Sony Corp. announced at GDC this week that the firm has lowered the price of PlayStation 3 development kits.
The platform holder confirmed that new versions of the Reference Tool are now available, with the DECR-1400A for North America costing $2,000 USD and the PAL version available for EUR 1,700.
According to Sony, these latest versions “allow advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering.”
“With its more affordable pricing, this new model will appeal to a broader range of developers and publishers, and will help to provide a more streamlined game development environment, further accelerating the game development for PS3," said the company.
Furthermore, the company also unveiled a couple of additional tools, with a new compiler and SNC PPU toolchain now part of the official PS3 SDK. Of the compiler, Sony said it’s "optimised to the power of PS3 and generates high-quality code. As a result, not only will it contribute to raising the quality of the game but also to significantly improving productivity.”
SNC has previously been tested in the production of games including Killzone 2, Fallout 3 and Ryu ga Gotoku 3.
The company concluded: "With more and more new and exciting PS3 titles scheduled for release this year from third party developers and publishers as well as from SCE Worldwide Studios, SCEI will deploy various measures to further reinforce game development for PS3 and will continue to expand the platform to offer attractive interactive entertainment experiences only available on PS3."