Xbox 2 Announcement Today?

[Chaotic_King]

http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=37107&page=1&pp=50

Also:

A Japanese developer (MISTWALKER?) joins in the Xbox 2 camp

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20743

That's reallly interesting. Would be a shame though if it truly is MistWalker

[cyrusmg]

That is interesting, i wonder if there is any substance (some of those people certainly seem to think so)

I doubt it would be a major announcement but it could be something big enough to try and knock Sony off balance.

[Chaotic_King]

It's true:

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/7723/Hironobu-Sakaguchi-Joins-Microsoft-Game-Studios/

:( Bad news for Sony.....

[Epsilon-Zero]

I dunno why you guys are all bummed about this. He left square because he wasnt happy with the merger with Enix. He left i believe because he felt limited by the enix side of the company. Moving to the MS camp could be the best thing for him. Be like a new start. Hes been part of square for 20 years and i doubt hes been able to do everything hes wanted to do within that company. Being part of a new organization could bring him new life.

So now square doesnt have one of its oldest members and may or may not create simmilar RPGs on the same level as the ones of the past. It can be argued that square has been losing its touch with RPGs as of the past 6 years. Maybe his leaving will enable them to create new and interesting RPGs that go in a direction that they havent explored yet.

One thing will have to watch in the comming months is if any other japanese artists follow him from square to MS. I believe he was one of the main contributors to the idea of Square going multiplatform with Xbox and im sure there were other ppl within the company who agreed with his ideals.

Will just have to wait and see

[The_One]

Yup, I agree with Epsilon-Zero. Sure XBox 2 might start getting RPGs, but really, Squre Enix would have went multiplatform sooner or later. Sony won't be able to maintain a monopoly in the console market for long, that's for sure.

[True Poet]

I believe I predicted this way back in January. Mistwalker has been bough by Microsoft - no surprise there. Here's hoping Sakaguchi will deliver some great and innovative games!

[muchuukuri]

1st off, I think, its important to realize Sakaguchi over the years has been more and more involved in the FF games in name only rather than spirit. He's been only serving as producer and/or director for the last what 7 years? Many have said that his importance to RPGs came to an end with FF6... not his importance to square mind you, just to making good games. His company Mist Walker was started in 2003 if I'm not mistaken. Part of the reason he went to M$, my guess, is that he wants to do something COMPLETELY different and a new system is a good start. More over, he may be thinking that he doesn't have the competition he'd have on the PS2 or PS3 or have as much trouble programing... especially, if M$ is gonna lend him help and the system is easier to program for. Then there's the money incentive... which I'm sure M$ more than adequitely provided, which is appealing to a start up coming like Mist Walker... regardless of who you are. Of course, those aren't the only reasons, but that's what I see.

As to those worried about Squeenix and PRGing in general... I wouldn't worry... if you think Square was a one man show, then you need to go and read the game credits... Sakaguchi has been distancing himself from the development process for years and I've not seen any drop in quality. I doubt established companies will shift in any way towards X2... maybe newbie startups, but those that have a name are set. If you want to worry, worry about you're bank accounts... there's a chance you may have to walk away this next generation buying both consoles. RPGers were sitting pretty with just a PS2, not necessarily the case this time around, especially if you play ALL of them. Anyone, got 800 bucks they can loan me? -_-

P.S. As to the multiplatform idea.... I dunno... its too much work for the RPG companies to port over games across systems... each one takes years to produce you think they'd really wanna spend another 2 porting? Maybe if the systems have similar programming enviroments??

P.S.S. Sony'll prolly have a heart attack when they hear this. Name dropping can sometimes hurt more than substance.

EDIt:: I corrected some info, from above.

[Rikimaru]

I didn't know if I was allowed to write an article in my trial 2 weeks, but I did write one. If not, I am ok with someone else writing something up :). Here is the link:



http://www.gdclondon.com/conf/schedule.htm

The conference should inclue some interesting news on Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm, in which I am betting some new screens and video might come out.

-Paul





Game Developers Conference Kicks Off



The annual London Game Developers Conference began today. Some of the better known PlayStation 3 titles will be making appearances such as Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm. IBM is also a huge sponsor of event, and appears to have a conference or two discussing their highly touted cell processor.

Dubbed Combat: The Ninja Way, members of developer Ninja Theory involved in the development of Heavenly Sword’s combat system will be on hand to describe in detail the evolution of their new combat system created for their upcoming title. Their conference will consist of real time demonstrations and an in-depth description of combat in their title.

Evolution Studios will be hosting a conference named Applied Physics: Motorstorm. The conference is purported to talk more about the evolution of physics in their title rather than just the typical graphical boost. Some of the topics that they will talk about will include; their vehicle construction and subsequent deconstruction system as vehicles in their game break apart, how integrating Havok into their terrain system allowed the developer flexibility to create any terrain effects as needed, and their implementation of Havok and rag doll physics into their animated drivers in order give them a more realistic appearance to gamers.

The conference stretches from October 2nd to October 4th. PS3Land will bring you the latest news as it develops.

[Rebon]

You most certainly are Paul! Thats the purpose of the trail - to see your ability first hand and to ensure you are a good fit for the team.

Great article! Live on the site. Good work :P