Online or not I was actually looking forward to teh game. Imgaine chase H.Q. style gameplay then jumping to a 3rd person shooter. Oh well.

chip5541

@Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic: Your analogy to the 2-D to 3-D transition policies is spot on. But again, I can't really see it as a bad thing. With the prices of games right now, this trend does make sense. Uncharted would have sold so much more with mp. For example, all the single player games I've finished I lend and sometimes even give away to my friends (who then won't buy them). But multiplayer games, I say "get your own so we can play." I sold back Uncharted (that I loved) but still own Resistance. Maybe third-parties will be less scared of the PS3 if they know they will sell substantially more because of this sort of environment.

@dead_red_eyes: Honestly I can't say I have this experience with PSN. Noobs get pissed off when I own them in CoD4 and try to deconcentrate me by saying dumb things, and sometimes people are singing or talking and it's very annoying. But what you described, nope. In fact XBL lovers bash PSN for that reason "people never talk." I think it's due to the lack of headset in the package, but ultimately it's not just a bad thing.

slomo788

I gotta say, it sucks to see that the lack of an online mode is what killed this game. Why didn't Shuhei Yoshida bring the axe down on "Drake's Fortune"? That doesn't have an online multiplayer mode either.

As much as I look forward to more online co-op action in games, it sucks to see so many single player games tacking on a multiplayer mode. With the huge amounts of dipshits, dribblecups, asshats, bigots, racists, homophobes on XBL ... I care less and less about online gaming everyday. I'm still a huge fan of the single player experience, and favor it more than I do multiplayer. Maybe I'm alone in this, maybe not.

dead_red_eyes

Wow, no one has heard of the Getaway...? I really thought that game was a core title for the PS3 and then they just canceled it. It would have looked spectacular.

udiie

i was excited for Eight Days, not the Getaway

TheNocturnalSun

that does suck. this was up there with afrika in terms of "id like to see more" from a while back.
still, ill trade this to get info on Infamous, much less Team Ico's next.

TheIrishNinja

@D3m0n1k_Ang3l: Hey guy, 1997 called. Wants your outdated opinions back.

wild homes 5: no disassemble!

@okenny :): I don't think so. They've pretty well hitched a huge portion of their immdiate future on HOME and LBP, and those were COMPLETELY Phil's babies.

Eight Days looked like a turd. But why cancel Getaway? From what I remember, all the art for that game looked just like a world full of billboards-- on ad revenue alone, Sony would've made BANK.

wild homes 5: no disassemble!

While I don't care about the two games in question, I can't say I'm pleased about the precedent this may set. Frankly, this is giving me chilling flashbacks to SCEA's staunch anti-2D policies of the 32-bit era.

No one should be pleased that a project can potentially get the axe for not finding a way to inappropriately wedge in an online component. And I can't help but wonder if games like The Mark of Kri, Primal, or even God of War would've gotten the green-light in the current climate at Sony.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

@Cyanotic:

Did people know enough about it to care either way? I mean seriously, I don't think we knew enough about this to say we wouldn't miss it or not

LittleBigPlaneteer

Like kumuasata, never heard of it, so I can't see his as being a bad thing.
BTW, was I the only one that thought Sony literally cancelled 8 days, as in 8 actual days... that'll teach me to read the full article before wondering what demonic forces are being channeled to cancel days... but then again, removing eight days of their year one statements might be a good retro-PR move...

SXGlory

Yoshida tells Develop that the game known formerly as Eight Days was nixed, in part, because it was lacking in online capabilities. And that's important.

^
That really pisses me off, online capabilities important? No its not! why do devs think that multiplayer is so important to have? it should be a freaking add on, not a must have in games....thats what sorta ruinted GTA IV imo, they added multiplayer when they coulda made the singleplayer 100% better but nooo they just had to add multiplayer to GTA IV....first time i herd that multiplayer was going to be added to GTA IV i was really pissed off at that, and even to this day im mad that they decided to add multiplayer to GTA IV...it should stayed single player!!! when will devs learn? it seems like they focus on multiplayer instead of the singleplayer when it should be the other way around, single player should be the main focus and multiplayer though of after...not the other way around.

D3m0n1k_Ang3l

No! I've actually been looking forward to this game.

God dammit. Now I'm sad.

InsidiousTuna

Isn't it just me, but don't Kotaku love Phil way too much?

Hearts_Are_1

@braagh: the irony of that is that the ps3 is getting BioShock....so that nixes their excuse.

