Sega accidentally leaks meeting with SCEA; slags off AP

Satori (original) · Sep 22, 2009

ftp://segapr.segaamerica.com/SEGA_Ne...Notes%20BH.doc

SCEA Meeting Aug 5th Notes
Aug 6 2009 – DRAFT FOR COMMENTS

Objectives of Meeting
Dyer agreed to regular quarterly meetings with SOA

Sony PS3
SCEA reiterated plans to sell 13 million PS3s this year
Big announcement back half of year they can’t talk about (potentially price cut of PS3 to reach hardware goals)
SCEA commented on indexing between PS3 and 360 SKUs, should be around 2:1 to garner most favorable treatment.

Motion Controller
Spring 2010 launch (March in JP)
No bundle/pricing details yet, should come Sept 1
Plan on selling 4-5MM units WW
SCEA agreed to provide a list of Sega IP that would work well with the motion controller, Virtua Tennis was an example
Motion Controller support allows easy way to differentiate PS3 SKU
Other differentiation opportunities include PSP/PS3 interoperability – think of features that would make users want to buy both PS3 and PSP SKUs.

Alpha Protocol
Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. “Mass Effect felt more RPG.”
Review notes sent to John Merlino a few weeks prior. After meeting Gerald mentioned AP is a high priority for his team.

Planet 51
Sell in of PS3 SKU – SCEA noted that other movie titles on PS3 had underperformed as well (inc. Transformers) this cycle.
Dyer suggests contacting Susan at Walmart and asking what she wants in the pack to sell this SKU (movie tix etc)
Other possibilities are Hybrid movie disc (BD 25 or 50 with Game and Movie on same disc).

Bayonetta
Collectors edition with Bayonetta Action Figure
Novo recommended launching PSN demo around Xmas based off a Jan 5th Ship date with 2-3 week run out to launch.
3-4 weeks is usually ideal demo timing with fresh content every week leading up to launch (trailers, insider video about PG heritage, video blogs).

Vancouver 2010
HOME, Olympic destination would garner a lot of positive attention from SCEA
Should be doing same with Bayonetta, Marvel etc. Easy to launch in all territories.
HOME merchandizing opportunities (clothes etc).

Sonic Racing
Open to DLC to differentiate PS3 SKU – not ratchet and clank but other characters
maybe characters from Rare or Fable universes

Yakuza
Could put Japanese games directly on PSN for download in a special Japanese Import section (pricing $9.99 to $39.99 for full game).
Might need to localize menus at least with subtitles.
SCEA interested in helping on MKTG side if they can have period of exclusivity.

AVP
Another great HOME candidate
AVP avatars
Hybrid BD disc with movie

Iron Man 2
Great candidate for HOME space – explore Tony Stark’s lab etc.
Should have one for Marvel in general.

PSU2
Could do bundle at GameStop with PSP 30-35K units on UMD, Go, or both.

Valkyria 1937
Could bundle with PSP as well.

Vanquish and Aliens: CM
Opportunity for PS3/PSP interoperability (see Eidos Batman, Army of Two, Assassin’s Creed for good examples).
If we offer that SCEA would be really interested in having us at their booth next E3.

Thor
SCEA would like a look at the code soon.

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.
SCEA would love PSN exclusive power ups/different game modes (like Castlevania’s flip it over/backwards)

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…

London Olympics
Perfect opportunity for Motion Controller integration.

DC Digital Titles
If we provide a list of DC titles SCEA will let us know which ones they’re interested in having exclusively.
If we give them a long period of exclusivity they’ll give us more marketing support.

PSP Titles
For SKU differentiation it’s best to offer features that are slightly different from PS3 version.
Titles that are coming up on PSP are Assassin’s Creed II, GTA China Wars, Resident Evil, Little Big Planet – all massive franchises.
SCEA has a specific PSP deck which they can send up with their hardware director for a chat.

JarlFrank · Sep 22, 2009

Initial level too challenging for players.

FUCK PUBLISHERS, FUCK FUCK FUCK

Jim Cojones · Sep 22, 2009

Knowing the difficulty level of Obsidian games one can be assured AP was already too easy. Now it must be made even easier...

Arem · Sep 22, 2009

Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG. Initial level too challenging for players. “Mass Effect felt more RPG.”

mondblut · Sep 22, 2009

Satori said:
Alpha Protocol
Michael Foster, product evaluator, said AP felt barely RPG.

