Developers Discontent With PS3 Development Tools

[Hardknock]

http://game-science.com/news/001249.php

Diamond reports developer discontent with PS3 tools

The latest issue of Japanese economic magazine, Weekly Diamond, reveals that developers are unhappy with the state of PS3 development tools, and software is likely to be late in coming for the hardware. The article states that PS3 dev tools have only just started shipping to developers this month, while 360 tools were shipped last summer. Furthermore, SCE has not yet decided prices for previously announced middleware tools, leaving developers feeling very restless. The strongest words came from a developer at Square Enix, who stated that Sony will pay for their mistakes.

 

[wco81]

I don't think the font on that bolded sentence is big enough.

Make it in red while you're at it.

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

I like how the quote keeps changing... I'm not sure these guys are able to translate the thing properly. There's a new comment in place of that.

The latest issue of Japanese economy magazine, Weekly Diamond, reveals that developers are unhappy with the state of PS3 development tools, and software is likely to be late in coming for the hardware. The article states that PS3 dev tools have only just started shipping to developers this month, while 360 tools were shipped last summer. Furthermore, SCE has not yet announced the price of the console, so developers are unable to predict what audience they are targetting games at. President of Enterbrian, Hirokazu Hamamura, says "We are unlikely to see games exhibiting a level only PS3 can achieve until the end of 2007.

The article goes on to compare the benefits of PS2 as a cheap DVD player when it launched in 2000, with PS3's Blu-Ray playback capabilities, the main difference between then and now being that the industry is currently deep in a format-war for next-generation video, and that Blu-Ray movies still don't exist. It is therefore deduced that the number of users who will pick it up as a cheap Blu-Ray player at launch is somewhat smaller, and that sales of game software will be key for the system.

I posted the whole things, because it's changed so I thought for preservation sake.

 

[Bobbler]

This thread seems like its off to a great start.

I would like to see the entire article and know the actual context of the said comment though. I'm sure Hardknock would love for us to believe that the SE dev is now after Sony blood, but I have a feeling it was a much more harmless statement along the lines of "sony will pay for it, in that some games may not be up to the standards, because development tools weren't released early enough". Maybe I'm crazy, though.

 

[darkblu]

indeed.

 

[BlueTsunami]

Check the link again, its been updated.

 

[Hardknock]

I don't think the font on that bolded sentence is big enough.

Make it in red while you're at it.

I laughed out loud at that. heh.

 

[AlphaWolf]

We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.




We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

 

[Hardknock]

I like how the quote keeps changing... I'm not sure these guys are able to translate the thing properly. There's a new comment in place of that.



I posted the whole things, because it's changed so I thought for preservation sake.

Yeah the quote was changed. I wasn't trying to mislead anyone, I was only reporting what was there.

 

[robofunk]

Are poor/late dev tools the biggest threat to a delayed PS3 launch?

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Yeah the quote was changed. I wasn't trying to mislead anyone, I was only reporting what was there.

No worries, I know... I actually saw the quote a while ago on GAF.


I dunno how much of a problem this is really. Unless the PS3 is launching a lot earlier than we expect, it's more of the same old bellyaching you hear from a dev. rushed at launch. We heard this with 360, now we're starting to hear it with PS3. Hopefully, Nintendo will be a little more in control of things, but I rather doubt it. Launch games tend to stink for a reason.

 

[mckmas8808]

Well if the X360 has a huge jump on dev time I sure as hell couldn't tell it. If PS3 look worst then I expect pigs to be flying the night of the PS3 release. And didn't SE show FFVII demo which they made in 6 weeks and actually bragged about saying that it could have looked much better with more development time.

Reminder in case you forgot what the FFVII demo looked like.

 

[Hardknock]

You know what's funny? When I first saw this video and screenshots I was blown away. Now after seeing GoW, MGS4, RE5, PGR3 and other games it's not so impressive. Not trying to take anything away from Square, but I'm positive they can do so much more with a Next-gen system. Should be exciting.

 

[mckmas8808]

You know what's funny? When I first saw this video and screenshots I was blown away. Now after seeing GoW, MGS4, RE5, PGR3 and other games it's not so impressive. Not trying to take anything away from Square, but I'm positive they can do so much more with a Next-gen system. Should be exciting.

Well to be far they did create that in 6 weeks will the others were creating their demos and games for months. 6 weeks in not a long time at all. SE themselves said that with more time it would have looked much better.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Did you forget SE made a demo for MS as well at E3? The GFX where the same level of quality.

Anyways, I wopuldn't be surprised to see X360's x-mas line-up of 2nd generation games be superior graphically to the first generation launch line-up for PS3, but only because Dev's will have had a full year with the final system.

Also by all accounts things are going rather slowly for the PS3 dev's, so I don't know how much we can expect to see next year.

 

[liverkick]

Did you forget SE made a demo for MS as well at E3? The GFX where the same level of quality.

I dont recall this, why didnt it get more hype? Actually dont answer that. Is there still a link anywhere?

Anyways, I wopuldn't be surprised to see X360's x-mas line-up of 2nd generation games be superior graphically to the first generation launch line-up for PS3, but only because Dev's will have had a full year with the final system.

360's final kit went out to developers in August right? PS3 reference tool goes out this December according to the roadmap. Thats about a 4 month difference. Im speaking as a layman here but Im having trouble seeing 360 development being a generations worth more mature when Xmas '06 rolls around. More time would be an advantage Im sure but I dont think its enough to make a big impact considering the hardware is pretty comparable. Tools are another debate but a lot of that is filtered conjecture at this point.

 

[_phil_]

This thread started on a completly false argument.

The article states that PS3 dev tools have only just started shipping to developers this month

...or that guy have been on long hollyday on a desert island from last june/july

 

[-tkf-]

Im speaking as a layman here but Im having trouble seeing 360 development being a generations worth more mature when Xmas '06 rolls around.

Isn't the strong point on MS part that their developers have had access to the software tools for a longer period than the Sony developers.

 

[Xenus]

It is talking from a software point of view and it is true that Sony just started shipping a bunch of middleware tools recently.

 

[liverkick]

Isn't the strong point on MS part that their developers have had access to the software tools for a longer period than the Sony developers.

Im sure its a strong point as far as early efficiency is concerned but Im saying I dont understand how it will result in much of a visual jump over the PS3 by Xmas 06. It doesnt seem like that big of a gap to me. In general I doubt we'll see either system really hit their respective strides with 1st party software until well into Q3/Q4 of '07, which would be about par for the course in a console cycle.