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Software Ken Kutaragi to Head New Games Studio
Marcus Yam (Blog) - January 24, 2007 2:49 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 37 comment(s) - last by Sasuke.. on Jan 26 at 3:30 AM

Kutaragi proudly cradles his newest creation
Father of PlayStation moves from hardware to software

Ken Kutaragi, widely credited as the father of the PlayStation, could now be shifting is attentions from hardware to software. Sony and Namco Bandai have announced (Japanese PDF) a joint venture in the formation of a new games company, named Cellius, with Ken Kutaragi serving as chairman. The two companies are investing about ¥100 million ($823,000) to form Cellius, with Sony owning 49 percent and Namco Bandai taking majority at 51 percent. The venture will begin operations on March 6, Bloomberg reports.

As the name implies, Cellius will focus on producing games for the Cell processor, which currently means exclusively for PlayStation 3. Cell may eventually find itself into other set top boxes and mobile devices, opening up the possibility for Cellius to develop for more than one platform.

While it’s not yet clear what his role will be in Cellius, Kutaragi’s position at Sony has shifted. In late November, Kutaragi was promoted chairman and group CEO for SCEI, moving him a bit further away from direct control of regular PlayStation operations. With the latest iteration of the PlayStation complete, Kutaragi’s engineering know-how could now shift to strengthening the PS3’s software portfolio.

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PS3?
By gramboh on 1/24/2007 4:05:08 PM , Rating: 2
Besides Resistance, why would you want a PS3 right now? The only compelling games (maybe) coming down the pipe are Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy whatever-version-is-next.




RE: PS3?
By OrSin on 1/24/2007 4:18:18 PM , Rating: 2
I own a 360 and games are not much better. I'm not huge fan of the sport games and I can't play RTS and FSP on a controller. Right ow action games are best for me (you notice the for me part). I just wnat want 1 stunning scroller. Not even sure they make them any more lol.


RE: PS3?
By Ard on 1/24/2007 9:56:15 PM , Rating: 2
I feel your pain when it comes to scrollers, believe me. It's amazing how simple games back in the day were also ridiculously fun (hence the reason I can still pick up Super Mario Bros 3 or Streets of Rage and still have a blast). The majority of games today are dumbed down and generic. At least I can enjoy Ultimate Ghosts n' Goblins on my PSP :)


RE: PS3?
By RyuDeshi on 1/24/2007 4:26:32 PM , Rating: 2
What does buying a PS3 now have to do with this article? It is about a game studio..


RE: PS3?
By Malhavoc on 1/24/2007 5:13:04 PM , Rating: 1
Did you read the article?


RE: PS3?
By slacker57 on 1/24/2007 5:40:52 PM , Rating: 2
I read the article, and I had the same question. They're announcing the beginning of a new company that will make games for the PS3. I'm almost 173% positive that this new venture didn't release any games today. So someone asking why you'd want a PS3 right now has nothing to do with the article whatsoever.


RE: PS3?
By slacker57 on 1/24/2007 5:43:12 PM , Rating: 2
If I had taken time to quote the article, I could have been 175% sure...

quote:
The venture will begin operations on March 6, Bloomberg reports.


RE: PS3?
By RyuDeshi on 1/25/2007 2:24:38 PM , Rating: 2
I did, in fact, and I see information about investing into a games studio to develop SOFTWARE exclusively for the PS3, nothing about the pricing or sales figures of the PS3 HARDWARE.

I am no Sony fanboy or a fan of consoles period, but I am sick of every single article about the PS3 turning into a flame fest about the pricing and sales of the PS3, because nobody cares anymore. We see the flaws Sony made and the bad price point, we don't need everyone pointing out old information that has been said a thousand times before.


RE: PS3?
By deeznuts on 1/24/2007 5:16:18 PM , Rating: 2
There are a lot of interesting games coming down the pipeline.

You are right, right now nothing but come summertime I think there are a lot of system sellers coming out.


RE: PS3?
By drivendriver on 1/24/2007 5:25:48 PM , Rating: 2
What does this have to do with the article? Are you just trying to convince yourself that you don't want a PS3? If you don't have one and don't want one, why waste your time talking about it?



RE: PS3?
By scrapsma54 on 1/24/2007 10:02:35 PM , Rating: 2
Really, Until sony gives me a good reason to buy a ps3 I won't even bother examining one off the shelf. So yeah, ps3's cell enables some real nice special effects (but are hard to program), and Blu-ray gives it the sharper textures, but graphics wise, pah, they suck compared to Xbox 360's lighting engine. Also FF has outlived is exclusivity. Other than that what games does ps3 have to look forward to? There haven't been any extremely outstanding titles out on ps2 either. In fact Nintendo Had them all.


RE: PS3?
By hergieburbur on 1/25/2007 1:56:22 AM , Rating: 1
Spoken like a true XBox fanboy. PS2 had a lot of really good recent titles. FF XII is great, Scarface was a lot of fun, so was the Godfather, and their sports games are usually pretty good, even if they lag behind XBox there.