Michael Foster seems to know RPGs better than some of the Kkkodeksers :lol:

Emotional Vampire · Sep 22, 2009

Neither Sega nor SCEA strike me as RPG experts

Darth Roxor · Sep 22, 2009

On the other hand, I'd love to know what's SEGA's definition of RPGs if AP is 'too hard' (seriously, what the fuck) and MASS EFFECT feels more 'RPGish'.

Haba · Sep 22, 2009

I have a feeling that if those SEGA guys were to play, say, Torment for example, they'd think that it's not RPG enough...

Clockwork Knight · Sep 22, 2009

I'm going to be extremely optimistic here and think "initial level too challenging" doesn't refer to the game's difficulty level, but to something else. Maybe shitty mechanics?

Sonic Anniversary
Could put out collectors edition with all old sonic games on one BD disc.
“Best of Sonic” for around $99.

fucki fuck fuck how many of these are there going to be

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)

This is interesting.

Malachi · Sep 22, 2009

"Initial level too challenging for players," is not necessarily a damning statement, since it could be a case where the "challenge" is related to poor design. I'm thinking of some past games that had infinite, quickly respawning enemies that were more a pain in the ass than a fun challenge.

On the other hand, "Mass Effect" felt more RPG," wow, that one is just *ouch*.

EDIT: Clockwork Knight beat me to the observation about "initial challenge" adjustment not necessarily being a bad thing. As CK notes, though, this is an optimistic, best-case scenario.

Syraxis · Sep 22, 2009

I'd probably find AP too 'challenging' also if my job consisted of evaluating all the sonic shovelware titles sega semiannually shits out.

Kingston · Sep 22, 2009

Either the man doesn't know what RPG means (let's hope he meant action) or the game is ass.

WhiskeyWolf · Sep 22, 2009

Clockwork Knight said:
PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)

Click to expand...

This is interesting.

Indeed.

Trash · Sep 22, 2009

With the feel of an rpg he's probably talking about jrpg's.

Wirdschowerdn · Sep 22, 2009

Well fuck Sega and Sony. They know shit about RPGs, so I remain optimistic about AP.

Silellak · Sep 22, 2009

WhiskeyWolf said:
Clockwork Knight said:

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)
SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)

Click to expand...

This is interesting.

Click to expand...

Indeed.

Bluebottle · Sep 22, 2009

Trash said:
With the feel of an rpg he's probably talking about jrpg's.

A part of my brain really wanted to believe that, but the 'even less an RPG than Mass Effect' line doesn't really tally with it. If we were talking about someone whose knowledge of RPG was really so limited, I don't think he'd be able to say one western RPG was more or less like FFVII than any other. Neither of them are really anything like a jrpg.

Trash · Sep 22, 2009

Hence the "even less" part. Though we'll never know what he really meant since he's not going to be stupid enough to explain his reasoning on a forum like this.

Vaarna_Aarne · Sep 22, 2009

Could Annie use her connections to get Avellone to draw us a new stick figure series to explain this?

hiver · Sep 23, 2009

Its probably the lack of customization for main character he was referring to.
Not enough hairstyles, not enough boobies.

Silellak · Sep 23, 2009

You guys are ignoring the exciting news regarding DLC for Sonic Racing and a Playstation Home space for Iron Man 2, not to mention potention motion controls for their upcoming

ndon Olympics game.

Priorities, people.

Deleted member 7219 · Sep 23, 2009

When he said 'not enough RPG' I think he meant its not enough like Final Fantasy.

Dionysus · Sep 23, 2009

Matt7895 said:
When he said 'not enough RPG' I think he meant its not enough like Final Fantasy.

Yeah, he's an SCEA product evaluator, so it's silly to think that he's speaking the same language as the people on this board. I haven't played it, but I can already tell that AP doesn't "feel" like the typical RPG that you'll find on the Playstation or PSP.

MetalCraze · Sep 23, 2009

AP felt barely RPG

Master of the obvious.
And he actually said what he said - he even compared this piece of shit to Mass Effect which is indeed more RPG than AP. And hey look everyone understands that Obsidian does everything to clone Bioware's finest.

Jasede · Sep 23, 2009

Fuck you MC, I am kind-of looking forward to AP. Aliens was a good movie and if it's an action game with stats like SS 2 or DX, well fuck yeah.

Gotta say though, red aliens, green aliens and purple aliens are a bit dumb... but you gotta have variety. Not sure what to think.

Sega accidentally leaks meeting with SCEA; slags off AP

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