Valve's Gabe Newell comes down hard on PS3
Though Newell is one of the few developers in a position to speak out on the system (we would too if our game was rocking a 98 on Metacritic), a slew of PS3 game delays have us wondering: Is he speaking the minds of more than we know?
[Via CVG]
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
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He worked for MS for 13 years before starting Valve.
We all know that he is only reflecting what other devs are saying/telling him but are too worried about their careers to come out and say it!
WELL DONE GABE!
Unfortunately for Sony, they were wrong. The PS3 isn't and won't sell nearly as well as the PS2 which means the PS3 isn't as much of an economical incentive for devs to learn the architecture.
I think Sony's miscalculation was that if it designed a console that was able to produce graphics the likes of PC's the architecture should have been more like a PC, for ease of development, and for greater ease in porting from PC to PS3. 360 is the perfect example of this.
The PS3 is the new PS2 without all the millions sold. Good luck to Sony in trying and make devs submit this generation. It is unfortunate that everything Newell said is correct.
Have you seen the Killzone 2 dev papers? Some SPUs are being used very little, and none is used completely, it can still be pushed. It's very difficult but I bet it can be very, very rewarding architecture. It just doesn't have a very powerful PPC component on which to run the main game loop, but that doesn't seem to be a problem.
sometimes I wonder if in future revisions of Cell, there will be a stronger PPC, possibly dual-core... maybe at 45nm?
I bet Gabe Newell dreams about it.
While that strategy may eventually work out financially, it is no doubt hurting the PS3. Sony figured they could push bluray and the cell with the PS3, effectively maxing its cost with one and difficulty to make games for with the other, and still sell on brand name alone.
If Sony had made a system like the 360 only without RRoD and launched with the 360, they'd be pwning this generation. Instead they got greedy and tried to use the PS3 as a blunt instrument to catapult bluray and cell into other applications.
Again, their strategy may turn out wise overall, but it will certainly hurt the PS3 and especially the loyal Playstation fans that still have to talk about Resistance. ;)
So he hates the CELL(multi-core)...but has not choice but to program for multicores. ?????
that was surprisingly harsh
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...who do I root for?!
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I would also like to add that I'm sure 50% of people probably used to kiss Romero's feet at one point. My point being that the fanboys on this site are as fickle as Peter Moore.
SONY DEFENSE FORCE UNITE!!1!one!
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But yeah, coming from Valve, it would make most other companies think - but Sony...not so much I'm sure.
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If you're choosing to create a unique architecture that is difficult to learn for developers, you need to also create an incentive to spend the time to learn it. Sony's crippling price point and poor marketing have severely limited that incentive.
The PS2 was by all accounts the most inferior console of last generation (not including DC). It did not succeed because of the emotion engine, it succeeded by being first to market, capitalizing on the blossoming DVD market, and gaining a sizable install base that attracted devs and provided incentive to learn the architecture. PS3 is missing all of the things that made PS2 a success.
As to the statements made....this is nothing new, it's just nice to hear it said buy a dev instead of a media outlet.
wii FTL!!!
360 FTW!!!
I own all three so im not a MS fanboy, im just sayin, i haven't played my wii in the last 3 months, and anything good that has come out on the ps3 has been better on the 360. The only non360 game that im lookin forward to is Metal Gear. That game will be flippin sweet! Im pulling for all 3 systems, but face it the 360 is hot, no seriously...it's hot, it's about to overheat...RROD!! Aghhhhh....
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He was licking toads. I know this for a fact. Do not question it.
Also about the news, damn, he was a little harsh. A little brash, but I really don't care too much for the PS3 myself. Maybe one day.
Bioshock, Halo 3, the Darkness, and a few others were just more compelling at drawing my time in the end.
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It's a 2-way street. Everyone else could have adopted to BluRay instead of going to HD-DVD. The patent holders for both formats want to be the money makers, so they fought it out and created another format war.
Also, they deserve it, just like Nintendo deserved it... well more...
holy shit, i may get my wish after all, go HD-DVD!
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Still, if the PS3 ends up being the gamecube of this generation, they can probably use the cell in the PS4. Thus, they will be the first console (I think) to just upgrade the processor and not replace it between generations.
Every time a game is delayed, its not "We can't just port the code from PC and we're having trouble with something new", which would be fine, its "the PS3's hardware is bad, bawwww. We're awesome programmers, its all Sony's fault".
GRAW2 team said it was easy, and they made the first really good port of a Ubisoft game to a Sony console. Insomniac, Naughty Dog and Incognito haven't complained about it, and they've made great looking games with soild fram rates. I didn't see any hiccups in the beta MGS4. Capcom isn't having trouble with DMC4.
And for not getting anything out of the SPEs, he should go talk to Folding. I realize folding isn't a game, but it is doing complex calculations, which is what games are made of.