Developers Shift To Leading On PS3


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We speak to the world's leading devs to discover why the PS3 is taking over as the lead of choice...

Portal 2 has been announced and we?re rather disappointed, but not surprised, that a PS3 version of Valve?s sequel to the show-stealing Orange Box game has been conspicuous by its absence. Valve has long said that it finds PS3 development too difficult and cumbersome to be cost-effective and for a long time many developers agreed. Again and again the ease of moving from the last generation of hardware or from PC development to Xbox 360 meant that the PS3 got a ported version, often to the detriment of the final product. Valve it seemed was right. The PS3 and its unique Cell processing architecture was simply too hard to make games for.

However, times have changed. With the release of games like LittleBigPlanet pushing what is believed to be possible in terms of user-generated content and Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2 pushing back the boundaries expected from videogame graphics, the PS3 began to come into its own. That?s all well and good from first-party developers backed by Sony money and expertise, but the independent and third-party game developers are also beginning to reap the benefits of PS3. Shinji Mikami?s Vanquish has been confirmed as using the PS3 as its lead platform and EA is following suit with the development of its Medal Of Honor reboot.

According to Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase, the challenge that the PS3 sets developers is an exciting one of just how far they can push themselves. ?When you talk about graphics you can see immediately that the hardware of the PlayStation 3 offers a much higher capacity and is much more powerful,? he told NowGamer, comparing PS3 with Xbox 360. ?With regards to designing the game everyone knew that the highest limit of what we could achieve graphically couldn?t be much higher. That made it difficult to set our target of where we should be reasonably happy or satisfied with what we had produced. Is our aim high enough or should we be going even higher??

But a fear of coming up short or not being able to fulfil expectations wasn?t the reason many shunned the PS3 at first. That had more to do with the configuration of the hardware. BioWare?s Ray Muzyka insisted that the only way to approach the PS3 was to embrace its differences and then it would open up to you. ?Well, you know every platform has its pros and cons and they?re all challenging in different ways,? he explained to us. ?The interesting thing about approaching a new platform like PlayStation is that it?s very powerful and it?s just different from anything else. You have to embrace that and make sure that you?re fully aware of the technology differences and make use of all the strengths of the platform.?

For Crytek, currently making Crysis 2 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, that meant a completely new engine and in places a new way of thinking. ?Since we started developing CryEngine 3 we always knew it was going to be a cross-platform engine and so immediately started thinking about how to minimise the dedicated work for PS3 while still being able to run our codebase at full PS3 utilisation,? said Crytek?s lead PS3 programmer Michael Gl?ck told NowGamer. ?Therefore we developed a system in-house making the very different build and deployment process for PS3 as ?PC like? as possible to give all developers the feeling that it is not as complicated a platform to develop on as most people thought.?

Continued at Source: NowGamer

Good read and it shows how more and more companies are accepting the PS3 rather than resenting it. Now if Portal 2 can come to the PS3....looking at you Valve. :hmmm:

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However, times have changed. With the release of games like LittleBigPlanet pushing what is believed to be possible in terms of user-generated

Really? Didn't it sell quite poorly?

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However, times have changed. With the release of games like LittleBigPlanet pushing what is believed to be possible in terms of user-generated

Really? Didn't it sell quite poorly?

1191457-homer_facepalm_super.jpg

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If a game sells poorly compared to, say, the top sellers on a console, is that really a good game to use as a measurement?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet#Sales_performance

Sorry if I have misunderstood you but to clarify, isn't the OP referring to the use of user generated content in LBP? And that is then an aspect of what the PS3 can do?

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This is great news for the Sony fanbase. Thank you devs for finally listening to your customers!

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If a game sells poorly compared to, say, the top sellers on a console, is that really a good game to use as a measurement?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet#Sales_performance

3.5 millions copies is pretty good. The articles is not talking about sales, it doesn't mention sales of LBG anywhere. They mention user generated content of LBP. All the stuff that people create and publish.

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Sorry if I have misunderstood you but to clarify, isn't the OP referring to the use of user generated content in LBP? And that is then an aspect of what the PS3 can do?

