How did Sony get this good?

I always thought that Sega and Nintendo gave me the most interesting games, there was always something new and exciting coming from them but I now seriously think they are lacking, nothing from Sega interests me except for PD Orta and Spike out, Nintendo got Metroid Fusion and probably Prime to sell me.
But I've been talking with a friend ower ICQ about the current status and we both agree that Sony really got some nice games coming up and their past shows a developer that isn't afraid to try all kind of different styles.

I still get a smile on my face every time I see that little Ico pic someone on this board got, and I regularly play my Vib-ribon disc in my stereo, although music games isn't really my thing I like Parappa The Rapper. I couldn't care less about the GT series but every now and then there is one gem to be discovered from them.

Lately my imagination has been running wild by that old Ico team artwork: http://www.tokyopia.com/media/scans/ico-wide.jpg

And Mojibribon looks so damn great, I couldnt find a pic but Edge readers should have seen it.

Do you think Nintendo and Sega has lost some of "it" or is it Sony that just outperforms them, or maybe I'm just retarded..

Smile! :D

Ah thats the one!:)
Its so small yet tells a great story to those who have been there, like a little masterpiece.

All companies buy or hire talent. And Sony has also been in the video game industry as far back as 1983.

SCEA makes its share of great games, but I don't think it has a track record like the dev teams of Nintendo and Sega. Ico, Kri, and Ape Escape don't exactly outclass everything EAD has done.

What I find odd is that the best PS1 games Sony ever published/funded (Tenchu and Elemental Gearbolt) were released by third-parties domestically.

Nintendo is still doing decent in my eyes, although Mario Sunshine was a disappointment to me. I've never been a huge Nintendo fan, but I do like to play a few of their games.

Sega has taken an absolute nosedive since after March of this year, imo. Their sports lines are said to be good, but I don't much play those. HOTD3, TJ&E3, Crazy Taxi 3...wow, so many mediocre 3's. I don't have a single Sega game on my list outside of Orta, and pretty much any game Smilebit makes.

Sony is getting pretty damn good at what they do. They've gone from one of the developers/publishers that I made sure to stay away from to one that gets me excited everytime they announce a new game. Good job Sony. :D

Well a big thank you to Sony then, I mean Nintendo could have used some of that talent now, they got the money. Sega on the other hand..

And I never said that they outclass all of EADs games, juts that they have been really good lately and that their upcoming games look really good.

I wouldn't say Sony has reached the point where they've equalled, much less outclassed, Sega or Nintendo. But they have had a stock of worthwhile talent and studios under the SCEI wing since the PSX was first released. You'd have to be fairly stubborn not to notice it. Whether you want to praise or scold them for funding and raising studios under them, that's up to you.

I'm digging on some SCEJ/A releases! Yummy!

Don't question it, just enjoy the constant flow of games

Didn't Sony Imagesoft did make Mickey Mania? Or was that Traveler's Tales/ My memory evades...

Travellers Tales developed it, Sony Imagesoft published it.

I have a little more respect lately for Sony's development teams. They aren't anywhere near the level of Nintendo or Sega crews, but they are quite capable of coming up with classic material.

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Originally posted by Zerodash
Didn't Sony Imagesoft did make Mickey Mania? Or was that Traveler's Tales/ My memory evades...

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TT did it... but Imagesoft (in fact the team now known as Polyphony the makers of GT) did Skyblazer and Hook. Two very excellent games.

Sony seems to be the only company that still cares about their games and teams.

What happened to Psygnosis? Did Sony absorb them. They were one of my favorite PS1 exclusive developers.

Sony bought Psygnosis completely. And since Psygnosis had become more of a publisher than a developer, they stopped using the Pysgnosis name.

Reflections, who made the Wipeout games still exists as a developer separate from Sony but most of the Wipeout people left to form Curly Monsters.

Cool, thanks.

*ponders at the possibility of another Colony Wars*

Wasn't Red Sun developed by a different Psygnosis team than the first two games? I forget which team did the first two.

I'm not sure. I know that Red Sun wound up being published by Midway, though.

Now that I think about it, I'm probably getting it mixed up with Wipeout which had Psygnosis Leeds Studios make the third game.

Sony is nowhere near Nintendo's level of talent, but I really do feel SCE has surpassed Sega--both in terms of ability and game quality. Panzer Dragoon Orta looks like a great game, but it seems to be the new exception, and not the rule.

