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Oblivion Confirmed for PS3 Launch
1up reports that Elder Scroll IV: Oblivion will be a PlayStation 3 launch title. From the article: "Yes, the rumors are true: Oblivion is heading to PlayStation 3, and an upcoming cover story in Official PlayStation Magazine has the exclusive first look. Here's what we know so far. The game will introduce a new faction to the Oblivion world, one that's available right at the beginning called Knights of the Nine and described by the developers as 'the good Dark Brotherhood.' The goal here is to become the Divine Crusader (think part warrior, part priest), and the quest features new locations, characters, armor and weapons."
I knew it, the PS3 is going to bring about the apocalypse.
Year old game to be available for PS3Okay, and there's a new joinable faction.
/.? I mean, if it was an exclusive, or at least was launching on the PS3 at the same time as other platforms, or even had been listed as Windows/XBox 360 exclusive before, maybe, but... really, so what?
So, erm, why is this worthy of putting on
I would assume that everyone who was interested in Oblivion would have already purchased it. I'm not sure how this will be a big selling point for the PS3 when it will be $10-20 more (depending on price drop) than the PC or 360.
It's a port, so most of the assets are already done. Why not do a port of a 'big' title for a launch which is most likely going to be low on games, and take in some easy cash?
Every new console launch has it's share of easy ports raking in the launch madness - when people buy just about anything just to get another game for their shiny new thingy (since there's like 5 titles to choose from)
I wonder how the graphics will compare?
I'm still not interested in buying a PS3!
The ps3 is more difficult to program for and thus first generation games/ports may look worse then 1st gen games of other simpler systems when compared to their full potential.
Hmmm... Pie...
Ok, I guess its cool and all that they are going to sell it for the PS3, but most people who are really interested in the game probably have already played it/beaten it (It took me forever, lol). Unless they are going to add some new stuff to the PS3 version, this announcement isn't very important....
It would be interesting to see how well Oblivion runs on a PS3 in comparison to a PC or Xbox 360. Is the PS3 really that much better than an Xbox 360? This would show. On some settings Oblivion can humble a Quad SLI setup (usually max settings outdoors), so it won't be a case of the PS3 maxing out Oblivion. I wonder whether it will come on a Blu Ray disc or a DVD because it clearly doesn't need the Blu Ray's capacity. That Blu Ray drive sure is worth the extra cost. Maybe a lot of pre-rendered video will be thrown on for fun.
This is only for people who are completely devoted to the Playstation brand. Anyone else who wanted it, already owns it.
The screenshots look pretty much the same, the game has been finished and out for other systems for some time now and Bethesda has probably had plenty of time to port it over to the PS3 dev kit. While it won't give the best idea on the graphic capability of games developed specifically for the PS3, it could give an early idea of what multi-platform games will look like on both systems.
Out of the box, PS3 games SHOULD looks just as good or just as bad as their XBox 360 counterparts. It's years down the road when the developers have figured out how to get everything out of the system that the graphics of the PS3 should really have an edge over the 360. At least, that's my impression.
The PS3 is blown into Obilvion
I'm getting sick of reading "the PS3 is harder to program for" from people who've never written code on it.
You do realize the PS3 dev kids come with a huge number of SDKs including massive middleware options for physics, 3D rendering, audio, etc. and a great toolchain? It may not be as idiot-friendly as MS's tools (something Microsoft has always been good at -- their tools that is), but its very thorough. Its not like Bethseda had to sit down and write Cell assembly all day every day. The Unreal engine is available for use (although I doubt they used that), the same tree engine they use on the XBox360 is available, movie codecs are already written, etc.
Sure, optimizing for the low levels of a PS3 engine would be more challenging perhaps than the simpler XBox360 core, most of this can be written in high level languages and compiled easily (with GCC no less) to work quite well out of the box. Go read some real developper information on what Sony provides with a dev kit. The major complaint was that the dev kits weren't as plentiful as hoped -- which indicates that quite a few companies wanted them.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
"PS3 launch is destined for Oblivion"
Meta will eat itself
i lasted about 45 minutes with this game on the xbox 360. load times and frame rates were excrutiating. it got the point where i didn't open doors due to the loads. an adventure game that discourages exploring..that's rich. maybe the 'feature' that the ps3 port will add will be...wait for it...playability!
