Japanese Devs Talk 360 Development

Japanese developers have had the chance to work with the Xbox 360, and as Gamespot reports, there are mixed feelings over there. From the article: "...but even with Microsoft's development tools and strong technical support (another aspect for which the developers had kind words), there are still a number of issues game makers face. Many developers consider the system's graphic capabilities 'double-edged.' The Xbox 360 can handle much better looking graphics than previous consoles, but it also requires a lot more effort in development."

Comments

To be fair...

[samdu]

I'm no fan of Microsoft, but to be fair, the complaint about the 360 having better graphics but being more difficult to develop for is going to apply to ALL of the next-gen consoles.

Re:To be fair...

[AcheronHades]

I'm no fan of Microsoft, but to be fair, the complaint about the 360 having better graphics but being more difficult to develop for is going to apply to ALL of the next-gen consoles.

I agree, deveopers complain about this sort of thing every generation.

To be fair to the 360, the summary does not do the article justice. For the most part it talks about how easy the 360 is to develop for.

Re:To be fair...

[HunterZ]

This brings up an interesting point: Perhaps by a quirk of fate, this next-generation console hardware innovation may be incentive that the entertainment software industry needs to crawl out of the enormous rut it's now in.

Cross-platform games and ports of engines from current-generation consoles will look/perform poorly compared to console-specific titles as a result of using only the lowest-common-denominator of hardware. Attempts to optimize ports for individual platforms will also be less likely to occur due to higher development costs. This could give more original games a more even playing field.

Another likely side-effect is polarization of fan and developer support for the invidual console platforms, as the more unique selections of games for each will attract different people.

Personally I'm not much of a console gamer (yet), but it will be interesting to see the effect of the next-generation consoles on the currently abysmal software market.

It also sounds like Nintendo's presence in the console market may continue to slide further into a niche with the Revolution. Chances are that this will continue to drive the innovation in gameplay that is keeping many gamers interested in the Gamecube and DS. Still, I think it's quite arguable that Nintendo has lost its console market dominance and may soon have an uphill battle to fight in order to keep itself from going the way of Sega.

Re:And so it begins.

[briankoenig]

Yes, and we all know that multi-disc games are doomed to failure, and that the developer and producer will fail as well, like what happened with Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX; Arc the Lad Collection; Legend of Dragoon; Gran Turismo 2; Star Ocean Till the End of Time; I could go on but you get the point.

Pressing a second disc is incredibly cheap compared to the rest of the development process.

Re:"even with"?

[MBCook]

Whether you are right or wrong (I'm not a fan of VS either), you have to remember your place. All developers are not equal.

You were developing for Windows. You were a small peanut. You didn't matter. So you got customer service that was appropriate to your place. The fact is is you were Macromedia, Adobe, or EA or some other big publisher, my guess is you would get much better support.

But this is the XBox 360. So not only are they helpful to the big publishers (because consoles don't succeed without great games), but they will help small publishers too (at least at first). They NEED good games at the start of the console's life. It is in their best interest to give every developer every little bit of help they can (especially in Japan where the XBox had so much trouble).

This is all what I can deduce (I'm not a professional game programmer or anything, I'm still in school). But the point is they can't (and shouldn't) give the same respect to a little Windows developer (which has already succeeded wildly) that a big publisher/group like Team Ninja or some such would get on their new multi-billion dollar Console launch.

Re:Extra Extra, /. Hates the 360

[Red Flayer]

Nice rant.

You're missing the points of the "article":

1. It will take some time for developers to make games that wow us.

2. Some 360 games will have so much content that they won't fit on two discs!!11!one!

This "article" is a marketing tool, a disguised press release, and is not really denigrating the 360 at all. They are reminding us that 1st generation games never utilize anything close to the full potential of a system, and that there will be games with a massive amount of content.

Sure, a lot of people on Slashdot do not like Microsoft, many of them for good reasons.

When you read a blurb like this from Gamespot or anyone else, you have to read between the lines -- there is probably an ulterior motive to what is published.

Re:HAHA, told ya so!

[lion2]

But what makes you think that the Revolution will be any more easier to develop for. The Revolution is going to have multiple cores and it is going to be more powerful than the Gamecube. So developers WILL have to create better graphics and learn to work with a multicore chip (all complaints given about the PS3 and Xbox 360).
    Multicore development for games is a new concept for most developers and it's something they HAVE to face. Right now, multicore chips seem to be the only way to get more performance from CPU's and developers will have to adapt to this to remain competitive.
    It's no surprise that first-gen games will not be able to take advantage of all features of a console. It happens every generation. However, as developers get familiar with the milticore concept and development tools mature, things will definitely improve. Microsoft is at least offering a way of easily transitioning, but Im betting Sony and Nintendo are going to offer the same thing. Difficulty of programming never stopped the PS2 from dominating.
    How about when the first console with a Quantum CPU appears. I bet game developers will really complain about that because, as I understand, quantum programming is A LOT different than the traditional programming we use today. Developers should stop complaining a start programming.