I picked up a PS3 (for Linux) and I've been hanging out with PS3 users. It's fascinating. They have no idea about content restrictions. When I posted a comment on my blog about how annoying HDCP is (if I didn't have it, I'd be running my PS3 at 1920x1200... But it's impossible in my setup because of HDCP), I got a bitchy remark from someone who insisted that Linux has full access to the hard drive, and just doesn't read the PS3 filesystem. No, Sony actually virtualizes the machine so you see only the part of the disk that doesn't have any Sony data on it.
The reason they don't care is because they are happily converting their files to MPEG-4/AVC, right up to 1080p, and merrily playing them back off the harddrive or DVD-R. HDCP is not an issue.
If that's their strategy, it's certainly ironic; Sony's content arm (Columbia, Sony Music, etc) has historically hobbled their hardware divisions like SCEA (playstation, psp, digital walkman) to the greatest extent possible. What they don't seem to understand is that the more they tighten their grip on digital media, the more hardware sales will slip through their fingers...
Tarkin references aside, its worth elaborating on this a little, as it is emblematic of a bigger fight.
Sony's various content arms have tried like hell to hamstring their electronics divisions over the last few years, ever since 'the gloves came off' as far as the RIAA/MPAA goes - but with what I would call limited success. Sony BMG were able to roll out their rootkit with no input or interference from Sony Electronics for instance.
But here's the thing - hardware sales dwarf content sales. Absolutely dwarf them, something like 10-to-1. This is not just true of Sony but the entire industry. Hardware simply generates a hell of a lot more money.
This is why the iPod goes like crazy, and Apple does its placating DRM-lite (although any is bad) on their content, so they can get the juicy hit singles that power iTunes while really making the money off the hardware sales. Its also why Microsoft created the Xbox and Zune.
But you end up with a crazy situation. As Lessig points out often, the content people swing way above their weight class legislatively, when you take into account the actual money generated. They get the protectionist laws passed that they like. And the hardware guys mostly sit mum, with Intel putting their hand up every so often, offering to be helpful. The content guys know they are fighting for their lives, and need to fight dirty to keep anything like the level of cash flow they are used to. (I choose that word carefully - they fight dirty - there is no other way to put it really). Hardware guys maybe know that they will be around forever, who knows why this is.
Now, back on topic, as far as Sony Electronics goes, we can see evidence of the backlash in recent products. Keep in mind that 'recent products' is a wide area for a slow-turning behemoth like Sony. But the most recent and prevalent example, the PS3, plays no DRM'd files. Not a one - its all straight down the middle MPEG1/2/4. And it has regular card readers - compact flash, SD etc. Won't play WMA, won't play anything DRM'd at all. And runs foreign code. Contrast that with the PSP which plays open formats but not unsigned code, contrast that with previous Sony products prior to that which have Sony-special hard drives, memory cards, fucking power plugs, everyting. It seems like a trend. Even the phones follow this, they are backing away like crazy even as their co-branded record label and movie studio scream their fool heads off.
Who knows where it will net out but lets hope that Welsh guy they have for a CEO now has given the electronics guys their balls back. Where they belong, not as cat's-toys for SonyBMG. (Also lets hope they medicate Kutaragi. Yeesh.)
Yes, and, more importantly, that you can't do anything else with a PS3 while it's downloading, unlike the Xbox 360, which will download non-disruptively in the background while you play games or something.
Yep. Just like the Xbox360 when it lau - sorry, we are being emphatic I see - just like the xbox360 when it launched. Sony announced that the bg downloading ability will be added with the March update.
There are excellent things to rightly pick on with the PS3; this ain't one of 'em.
In other words, like I said, it's not just a button click, and if you want to do it, you're either in for some cash layouts or else a long and complicated process. And, of course, none of this negates the fact that no matter what method you use, it's still illegal under the DMCA.
Nope. Point 1 - DMCA is not for the world. Point 2, ffmpegX will do this also, and its open source. So no, incorrect.
If Sony or Microsoft create a controller that works just as well as the Wiimote, they still lose. The winner is always the first to market with a functional concept.
The 8800 is already out. Any computer with a high end next generation PC Video card is going to be able to curb stomp the PS3.
Really? You can build a gaming PC with that graphics firepower, HD optical, 1080p out and a Cell chip (or equivalent) for $600? With playback software? No, of course you can't.
