The history of video games includes memorable presentations that marked the industry and fans and are now the subject of analysis for the impact they had at the time. However, it was not all excitement and hype, there was also concern for developers when they saw what game they would unexpectedly have to compete against. Such is the case of Eidetic, now SIE Bend Studio, when they saw the trailer for Metal Gear Solid at E3 1997.
Presentation of Metal Gear Solid In 1997 he put the team in check Syphon Filter
In an interview for the magazine Retro Gamer (via Time-Extension) Richard Ham, chief designer of Syphon Filterspoke about the pressure and anguish that Eidetic felt at E3 1997 when Konami presented Metal Gear SolidThe North American team was then working on an action game with doses of espionage in a 3D world and with an all-terrain character, Gabe Logan, but they soon realized that they would be facing a certain Solid Snake in the market with a proposal that seemed superior in every area.
Regarding this, the creative pointed out: “The first time the world saw this trailer, it wasn’t just on some little TVs at the Konami booth. This was on a gigantic giant screen that towered above everything. As I recall, every hour, they would play that trailer, and throughout the convention, this became an appointment to see it, there was a huge crowd, so everyone would come and sit and watch. It was next level. So many interesting camera angles for everything. It felt so cinematic.”
According to Richard Ham, that film-inspired style was something he wanted to achieve with Syphon Filter and thought the project was on the right track in that sense until they saw Kojima’s work and what he anticipated: “cinematic gameplay was something I was trying really hard to achieve with Syphon Filterwith camera blocks and being a fan of John Woo and action movies.”
Finally, the creative, who is now part of SIE Bend Studio, a company that emerged from what was Eidetic, revealed that the studio was desperate after seeing what the Japanese company presented: “it seemed like Konami was doing everything we were trying to do, but better.”
In the end, Syphon Filter It was moderately successful with some standout deliveries, but was not considered as direct competition for Metal Gear SolidToday, the Eidetic franchise is dead and remains commercially valid thanks to its availability on PlayStation Plus.
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