I don't realize how the new tech has helped us until I'm actually working on the game. I'm as excited about the pretty graphics and cooler physics as the next guy, but as a designer it really is business is usual.
DC: Too many to mention! There are so many new possibilities for gaming now that the technology is getting super fast. It may sound a little obvious, but there's no escaping that the key thing about the increased power of PS3 will be the increased potential for realism. I donât necessarily mean photo-realistic visuals, but rather the creation of environments that look and feel more convincing due to the fact that they are more comprehensively interactive. I think we will definitely see some really stunning, groundbreaking titles over the next few years.
EW: Each new generation of hardware always opens up new opportunities. I think the PS3 is going to knock down the last few barriers that have held back achieving the highest level of immersion whether it be in a fully realistic environment, or a completely believable fantastic one.
RM: "Fractal Slumlord and the Infinite Tenants of Chaos" might just be ready for the masses.
Equally, are there any other classic titles that you would like to see remade, with the benefit of modern day developing?
YO: Past titles are no longer mine, so I am not thinking of doing any remakes. If someone told me to remake âGenjiâ, I would probably hesitate.
TG: I loved Elite. I would love to see an updated version of it set in a persistent online universe with players connected all over the world... but I think it'd be a very dangerous thing â“ it might just be the "nail in the coffin" of my social life!!
TP: Well it seems that most of the big PlayStation franchises have made it to PS2 and will probably make it to PS3. But there are a couple that have been absent for a while. So, what about Colony Wars? It was an awesome space shooter that disappeared after PS2 debuted. I imagine that it would look absolutely beautiful on the PS3. And speaking of flying shooters, Warhawk is another title that we already know is going to make the jump from PlayStation to PS3. I think itâs going to rock.
"I loved Elite. I would love to see an updated version of it set in a persistent online universe with players connected all over the world..."
TE: From Namco, I would like to see Rolling Thunder and Gaplus.
RF: One of my favourite games, growing up, was Return of Shinobi (on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis). I would love to see Sega do a remake of this on the PS3. It may not be a classic to everyone â“ but it was for me.
AB: Not really â“ although remakes can be good, Personally, Iâd rather that we kept pressing on. I mean, who wants to see the Bullitt car chase in bullet-time? The games we loved should be remembered as they were â“ the combination of limited technologies and sheer imagination defined earlier game personalities. Sure, we draw inspiration from other games, but the more original the title, the more boundaries we push. But maybe G-Police...
CW: From our own games, Colony Wars would probably be something that could look absolutely astonishing on PS3. Iâd personally like to see something that was as captivating as GoldenEye, as atmospheric as Ico and that has the large-scale population of the Dynasty Warrior games from Koei.
"PS3 Pong would shock the world!"
DJ: I would love to see RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and ADVENTURE for the ATARI 2600 remade. I would also love to see OUT OF THIS WORLD and FLASHBACK remakes.
DC: Having just completed MediEvil Resurrection on PSP, I would love to create an ambitious sequel on PlayStation 3. It would be great to take all of the appealing and well loved aspects of the MediEvil universe and wrap them up in truly state of the art play mechanics and visuals.
EW: PS3 Pong would shock the world!
RM: Hmmm, I thought of several, but then I did a search and found out that they had either been remade recently or there is a mod community working on it now. Here we go, how about "Out of this World"? That could be cool. Now, who would they get for the voice acting for the alien to say "My tuba..."?
Where do you see the future of gaming, what areas do you think will change in the future?
YO: The Future? Where? Hmm... It is probably not a good answer to just mention footage and movies. It is fundamental that a game is âfun to playâ and that has not been changed at all since the first game made its first appearance. Old ones include Igo and Shogi. Rules and how-to-play these games have not been changed right? Yet the style has been changed. Online will be a must-have from now on, too. Through the games medium, I think that many different communications will be born, such as âperson who plays together, and person who doesnâtâ, âperson who is near, and person who is farâ, and âperson whom you know and person whom you donâtâ. Maybe games will become more like âtoolsâ rather than just âgamesâ.
"I'd love to play for an hour each week knowing that I could "tune in" next week to play the next instalment of my game"
TG: I touched on this in my answer above â“ I think it will be a combination of connectivity, people playing together remotely and sharing the experience â“ and episodic content, where new game content can be provided to players periodically. I'd love to play for an hour each week knowing that I could "tune in" next week to play the next instalment of my game
TP: I think youâll see more and more customization within games where players can modify most aspects of their characters and the game environments. I also think youâll see more games supporting huge online communities and allowing players to do cool things when they hook up online. Plus you may see what appears to be emergent behaviour from A.I. characters (but it wonât really be emergent â“ weâll still be fooling people with simple tricks). And finally I think youâll see incredibly believable-looking characters and environments â“ much more so than on PS2 and PlayStation.