We don't know whether the current heavy demand for the Wii is in the general gamer populace or from Zelda fanatics. I'm not trying to be derogatory, it's just that Zelda lovers REALLY love Zelda. 75% of Wii purchasers also bought Zelda.
Tend to agree, although it does seem as if many non-gamers have really glommed onto the Wii, but good point.
Third, the Xbox 360 is about to pass the 10 million mark in consoles sold.
More like 8 million, but again, point taken. The Dreamcast it ain't.
Fourth, the demand for the PS3 has plummeted.
You have no data. Seriously, this can't be calculated. Every PS3 that gets produced still gets snapped up so we know nothing so far about actual demand. Agree about the pressure on their devs, though. Not many are exclusive, but still.
The Wii is based on the Gamecube architecture and really should cost about $199 with a game. And nobody wants to pay $599 for a game console. So Microsoft should drop the price of a Premium Xbox 360 to $299 with a game. It would be a much more appropriate price.
Totally agree. And Sony has a big problem with how this appears in the short term.
In my opinion, what's hurting/going to hurt the 360 in the race is not specs, and raw hardware capability, because realistically the 360 and the PS3 are pretty much dead even in terms of process power.
No, they're not. They're really not.
And I don't really understand the meme. You can look at these specs. The PS3 is a very powerful machine, more than the Xbox 360. This is not a slam or a dig - the X360 is cheaper, and has been available for over a year. Its not fair in many ways to even compare them. This doesn't mean one is more fun, or even better, but in terms of 'technical accomplishment', its pretty clear.
When I can rip my DVDs onto my computer and have it stream them to my PSP or PS3, come back and talk to me. (Yes, I know there's probably some long, complicated, illegal procedure to do this, but we're talking about what average consumers can do.)
Just as a point of interest - you can in fact do exactly this. And its not complicated, there are ready-made apps for $29 that do precisely the thing you are describing. The PS3 will play any MPEG1/2/4 source, all the way up to 1080p, and the PSP will stream it.
Despite the common meme around here that these devices should stick to playing games, a browser is just too handy to have inside your console. And Opera just kicks ass. Their DS version is very clever.
It makes me wonder if we're going to start to see pages formatted just for television readability, specifically for console browsers. If anything it enforces standards a little more - you NEED to be able to adjust the text size, some sites won't allow for that. And widescreen displays are a bit different of course for layout due to the aspect ratio. I noticed that the PS3 browser homepage asks right off the bat if you are browsing in HD or SD.
I am not opposed to appropriately placed ads. That sounds pretty vague but really that's the long and short of it.
I remember once noticing while flipping through channels a few years ago that one of the characters on a sitcom - Friends or some other thing - was drinking a beer, an actual bottled beer. And I thought, wow, it really seems more authentic to see characters doing the sorts of things you would expect.
As another poster very astutely pointed out, this can add realism and authenticity to a game if its trying to mimic the world we live in, but it has to be handled appropriately. This is a job for the writers and (to a lesser extent) the producers. I really would not mind seeing ads for Nike and others in an EA sports game. (not that I play those). You see that in real life so it works.
Writers must decide what is appropriate and what is not. I don't think the ads are inherently good or bad.
One exception to this I could see is an ad-driven subscription model for a modern/futuristic MMOG. Like, think a Shadowrun MMOG that was free monthly if you tolerate ads in the game, or you pay a small fee to disable them. That seems alright.
Marcus Feenix with a Mountain Dew, yeah, not so much. And I have no idea how you would handle it for a historically-set game like Call of Duty: maybe 7Up could generate some old-style ads or something; its much tricker advertising the latest blu-ray player in 12th century Babylon, or whatever.
Uh, I care because the harder the platform is to code for, the harder it's going to be to get the maximum performance out of it, and the more frustrated the developers will be. It directly impacts the quality of games.
Ok, sure. But to follow that to its ogical conclusion, you care about the company's stock price, the health of its CEO, etc. etc. Do we really want to track all that? Don't get me wrong, I see your point. It is an issue. But its their issue.
Every game developer with experience with the PS3 and any other system says the PS3 is a bitch compared to anything but the PS2. There have been endless interviews which reveal this. I don't believe you know what you're talking about.
