LGF 08: Sony's Jamie MacDonald on Little Big Planet, Home
Vice president for worldwide development predicts SCE will soon be a service provider, not a product provider.
At the London Games Festival's Games 3.0 conference, Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios vice president Jamie MacDonald took to the stage to present his take on social gaming. As the man in charge of SCE's London and Cambridge studios, he certainly knows about the topic, having been involved with games such as EyeToy, SingStar, The Getaway, Heavenly Sword, and current industry darling Little Big Planet.
Before social gaming became a common term, MacDonald said he used to describe his SCE titles as "games for the 21st century." He went on to call Media Molecule's Little Big Planet a "landmark" game, believing that it "points to the future of social gaming." One of the key features of the game is the ability for users to customize their own characters and levels, but just how popular will its user content tools be? "I expect the user-created levels to absolutely balloon once the title's out," he continued. However, MacDonald did concede that it was "hard to guess how it will affect the industry in the long run. Where it leads I'm not really sure."
When it comes to the business of developing games, MacDonald singled out talented staff as one of the most important factors. "The best way to create titles and great consumer experiences is to hire the best people," and give them a good environment to work in, he said. "That's what we did with Media Molecule."
In addition to Little Big Planet, MacDonald also took the time to plug SCE Studio London's upcoming PlayStation Home, a hub that will let users meet, chat, and play games. Its emergence, at least according to MacDonald, was down to a frustration with current online experiences that he described as "geeky, tedious, and short," and the driving force was an environment that, although games-focused, wasn't centred on teenage boys. "From a SCE point of view, it's something we haven't done before, [and] it will continue to evolve and develop over time."
The worldwide studios exec ended his session by describing SCE's future as "becoming service providers almost, not product providers." Despite this, and the increase of downloadable content including song packs for SingStar, MacDonald concluded that SCE "will continue making discs for the foreseeable future," exclusively for its own platforms. When asked about competition from Activision's Guitar Hero series, MacDonald said, "Actually it's great. That means more people are into [that kind of] experience."
The London Games Festival continues until November 2, with events happening across the British capital.
20 Comments
Content you might like…
-
Little Big Planet launches; sequel in development
As servers fire up after one-week delay, Media Molecule tells BBC that a sequel to its just-released platformer is already in the works; beta levels to roll over, new patch de-Koran-ifies original soundtrack.
- Oct 27, 2008
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
Hot Stories
Newsmakers
-
Spot On: 15 years of Warcraft
Blizzard game design chief Rob Pardo and lead designer Jeff Kaplan discuss acclaimed fantasy franchise's long history, from orcs and humans to the World of Warcraft phenomenon. Full Story
- Posted Nov 25, 2009 6:20 pm PT
- 259 Comments
-
Tony Hawk Ride Interview
GameSpot UK chats to the skating legend about his new peripheral-based game. Full Story
- Posted Nov 28, 2009 2:32 am PT
Featured Stories
-
440,000 PS3s sell during Thanksgiving week, 360 sales unclear
Sony's console sells 37.2% more during "Black Friday" week than it did in all of October; Microsoft says Xbox 360 doubled previous week's total, but exact figures not provided. Full Story
- Posted Dec 1, 2009 11:57 am PT
- 975 Comments
-
Red Dead Redemption saddles up April 27
Rockstar San Diego nails down an exact release date in latest trailer for Xbox 360, PS3 Western shooter; UK launch set for April 30. Full Story
- Posted Dec 1, 2009 11:58 am PT
- 33 Comments
-
Assassin's Creed II DLC set for next year
Ubisoft action game gets Battle of Forli pack in January, with Bonfire of the Vanities to follow in February. Full Story
- Posted Dec 1, 2009 1:07 pm PT
-
Dante's Inferno demo dated
EA's descent into hell begins on PS3 December 10, with Xbox 360 edition following on Christmas Eve; no PSP sampler scheduled. Full Story
- Posted Dec 1, 2009 2:55 pm PT
- 110 Comments
-
Call of Duty franchise sales top $3 billion
Modern Warfare 2's $550 million opening helps boost Infinity Ward, Treyarch-developed FPS series' total global sales beyond 55 million units. Full Story
- Posted Nov 30, 2009 11:07 am PT
- 228 Comments
Submit News
Related Game
- SCEA
- Media Molecule , SCE/WWS
- 3D Platformer
- Release: Oct 27, 2008 »
- ESRB: Everyone
Related Games
Recent News
-
Medal of Honor redeploys in fall 2010
EALA and DICE collaborating on long-rumored reboot of classic series, which will follow modern-day special ops commandos in Afghanistan.
n3ck posted Oct 27, 2008 11:57 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)