Kellee Santiago, president of thatgamecompany and producer of the game flOw, recently spoke with PS3Chat.com about a number of issues, primarily their new three-game development contract with Sony. During the interview, the Wii was brought up multiple times.
It has recently been mentioned that flOw could have gone to Nintendo’s Wii. Could you please elaborate on why the PS3 was chosen instead?
Haha yeah, I knew we shouldn’t have said that in our GDC talk! I can’t believe how some of the websites just latched on to that one slide, out of the 250 power point slides we had.But yes, the guys I mentioned at Sony Santa Monica were interested in working with us over the course of a number of projects, and helping us start our company by incubating us in their offices. So, we are an external development studio but we are working in their offices. This is not only helpful by covering our overhead costs, but also because we have daily interactions with some of the most experienced designers, engineers, artists, and producers. We think of it as having graduated from one school, and entering another one, but this time with higher stakes, hehe.
I think the main reason we wanted to bring up the choice in our presentation, was because, at least for me, that was a defining moment in just how crazy our last year has been. In a few months, we went from just two people in a sea of soon-to-be graduates, to having meetings with both Nintendo and Sony at E3. No matter what happens, I will never forget that moment. I mean, how surreal does it get for someone who grew up playing video games?
In the end, what Sony was able to offer us made more sense for our little fledgling company at that time.
Also, despite your three-game deal with Sony, do you foresee yourselves working on the Wii’s Virtual Console or perhaps even the Xbox Live Arcade service in the future?
Oh man, wouldn’t that be something? It’s such an exciting time to be making games, and to be playing them; yeah, I wouldn’t rule out any possibilities.What are your thoughts on the Sixaxis and the Wii controller? Do you have any particular preference or does each have its own unique positive aspects?
Oh the latter, for sure – each have their own unique aspects. I haven’t developed with a Wii controller, so I only know it as a player. The Sixaxis has incredible precision and subtlety of movement, and you don’t have to be anywhere near the screen or a sensor to use it, which I think will lead to some really interesting game designs. You can also relax with the Sixaxis because it’s more sensitive. The Wii has that comfortable design though that doesn’t scare off my mother, and I really love the speaker in it. It makes people get up and move around, which encourages an active social dynamic. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is the stuff that makes it so exciting to be in gaming right now! We have multiple companies now trying all sorts of different things. I really hope none of them are declared a “winner†because I want all of them, and more, to keep making different types of games for me play.
It’s nice to see Kellee Santiago so enthusiastic about playing and eventually developing for the Wii. flOw is quite an interesting little contraption, and it’s got that cool Electroplankton feel/art style that I like, so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long before seeing some of thatgamecompany’s work on the Wii and Virtual Console.
