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PS3 Cell Processor Works Flawlessly, About 20 Percent of the Time
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Corporate News, Hardware, PlayStation 3,
In a recent article at Electronic News, Ed Sperling interviews Tom Reeves, VP of semiconductor and technology services at IBM, about the latest breakthroughs in chip fabrication technology and where the industry goes from here. Of particular interest to gamers might be Reeves’ statements about the Playstation 3’s much-lauded Cell Processor, which contains eight cores and is one of the most complicated processors ever:
Electronic News: What’s the defining factor that makes some chips better than others?
Reeves: Defects. It becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a chip like the Cell processor, you’re lucky to get 10 or 20 percent.
Combine this with other supply issues Sony might run into and you begin to see the reasoning behind the pricing of the PS3.
The article goes on to talk about how there are “a lot” of Cell chips with only 6 cores functioning that may find other uses outside of the PS3. They also note that theoretically, a PS3 Cell processor needs to have only 7 working cores but currently there are no plans by Sony to put 7/8ths working chips in some sort of “bargain” PS3. That’s good news for PS3 buyers - at least for $599 Sony won’t be skimping on chip quality.
Read More 
| ElectronicNews via Gizmodo
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Does Blu-Ray Matter For Games?
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Editorial, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
Andre Vrignaud, who works in Microsoft’s Game Technology Group kicks off a new blog this week. Among his first posts is an entry questioning Sony’s assertion that Blu-Ray will be necessary for the next generation of gaming. He references a quote from Sony’s Kaz Hirai, stating that the new games could require as many as 40 to 50 gigabytes, which would theoretically necessitate the amount of storage that Blu-Ray can offer.
To counter this, Vrignaud cites a report from Gamesfirst that claims that Xbox game sizes have only increased 77% since the console’s launch in 2001. According to their survey, the “average size of Xbox games in 2001 was 1.81 gigabytes…3.2 gigabytes by 2005.” Average, though, is not the same as the maximum size. Among the largest games on the Xbox were Halo 2, Jade Empire, and Ninja Gaiden Black. On the Xbox 360, one of the larger games is Rockstar’s Table Tennis, weighing in at over 7 GB.
While game size grew 77% on the Xbox, consider the Playstation 2. When the Playstation 2 launched, a majority of the launch titles were CD based, maxing out a 700 MB. Now, a majority of the PS2 games are DVD titles. Among the largest titles are Metal Gear Solid: Subsistence and Xenosaga II. Games like Grandia III have had their releases split across 2 DVDs. If one adds that one extra year as a data point, game sizes have grown at an even larger rate than suggested by Gamesfirst. The Playstation 2 model suggests that while not everyone will take advantage of all the space available, some of the high profile games will.
There are some other considerations that may have made developers try to stay under 4.7 GB, rather than take advantage of a full dual layer disc capacity. Dual-layer disc manufacturing increases cost. While not a huge factor on the Xbox or the Xbox 360, on the Playstation 2 this is a fairly large difference. This may have been a factor in Game Arts deciding to split their game across two DVD-5 discs instead of a single DVD-9.
Another factor would be layer changes. In a game with discrete levels that load, this might not be an issue, but with larger game worlds that stream content from the disc, this can become problematic. Consider the issue with the Prey demo on the Xbox 360; on the PC, the demo weighed in at about 450 MB. The Xbox 360 was almost 200 MB larger, mainly because of file management issues with optical drives. With Blu-Ray, these issues are mitigated somewhat. There are still layer changes, but with 25 GB per layer, this is less of an issue.
While game textures and code may not increase heavily, one would expect cut scenes file sizes to balloon out heavily on the Playstation 3. The higher resolutions that are supported by the console will require higher file sizes. While cut scenes are considered the bane of many gamers, something to skip through, they are going to be a source of content bloat. The Blu-Ray format will handle this better, and with greater fidelity than a DVD-9.
