Marvin Donald, Darksiders II game director at Vigil, had some pretty sour things to say about the PlayStation 3, and what it’s like to develop games for it.
"It’s a pain in the ass to work on," he said. "Five years later, getting used to it? That means it’s a pain in the ass” said Donald in a recent Eurogamer interview.
"I’m not an engineer, but I hear about it all the time. We have to do wacky stuff with the way we manage memory."
"Even as an artist, it’s like, OK, my textures are too big, I’m in trouble because I checked in something that’s making the 360 crash because it’s a 20×48 when it really should just be a 10×24, or even smaller” added Donald, referencing his views with the memory management on the PS3.
"But on the PlayStation 3, the assets go into different categories, and if one of those categories becomes too bloated it’ll crash the system. It’s a little bit more sensitive on the PS3 in that regard. There are some things you just can’t do, or you have to do differently. Yeah, it’s a pain."
There was a time when hearing of a developer argue ‘the power of the PlayStation 3’ by saying it was a pointlessly complex system was more common. A few years ago, around the time of the PS3 launch, multiple studios complained about the learning curve of developing for the platform.
However those times seemed to have passed, with studios now more often than not praising the PlayStation 3 for its outstanding technical achievements like the Uncharted series, and LittleBigPlanet franchise.
We’ll see how Darksiders II fairs on each platform at release in 2012, for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and eventually, a launch title for the WiiU.