Sony Answers Critics On PS3 Development Ease

Sony's Dave Karraker has used the recently launched PlayStation.Blog website to give his company's take on ease of development for the PS3, admitting that Xbox Live has more robust online infrastructure, but noting: "It’s not that PS3 is harder to write for, it’s just that you can do more with it."

The new entry is entitled 'Is the PS3 Really Harder to Develop for?', and uses a GamePro article as the jumping-off point for Sony's product development group to comment on the thorny issue.

The group initially claims: "If the game starts life on PS3, then man-hours per feature or costs related to asset production are comparable with industry norms", going on to suggest: "Since PS3’s Cell processor allows MORE features - better physics, more complex graphical processing, lighting or sound, etc. — there is inevitably going to be more cost in supporting those extra features. It’s not that PS3 is harder to write for, it’s just that you can do more with it."

Correctly harnessing the parallel SPU processors in the Cell chip is one of the most difficult parts of PlayStation 3 development, according to multiple sources, and the PD group at Sony weighs in on this: "SPUs are not ‘normal’ processors like the PPU. There is a trade-off between performance and versatility. A Ferrari is not the best car for a visit to Home Depot."

Read the full article here...

Gamasutra Staff
June 14, 2007

Source: Gamasutra
posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 8:03 PM by Auri

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