Home Gaming Midway -Developing for the PS3 a “Pain in the ass”

Midway -Developing for the PS3 a “Pain in the ass”

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ps3-vs-xbox360

Shaun Himmerick, Executive Producer on Midway’s imminent Vin Diesel vehicle Wheelman, like many developers, thinks the PS3 is a difficult machine to develop for.

Whereas most developers skirt around the issues of why it’s so problematic to make games for Sony’s media megalith, he’s not one to pussyfoot about.

Find out the source of his PS3 aversion after the jump!

“The politically incorrect answer is that the PS3 is a huge pain in the ass. Anyone making a game, if you’re going to make it for both [360 and PS3], just lead on the PS3 because if it works on the PS3 it’ll work on 360.

The easiest way to look at it is, the 360 has one big chunk of memory, but the PS3 has two chunks of memory that in total are the same size as the Xbox, but because they’re split you can’t share memory the same way. That will bite you in the ass, and it bit us in the ass bad.

We had to play catch up on the PS3 because of the memory constraints and how it renders, how it processes is just different. And it’s harder on the PS3. The Xbox is just like a dumb PC, which is great because it’s easier to build a game on a PC.”

Is he subtly saying that the 360 is the more capable machine – despite being a dumb PC – or is he just another one of those “lazy devs” PS3 fans loathe so much?

Source : Dpad Magzine

Last Updated: February 26, 2009

30 Comments

  1. easy

    February 26, 2009 at 15:11

    a bit of both i suspect
    dumb pc is not entirely flattering for the now next gen console… slap in the face for ms?

    Reply

  2. spl0it

    February 26, 2009 at 15:16

    You can be dumb and strong

    Reply

  3. Banana hammock

    February 26, 2009 at 15:29

    Lol Lazy, how come the headline doesn’t read:

    Midway says XboX 360 is a “Bumb PC” ?

    This is why the PS3 fanboys think you are pro XboX.

    I can’t read stuff like this anymore. I think it’s clear from games like Gears2 and MGS4 and HALO3 and KZ2 that both machines are very capable.

    Reply

  4. RivaZA

    February 26, 2009 at 15:45

    One thing I don’t get is the statement that the 360 is more like a PC, in that it has one lot of memory. But all the PCs that I have had, there was the main memory and memory on the graphics card just like it is on the PS3. It was only the cheap and nasty PCs with integrated graphics chips that used unified memory. And even then it is not really unified as the amount of memory that system would use for the graphics was always fixed either in hardcoding or in the bios, the the end result being that the system mem and the graphics mem are two separate mem pools even though they come from the same physical ram.

    Reply

  5. abev

    February 26, 2009 at 18:12

    Meh as far as Im concerned, devs no longer can use this excuse. Uncharted, GT5p, Heavenly Sword, MGS4, Killzone2?

    Reply

  6. ocelot

    February 26, 2009 at 19:20

    Midway’s games this entire generation have been ass. Why do they even bother?

    Reply

  7. RogueOne

    February 26, 2009 at 19:31

    the article did’nt say anything about either not being capable. It said that one is more of a pain to make games for.

    Reply

  8. baba

    February 26, 2009 at 20:27

    Geoff said : Is he subtly saying that the 360 is the more capable machine

    Where do you suck that out? He is saying that the PS3 is harder to develop for, in other words, they are a bunch of lazy ass developers that has no intention in getting the best out of either platform.

    Reply

  9. Geoff

    February 26, 2009 at 20:38

    He said “lead on the PS3 because if it works on the PS3 it’ll work on 360,” which contains within it the inference that the 360 is the more capable of the two.

    Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with him, that’s what I take from his statement.

    Reply

  10. LazySAGamer

    February 26, 2009 at 21:23

    Hey don’t blame me on this one, I didn’t write it 🙂

    But seriously the statement against the PS3 is more severe than the statement against the Xbox and if we were pro xbox we would have just left his dig at the Xbox out of the article.

    Reply

  11. mattsplatt

    February 26, 2009 at 21:24

    @RivaZA, I don’t think he means quite that sense – the design of the PS3’s rendering architecture apparently unifies geometry and physics data. Perhaps it’s to do with the Cell architecture?

    Reply

  12. Geoff

    February 26, 2009 at 21:25

    The gist of the article, its source and the original interview is that the PS3 is a difficult machine to develop for, thus the title.

