shuhei yoshida

Sony Exec Notes ‘Slow Progress’ In Japanese Development

1:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Japanese game folks have been down on themselves as late. Sony Computer Entertainment exec Shuhei Yoshida is the latest to enter the fray: More »

Sony Hopes 2009 Will Be Year of PS3, Too

10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | Righto, this year is supposed to be the year of the PS3. That’s what they say, whoever they are. But Sony Worldwide Studios honcho Shuhei Yoshida also hopes next year would be the year of the PS3. Talking about this year (and next), Yoshida says: All the things are now coming together in terms of the right hardware, cost and pricing, and we are increasing our hard disc space as we are increasing the content we’re offering through the network and the big titles we’re working on, coming out this Christmas. All that is coming together this year… That’s not to say we’re not working on product for next year. We have some titles that we have announced this year for release next year, like Heavy Rain and MAG, our big 256-player online title… Also there are some titles that we are targeting to launch next year that we have not announced yet. We still have a lot to come. That way Yoshida can say the year after next is the year of the PS3, too. Endless! Yoshida – PS3 hardware, cost and pricing “now coming together” [VG247] More »

Sony Like To Provide Services For Free

10:00PM Brian Ashcraft | In case you didn’t know (and why didn’t you), the PlayStation Network is free. The console may cost money, but the online service doesn’t. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida explains to game site Games Industry Sony’s view on free stuff: We like to provide as many services as possible for free — we already provide our network access for gameplay for free — and the interesting thing about the network side and the Internet business is that there’s a variety of revenue sources. Not necessarily getting people to pay, but with advertising and so on. Those are things we’re looking at, and learning how we can provide a service without people having to pay — but we still get our operation running with funding from somewhere so that we can maintain the level of quality we want. While there’s no such thing as the proverbial free lunch, it’s nice to see Sony try. Yoshida’s Island – Part One [Games Industry] More »

Next Team Ico Game is ‘Really, Really Good’

12:15PM Brian Ashcraft | Ico and Shadow of the Colossus guy Fumito Ueda is hard at work on a PS3 title. Oh yes, but what’s going on with that? Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida explains: They are working on a title. I started the ICO project. Ueda-san joined my team in Japan as a cinematic animator, but he created a short movie and presented it to me and said, ‘I want to make this game.’ I said, ‘Yes, let’s do it, but you have never made a game. We have to have experienced people do it,’ so it took a while, recruiting one person at a time. And because Fumito Ueda doesn’t compromise, we had to move the development from PSone to PlayStation 2. Then I couldn’t complete the game because I moved to the United States. It took four years and the second game took four years too. So I started calling them the ‘Olympic Team.’ They haven’t released a PS3 title yet — of course not — they’ll take four years! But they have something really, really good on the way. Then patient we will be! They have something really, really good on the way [NeoGAF via VG247] More »

Yoshida: PS3’s The Underdog

7:20AM Leigh Alexander | New president of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida is reflecting on the company’s underdog years in a new interview with VentureBeat. Interestingly, he credits getting Square to get on board with PlayStation with Final Fantasy VII with the largest share of the original console’s successful entry into the market. Discussing how third-party relations — the management of which was Yoshida’s prior role — saved the Playstation, Yoshida said: More »