Why the PS3's Power will Shine in 2008

PlayStation 3 will flourish in 2008 - not our words, but the emerging consensus among the global development community. With genuinely exciting exclusives flickering on the horizon (see our recent MGS4hands-onandin-depth details) and a growing community of developers coming to grips with the possibilities on offer from the hardware, the future's looking bright.While some developers have been critical of PS3's complex architecture (yes, Gabe Newell from Valve, we're pointing at you) many more are praising the power and potential of the machine.''The amount of action we're able to put on the screen at 60 frames per second dwarfs what we were able to do a year ago at 30 frames per second,'' claims Insomniac's (Resistance, Ratchet) Chief Creative Officer Brian Hastings, ''What's most exciting is I think we'll see just as big a leap from our second generation engine to our third as we did from first to second.''User-created content will be a feature of 2008, claims Epic boss Mark Rein (Unreal Tournament 3). ''We're really excited about bringing robust user-created content to PS3. PC gamers can use the included Unreal Engine 3 tool set to create mods which can be played on PS3.''The modding capabilities of UT3 - with Sony's Little Big Planet to follow, allowing users to trade levels, costumes and stickers online - are, as Rein reminds us, ''a first for any game console... and way more important than polygons.''Dave Connell, Lead Console Programmer over at Traveller's Tales (of LEGO Star Wars fame) is equally pleased, describing PS3 as ''a very powerful piece of kit''.''Once you put the effort in and start to understand the hardware, you can see PS3's huge technical potential,'' Connell told us, observing that ''the SPUs [Synergistic Processor Units] are key to unlocking PS3's flexibility. The SPUs challenge us to come up with completely new tech ideas and to develop new features around them. We are going to see the quality of PS3 titles improve for many years to come as people get to grips with them. It might turn out that things we've not even thought of end up best demonstrating the power of PS3.''Fallout 3's Executive Producer Todd Howard - from Oblivion developer Bethesda - understands that PS3 ''has more than enough power. No single game is using it all yet - not even close''. Back at E3 in July '07, Mercenaries 2 Lead Designer Scott Warner claimed their game was only using 30% of PS3's power - while EA's Chief Visual Officer Glenn Entis claimed their launch games like Fight Night 3 only tapped 20%. The figures sound hokum, but it wasn't until five years into PS2's life cycle that games tapped even 90% of its power - a statistic measured by Sony's Performance Analyser tools, yet to be released on PS3.Lighting effects will improve, claim middleware experts Geomerics. ''Games will look more natural, with awesome reflection effects. None of our lighting is pre-calculated, as 'pre-baking' lightmaps is still industry practice. PS3's power means we can use effects that were previously reserved for Hollywood, or high-end CGI applications and giant render farms.'' The search for the new 'lens flare' starts here...Here are some more choice observations by leading developers:Brian Hastings, Insomniac
''I think we'll see just as big a leap from our second generation engine to our third as we did from the first to second... Moving more and more code to the SPUs is an ongoing process and I think we'll continue to see major benefits from this for several more years.''Mark Rein, Epic
''The possibilities it opens up shouldn't be underestimated. This isn't just the idea of being able to rearrange the deck chairs, but being able to design your own boat- and create your own chairs from scratch too.''Todd Howard, Bethesda
''One of the big strides that's been made over the last year is not just developers like us learning how to use that power, but that Sony's dramatically improved the tools we use to see where the game is slowing down.''Dave Connell, Travellers' Tales
''As we work on our games for next year, including LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman, we're certain there's a lot more to get out of the system than people have seen so far.''Bruce Heather, EA UK
''Our seamless streaming of a fully open world utilises parallel SPU processing, and I'm really excited about how we can bring a complete world to life on PS3 using our advanced new physics system and enhanced lighting model.''SourceWhy the PS3's Power will Shine in 2008
Nice article. The lemmings won't believe it till they see it, and then when they do they will cry :lol:Why the PS3's Power will Shine in 2008
I was seeing this back when there were some specs that were leaked before the PS3 was released. All we need to understand is it takes time to learn what can and cannot be done on the PS3.