Well that is very interesting. Every SINGLE dev I've talked to says its actually quite a bit easier. The PS2 was even weirder than the PS3 on many scores. But I probably won't change your already-made-up mind. I would refer you to the entire slashdot discussion on the matter. Lots of good info in there. Its a myth.
Those who would use Dreamcast as a counterexample should note that it died more because of Sony marketing than because of anything else. Developers abandoned it and waited for PS2, which turned out to have specs about an order of magnitude less powerful than announced.
And the PS2 was supposed to be a beastly complex nightmare to code for as well, wasn't it?
Go look at libspe. Its not a big deal. It really isn't. I think a lot of the hand-wringing is that these new systems (well, Xbox and PS3) have taken the logical leap and went to newer, multithread-happy designs. These are going to be tricky. (I won't even get into the obvious illogicality of why you as a customer would ever giv a fuck about how hard it is to program for.)
And besides - the off-the-shelf (so to speak) packages are all there anyways: You can use Havok. PhysX. Collada. The Unreal engine. Its a myth, I'm telling you. Its no harder to program for than an Xbox360. A Wii is much much easier, but of course much much wimpier hardware-wise (put down the gun, I said nothing about enjoyment).
Classic example is Rayman Raving rabbits, probably the only non Nintendo must have title for the Wii.
That is actually something that concerns me about the Wii. Nintendo can ever let up for a second, since they are, far and away, the very best publisher for their own system. Nintendo relies much more heavily on 1st-party titles than any other console out there.
Publishers like EA who constantly just recycle the same garbage have a hard time on Nintendo systems, but others who try different things and have good quality like Ubisoft lately or also Capcom lately are quite happy there.
I have to disagree. EA may churn out a lot of pap in their sports titles, but I gotta say, I've played some fairly solid and innovative stuff from them. EA will give us Spore and Army of Two. Ubisoft gave us the execrable Red Steel.
Okay. I saw one of these things in a Fry's Electronics store. After seeing the $1200 price tag, I'm sure I will never use all the power of a PS3. Or even a little bit of it.
Jesus, $1200? Was that a bundle or something? They don't cost that much...
That said - I agree with you otherwise. The new controller is already forcing developers to think outside the box, and I feel that there will be far more innovative and exclusive games for Wii than there will be for PS3 or 360. I'm not saying that those systems won't also have innovative games, but they won't be game-play innovations. PS3 and 360 are definitely going to try to push the envelope on graphics and audio realism, I just don't think they are going to have the same effect as innovative play control is going to have.
But what about the motion sensing controller for the PS3? Surely we can't discount that completely out-of-hand. Yes, it is a me-too idea from Sony riding Nintendo's coattails in this regard, but this is nothing new; Nintendo has pioneered many of the control methods we see commonplace in other consoles today (don't really need to list them). Personally the original dual shock is still my favourite, and I like the sixaxis a lot for that reason.
Anyways my point is - the xbox has the most to lost potentially if there is a real Revolution (ha) in motion sensing games. The PS3 controller is not as detailed in positioning resolution, but it IS there, and a port many of the simpler non-stickhandle type games would not have much trouble (I'm thinking Katamari as opposed to Wii Sports). And don't forget there are 3rd part USB controllers gunning for the Wii remote, that already work on Xb0x360/PC/PS3.
Seems to me the major differences between the Wii Remote and the Sixaxis are one-handed vs two-handed control, and level of positioning resolution.
Scalping isn't an instance of "the free market", it's actually an attempt to profit through interference with the processes of the free market. So yes: "Parasites" is actually an excellent choice of word.
I agree with you; but would you say that about, say, futures traders?
You can't really directly compare a racing game with, well, anything else. Racing games need zero deformable objects - everything is rigid but the eye candy - and they have a very predictable path. If the view changes rapidly you're probably spinning in circles so the frame rate doesn't matter so much; but in normal use the view is very predictable so it's a lot easier to predict what you will have to draw.
That's true for Gran Turismo, which is exclusively on racetracks and with no damage. I would refer you to MotorStorm, which has deformable muddy terrain that alters with each pass and stays that way, and a lot of physical damage to vehicles. Oh, and multiple pathways through rough terrain. Or something like SSX with the snowtracks or Project Gotham or Wipeout with its weapons - racing games will practically always want deformable geometry.