Then again, I don't know if it's that Sony is excelling, as much as it is that Sega is slipping.

i dont know only sony games i own for the last 2 generations i beleive are Gran Turismo and Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec

well i suppose Arc the Lad isnt that a sony game (even though WD brought it here)

though Mark of Kri and SLy Cooper interest me this generation but i havent picked up either yet

You haven't played Ico yet, John? Just doesn't interest you?

No i played it i found the visualls very appealing and very nice

i found the game its self to kinda leave me feeling meh

i was really psyched for the game till i played it

the previews for it had me drooling like crazy then i played it for a few days and i dont know just didnt connect with me

which i thought was a shame cause i really liked the visuals and art style and i thought the idea of the game was really cool

just for me there was something missing

Ah! I suppose that's cool. I like, but when I was playing it, I knew it was one of those games that didn't have mass appeal. I'll admit the control was a bit wonky...but I ignored that because the rest of the game was brilliant.

I think Ico and Mark of Kri and Sly Cooper are all really good efforts from sony, and their different dev teams

and while as a developer sony has come a long long long way they still seem to lack something for me, but i have to say they have come along way from their first efforts which is deffintely a good thing

Sony's made three incredible games: Sky Gunner, Elemental Gearbolt, and Tenchu. Not the large track record of either Sega or Nintendo, but some good stuff. Once they amass a sizable collection of games I'll compare them, but until then I still don't really care too much for Sony's in-house games. Doesn't seem Sony does either, since all three of those weren't released by Sony in the US.

Ico would be on my list if it didn't have so much of that annoying fighting, every time another fight came up it just ticked me off. They needed to tone that down heavily and stick more with the peaceful puzzles (like the windmill area).

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Originally posted by Ex Ranza
Sony is nowhere near Nintendo's level of talent, but I really do feel SCE has surpassed Sega--both in terms of ability and game quality.

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:bs:

Sony has never made a game as good as JSRF, which is not even close to Sega's best game.

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Originally posted by Yoshi
:bs:

Sony has never made a game as good as JSRF, which is not even close to Sega's best game.

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Sure, I agree that historically Sega has a much better track record. But as for the more modern industry, I think Sony's games are more creative and fun, and that Sega has faltered. Their offerings over the past year or so just haven't appealed to me. Hopefully Shinobi and PDO will change my line of thinking. :)

I think Sony's games have been better than Sega's recently (other than Smilebit). Ico, Sly Cooper and Wipeout Fusion were great, and I hear Mark of Kri is great too.

i'll take sega or nintendo any day over sony.... i think i'd rather have one sega dev team.. smilebit or am2.. maybe even uga (for rez) over sony

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Originally posted by MrKasualUltra2000
Sony seems to be the only company that still cares about their games and teams.

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Ummm, what the fuck?

Is NFL Gameday your definition of a classic?

Sony's provided me with the puzzle games I've enjoyed the most for years now. Futari Fantavision is decent, the Xi series is top-notch, and Otostaz is actually a really good game too.

I've been wanting to try out Popolocrois 3 one of these days...

(... also been meaning to write some sorta review on Otostaz but I'm not sure how to piece it all together quite yet)

I have never been a fan of Sony but I must admit that they have improved by leaps and bounds lately. They have a good number of quality game.. a surprising number. The deeper I look the more games I find that I am interested in....

They don't have nearly as many "all-time classic series" compared to a company/developer like Sega.... In fact, they don't have any all-time classics, at least to me, but the quantity of good-to-decent software has put them head and shoulders above the likes of Nintendo, at least in my opinion (since I am not a fan of most of Nintendo's important franchises).

:)

Sony has made some good games, but compared to current and past first party developers, they suck. I'll stick with SNK, SEGA, Nintendo and Hudson for my first party games of choice.

Why are people listing Sly Cooper as a Sony game? Does sony own sucker punch?

I think all first parties are doing great (and the former first party as well). I don't know if Nintendo is doing better or worse than they used to - but AC, Pikmin and Sunshine are good efforts that are beyond what most any developer could do. Sony has been great, TM:B, Kinetica, ICO (especially) and Drakan are aces. MS's guns have been somewhat impressive with Halo, Amped, Blinx, PGR, Raillisport and Quantum Redshift. Sega, IMO, has been the biggest let down this year. They didn't so much as fail as I expected too much from them.

ºTracer

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Originally posted by Kinopio
Why are people listing Sly Cooper as a Sony game? Does sony own sucker punch?

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Yeah, Sony bought them out after they made Rocket:Robot on Wheels. Oh, and thanks Tracer- I forgot to mention TM:B and Drakan, two more excellent Sony games.

A little understated here: I think MS will do better and better as time goes on. Bungie and Bioware could carry them as far as I'm concerned but Artoon amd Curly Monsters steped up. Not only on Xbox, thier PC/Mac division is killer (I would say BEST on PC) with Age of Mythology recently. In short - wow. Digital Anvil has alway been hit or miss but Brute Force looks like a hit.

ºTracer

Anyone looking forward to sony's gta clone Getaway?

What GameHED said. Someone on this board said its the most expensive game ever made. GTA+tons of Sony cash has gotten me excited about the game.

Werd. The game looks great.

ºTracer

I'll admit Sony has made some great games, but not now, or ever before, have they surpassed Sega or Nintendo.

Mark of Kri and Sly Cooper are really good, and I'm looking forward to Ratchet and Clank (I went out to EB today to buy it, and it's not out yet, damn it). Very impressed with Sony's output, actually.

I used to always avoid Sony games like the plague (with the exceptions of Sega CD Mickey Mania and SNES Sky Blazer) but lately they've put out a string of good games. I have Ico, Sly Cooper, and Mark of Kri; and have gone back to some older titles like GT3 and Ape Escape. I think they've matured a lot over the last 3 years and hope they continue the quality lineup past Christmas.

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Originally posted by Stone
Mark of Kri and Sly Cooper are really good, and I'm looking forward to Ratchet and Clank (I went out to EB today to buy it, and it's not out yet, damn it). Very impressed with Sony's output, actually.

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Ditto what Stone said. We will rent Rachet when our store gets it.

ICO was also excellent.

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Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
All companies buy or hire talent.

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No they don't. Nintendo and Sega raise their game developers in happy, idyllic pastures, raising them on 2D gaming classics and sun filled outdoor days, until finally they're old enough to start programming. On that joyous day they hold a parade in Segatown to celebrate the new programmer's big occasion. Then, the new programmer joins the company with a smile on his face, happy that he wasn't just hired off the street like some soulless Sony developer.

:lol:

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Originally posted by StriderKyo
Nintendo and Sega raise their game developers in happy, idyllic pastures, raising them on 2D gaming classics and sun filled outdoor days, until finally they're old enough to start programming. On that joyous day they hold a parade in Segatown to celebrate the new programmer's big occasion. Then, the new programmer joins the company with a smile on his face

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That's beautiful.. I want to live in the world where that's true... :sweat:


;)

I want to live in Segatown!!

ºTracer

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Originally posted by Green
What GameHED said. Someone on this board said its the most expensive game ever made. GTA+tons of Sony cash has gotten me excited about the game.

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I've been the one saying that I think The Getaway will top Shenmue for development costs. The main part of the game doesn't play like GTA, and thats why I'm looking forward to The Getaway. It plays like a very realistic Winback. The plot seems to play a bigger part in The Getaway as well. should be a good game when it is FINALLY released.

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Originally posted by Stone
Mark of Kri and Sly Cooper are really good, and I'm looking forward to Ratchet and Clank (I went out to EB today to buy it, and it's not out yet, damn it). Very impressed with Sony's output, actually.

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Dude, just when did you get a PS2 again? I thought you hated it or something.

Sony has released some good games as of late, but generally speaking, even their best releases lack personality. There's an intangible, unique "something" that both Sega and Nintendo games have. You see it in games like JSRF and Celda, Pikmin and Space Channel 5. One recent exception for Sony has been Mark of Kri, which unfortunately sold poorly.

Ico is one of the greatest games of all time, that game alone makes up for any wrong doings by Sony in my opinion.

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Originally posted by DacaZ
What happened to Psygnosis?

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They are now known as Studio Liverpool.

Tenchu, Twisted Metal Black, Sly Cooper, Mark of Kri, Gameday on the PS1 before the moved to ps2 and forgot how to code. Sony has been steadily improving internally, and I think its fantastic. They are making games that appeal to me, where as companies like Sega and Nintendo haven't been. Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Jet Grind Radio, Toe Jam and Earl 3, these games don't appeal to me, so the developer goes down in my eyes, where as Sony has gone up with the quality releases that actually interest me. Microsoft has bought some of the coolest propertys around, so now they tend to fall into the category of first party I like.