PS3 has MGS4 coming this year, which looks phenomenal so far, and GTA4 is also coming end of summer, though that will also be out for XBos 360.


RE: PS3?
By raven3x7 on 1/25/2007 6:59:37 AM , Rating: 2
Really? I refuse to buy into the hype for the Wii. How many good games are there for it? Wii Sports, Zelda... what else? I really wanted to try out the new controller concept, but after browsing through the games i decided to take a wait and see approach to the still on going next-gen console war. I highly doubt Xbox360 is just as capable as the PS3. In fact due to the increased difficulty in programming for the Cell it is my opinion it will take a while before we'll see the true potential for the PS3. As for the Xbox360? Besides Gears of War what other killer games are there for it? None yet imo. Although Mass Effect might be the next one. I'd say anyone who doesn't like to throw away their money is gonna wait and see who gets the better games and that wont be clear for at least a year. As for this new studio my guess is their role is as much to improve programming knowledge for the PS3 as it is to make good games for it.


RE: PS3?
By Spivonious on 1/25/2007 9:15:23 AM , Rating: 2
Assuming you're being serious...

Try out the following games for Wii

Elebits - fun in that Katamari way
Excite Truck - fun in that arcade racer way
Trauma Center - fun in the surgery puzzle way
COD 3 - fun in the actually aiming your gun way
Zelda - fun in the Zelda way
Sports - fun in the party way
Madden 07 - fun in the football way

And honestly, for $250 why wouldn't you get a Wii?

Of course, if you can't get enough of the same old FPS with better graphics, the Wii is not for you.


RE: PS3?
By Sasuke on 1/26/2007 3:30:24 AM , Rating: 2
for me killzone 2
motostorm(played demo on my mates pisses me of hes got a jap one here in uk for less than the uk launch price)
metal gear solid 4
and reistance :fall of man, after playing the demo im hooked one of the best game moments running from heavy fire awith dirt flying up to hide behint a wall hat has the top3 inches above my head chiped of before the wall crumbles , time to run and hide in that bathtub over there :)


This is a good move for Sony...
By therealnickdanger on 1/24/2007 3:58:29 PM , Rating: 4
... because someone has to make some games for the PS3.

I kid, I kid... kinda. It will be interesting to see the king of hardware-hype attempt to "harness the power" of his own overhyped console.




By BladeVenom on 1/24/2007 4:53:27 PM , Rating: 4
Maybe they should have done that before the PS3 was released.


RE: This is a good move for Sony...
By stmok on 1/24/2007 5:08:51 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe then, they can come up with something better than Gundam Crossfire. (That was a HUGE let down and doesn't do the PS3 any justice).



The Downfall of Consoles...
By Fubar0606666 on 1/24/2007 8:37:10 PM , Rating: 2
In my opinion Console gaming has become obsolete, that is my view as a die hard PC fan. I have a 360 and the only 2 games I have are Sonic the Hedgehog and Project Gotham 3. why would you play anything on a console that you could play on a PC, which is twice as fun, way faster and graphically superior. The only console worth buying at the moment is a Game cube in my opinion. Wii is not a fun experience for me, the control is hell for trying to press OK on the menus which is ridicules. Game cube is just as good as a Wii but offers an experience you cannot get on a PC, meaning Mario Party :P




RE: The Downfall of Consoles...
By Ard on 1/24/2007 10:06:27 PM , Rating: 2
And I would argue the exact opposite. What the hell can you even find on PCs anymore? Nothing but RTSes, FPSes, and MMOs. That's it aside from the occasional RPG like NWN. There is no diversity when it comes to PC gaming. Consoles on the other hand have numerous quality RPGs, FPSes, action games, adventure games, platformers, puzzle games, etc., etc.

I consider myself to be in both camps and I certainly enjoy the PC games that I do play (why else would I be running an 8800 GTS? :)) but the fact that I have 53 PS2 games, 11 PSP games, and only about 15-20 PC games (not including older stuff like DN, Quake, and King's Quest (damn I miss that series) shows you just how much more I enjoy console gaming. If anything, my other post applies to PC gaming as well. The golden age is long gone. You just don't see many classic games like you did 10-15 years ago.


RE: The Downfall of Consoles...
By Spivonious on 1/25/2007 9:18:28 AM , Rating: 2
King's Quest = 2nd best adventure game series ever

Monkey Island = best adventure game series ever

Where have all the adventure games gone, Lucasarts?


RE: The Downfall of Consoles...
By jtesoro on 1/25/2007 10:08:21 AM , Rating: 2
I agree that most PC commercial software falls under certain types where the gameplay is essentially the same (RTS, RPG, FPS, etc). This isn't necessarily bad as people enjoy these games immensely. If that's not your cup of tea though, there's a much greater variety to be had in the downloadable game category. Sure you can say that it's a "puzzle game" or an "action game", but their gameplay could be completely different and often very creative. You can find lots of fun stuff there. And the best part is, the price is usually cheap or even free!

