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Conflicting Reports of PS3 Programming Difficulty

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the is-it-or-isn't-it? dept.

xenongamer writes "It appears there isn't any type of concensus regarding the programming difficulty of Sony and IBM's upcoming Cell processor. From the article: 'Although few doubt the relative power of the Cell microprocessor, many have expressed concern over the chip's asymmetric design, which makes programming for it a potential disaster ... One such man was 3D artist Josh Robinson, who was fired from his position at Sony just weeks after making a public, negative comment about PlayStation 3 development on his Internet blog.'"

2 of 122 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Difficulty? Ha! by MBraynard · · Score: 0, Troll
    Maybe you should get an NES instead.

    And do you think that Nintendo doesn't have DRM (essentially, an anti-piracy scheme) on it's games for the R?

  2. Re:John Carmack sez... by metamatic · · Score: 1, Troll
    Most game logic doesn't need or want too many different threads; requiring multiprocessor use to get the most out of the system is just overcomplicating things.

    A modern 3D video game ought to have:

    • A 3D rendering thread
    • A display thread (separate so that if the frame rate drops, you don't get tearing)
    • A game physics and game logic thread, separate so that the physics doesn't change if the frame rate changes
    • A music thread, so the music doesn't jitter
    • A sound effects generation thread

    That's 5 threads at a bare minimum.

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak