PS3 Intentionally Hard to Develop For, Says Sony

[Cardiac Kids]

Earlier today, we got word that Sony Computer Entertainment chairman Kazuo Hirai told the Official PlayStation Magazine that Sony is the official leader of the console industry, and that Microsoft's rival Xbox 360 is "something that lacks longevity."

More of that interview has now come to light via Eurogamer, in which the outspoken chairman claims the PlayStation 3 is intentionally difficult to program for in order to ensure that the console meets its promised ten year life cycle.

"It's hard to program for, and a lot of people see the negatives of it, but if you flip that around, it means the hardware has a lot more to offer," Hirai explained, pointing to the graphical advances of God of War, which hit the PS2 almost five years after launch, as an example of that strategy.

He added: "We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?"

Sony took a somewhat similar strategy with the PSP. Though the portable's CPU was capable of running at 333MHz, developers were initially limited to using only 222MHz, supposedly to conserve battery life. Sony eventually allowed developers to access the processor's full speed after the portable had been on the market for over two years.


Uhhhh... excuses or really intentional? I have no clue why they would intentionaly try to deter developers by making the console hard to develop titles for. To me it defies logic. I call total BS.

The article (sorry can't link it) says that the PSP was administered in a way that developers couldn't harness the true power of it's processor for 2 years after it was released on the market... uhhh... could this have any direct impact on why editorials are claiming the PSP to be a failure? Sony is desperate right now to gain the attention of developers and most are turning their backs on them.

So... is this an excuse thought up by Kazuo to garner some pity or say, ha! it was just a joke... c'mon don't walk away....

Or is there really any good reasoning behind this...

I'm confused.

...and why would Sony do this just to make sure it's life span reaches ten years?? The way things are going, the playstation might even fade away...

edit: don't tell me they recently signed that guy from Iraq to their marketing team, lol.

[kickstand]

The guy's just talking out of his ***.

It's well documented that many developers had a hard time optimizing to the PS3's hardware. Hence the several poor ports they had from the 360 to the PS3 in the early years of the PS3.

It's also a reason lots of Devs shy away from taking PS3-exclusive projects. Longer development cycle = more $$$ and not even the Video Game Industry is immune to a recession.

At this time, you're probably seeing a lot of Devs finally getting the hang of the PS3 eg. Metal Gear Solid 4, Resistance 2, etc. and the one game I'm getting in the early quarter (Killzone 2). Also, in the future Uncharted 2 and God of War look pretty amazing as well.

But at this point, it's almost too late. Sony is posting in the red for the first time in over a decade. I mostly blame this on the absolutely terrible marketing scheme of Sony. Ironic that Microsoft would excel in Video Game marketing yet fail so hard in PC vs. MAC marketing.

[Cardiac Kids]

Right on.

God of War 3 and the God of War Ip in general (and the BluRay) is the only reason i ended up keeping my PS3. You probably noticed i haven't logged on the PSN in a while, but i still have it. :)

I don't know about Killzone 2 yet. I liked tthe first one to a certain extent, but it just doesn't seem too overly impressive. I am interested in the PS3 excllusives and i do give them fair thought when purchasing a new game, but there are way too many titles i wuld rather play on my 360 and earn achievements for. Besides that Xbox Live still outweighs PSN by a wide margin imo.

Uncharted 2 does look pretty good as well from what i've seen in the Game Informer. I will consider it when it comes out, but still i would like to play some co-op too. Resistance 2 is something i might pick up as well, just for the online play. Do you have it yet?

[BlackNGold]

I love my PS3!

[Legacy]

kicstand, Microsoft excels in the video game market because they develop and continually support developer friendly tools and products, such as DirectX. It is rather ironic that they excel in this area, yet fall flat on their faces when trying to provide the same thing for general PC users.

This is where Sony has problems. They won't support the stuff Microsoft has made available for years (like DirectX) and haven't put the effort into providing developers with resources on par with those made available to developers programming for the 360 or PCs. This, more than anything else (even the early lackluster sales of the PS3), is the root cause of the console losing many of its exclusives, since it's easier (and less time consuming) to develop a game primarily for the 360, then adapt it to the PS3.

