Quote:
Originally Posted by solemnclockwork
Actually no it doesn't. It has potential with the design of the system, but just that.
PS3 is Not More Powerful than Xbox 360, says Ex-Harmonix Dev - Video Game Features, PC Game Features
First and foremost, Booth doesn't think PS3 really has a graphical advantage. Why? "Fill rate is one of the primary ways to measure graphics performance - in essence, it's a number describing how many pixel operations you can perform. The fill rate on the PS3 is significantly slower than on the 360, meaning that games either have to run at lower resolution or use simpler shader effects to achieve the same performance," he says. "Additionally, the shader processing on the PS3 is significantly slower than on the 360, which means that a normal map takes more fill rate to draw on the PS3 than it does on the 360. And I'm not talking about small differences here, we're talking roughly half the pixel pushing power."
He also suggests that Blu-ray is not really an advantage: "[It's] great for watching movies, but not so great for games. Getting data off the Blu-ray drive takes about twice as long as it does to get the same data off the 360's DVD drive. That translates into longer load times, or god forbid if you're streaming from disk, tighter constraints on the amount of data you can stream."
He adds, "For instance, in Resistance: Fall of Man, every art asset is stored on disk once for every level that uses it. So rather than storing one copy of a texture, you're storing it 12 times. If you took that entire game and removed all the duplicate data, it would likely fit on a DVD without any problem."
Ultimately, Booth says "the performance centric research into the PS3 has been around making it easier for developers to get the same level of performance you get out of the 360 naturally... developers must spend significantly more time and resources getting the PS3 to do what the 360 can already do easily and with a lot less code... On top of this, there is shrinking incentive to do this work; the PS3 isn't selling."
More articles to read
Playstation 3 vs. XBOX 360 - A Game Developer's Perspective - hardCOREware.net
Playstation 3 vs. XBOX 360 – One Year Later |
These articles are 2 years old and are irrelevant in the current situation, which is different.
Kotaku reported this week that Sony Computer Entertainment have introduced new developer tools this month across all territories. These new core tools will now cost developers to the tune of US $2,000, €1,700 and JPY 200,000 respectively, going some way to help studios in financial difficultly bring games to the market at a lower cost.
Sony claim:
“
Having the same form factor as the commercially available PS3, the new Reference Tool models 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.”
Kotaku go on to report that Sony are not stopping there with a new developer kit that focuses on productivity and quality called “SNC PPU toolchain for PLAYSTATION 3″, which we’ll just refer to as SNC forever more, also made available. SNC has already been used in AAA titles like Fallout 3, Killzone 2 and Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) 3, making developers’ lives a little easier during the development process.
These updated (and lower priced) tools go a long way in making the PS3 more attractive to develop on. Don’t forget that Sony’s updated PhyreEngine is also adding new tools to developers’ belts in terms of graphical modes and techniques such as foliage animation.
PS3 getting easier and cheaper to develop for – Sony
Here's another interesting article to read:
Killzone developer says PS3 dev easier than PS2