Game Development Giant

At this year's E3, Mars Entertainment's press conference was scheduled for the afternoon of the day of the pre-show press conference, which was almost dinner time.

Generally speaking, this is also the tradition of game manufacturers before press conferences.

First, after breakfast, lunch or dinner, the organizer will hold a banquet similar to a buffet to entertain reporters or selected players who attend the pre-show press conference.

The three major console manufacturers occupied the best press conferences in the three time periods. The star of the show in the morning was Sony's press conference. As expected, Sony brought a large number of new works this time, especially in 3D games. It can be seen from the new video they showed that it is much better than what they showed when they last attended E3 more than a year ago.

Of course, Sony has not denied that they have learned a lot from Mars Entertainment’s games, especially in 3D games. Although they previously believed that the 3D game era would be brought about, they believed that they would be the ones leading this era. , but now Mars Entertainment has stepped ahead of them. Despite this, Ken Kutaragi continued to emphasize in his English with a heavy Japanese accent at the press conference.

The development of 3D games will be a long process.

It may last for two console generations or even three console generations, but the ending will definitely not be determined in one console generation.

Therefore, although Sony lags behind its opponents at the beginning, it does not mean that Sony will not have the opportunity to overtake it in the future. Moreover, Kutaragi Ken also admitted that, especially in terms of functions, there is a certain gap between their PS2 and Mars Entertainment's Dreambox 3. There are some great game ideas that Mars Entertainment's designers can easily do, but they have a hard time doing.

Although Kutaragi Ken did not admit or announce that PS3 is being developed, it is basically no secret in the industry after the pre-show conference. A reporter who is familiar with Kutaragi asked the same question.

This time Kutaragi Ken did not directly deny this issue as before.

Instead, they talked about when they would release a new console.

"It really depends on the feedback from our third-party developers and our first-party studios when they feel like there's not enough functionality to accomplish their ideas. Hopefully, this and that can be achieved, and If PS2 can't do it, then there is no doubt that we will definitely make PS3 - but the problem is, not every company is as good as Mars Entertainment and can produce so many incredible games."

Although Kutaragi Ken's answer is a little vaguely negative.

But he admitted it anyway. If game developers feel that the current PS2 is not enough, then a new console will arrive.

However, it has become a reality that the PS2's performance is insufficient. A very simple way to distinguish it is that a game can be developed on Dreambox 3, but not on PS2 - if it must be done on PS2, then it must be To lower the picture quality and other things that developers are unwilling to do, to lower the quality of the game.

Unlike Sony's press conference, whether there are new consoles and whether old consoles are available is not the focus of the issue, but Sega's press conference is much more serious. As usual, Sega announced some of their arcade ports.

This is also Sega’s trump card.

Their arcade works are extremely popular in Europe and the United States. After Mars Entertainment entered the 3D era, they consciously gradually reduced their investment in the arcade market.

At present, Sega's market share in the European and American arcade market has basically exceeded 50.

Of course, Mars Entertainment continues to invest in research and development in fighting games.

However, it is said that there is news from the Japanese game media. During an interview with the sullen Itagaki Tomonobu, Itagaki Tomonobu inadvertently revealed a piece of news that has not been disclosed within Mars Entertainment, that is, the next generation of "Tekken" will not have an arcade version. , but directly on the home computer. It seems that Mars Entertainment has begun to look down on the arcade market.

On the contrary, Sega continues to increase investment in the arcade market.

Especially the "VR Fighter" series, the next generation of Sega's most iconic fighting game will first be launched in arcades and then ported to consoles.

Of course, Sega also mentioned their strategic mistakes at the press conference.

Just underestimate the impact of 3D games on the entire gaming industry. And they also admitted at the press conference that they had previously believed that 3D represented the future, but it was only the future. In a short time, 3D would not become mainstream because of the exquisite graphics. 3D is currently far inferior to the 2D graphics that have reached their peak.

However, I did not expect that either Mars Entertainment or Sony would develop dedicated processing chips specifically for 3D graphics.

Then, the effect of the 3D picture turned out to be so outstanding.

This surprised them.

By the time they woke up, it was already too late - the Sega Saturn has been released, but Sega also admitted that players do not have to wait, Sega's powerful 3D console will be released in the near future - they are also three consoles The company is the first to admit that it is developing a new console.

Of course, in addition to this, Suzuki Yuya took the stage to announce his new plan. He admitted that he was lucky enough to participate in the development of Jester's "Heroes", which indeed had a great impact on him. It was also during this period that he was the first For the first time, I came into contact with how the world's top game development teams develop games. How a team of several hundred people works together like an arm and a leg without looking bloated.

He said frankly at the press conference: "To be honest, if I had not personally participated in the development of this great project and held an important position in it, and knew the entire development process of this game, otherwise, if someone told me, a The development team has hundreds of people working together at the same time. I will definitely think that he has burned out his head - hundreds of people develop a game? So many things are developed for a game? And how do hundreds of people collaborate? It's just random play Qin.”

After first lamenting the excellence of the "King of Heroes" project, Suzuki Yuya admitted: "Since returning to Sega and being responsible for the production of VR warriors, I have no way to be interested in other games. It's like you let me It would be boring for a person who has graduated from high school to take elementary school courses, so I applied to Mr. Okawa Isao."

