Developers struggle with PS3: A thing of the past
- Posted January 7th, 2008 at 06:56 EDT by
- 22,652 views
- 47 Comments
(continued from previous page) ...machine; that’s what I mean by that. It seems that some games haven’t always transitioned between the two well. From our perspective leading on Playstation3 has meant Xbox 360 has given us a great product." -- Nick Channon, Creative mind behind Burnout Paradise
Furthermore, the outspoken Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America went on record to state:
"We are now starting to see developers creating games on PS3 and then porting them to other platforms, such as EA's Burnout Paradise. 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…"
^ Key exclusives such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will prove instrumental in PS3's success
From this we can deduce that developing with the PlayStation 3 as the lead platform and then porting it over to the Xbox 360, ultimately makes the 360 version better than it would have been if it were the other way around. Now, while that may benefit the Xbox 360 more than it does the PS3, Sony and even PS3 enthusiasts may feel content with this revelation, as it proves that the system can facilitate a better gaming experience throughout the industry. Please do not sleep on that, because in the long run the outcome could mean that developers will in return begin to favor Sony’s platform, thus opening the door for more exclusives. This brings us back to what was earlier said about Sony having to secure a great number of exclusives for the PS3. Eventually, we predict that the Xbox 360 will become the second rate machine behind Sony’s monster.
The cost for developing on the PlayStation 3 initially was a burden to many developers, especially with the high cost of developer kits that Sony issued to companies back in 2005 and 2006. Beyond just simple developer kits, the overall cost for developing a PS3 game really gave pain to the wallets of developers and publishers alike. However, with the recent cut in the price of developer kits and more understanding of the hardware, the PS3 is starting to become a more affordable commodity to work with. With this, companies may not be as apprehensive on creating exclusives on Sony’s platform because the cost is more reasonable, thus giving them opportunity for greater profit (the number one goal for any firm, naturally)
"What we do now is create for the PS3 and 360 at the same time, and it doesn't cost more than 10 per cent extra to develop for the other machine. Before it was costing us more, about 20 per cent, just because it was difficult to learn the PS3 hardware, but now our engines are done and we can easily develop for both machines." -- Yves Guillemot, President and CEO of Ubisoft
^ Burnout Paradise is one of the first titles to utilize the PS3 as the primarly development platform
So with the PlayStation 3 slowly becoming the lead console to develop on, and the price for development becoming cheaper, forward process dictates it will only be a matter of time before the console will eventually join the same ground that its predecessors, PS2 and PS1 once stood on. As we explore 2008 early on, the console will only continue to expand itself as much is happening that will create great interest in the machine. Beyond the core development, developers will also be presented with the opportunity of working with Home, a new and innovative way of interacting with other gamers online with virtual avatars. This will help the PS3 instantly diversify itself, becoming more attractive. Sony’s Blu-ray format now dominates 70% of the high definition market and with the PS3 running off of the technology, will soon become an industry standard in both the movies and videogame markets as developers slowly become more confident and acquainted with the format as time moves on.
This year will be a very solid year for ... (continued on next page)
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BD_BLACKAZZ |
BD_BLACKK- 7:41am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 6
at first when i was reading this article i thought to myself is this another PS3 hater..... but then as i read more and more i realised that the SONY takeover has begun...... nice article PSU ....
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SolsticeZero |
SolsticeZero- 8:04am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 9
Very nice article. Keep up the good work!
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Lithgow
- 10:20am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 14
Nice article. But you forgot a few things. Like Midway stating that they were making the PS3 their lead platform. There was a crapload of developers stating that they thought Playstation 3 developing was fun. Like Epic. And 17 million units for the 360 was number of units shipped, not sold.
But very good article.
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D3v1lwqer23
- 10:43am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 15
I dont think Sony ever could shut down the xbox, I have said it before and I will say it again, the two companies need eachother, everyone needs healthy competition.
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behrlahime |
behrlahime- 11:30am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 18
Here's the problem, hardware is designed by highly inteligent scientist, software is developped by a bunch of slackers that mostly live in their mothers basements and hate anything challenging.
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stennex |
stennex- 11:45am GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 19
Great article. Its true though that the PS3 was designed by great scientist. I went to IBMs website and downloaded the specs of the cell chip. Pretty fascinating stuff. Real powerful processing. Software on the other hand from gaming companies will probably never show the true potential of the chip but with programmers around the world getting in on the video game market we will see compelling software. The real power of the chip is already seen where we can run remote gaming and Folding. I have HOME beta and it is awesome. Xbox360 cannot run this only the PS3 or an expensive PC.
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Tgsosmooth
- 1:04pm GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 22
This is by far the BEST article you have ever written. Thank you.
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Limanima |
Limanima- 2:06pm GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 23
I know the key to win this: why third party developers that release multiplatform titles don't bundle a movie in the Blu-Ray disc in the PS3 version? There's certainly space in the disc for that.
CoD4 could be bundled with a war movie like Platton or Three Kings.
I wonder why they don't do this?