I wouldn't give up on PC games yet.


RE: The Downfall of Consoles...
By NotAok on 1/25/2007 11:32:04 AM , Rating: 2
lol, your opinion is horrible. There's a reason more and more pc games are popping up on consoles buddy. (which wouldn't be happening if console gaming was becomming obsolete)

"die hard" pc fans are funny... Completely ignorant of the gaming world around them


PR BS
By VIAN on 1/24/2007 9:06:25 PM , Rating: 2
Sony was probably unhappy with the hardware. So they needed to kick him out, but that would look bad for PR, so they just did this instead.

Think of it this way, since the PS3 is programmed using High Level language, you don't really need to know about the hardware, so he would've been much more use somewhere else.




RE: PR BS
By Ard on 1/24/2007 10:00:11 PM , Rating: 2
Except he's still working at SCEI in his current position. He was merely appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors for Cellius (if he were appointed CEO you'd be correct). That doesn't conflict with his current operations. Unless Sony announces that someone is going to replace Ken in his current role, nothing has changed except him getting a new title to add to his name.


RE: PR BS
By borowki on 1/24/2007 10:13:36 PM , Rating: 2
My thought exactly. They're investing less than a million dollars in the new company. That's no where near enough to make a single game nowadays.


RE: PR BS
By Spivonious on 1/25/2007 9:19:59 AM , Rating: 2
Do you even know what "High Level" language means? Every game that was released within the past 20 years was programmed with a high-level language.

Some examples of high-level languages: C, C++, Java, C#, VB, Python, etc.


RE: PR BS
By drivendriver on 1/25/2007 11:35:17 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, you do need to know the hardware to program the Cell BE with a "high-level language" such as C or C++.

You need to know how to run threads on the SPU's, you need to know how the SPU registers are organized, you need to know how much local storage is available to each SPU, you need to know how the SPU's interact with the PPU, you need to know how to use the SPU's access main memory, etc.

And IBM has developed C/C++ language extensions and compiler intrinsics that are specific to Cell BE.


They had to stick him somewhere!
By AssMonkey76 on 1/24/07, Rating: 0
By KingGheedora on 1/24/2007 6:53:54 PM , Rating: 2
This might be a desperation move on Sony's part (i.e. their only hope at making the PS3 a success now is to make PS3 exclusive games themselves).

They are such a funny company. Only investing in themselves, and creating products whose success is coupled with the success of other Sony products. It's a dangerous strategy. If not with the PS3, they will eventually shoot themselves in the foot doing this kind of thing.

If they succeed though, they will make a killing having a successful game studio (or 49% of one anyways), a successful console, and a successful HD format (Blue-ray). The success of each promotes the success of the other, but likewise the failure of one drags the others down.

How many games are PS3 only these days? The only one I can think of right now is Final Fantasy, and MGS (though I've read internet rumors suggesting MGS may come to XBox, not sure how credible this is). Two or three solid games aren't enough to sway the average consumer, especially with the price advantage xbox has.


RE: They had to stick him somewhere!
By Andrwken on 1/24/2007 8:22:11 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I guess Sony is kind of like NASA. they don’t fire you, they just move you or promote you somewhere else.


More like, "they give you an office next to the door before they push you out it."

Never take the office next to the door. LOL


By wiiz3rd on 1/25/2007 9:33:02 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
quote:
I guess Sony is kind of like NASA. they don’t fire you, they just move you or promote you somewhere else.


More like, "they give you an office next to the door before they push you out it."

Never take the office next to the door. LOL


Nah, you all got it wrong. That's the American way. In Japan, they give you an office by the window on the top floor. But instead of giving you work to do, they give you newspaper to read until you decide it's time to jump.


By knitecrow on 1/24/2007 6:57:33 PM , Rating: 4
Good games have more to do with art, design and creativity than the underlying hardware technology. Nothing in this announcement tells me I am getting some amazing games down the line.





Sony....Yuck
By Fubar0606666 on 1/24/2007 8:39:43 PM , Rating: 2
Coming from Sony i wouldn't expect it to have any new incredible game. Its sony remember this. the people that don't include anything in a starter kit and treat there customers like crap, why go back there. Even Microsoft is doing a better job with there 360, and thats coming from Microsoft.. cmooonnnn.




RE: Sony....Yuck
By JimFear on 1/25/2007 5:49:12 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry but what starter kit are you referring to? Surely you don't mean not including an HDMI cable


By Nik00117 on 1/25/2007 1:12:47 AM , Rating: 2
He'll prob make his games ridicoulsly expensive 80 bucks for one in Japan 90 in America and 200 in europe.




Side note
By misuspita on 1/25/2007 4:16:19 AM , Rating: 2
on a side note, I like the new DT quote on the bottom of the page. Nice!




"The Space Elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing" -- Sir Arthur C. Clarke

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