That's kind of the point. What's so great about games based on user generated content? Apparently not much. If LBP is the pinnacle of user generated content... Wow.

As of March 2010, the game has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

That's pretty pathetic. And that's in nearly a year and a half. New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold more than 10 million in two months!

It's notable that Nintendo's own UGC game, Wii Music, is a flop too. Apparently UGC isn't all that great!

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That's kind of the point. What's so great about games based on user generated content? Apparently not much. If LBP is the pinnacle of user generated content... Wow.

That's pretty pathetic. And that's in nearly a year and a half. New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold more than 10 million in two months!

It's notable that Nintendo's own UGC game, Wii Music, is a flop too. Apparently UGC isn't all that great!

You really are becoming one annoying member around here, it's impossible not to see you in any section ranting about everything you don't like/bashing things.

Please leave the GH alone and go back to your Browser wars instead.

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That's pretty pathetic. And that's in nearly a year and a half. New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold more than 10 million in two months!

If you can't work out what's wrong with that comparison then there is no hope for you :p

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Is it me or is GH becoming infested with trolls again? :/

Its good news that the PS3 is getting the light it deserves, as deep down, it is a console with so much more possibilites than the Xbox, and I say that owning both!

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Really? Didn't it sell quite poorly?

That's kind of the point. What's so great about games based on user generated content? Apparently not much. If LBP is the pinnacle of user generated content... Wow.

That's pretty pathetic. And that's in nearly a year and a half. New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold more than 10 million in two months!

It's notable that Nintendo's own UGC game, Wii Music, is a flop too. Apparently UGC isn't all that great!

Its sad that you think 3.5 million isn't any good, you've obviously been taken in and disillusioned by the big franchise selling games, like Mario, Halo, Call of Duty, and think every game should sell that well to be any good, which isn't true at all.

And a different point is that tens of million of sales doesn't mean the game is automatically super awesomely amazing or poor sales mean a game is bad, and its foolish to think so.

And what's great about games with user generated content is then being able to use that content, making the game somewhat endless, but obviously you don't get the point behind it.

If everyone who bought LBP made one level, that's 3.5 million more levels to play through and people are still making levels so the content is ever expanding

And the fact that you compare LBP to Wii Music to me makes it obvious that you don't know what your talking about at all.

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Good news indeed. It's much easier to port from the PS3 than it is from the 360. That has been known for a while. Glad to see more are able to do this too.

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Its sad that you think 3.5 million isn't any good, you've obviously been taken in and disillusioned by the big franchise selling games, like Mario, Halo, Call of Duty, and think every game should sell that well to be any good, which isn't true at all.

I'm sure 3.5 million is good for some random game. But in this case LBP is being hailed as something other games should strive for. That makes me go "WTF".

And a different point is that tens of million of sales doesn't mean the game is automatically super awesomely amazing or poor sales mean a game is bad, and its foolish to think so.

That wasn't my point either.

And what's great about games with user generated content is then being able to use that content, making the game somewhat endless, but obviously you don't get the point behind it.

But does it sell games?

And the fact that you compare LBP to Wii Music to me makes it obvious that you don't know what your talking about at all.

I'm comparing it to WM because they are both UGC games.

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I'm sure 3.5 million is good for some random game. But in this case LBP is being hailed as something other games should strive for. That makes me go "WTF".

Cause you are destroying there context and going WTF? at it. Unless of course you, a gamer, think that the only thing that matters in determining whether a games content is admirable or not is the number of copies it sold. Something no real gamer ever thinks about game content.

I think LBP is definitely something more games should take a page from. The amount of user created content possible in the game is amazing and only a handful of games today actually try this (Far Cry, Halo, Forza, Modnation Racers, that new Pixel 3D game thing, Chromehounds). It magnifies the re-playability on a similar level to multiplayer.

That wasn't my point either.

Then what was the point of bringing it up?

But does it sell games?

