Japan game devs discuss their impressions, hopes for the PS4

Gamers in Japan are still talking about Sony's PlayStation 4 announcement last month. Perhaps unsurprising, since the traditional console business is still the linchpin of the industry over there.

This week's issue of Famitsu magazine features the editors rounding up a bunch of devs from across the industry and asking them about their impressions of the PS4, as well as what they'd like to try making on the console. Some of the more interesting responses:

"I don't have much interest in the hardware specs or graphic capabilities. I think they're great specs, of course, but they'll never be able to beat the constantly-advancing hardware environments you see in PC gaming. I see the future lying in the peripheral environment, all the preparations they've made to get content in action. I'm really interested in seeing what kind of reference content SCE themselves produce to go with this environment; hopefully they won't lose sight of their hardware vision." -Atsushi Inaba, producer, Platinum Games

"My first impression is that it's a pretty standard advancement. There's nothing surprising about the core hardware, but they've put a lot of new things into the user interface. I imagine there's a lot about the software services they haven't announced yet; I get the feeling they're trying to do as much as they can with that in the limited time they have." -Yoshiharu Gotanda, CEO, tri-Ace

"[I'm interested in] the way it picks up on common experiences. I also like how you can use the PS Vita or smartphones and tablets as a second screen. Given how much a part of our lives smartphones and tablets have become in recent years, I think it's really interesting to see that happen." -Hisashi Koinuma, producer, Tecmo Koei Games

"Looking at the specs, I think we'll be able to take particle effects and soft shapes — things like smoke, dust and water flows — that used to be represented as combinations of patterns and calculate them in realtime. I think this will help make effects look prettier, similar to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance using the free-cutting system as a core gameplay technique, it'll also open the door for new types of gameplay." -Yuji Korekado, creative producer, Kojima Productions

"The PS4's social connections let you share gameplay with lots of other people. How is this ability to show off to others going to be reflected in the games produced? Also, like how will people use this feature? Like an arcade, or like browsing YouTube? I think it could really change the game experience. It's a new challenge for creators, figuring out what kind of services to provide gamers." -Hiroyuki Kobayashi, producer, Capcom

"I wonder if there's a way to use the Share button to change the adventure genre? It's easy to picture its use in things like action games or roguelikes which have a lot of accidental occurrences happen, but with an adventure game telling you a story, there's always the issue of dealing with spoilers and the fact that you can 'watch' the game just as well as play it. I'd like to try coming up with a story that connects random people together with the Share button to change the entire fate of the world." -Jiro Ishii, game director, Level-5

"I'd like to try making a classic, epic fantasy-world adventure story. There'd be aspects of it that let you communicate with other gamers, but instead of focusing on items and parameters, I'd like to enjoy sharing in-game feelings with each other, like sharing common experiences or sights. That, or maybe a first-person walk through a supernatural nightmare that takes a few hours to get through." -Keiichiro Toyama, director, Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Studio