No one should believe this junk. the graphics on the ps3 and 360 will not improve that much in the next couple of years. if you want a graphical power house buy a pc.
Think cost-effectiveness (yes, due to it's 'complexity') has been the main grief with the cell processor, not it's technical capabilities.
This does nothing to prove otherwise.

I congratulate you for putting this article together. and I cant believe that some games are only utilising 30% of the PS3's power
You spent 1 hour wasting your time. becuase i doubt that anyone will belive this expect for the rest of ya.
RE5 is the best looking game 2008, and it's multiplatform. Also, tl;dr
[QUOTE=''cokbok'']Nice article. The lemmings won't believe it till they see it, and then when they do they will cry :lol:[/QUOTE]Wasn't that same threat made to the Lemmings leading into 2007?
[QUOTE=''cosmostein77''][QUOTE=''cokbok'']Nice article. The lemmings won't believe it till they see it, and then when they do they will cry :lol:[/QUOTE]Wasn't that same threat made to the Lemmings leading into 2007? [/QUOTE]Right.So what the TC really means is.... JUST WAIT.Hmmmm... that sounds familiar.But in all seriousness... for all it's power and ''potential'', PS3 has produced graphics, at most, slightly better than 360.
So basically they're where xbox 360 was at launch... sweet. note that nowhere in any statement do they ever say it is stronger than the 360 or near as graphically capable, just reassuring everyone that with tons of hard work understanding the machine, they will be able to pull off stuff rare in games...NO. DUH.
[QUOTE=''frankeyser'']No one should believe this junk. the graphics on the ps3 and 360 will not improve that much in the next couple of years. if you want a graphical power house buy a pc.[/QUOTE] lol funny. looks at ps2 first year games and then looks at god of war 2.
[QUOTE=''ff7isnumbaone''][QUOTE=''frankeyser''] No one should believe this junk. the graphics on the ps3 and 360 will not improve that much in the next couple of years. if you want a graphical power house buy a pc.[/QUOTE] lol funny. looks at ps2 first year games and then looks at god of war 2. [/QUOTE] exactly
[QUOTE=''division_9'']I congratulate you for putting this article together. and I cant believe that some games are only utilising 30% of the PS3's power[/QUOTE]I'm sorry to break it to ya. PS3 is bottlenecked, right were it hurts, at the GPU and the RAM.
[QUOTE=''AbydosOne''] [QUOTE=''division_9'']I congratulate you for putting this article together. and I cant believe that some games are only utilising 30% of the PS3's power[/QUOTE]I'm sorry to break it to ya. PS3 is bottlenecked, right were it hurts, at the GPU and the RAM.[/QUOTE] I'm sorry, which game developing company do you work for
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[QUOTE=''100Gamer''][QUOTE=''cosmostein77''] [QUOTE=''cokbok'']Nice article. The lemmings won't believe it till they see it, and then when they do they will cry :lol:[/QUOTE]Wasn't that same threat made to the Lemmings leading into 2007? [/QUOTE]:lol: @ cows [/QUOTE]:lol: At you for believing him
[QUOTE=''frankeyser''] No one should believe this junk. the graphics on the ps3 and 360 will not improve that much in the next couple of years. if you want a graphical power house buy a pc.[/QUOTE]yeah, because there is almost no difference between, let's say, Soul Reaver 2 and God of War 2, :roll:
[QUOTE=''Paddy345''][QUOTE=''100Gamer''][QUOTE=''cosmostein77''] [QUOTE=''cokbok'']Nice article. The lemmings won't believe it till they see it, and then when they do they will cry :lol:[/QUOTE]Wasn't that same threat made to the Lemmings leading into 2007? [/QUOTE]:lol: @ cows [/QUOTE]:lol: At you for believing him[/QUOTE]:lol: at you for pretending cows never said that