The MLB: The Show franchise exclusively on PlayStation platforms, has driven baseball simulators to the next level with the most realistic and detailed games from the sport. Today I am glad to announce that I have one of the Senior Producers of MLB 09: The Show with us to answer some of our questions. Read More to see the full interview.
I would first like to introduce you to Jason Villa, Senior Producer of the MLB: The Show development team. Jason Villa was nice enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions.
Now let's get to the interview shall we?
TheGamerAccess.com: Before we begin, would you please introduce yourself and your role with the MLB franchise?
Jason Villa: Hello. My name is Jason Villa, one of four Sr. producers on the MLB The Show dev team.
TheGamerAccess.com: What challenges does the yearly development cycle present in terms of getting the full potential out of the PlayStation 3?
Jason Villa: Releasing our game yearly means creative scheduling. By creative, I mean flexible. In terms of reaching the full potential of the PS3, you’d be amazed how creative a large team can get. The PS3 is an extremely powerful and sophisticated machine, but we somehow seem to reach limits in certain areas. It’s easy to throw hi-resolution images at next gen consoles, but balancing visuals, playability and an experience is an art. Our team works diligently every year to optimize and take advantage of the PS3’s hardware configuration, and we can do it for another 5+ years.
TheGamerAccess.com: How much have you learned since the launch of the PlayStation 3?
Jason Villa: As a team, we’ve gained a tremendous amount of knowledge since the launch of the console. For example, we started The Show on PS3 leveraging memory (RAM) for our animation system. Once we began to reach our limits with that system, one of our genius programmers said… “hey, we don’t have to limit our Animation core. Why don’t we use an animation streaming system and leverage the capacity of the blu-ray?!” That change has allowed us to offer a sports game with the most animation variety you’ll find on the market. The learning really never ends.
TheGamerAccess.com: Are you glad that Sony provided Blu-ray built into the PlayStation 3? How has it helped you guys with the MLB franchise?
Jason Villa: The fact that the PS3 is blu-ray supported is HUGE. What we offer to our consumers every year would not be possible. The 25GB single-layer and 50GB dual layer was one of the best things to happen for our game. The sheer amount of assets we deliver each year is massive. Baseball has a huge amount of assets…30 stadiums, multiple uniforms, accurate head scans for over a thousand players…let’s not even get started on the Minor Leagues! The fact that the PS3 has blu-ray technology means that we can add new stadiums, new uniforms, new animations, etc…without the same concerns we would have with a technology of less capacity. That all translates into more of everything to users.
TheGamerAccess.com: What is it like creating a game for the PlayStation 3 compared to the PS2?
Jason Villa: The blu-ray capacity is a major difference. As mentioned, it makes our decision process quite a bit easier. Questions are now, “Do we want to add 5 new minor league stadium or 5 new Spring training stadiums this year?” At the end of the PS2 lifecycle our question was…”Should we add an 11th track to our soundtrack?” Granted, that’s a testament to the long lifecycle of the PS2.
TheGamerAccess.com: Do you guys plan on utilizing PlayStation Home to market the MLB franchise?
Jason Villa: We are looking at adding MLB The Show content to Home. We aren’t sure exactly what we want to do yet, but we hope to have a presence there soon.
TheGamerAccess.com: Understanding that this is a Sony game, has console exclusivity hurt the exposure of your game considering there is another baseball game out there?
Jason Villa: For being exclusively on PlayStation consoles, we have a huge market share. We don’t think its hurt exposure; we really feel we are a reason to buy a PS3. I know that may sound a bit arrogant, but it’s really not. We have a passionate team whom work countless hours to make the best product we can. We’re just proud of our game
.
TheGamerAccess.com: What is it like working exclusively on the PlayStation 3?
Jason Villa: Like anything else, there are pros and cons. We feel it allows us to deliver a more solid product year in and year out. We are able to focus our direction and code structure to take full advantage of the PS3 hardware, without the concern of porting to different console makers. This translates into more focus on features and quality.
TheGamerAccess.com: What pressure, if any, do you guys experience having to produce a better MLB game every year?
Jason Villa: The pressure is high, but the challenge is welcomed! The good thing is that there’s never a shortage of ideas. We start the year with pages and pages of new ideas. The ideas come from EVERYONE on the team. The difficult part is narrowing down the pages of ideas and giving the consumer the most highly requested features. Regarding pressure, it tends to be reduced when you communicate with your community as much, and as effectively as we feel we do. The more we ask, the more they tell and the more we know them. All that adds up to giving them what they want.
TheGamerAccess.com: With Sony’s motion controller announced at E3 this past June, do you guys plan to utilize it in the future with the MLB series? Thoughts on Sony’s motion controller?
Jason Villa: In general, the new hardware is a great addition to the PlayStation lineup. We have discussed its use with the MLB series, but nothing concrete yet…
TheGamerAccess.com: Before we head out, I would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer many of our questions. Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?
Jason Villa: We are very excited about the MLB franchise coming out of SCEA and are always working to make improvements and changes.
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