I agree that this comparison is not particularly apt however (FF XII to GT)... just because GT is rendering more pixels doesn't make it 'better looking'; crisper maybe but that's hardly the whole visual story.
If I drink a lot of red wine,
and half-starve myself,
and stay out of the sunlight,
and smoke copious amounts of pot,
and drink lots of espresso and tea...
actually fuck it, I don't care how long I live, whatever time I have will be really goddammed fun.
There is a good Mark Twain quote: "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
I'm a big fan of Twain. Most quotable guy ever. In this case, you should have taken your own advice.
The "Cell" processors are more like secondary helper processors, the main CPU in the PS3 is indeed a PowerPC.
The 'Cell' includes those SPEs, with a central PowerPC-derived core that handles main processing and traffic management between those elements. The SPEs are like miniature RISC procs. The interconnect is freaky and weird. In short - and like I said - it has its origins in PowerPC, but there is a reason IBM refers to these chips with two different names.
As for this:
As for the 'Vector Units too brain dead for AI'?... From my very limited knowledge of the Cell processor I can tell you it is not a general purpose CPU and therefore not very useful for doing things like AI, etc.
It is not a general purpose CPU, none of the console CPUs are. Does that make them all crappy at AI? After all the Xbox360 is a vector monster as well, what with all the altivec units and so forth? Besides without knowing what factoring and help you get from the compiler, this is all hand-waving anyways.
Yes and no. The PS3 does use a new architecture, but there is literally a PS2 emotion engine chip in every PS3 to "emulate" PS2 functionality. I'm not sure we can really call it emulation when it's the original chip just doing the same thing it did before.
Good point, although its moot to the end user, isn't it? Worth pointing out that the PS2 accomplished this in exactly the same way - the audio chip for the PS2 was actually a shrunken main CPU from a PS1.
Probably because you are stupid. The specs have been out for a nearly a year now. The 360 has the exact same IBM powerpc core processor, just 3x as many of them as the PS3. The vector units are too brain dead for AI and have to be chained together to use their full potential, so basically you have a quick matrix transform, vs 3x as much cpu power, and a video card 1.5x as powerful. I'm not a fanboy, I am a game graphics programmer. (but yes perhaps I am a little irritated over the difficulty level as well)
Then what the fuck are you talking about?
The Cell is not a PowerPC chip. Its a totally different animal. The best you can say comparison-wise is that they both had their origins in PowerPC, due to IBM's involvement. 'Vector Units too brain dead for AI'? What does that even mean?
Sorry, I call bullshit, you're definitely a 'fanboy' and a poorly informed one at that.
Or there is another reason, far less flamebait than my GP post: since the PS3 and the 360 are somehow similar, game developpers will be tempted to build their games on the common ground between those tho systems, therefore, even with a superior PS3, the game will be exactly as it is on the 360.
For publishers like EA, this is absolutely true, and has been for some time (see: Call of Duty). But for the first-party stuff, they will still be leveraging whatever strengths the console has (Gears or War for Xbox, Gran Turismo for PS3, etc).
First off, this is a famous Sony marketdroid and you should pay him as much heed as you would any other marketdroid from any big corporation. He's just ignorant enought to make boneheaded statements such as this.
Having said that, for such a nerd-oriented site, I can't believe some of the parsing going on here, and it must come down at least partially to latent Sony-hate (for whatever reason).
Let's just put the word 'Sony' aside, for ONE second. Just bear with me here.
The PS3's 3.2 GHz Cell processor, developed jointly by Sony, Toshiba and IBM ("STI"), is an implementation to dynamically assign physical processor cores to do different types of work independently. It has a PowerPC-based "Power Processing Element" (PPE) and six accessible 3.2 GHz Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs), a seventh runs in a special mode and is dedicated to OS security, and an eighth disabled to improve production yields. The PPE, SPE's and other elements ("units") are connected via an Element Interconnect Bus which serves to connect all of the units in a ring-style bus. The PPE has a 512 KiB level 2 cache and one VMX vector unit. Each SPE is a RISC processor with 128 128-bit SIMD GPRs and superscalar functions. Each SPE contains 256 KiB of non-cached memory (local storage, "LS") that is shared by program code and work data. SPEs may access more data in the main memory using DMA. The floating point performance of the whole system (CPU + GPU) is reported to be 2 TFLOPS[74]. PlayStation 3's Cell CPU achieves 204 GFLOPS single precision float and 15 GFLOPS double precision. The PS3 will ship with 256 MiB of Rambus XDR DRAM, clocked at CPU die speed.