Go read some bible: nubible.com
You spelled Paladin wrong.
Oblivion on the PS3, eh? Too bad I've already got a 360.
The hardest of the hardcore will be the ones going for a PS3 if it's going to come off the shelves at 600$ each. I used to think I was a gaming bad ass until I heard that price tag. I'll probably get one, but it won't be for that price, and certainly not for a game I already have on another platform.
You've got a great opportunity here, Sony. Maybe you should work a little bit harder. You want a decent launch title for the PS3? A Reimagined Battlestar Galactica game, if you're looking to rehash something. Want another one? Multiplayer Ratchet & Clank. Microsoft managed to pull off exclusive content for GTA:IV.
Your move, Sony. You better wow me if you want to move one of your consoles into my entertainment rack.
Informatus Technologicus
I went into #xbox360 on efnet the other night praising the benefits of the PS3 in the folding project.. I was met with ridicule and laughter.. Why must there be a war? One side PS3 the other side everyone else?
Off on a tangent perhaps, but anywho...
I started playing Oblivion (on PC) again a few nights ago because I was jonesing for an RPG. But I've quickly remembered why I left Oblivion unfinished a few months ago. It's big, it's beautiful, but it's repetitive and boring. It can't decide if it wants to be an RPG or a 3D action game, so it doesn't do a very good job of being either one.
I'm sure it's going to look stunning on a PS3. It looks like it has more horsepower, and 1080p output will just be beautiful. But, I think Oblivion will be a great example of what's wrong with the PS3. Pretty graphics are nice, but there's a lot more to a game than that.
If the PS3 had a real, old-school style RPG that used modern technology coming, I'd probably be willing to shell out the bucks for one. Something party-based like a Baldur's Gate or an Ultima that was as expansive as Oblivion (but with hopefully more unique locations) would be awesome. As it stands, the remake of Ultima 5 using the Dungeon Siege engine is the best RPG I've played recently. It made up for the fact that I actually spent money on Dungeon Siege.
...I had the same thing happening...constant slowdowns outdoors, horrific load times. Most other titles worked great execept for King Kong, which locked up a lot. Got the dvd drive replaced and it works much much better. I'm guessing Oblivion is constantly trying to prefetch assets while your're outside....and when it has to do mulitple retries to the dvd, it looks like low framerate. I WISH they would just let you dump the whole mess to the hd while you were playing it...
Guess that means the PC people need to pay for this right?
Oblivion was a great game on the 360 and I'm glad to see it get a PS3 version as well. If you haven't already played it on the 360 or PC -- give it a go, it's a wonderful game that feels very next-gen (probably moreso on the PS3). It's certainly a game that deserves a PS3 port.
All the Sony fanbois who seem to think that the PS3 is magically so much more powerful than the 360, are going to be greatly depressed. First of all, I doubt Bethesda is going to change the game assets all that much, so it is going to be a straight port, and look just like one. However, your casual gamer is not going to realize this, and when he sees that Oblivion for the PS3 looks pretty much like the one for the 360 (maybe a liiittle better, but certainly not "$100-200 more" better), it's going to kill a lot of the technical-superiority momentum Sony and its fanbois are trying to drive.
Actually, you can see the same thing now with Assassin's Creed, another multiplatform game coming out for both systems. The game looks much the same between the PS3 and 360. I would imagine and hope that the PS3 version is a *bit* better looking, the same way Xbox titles had a slight edge over PS2 multiplatform games, simply because that console had a full year longer to mature than the 360. But we'll only able to tell when the PS3 finally ships and its in people's homes.
