Sony @ GDC: Phil Harrison's Keynote

[Lycan]

"I think that the GPU of the PS3 will be easier to tap"

It's not like if the Xenos requires years and years of tapping. When it comes to graphics, consoles will be neck to neck. However, I think that PS3 has a greater potential for handling complex geomtry...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

"I think that the GPU of the PS3 will be easier to tap"

It's not like if the Xenos requires years and years of tapping.

To access Xenos it shouldn't be much more complex. To tap the full possibilities, I imagine new things will be appearing years from now. Like any complex, versatile architecture, exploring and implementing all the tricks you can takes a while. Though of course, we don't know what non-standard, open-ended options RSX has for 'playing'.

 

[Platon]

"I think that the GPU of the PS3 will be easier to tap"

It's not like if the Xenos requires years and years of tapping. When it comes to graphics, consoles will be neck to neck. However, I think that PS3 has a greater potential for handling complex geomtry...

No, I am not suggesting that Xenos is alien tech and will not be utitlized for many years to come, surely not. However, with the EDRAM, predicated tiling, memexport, unified shaders and some more stuff in there, which are quite custom made, it will take quite some time to utlize it fully. Sure, it is easy to fairly quickly get pretty things running on it, but that is not what I am really refering to...

 

[Titanio]

I both agree and dissagree. Overall, yes the PS3 might be the more difficult to tap, especially if we are to believe that the software tools from MS are so much better than the ones from Sony.

But paradoxically, I think that the GPU of the PS3 will be easier to tap, especially if it is just a mod of existsing G7x.

I was referring to "coming in at a higher level" just in terms of CPU activity there.

But to expand on some of your points:

Not only because it is a more familiar architecture and the devtools are already there

For all intents and purposes, so was 360's in terms of devtools...MS characterise the API, for example, as DX9 with some extensions, ditto PS3's is OGL/Cg with extensions.

I would go so long as to say that even the games comming out now for xbox360, have had less time on final hardware than what PS3 launch games will have.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. IGN reports that final 360 kits were out in mid-to-late August last year? That would be 7 months ago. If final silicon is hitting PS3 developers later this month as reported, that'd leave them 8 months til launch, with "final final" kits coming later in May.

I mean already at last E3 Sony had better kits, more representative of the final hardware than MS had.

True, but distribution was very very low then. When we talk about developers having nearer to final hardware, sooner, than 360, we're talking about fairly limited numbers. It's great for those devs, of course.

When I was talking earlier, again, it was just about the CPU, and it certainly is supposed to be more difficult to 'tap'. Overall I'd say it tips things toward PS3 being more difficult to tap also.

EDRAM, predicated tiling

Good usage of one really requires the other here..they're kind of one and the same.

I think it's worth noting, regarding RSX, there may be more than meets the eye also in terms of API extensions that devs may not be used to working with on 'familiar' PC hardware (see: http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29453).

 

[Titanio]

A couple more PS3 dev kit shots from GDC:

http://www.thegamefeed.com/screenshots-ps3hardware-page-1.html

You can see some features here, including wireless lan, compact flash slot etc.:

http://www.thegamefeed.com/storage/screenshots/a04ee0754b325745a35ee4e6ff7701cf.jpg

Also, apparently Gamespot is reporting that Sony has shipped 10,000 dev kits since January, but I can't source that myself - did anyone else see this?

 

[Legend]

there is an interview where they said 14000 devkits were released. but I don't know how many of those were substitutes.

http://forums.e-mpire.com/showthread.php?t=53955

 

[pipo]

Ah, but those are of course the 'pre-final' kits. You know, the model before the final and the final final kits.

Still quite a lot by the way.