TE: As so many more children today have grown up with video games in their household, I think gaming certainly has the potential to be a regular pass time for everyone like watching TV or going to the cinema.
The pre-conceptions of the 'geeky' image and 'complicated technology' could be broken down. Also, as more people have more access to broadband, video games could be a means of bringing people closer all over the world through network gaming.
RF: A lot has been said about the merging of video games and movie industry. While this has started, to a certain extent, I donât believe that it has truly happened. I would think that video games will get to a point where it will adopt techniques similar to how a film/movie is structured â“ not only in its content but also in the way that it is made.
AB: Weâre demanding more from our games â“ not only in richness of environment or an enthralling storyline but more as a subscription â“ like weâd treat a favourite comic or magazine. People are starting to enjoy being part of an interactive world and fast and easy connections to âgame-netsâ are becoming more and more prevalent. I think this change in attitude â“ in what people expect from their games â“ is the most interesting.
"I would guess the PS5 will bypass the TV all together and just ship with a headset."
CW: Personally I think youâll see a lot more games personalising the experience for the gamer on the fly; so that there are subtle and major differences between how I play a game and how my friend plays the same game.
And those titles who are aiming to capture the largest audience possible will continue to bring new input devices to market, which remove (for non-gamers) the complicated layout and functionality of a standard controller. The games that are already doing that today are EyeToy, SingStar and SCEEâs forthcoming Buzz.
DJ: I think the next big things in gaming will be voice recognition where you can have semi-complicated conversations with NPCs. That and virtual reality headsets that work and are affordable. Heck, if I were a betting man, I would guess the PS5 will bypass the TV all together and just ship with a headset.
DC: I believe that in order for video gaming to become an even more accessible and popular medium than it is now, it will need to place less emphasis on specialist skill sets (such as controller expertise) and offer up ways of interacting with games that are increasingly intuitive. You can already see this phenomena happening with the likes of EyeToy and SingStar. For the first time, non-gamers are able to sample the delights of gaming without having to show exceptional hand-eye coordination or dexterity! I donât think tough and skillful games will vanish though, I just think that ultimately developers will find ways of making games easier to interact with, and that the gameplay challenges they present will lie more firmly in the actual game worlds rather than in the interfaces.
EW: Gaming still has a lot of changes to go through. The concept of video games has only been around for about 30 years and if you look at the difference between a game in 1975 and a game from 2005 you might barely recognize them as the same form of entertainment. So I think the same will hold true for a game 30 years from now. You most certainly will be interacting with a very different input device, and more than likely be experiencing it through some entirely different output device. Weâre just now starting to see a bit of that with things like EyeToy, headsets, and soon HDTV.
RM: Even more connectivity, customization, and new user input. It's amazing to me how much perceived variety there is when your use of the same controller between games is nearly identical.
Do you feel weâve had the âgolden ageâ of gaming, or are we seeing it now?
YO: Hmm, I think I could have different perspectives about that, as Japan and the world are different, as well as arcade and console system. However, as far as console in Japan goes, which I am developing for, I think that weâve had it in the past. But in a few yearsâ time, I want to change the past to âthe first golden ageâ or âprime timeâ. Thatâs for now and the future. You canât make games anymore if you donât have that kind of spirit.
TG: Absolutely not... If I compared our industry to cinema then I'd say we're only just past Chaplin movies... I think we're only just scratching the surface of what we'll be able to do in the future within this entertainment space. Look at how EyeToy and SingStar⢠have taken gaming into the living rooms of households where previously games may have only been in the kids' bedrooms... There is so much further to go!
TP: Thatâs hard to say. From a developerâs perspective, things are getting much harder. Budgets are skyrocketing while retail prices remain steady. That means itâs tougher to stay in business and take development risks. And that may translate into fewer truly original titles. Something has to change within the industry â“ perhaps it will be the advent of digital distribution, perhaps it will be the opening of new markets like China and India. But if things donât change there wonât be many independent developers around to create those quirky, groundbreaking titles that push the industry in new directions.
"The technology is there, the people are interested. It's all down to the game!"
On the other hand, consumers have more choices than ever. Broadband penetration is up so online gaming is accessible to a greater audience. Games now rival (and in my opinion surpass) all other forms of entertainment in terms of bang for the buck. So being a gamer has never been better.
TE: There are always peaks and troughs in any industry and I think right now is a very interesting period for gaming. The technology is there, the people are interested. It's all down to the game!
RF: There will always be a âgolden ageâ but itâs different for everyone. My golden age was during the C64 days â“ to others itâll be during the PlayStation/Saturn era. As long as the games industry continues to deliver â“ there will be a golden age for every gamer!
AB: It has probably yet to come! Watch China, India, Brazil.. Weâre a well established industry, but weâre still just the tip of the iceberg.
CW: By definition, the âgolden ageâ would be the most exciting period in gaming history and I think weâve probably already had about three of those periods â“ when PSone came out, then PS2 and now the PSP/PS3. Weâre fortunate to be working in an industry that continuously looks to break new ground and redefine peopleâs expectations of what gaming is about and that works with technology that keeps getting better and better. So in short, I feel that thereâs more âgolden agesâ still to come.
DJ: I think we're too 'in the mix' to make that call right now. I think it's clear that the gaming landscape shifts all the time, more so at certain points than others. But I don't think we'll know when the golden age was/is without some more time behind us. Ask me again in 50 years.
DC: I think that what constitutes âa golden ageâ of gaming is a very subjective and personal thing. Itâs a bit like a middle-aged person saying nostalgically that the seventies or eighties was the golden age for pop music. Well, of course, they are entitled to their view, but how much that view is skewed by their personal experiences of that time and their changing perception of life and art is surely open to discussion!
Ultimately I think that each generation of gaming has produced a number of superb and iconic games, whether it be Jet Pac on the ZX Spectrum, Turrican on the C64, Ocarina of Time on the N64, Ridge Racer on the original PlayStation, or GTA on the PlayStation 2. All of these games (and many, many more) could lay claims to being definitive âgolden ageâ titles and yet, of course, they all come from different eras.
EW: I think that everybody is going to have their own âgolden ageâ of gaming. Itâs that magical period of time when you first discovered gaming and what a powerful experience it is. Because we are seeing such rapid changes in games from generation to generation, everyoneâs nostalgia is different. What one generation of gamer might hold fond memories of, might barely be able to hold the attention of somebody who came into gaming much later.
RM: I think we're seeing it now. Gaming is mainstream and the power of the next generation is going to make it easier to do all the flashy stuff people respond to. Improving visuals will not be enough if there is not a real improvement in fun, in gameplay. It will be interesting to see how things develop from here, the different ways developers push beyond the graphics.
Whatâs the best PlayStation launch party you have ever been to?
YO: That would be âRidge Racerâ, âMinna no Golf (Everybodyâs Golf)â and âTekkenâ. These titles are excellent as they never miss their launch considering the fact that the launch with the new hardware works against time.
TG: The Getaway Black Monday was very cool, but I'd have to say EyeToy: Play 2 because that's the first game I made as an employee for SCEE!
TP: Well since I donât think thereâs been a PS3 launch party and since I donât remember the PlayStation launch party (I might have had too much to drink â“ or maybe I wasnât invited) it would have to be the PS2 launch party!
TE: The post ECTS party with Jay Kay and Ronnie Woods.
RF: I canât remember if it was a launch party, as such. It was around the time that the PlayStation 2 was being unveiled, though. It was the party where Jamiroquai played and was joined on stage by Ronnie Wood. That was a great night!
AB: Again, Killzone â“ in our hometown, Amsterdam. One of the swankiest nights yet â“ including the Helghast Dominatrix! We partied long and hard â“ it felt like a huge, defining moment in your life!
CW: The best PlayStation party I have EVER been to is one that took place at ECTS in 2001 â“ Jamiroquai played live and he was supposed to play for 30 min. In the end, he played for nearly 2 hours because the whole places was rockinâ and the vibe was just out of this world.
DJ: To tell the truth, after 13 years, they are all starting to blur together. Sony throws so many damn parties that I can't remember what they've all been for.
DC: The launch party for This is Football was pretty amazing. Everyone was extremely ermâ¦. merry, and a TIF tournament (between journalists and developers) was arranged. The action was relayed directly to a huge screen at the top of the room, and a noisy crowd of âsupportersâ were soon singing and chanting at the top of their lungs! The famous football commentator Clive Tyldesley then arrived on the scene and proceeded to provide extremely detailed and hilarious commentaries (over the intercom) as the videogame matches were played. It was a truly memorable day.
EW: When the PS2 launched in North America, Naughty Dog and Insomniac chartered a commercial jet to fly the entire staff of both companies up to San Francisco for the evening. The party was held at the Metreon downtown and it was by far the coolest PlayStation event that I can remember.
RM: The launch party for Sly 2 had my brother as the DJ (DJ minimal) and a band made up of one of our animators and his brother (Neon Brown). There was good food, drinks, and music, including Dimitri's Disco Mix and a minute or two of "Freebird" on request. "Freeebirrrrd!"
If you could transport yourself into a game which one would it be?
YO: âGenjiâ for sure. I want to show up in the very beginning of the game as a non-important tiny character and be killed right away.
TG: Either Tiger Woods Golf or Gran Turismo â“ I'd love to be able to drive and putt like I can in games!
"I treat my Sim characters better than I do myself."
TP: If youâre talking PlayStation games, Iâd say Spyro 3. Yeah, I know we made that one but Iâd like to be Bentley and smash things with a large club.
TE: Too many to list but some are...Silent Hill â“ because it's my ideal holiday destination.Vib Ribbon â“ because I like the abstract lines Parappa the Rapper â“ because I want to be taught by Master Chop Chop Onion
RF: It would have to be Metal Gear Solid â“ the original on the PlayStation. I would love the chance to go through a game wearing a stealth suit. Awesome!
AB: In a strange way, The Sims. I treat my Sim characters better than I do myself â“ at least they have curtains in their houses!
CW: Thatâs a good one ⦠it would obviously have to be a game where Iâm able to do things that I canât in real-life â“ e.g. like snowboarding in SSX; being a stealth agent in Splinter Cell or fighting against zombies in Resident Evil 4.
DJ: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time cause I'd love the ability to rewind time if I made a mistake or something tragic happened.
DC: I am presuming you mean temporarily?! If so, then it would have to be World Tour Soccer, scoring the winning goal for England in the dying moments of the World Cup. Nice.
EW: I would probably have to pick Parappa Rappaâs world. How could you not enjoy a place where all conflicts can be resolved with a rapping competition?
RM: "Planetscape: Torment" would be interesting. Being an immortal nameless warrior in a city that's a dimensional crossroads means there's never a dull moment.
Whatâs your funniest PlayStation moment at E3?
YO: I donât know as I didnât go this year, but I always enjoy some exciting announcements every year. Someday, I will give everyone some exciting news, too!
TG: I don't know about the funniest â“ but the best was at the PlayStation party with Velvet Revolver â“ I found myself moshing with a whole load of people up at the front â“ I love my loud music so it was awesome and I didn't come down from the high for about a month!
TP: It wasnât necessarily funny but seeing a random drunk guy get pulled up onto stage with the Foo Fighters during a Sony party was pretty cool. I think he may have been a developer. Anyway Dave Grohl handed the guy his guitar and said âGo for it dude. âAnd the guy started to just wail on the guitar. Dave had to wrestle the guitar away from him because he wouldnât stop playing. But the guy was good and I came away thinking âMan, I need to practice more in case that happens to me someday.â Of course, it probably wonât. But I can dreamâ¦
TE: When I ate 12 Dodger's dogs and still wanted more at the end of the party and my colleagues had force me to leave...
RF: Hmm⦠there have been lots of drunken nights that are too messy to talk about. So I would have to say capturing Phil Harrison on film looking like he was being hypnotised by the PlayStation3s that were in a glass case going around and around.
AB: Not really E3, but last year at Leipzig I turned up around midnight on a Friday night to find a full-on impromptu SingStar party raging across the Sony stand. The night was thick with A-ha tunes and naturally, good German beer helped even the most timid onto the stage!
CW: I think it was either the first or second E3 ever â“ seeing one of the External Producers with his shirt off, screaming at the top of his voice and waving his arms about like a mad man during the Foo Fighters concert while being filmed and shown on a giant screen next to the stage (you know who you are).
DJ: My highlight of every E3 is when the usually reserved Kaz Hirai goes onstage (at the E3 party) to introduce the night's band and tosses around the 'f' word like a hardcore rapper. I love it when he shouts out: are you ready to motherf---ing party?!?! Me and my wife get the biggest kick out of that and go around imitating Kaz for like 6 months after!
DC: Iâve never actually been, Iâm always too busy trying to complete the games that are being promoted there!
EW: Miyamoto-san picking up the controller and playing the first Crash Bandicoot back at E3 1996.
RM: At E3 2004, the Sly 2 kiosks were right next to a bank of PS2s with EyeToy games. It was quite funny seeing a few famous people coming by and flailing around trying to smack down zombies at the EyeToy stations.
Describe, in ten words or less, what sums up PlayStation for you?
YO: Revolutionary! PlayStation has changed gaming, distribution, sales, image, and many moreâ¦
TG: Vital!
TP: Blowing stuff up without getting sued or thrown in jail
"PlayStation is responsible for making playing games cool."
TE: 10 years of addictive fun!
RF: Generation defining experiences!
AB: My first PlayStation made my jaw drop. Wipeout.. Streets ahead.
CW: In no particular order - passion, innovation, late nights, sleek, global, fun, diverse, big brand, people, friendly.
DJ: Moving games into the mainstream.
DC: Style, escapism, empowerment and FUN!
EW: PlayStation is responsible for making playing games cool.
RM: Games, games, games...it's all about the gamesâ¦
TVG would like to thank SCEE for providing us with the material and all of those answering the question; congratulations on ten years of success, letâs hope the future ten years move beyond our wildest imaginationsâ¦
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