That is one deeply weird hunk of hardware. And its pretty fucking cool. Or at least, IBM seems to think so.
Someone has tried to dumb down an explanation like this to our boy Phil and he shat out this 'will never use the full potential' idiocy, which in turn riles all the nerds because its just such a lame thing to say, you can poke holes in it all day (such as, 'why build such a complicated beast if we will never be able to program it - equally idiotic).
So the statement is 100% true, and 100% meaningless.
Like the hamburger truck at the end of my street that claims Greatest Burgers in the Universe.
Slashdot Mirror
The reason they don't care is because they are happily converting their files to MPEG-4/AVC, right up to 1080p, and merrily playing them back off the harddrive or DVD-R. HDCP is not an issue.
Tarkin references aside, its worth elaborating on this a little, as it is emblematic of a bigger fight.
Sony's various content arms have tried like hell to hamstring their electronics divisions over the last few years, ever since 'the gloves came off' as far as the RIAA/MPAA goes - but with what I would call limited success. Sony BMG were able to roll out their rootkit with no input or interference from Sony Electronics for instance.
But here's the thing - hardware sales dwarf content sales. Absolutely dwarf them, something like 10-to-1. This is not just true of Sony but the entire industry. Hardware simply generates a hell of a lot more money.
This is why the iPod goes like crazy, and Apple does its placating DRM-lite (although any is bad) on their content, so they can get the juicy hit singles that power iTunes while really making the money off the hardware sales. Its also why Microsoft created the Xbox and Zune.
But you end up with a crazy situation. As Lessig points out often, the content people swing way above their weight class legislatively, when you take into account the actual money generated. They get the protectionist laws passed that they like. And the hardware guys mostly sit mum, with Intel putting their hand up every so often, offering to be helpful. The content guys know they are fighting for their lives, and need to fight dirty to keep anything like the level of cash flow they are used to. (I choose that word carefully - they fight dirty - there is no other way to put it really). Hardware guys maybe know that they will be around forever, who knows why this is.
Now, back on topic, as far as Sony Electronics goes, we can see evidence of the backlash in recent products. Keep in mind that 'recent products' is a wide area for a slow-turning behemoth like Sony. But the most recent and prevalent example, the PS3, plays no DRM'd files. Not a one - its all straight down the middle MPEG1/2/4. And it has regular card readers - compact flash, SD etc. Won't play WMA, won't play anything DRM'd at all. And runs foreign code. Contrast that with the PSP which plays open formats but not unsigned code, contrast that with previous Sony products prior to that which have Sony-special hard drives, memory cards, fucking power plugs, everyting. It seems like a trend. Even the phones follow this, they are backing away like crazy even as their co-branded record label and movie studio scream their fool heads off.
Who knows where it will net out but lets hope that Welsh guy they have for a CEO now has given the electronics guys their balls back. Where they belong, not as cat's-toys for SonyBMG. (Also lets hope they medicate Kutaragi. Yeesh.)
Yep. Just like the Xbox360 when it lau - sorry, we are being emphatic I see - just like the xbox360 when it launched. Sony announced that the bg downloading ability will be added with the March update.
There are excellent things to rightly pick on with the PS3; this ain't one of 'em.
Nope. Point 1 - DMCA is not for the world. Point 2, ffmpegX will do this also, and its open source. So no, incorrect.
What?!
Tell that to Apple! Hell, tell that to Sony!
Really? You can build a gaming PC with that graphics firepower, HD optical, 1080p out and a Cell chip (or equivalent) for $600? With playback software? No, of course you can't.
Tend to agree, although it does seem as if many non-gamers have really glommed onto the Wii, but good point.
More like 8 million, but again, point taken. The Dreamcast it ain't.
You have no data. Seriously, this can't be calculated. Every PS3 that gets produced still gets snapped up so we know nothing so far about actual demand. Agree about the pressure on their devs, though. Not many are exclusive, but still.
Totally agree. And Sony has a big problem with how this appears in the short term.
No, they're not. They're really not.