Jmontilla2786

Heh this is kinda funny, I was actually thinking about this game the other day when playing MGS4 cuz I remember when it was shown it looked great, but terribly fake, but MGS is just so beautiful that I started to think that that game could be pulled off if anyone still cared about it. Apparently not.

Maht

@okenny :): Nah, Phil was more into "casual" games like Singstar. Even in Atari he's bragging about Alone in the Dark being their last major single player game.

slomo788

I'm the first to say that not all games need an online but they could've at least let the game go a little longer to see how it panned out. But then again I never cared for this title anyway so I don't miss it.

Sparx

I wonder of this is realignment of vision for the company resulting from Phil Harrison's departure?

okenny :)

I don't think most people remembered that this game existed.
I had to stare at the picture to remember it.

But killing it because of a lack of online capabilities?
I'm not sure I like that. (If, of course, that's the actual reason and not that no one cared) Obviously Bioshock did fine, but I guess that was because it was at least a good game that people were paying attention to.

braagh

@Nirolak: It makes perfect sense. The only game that could have easily cut it without online is MGS4. But Kojima was still kind enough to put the "Starter Pack MGO."

slomo788

i read "what did sony cancel eight days ago" when i read that title.... i'm going insane, obviously.

thejakeman: probably disagrees with you

But we need more generic shooters! How will we live!!!

Ra is on Three's Company!

Well, I can honestly see why that'd be a huge concern in the current day. I mean, both Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune both didn't sell especially well despite their review scores, and both lacked online.

When you look at Microsoft's giant titles from the same season, Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 greatly outsold BioShock and Mass Effect. Sure, there might be a lot of other factors at play here, but I think the lack of online isn't one that should be overlooked.

(Note: Before someone replies to me saying not all games need online, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying the sales gap may be what they're looking at over at Sony. Also, before people point out Wii game sales, considering that console's target audience and its online capabilities I would place it in a different category in this debate).

Nirolak

@Cyanotic: Dude...I hadn't even heard of it before I saw this post. Does that answer your question? ;)

skyoon

Never heard of it. Probably don't care either.

Carry on everyone, nothing important just happened.

kumuasata

But this game had a tough guy with a gun!?!

chuffhoncho

Did anybody even care about this game? They have this running joke at a music site I frequent, where members post about making a sandwich when a band they don't care about breaks up. I think the same thing applies here.

Cyanotic

@InsidiousTuna: Agreed. They pulled it off well. The single player looks great and the online isn't too jenky. It lags a bit for me, but I'm on NAT type 3, so my experience might not be the norm.
Some games can't pull it off though. Personal I'll take a great single player game over mediocre game that includes a multiplayer mode.

VishusBurn

@giovonti: That's as out-of-touch as saying Xbox is the land of shooters and there are no RPGs on it. Both platforms are adapting and stepping on each other's shoes. Online is actually a pretty important part of PS right now (at least PS3 and even PSP) and upcoming games like Socom, Resistance and features like Home prove it. Besides the in-game communication hitch, PSN is actually an incredible experience for any online fan (not blinded by fanboyism, that is).

slomo788

@slomo788: Come on now, those are just a few games. It's pretty hard to deny that PS system's have tended to focus on single player experiences. XBox got popular because of multiplayer. I'm not saying one is better than the other, just that's what it seems has been the focus of either company's portfolios.

giovonti

@slomo788: @dead_red_eyes: just a tip for the people talking issue. You set your account to only be able to hear people on your friends list.

giovonti

@giovonti: " don't buy it, online has never seemed to be focus for PS systems."

I know, just look at MGO, Resistance (1 and 2), Warhawk, etc. PS is for RPGs and Xbox for online. It's been written in stones for ages! Oh wait...

slomo788

@dead_red_eyes: I think we just need less Deathmatch-like games and more game modes that require teamwork. Rewarding completion of objectives that require more than just shooting as many people as possible might help. The assholes won't like it since it requires some thinking and the others will be too busy actually planning and helping each other to be calling out names.

slomo788

"because it was lacking in online capabilities"

I don't buy it, online has never seemed to be focus for PS systems. I'll bet it was only a pitch for a game.

giovonti

@slomo788:

Indeed. As far as asshattery goes, XBL is chock full of it. PSN, not so much. That's a good thing. Then again, give PSN some time ... I think it's only inevitable really.

dead_red_eyes

@D3m0n1k_Ang3l: GTA IV is still one of the best single-player games from the past decade.

InsidiousTuna

This is so not want I want to hear. I buy games for there story and great single player campaign. I really hope this is not a sign to come that Phil was right and that more companies are not going to make single player games any more. I really hope Sony rethinks what they did and relight Getaway and Eight Days to come out. Well to me Yoshida really is not doing any favors to wanting me to like him. He is no way as cool as Phil and doing stuff liek this just makes it harder for me to like him.

