Famitsu asks four PS4 devs what the system means to them

With the PlayStation 4's launch a bit over two months away in the U.S. (and in Japan too, probably, though Sony won't be announcing the actual date until Sept. 9), Famitsu held a quick roundtable discussion in this week's issue where they asked four developers working on PS4 titles what they think about the system so far. Their answers:

"To be honest, I haven't gotten a full grasp on that yet. I think we're in an era where, instead of evolution in hardware, it's evolution in engines and tools that's more important to a dev studio. The hardware is obviously highly evolved and provides a wonderful framework for us, but the engine and tools that make the most use of that hardware is what's vital to me. That and, ultimately, the important thing is the quality produced by the talented people working on it. With hardware evolving, we're about to see an era where more demands on the environment and talents of the creators are being placed than ever. In that respect, it's a pretty tough era to be in." - Shinji Mikami, currently working on The Evil Within

"With the PS4, it's easy to build a program and test it out. In the case of [Knack], we need a physics engine that can move 5000 parts around. With previous harware, we would've needed a lot of time to build a physics engine like that, but that's easy on the PS4, so now we can work on things by building them and testing them out first. We come up with an idea, we test it out, and if it's a good one, it stays. If not, we can rethink it. That cycle is now faster, and thanks to shortening that cycle, I think PS4 games will become a lot richer." - Mark Cerny, currently working on Knack

"When we were making the DualShock 4, we conducted research and development into the concept 'What should we add or remove to make this controller more fun?'. We made assorted demo units, and as we tested out the controller's functions and thought about what we could make with this assoted neat stuff, The Playroom became the result. What you see now is the fruit of a great deal of experimentation." - Yu Yokogawa, currently working on The Playroom

"I think [the important thing is] the size of the memory. We're always fighting against memory limitations, and having that be a lot simpler makes me happy. Of course, 'simpler' doesn't necessarily mean it'll be simpler for us to make a fun game. With more memory, we'll have more freedom in our design and visual package. We'll be able to show characters and game maps in really high quality. With the PS4, it's like we're being told 'Okay, we have an amusement park for you with a bunch of rides, and now you're free to create whatever you want by putting it all together'. Now it's our turn to come up with ideas, and in that way, the PS4 both makes things easier for us and provides a challenge to us." - Naoki Yoshida, currently working on the PS4 version of Final Fantasy 14