Xbox 360 vs. PS3 Spec Analysis

Perfect Stu · 05-24-2005, 02:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gekko

Xbox 360 and Revolution both use PowerPC CPUs and ATI GPUs. PS3 uses Cell CPU and nVidia GPU. Despite the power, PS3 has the hurdle of difficult development to overcome, where Xbox 360 and Rev both use similar processors, which makes for much smoother ports. Something to think about.

Can you elaborate on that? Developers have been saying how surprisingly easy PS3 is to develop for...

Quote:

GI: What can you say are the differences between developing for PS2 then developing for PS3?

Mark Rein: Everything.....

GI: In what sense?

Mark Rein: The PS2's emotion engine had our developers learning a new language of programming to begin development on a game. The PS3 uses OpenGL which we've been working with for decades, and the Cell architecture is accessible using C++ which is already a widely known programming language.

Quote:

GI: What do you think the future is for Playstation 3?

Mark Rein: Things can only get better from here. All the developers we've been speaking already love the architecture and the language PS3 is using, and they can't wait to utilize the cell chip further.

MuGen · 05-24-2005, 10:42 AM

I'm starting to realize how endless this arguement will be.

Consider having X360 and PS3 both being able to port games to each without a single slight of difference in graphics and framerate. That's a good revelation and while I support PS3, I wouldn't mind both consoles being equal.

DarrenMcLeod · 05-24-2005, 08:03 PM

I'm hoping for easy ports from Rev to X360 and X360 to PS3 and whatnot.

Thanks for the information, gekko. +rep.

gekko · 05-24-2005, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perfect Stu

Can you elaborate on that? Developers have been saying how surprisingly easy PS3 is to develop for...

Right now it's marketing, not reality. You'll hear people like Hideo Kojima say how easy PS3 is to program for, expecting you to not realize that the people being interviewed don't write code, but rather design games.

Developers expressed their concerns learning a new type of processor that handles information differently than what they're used to, and now they magically love it? No. It takes time to code a game, and it takes time to develop an opinion on the PS3, good or bad.

Wait until you hear real programmers talking. Look to the IGDA or GDC for real opinions from the guys writing the code, not IGN and EGM for the guys running the company.

Not saying 360 or Rev is great, but PowerPC is a more common processor than Cell, and most programmers would have prior experience with it.

Perfect Stu · 05-24-2005, 11:04 PM

it's not so much the processor as the development language

personally, I would trust the word of someone who has actually worked on a PS3 game (even in a press conference to build hype) over yourself, who hasnt. it's no offense, it just seems like proper logic

but that's only what I believe at this point and time...we'll know the truth in just over a year when we start to see multiplatform next-gen games

gekko · 05-24-2005, 11:38 PM

The development language is the same. Libraries are different.

Who has worked on a PS3 game? I've yet to see anyone.

Null · 05-25-2005, 09:10 AM

While mark rein doesnt program the games, he does follow along and have a very good understanding of them, he is very close with the people who do make the games at epic, hes a frequent poster on the epic message boards and explains much of that stuff along with the actual programers.

it may or may not be AS well off as he claims, but i dont think he's too far off in his comments.

well just have to wait and see what developers are saying in the first year of release tho to see how easy it is to program the games.

MuGen · 05-25-2005, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gekko

The development language is the same. Libraries are different.

Who has worked on a PS3 game? I've yet to see anyone.

The GPU is accessed and programmed with OpenGL and XML, an open-source language widely used today and is widely favored by many programmers.

The CELL is accessed using C++ calculating language.

It doesn' t matter which processor is more widely known. It's the way they access it in terms of coding. Cell has been confirmed to be running on C++ programming....

Dyne · 05-25-2005, 02:38 PM

That's annoying. Here Universities did the paradigm shift from C++ to Java, and now people are still going to be using C++ in the future.

Null · 05-25-2005, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dyne

That's annoying. Here Universities did the paradigm shift from C++ to Java, and now people are still going to be using C++ in the future.

Java was never going to replace C++, only thing good about java is that it runs on all the different platforms, but it was never better then C++ for anything, Java actually runs like 10 times slower then C++.

gekko · 05-26-2005, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sony

It doesn' t matter which processor is more widely known. It's the way they access it in terms of coding. Cell has been confirmed to be running on C++ programming....

It doesn't? Sure does.

Like I said before, it's not the coding, it's the libraries. The different way that the processors handle and display information, the different way they store information into memory. It changes between systems. If you want to get good performance, you need to rework the engine to work with that specific hardware.

If it worked like you say, porting a game would be no different than putting the game on a different disc. It's not that simple.

The processor doesn't read C++ either. Programming languages are designed to be a modified form of English, and then you compile it, put it in machine code.