Ready At Dawn's president Didier Malenfant recently elaborated on the reasons for the studio's decision to end their development for the Sony PSP. Among other things, the exec discussed his studio's future plans, and how piracy may have affected their decision. More details are available in the full article.

The console wars is once again in full swing thanks to the Xbox 360 price cut in Europe and, more recently, the PlayStation 3's victory in the market last month. We've heard what the analysts have to say about it, but it never hurts to have a different perspective on things. One developer, Daidier Malenfant - head of the studio that developer God of War: Chains of Olympus - recently gave his thoughts on the matter. Read about it in the full article.

Many are skeptic about Capcom's Okami moving to the Nintendo Wii after Didier Malenfant from Ready at Dawn, the video game development company in charge of the project, said it'll be an exact port. Some say it's just an easy way to make quick money, but Senior Director of Strategic Planning & Research Christian Svensson stressed out that the guys behind Okami for the Nintendo Wii are highly skilled and aren't making shovelware.

Over at Capcom's official forums, Svensson addressed naysayers who believe Okami appearing on the Nintendo platform is a mere move for extra cash. His post read:

Given that the only port we've done to date was RE4, which has a 90+ gamerankings score and provided AMAZING value for the platform, has this really been Capcom's modus operendi such that this allegation should be leveled at us? Zack & Wiki is getting better reviews than just about anything you'll see this year on Wii, except possibly [Super Mario Galaxy]. Shovelware is not what we do.

Before that, he placed trust in Ready at Dawn as an experienced group of former Naughty Dog and Blizzard employees who "shipped their own titles that have rediculously high review scores." Svensson continued, "if we wanted a cheap and dirty port, I could have turned around and picked any one of 50 houses and gotten it done for less and perhaps more quickly."

With that said, there are still no signs of any new content for Okami on the Nintendo Wii. "We've got no current plans to make a 40-60 hour game 50-70 hours. The game just doesn't need it to still be one of the best games and best values on any platform," said Svensson. It seems like there are also no plans progressive scan or 16:9 mode, since he said "frankly, we're still exploring feasibility of it. It's not as simple as 'flick a switch' and it works that way. If we find it's doable, you'll hear about it closer to launch."

Bonus features may be included, but we'll have to wait for any official announcements. "We really want to get everything else in the game up and running properly before we go adding other features or benefits," Svensson commented. Chances are something good is waiting though, especially if we ponder upon one of Svensson's posts.

...if you MUST assume the worst, assume that you will have an amazing 40-60 hour adventure that is one of gaming's most impressive pieces of art to play in fantastic new ways. If you want to hope for the best, well, perhaps we'll have more to say in a few months, but for now we're going to have to ask for your patience.

Ready at Dawn's Didier Malenfant has spilled a few details on the recently-announced Wii version of Clover Studios' Okami in an interview with video game news website IGN.

Controls are pretty much the only thing that differentiates the Wii version of Okami from the PlayStation 2 version. As expected, the Wiimote will be used to control Amaterasu's Celestial Brush gesture-system.

Those looking for new content or graphical enhancements will be disappointed, but purists will surely be delighted to know that the game will be an exact port of the PlayStation 2 title. Said Malenfant:

This game has such a huge following throughout the world that people would probably send us death-threats if we messed it up by trying to add things that don't have their place in the Okami universe.

Okami for the Nintendo Wii home video game console is being prepped for a 2008 release.

 

Dan Arey, a 17-year game industry veteran and former creative lead for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, will take his rightful place at the helm of Creative Director for Ready At Dawn Studios. The official announcement made today also coincided with the studios' creation of a new intellectual property, already in development.

"Getting someone of Dan's caliber is obviously a huge deal for us," said president and co-founder Didier Malenfant. In any case, the developer who shifted from Electronic Arts, Accolade, Sega of America, Crystal Dynamics, Sony, to Pandemic, and many other studios, was happy to accompany Ru Weerasuriya, VP of Creative Development, in the studio's first attempt at an original IP.

The developers of God of War: Chains of Olympus may also be hinting the near release of the PSP title, since they are already shifting focus to their new IP. In fact, the release via press wire explicitly stated, "Ready At Dawn Studios is currently putting the finishing touches to the most anticipated PSP game of 2007, God of War: Chains of Olympus," and it's got us particularly confused.

Sony Computer Entertainment America, in conjunction with the second anniversary of the PlayStation Portable and the official North America price drop, also announced in an official press release that Daxter and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror are now added to the PSP "Greatest Hits" collection.

Ready At Dawn's Daxter was a phenomenal hit with the PSP gaming community, and R.A.D is interested in bringing their God of War franchise to the handheld with an even bigger bang. Didier Malenfant, President of Ready At Dawn Studios, said:

Ready At Dawn couldn’t be more pleased with our success bringing Daxter to the PSP platform last year, and now we have another opportunity to blow away expectations of what a developer can accomplish on a portable when Kratos hits the ‘small screen’ in God of War. PSP is an ideal platform for us to work on because we have a high level of freedom to be creative, and we can deliver gameplay experiences that rival ones you'd get from a computer entertainment system.

With the addition of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and Daxter to the Greatest Hits collection, the titles will now be available in a value-filled price tag of US$ 19.99 each. The "Greatest Hits" program by SCEA will help generate strong consumer interest and drive PSP software sales, as well as the hope of revitalizing demand for the Sony PSP.

