Rumor: Sony working on new Syphon Filter for PS3

Please people at Sony Bend, do not hear to this guy!

At best...quality standards are really dropping every year and too many devs make five-hour SP games hoping that MP will keep it strong. I'm looking at you Infinity Ward.

Yeah, thats pathetic :(

I know, I mean what kind of shit game can be beaten in under five hours? Well, all Marios before 64 just to start.

I hate to say your point of view on this is invalid but yeah, it is. I have stopped far too many games because they started reusing setpieces and areas and forcing me through the same region "but this time with tougher dudes" just for the sake of having a 10 hour single player. Meanwhile, if the game is greate for the entire 5 hours and nothing felt repetitive and dull (Infinity Ward), then fine. More often than not the 5 hour game is a LOT better than the 10 hour game.

And if you're scratching your head after you completed it wondering what you can do with your five hour game, right on the menu is a clue, "New game."

Hey Sheppy, think about what you're saying for a second. Your complaint against games that have decent-sized campaigns is that they become repetitive? That's more a developer problem than a problem with long games as a whole. Killington's point isn't invalid - while a lot of shorter games these days are pretty sweet, that's because of a combination of two factors - developers try to provide more 'epic' experiences with twists and explosions and shit nowadays, and because they're so short they can't get tiring. You don't have time to get tired of the game.

As I said, though, it's certainly possible to have a 10-15+ hour game that doesn't feel or get repetitive, re-use set pieces, etc. I know, because I've played plenty of 'em.

What I don't understand is how you could say that 'New Game +' is what someone who doesn't like shorter campaigns should use, when your complaint against long campaigns is that they become repetitive...

Playing through a short awesome game twice is better than playing a stretched out long game with filler once. Each person here has points, buy it really comes down to two things: A- is the dev sticking to only great ideas, and B- can a short game with no filler sell well. Each gen, it becomes more and more about making money. We can only hope games of the calibur of Portal and Braid, while short, are awesome, continue to grace our consoles.

Sheppy, it's pretty obvious that 10-hour games can be a bit drawn out compared to 5 hour games, because the latter don't have to face the challenge of keeping things innovative and interesting. Yes, Portal was fun but I wouldn't call the mechanics anything other than a gimmick because using them longer than the 1.5 hour the game lasted would suck.

However at the end of the day, I'd rather spend MY MONEY on a 10-hour Call of Duty game even if "teh epics" starts running out towards the end (as you can only show off the fireworks for so long) then waste them on a 5-hour Call of Duty game that seems to intentionally shorten the experience by far for the sake of maintaining "teh epic.

It'd rather be tired of playing the same game for 'so long' than be cheated into "wanting more" by only having three hours of playtime.

Also, using CoD4 as an example, if the game was ten hours longer, would it be more repetitive? Yes. Would it be less fun? Fuck no!

They could make a whole damn game out of the gunship level from COD4. Hell, they could make a whole singleplayer game, AND a multiplayer game where people on the ground tried desperately to bring down the gunship before it put a round right up their ass. Also...an entire game exactly like the last mission on the plane.

I'll agree that when a game mechanic works and it's incredibly fun, it doesn't matter how many hours it takes. COD4 was fun at 10ish hours (on harder difficulties, not sprinting to every objective as fast as possible) but it would have been just as fun at 30.

Honestly if this rumor is true, I don't know what the hell Sony is thinking. The original SP was fun, but noone other than people that had a PS1 would even remember it. That basically excludes all the kids that are too young to have played it. Where is the market for this game, other than us? Then again, they green lit a PS3 Team Ico game despite the travesty that was Shadow of the Colossus's sales figures, so anything is possible.


(oh, and I once beat the original Mario in like 10 minutes. Still one of my favorite games of all time, though it doesn't compare to SMB 3)

I guess it depends on the game, Final Fantasy 7 and 8 were looong, but every moment was an epic experiece to me, FF10 was just a drag, it had good moments, but the shortness made the plot seem rushed and rather dull in effect.

Doom 3 was getting hideously repetitive, to the point my brain began to hurt just looking at it, so 4 hours gameplay of that would have been too much, however the likes of Halo, while I'm not a fan can keep me playing one Co-op for ages.

I guess it all depends on the genre and the game, and the linearness of the game, a game with long linear and dull hallways shouldn't last long, games with full on action or an epic storyline like COD4 for action and FF7 for storylines should last longer.

Shortness can help certain games like Doom 3 and hurt other games like COD4. I can't stress how many games I've played and really gotten into and just when my joy is at peaks, it is utterly crushed by a suprising and rather bitter end to the game, leaving me with nothing much else but multiplayer.

I don't even mind if the game is relatively short if there are story or path alternatives in the game that change the ending or the whole arch of the game entirely. Give me a long game people, or give me a reason to play through it again, its as simple as that. Multiplayer is great, but multiplayer to me means nothing if the general experience of the campaign sucks ¬_¬

Despite sales figures, Shadow of the collosus was a damn incredible game, that fused with God pf war could be the start of one of the most epic action experiences ever. SOTC didn't deserve poor sales figures, I think there were probably main causes for this, but after playing that game and knowing fer other games evern to this day able to stand next to it, I too would give Team Ico the go ahead on another title if its anything as great as Shadow of the Collosus was.

SOTC and Ico were great games (SOTC might just be my favorite non-mario/zelda game ever), but they've sold less copies combined in years than a pokemon title sells in a day. Despite that, Sony is financing another title from Team Ico. I don't know how they think they'll make money on it, but if they think they can make money on it, then I guess they think they can make money on a new Syphon Filter as well.



(I'd give anything for the next Team Ico game to sell like a Halo game....scratch that, they'd probably rape the property for all it's worth if they saw that kind of profit potential. Better to keep it "indie")

It's late and I don't feel like reading everybody's replies to this post so I apologize if I'm echoing something someone else has already said.

The reason SP is tending towards shorter durations, and debatably lower quality on average, is because a strong MP game has much greater longevity. Think about development cycles. The scope of the game has a big impact on development time, as well as what available code and asset base you have to start with, but regardless any major development undertaking will be costly, both in terms of capital and time. For a developer, the best (well, at least for most, the easiest) way to extend the lifetime of their product is to provide a good experience that is replayable, but not (completely) repetitive.

This can be done with SP, but not all genres give way to a SP mode that is replayable and yet not too repetitive. RPGs are the easiest to identify in this respect since many, such as the Elder Scrolls series, can be very different from one game to the next simply by how the player plays. For shooters it can be true too, but since the usual formula doesn't allow for as much flexibility, they tend to have more repetitive campaigns. Of course some games has such kick ass SP campaigns that they are worth replaying, but sooner or later it will tend towards feeling repetitive. I'm generalizing, but I think it holds true in general. There are ways around this, such as coop modes, achievements/trophies, or simply by blending elements from different genres to make the SP experience have greater replay value. Simply isn't actually an accurate word since as you start to blend genre elements, it can take a lot more design effort to make sure the game is still fun and well done. But I digress.

MP can extend the lifetime of a game almost indefinitely if well executed and well supported. While the MP modes of a game can eventually become repetitive too, they have the added benefit of built in mechanics for improving the quality of gameplay: the human element. Human players almost always make a game more interesting and more challenging, and since everybody is at least a little bit different, it has the possibility of making each game just a little bit different too. Also the human connection, playing with friends, shit talking opponents, etc. etc., can go a long ways towards keeping a player engaged; far better than computerized opponents and characters that always seem to have the same things to say...

Longevity is very important to developers. It keeps players engaged longer, hopefully increasing the fan base (or even keeping them playing your game) until you've completed the next project six months, a year, or more down the road. It also helps sales over the long term since there will be greater shelf life as well since trickle sales after launch will usually be higher if the game has good replayability (which as I stated, is most easily obtained and longest lasting by a good MP component).

