GDC 07: fl0w was almost on Wii
by Andrew Yoon 
{ Mar 9th 2007 at 3:50PM }
Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago and the rest of the thatgamecompany team discussed their latest motion-controlled PS3 title fl0w. The game certainly would have been an incredible addition to the Wii library, considering its use of motion controls, relatively subdued graphics, and non-gamer-friendly gameplay. Santiago revealed that fl0w was pitched to two companies: Nintendo and Sony.
Well, Sony won. Sony's aggressive approach to supporting new developers was what gave PS3 the edge. "They [Nintendo] weren't right for us at the time. Sony kind of came to us with the process of incubation ... They helped us get our studio started."
Sony has proven at GDC that they care about developers through the announcement of Edge and extending their Network offerings to independent developers. This kind of approach has allowed Sony to earn the respect of valuable talent. For example, LittleBigPlanet comes from the developer of Rag Doll Kung-Fu, who was originally interested in making titles for Nintendo. Sony's attractive development options will continue to make the system gain new, interesting and truly innovative, exclusive software for the platform.
See also:
Joystiq interview: Jenova Chen
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Arno @ Mar 9th 2007 4:00PM
"Sony's attractive development options..." haha, yeaight!
Dolla Dolla @ Mar 9th 2007 4:04PM
They have to be doing something right, Arno. I'm surprised Nintendo didn't bite when offered. Shame on their part.
James @ Mar 9th 2007 4:44PM
I think the joystiq article related to this quote (not the jenova interview) is funny to read as you can see the Nintendo fanboys rationalize how dumb Nintendo was.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/09/flow-almost-was-a-wii-title/
Would this have worked on the Wii? Probably. Does it work well on the PS3? Definitely. Did I like it? Yes. Is Sony the Evil Empire everyone makes them out to be online? No - it's not in their interest to mistreat developers. It's just a meme that got started by those who didn't like Sony's PR disasters and I think it's time we started turning that around.
alienclay @ Mar 9th 2007 4:48PM
:Sony's attractive development options will continue to make the system gain new, interesting and truly innovative, exclusive software for the platform."
a key facet to sucess. i think somewhere (*cough*howard stringer*cough*) made some decisions and while not publicly, put some sanity properly in charge of playstation development and is getting things somewhat back on track. thank you phil and kaz! (ken, your rather damaging comments and actions will not be missed.)
darkleaper @ Mar 9th 2007 10:30PM
I can't believe the tone of the article sounds like Nintendo lost something. Flow glorified screen saver. And the point of this article is...? Nintendo should go after the elusive After Dark license and shoot off flying toasters randomly in the Mii channel?
Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 11th 2007 3:32AM
*Dolla Dolla: "They have to be doing something right, Arno. I'm surprised Nintendo didn't bite when offered. Shame on their part."
Why is there no original content on Virtual Console? New 3rd party IP would compete with Nintendo's ability to make "free" profit on re-released games. When Nintendo exhausts their supply of recycled software, then they will actually start developing new content.
Of course, then 1st party games like Duck Hunt 2 will come out, and 3rd party publishers will have to wait some more.