Sony: Devs to help build the next PlayStation


Recommended Posts

SCE studio boss confirms work is underway on 'future platform related activities'

One of the highest-ranking executives at Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed the company is hard at work on future platform developments.

But with former SCE president Ken Kutaragi now out of the picture, Sony is keen to turn to its first-party studios to help make future PlayStation consoles highly accessible for tomorrow’s game creators.

In an exclusive interview with Develop magazine, Sony Worldwide Studios (WWS) boss Shuhei Yoshida candidly explained how Sony has learnt from past mistakes and is now building tech that developers can get the most out of.

“When Ken Kutaragi moved on and Kaz Harai became the president of SCE, the first thing Kaz said was, ‘get World Wide Studios in on hardware development’,” Yoshida said.

“So he wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware, and he demanded SCE people talk to us [developers].”

And when asked whether this change in philosophy will be applied to future PlayStation hardware, Yoshida replied: “Yes, we are undergoing many activities that we haven’t yet been talking about in public. Some future platform related activities.”

Yoshida was appointed head of WWS at a time when Sony had endured a stuttering start to the PS3 era, as a number of third-party developers struggled to get enough out of the famously powerful console.

In the full Develop interview – published later this week – Yoshida explains in frank detail how SCE underwent a rescue mission for its first-party studios, bringing together top engineers from around the world to build a universal game engine.

This studio-collaborative philosophy at Sony has remained in place ever since, and was a core pillar of the design ideology for Sony’s new motion controller, PlayStation Move.

“I’m spending more time on the hardware platform,” Yoshida added, “connecting hardware guys to developers. That’s my major role now, and Move is one of those new ways of developing platforms.”

News Source: Develop

Sounds good. Developers help make the new platform, making it easier for them and allowing them to optimize their engines better for their games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's excellent news, finally some forward thinking at Sony (Y)

It only makes sense to consult those that have to program for the machine as to what they want and expect from it! Simple things really, but not the normal Sony way. Very good to see them making amends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It only makes sense to consult those that have to program for the machine as to what they want and expect from it! Simple things really, but not the normal Sony way. Very good to see them making amends.

Exactly, not the normal Sony way. They have a tendency to do everything ass-backwards.

So they get credit where credit is due.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's excellent news, finally some forward thinking at Sony (Y)

+1 It seems this generation was all about having a device to win the HD video war.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly, not the normal Sony way. They have a tendency to do everything ass-backwards.

So they get credit where credit is due.

Indeed. And I think this has quite a bit to do with it:

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2010/07/01/metro-2034-on-ps3-a-possibility/

Metro 2034, the sequel to Xbox 360 and PC-only THQ-published Metro 2033 ? the existence of which was slipped just yesterday ? may find itself on the PlayStation 3, author Dmitry Glukhovsky reckons.Writing on his blog (via), Glukhovsky says it took 19 days for developer 4A Games to port the PC version of the first game over to the Xbox 360. A PS3 port on the other hand would?ve taken sixmonths.

The studio also apparently lacked PS3 architects at the time; the sensible solution then, according to the author, was to look to the future.

But, as THQ core games VP Danny Bilson has told IG, it?ll be a while before we see the RPG sequel. It won?t be out for ?a couple of years,? he says.

I think the devs are pretty excited about any such move to make it easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed. And I think this has quite a bit to do with it:

http://www.thatvideogameblog.com/2010/07/01/metro-2034-on-ps3-a-possibility/

I think the devs are pretty excited about any such move to make it easier.

[/font][/color]

That's because both the XBOX and PC run on the same kind of hardware / dev platforms., the PS3 is totally different. If you went from PS3 -> X360 or PC it would have been a lot faster and easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's because both the XBOX and PC run on the same kind of hardware / dev platforms., the PS3 is totally different. If you went from PS3 -> X360 or PC it would have been a lot faster.

Yes, we all know that by now and that's why we're excited about Sony listening to the developers instead of catering for their pie-charts and investors.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, we all know that by now and that's why we're excited about Sony listening to the developers instead of catering for their pie-charts and investors.

I didn't think they had any investors with the PS3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know. That is what we are discussing here.

