SquareEnix explains why FFXIII is PS3 exclusive - DVD9 not enough

[mckmas8808]

Toriyama and Versus producer Shinji Hashimoto defended the decision to release FFXIII on the PS3. According to Hashimoto, the development staff determined that one DVD would not be enough for the type of visual expression they were attempting to make. Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor.

Motomu Toriyama, director of the main FFXIII title for the PS3, revealed to Gaimaga that scenario work for his project is 80% complete, with the game's visual engine, running on actual PS3 hardware, being nearly finished. "Now," he said, "is the time for the true start of FFXIII."

"It's the near future, so something of surprising form will appear," he said with a laugh. "Will the main character ride? That's something that we can't reveal yet. However, I was wondering if we could do something with that gyro controller."

One of the best points Gaimaga makes is in showing how closely the real-time and CG visuals in FFXIII resemble one another. The magazine has two close-up shots of the main character, one in real time, the other CG (this is the shot marked as CG in the magazine). The two are remarkably similar, right down to individual hair strands.

FFXIII won't be ditching CG movies, of course. "Based on the scale and concept of the footage we want to make, we consider either real-time or CG movies," explained Torishima. Torishima also pointed out that as close as the main character models may seem, there are differences between them on the order of millions of polygons; the models used for the CG cannot be used directly as data on the PS3.

Wow so I just all the talk around here about Blu-ray disc will get more interesting.

Thoughts?


My bad expletive http://ps3.ign.com/articles/710/710761p1.html

 

[TheChefO]

Wow so I just all the talk around here about Blu-ray disc will get more interesting.

Thoughts?

Multiple discs for rpg's are acceptable nowadays - could have just as easily been gone that route. I think there are other reasons aside from technical that drive the exclusivity of this game.

 

[blakjedi]

The only interesting thing he said was: "Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor"

I wonder what he means by that as there is nothing I can think of visually that the PS3 could do but the x360 couldn't.

 

[expletive]

Is there a link to the original story?

Doesnt make sense that DVD9 would be the reason, they could have easily done multiple discs for a game like this.

 

[Bad_Boy]

"It's the near future, so something of surprising form will appear," he said with a laugh. "Will the main character ride? That's something that we can't reveal yet. However, I was wondering if we could do something with that gyro controller."

I'm interested in that personally, I'd like to see some bike gameplay that mimics the advent children bike chases.

As for the overall topic, I'm seeing alot more devs praising BR's space capacity lately. Not that there is really anything bad to say about it from a developers standpoint.

 

[Bobbler]

The only interesting thing he said was: "Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor"

I wonder what he means by that as there is nothing I can think of visually that the PS3 could do but the x360 couldn't.

To be honest, I think that's more of a comparison between PS3 and Wii, because there was really no chance it would have landed on X360 given it's current inability to sell in Japan (where about 2/5 of their sales come from). I think you'll find a lot of Japanese developers completely ignoring X360 when doing comparison (thus, you'll find funny comments like this -- which, when taken in correct context make more sense, I think).

 

[joebloggs]

I find this more interesting:

Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor.

Reminds me of that ImpressWatch "HD problem" article where the dev described RSX as a "shader monster".

EDIT: Just read the replies and my post is redundant in which case I'll add this recent quote from Ubisoft which is quite interesting:

The RSX-chip is also a beast. Not only is it incredibly fast, but just like in the PS2 you can have each Cell-core cooperate with the RSX independently. Other graphics chips also have decent Noraml Mapping- and Shader-capabilities, but RSX adds a lot of additional specialised filters and possibilities, leading to fabulous results in the graphics department. And what is really convenient is that Nvidia has been a market-leader for years, and everyone knows the technology and way of thinking through-and-through. This decreases the learning process considerably.

Anyone know what this might mean?

 

[weaksauce]

Aww come on, you guys are talking about multiple discs when ps3 hasn't even been released!

They'll make it fit but if that's preferrable to most developers - I don't think so!

 

[mckmas8808]

Link to original article.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/710/710761p1.html

 

[Corwin_B]

According to Hashimoto, the development staff determined that one DVD would not be enough for the type of visual expression they were attempting to make.

Wonder why they released FF7 on 3 CDs back in the PS1 days instead of waiting for DVD to appear, since it seems shipping on a single physical medium is such a high priority for them.

Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor.

Yeah, because we all know that the 360 shaders are not up to the task of conveying "visual expression" (whatever that means).

This shader quote reveals the whole thing for another PR-inspired dev quote, which happen all the time for all the systems. The FF "core" series is PS-exclusive since FF7 on the PS1, and Square-Enix has all kinds of incentives to keep it that way.

Of course, a single DVD is not enough for the amount of CG packed in a typical FF game especially once you move to HD. But those JRPGs featuring huge amounts of cinematics are generally very linear, so it's generally pretty easy to cut the game into pieces with a minimum amount of disk swapping.

 

[mckmas8808]

What if they want the game to be connected with no load times like the SCEJ RPG game (whose name is escaping me)?

 

[dskneo]

The only interesting thing he said was: "Toriyama noted that, regarding visual expression, the PS3's shader abilities are a big factor"

I wonder what he means by that as there is nothing I can think of visually that the PS3 could do but the x360 couldn't.

thats weird because i cant seem to see where he said anything about x360 shadders at all ? so you must be reading more than what he said, for sure.

/attempt to keep this thread free from 360

 

[mckmas8808]

Hey guys what's that PS2 game made by Factor 5 produced by SCEJ with the cell shaded graphics that freaking not out in NA yet?

 

[Corwin_B]

thats weird because i cant seem to see where he said anything about x360 shadders at all ? so you must be reading more than what he said, for sure.

/attempt to keep this thread free from 360

The thread is not only about FF13, but about why it's a PS3 exclusive, which is for technical reasons if the article is to be believed. So bringing up the other machines is actually quite relevant if we are to discuss those "technical" reasons.

 

[weaksauce]

Hey guys what's that PS2 game made by Factor 5 produced by SCEJ with the cell shaded graphics that freaking not out in NA yet?

Factor 5 have a ps2 game?

 

[kyleb]

Is there a link to the original story?

Doesnt make sense that DVD9 would be the reason, they could have easily done multiple discs for a game like this.

What do you know about the game to say that? They could be planing to make the game take place in one big mostly-seamless enviroment like many of today's RPGs are, and you can't rightly break a game like that down to mulitple disks.

 

[ManuVlad3.0]

Hey guys what's that PS2 game made by Factor 5 produced by SCEJ with the cell shaded graphics that freaking not out in NA yet?

Rogue Galaxy?
The developer is Level 5 (Dark Cloud 1 and 2, Dragon Quest VIII). No Factor 5.

 

[nelg]

PS3's shader abilities are a big factor

I think he is referring to the rose coloured ones that money buys.

 

[mckmas8808]

Rogue Galaxy?
The developer is Level 5 (Dark Cloud 1 and 2, Dragon Quest VIII). No Factor 5.

Yes Rogue Galaxy. That world is one huge big world that is seemless and has virtually no loadtimes.

What if FFXIII is the same? Can't have one huge seemless connected world on 2 or 3 disc right?

 

[Nesh]

Interesting news

Is there a link to the original story?

Doesnt make sense that DVD9 would be the reason, they could have easily done multiple discs for a game like this.

HD CGI, voice conversations and the size of game might probably mean more than 3 DVD discs. I wouldnt want that