Joystiq

EA discusses expected cost increase of PS4 development

Jordan Mallory — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:30:00 EST

The per-game research and development costs associated with developing on the PlayStation 4 will likely be five to 10 percent higher than equivalent development on current generation systems, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said during an investors conference call earlier this week.

"On any one title, it might be five to 10 percent increases in cost, but the real opportunity comes with the ability to expand what you can do in that title," Jorgensen said. "Overall you might see larger titles or larger costs because of the capability that you can deal with, but we'll also see larger revenue streams, we believe, because of the excitement around some of those big titles."

EA has yet to officially determine whether these increased production costs will translate to increased retail costs, though Jorgensen made such an eventuality sound unlikely: "Typically at the start of a cycle, you've seen the pricing raise say to $69 for a core piece of software, and then over the life of those they've stripped it down to an introduction price typically now around $59. We haven't yet set pricing on our gen four [games], but you'll probably see a similar trend to that during the start of the next cycle."

Jorgensen misspoke, according to EA, and actually meant to say that current-gen games start at $59 and are reduced to $49, and that's a trend we're likely to see continue. This aligns with SCEA CEO Jack Tretton's assertion that PS4 games will cost between $0.99 and $60.

EA discusses expected cost increase of PS4 development originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo building new R&D facility in Kyoto

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:00:00 EST

According to a report from Nikkan (as translated by Andriasang), Nintendo's planning on getting its proverbial ducks in a row with the construction of a new 12-billion-yen Research and Development facility in Kyoto's Minami Ward -- the same location as its Japanese headquarters. The gargantuan building will house 1,500 employees focused on product development, and is scheduled to break ground January 2012, with a projected completion date sometime the following year.

In short, if you're looking for the future birthplace of the Nintendo 4DS, you needn't look any further than this new facility. On a related note, if you're looking for the birthplace of Nintendo as a whole, you could also do that using the Nintendo 4DS' time-piercing chronoscreen. Man, we can't wait for that thing to be invented. Good thing we don't have to! Ha! Time travel.

[Image credit: Flickr user Johannes]

Nintendo building new R&D facility in Kyoto originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft shows off prototype avatar that will haunt your dreams

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:00:00 EST

Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie wants to show you the haunting bridge his team has built over the uncanny valley. Employing Kinect hardware and custom PC software, the research team at Microsoft has created an unnervingly realistic new avatar that can handle text-to-speech when combined with a script and can recognize the words in any order.

"This is a way to create a synthetic model of people that will be acceptable to them when they would look at them on a television or in an Avatar Kinect kind of scenario," Mundie told USA Today in a video interview. "There's no reason that we couldn't do that in real time by feeding the information that we get from a Kinect sensor, including its audio input and its 3D modeling, spacial representation, and couple that to the body and the gesture recognition in order to create a full body avatar, that has photo realistic features and full facial animation," he added.

This impressive (if not somewhat terrifying) demo is still very much in the prototype phase, however, and Mundie said it would be "some time before we see it show up in products." We're just hoping those first "products" aren't T-1000s.

Continue reading Microsoft shows off prototype avatar that will haunt your dreams

Microsoft shows off prototype avatar that will haunt your dreams originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 25 Feb 2011 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Keiji Inafune now Capcom 'global head of production'

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:09:00 EST

Apparently overseeing several of Capcom's major releases and having created some of the company's biggest properties -- ever heard of one Mr. Mega Man? -- wasn't enough in the accomplishment department for Keiji Inafune. So, he's stepping into the shoes of "global head of production," with the intention of unifying the publisher's worldwide development studios, reports Kotaku.

"Whether games are created in America or Japan or anywhere in the world, I will be the one overlooking it, and so it will have that Capcom flavor that fans know and love," Inafune told attendees of the company's Hawaiian soirée last week. "So one of the things I want people to know is that now that I am overseeing every part of Capcom R&D. You can be sure that that unified vision is going to come through in all of our titles no matter where they are created." Us? Well, we just want to see a mega blaster in Dead Rising 2. Is that so much to ask for, Mr. Inafune? Is it?

Keiji Inafune now Capcom 'global head of production' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft shows how Natal recognizes players, gender

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:44:00 EST

Have you ever wondered what Project Natal actually sees through its beady, robotic eyes? A direct feed of the Natal's point-of-view was recently revealed to the audience of Microsoft Israel R&D's "Think Next" convention yesterday afternoon. Just past the jump, you can check out NextGen-News' video of a live demonstration from Microsoft VP of Hardware and Technology Dr. Ilan Spillinger and a female participant, both of whose genders and movements were successfully identified and Avatar-ified by Natal.

Watch the video after the jump to see Spillinger get more excited by this technology than anyone has ever been excited for anything else on the planet, ever.

[Via Engadget]

Continue reading Microsoft shows how Natal recognizes players, gender

Microsoft shows how Natal recognizes players, gender originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo building new R&D center (not a Death Star)

David Hinkle — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:58:00 EST

It's a simple truth: Nintendo makes money. What goes up must also come down, so it's only fitting that the company would dedicate some of its vast funds to researching and developing new ways make money. That's where the company's new R&D office comes in.

Situated in the Minami-ku district of Kyoto, this new plot of land secured by Nintendo is 40,000 square feet and a $138 million labor of love. With the building rights secured last year, Nintendo has not divulged any info as to when it plans to complete this new research center, nor when it'll start cloning Miyamoto there.

[Via Develop]

Nintendo building new R&D center (not a Death Star) originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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