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intrepidgeeza |
intrepidgeeza- 4:35pm GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 26
Great, I'm in agreement woth you, the PS£ was obviously a hard platform to develop for, the technology involved and the pricing of the kits for developers meant that people would stray away. but in just 14 months of sales (11th November 2006 to 11th January 2008) The PS3 is doing great. From official figures, the Xbox 360 has sold 17.7 million units between 22nd Oct. '05 and 1st Jan '08, where the PS3 sold 8.71 million units between 11th Nov '06 and 15th Nov '07. If the PS3 carrys on outselling the 360 by near 1.5k units/day then we will see another Sony whitewash of the gamers market. Ace! Oh and isn't it great that Warners backed Blu-Ray, another thorn in the toshiba/microsoft/xbox's side as HD DVD is now losing the HD war!
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terminator12259 |
tacitassassin25- 8:34pm GMT - January 7th, 2008
- 30
this just proves that the ps3 is the best
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Naucious23 |
Naucious- 12:06am GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 31
solid article can't knock it for anything, some of the facts are missing and a little outdated.. but all in all PS3 is just repeating the same history with the PS2, remember developers were saying the same thing and having a lot of games ported from the Dreamcast and over to the PS2, as the months rolled by they started seeing the potential in sony's machine the same is happening now for the PS3, just give it time, I say Ps3 will own both console by 2010.
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Mullitia
- 5:21pm GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 32
Being a PS3-owner myself, I really liked what Mr Jackson was aiming at, and I'd like to agree completely. Yet at this moment, I feel the aspect of PS3 becoming a lead platform is still more or less half-baked. This also shows somewhat in his structuring; quoting negative comments by various game developers and then contradicting these negatives indirectly by himself or by quoting other developers, who may be in a different position when commenting on PS3 developer friendliness is concerned. However, this is not to say that Mr Jackson doesn't have good points in his comments. I just hope things really turn out as he has foreseen.
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Dark_Halo34 |
Dark_Halo34- 7:41pm GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 33
there r so may tech wars going on now: the console war, the format war(blu ray vs hd dvd), the mp3 war(ipod vs zune), hdtv war( sony vs visia vs panasonic vs sanya) and the cellular war(at&t vs verizon vs sprint vs cricket)
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French |
French- 1:47am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 34
Sony is the publisher for LittleBigPlanet so that one will stay exclusive no matter what!! I can't believe you would compare that game to MGS4 and FFXIII... completely different playing fields.... however, none of these games will be on the 360... look at the history of these developers. They always stay exclusive, their titles make money no matter what so they would rather focus on a GREAT game on ONE console!!
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InfernoReaper |
GrimDarkling- 4:36am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 35
Yeah Sony, you should have made your console simple and boxed yourself into a hole where your console power peaks less than 2 years from launch, like our friends with the CrashBox3FixMe.
Great article. I hope those designers look back at what they said at the end of 08 and cry.
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cyclindk
- 8:08am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 37
Exactly right (not). Drakes Fortune, Heavenly Sword sure did suck alright, (sarcastic look on face). So-Called "business men" have little to no say in how the damn graphics chips on game consoles are developed, they give a price limit and an order, pickles, tomatos, no onions and the designers do the rest. It works fine, it's just a newer design attempting to do some things onther consoles can't, wait and see. A company like Sony doen'st exactly have such a limited forsight as people like to suggest for whatever reason. Blu-ray, great idea number 1, internet access free, great idea 2, multiple console improving updates, great idea number 3 = constantly evolving hardware and software continously adding functionality and cost feasability to each and every customer's purchase. Sony just keeps adding more and more value to your console every time they update it. And its free.
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batou
- 3:47am GMT - January 10th, 2008
- 39
I think SJ's piece is objective in the main and as such warrants praise. I share Mullitia's view, however, that the PS3 has a lot of ground to cover before it can challange MS offering. Sony have, I fear, made things difficult for themselves with pricing and lack of backward compatibility on 40G models, but I feel the biggest problem has been the difficulty expressed by the game developers in coding for this platform. These people hold the key to success on any platform and generally don't complain without reason. Sega had this problem with the Saturn, which resulted in the console's rapid demise. Sony, of course, are a larger company and have the resources to buy exclusives. The point is, they should have been more savy.
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pepsivscoke
- 1:39pm GMT - January 10th, 2008
- 40
I think SONY is fine. Competition is good but they dont "need" Microsoft. They have Nintendo. haha Ok seriously. The difference is innovation by SONY. Developers talkin smack??? A few have complained but its about money right? Developers complained about the PS2 also but it outlasted the competition. Microsoft is also to blame for alot of the negative publicity, they have talked alot of smack. Why?? They're scared of PS3's potential! Using the PS3 as lead is good, it becomes the norm and M$ no longer can say use us we're easier to program for and there's not enough PS3's to make money on. -Capcom fell for this with Dead Rising and Lost planet. Well SONY has proven them wrong because people are buying the system like crazy!
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nss_scorpio
- 12:08pm GMT - January 13th, 2008
- 42
greate article,,
just remembering what was said about the ps2 with its the vector units and emotion engine and you see history repeating... it took time to utilize the ps2 and at the end it was and still has good games being made on it.
for a develouper to jump ship and make stray comments on how the a console is to complex and wont work is really a shame.
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chafcad
- 11:40am GMT - January 14th, 2008
- 43
I first purchased an xbox 360 because of the variety of titles available but had many problems. 3 rings of death, warranty etc. to date my 360 has been repaired 3 times. This led me to purchase a PS3 but the titles just weren't there and everything I read was saying developers hated the platform and there were no exclusives. I am so pleased to hear the PS3 is finally breaking out and can live up to it's full potential. Great article!
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