"Is it possible for us to carry out such a plan?"

"Mr. Isao Okawa and Mr. Hayao Nakayama attached great importance to my proposal, but they did not reply to me immediately. After the release of "The Heroes", the crazy spurt in console sales brought about by this game was simply phenomenal—— At this time, Mr. Isao Okawa found me and asked if you were still interested in developing a game like this."

"I told him without hesitation. Any time, I would."

When Yu Suzuki finished speaking on the stage, the reporters below the stage immediately became excited.

Although there is already a "Gallant" in the world, the game back then was not suitable for many players. Playing only one game is definitely not enough. They want to play more, but the investment in such a game is too great. For any game company, the gains outweigh the losses. Even Mars Entertainment, Including Jester himself, he has also said that Mars Entertainment will not restart such a huge plan in a short period of time.

Afterwards, Suzuki Yu revealed a little bit about Sega’s "The Hero".

The time period of the story is placed in modern times. The starting location will be Japan. As for how the story will develop, not much has been revealed. However, Suzuki Yu also revealed a little bit. This is a story that he really wants to tell. The original protagonist of the story was Yu, the protagonist of the VR warrior. Cheng Jing, a master of Bajiquan.

However, this proposal was rejected by himself during internal discussions.

Because Suzuki Yu feels that for a game like this, he should have a protagonist of his own and a story of his own - one thing can be revealed. That is, the protagonist will also be a person who practices Bajiquan. Of course, there is no need to worry about the combat system in this game. Because in "Heroes", the combat system is responsible for Suzuki Yu and the development team he brought from Sega.

The announcement of this news directly detonated the scene.

After that, word spread from person to person, and everyone in the game industry was extremely excited after hearing the news.

It was even more exciting than when Jester first revealed the development plan for "Gallant" at E3 - because no one had a general understanding of the game "Gallant" at the time, and they had no choice. From Jester's textual description it is directly shaped into what a game actually looks like.

But things are completely different now than before.

After people already know what Jester’s full visual response entertainment, that is, the famous ‘FREE’ game, is like.

They are even more looking forward to Sega's Yu Suzuki's "The Hero".

When Jester learned the news. He is preparing for his company's pre-exhibition press conference in the near future. Although he is listening to the people around him enthusiastically discussing the information about the game that Yu Suzuki just announced at Sega's press conference, Jester is still a little secretive. With a sigh, this game, anyway, he took from Yu Suzuki's description.

You can all see the shadow of "Shenmue" in the original history.

"Could it be that "Shenmue" will be re-released in this world?" Jester suddenly became a little curious about the fate of "Shenmue" in this world, and wanted to take a look. Suzuki Yuzai participated in his "The Hero" 》Development, after understanding the design ideas of some sandbox games in their mature period, will this game, which has left a significant mark in its original history, end up with the same end as it did in its original history.

"Boss, what do you think of this new game from Yu Suzuki?"

When Jester was thinking alone, someone suddenly asked Jester this question, and then waited expectantly for Jester's answer.

After all, the person most qualified to evaluate Suzuki Yuxin's games in the world is the founder of this type of game. Jester did not refuse. He thought about it for a while and then said: "How should I put it, Suzuki Yushin" He is a very good designer who is very good at learning. From working with him, I can see how amazing his understanding of games is."

"However, in this era, it is very difficult to develop such a game. A large team, long development time and a large amount of capital investment can make a company's chain run as if it is taut. If you are careful, it may break."

"I hope Suzuki succeeds."

A few hours later.

The start time of Mars Entertainment’s pre-show press conference is 8pm.

You can enter at 7:30, and when it’s almost 8 o’clock, the venue is basically full. Although it was previously revealed that Mars Entertainment will not have any big news this time except Jester’s new game. , but Jester's new game itself is the biggest news of this E3 - after all, this is the game of the God of Games!

Even Jester has revealed before that he will not continue to develop like this. When he feels that his thinking is exhausted and he can no longer make games that refresh him, he will quit the development industry.

Because his character doesn't like to do the same job.

He likes challenging work that no one else has done. Playing games means having fun, and the same goes for making games.

Now with the completion of the refinement of game types, it will become more and more difficult to innovate. Basically, Jester, the recognized god of games in the gaming industry, will have one less game. Maybe you get up at one o'clock, turn on the computer, go to the game website you often go to and look at the news in the industry, and you will see the news about Jester announcing his retirement on the top of the headlines.

This is not a strange thing.

Isn’t this the case with Carmack, the former god of FPS games?

Because he lost the strong interest in game development as before, he chose to quit. Now it is said that he is cooperating with others to invest in a company that develops virtual reality equipment.

You must know that although virtual reality has a concept, it is still a long way from being a product.

Just as everyone was waiting for Mars Entertainment's pre-show press conference and discussing what unexpected news there would be at this press conference, the lights in the audience suddenly dimmed, and the big screen behind the stage , a beautifully produced video begins to play.

As the video played, a figure also walked to the middle of the stage.

It was Jester. (~^~)