So, at the Playstation 3 launch, content formats won’t matter that much. It will take time for developers to adjust to the new format. But considering the life-cycle of previous consoles and the fact that content tends expand to fill available space, one would expect content size capacity to make a difference after a few years. 40 to 50 GB games may not be commonplace. It is more likely that gamers will see games hovering around the 10 to 15 GB mark, assuming the Playstation 3 gains enough market-share to make developing this exclusive content worthwhile.
Read More | Ozymandias
Mercenaries 2 Could Be Coming To The Xbox 360
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: PlayStation 3, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
Mercenaries 2 developer, Pandemic, has announced that they may release an Xbox 360 version of the game. Pandemic is currently looking for a publisher for Mercenaries 2, and Lucas Arts, publisher of the first Mercenaries game is nowhere to be found. PR for Pandemic confirms that they are considering the Xbox 360, and should make an announcement in the next couple of months. With all of the games possibly coming to the Xbox 360 such as Assassin’s Creed, GTA IV, and Mercenaries 2; will Sony have any worthwhile exclusives come launch day?
Read More | IGN
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GameFly is Ready For Next Gen
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Internet, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Release Dates, Wii,
So what if you don’t own the systems yet…you might as well start reserving the PS3 and Wii launch titles! Gamefly.com, one of the leaders in online gaming rental, has recently added PS3 and Wii tabs to their site meaning that you can currently put your favorite PS3 and Wii games at the top of your queue so that you don’t miss out when they ship. Somehow, I’m guessing they might run into some shortages when these games first come out.
Currently, GameFly.com is sporting 26 titles for the Playstation 3 and 27 titles for the Wii. (All, of course, “coming soon”) The full list of titles available can be found after the jump.
Click to continue reading GameFly is Ready For Next Gen
Read More | GameFly.com
Sony’s PS3 E-Distribution Initiative
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Internet, PlayStation 3,
Gamasutra recently talked to John Hight, Director of External Production at SCEA Santa Monica about Sony’s plans for their E-Distribution Initiative. The project at Sony seems to be a competitor to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade. Hight emphasizes some of the benefits on the cost side for Sony, claiming the service “lowers our cost of sales and eliminates inventory risk. It should help curtail used game sales and piracy.” Piracy has always been an issue for Sony; in the past the company has also made moves to try and restrict used game sales. Gamasutra also noted that Sony hopes to utilize the service for both first party and third party content. Microsoft’s Arcade titles have been largely third party developed. With Sony’s E-Distribution, and Nintendo’s Virtual Console, all three console manufacturers will have competing digital download services in this generation. Hopefully, the lower cost of entry on these platforms will mean gamers will see a more diverse game population in the future.
Read More | Gamasutra
Assassin’s Creed Exclusivity Questioned (again!)
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, PlayStation 3, Rumors,
The question that wouldn’t die for the past few months has been the exclusivity of Assassin’s Creed to the PS3. For those of you that, unlike videogame bloggers, haven’t been following this story with bated breath, we’ll begin with a brief history of Assassin’s Creed, the latest stealth/action game by Ubisoft that was said to be an exclusive PS3 launch title.
More after the jump…
Click to continue reading Assassin’s Creed Exclusivity Questioned (again!)
Read More | Playfuls.com
Japanese Developer’s Thoughts On The PS3
Posted by Josh Smith Categories: Corporate News, PlayStation 3,
Japanese developers have weighed in on what they think about Sony’s PS3. The anonymous survey was put out by Ge-Maga, Japan’s oldest gaming magazine. Thankfully IGN has translated the results into English.
Price:
Too Expensive - 90.29%
Just Right - 9.71%
Feelings on the 2 SKU approach:
Disagree - 56.31%
Agree - 39.32%
Will the PS3 sell with the current lineup of titles?
