Are there many people out there now writing specifically for the PS3?

[Tempest]

I'm not talking about (if you wish to call them) "Porters" that are paid to come up with code so the PS3 can run the same games as the Xbox360.

I mean, people who are actually knuckling down hard, getting their heads around and planning to wow us in the future with new software specifically written to take advantage of the Cell processor etc?

Having now got both consoles, I've got nothing to loose either way, but at the moment, (on average) is does seem the 360 has a tiny edge when it comes to many cross platform games, be it lighting, colour, smoothness etc.

To keep things fair?

I'd like to start seeing some things that run best (or only) on the PS3.

I know the PS2 took a long time to get off the ground.

The original xbox on launch day (Halo and Kameo) seemed to hit the ground, day 1 with superb graphics that didn't seem to get any better over the life of the console. which is great, but it kinda felt like we'd seen the best on day one. Which as I said is no bad thing in some ways.

With the PS3, I get the feeling, again (hopefully) there will be a slow burn to start with, and over time as developers start working out how to fully utilise what they've got we'll see the PS3 starting to pick up speed.

Now do you think I'm talking crap, and it's just not going to happen.
It's just going to be 90%+ multi format releases, or do you think that indeed there is a secret army of coders out there, who will be showing the fruits of their labour in the next year or two?

Am I hoping for something that's not going to happen this time around?

 

[Br0ken]

Well generally speaking a games publisher will make the most sales (and therefore profit) by releasing a game across all, or as many platforms as possible. Such as the publishers for Call of Duty and Need for Speed have done. So unless there's something really worthwhile about staying on one platform its probably not in the developers and publishers interest.

Its been well commented on that developers find it easier to write for the Xbox 360, but if Sony do their part and provide one on one support and the tools required then developers will learn more about using the hardware the best way they can, and then improve on it some in their next game.

And Sony have signed a deal with NC Soft, the company is a veteran at producing very popular MMORPGs, so that can only be a positive thing right?

The games will come my friend, the games will come.

 

[mr_yogi]

As you say, in the past many games have been developed on the 360 and ported to the PS3. This is probably because the 360 was available first so there was already a code base and a larger number of consoles in peoples homes. However this approach is far from ideal for most games, as moving an existing code base from the three cores of the 360 to the seven of the PS3 isn't easy. This has produced a number of bad ports and virtually none which were improved on the 360 original. Maybe Oblivion is the exception? But that had an extra year in development.

Things are slowly changing though, a number of devs have commented that leading with the PS3 and porting to the 360 not only produces fantastic results on the PS3 (as you would expect) but also results in very good performance on the 360 too. Burnout Paradise is an example of this and the two versions of the game are apparently indistinguishable from one another. Another game which went this way was CM Dirt, which runs smoother on the PS3. As the install base of the PS3 increases I would expect more games to go this way.

Another approach is to have two independent teams working on both versions concurrently and have neither as a lead platform. This is the approach Infinity Ward took with Call of Duty 4, apparently. And the results are very promising. Although this approach is more expensive, it does reduces risk to the game if key personnel leave mid-project, so maybe this will be used more for successful franchises.

As for untapping the full potential of the PS3, it will take time but looking at the exclusive 1st and 2nd party titles will show you what it's capable of. GT5 and Uncharted both look fantastic, expect the full GT5 to be even better. Also Naughty Dog have said that Uncharted is only utilising about 30% of the Cell processors power.

 

[Br0ken]

Burnout Paradise is an example of this and the two versions of the game are apparently indistinguishable from one another.

I actually thought BP was better on the PS3, I've played both versions, though demo's only.

Naughty Dog have said that Uncharted is only utilising about 30% of the Cell processors power.

Do you have a link to where you read that? Would like to read the rest of what they talked about.

 

[Widge]

According to some Sony CEO, games are now taking a trend of being developed firstly on the PS3 and then being ported down to other consoles.

There is an interview on ign where he says this.

 

[Br0ken]

But comments like that coming from a Sony employee, a CEO no less, shouldn't be taken that seriously, unless he gave specific examples? I can't get on IGN from work.

 

[Cable Monkey]

Looking back it is obvious the back catalogue will predominantly be ports from other consoles. Looking forward I think the situation will be more equal with perhaps possibly a shift to the PS3 as Xbox360 approaches end of life. There is no controversy in that. Just the way things are. I know of one coder who has only just obtained his first PS3 for personal use despite being employed to write code for them. I suppose he now sees enough potential to be prepared to spend his money.

 

[mr_yogi]

Do you have a link to where you read that? Would like to read the rest of what they talked about.

My mistake, it's 1/3 to 1/2 of the SPU's not 30% but still impressive

PALGN: So if you had to make an estimation how much % of the power of the PlayStation 3 do you think you used?

EW: Okay well it's not going to be an exact science but it's interesting that you bring the question up because we just recently before I came here as we were wrapping up production, we did do some profiling of the performance of the PlayStation 3. As far as the Cell processor and the SPU's are concerned we were only using about 1/3 to 1/2 of the SPU's at one time and so there is still quite a bit more we can do...

http://palgn.com.au/article.php?id=9225

 

[Widge]

But comments like that coming from a Sony employee, a CEO no less, shouldn't be taken that seriously, unless he gave specific examples? I can't get on IGN from work.

Here you go:

IGN: Obviously, some have figured out how to use the PS3 hardware -- Uncharted, Ratchet, Warhawk, etc. -- but do you think most third-party developers will be able to get their cross-platform titles to look and play as good in 2008?

Jack: We hear better and better things from the third party publishers everyday. We are meeting with them on a regular basis and are getting a lot of feedback from them in terms of their needs. We are now starting to see developers creating games on PS3 and then porting them to other platforms such as EA's Burnout. Developers are telling us that they are starting to create their games on PS3 first and take advantage of the hardware capabilities and then port down to other platforms so we are seeing tremendous progress from the third party community in terms of what they are able to do with our development kits. You will see some very nice things in 2008 coming from our third party partners in addition to what you will see this holiday.

But I see where you're coming from. Its like Steve Jobs and his "look, the iphone has invented the internet and email on a phone!" adverts....

 

[Br0ken]

Indeed, very impressive - and I'd be confident in betting that was mainly because they simply didn't know how to push the hardware to its limits. Just like the PS2, what was it, Gran Turismo 4 or something - looked amazing compared to earlier PS2 titles.

Like I said before, as long as Sony provide the right tools and the right support in the right way we'll see some great things. Its no good to leave developers to simply figure out things themselves, even though most of the time its how we work (I say we because I'm a developer). Great support at the beggining will see better games sooner rather than later.