In a recent interview with Sony developer Naughty Dog (of Jak and Daxter fame), their co-president Evan Wells talks about Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and what PlayStation 3 owners can expect from them in the future. Keep in the back of your mind that Uncharted 2 has already been hinted at by the studio. What follows are some choice quotes.
Question: Presumably the engine for Uncharted will evolve over time and be used in future projects… perhaps the next Jak and Daxter? Are there areas of the engine that you know need improving?
Answer: Absolutely. We will continue to refine the Uncharted engine for years to come. With Uncharted we’ve only just started to tap into the potential of the PS3. Particularly with the Cell processor, we should be able to do a lot more. We’re already busy porting more of our systems from the PPU over to the SPUs and seeing huge benefits. There are also a lot of cool rendering effects that we’re experimenting with that will help with any game we develop with the engine.
Question: Many PS3 games haven’t faired as well sales wise as predicted, with the next big release always being the game that’s supposed to be the BIG ONE for Sony. How have initial sales for Uncharted been?
Answer: The initial sales have been very strong. For a comparison, we are selling at a faster rate than the original Jak and Daxter which went on to do over 4.2 million units worldwide so we are confident that Uncharted will continue to do well.
Question: Finally, what more can gamers expect from Naughty Dog games in the future? What will PS3 games look like in 3 years time?
Answer: Well everybody is back after a hard earned vacation and the team is ready to dive into our next project. The most exciting thing for Naughty Dog’s future is the strength of the team that we have assembled and the technology that we have in place as we embark on our next game. We should be able to do so much more this time around, given the fact that we aren’t trying to build our engine and development environment at the same time we are trying to make a game. The effort can be much more focused on what we want to do, instead of how we want to do it. As for what games will look like in 3 years, it’s anybody’s guess. At Naughty Dog, we’re pretty sure we should be able to see leaps between games on the PS3 that are even bigger than they were on the PS2.
Read the full interview at Videogamer.