The PS3 is a Waste of Time

[CSN NewsBot]

Next Generation has a little more from Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder, about just how much he hates programming for the PS3. Let's find a juicy quote, shall we?

Edge: A while ago you said that you thought Sony should do a 'do-over' with PS3. Do you still think that?



GN: Absolutely. I think [PS3 is] a waste of everybody’s time. Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There’s nothing there that you’re going to apply to anything else. You’re not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they’ve created. I don’t think they’re going to make money off their box. I don’t think it’s a good solution.

They don't come any more tasty than that quote right there. Oh sure, there's a ton of additional information in the interview, including what the future has in store for Steam, what Gabe thinks of the 360, and just how well does the Source engine stack up against the competition?



All of that, and more, can be found at Next Generation.

[snkcube]

Let the flame wars begin!

[wolf8218]

Gabe is only speaking from the perspective of a Multi-platform game developer. SCEA and certain third party developers will be concentrating on CELL exclusively for the next couple of years, which WILL yield better performance. The thing is, you can't compare it to cross-platformers because of it being CELL-only. So it's a waste of time for those who only want to make generation wide (PC-Xbox360-PS3) games.

[Diamond Dust]

Wolf knows whats up. It's a drain for the ps3 only developers wallets also though. You either need to allow programmers time to learn the details of architecture (which time = money obviously) or hire people who already know the architecture (I would assume you would have to pay them more than usual). And it's not like the ps3 is more profitable to make games for than the other platforms. So as a developer there is a negative to being ps3 only (even though it's not as big as being multi-platform it's still bad).

[omgomgz]

So why would a new developer want to create a game for PS3? Is the point not to make it easier for all developers so you can have more games and make more money?

[Thortok2000]

PS3 advertises it as being easier once you learn it, and then once people do, they trap them into exclusivity.



My guess anyway.

[m4elite]

amazing headline..

[meowmeow]

lol... You couldn't come up with a better headline than that... you just have to hate on Sony don't you.



*wiggles finger at you

[wolf8218]

omgomgz wrote..

So why would a new developer want to create a game for PS3? Is the point not to make it easier for all developers so you can have more games and make more money?

Again, it's profitable for Sony, (SCEA), to make games that are exclusive to its own platform. Sony will either use in-house developers or contract third-party studios to make these exclusive games. I'm thinking that once these third parties have worked with PS3, they will continue to do so, since there are not as many PS3-specific developers around. (Which means more PS3 exclusives)

[aras_se]

I thought the CAKE was here!

[DaRk-AnGeL]

Hmmmm, I agree with Gabe on this to an extent.



But damn, some of the PS3 stuff looks amazing, whereas multi format titles still have that shitty generic look about them anyway that doesn't merit spending so much extra money.



For instance, any EA Sports 2006/7/8 brand game...



Tiger Woods 2008 even looks like trash on my XBOX360 as does Tony Hawks. I regret buying them.



Playing through Skate on my xbox360 atm, hot damn its one fun game :)

[Bokuho]

Thortok2000 wrote..

PS3 advertises it as being easier once you learn it, and then once people do, they trap them into exclusivity.



My guess anyway.

Well considering MGS, GTA, VF5, and probably now even FFXIII are all headed for the 360 as their primary platform instead of the PS3... really, really no. Exclusivity to the PS3? Doesn't exist.

DaRk-AnGeL wrote..

Hmmmm, I agree with Gabe on this to an extent.



But damn, some of the PS3 stuff looks amazing, whereas multi format titles still have that shitty generic look about them anyway that doesn't merit spending so much extra money.



For instance, any EA Sports 2006/7/8 brand game...



Tiger Woods 2008 even looks like trash on my XBOX360 as does Tony Hawks. I regret buying them.



Playing through Skate on my xbox360 atm, hot damn its one fun game :)

This is because EA have always been a third-rate developer/publisher. What the hell were you expecting? Most (normal) people took the hint and stopped buying their games years ago.

[DaRk-AnGeL]

Bokuho wrote..

This is because EA have always been a third-rate developer/publisher. What the hell were you expecting? Most (normal) people took the hint and stopped buying their games years ago.

1) I stopped buying EA franchise games a long time ago, I realise they are a half arsed sequel style of game year in year out. Alas I didn't own a golf title for my 360 so I purchased TW2008.



2) Skate is actually rather good as far as games go.

[pwnedbyIbanez]

Valve isn't even building the ps3 version of the Orange Box- it's one of the EA studios; so how would he know about building a game w/ the ps3 architecture?



Instead of complaining about some piece of hardware's architecture, why doesn't he actually do something beneficial for his company and take out some of the bloated code out of the HL engine? (Seriously, why am I getting as many fps'es on the Source engine as I am on the old HL engine? The GoldSrc should be a lot higher)

[Zips]

pwnedbyIbanez wrote..

Valve isn't even building the ps3 version of the Orange Box- it's one of the EA studios; so how would he know about building a game w/ the ps3 architecture?

Obviously they have tried to program for the PS3, found it was a POS to try and code for (as I've heard from a few other developers -coughs-) and they left it in EA's hands.

Instead of complaining about some piece of hardware's architecture, why doesn't he actually do something beneficial for his company and take out some of the bloated code out of the HL engine? (Seriously, why am I getting as many fps'es on the Source engine as I am on the old HL engine? The GoldSrc should be a lot higher)

Try changing to the developer mode in the gldsrc engine, and upping your fps_max to 9999. You'll see that it is higher than what you could achieve in the Source engine titles.