That's because both the XBOX and PC run on the same kind of hardware / dev platforms., the PS3 is totally different. If you went from PS3 -> X360 or PC it would have been a lot faster and easier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Sony: Devs to help build the next PlayStation" here is one tip, don't cut on RAM.

(it's why the Xbox has it easier for the developers, the 512Mb ram developers begged for at microsoft.)

HD needs bigger textures to be HD in the end...256Mb XDR isn't helping the PS3 image quality...

Why did Sony opt for Rambus's XDR RAM to begin with? To state "we're ahead of the curve"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know, its not like Ken Kutaragi was wrong.

He said Blu-ray was the best solution going forward, and it is.....

The only problem with his vision is that they didnt make it easy to develop for, something that could have been avoided by allowing devs in early.

I say let Ken Kutaragi design the next one and let the devs and the Sony accountants hammer it into a mass production unit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good.

Will be interesting to see what they build the PS4 with, I would assume they are going to try and make it BC with the PS3 without the need for extra hardware like we have seen with the PS2 emulation on the PS3.

"Sony: Devs to help build the next PlayStation" here is one tip, don't cut on RAM.

(it's why the Xbox has it easier for the developers, the 512Mb ram developers begged for at microsoft.)

HD needs bigger textures to be HD in the end...256Mb XDR isn't helping the PS3 image quality...

The PS3 has 512MB of Ram, it is just split into two different types unlike the Xbox 360 which has 512MB combined.

This was a problem at the beginning of the life cycle because developers were having problems shifting things between chips that had to go through the cell and was a hassle to do certain things, though I'm pretty sure its all sorted now, which is why when a game is properly developed for both they can look equally as good and in some cases, better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The PS3 has 512MB of Ram, it is just split into two different types unlike the Xbox 360 which has 512MB combined. This was a problem at the beginning of the life cycle because developers were having problems shifting things between chips that had to go through the cell and was a hassle to do certain things, though I'm pretty sure its all sorted now, which is why when a game is properly developed for both they can look equally as good and in some cases, better.

As is the case shown with Metro 2033/2034, not all devs have figured this out yet. First party devs have obviously, but 3rd party, especially smaller ones are still behind the times late in the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have to cater for all the developers, the less experience and those on smaller budgets and still let them create a full experience.

Makes me cringe whenever the "Oh X-Developer managed to do it" argument is brought up, it just shows a lack of knowledge. I sincerely hope Sony will create a platform that is easy to develop for like

the 360 or the PC ( Wii as well? ) and let every developer out there bring their A-game instead of getting bogged down in technical mumbo-jumbo and having to port copies which in terms means lesser quality overall.

I'm already excited about the Playstation 4 just because of this piece of news and want to forget the machine that is Playstation 3.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's because both the XBOX and PC run on the same kind of hardware / dev platforms., the PS3 is totally different. If you went from PS3 -> X360 or PC it would have been a lot faster and easier.

Wrong, the 360 has more in common with the PS3 than it does a PC. Both machines use chips derived from a PowerPC architecture the Xbox has a triple core dual threaded design which gives them 6 hardware threads to play with, the PS3 is in essence a dual core chip in the fact that it has 2 threads on the PPE but has 8 SPEs, technically the Xbox 360 CPU is a slightly modified Cell processor without the SPEs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds good if it will make porting easier.

The devs producing the best graphics this gen (PD/ND/Guerilla) won't be going anywhere!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wrong, the 360 has more in common with the PS3 than it does a PC. Both machines use chips derived from a PowerPC architecture the Xbox has a triple core dual threaded design which gives them 6 hardware threads to play with, the PS3 is in essence a dual core chip in the fact that it has 2 threads on the PPE but has 8 SPEs, technically the Xbox 360 CPU is a slightly modified Cell processor without the SPEs.

Yes it's still the heart-child of developers when it comes to easiness.

Guess that goes to show, it all depends of the creator and how willing they are to create a user-friendly development platform.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know i dont like people spreading FUD though saying its easier to port to 360 because its similar to PC hardware, when in reality its more like a PS3. I also agree Microsoft has a more robust in-depth set of development tools and that its relatively easier to port to the 360 than the PS3 due to its almost DirectX powered OS having a lot of similarities compared to PC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.