Brian Hastings on the PS3

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curiouswanderer

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http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/1010.html

Quite an interesting article. It is very pro-PS3 but it's well worth the read to get a glimpse of what he thinks of it. The other day someone posted a link to a developer's comments on the 360 and PS3 and overall favoured the 360. This one is opposite and gives some interesting viewpoints.

His point re the HDD on PS3 and 360 is very valid as well as the size of games limited by DVD vs next gen discs.
 
Thanks for the link derekc, he makes some good points and his predictions will most likely come true. Glad to see someone acknowledge what a great system the ps3 actually is :) .
 
You have to pay for your live subscription? I thought you only payed to download arcade games?
 
Nice to see someone in the know give a report (as subjective as it may be) on the pluses of the PS3. I really can't help but feel that there is a witch-hunt at the moment pointed towards Sony.

It's quite strange that the company that has forced the market's hand in the PC realm is receiving so much support for their gaming console and it really doesn't surprise my that there are so many failures with the Xbox since there are so many BSoD experienced daily throughout the world.

I for one will be buying a PS3 when they introduce rumble back into the mix.
 
I am not sure what you mean by "so many failures with the xbox"?

There is a witch-hunt against Sony at the moment as they started their PS3 marketing with such arrogance that subsequently caused a huge amount of anger in the media and hardcore gamers. They then continued with their arrogance until GDC this year, it is only since then that they seem to have realised the error of their ways and have toned down the arrogance since then.
 
I guess the witch hunt was rightly deserved. Greedy moves such as pushing blu-ray into a PS3 as a mainstream technology, rootkit etc meant they were looking for it. Sony was becoming a very arrogant company that thought anything they push out people will adopt it because it's 'Sony'.

another hate of mine is the Sony memory stick. Mainly Sony uses it and it's really stupid. They basically try to tie u up into their products that come at a premium.
 
GavinMannion said:
I am not sure what you mean by "so many failures with the xbox"?

There is a witch-hunt against Sony at the moment as they started their PS3 marketing with such arrogance that subsequently caused a huge amount of anger in the media and hardcore gamers. They then continued with their arrogance until GDC this year, it is only since then that they seem to have realised the error of their ways and have toned down the arrogance since then.
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yeah...especially their assumption that the PS3 will come tops regardless of what they put in it and irrespective of price as well. The guy in charge (can't remember his name) of sony entertainment justified the price of the PS3 by saying that people should just work harder to buy a PS3...how can someone say something so stupid?
 
The article brings up some interesting points:

The problem with including a hard drive in one version of the 360 and not in the other is that developers can’t use it for the games. Or, at least, they can’t use it for any required features. When you are guaranteed to have at least a 20 GB hard drive in the console, you can write your load caching routines around it, or use it for your application’s storage needs. To a developer, an optional hard drive is roughly equivalent to no hard drive at all.
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Never thought of this. I wonder if this is one of the reasons that M$ is going to drop the core?

The Wii Fad Will Fade
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That's a bold statement to make and maybe he shouldn't have made it. I haven't seen any indications that the Wii is getting boring. Sales suggest it's still popular.

PS3 Has a Major CPU Advantage
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Yet it still isn't being utilized fully for gaming. And let's be honest, how much of an advantage will it give the PS3? For gaming your GPU has more of a say than your CPU. I'm talking framerate here. Obviously like loading times will be faster. But then it'll be slowed down again by the slow speed of the Blu-Ray drive (only 2x).
 
Apparently the CPU power was exposed when Folding@Home was released for the PS3. They only managed get out 50% of the expected output. That tells a lot on how much power the PS3 actually has.
 
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Agreed, they have indeed made many blunders along the way and they certainly did get very arrogant with their statements and press releases etc, but I'm still perplexed as to why so many people have then backed MS? Is it simply a case of 'if we don't like the one then we must now like the other'?

As for blu-ray, I can understand what they've done. I mean a technology that gives us over 5X the space than we currently have can't be bad. Sure they have forced it into their own console but that's their right, right? At the end of the day was Beta not the better format (still being used in the mastering processes in studios) and now they just don't want to lose this war as well?

I realise that it comes down to making money, but if in the end we end up with something better then why not? I'm not a Sony fanboi by any stretch of the imagination (although I loath MS, viva Linux, viva), in the end I just won't the best tech to enhance my life.
 
Okay, lovely, and nobody really takes note of the fact that he's a Sony 2nd party? It's Like Rare or Bungie getting up and talking about the 360.

But sure, yes, it's interesting to see someone come from the other side, and some of his thoughts ring true. I'll let the PSboys bask in the glow of positivity rather than point out the obvious . . .

@Fudzy, Live Silver is free - so that's access to all content, VoIP, messenging etc, Live Gold requires a subscription. That gives you early access to some content and the ability to play online. (Some games like FF11 and phantasy star don't require gold, they have their own subs)

Roo! said:
As for blu-ray, I can understand what they've done. I mean a technology that gives us over 5X the space than we currently have can't be bad. Sure they have forced it into their own console but that's their right, right? At the end of the day was Beta not the better format (still being used in the mastering processes in studios) and now they just don't want to lose this war as well?
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While it looks pretty set at the moment that Blu-ray is heading for the win, don't forget why Beta lost. It was because of the audio cassette. Once Sony's cassette became standard, the royalties were exorbitant, which is why when video came out the industry wanted an alternative.
 
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That's why I said it's very pro-ps3 but he makes some very valid comments.

So to play online games you have to pay even though it's peer to peer? or is their another online feature the 360 has??
 
Toxin said:
But then it'll be slowed down again by the slow speed of the Blu-Ray drive (only 2x).
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2x in Blu-Ray isn't the same as 2 x in DVD I don't think.

Blu Ray = : 1x@36Mb/s & 2x@72Mb/s
 
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derekc said:
That's why I said it's very pro-ps3 but he makes some very valid comments.

So to play online games you have to pay even though it's peer to peer? or is their another online feature the 360 has??
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It is peer to peer but you are paying more for the unified Live! base.

The friends list that works for every single game, the ability to send invitations, keep scores all the rest of that garbage.. :)
 
doobiwan said:
@Fudzy, Live Silver is free - so that's access to all content, VoIP, messenging etc, Live Gold requires a subscription. That gives you early access to some content and the ability to play online. (Some games like FF11 and phantasy star don't require gold, they have their own subs)
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So you couldn't play games online without a paid for subscription? After you've already forked out money buying the games themselves?
 
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I'm actually hoping the PS3 will do reasonably well so MS will drop their 360 prices so I can get one. The more competition the better for us.

that's not bad then..I don't mind paying for downloadable content. Those additional live games really seem quite fun and come at a decent price.
 
Fudzy said:
So you couldn't play games online without a paid for subscription? After you've already forked out money buying the games themselves?
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Most games ship with a free 48 hour pass, but I agree that's paltry. I agree with derekc, I hope PSN competition makes Live drop the fee. I pay it at the moment because I definitely get value out of the service, but I'd rather spend the money on content. And as Gavin said Brian Hastings insinuations are misleading, Live crosses the bounds of all games, PSN is still game by game.

On the peer-to-peer thing, it's definitely a benefit to the player! Gears of War is a blast, because we host locally and there is little or no lag. If PSN SA is piggy backing off the UK that means you have an unavoidable minimum 200ms latency on all the games you play. Also consider years from now, if you've got a favourite game- if the developer decides to drop the server you're stuffed. (It just happened with one of the Metal Gear Solids)
 
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