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Orange Box Dysfunctional on the PS3?

Posted by Zonk on from the so-close-and-yet-so-far dept.

Via Next Generation, a preview of the PS3 version of the Orange Box . 1up is the site running the piece, and it's notable because it's so incredibly negative. PS3 fans may have some frustrations in store when the game pack releases soon: "After spending a significant amount of time with a near final version of the PS3 game, it's apparent that this version suffers from a number of technical flaws, which at best merely hinder game play and at worst make the experience downright unplayable. Framerate is a consistent issue throughout the Half-Life series of games included in The Orange Box. One moment you'll be cruising through the game at 30 frames per second and the next you'll be enjoying a slideshow of series protagonist Gordon Freeman cruising down the river. "

14 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder why... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While the PC and Xbox 360 versions were handled by Valve, the PS3 port was handed off to an internal team at EA.

    Aha! There's the problem!

    1. Re:I wonder why... by ThirdPrize · · Score: 3, Funny

      It was probably the Madden team.

      --
      I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
    2. Re:I wonder why... by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Specifically, EA UK. From Wikipedia, their resume:

      *Burnout Legends
      *Burnout Dominator
      *Catwoman
      *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
      *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
      *Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
      *Untitled DICE Project
      *PS3 port of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    3. Re:I wonder why... by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was wondering why Gordon Freeman was carrying a football and wearing a Bulls helmet...

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    4. Re:I wonder why... by twistedsymphony · · Score: 3, Informative
      Here are some reasons...
      • correct me if I'm wrong (and I'm sure someone will) but doesn't "Games for Windows Live" only work with Vista? If so that would be a very strong reason why Valve didn't sign up for it...
      • another one is that you would need to pay the $50 annual contract for a Live Gold subscription to play with your friend while most PC gamers are used to playing online for free. Also you would need to connect to MS servers for patches updates etc. while Valve has their own Steam system... EA had the same problem with the Live system back in the Xbox 1 days because they wanted to use their own servers instead of the XBL servers... eventually a compromise was reached and special provisions were made for EA but something like that may need to be worked out with Valve before you see any of their games on the Live network.
      • Finally, considering that Games for Windows Live is a "new" platform and Half Life 2 predates its buy a fair margin, they would likely have to re-build a substantial portion of the multiplayer code to be in compliance with the Live system... and that's something most developers wont bother to do.
      In all likelihood the decision to NOT support Games for Windows Live came from the fact that they would have had many many more rabbit fanboys complaining about having to use Vista and Live than they got complaints of not being able to play between PC and 360 users.
      --
      Collector's Edition
  2. PRE-RELEASE by Zoidbot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What part of pre-release do they not understand.

    I get EA are funing today. I also expect 1UP to be precluded from ever seeing unfinished code again.. Talk about killing your buisness..

    Slate it, if it hits the shelves like this, but lets at least wait until then, before passing judgement!

    1. Re:PRE-RELEASE by Zoidbot · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have seen exactly this.

      If anyone picked up the free demo disc of Ratchet And Clank Future Tools Of Destruction on PS3, from Gamestop, it looked nice, but had quite bad framerate issues, and screen tearing. This was about 2 weeks prior to release.

      The final cut of the game, is perfect, with perhaps the best looking and smoothest visuals ever seen in a videogame.

      It really depends on how old the cut of the game code was, but I doubt SCEA would authorize it's release, if it's as bad as 1Up say it is.

      So I can see this playing out 2 ways.

      1/ The game comes out, and it's fine, and LOADS of trashy sites (this one included) are make to look like idiotic fanboys.

      2/ SCEA block it's release, because it's sub par.

      3/ SCEA don't block it, but it's still sub par, and then EA and Valve get it in the neck for sloppy coding (as the PS3 has been proven to be a great console, if you can be bothered to learn it).

    2. Re:PRE-RELEASE by seebs · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Er, no. The PS3 has 256MB of RAM -- VRAM doesn't count. However, the OS chews up about 72MB of that, leaving you with less, and you need extra space for SPE buffers. The 360's crappy unified architecture, in practice, gives you a lot closer to a real full 256MB of RAM -- with only about 32 taken away by the OS.

      The decision to cut back from 512MB of XDR to 256MB was a crappy decision.

      Yeah, lots of companies, developing specifically for PS3, are able to work around the memory limitations -- but some games are built around the assumption of at least 200MB available for the actual game engine.

      There's no defenders of the memory shortage who are actual PS3 programmers. There's some apologists who will admit that it's an issue, but argue that it can be worked around, but the people who claim it's not an issue are, curiously, never actually people who have developed for the target.

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  3. Re:consoles are for kids ... and companies by Chris_Jefferson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, what platformers are there even close to Super Mario Galaxy for Linux?

    --
    Combination - fun iPhone puzzling
  4. Re:Depressing by Alphager · · Score: 4, Informative

    Meanwhile, Infinity Ward managed to put out a rock solid multi-platform FPS- COD4. If they can make it look and play so great on the PS3, why can't Valve? Because EA (and not Valve) is responsible for the PS3-port.
  5. Re:Precisely by happyemoticon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I were to bet, Valve probably made a pragmatic decision because they had nobody in-house who knew enough about the PS3 to do the port. Their roots are in PC gaming, and from what I understand, they have a very dedicated culture. The chances that one of their star developers would learn to write for the PS3 just for fun are slim. Then, EA says, "Oh, sure, we've got people who can do the port!" and of course, because they're a bonehead marketing company with little respect for programmers, this turns out to be an exaggeration or an outright mistake.

  6. Re:consoles are for kids ... and companies by MikeFM · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nethack. It's the only game you'll ever need.

    --
    At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
  7. Re:Precisely by Smidge204 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've decided that EA couldn't code themselves out of a black box.

    Well it certainly seems they can't code themselves out of an Orange Box...
    =Smidge=

  8. Re:Depressing by DDLKermit007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah just like how a game like Assassin's Creed was on the PS3 first, ported to the 360, and the PS3 version is the one that ended up with frame-rate issues XD