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Valve's Orange Box For PS3 Delayed, Not Console Related
Eurogamer is reporting that the package of Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episodes One and Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2 known as the Orange Box will have a delayed release on the PlayStation 3. The 360 and PC versions are still slated for retail release on October 9th, with the PS3 version coming two-to-three weeks later. But, Valve was quick to point out, it's not because of the console: "The reason for the PS3 build's late arrival, marketing director Doug Lombardi told Eurogamer, is simply that the EA UK team handling [the PS3 Orange Box's] development are on the other side of the ocean and are necessarily a bit behind the core Valve team's development. 'We weren't going to hold up PC and 360 for PS3,' Lombardi told us."
This post is delayed as well, though its not because of the PS3 console either.
Its because I outsourced my typing and there is some lag.
liqbase
dont' forget about the wii.. it does some pretty slick FPS without a mouse.. heck.. it's more like an actual shooter
His constant bitching about the PS3 must be severely dampening interest in the Orange Box on that platform. I expect most of his complaints stem from the PS3's outright impudence of not being a Microsoft platform and not using Microsoft APIs. Even so, when the head of Valve slags off a platform, what confidence does it instill in games they're making for it? Apparently they're so allergic to this strange and terrifying console that they've shoved the port onto some EA team. Perhaps the game will end up being great on the PS3 but at the moment I have no confidence at all that it will be. Mr Newell needs to shut up or say something positive. Worse is that I just know that if the port does turn out to be poor or sales are a flop that he'll blame the console rather than acknowledge his own hand in the outcome.
It's more like actually shooting someone. I mean, something.
Share data across the ocean, what did they think, they wqould get over charged by their ISP for long distance surfing?!
Seriously, if you are incapable of syncing development between America and the UK you should not have a development team in both countries. I can see how the time difference could be a small problem, but how much does it take to only communicate through e-mail, or I know this is scary, but have one of the offices working different hours in order to keep them in touch.
Carmack gives a reasoned technical criticism but it wasn't particularly pro or anti the PS3. His opinion was that you had to work harder to get at the power, specifically - "They are both powerful systems that are going to make excellent game platforms, but I have a bit of a preference for the 360's symmetric CPU architecture and excellent development tools," he said. "The PS3 will have a bit more peak power, but it will be easier to exploit the available power on the 360. Our next major title is being focused towards simultaneous release on 360, PS3, and PC."
That doesn't sound like badmouthing to me but an informed observation.
So basically Carmack & Newell agree but one is non-technical, biased and quite ill informed and the other isn't.
;)
Hmmm
--I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
He's not just pro-Microsoft. He's an ex Microsoft employee.
The cake is a pie
Actually, Carmack pretty much said that although the 360 is easy to develop for, the power is about even and he was going to get all he could from both systems anyway. Newell, however, gripes about how terrible the PS3 is and then outsources development. If he were actually programming for both himself, I'd be more interested in his opinion. But otherwise, his opinion comes off as biased and ill informed, since he doesn't actually have firsthand experience with it. UE3 and IDTech5 are both running just fine on all three platforms (PC, 360, PS3) with just a single primary developer, while Source required separate development teams to make it work on all three platforms.
The 360 is easier to code for, as has been established by dozens of developers comments. But that doesn't mean they're going to sit around complaining or abandon the platform (well, a few have abandoned, but not many). For a developer that has the experience and credibility with FPS games and engine design to gripe as much as Newell has makes him look awfully pathetic.
They do not even appear to agree. Carmack doesn't pan the PS3 at all, he simply points out that its harder to get at the available power, while also saying its more powerful.
- Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
Well said, DrXym. Carmack, although, I disagree with him. Really prefers the PC architecture. He's always been on the PC side. Even during the PS2 launch (he said the same criticism back then). Gabe Newell on the other hand is just a Microsoft Shill.
Lesson of the day: if you enable reparenting of comments, don't mod comments "off-topic".
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"