Japanese Developers give their thoughts on next-gen consoles

by Nick Doerr { Oct 6th 2006 at 1:30PM }

We've done this once before, but it's nice to see if opinions have changed. Since the entire list would be pretty long, you can check out the whole thing if you want. We'll just cover the Sony end of this business. Yes, sometimes they don't add up to 100%, we know. There's always a margin of error. Read on, brave soldiers...

Expectations for the PS3:

48% have extremely high expectations
32% have high expectations
18% don't expect much of the system at all

This is incredibly more optimistic than the post-E3 expectations.

On PS3's game lineup (out of 58 developers)...

12 votes for Metal Gear Solid 4
10 votes for Final Fantasy XIII
7 votes for Eye of Judgment
6 votes for the mysteriously gorgeous Afrika
4 votes for Heavenly Sword
The rest are jumbled between Lair, Resistance: Fall of Man, Bladestorm, Gran Turismo HD...
If it were up to me, about 55 votes would go to White Knight Story, but hey... whatever.

Favorite parts of the PS3:

19 votes for visual power
10 votes for overall hardware specs
9 votes for cell processor computation abilities
3 votes for built-in hard disks
3 votes for Blu-ray
Also mentioned: PSP connectivity, online functionality, SIXAXIS, and just... brand name strength.

Overall expectations of the console war:

60% believe in the power of the Wii
37% believe in the awesomeness of the PS3
3% were bribed to believe in the XBox 360 (it's a joke -- don't flame)

Why did PS3 only garner 37%? The price, developers cited. Geez... yes, it's a high price, but it's... not that big of a deal. I'm working this job, paying for school, apartment rent/utilities, car payments, and I can still afford a PS3 and a few games. What's it called? Budgeting?

The same story goes for what system developers want to try: Wii, then PS3, then 360. Also which system they want the most, personally. Wii, PS3, then 360. If you're interested in the results for the other systems, check out the full list.

Tags: Famitsu survey, FamitsuSurvey, Microsoft, Nintendo, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony, Wii, XBox 360, Xbox360

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

TheGuyNextDoor @ Oct 7th 2006 3:48AM

I think this is a pretty fair and believable poll, at this stage in the game.

Wii's inherant affordability - at least in initial hardware purchase, will win it a lot of favours. How that will pan out in the longer term remains to be seen, perhaps the games may be pricey, as has historically been the case with Nintendo games of old, perhaps developers wont be able to achieve what they want to due to hardware restrictions, maybe they will.

Japanese developers certainly prefer Japanese consoles. That much is clear.

reguy @ Oct 6th 2006 2:04PM

the japanese are very loyal, thats why the 360 wont do well over there, not because it doesnt have good games.
but i dont mind, im a fan of the ps3 and 360, its a certain other console i dont like. *cough ripoff cough*

Frosty22 @ Oct 6th 2006 2:06PM

Oh... those japanese. Always fascinates me how different other markets can be from one another.

Pedro Van Faulk @ Oct 6th 2006 7:29PM

It's not a matter of being abel to afford the machine. It's a matter of it not being worth the price they are asking for it.

clo1_2000 @ Oct 6th 2006 4:27PM

"Why did PS3 only garner 37%? The price, developers cited. Geez... yes, it's a high price, but it's... not that big of a deal. I'm working this job, paying for school, apartment rent/utilities, car payments, and I can still afford a PS3 and a few games. What's it called? Budgeting?"

Come back when you have a $600,000 mortgage, property taxes, a car payment, are investing in retirement for 2 adults, saving for your child's education and doing it all on one salary :)

insane_cobra @ Oct 6th 2006 5:04PM

Expected. Still, it would be nice to know if the poll has been conducted on third party studios only.

Orbitz Drink @ Oct 12th 2006 7:43PM

Too bad it is Japan...

Here in the United States of America Xbox 360 is totally gonna blow away PS3. When Sony finally starts shipping PS3 in large quantities they are going to walk right into Halo 3. XBOX Live grows larger and stronger everyday.

PS3 will fail.

elmo @ Oct 7th 2006 10:19AM

well this IS a ps3 fanboy site... so you obviously can't expect any valid information about the 360's standings in this poll. But either way, it is most deffintly true that the japanese prefer japanese consoles & Square Enix.

Andir2.0 @ Oct 8th 2006 3:01AM

"PS3 will fail."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Can I quote you on that?

Tomppa @ Oct 10th 2006 9:54AM

Wii's great, little less expensive, "great" games, fun for a while. But that crap just ain't for me. Just like DS and PSP, I chose PSP. Somehow special controlling over technical overwhelming and some seriously takeable games, choice is yours.

I do see how Sony is stealing ideas, but, who cares, they've made it better. They saw DS trump the PSP, then they thought, "it's that touch screen!", they waited for nintendos next turn, and then done the same. Now, only good side of Wii seems to be price... Well, whatever. I'm gonna buy this PS3 anyway, as long as the price won't climb any higher, or they rip more features out.