Despite his many issues with what he perceives to be the flaws of the PlayStation Portable, Didier Malenfant is one of the staunchest supporters of the Sony's handheld platform. He's stated multiple times before that the PSP is a great platform.

He's even gone as far as to say that Sony's success in gaming, handheld or otherwise, depends largely on their own actions and not Microsoft's or Nintendo's. He noted that because of Sony's negative publicity, Microsoft's been able to hide a few things. He said: "[The Xbox 360] didn't really have any good games until Gears of War came out." (Support the platform, criticize the company. I like that.)

With the background on Didier Malenfant done and over with, on with the news. Gamasutra was able to sit down with mister Malenfant and the developer revealed several interesting bits about something a lot of you have been waiting for: Ready at Dawn's God of War for the PSP.

Something to keep in mind while you wait for God of War PSP: It's not a port. This is because they're one game company and he says that they tend to be obsessive with the current game they're working on.

As for the game engine used for God of War, he says that the engine they're using was "never designed as a PSP engine (it actually also runs on Windows for development purposes) and there’s a lot of features that would absolutely shine on a next-gen platform." The developer noted that their biggest frustration at the moment with the PSP is such:

The biggest frustration right now, in a way, is the limitation on the clock speed. We’d love to run our games at 333Mhz (we do internally just for kicks) because it does make a big difference in how much stuff you can push on the platform.

He adds that it's basically like developing for the PS2, only the bottlenecks are in different places. But what is it about the PSP that he likes the most? He says: "I think the greatest thing about the PSP is that 'sleep' mode which allows you to resume where you left off. Thanks to this, anything is bite-sized automatically, which is very cool."

The biggest requests their getting at the moment? Well it's not God of War-related, but Malenfant's reaction to the request is noteworthy. Apparently, a Daxter port from the PSP to the PlayStation 2 is the number one request their getting. His reaction? He says: "I think everyone here would love to do it, and it actually wouldn’t be that hard because Daxter was never designed as a handheld game, we could even add a few things for the PS2 version."

The big problem? The decision to do that is up to Sony.

For the longest time, people have been wondering if and when God of War will finally make its way to the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Well, as overheard at the recently-concluded Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 in San Francisco, the waiting is almost over and the game is indeed on its way.

Now, before we start popping the champagne and exchanging presents, there are several points that we need to point out:

Previously - If you can recall, we at QJ have at one point tried to confirm the existence of a God of War game for the PSP, and we were told by Ready At Dawn's Didier Malenfant that they "haven't announced anything yet but I can tell you that it's really cool and will blow people away. Keep an eye on our website in the coming weeks." That was back in February 8.

At GDC 2007 - PSP Fanboy's Andrew Yoon has mentioned that "One of Joystiq's bloggers was in a chat with a Sony executive" and that the unnamed executive suddenly ended up confirming God of War for the PSP when the title was mentioned. When asked if he was saying that the game has received the green light, he apparently replied, "Yes. It's already confirmed. There was that instruction manual incident." (For those not familiar with the "incident", check the image included in this article. Image courtesy of PSP Fanboy.)

When the executive was asked AGAIN if the game is now official, he replied in the affirmative.

All of that is good news, but we are yet to get a name to attach to the Sony executive who said that God of War is coming to the PSP, AND we are also yet to see a report about this incident on Joystiq's website. So, we're really crossing our fingers here, and things seem to be headed in a pleasant direction, but until we get some names, some more reports, and maybe a press release or two, you might want to hang on to that champagne a little bit longer.

"It doesn't depend on Nintendo or Microsoft - it depends on them." That's what Ready At Dawn Studios president Didier Malenfant told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview. Although for the most part he had been pointing out that the PSP was a great platform to work on, he also stressed the fact that the console giant's success will be determined by it's own actions.

He explained the many difficulties in entering the next-generation console market, the huge amount of money needed and how the transition of technology and equipment will be trying and slow at best. He said, "Next-gen involves a lot of money, it's a big investment, and it's going to be a difficult time of transition whether you're Microsoft or Sony."

Malenfant did admit that Sony's image dropped some notches recently, but he elaborates that most number one companies also suffer image degradation. "You can see that with Microsoft with operating systems - after a while, you become the favourite target, " he further explained.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the competition has been gaining blessings from Sony's negative publicity. Microsoft, for one, has been able to hide most of the fact that the Xbox 360 isn't selling much either. He later added, "[The Xbox 360] didn't really have any good games until Gears of War came out."

Ready At Dawn Studios produced a PSP-exclusive title, Daxter, some time ago and is now working with Sony on a new PSP game. Malenfant said that if the studio goes into next-gen development, it won't exactly be aiming for the PS3. "It all depends on the prospect. It could be PS3 or 360 or both," he claimed.

Didier Malenfant, co-founder of game studio Ready At Dawn (RAD) got interviewed by the folks from GamesIndustry recently and a lot was revealed regarding RAD's new project, the studio's plans to develop for next-gen consoles, and his take on where the PSP is at the moment.

When asked if the PSP platform has lived up to his expectations, Malenfant emphatically says yes. He says that the PSP is "a great platform" and that they've had a lot of fun with it. At the moment he says that they're very much happy with the way Daxter (their previous title) has done, and they reassure that they're still investing in the platform. Malenfant declares, "We're a single game company and for now that game is on PSP."

Get the rest of the article after the Jump!