PS3 native dev means better looking 360 games

[V1N]

I know this has been discussed in the past, and I remember hearing the Burnout Paradise guys say that as a result of using the PS3 as a lead machine, they learned to make better use of multi-cores, and as a result, the 360 version ended up better too.

So good news for everybody really. No shoddy ports means people can buy the game on the console that suits them better, whichever pad they prefer, whether they appreciate the HDD install, or would rather not... though of course the 360 will get the ability to install games to the HDD soon, which I think is a brilliant addition.

I just look forward to the standard and quality of games improving as time goes on (fingers crossed ;p)

Scott Steinberg, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz at E3, said that using the PS3 as a native development platform for games will result in subsequent ports' "fidelity getting better and better - and in fact I think even Xbox 360 games will start to look better as a result."

When asked about whether developers of third party titles will switch to the PS3 as the native development platform, SCEA's Vice President of Product marketing cites Burnout Paradise as "a great example of a game that shipped fairly recently that showed what you can do if you start originally on PS3" and that "as they realize that if you start on the PS3 other platforms look better, it starts to become a no-brainer." That's the mantra Sony's been promoting since GDC, when they introduced PhyreEngine.


With major multiplatform titles like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge declaring PS3 as its lead development platform, we'll soon have points of comparison to either validate or debunk Steinberg's statements.

 

[V1N]

Sounds good to me, it was pretty obvious to everyone that 360 -> PS3 ports didn't work too well, so it's good a compromise may have been found.

Indeed, in fact better still, it seems doing things this way around improves things on both consoles, so a win-win situation for all.

Crappy ports were just, frustrating! (and crap!)

Vin.

 

[V1N]

Sounds good, 360 > PS3 ports are bad so i can understand doing it the opposite may lead to better results on both platforms.But of course we would have to see it first.

I think many developers may be hesitant to develop for the PS3 first because of it being harder to code for.

Yeah, but I think now some of them are getting their heads around it, things are getting better. As said before with the Burnout Paradise guys, they even improved performance on the 360 version as a result of doing this. I guess they're making better use of the SPUs, and after getting to grips with the Cell architecture a bit better, can also optimize their code across all three cores of the 360 CPU too

Vin.

 

[V1N]

Rockstar never have been the kings of graphics or optimisation so i wouldn't ever class them as a decent example. The orange box is a terrible example as completely different teams developed each port - valve dealt with the 360 port and then they palmed off the ps3 port to EA (because Doug Lombardi hates the PS3) and they made a hash of it.

The PS3 is capable of things just as impressive as the 360, titles such as drakes and MGS4 prove it is capable of matching it. It's just clearly porting code for the 360 to the ps3 is cumbersome. This makes sense as the PS3 has many more smaller cores, splitting a single large processing thread into many is much more difficult than simply consolidating multiple small threads.

Speaking of EA there, which can be like mentioning the Devil these days
I was surprised to read this a few days ago.

EA released their incredibly dry Q1 financial report for investors last night. Nestled amongst the self-congratulations and expectations for the future lie some interesting numbers regarding console-specific income. Put bluntly, the PS3 is EA's largest source of income right now, and has been since the beginning of 2008. Not bad for a console Riccitiello regrets backing.

For those of you who can't get enough of numbers, here's a breakdown how much, in millions, each console brought to the EA table at the end of Q1 2008 (April - June) . Bracketed numbers show the amount of income generated during the same period last year, followed by the percentage increase. For more details, including plenty of fun tabulated data, check out the report for yourself.

PS3: 139mln (13mln, 969%)
360: 81mln (47mln, 72%)
PS2: 79mln (61mln, 30%)
Wii: 57mln (29mln, 97%)

That quite surprised me, as I thought about a year to 14 months ago that the EA stuff on PS3 was pretty awful?

Their stuff is obviously selling now!
Vin.

EDIT: Mind you, I'm not sure about Rockstar not being kings of graphics and optimization.... well.... no, they're not kings, but I do look forward to seeing what the PC version of GTA IV looks and runs like when the time comes... and I think it's fair to assume that the time WILL come I may flog my PS3 version off then... GTA IV is the first GTA game I bought for a console, played all the rest on the PC, all the way back to the original GTA with 3dfx acceleration!

 

[V1N]

PSP would be crap without custom firmware.

I've asked before, but I shall ask again.

I have a PSP slim.

I have the latest standard firmware.
With the exception of piracy, what's the benefit of a custom firmware?

I'm not being assy, just asking, as if it's really good, I shall look into installing a custom firmware myself, I'm just not interested in piracy.

Vin.

 

[V1N]

The PS3 remote can be useful, that's CFW only.

and I'm guessing emulation will count as piracy (which is stupid) as there's no way to get SNES games on the go any other way.

I only use my PSP for PS1/SNES games mainly, so I don't really know what else you can do with the custom firmware, but other homebew apps do exist I believe.

I'm sure you can find some info around various PSP sites.

Fair enough.

That doesn't interest me overly.
For emulated games, I have many favourites ona Capcom Classics UMD, and also Space Invaders Extreme takes care of some old school shooty gaming.

The idea of installing games on the memory card appeal a great deal more, but I guess this still involves downloaded them, ie. piracy? Or with custom firmware, can you literally copy a UMD onto a memory stick and play from there? If so, that would be a good reason..

Vin.