Month: February 2019

Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shawn Layden has laid down a ambitious prediction for where he thinks the video game industry could be headed. Speaking to Game Informer, Layden said he foresees some kind of “post-console” world where PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo are more unified than ever. While Layden maintains that PlayStation is the “best gaming experience,” he said Xbox One and Nintendo Switch offer “great experiences” as well, and PlayStation should do more to recognize that.

“I don’t want to put too fine a point on this because it might upset some of the people I work with, but I think effectively, we’re looking at kind of a post-console world where you can have quality gaming experiences across a variety of technologies,” he said. “Sure, PS4 and PS4 Pro provide what, of course, we think is the best gaming experience, but the other consoles out there, be it Switch, Xbox One X, or tablets, or phones–there are great experiences across all these. What we need to do is recognize all that.”

He added: “We’re not little gaming ghettos that are not federated or aligned at all. We’re all part of the same gaming community, we just come at it through different doorways. I think the future will be an extension of that metaphor. Your platform is not your hideaway. It’s just your doorway to all these other gamer folk.”

That’s an intriguing and surprising quote to hear from a PlayStation higher-up given that what Layden is suggesting is just about the opposite of what Sony’s approach has been in recent years. Controversially, the company initially said it wouldn’t allow cross-play between PS4 and other consoles because PlayStation is the best place to play. The company has since relented, and games like Fortnite and Rocket League support cross-play between PS4 and competing consoles.

Layden is not alone in talking about his desire for the walls between consoles to come down. EA’s CEO predicted a future for games where you can play on any device, while the CEO of Red Dead Redemption parent company Take-Two also has spoken about the closed system walls coming down and why that might be good. Pete Hines, an executive at Bethesda, said he wants to see the closed system walls between Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo come down so more people can play together.

“I think you’re going to see platforms get more homogenised,” Hines said. “Because truthfully, there’s really not a reason for [competing consoles] to be different. You don’t buy a DVD and then worry about which DVD player you have. You just buy a DVD and anything that plays DVDs works. And I think games are going to start to move closer and closer to that.”

Also in the interview, Layden talked about how the transition between console generations can be problematic and difficult.

“One of the terrible circumstances of our gaming industry is that every time we launch a new console technology, we sort of put the last generation to bed,” he said. “That doesn’t occur in movies. That doesn’t occur in music, but it occurs all the time in games.”

Sony’s game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, allows PS4 users to play PS3 games, but this is not the kind of true backwards compatibility that Xbox One offers. On PS4, you have to pay to play games through PlayStation Now, while Xbox One’s backwards compatibility feature recognizes the games you owned on Xbox 360 and lets you play them on Xbox One.

Layden also spoke about why Sony is not attending E3 this year. Expanding on what he told GameSpot sister site CNET, Layden said Sony just doesn’t have much to talk about.

“This year, coming to 2019, I’ll be honest–we just didn’t have a new story to tell. And when Sony rings the bell for everyone to come ’round, they have an expectation for something that is completely new and amazing. We looked at the lineup and we can probably only give fans a lot of updates on things they already know, so how does this work for us?”

He added that Sony right now is releasing fewer games than it ever has in its history. “We’re doing fewer games at any given time than any time before in our history. Back in the day, when we were doing 15-20 games at a time; there was always a new game. Something was in a window that we could have that conversation about. But 2019, for us, that confluence just didn’t occur.”

Game Informer’s full interview with Layden is fascinating and in-depth–you can read it here.

We may be hearing more from Layden on the subject of a “post-console” world very soon. Layden will give the keynote address at the DICE Summit this week in Las Vegas. His speech is titled “Beyond Generations,” so you can expect he’ll give some predictions about the future of gaming.

Sony has announced a management re-shuffling for its PlayStation business. The massive company announced today that Jim Ryan, the longtime PlayStation executive who most recently served as Deputy President of Sony Interactive Entertainment, will become SIE’s president and CEO. The move is effective April 1, 2019–this is not a joke.

John Kodera, the current president and CEO of SIE, will become Deputy President. In that position he will “dedicate his focus on creating innovative user experiences and further enhancing the network area,” Sony said in a statement.

Ryan, who has worked at Sony for a quarter of a century, will report directly to Sony’s overall president and CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida. PlayStation is big business for Sony. Yoshida said in a statement that Sony’s video game division, which is called Game & Network Services, is now Sony’s overall largest business when it comes to sales and operating income. He also said gaming is a “growth driver” for Sony going forward.

“This industry is relentlessly fast-moving, and to remain the market leader, we must constantly evolve ourselves with a sense of urgency,” Yoshida said. “Based on extensive discussions with John, I have decided to change the management structure of SIE to ensure sustainable evolution of the PlayStation platform and further growth of the network area.”

Yoshida said Kodera, the outgoing SIE CEO, will work towards further expanding PlayStation Network. It is already a massive service; it counts more than 90 million monthly active users globally, Sony said.