[2goodbucs]

He almost sounds like Bruce Allen talking doesn't he?

[kickstand]

kicstand, Microsoft excels in the video game market because they develop and continually support developer friendly tools and products, such as DirectX. It is rather ironic that they excel in this area, yet fall flat on their faces when trying to provide the same thing for general PC users.

This is where Sony has problems. They won't support the stuff Microsoft has made available for years (like DirectX) and haven't put the effort into providing developers with resources on par with those made available to developers programming for the 360 or PCs. This, more than anything else (even the early lackluster sales of the PS3), is the root cause of the console losing many of its exclusives, since it's easier (and less time consuming) to develop a game primarily for the 360, then adapt it to the PS3.

Yeah I pretty much agree with that.

No point in having this powerful Cell processor when you don't tell Devs how to work with it and give them useful tools for maximizing its potential. So then it takes PS3-Exclusive games to finally figure it out so that everything works out to par.

The whole price thing is absolutely shredding them as well. No one's going to pay $400 for a PS3 when you can get the 360 or Wii for much much cheaper. Now I will say that the 360 is a bit of trickery from Microsoft in that if you want Wireless ($100), Live ($50), Bigger HD (More $$), it comes out to roughly being just as much if not a little more than the PS3.

Nevertheless, I don't expect the PS3 to ever surge its way back unless they

A) Drop the price to 299.99, which I believe they will this year

B) Find a flagship game that just sells off the shelves and hooks gamers. Between Killzone 2, Uncharted 2, and God of War, Killzone 2 is the only game that seems plausible enough to do that. Sony's own last stand if you will.

Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 will undoubtedly be good to great games but people want that online play to just keep them hooked for endless hours.

Unless those two things happen, I don't see it looking good for Sony's foreseeable future.

CK -

I was skeptical of KZ2 at first. Just another FPS with bland gray colors. But recent videos and other information have turned me. I value gameplay over graphics. It's the reason why I still play Counter-Strike all these years later, but I can't deny the sheer impressive body of work that Killzone 2 seems to be. Whether or not it fully fleshes out its potential is yet to be known (Feb. 27 is the release date) but they've convinced me enough for it to be a first week purchase.

Resistance 2 is a solid game. Not the end-be-all that I ever thought it would be because the Multi-Player is about as buggy as Gears of War 2. Co-Op on Resistance 2 will easily get you hooked though and if you can find a used copy or if you feel frosty just get the new copy, it's certainly worth a buy.

I recently just finished MGS4 and having never played any of the other ones, I still think it's probably the most ridiculous game I have ever played. It's been a while that a game's storyline has gotten me to finish it all the way through and watch that whole damn cutscene at the end at 3 AM in the morning. Bravo Kojima. :)

[ATL-owns-TB]

So this is why grudens offensive genius was hard to understand?...man....if you guys wait 2 1/2 more years, you would've saw his full potential

[Cardiac Kids]

I have no doubt that KZ2 will have superb graphics, i'm just wodnering about the gameplay. The first one was cool, but i got sick of dying over and over again so i never finished it. God of War on the other hand, the story got me more than the gameplay or the graphics, and the graphics were pretty damn good for a PS2 game.

If you have Resistance 2 keep it for a little bit. Next month i may pick it up used if its reasonable. You know what i think of Gamestop, lol. I still need to get some headphone/mic mix too. Not really sure which to get yet. Any suggestions?

I am definately going to buy GoW3, i ay even pay for it in full preorder. I still haven't beat the first one yet. I stop playing against my will to make it last longer. I beat the second one way too fast, but i couldnt stop playing.

For right now the time i have i'm finishing the Orange Box and then i might finally finish off Oblivion, two other games i have been forcing myself not to play so i'd always have something interesting when i'm bored of everything else. I did Half Life 2 Episode 2 first, now i'm almost done with HL2 and i'll do Episode 1 next. Team Fortress 2 is getting ready to come out with some great download content it looks like, so i have to get used to it again in preparation.

But as far as Sony goes, Resistance 2, GoW3 and Uncharted 2 are definately the ones that interest me at the moment.