BlackIceJoe

I still feel bad for the devs.. they been working so long to make that game and than Sony simply cancels it... :( not the best way to treat the devs and us gamers....

Shad0X

@slomo788: Ya, that I do agree with (I have both systems by the way) SONY is making a drive towards an online presence in a huge way with upcoming games and features because I think they see how big of a deal online is for gamers now. On xbox just about every game has online play (whether it's shitty or not)and I dig that cause I like multiplayer games mainly. That's because MS has the player pay for the online tools so that the devs don't have to and it's easy to put multiplayer on their games.

I think the whole online issue won't really come to maturity until the next gen.

giovonti

@giovonti: - "Just a tip for the people talking issue. You set your account to only be able to hear people on your friends list."

Well DUH. Seriously tho, for some squad based games I try and have hope that the people on my team will actually want to work together, instead of singing some shitty pop/rap song into the mic, breathing heavily into the mic, yelling at their spouse/kids into the mic, yelling obscenities into the mic, ect. Most of the time, I do roll with the friends only setting ... but from time to time, I actually try and help the experience by having all-talk on. Someone's got to try.

dead_red_eyes

@slomo788: The thing is, Uncharted still got the go ahead. And that was also quite some time ago (talking about the original green light for the project).

With Sony's possible policy shift, how would Uncharted fare were it pitched today? That's what really concerns me...if a studio doesn't have clout or a "sure thing" IP to leverage against Sony, a potentially great game may never see the light of day simply because multi-player isn't a feasible addition.

I hate to dredge up the 2-D analogy a second time, but I do feel it's apt. The fact of the matter is that Megaman 8 would've never seen a U.S. release if Capcom hadn't used Resident Evil (2) as a bargaining chip (i.e. threat). Other companies weren't as lucky during the 32-bit era and we missed out on some real gold as a result.

I would argue that single-player is that it has an overall longer shelf life than online multi-player. 10 years from now people will still be playing and enjoying Metal Gear Solid 4...I doubt the same will be said about Metal Gear Online. Interest wanes, servers are taken down...all of a sudden what was once a tangible gaming experience is simply gone. Hell, even Timesplitters 2 ensures that as long as I can find at least one or two friends to play with, some intense and enjoyable multi-player action can still be had by all. And of course my dust-free NES collection is a testament to the staying power of a well crafted single player title.

It's not that I'm trying to belittle online multi-player, as it seems simply losing titles to shifts in time and tastes is an inevitability of the medium. Evolution simply takes the place of longevity. However, to sacrifice something as core to gaming as a single-player experience seems both short-sighted and tragic. I can only hope that much like their anti-2D policies gradually disappeared, Sony sees the futility in maintaining such a stubborn and narrow-minded approach to next-gen gaming.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

I was REALLY looking forward to Eight Days based on what I saw. One of the PS3 games I cared about. Still irks me that it was cancelled.

AwShucks

Some people have obviously never gotten out onto the web. Ever been to GameTrailers' forums? The people on the PS3 forum brought this game up all the time.

Bergerac

You guys comparing this to Uncharted are missing a key fact. This game was a first part title. Sony owns the studio. They say what and what doesn't get made. Sony doesn't have that over other games. Uncharted is not a first but third party title (maybe second? not sure). Either way, Naughty Dog is not owned by Sony. Third party developers can still develop single player games to their hearts content.

The one good thing about Sony? Lots of first party studios. I believe, KZ2, LBP are first party.

God of War III online is basically confirmed though!

8 Days wasn't highly publicized but was definitely an anticipated game. Sucks to hear it was cancelled, the trailer was pretty cool.

dangj307

Well I'm still annoyed. Mostly over Getaway.

Jagzthebest

"it was lacking in online capabilities. And that's important." - hehe ;)

A fine excuse!

sofiabudapest

@dangj307: Sony owns Naughty Dog. It bought them in 2001.

waywardchemist

Aw, i was looking forward to the Getaway. I really liked the first two, despite their flaws.

chenry

Damn, they do? I stand corrected. In any event, it appears it's the recent executive shakeup that is causing all these changes. I hope not many more promising games are cancelled. I was looking forward to more info on 8 Days.

dangj307

I want to say "What was canceled?", but it'll sound sarcastic and intentional.
I really have no clue what this game is.

@Cyanotic: Great, now I feel bad about that ham sandwich I had May 20th. Thanks a lot.

Arsenicberyllium