Now, I don't think the PS3 is a bad system simply because it's not two times better than a 360. What I'm bashing is the unrealistic hype Sony fanbois have been trying to build up. (The same way Nintendo fanbois have been unrealistically hyping the Wii) I will likely own all three consoles, and I'd like to judge for myself the strengths and weaknesses of each. If anything, the stupid "PS3 is that much better than a 360!" hype is going to hurt Sony more than it helps, since it'll appear to be yet another Sony un-truth to gamers, once they see the games/systems for themselves.
-- jchenx
It will show whatever the developer wants it to show. In case you don't have the 360 version, there are absolutely no visual settings to tweak. Most likely you won't be able to put the PS3 and 360 in a side to side comparison because there will be small differences in configuration.
Besides, you don't even need a top of the line computer to surpass both the 360 and PS3 in terms of visual quality and computational power, sure it costs you more, but the system is also infinetly more expandable and upgradable with both hardware and software.
...they should announce Duke Nukem Forever for the PS3...or PS4....maybe PS5...
I'm in the industry and although I have no experience with the PS3 whatsoever, I keep hearing from others that it's horrible to work with. (Although, they often admit, not as horrible as for the PS2).
Apparently, this time people actually use the libraries and things are slightly better documented. Take it with a pinch of salt; I simply heard it from someone else and the PS2 allowed from some pretty awesome games so I doubt that this really affects much. Possibly just the initial release games.
Has anyone heard any speculation or knowledge of whether or not the new content will eventually be available for the 360 and PC? I read TFA and also the press release at the Elder Scrolls website; they don't say. Might be a selling hook for the new content to only be available for the PS3 for a while, but I would think that Bethesda Softworks would want to encourage the extra purchase as an expansion. Eventually.
Because, you know, after 3 years of steadily working at it, I've almost completed the main storylines to the Morrowind/ Tribunal/ Bloodmoon games. I'm one of those "dormant" gamers they keep writing about - I average about 2 hours per week, used to be about 20 per week BWK: Before Wife and Kids. Oblivion sounds like just what I need to keep my busy for the next 5 years or so.
Cheers.
The 3rd screenshot looks like a crappy software rendered scene you could expect on a 486 box. Is Oblivion really that bad? Why do so many people play it?
Will they also offer horse armor that can be purchased online?
"Now, I don't think the PS3 is a bad system simply because it's not two times better than a 360. What I'm bashing is the unrealistic hype Sony fanbois have been trying to build up. (The same way Nintendo fanbois have been unrealistically hyping the Wii)" I understand the edge because they have been some crazy stuff said about the power of the PS3 but that fact remains that the PS3 pushes twice as many Flops as the 360. How it is used is an entire different subject. Chances are you are not going to see much of a difference in multiplatform games and that will pretty much kill any comparisons. In the long run you are going to have to compare exclusives to exclusives, in which most arguements will fail because of asthetics and game design.
it sucked on 2 systems already, so why not suck on a third?
And yes it did suck. It was pretty, but if you could actually look past that, it was boring.
I don't care how many Flops are pushed. I never listen to system specs like that anymore, since there's so much bunk. Proponents of each system will quote the benchmark that makes THEIR system appear better. Talking about stuff is pointless.
Anyways, I agree that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to compare games across platforms, due to the issues you talked about. But I'd rather do that than talk try to compare stupid benchmark numbers.
-- jchenx
Seriously, Oblivion is about as fun as a box of rocks, except less structured and dangerous. Smegging Bethesda.
And the Xbox 360 has double the raw polygon performance. (500 million vs 275 million).
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
I'm sure programming for the first time on any hardware platform is hard -- especially when nobody has ever done it before. We're talking an entirely new hardware platform here, no books, no well-known optimizations or hangups, no tricks of the trade yet, new new.
That said, IBM is already shipping Cell based servers as I understand it, so I'm sure the programmer base is growing in leaps and bounds as we speak and there may be some downright awesome code being written for it much sooner than we think.
Your PS2 comment made me smile too -- nothing like God of War or Black existed for the PS2 five years ago, but they do now. The programmers have figured already out the hard stuff (sorry, stole that line from a SCEA developper on the God of War 'making of' featurette) and just have optimizations and tweaking left in the making of new games.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)