2009 – How the PS3 Tides have Turned
Ever since its launch in November 2006, the PS3 has received a significant amount of criticism over its software lineup, much of which was justified. During its first six months of availability, the PS3 had only received two titles worthy of praise, Motorstorm and Resistance: Fall of Man. Overall software quality was just one of many complaints regarding the fledgling platform, but has become the leading topic in regards to why the PS3 has managed to make so many inroads over the past three years.
During the first year or so of the PS3′s initial release, many game developers were criticized for merely “porting” multiplatform titles, instead of actually taking the time to work with the PS3′s architecture (being comprised of the Cell Broadband Engine and the RSX Reality Synthesizer). Expectations of the PS3′s graphical output were very high, particularly because of some of the comments Sony executives were making (1)(2).
However, Sony’s next-gen rival, Microsoft, got their system out of the gates first. They released their console to North American audiences November 22nd, 2005, almost a full year ahead of the PS3′s North American and Japanese release dates. This gave developers ample time to develop and work, albeit for a short time, exclusively on the Xbox 360 in terms of next-generation consoles. When the PS3 came onto the scene, many developers were either unaware of the technology the mighty behemoth possessed, or were too ignorant to appreciate it.
This in turn led to PS3 titles that were noticeably inferior to their 360 counterparts. For the first full year of release, critics and gamers alike were quick to point out the noticeable gameplay issues and graphical flaws that plagued many multiplatform games.
13 Responses to “2009 – How the PS3 Tides have Turned”
This news combined with a PS3 price drop will be just what the Dr. ordered.
btw, nice pic of Kratos pwning that noobs head.
Great article Kyle. Very good points you have made here. It is put up or shutup time for devs as far as the PS3 is concerned we PS3 fans have always and somewhat arrogantly known we had a great platform for our games and the devs just need to bring it on their end.
I love these editorials you guys are running now keep’em coming.
“The only question left unanswered is whether or not multiplatform developers will start to make their games more advanced than the 360 versions in order to keep up with the high calibur of Sony’s 1st party gaming lineup.”
Let me just go ahead and answer this one for you, probably not. Sorry but MS has done it’s job well (especially in the US). They will continue to price drop, throw money wherever it needs to, and iterate on their very nicely done nxe until they run competition into the ground. There’s no reason for developers to put the effort in to make ps3 games better when they can make 360 and ps3 games the same quality for less. Based on sales, they may continue to be fine with ps3 games just being “good enough”. As a company, I don’t think Sony is financially healthy and focused enough to put as much effort as it would need to, to get back on top in the game industry. Just my opinion as someone who has both systems (and his 360 in for repair at the moment even) and sadly this is still my opinion
Great article. I somewhat agree with michaelja. 3rd party devs will not try to make games better on the PS3. If Sony threw more money their way, we would see a difference. But that’s not how Sony does business.
eh…Sony would do business that way if it was in the position to. If they weren’t bleeding money most of the times on console sales, they may not hide behind the “high road” regarding “writing checks” to 3rd parties.
The only thing that I would disagree with is that developers who aren’t effectively using the CBE effectively are lazy. It really is a difficult system to take full advantage of. It takes time, and therefore money, to learn the best ways to make full use of the SPUs that are the workhorses of the CBE. If you take the SPEs out of the picture, the PS3 really is not as powerful as the 360 so it is critical to offload processing to the SPEs.
My guess is that the initial generation of multi-platform games’ lack of quality was more due to production deadlines and not having the time to adjust to the entirely different programming model. Calling them lazy is just… lazy.
I had to make the choice almost 2 years ago as to which console I wanted. I foresaw the incredible line-up that the PlayStation 3 had, and the lack of yearly fees and stable hardware put it over the top for me. 2 years later, I am very satisfied with my purchase, and am glad I chose the PlayStation 3. It only gets better as time goes on, and it seems like every few months a must-have title comes out. Not even the PlayStation 2 was as satisfying for me.
there has been a strange coincidence in my house with things like this
if ive been playing my xbox more (which has been the case over the past 2 years) it has been the more popular console, yet now im playing my PS3 alot, it is now starting to overtake
basically what happens in my house is whats happening in real life
i might even start making predictions :p
I love how the PS3 games looks, especially the exclusive ones.
@michealja: If MS is doing good, then sony is really doing GREAT! With the economy like this. People still dish out $400 to get the PS3. MS is ahead by less than 8m in sales, in which they made in their first year without the PS3. I’m not starting a flame with you. Sony’s sales may not seem to be unhealthy, but the fact that it still manage to gain sales in this economy is excellent. I still think that a price drop would definitely spike PS3 sales. I know alot of people wants to jump in the PS3 ride and they’re just waiting for price drops. We’ll hear at Aug. 18. Then see what happens.
Do you guys remember in 2007 Gabe Newell of Valve said:
“The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels, I think It’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted”. He continued “I’d say, even at this late date, they should just cancel it and do a Do Over. Just say, ‘This was a horrible disaster and we’re sorry and we’re going to stop selling this and stop trying to convince people to develop for it’”.
Trashing a failure is how MS operates… Since than, Sony has built themselves from the ground up and has put continuous effort in giving gamers a great experience. Even PC world bashed the PS3 saying it was “the top 21 screw ups in 2006.” Calling it “Late, Expensive, and Incompatible”. whats funny, is that almost every single developer is singing a different tune. I can understand a programmers frustration with new technology but lets be realistic, this isn’t alien technology. Theres no reason for them to point fingers anymore thats so 2006. Everyone seams to forget that the PS2 received allot of heat the first 2-3 years. Developers called the Emotion Engine hard to programmer than changed there tune after 2nd or 3rd year, the exact same time frame as the PS3. Everyone seams to forget the add-ons for the 360 increase the overall price. Yet, Sony’s the only expensive console?
@michealja
your correct, theres a very low possibility that they will make a mutiplatform game better on the PS3 than the 360. Thats not MS doing, its expected, since more work will have to be put into the PS3 version and designers just want to get it done and out the door. The 360 has nothing this year and based on its current announcement (Natal) its a joke of a line up. The 360 has lost steam.. there way of doing business was buy exclusives and not create. Natal is PS2 technology with a face lift.
@Jonathan Leack
i based my choice on games and reliability.. the original xbox never impressed me.. the games that were exclusive got bought out or companies choose to develop for the MS (squareenix comes to mind) and Namco.
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Great article. It definitely brings back some of the optimism I have been lacking lately.
nice read