GR-UK writes: "The prospect of a new console can be a worrying one for gamers. Sure, we all knew it was coming, but it still hurts. Suddenly your console seems more dated than ever and its sell-on value has fallen through the floor. With PS4's reveal, you might be asking the question on everybody's lips, the one nobody dares utter... Is my console dead?
Fear not. PlayStation 3 is still very much alive and there's plenty to look forward to. In this article Gamereactor looks at the big guns still to blaze onto your console in the months to come..."
The story in part 3 of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Naughty Dog's The Last of Us series may explore a "congregation of immune people."
Former Naughty Dog artist Gabriel Betancourt explains why the "sweet spot" for game teams is under 200 people and how AAA "factories" kill creativity.
There’s definitely some truth to this. When teams get too large, coordination starts to outweigh creativity—layers of approval, risk aversion, and tight deadlines can turn bold ideas into “safe” ones. Keeping a team under ~200 people sounds ideal for maintaining clear communication and a shared vision. That said, massive AAA projects also come with huge technical demands and expectations, so scaling up isn’t always avoidable. The real challenge is figuring out how to keep that small-team creativity alive inside big studio structures.
More than that, it's logistically untenable. Inevitably, when teams get too large, how do you keep tabs on accountability? I suspect this massive team size is a consequence of the perfectionism streak Naughty Dog has.
I wish we could have so many people working on something and it turns out great because I'm all for collaboration in spirit - the problem is too many people as part of the larger team and smaller units. Suppose for example that you have too many people in the art department; you will very often come up against fiercely competing visions for how things should look. That competitive vision will cause friction between team members, team doesn't work as a unit, the back and forth can further delay parts that the other departments are waiting for, etc etc.
A 200-person team says, to me, that we need to scale back game development. Even if it means we go back to PS2 era costs and scale, why not? Those games are still great fun, the budgets were in check, and you could literally break the 200-man team into like 10 20-man teams working on different projects.
In my Tomb Raider iOS review, I look at whether or not the game runs well enough on mobile to justify parting with your cash.
The PS3 is still going strong and the games that are about to release (TLOU, Beyond, GOW:A and so on) will show that the PS3 will be around for some time to come.
This might be the last big year for Playstation 3. Can't wait to get myself a PS4.
Since PS4 is around the corner, I'm not sure if I'm in the mood to buy PS3 games now. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this :-/
So many amazing games are coming out not sure if I'm going to have the money or time to play them all but i'm gonna try!