And I don't really understand the meme. You can look at these specs. The PS3 is a very powerful machine, more than the Xbox 360. This is not a slam or a dig - the X360 is cheaper, and has been available for over a year. Its not fair in many ways to even compare them. This doesn't mean one is more fun, or even better, but in terms of 'technical accomplishment', its pretty clear.
Just as a point of interest - you can in fact do exactly this. And its not complicated, there are ready-made apps for $29 that do precisely the thing you are describing. The PS3 will play any MPEG1/2/4 source, all the way up to 1080p, and the PSP will stream it.
It makes me wonder if we're going to start to see pages formatted just for television readability, specifically for console browsers. If anything it enforces standards a little more - you NEED to be able to adjust the text size, some sites won't allow for that. And widescreen displays are a bit different of course for layout due to the aspect ratio. I noticed that the PS3 browser homepage asks right off the bat if you are browsing in HD or SD.
I remember once noticing while flipping through channels a few years ago that one of the characters on a sitcom - Friends or some other thing - was drinking a beer, an actual bottled beer. And I thought, wow, it really seems more authentic to see characters doing the sorts of things you would expect.
As another poster very astutely pointed out, this can add realism and authenticity to a game if its trying to mimic the world we live in, but it has to be handled appropriately. This is a job for the writers and (to a lesser extent) the producers. I really would not mind seeing ads for Nike and others in an EA sports game. (not that I play those). You see that in real life so it works.
Writers must decide what is appropriate and what is not. I don't think the ads are inherently good or bad.
One exception to this I could see is an ad-driven subscription model for a modern/futuristic MMOG. Like, think a Shadowrun MMOG that was free monthly if you tolerate ads in the game, or you pay a small fee to disable them. That seems alright.
Marcus Feenix with a Mountain Dew, yeah, not so much. And I have no idea how you would handle it for a historically-set game like Call of Duty: maybe 7Up could generate some old-style ads or something; its much tricker advertising the latest blu-ray player in 12th century Babylon, or whatever.
Ok, sure. But to follow that to its ogical conclusion, you care about the company's stock price, the health of its CEO, etc. etc. Do we really want to track all that? Don't get me wrong, I see your point. It is an issue. But its their issue.
Well that is very interesting. Every SINGLE dev I've talked to says its actually quite a bit easier. The PS2 was even weirder than the PS3 on many scores. But I probably won't change your already-made-up mind. I would refer you to the entire slashdot discussion on the matter. Lots of good info in there. Its a myth.
And the PS2 was supposed to be a beastly complex nightmare to code for as well, wasn't it?
Go look at libspe. Its not a big deal. It really isn't. I think a lot of the hand-wringing is that these new systems (well, Xbox and PS3) have taken the logical leap and went to newer, multithread-happy designs. These are going to be tricky. (I won't even get into the obvious illogicality of why you as a customer would ever giv a fuck about how hard it is to program for.)
And besides - the off-the-shelf (so to speak) packages are all there anyways: You can use Havok. PhysX. Collada. The Unreal engine. Its a myth, I'm telling you. Its no harder to program for than an Xbox360. A Wii is much much easier, but of course much much wimpier hardware-wise (put down the gun, I said nothing about enjoyment).
That is actually something that concerns me about the Wii. Nintendo can ever let up for a second, since they are, far and away, the very best publisher for their own system. Nintendo relies much more heavily on 1st-party titles than any other console out there.
I have to disagree. EA may churn out a lot of pap in their sports titles, but I gotta say, I've played some fairly solid and innovative stuff from them. EA will give us Spore and Army of Two. Ubisoft gave us the execrable Red Steel.
Jesus, $1200? Was that a bundle or something? They don't cost that much...
But what about the motion sensing controller for the PS3? Surely we can't discount that completely out-of-hand. Yes, it is a me-too idea from Sony riding Nintendo's coattails in this regard, but this is nothing new; Nintendo has pioneered many of the control methods we see commonplace in other consoles today (don't really need to list them). Personally the original dual shock is still my favourite, and I like the sixaxis a lot for that reason.
Anyways my point is - the xbox has the most to lost potentially if there is a real Revolution (ha) in motion sensing games. The PS3 controller is not as detailed in positioning resolution, but it IS there, and a port many of the simpler non-stickhandle type games would not have much trouble (I'm thinking Katamari as opposed to Wii Sports). And don't forget there are 3rd part USB controllers gunning for the Wii remote, that already work on Xb0x360/PC/PS3.
