GDC 2007 Post-Show Roundup: Sony

This year's Game Developers Conference marked a sort of industry transition. With the longtime front running industry event once known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (a.k.a. E3) downsizing this year, the focus now begins to shift to GDC and other remaining large-scale videogame-related events for major announcements and other new developments in the industry. Therefore, for my first-ever post-show roundup, it is my aim to focus on the biggest highlights for each major videogame platform in three separate parts. For my third and final part of this series, I shall aim my focus on events related to Sony.

Why GTA IV is not PS3-exclusive to start

First off, I am sure that some of you are wondering why Rockstar Games (the more controversial part of developer/publisher Take-Two interactive) did not give Sony first-run exclusivity to Grand Theft Auto IV. According to Sony's Phil Harrison, a likely reason for this development is that the PlayStation 3 is just not suitable enough for this to have happened as with past GTA games. "I don't think PS3 has the install base [right now] to support Rockstar's investment in GTA IV on its own," Sony explained to a panel of bloggers of the loss of the title as an exclusive first-run on the PS3 platform. IGN's Hilary Goldstein agrees, saying that because the game "likely cost Rockstar considerable money and development time" considering that it is the first next-gen title in the series, that there was no way for the game to have "sold enough copies on PS3 alone to make exclusivity worthwhile."

Sony Gives Developers an Edge

That said, Harrison still believes that third-party exclusives are still possible - and could perhaps come even sooner. To back up his point, Harrison announced a new development toolset called PlayStation Edge, which he expects will help make PS3 software development much easier, particularly for cross-platform titles. Even better, Harrison says that titles using PS Edge could come as early as this fall, owing that the toolset is "simple to implement."

PS3 gets a Home