Dev Interview: F.E.A.R.

["Nerve-Damage"]

F.E.A.R. Interview for PS3

In terms of visual enhancements our main goal was to recreate the visuals you would get playing F.E.A.R. on a really high end PC, which I feel Day One accomplished nicely. HDR lighting was added to the console versions. The addition of HDR enhances the look and feel of the environments.

PSU: Which aspect of the PS3's hardware is most exciting to your team?

Chris McCue: I think the most exciting part of the hardware is the SPUs, because that’s where the real power of the PS3 lies. The SPUs have an incredible amount of processing capability but they can be challenging to use because they can only work on small chunks of data at a time. Certain parts of the game engine (such as sound and physics) can be broken up into those small chunks more easily than others (such as AI and higher-level gameplay). I think the full power of the PS3 will start to emerge as developers get more comfortable working with the SPUs and find more clever ways of breaking up their engine, and that is exciting!

PSU: How is your experience with the CELL and the RSX, what are the advantages and disadvantages of the PS3 hardware?

McCue: The major advantage of the PS3 hardware over other hardware is, as mentioned before, the power of the SPUs. Their raw number-crunching ability is superior to anything its competitors have to offer. The major disadvantage is, in my opinion, the complexity of the system. The RSX and the individual SPUs each have their own dedicated memory and each processor has different rules as to which memories it can access and how fast it can do so. This type of arrangement is considerably more difficult to program for than a system like the Xbox 360 where the CPUs are all alike and they each can see all of the memory.

 

[Todd33]

Why not post a link and the whole raw text and leave the bias out? We are smart enough to read a small interview without your help, though a few others around here will love your emphasis

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

Why not post a link and the whole raw text and leave the bias out? We are smart enough to read a small interview without your help, though a few others around here will love your emphasis

Link was posted and full articles/interviews are not allowed.




P.S. People usually post the catch stuff (PR, BS, Fud, ETC…) to spark debate.

 

[pakotlar]

Why not post a link and the whole raw text and leave the bias out? We are smart enough to read a small interview without your help, though a few others around here will love your emphasis

Its his post, 1st amendment, he can bold whatever the heck he wants. What bias? I see him bolding the tech bits with regards to the PS3. He bolds 2 statements: The spu's rock, and the PS3 is more difficult to program for because of the added complexity of the split mem. archit. and the heterogenous core.

edit: Does anyone else notice that the blurry, low-res/low-res texture look hasn't improved since like 6 months ago? It seems that the dev team is having trouble programming the PS3 for this. I would have thought it would have been pretty easy considering the RSX.

 

[Geo]

Why not post a link and the whole raw text and leave the bias out? We are smart enough to read a small interview without your help, though a few others around here will love your emphasis

Might I introduce you to the concept of copyrights, "fair use", "fair dealing", and etc? Surely our FAQ, that every member knows by heart, discusses them: http://forum.beyond3d.com//faq.php?faq=b3dfaqs#faq_therules

As to "bias", well, your momma dresses you funny. I mean, really, that's about all there is to say. If we're going to get into name-calling over selecting the quotes one finds particularly interesting or relevant, then skip the fancy words and head right for the pure ad hominems. Well, you'll be banned of course, but it'd save everyone time. . . .

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

edit: Does anyone else notice that the blurry, low-res/low-res texture look hasn't improved since like 6 months ago? It seems that the dev team is having trouble programming the PS3 for this. I would have thought it would have been pretty easy considering the RSX.

I would think any game code originating from Xbox 360 or PC would run\look slightly horrid on the PS3 platform (and vise versa). If the PS3 wasn’t the lead platform or developers don’t have the resources to make the PS3 sing (perform), then there’s going to be lots of horrid-ports on the PS3…IMO.

 

[TheChefO]

Thanks for the link ND - interesting stuff. :smile:

But please no more of this biased nonsense of highlighting sections. What, are unbolded words not good enough for you?

 

[TheChefO]

I would think any game code originating from Xbox 360 or PC would run\look slightly horrid on the PS3 platform (and vise versa). If the PS3 wasn’t the lead platform or developers don’t have the resources to make the PS3 sing (perform), then there’s going to be lots of horrid-ports on the PS3…IMO.

Yeah but blurry textures? I can understand sloppy framerate etc but this is the first time I've seen a port/multi that had significantly blurrier textures. BRB - perhaps they explain.

*no luck, but I did find this bit interesting for those wondering how long this title has been in development*

PSU: What have you found hard about the PS3 in terms of development?

Bent: The hardest thing for us was that we were in development while the PS3 hardware was still in development, so we were working with a moving target. Sony was very helpful in terms of working with developers in the first wave to help ensure that we all got the most out of their very powerful hardware, but having the hardware and the SDKs that drive it changing while you are still in development certainly adds another layer of challenge to finishing a title.

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

Thanks for the link ND - interesting stuff. :smile:

But please no more of this biased nonsense of highlighting sections. What, are unbolded words not good enough for you?

Who is this bias towards (bottom quote)!?

This type of arrangement is considerably more difficult to program for than a system like the Xbox 360 where the CPUs are all alike and they each can see all of the memory.

 

[TheChefO]

Who is this bias towards (bottom quote)!?

 

["Nerve-Damage"]

it was a joke insinuating you had a bias towards bolded words but apparantly didn't connect ... oh well.

Yes, my joke meter sucks.