Seems to me the major differences between the Wii Remote and the Sixaxis are one-handed vs two-handed control, and level of positioning resolution.
I agree with you; but would you say that about, say, futures traders?
That's true for Gran Turismo, which is exclusively on racetracks and with no damage. I would refer you to MotorStorm, which has deformable muddy terrain that alters with each pass and stays that way, and a lot of physical damage to vehicles. Oh, and multiple pathways through rough terrain. Or something like SSX with the snowtracks or Project Gotham or Wipeout with its weapons - racing games will practically always want deformable geometry.
I agree that this comparison is not particularly apt however (FF XII to GT)... just because GT is rendering more pixels doesn't make it 'better looking'; crisper maybe but that's hardly the whole visual story.
and half-starve myself,
and stay out of the sunlight,
and smoke copious amounts of pot,
and drink lots of espresso and tea...
actually fuck it, I don't care how long I live, whatever time I have will be really goddammed fun.
In 12 months, remember you said that :)
I'm a big fan of Twain. Most quotable guy ever. In this case, you should have taken your own advice.
The 'Cell' includes those SPEs, with a central PowerPC-derived core that handles main processing and traffic management between those elements. The SPEs are like miniature RISC procs. The interconnect is freaky and weird. In short - and like I said - it has its origins in PowerPC, but there is a reason IBM refers to these chips with two different names.
As for this:
It is not a general purpose CPU, none of the console CPUs are. Does that make them all crappy at AI? After all the Xbox360 is a vector monster as well, what with all the altivec units and so forth? Besides without knowing what factoring and help you get from the compiler, this is all hand-waving anyways.
Good point, although its moot to the end user, isn't it? Worth pointing out that the PS2 accomplished this in exactly the same way - the audio chip for the PS2 was actually a shrunken main CPU from a PS1.
Then what the fuck are you talking about?
The Cell is not a PowerPC chip. Its a totally different animal. The best you can say comparison-wise is that they both had their origins in PowerPC, due to IBM's involvement. 'Vector Units too brain dead for AI'? What does that even mean?
Sorry, I call bullshit, you're definitely a 'fanboy' and a poorly informed one at that.
Highlighted the important bit there for ya.
For publishers like EA, this is absolutely true, and has been for some time (see: Call of Duty). But for the first-party stuff, they will still be leveraging whatever strengths the console has (Gears or War for Xbox, Gran Turismo for PS3, etc).
Having said that, for such a nerd-oriented site, I can't believe some of the parsing going on here, and it must come down at least partially to latent Sony-hate (for whatever reason).
Let's just put the word 'Sony' aside, for ONE second. Just bear with me here.
The PS3's 3.2 GHz Cell processor, developed jointly by Sony, Toshiba and IBM ("STI"), is an implementation to dynamically assign physical processor cores to do different types of work independently. It has a PowerPC-based "Power Processing Element" (PPE) and six accessible 3.2 GHz Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs), a seventh runs in a special mode and is dedicated to OS security, and an eighth disabled to improve production yields. The PPE, SPE's and other elements ("units") are connected via an Element Interconnect Bus which serves to connect all of the units in a ring-style bus. The PPE has a 512 KiB level 2 cache and one VMX vector unit. Each SPE is a RISC processor with 128 128-bit SIMD GPRs and superscalar functions. Each SPE contains 256 KiB of non-cached memory (local storage, "LS") that is shared by program code and work data. SPEs may access more data in the main memory using DMA. The floating point performance of the whole system (CPU + GPU) is reported to be 2 TFLOPS[74]. PlayStation 3's Cell CPU achieves 204 GFLOPS single precision float and 15 GFLOPS double precision. The PS3 will ship with 256 MiB of Rambus XDR DRAM, clocked at CPU die speed.
That is one deeply weird hunk of hardware. And its pretty fucking cool. Or at least, IBM seems to think so.
Someone has tried to dumb down an explanation like this to our boy Phil and he shat out this 'will never use the full potential' idiocy, which in turn riles all the nerds because its just such a lame thing to say, you can poke holes in it all day (such as, 'why build such a complicated beast if we will never be able to program it - equally idiotic).
So the statement is 100% true, and 100% meaningless.
Like the hamburger truck at the end of my street that claims Greatest Burgers in the Universe.