As for Ryan, he said it is a “huge honor” to become the president and CEO of SIE. “I’ve seen the PlayStation business grow and change massively since the very early days, and I hope to be able to put that experience to good use in reinforcing the foundations of the Game & Network Service business, and in evolving the entertainment that PlayStation offers to its engaged and passionate community,” he said.

Ryan originally joined Sony in 1994, holding various positions as he climbed the corporate ladder. In 2011, Sony appointed him as the president of SIEE, a position that saw him leading PlayStation’s business endeavours across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania. Prior to his appointment to SIE Deputy President in January 2018, Ryan was SIE’s head of global sales and marketing.

Ryan is known for his candid and sometimes controversial comments in interviews. In 2017, Ryan explained why Sony didn’t at the time allow cross-play by saying doing so could potentially expose children to “external influences” that it could not directly control. Xbox leader Phil Spencer responded by calling out Ryan’s comments as being unhealthy for the video game industry overall.

In other Sony news, the company is skipping E3 this year–and here’s why.

You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos.

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

The James Bond franchise is one of the most famous, most lucrative, and longest-running film series in the world. The franchise has been hugely influential, affecting almost every form of spy fiction written, filmed, or developed since the 1960s in some way. Moreover, the brand has stayed relevant for far longer than most comparable mega-franchises: Marvel’s 80-year existence and Disney’s seemingly perpetual presence on Earth pre-date Bond’s 1953 print debut, and they stand as some of the only similar properties to prevail. Conversely, attempts to reinvigorate big IP such as Back to the Future or The Mummy have not been successful enough for studios to continue making them.

To remain part of the zeitgeist for so long is no easy task, and despite some missteps, James Bond has defied the odds time and again, reinventing itself repeatedly to avoid being left behind. Some of those reinventions are obvious, such as the changing of actors, writers, and directors, or even come in the form of distinct reboots–the hardest of which came in 2006 with the 21st Eon-produced film, Casino Royale. Others, however, are a little more tricky: Bond has had to change even more drastically to fit new media, such as for the first 007 video game, a 1982 text adventure title for the ZX Spectrum named Shaken but Not Stirred. Unfortunately, the Bond games have endured an uneven run over the years, with some great games, some poor ones, and none at all since 2012’s poorly received 007 Legends.

To dive deeper into the continued evolution of the British spy, I spoke to Bruce Feirstein, screenwriter of three Bond films–GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough–and writer of the video games From Russia With Love, Everything or Nothing, Blood Stone, and 007 Legends.

GameSpot: How does writing a Bond game differ to writing a Bond film?

Bruce Feirstein: It’s not all that different. You’re still trying to tell an interesting story, with unique settings and compelling characters. So the actual process isn’t that different. It’s just as collaborative, and in some aspects easier. For example, in Everything or Nothing, the original sequence was written in Hong Kong. There was some problem having to do with visual rights–I think some of the buildings were trademarked, and we’d need permission–so I suggested putting the opening sequence in Athens. Everyone agreed, and in ten minutes we moved forward. A change like that in a film could take a month to get through all the decision makers and the clearances.

How did writing for Sean Connery differ to writing to Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig?

Each is a little bit different. I was writing the Brosnan Bond that I wrote in the films, so it wasn’t much of an adjustment. Daniel Craig’s is terser, so his dialogue was cut back to reflect the Bond he created on the screen. And Connery was the Bond I always had in my head, having been the first Bond I saw. He and I actually talked about this.

Can you talk a little more about the creation of Judi Dench’s M? What was your reaction when you saw her death in Skyfall, and how do you think Ralph Fiennes is handling the role now?

While I was working on GoldenEye, [director] Martin Campbell and I met at the studio one morning to discuss what we should do about updating M. I said it was just a bunch of guys talking in a room, and Martin replied, “Why don’t you try it as a woman?” So the idea came from him. I wrote the “sexist misogynist dinosaur” scene in three hours, and pretty much what you see on the screen is what I wrote that first morning. As far as her death, Judi Dench brought great grace and originality to her role as M. She was amazing, and always took what we wrote and made it better. So I was sad to see that she wouldn’t be playing M anymore, but that’s the inevitable process in these films. And just as Judi defined the role in her way, Ralph Fiennes is bringing his own touch to the role now. He’s a terrific actor.

Is there anything you would have changed if you’d been involved in the films and games since you stopped working on the franchise?

No. If the franchise hadn’t evolved over the past 55 years, it wouldn’t exist anymore. Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have created–in my opinion–the perfect Bond for the post 9/11 era. Along with Daniel Craig, of course, and the writers, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. I wouldn’t change a thing. They’ve done an extraordinary job, and all deserve huge credit.

Which game do you think, looking back, offers the truest representation of Bond?

