Seven Things That the Xbox 360 Does Better Than Anyone Else

[dukmahsik]

http://www.firingsquad.com/games/xbox_360_positive_features/

#1: Well-balanced development environment

"It's hard to really get a sense of how good the Xbox 360 development environment is in comparison to the competition. While PS3 and Revolution developer materials and hardware exist, there's still time for Sony and Nintendo to evolve and improve their documentation and tools. At the same time, while Xbox 360 has an existing development environment, you can be sure that it too will evolve over time to meet new requirements. That said, in a chat with several multi-platform developers, it's unanimous that the documentation and tools of the Xbox 360 are exemplary. They've told us that it substantially better than the PS3 and is even better than Nintendo's development tools in some ways. This is an important comment because Nintendo has long been considered the benchmark and because the Xbox 360 is inherently a more complex machine."

 

[cloudscapes]

Obviously the 360s devkits are the best right now because the Revolution and PS3 kits hardly exist. Those consoles aren't finished yet, while the 360 is and has been for several weeks. It's like saying "the Doom 3 engine is more popular among players and modders than the Unreal 3 engine, therefore it is better". I wish I could say more about the devkits but I'd be going against my NDA. I can say that it is a highly unfair comparison though.

go go bias

Lets wait till they're ALL out before comparing the three. otherwise it just doesn't make sense.

 

[dukmahsik]

they did this article because they had an article on "11 things that 360 sucks at" or something similar.

 

[cloudscapes]

I hate it when companies/sites do this. It's a juvenile as "my dad is bigger than your dad" to me.

 

[EndR]

but still..
Isn´t it a "known fact" that MS support and documentation is one of the best in the biz? Software is their DNA, so it should be safe to say that the tools/documentation etc they have are among the best, IF NOT the best...

it isn´t far fetched to say that...

 

[skilzygw]

What do you think, sony and nintendo wait for dev kits to be out to send out other forms of kit, software and documentation?

They would never get their games out in time for launch if they did.

 

[cloudscapes]

What do you think, sony and nintendo wait for dev kits to be out to send out other forms of kit, software and documentation?

They would never get their games out in time for launch if they did.

Of course not. I was just sayign it's an unfair comparison because Microsoft has the final kit/product out and ready before the others.

 

[expletive]

Of course not. I was just sayign it's an unfair comparison because Microsoft has the final kit/product out and ready before the others.

Hardware aside, is the development software going to change all that much on the other platforms? I'm sure it will 'improve' but so will the 360 (XNA studio?) as time goes on. This isnt exactly the first time this has been pointed out, with plenty of other times given by developers, so im not sure why youre taking such exception to it.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Of course not. I was just sayign it's an unfair comparison because Microsoft has the final kit/product out and ready before the others.

why? this is what the PS3 dev's have to work with for their launch games coming up in less than 3 or 4 months right? So, it should be at least fairly well along at this point in time.

MS will improve just as Sony improves, the whole XNA suite doesn't even launch until later this year, so the MS documentation and dev tools are also not 'final'

 

[cloudscapes]

Maybe I have no idea what I'm talkign about because it's friday and I'm tired. That's just the feeling I get when I hear about articles trying to compare finished and unfinished/less-documented. I get bitter about it.

 

[Joe DeFuria]

Well, that's what tends to happen when one product is finished and the others aren't.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Maybe I have no idea what I'm talkign about because it's friday and I'm tired. That's just the feeling I get when I hear about articles trying to compare finished and unfinished/less-documented. I get bitter about it.

well both sets of documentation and tools are 'unfinished'. right?

360 maybe has a 6 month headstart, but it will always have that headstart.

 

[EndR]

why? this is what the PS3 dev's have to work with for their launch games coming up in less than 3 or 4 months right? So, it should be at least fairly well along at this point in time.

MS will improve just as Sony improves, the whole XNA suite doesn't even launch until later this year, so the MS documentation and dev tools are also not 'final'

I think that J Allard said that XNA would be ready for GDC and that he "personally" would hand it out to all devs...

 

[Nesh]

Obviously the 360s devkits are the best right now because the Revolution and PS3 kits hardly exist. Those consoles aren't finished yet, while the 360 is and has been for several weeks. It's like saying "the Doom 3 engine is more popular among players and modders than the Unreal 3 engine, therefore it is better". I wish I could say more about the devkits but I'd be going against my NDA. I can say that it is a highly unfair comparison though.

go go bias

Lets wait till they're ALL out before comparing the three. otherwise it just doesn't make sense.

where do you work for buddy?
If you are allowed to tell ofcourse