It sells most all of the games Valve, Crytek and Unreal have publishes/made. There are gigantic mod communities out there just itching for a new game/engine to screw with. All LBP and other games like it do is bring this to the average gamer and give them the means to create something with their own hands without knowing all the technical crap or owning the software needed. It definitely sells games.

I'm comparing it to WM because they are both UGC games.

But they are entirely different genres of games. LBP would be more akin to a customizable platformer while Wii Music has fairly minimal UGC capabilities. It is a poor comparison, regardless of your reasoning and it demonstrates little knowledge on the subject.

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Cause ...

... it demonstrates little knowledge on the subject.

I don't think there's any point trying to explain to be honest man :ermm:

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I don't think there's any point trying to explain to be honest man :ermm:

I need to vent my annoyance, so I'll do so in a well formulated rebutall :D

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Is it me or is GH becoming infested with trolls again? :/

Its good news that the PS3 is getting the light it deserves, as deep down, it is a console with so much more possibilites than the Xbox, and I say that owning both!

what are you talking about. the whole topic is trollbait. Who else besides fanboy kids care what a game is lead developed on if its coming out on both consoles?

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Cause you are destroying there context and going WTF? at it. Unless of course you, a gamer, think that the only thing that matters in determining whether a games content is admirable or not is the number of copies it sold. Something no real gamer ever thinks about game content.

If it's going to be used as a benchmark for future games, it better sell insanely well.

I think LBP is definitely something more games should take a page from. The amount of user created content possible in the game is amazing and only a handful of games today actually try this (Far Cry, Halo, Forza, Modnation Racers, that new Pixel 3D game thing, Chromehounds). It magnifies the re-playability on a similar level to multiplayer.

Apparently the UGC didn't help propel it to the top of the sales charts, so why are they chasing UGC?

Then what was the point of bringing it up?

I didn't. It is you who are unable to understand what I'm saying.

It sells most all of the games Valve, Crytek and Unreal have publishes/made. There are gigantic mod communities out there just itching for a new game/engine to screw with. All LBP and other games like it do is bring this to the average gamer and give them the means to create something with their own hands without knowing all the technical crap or owning the software needed. It definitely sells games.

There's a difference between having a mod community in addition to a solid game, and having the customer make the content as one of the primary goals of the game.

But they are entirely different genres of games. LBP would be more akin to a customizable platformer while Wii Music has fairly minimal UGC capabilities. It is a poor comparison, regardless of your reasoning and it demonstrates little knowledge on the subject.

No, the comparison is sound. It isn't my fault that you don't understand it.

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If it's going to be used as a benchmark for future games, it better sell insanely well.

Apparently the UGC didn't help propel it to the top of the sales charts, so why are they chasing UGC?

I didn't. It is you who are unable to understand what I'm saying.

There's a difference between having a mod community in addition to a solid game, and having the customer make the content as one of the primary goals of the game.

No, the comparison is sound. It isn't my fault that you don't understand it.

So much fail....

In your world the only genre of games that would exist are those that hit number 1.

No thanks, I prefer diversity, and so does everyone else, so I think you live in lala land.

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If it's going to be used as a benchmark for future games, it better sell insanely well.

Apparently the UGC didn't help propel it to the top of the sales charts, so why are they chasing UGC?

I didn't. It is you who are unable to understand what I'm saying.

There's a difference between having a mod community in addition to a solid game, and having the customer make the content as one of the primary goals of the game.

No, the comparison is sound. It isn't my fault that you don't understand it.

3.5 Million for a new franchise is very good, if you look at sales of other 1st time franchises you will find them to be similar numbers or even lower, it takes time and reputation for games to gain fans, COD is where it is today

because of the amount of young people who want nothing more than to blow stuff up online and will never touch another game.

Its also hard to judge sales of LBP in terms of profit generated as LBP has a number of online additions such as level packs and costumes which many people may of purchased and if they did its a few more pounds for little development cost.

LBP is an important title in terms of UGC as its helped pioneer it and make it become mainstream, other games may do this better in the future but its only because LBP helped to pioneer this.

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