So why'd I write all this? I'm currently working on a game project. I'm not a designer; at least, that's not my official title, but I find it fascinating to dissect these topics and study them. I do agree that it sucks that the quality and length of SP portions of games has generally dropped over time (at least among AAA titles), but I don't think it's something that'll be going away anytime soon. I do think, however, that the games that do standout from the pack will REALLY stand out in a big way, moreso than in the past. I don't think that will be because other games in comparison will be poor quality, but because developers and publishers are becoming much more savvy and the industry has gotten to the point where greater risks can be taken in game design because the consumer has also gotten more savvy, meaning taking risks doesn't necessarily mean alienating your audience, and game developers, I think on average compared to most industries, tend to have a high amount of passion for their work.

So while some people lament the state of the game industry or games in general (not saying if any of you do, as again I didn't read most of your posts), I feel really good about the future. Sorry about writing so much and getting off topic towards the end. 3:23 in the morning right now :)

Nick

Sony were thinking of making this game an Xbox exclusive, but then they sobered up and realised which console they owned.

i've only played logan's shadow on psp but it was sooo good. i was hoping this would happen.

Sounds like it's got potential. Totally agree with the comments on here about when the tazer came out in the first game. I remember my brother and I found it hilarious to taze each other (I'm sure there was a multiplayer splitscreen element in the game). If nothing else as long as the tazer weapon returns count me in! Like a man-BBQ, top stuff.

Why do you care if it is an exclusive or not as long as you get to enjoy it on your system of choice? Would you want others to enjoy it on other systems or do you enjoy that fact that they can't? Can you please explain.

I can explain.

Dude's a fanboy.

I'm saying that based on his past posts though, this one didn't seem so bad. It looks like he's just happy to see another game on his system of choice.

For many years I have heard about how my PS3 didnt have enough games and now that all this exclusives are popping out my fanboyism cant be contain.

My console's penis is bigger than your console's penis.

Thats funny Hyams. You meant the powersupply right 8-)

many years? it has only been out for like 2 years

@ryuk

That's 5 years in fanboy years. So its many years for him.

"Suck it XBOTS!!!!"

Uh oh, looks like somebody didn't listen to the latest episode of THE JOYSTIQ PODCAST YEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAW

The PS3 sure can use more exclusives, especially when unfortunately most multiplatform games are superior on the 360. The 360 has taken many of the PS3's exclusives from third party developers and 360 fanboys always want more. Eh, we always want as many games as possible for our system of choice, just like I want all the 360's and PS3's best titles to come to PC. : D

This one looks to be exclusive to PS3 though. But don't complain Xbox fanboys, you have PLENTY of good games the PS3 will never get.

I'm also happy with more exclusives too.

You can say it has some fanboyism, but in reality, PS3 is last place currently
and you can't say they're doing well. There are rumors in Japan that the game division might be shut down.
(At least for PS3, because its one of the reasons for their negative figures,
besides the their LCTVs not going too well. I don't know for PSP)

So, more exclusives the better. I really hope PS3 catches up to the 360.
I can't wait till GoW3 comes out! Sony really needs a price cut at that point to boost the sales.

Lol its exclusive because ots by a sony first party studio,its exclusive by default

lol... I see the resemblence.

Am I the only one that thinks that railing is not providing one iota of cover?

that barely counts. logan's shadow was the only one i played and i know combat ops was like a separate multiplayer title based on logan's shadow's multiplayer. it was a good game and i heard the other ones are good too.

The dev team behind the games is called "Sony Bend". I find it hard to imagine a developer with such a name making a game for the 360. =)

well assuming they could get the graphics good enough (with killzone 2 and GoWIII looking insanely good, that's likely) and if the gameplay and basic story were good enough, it could easily be like MGS4 minus the long cutscenes that every person who hasn't played it complains about.

hell yeah! my avatar uploaded! YEAH!!1!!1!1!

eNrique, i did not know that! why hasn't sony used this in their lacking advertising?! buying the ps3 makes you a profit?! everyone, bust out your wallets and run out and get one! they print money!

wait...