Won’t sell – 55.82%
Will Sell 0 39.32%
E3’s affect on your PS3 opinion:
Unchanged – 48.54%
Less Confident – 32.52%
Relieved – 3.39%
On Sony’s Goal to reach 6M sold by March:
Reachable – 35.43%
Unreachable – 62.13%
The survey provides an interesting insight into what developers, especially Japanese developers, think about the future of the PS3. This discontent could lead to increased support of the Xbox 360 and the Wii by Japanese firms. The Xbox 360 could definitely use more Japanese developed titles to boost sales in Japan.
Read More | IGN
A big question in the next-gen console race has been - with development costs soaring and games getting progressively more complex, how much is this all going to cost after all? Well, there’s hints of some bad news from Kaz Hirai (speaking in the latest PSM magazine) for everyone saving up for a Playstation 3:
“generally speaking, over the past twelve years or so, there has been a consumer expectation that disc-based games are maybe $59 on the high end to $39 on the low end. So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say ‘PS3 Games now $99.99.’”
He then continues:
“I don’t think consumers expect software pricing to suddenly double. So, the quick answer is that we want to make it as affordable as possible, knowing that there is a set consumer expectation for what software has cost for the past twelve years. That’s kind of the best answer I can give you. So, if it becomes a bit higher than $59, don’t ding me, but, again, I don’t expect it to be $100.”
So let’s see what’s really said here - Sony is basically going to take the fact that consumers have an expectation of a ~$59 price point into account, but in the end they’ll make it as affordable “as possible”? That sounds suspiciously like the logic behind the pricing for the PS3 console, which may not be a good thing. If Sony has to convince us that there’s a good reason to pay more for their games as well as their console, they may have a long battle ahead of them (especially with many of their formerly exclusive titles rumored to appear on other systems - Assassin’s Creed for one, or GTA 4).
We’ll definitely be listening closely when the final games pricing structure releases.
Read More | Spong.com
Warhawk Developer Video Documentary Online
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Fighting, PlayStation 3, Simulation,
For those of you looking forward to tilting your next-gen controller sans Wii, Kikizo has posted a video with the developers of Warhawk (for the Playstation 3) in which they discuss how the Cell processor is being used even to help design the only announced PS3 tilt-sensitive game.
Straight from the article:
David Wright, the game’s lead modeller, also makes an appearance to explain that the level of variation in detail across the expansive game world wasn’t possible to be hand-placed by a human designer, and that the team was able to “devise a method to have the Cell processor place this stuff dynamically for us, and it was a very good result. I don’t have to worry about any of that, which is nice!”
Okay, so the Cell isn’t making games from scratch yet, but it certainly sounds like developers are learning some nifty tricks to deal with the levels of detail required in next-gen gaming. Still, some users at ArsTechnica noted the less-than-stellar graphics, comparing the feel to current Xbox 360 offerings and noting “bland” land-based missions in the game. It will be interesting to see how this title fares, as it’s one of the flagship games for demonstrating the utility of the PS3 controller’s motion sensing capabilities.
Read More | Kikizo
Cipher Complex announced for PS3, Xbox 360
Posted by Michael Cardiff Categories: Action, Fighting, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
Development studio Edge of Reality has announced Cipher Complex, a Splinter Cell-lookin’ game for the Xbox 360 and the upcoming Playstation 3. Details are scant at this point beyond the title and some concept art contained in a trailer that can be found here. Edge of Reality has a mixed track record, including
movie-based games like Shark Tale and some good console ports/re-mixes like The Sims.
Straight from the press release:
[Cipher Complex is] an intense, cinematic military combat game that will deliver a brutal shot of adrenaline straight to the hearts of next-generation gamers. ...
In Cipher Complex, a recon satellite is mysteriously blasted from orbit, and when diplomatic requests for information are stonewalled, the US government is forced to call in its last resort – Operative John Cipher. Charged with uncovering the truth by any means necessary, Cipher is going behind enemy lines to extract information the hard way.
Sounds like the next Schwarzenegger movie, but who knows, it could be fun. We’ll keep our eyes open for more details as they emerge.
Read More | Xbox Circle
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