I think they all represented Bond well. But the most influential game was the original GoldenEye. I didn’t work on that game–but it had a huge impact on gaming. Funny enough, these days, I keep meeting people who are let down when they find out I only co-wrote the GoldenEye movie, and not the game.

I remember Everything or Nothing really resonating with players, too. Why do you think that is?

I suspect that this is because it was an entirely original story, with a new villain and all new supporting characters. So the whole experience was new. And we got very lucky in having Willem Dafoe as the bad guy. He gave a great performance.

How does working on an original story for a game compare to converting a film into a game? Which do you think works best for a game: creating a bespoke story or converting the iconic films?

An original story is more fun because you’re working from a clean slate. Anything is possible. With an adaptation, you’ve got to adhere as much as possible to the source material. Both are enjoyable experiences, but creating something new is more interesting.

From a writing perspective, what defines Bond as a character?

Bond is a lone warrior with a license to kill who hides his inner conflicts about what he does by striking a cool, dispassionate demeanor, and never allowing anyone to get too close to him.

We’ve seen the series tackle text adventures, first-person shooters, third-person action games, strategy, and more. In your eyes, what’s does a hypothetically perfect Bond game look like?

In any format, the perfect Bond game allows the player to enter an alternate reality of James Bond’s world, and experience a James Bond adventure. The platform is less important than the execution.

Were you involved with the canceled Casino Royale game?

There’s a lot of misinformation and speculation on the internet about Bond games that were cancelled or didn’t exist in the first place. As I recall, what some think of as a canceled Casino Royale game was actually an earlier version of either Bloodstone or Everything or Nothing that was stopped at one developer and moved to another. But I could be wrong.

Why do you think there hasn’t been a Bond game for a while?

I can only speculate here, as I haven’t discussed this with Eon. I don’t know why there hasn’t been a recent Bond game. But I do know that in general, there are fewer games based on movies these days. I’ve heard lots of reasons for this: 1) Huge game makers like Activision or Electronic arts would rather develop their own franchises. 2) As it now takes 18 months to make a first class game, day/date releases (meaning the game is released on the same day as the movie) aren’t practical. 3) The market for original games–Halo or Call of Duty–is much larger than the market for game tie-ins. Again, I don’t know how much of this impacts Bond, or has anything to do with Eon’s plans for future games. I’m just talking about movie games in general.

Would you like to be involved in another Bond game or film if the opportunity presented itself?

Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson have been incredibly loyal to me over the years. Being asked to write the games was flattering, and a great gift, for which I am very grateful. If they asked me to write another one, I’d be there in a minute. And if they didn’t, I’d be the first in line to buy it, and cheer them on, and hope for it’s great success. I am blessed to have been a small part of the franchise in any way at all.

Finally, as a bit of fun: who’s your favourite Bond actor from the film series? And who would you like to see take on the role after Craig steps down?

They say the first Bond you saw is always your favorite Bond. Connery was my first Bond, but the truth is that I like, respect, and admire everyone who has played the role. They were all perfect a reflection of their time: Connery in the cold war, Roger during the Reagan years, Tim Dalton during the end of the USSR, Pierce in post-cold war era, and Daniel Craig in the post 9/11 era. And, more importantly, from someone who worked inside the franchise: Every one of them made the next one possible.

Treyarch is continuing to steadily roll out new updates and content for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. The developer has given fans a glimpse at what lays ahead for the popular shooter this week, including a double XP weekend event across all three game modes, new multiplayer and Blackout playlists for the PS4 version, and more.

Beginning February 14, Treyarch is kicking off a Valentine’s Quad Feed weekend. Throughout the weekend, players will earn double XP and weapon XP in multiplayer mode, double XP and Nebulium Plasma in Zombies, and twice as many Merits in the Blackout battle royale mode. The event is scheduled to end at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET on Tuesday, February 19.

Before that, Treyarch will kick off two special modes on PS4 on February 12. First is the Arms Race Team Deathmatch playlist for multiplayer, which will reward players with 150 points, rather than the usual 100, for every enemy killed. Blackout, meanwhile, will get another iteration of Close Quarters Frenzy. The collapse occurs even more quickly in this mode, and the only weapons you’ll find are SMGs, shotguns, pistols, and Bowie Knives.

Speaking of Blackout, it appears Treyarch has something big planned for the mode. On Twitter, the official Call of Duty account shared a brief, cryptic video featuring a blueprint of Blackout’s map (below). The blueprint is then marked up with numerous red Xs, capped off with a large one in the lower right corner of the map. Treyarch hasn’t shared any further information about what this means, but it appears to suggest that some big tweaks will be made to the map in the near future.

Finally, Treyarch is teasing that it will preview “new content coming to all modes in our next Operation” this week. The studio didn’t provide any more details beyond that, but we’ll likely learn more when it shares the full patch notes for this week’s update on February 12.