    Reply

  13. Rudolph

    February 27, 2009 at 07:22

    Well you’ve got to look at the history of the companies as well. MS has been building extensible platforms and development tools for decades, where as sony has only started with the PS1.

    That being said, the developers have been asking for better dev tools since the PS1 and Sony just refuses to listen.

    Reply

  14. BHW

    February 27, 2009 at 08:32

    I can never understand why when a developer says “the PS3 is difficult to develop for” the pro PS3 lobby will cite games that took 150 people 4 years to make as examples of how easy the PS3 is to develop for.

    Reply

  15. janrik

    February 27, 2009 at 08:36

    For a 2005 spec PC, I think the XBOX does really well.

    How many 2005 PC’s can still run the latest games?

    Reply

  16. SlippyMadFrog

    February 27, 2009 at 09:14

    Accusing devs of being lazy is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It’s about the ROI. Is it worth “not being lazy” and working your ass off for years and spending a ton of resources to release a good looking game on the PS3 only to get mediocre sales? If you accuse people of being “lazy”, why not accuse Sony because they released the half-assed dev tools the developers are struggling with.
    It seems like devs started to get lazy around the time the PS3 was released, coincidence?

    Reply

  17. SlippyMadFrog

    February 27, 2009 at 09:20

    “This is why the PS3 fanboys think you are pro XboX”
    For reporting on what a dev said? Thats like saying SABC news is pro-DA for reporting on Zuma accusations. It’s just news, deal with it.

    Reply

  18. baba

    February 27, 2009 at 09:48

    I kind of agree with you there, but I think, in general, when you accuse a developer of being lazy you’re actually referring to their ability to work with the hardware they’re given. Sony can bring out the best DEV kit available for game development, but if developers don’t get down with the nitty gritty of the architecture they’re not going to perform on that platform.

    Same applies to the 360. It is easy to program for, but to get it to perform you really have to study the hardware architecture and optimize where necessary.

    Reply

  19. WitWolfyZA

    February 27, 2009 at 09:50

    That would explain why ported games for the PS3 always look some what under achieved than the “Dumb Pc” console
    as mentioned above. the devs just dont want to put that much time in porting the whole game in the same qaulity as the Xbox. Damn Sony dev tools that was programmed on windows 3.1 lol

    Reply

  20. SlippyMadFrog

    February 27, 2009 at 10:08

    I agree with what you are saying but getting down with the nitty gritty of the PS3 consumes more time and resources than the Xbox360. If Wheelman was guarenteed to sell 3 million copies on the PS3 if it looks graphically stunning then it would have been a different case but the extra effort put into the PS3 port goes unrewarded since the installbase is lower and Wheelman isn’t really an anticipated title.

    Reply

  21. RogueOne

    February 27, 2009 at 10:11

    well said SlippyMadFrog

    Reply

  22. trin

    February 27, 2009 at 12:05

    Midway should get tips from naughty Dog. Clearly they aren’t having any ‘issues’

    Reply

  23. Geoff

    February 27, 2009 at 12:13

    While that is indeed true, I suspect that’s because they’re a 1st party developer. Multiplatform developers neither have the time nor the money to sink in to getting everything running as efficiently on the PS3 as they’d like.

    Reply

  24. Genius

    February 27, 2009 at 12:20

    You are a moron! :angry:

    Reply

  25. DarthPenguin

    February 27, 2009 at 12:58

    Well said BHW…

    Reply

  26. DarthPenguin

    February 27, 2009 at 13:01

    He is far from it… hes one of the most knowledgable and hosest guys on these forums… :biggrin:

    Reply

  27. DarthPenguin

    February 27, 2009 at 13:02

    Also, Naughty dog make the game for nothing but the PS3, have a massive team, and take many years when they start a new project. Not all companies can afford to put that much man power and time into a single project.

    Reply

  28. LazySAGamer

    February 27, 2009 at 13:06

    We don’t actually have forums… but it is a constant on and off debate….

    But year Slippy is no moron, even when he is attacking me 🙂

    Reply

  29. SlippyMadFrog

    February 27, 2009 at 14:37

    I are no moron

    Reply

  30. WitWolfyZA

    March 2, 2009 at 08:15

    Wel having said that we al know that team eco has something brilliant up their sleeve. Cant wait to see what they have lining up

    Reply

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