Developer Says 2-3 Years Till PS3 is Maxed Out

[matt_b]

[citation][nom]IronRyan21[/nom]@ fulle, Thats why im a PC gamer......[/citation]
I really thought Nintendo was on to something when the N64 had the port to expand the RAM and the slot on the bottom of the console for add-ons for whatever else they dreamed up. Too bad it didn't take off much. The only thing we kind of get is able to upgrade the HD size and/or add some face-plates now.

On another note, I have to somewhat agree with fulle on the maxed out comment. Game programming as we know it currently is done so for the GPU and not the CPU. Currently the GPU is without a doubt maxed out on the PS3 as it really is no better than the X1950 inside the Xbox 360. With the light shed on parallel computing and GPGPU coding, I can see down the road where the programmers for the console find a way to offload some workload from the GPU and actually put that Cell processor to work.

Again though, when MS releases the next Xbox in a couple of years and supporters of the PS3 are talking about the potential left in the console, how well will it compare with a console 5/6 years newer with an updated architecture, CPU, GPU, and more and faster RAM, ect? Maybe the Wii2 will surprise us all again....

 

[juliom]

[citation][nom]fulle[/nom]Whatever. The PS3's videocard SUCKS. Its NV47 based with 256MB of memory.... which puts it on par with 7800 series Nvidia graphics cards. I wouldn't care if the PS3 has a fucking 5GHz 9 core Nehalem CPU in it, its not going to get much better than what we're seeing now because its bottlenecked by a crap videocard with insufficient memory. The hardware is tapped people. Its fucking tapped.[/citation]

I don't understand all the negatives, he is right... Any console is underpowered compared to a PC.

 

[juliom]

[citation][nom]njkid3[/nom]and yet look at the titles that are coming out now. they look like dx11 games such as uncharted 2 for example. let me see the xbox 360 produce a dx11 quality game one that supposed crappy hardware. oh and if you write back a negative viewpoint on what i just posted its only because you know i am right.[/citation]

You, my friend, are an idiot.

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]ominous prime[/nom]Glad I'm a PC gamer, despite all the idiot fanboys who will argue that their consoles have better graphics when in all aspects except price are they inferior.[/citation]

I'm glad I'm a gamer, no prefix. I experience the best of both worlds, console and PC games. There are some games I prefer to play on a console and some games I prefer to play on a PC, not to mention exclusives for each platform.

Why take sides when you can easily have it all instead? My Radeon 4870 pumps out enough power to play the games I want and enjoy on my PC, and my 360 pumps out plenty of power to play the games I want and enjoy on a console, and the Wii is great for kids and family get-togethers. Then my PSP is great for when I'm either on the road or taking an ergo break at work, etc. Though, no PS3 for me as of yet, as there just aren't any games out for it that have made it a "must-have". Perhaps God of War 3 will change my mind.

I'm just not sure why anyone has to firmly plant themselves in one "camp" or another, but instead just concede that every platform has it's advantages and disadvantages. Sure the PC is overall technically superior to the rest in terms of hardware (well if you have the money to afford it), but some games in my opinion, just lend themselves to be better played on a console and vice-versa (especially when it comes to FPS) on a PC.

[citation][nom]JPForums[/nom]Further, most of the major releases I've seen for both console and PC up to this point have retailed at around $60 at launch for console and $40 or $45 for the PC. [/citation]

Well, usually new releases are $59.99 for the consoles and $49.99 for the PC, but your point is very valid and sometimes influences my decision on which version I purchase. Though anymore, it's cheaper for me to buy a console version of a game, because I know my son will want to play it too on his console. With the DRM in a lot of PC games anymore (especially internet activated games), it is easier for us to share games. Yes, maybe you can find a crack for the PC game, but I'd rather just spend the extra $10, rather than support some invasive DRM copy protection. /shrug

 

[tipoo]

[citation][nom]speedemon[/nom]I dont believe the gpu is based on the NV47, The 7 series GPU's had fixed piplines, the GPU in the PS3 has programmable shaders and can do 1.8 terraflops... something even a GTX280 cant do.^ dont get me wrong. I dont like or support consoles but the PS3 has some interesting hardware.[/citation]


Incorrect, Sony's 1.8 terraflop rating came from combining the CPU and the GPU. There is no way a geforce 7800 derivative could hit 1.8, considering the Radeon 4800 series just hit 1 terraflop less than a year ago.

 

[matt_b]

[citation][nom]njkid3[/nom]and yet look at the titles that are coming out now. they look like dx11 games such as uncharted 2 for example. let me see the xbox 360 produce a dx11 quality game one that supposed crappy hardware.[/citation]
Where/which DirectX 11 games are you referring to?

 

[ArgleBargle]

It doesn't matter whether the PS3 will be superseded by another console in a few years. At least Sony will likely continue support and make games for the PS3. Unlike Microsoft, where as soon as the new console comes out, the 360 will get drop-kicked to the curb, just like the original Xbox was.

 

[antilycus]

A couple things here 1) The argument that the PS2 was able to tap into unseen power doesn't automatically equate to the PS3 being able to do the same thing. IN all reality they have NOTHING to do with each other. The CPU's used in the Ps2 were sooooo one of a kind that developers spent way too much time trying to get it to work and in the end got shafted by the new console (ps3) coming out as their code base coulnd't be shared between ps2 and ps3. PS3 was a whole new architecture and not even used in PC's before. 2) I will try to break this down in the easiest manner possible. As a programmer you write tasks for the CPU to perform. In the Cell processor, you are writing to the PPE which in turn takes its tasks and sends them to the next available SPE. The killer is, the programmer has no control over this action (as someone was starting to get at in an earlier post). SO if a programmer really wants to try and take advantage of the CELL, they need to write their 1 simple code base and split it up into 6 different processes to get the same result as any other CPU out there. So to really take advantage of it (without knowing if it would the time invested in writing such a specific code set would generate better performance) a programmer on 360 or Wii or PC would write (in super high language) "Move arm, if arm contacts object then stop arm". In PS3 language, you would have to write "move arm, stop arm, get location of arm" then another code set that says "take last position of arm, move arm, stop arm, get location of arm, check for collision" and if you want all 6 SPE's to do that one after the other, you have write the code six times and HOPE the PPE sends the job to the next available PPE. Well its hard to write that when you are also decoding audio or playing audio and the on every 3rd instruction cycle, the PPE is managing the audio code. See where it starts to become a MASSIVE headache? lets not forget today's games have environment, characters, rendering, collision detection, music, sound effects, physics, material wear, etc. While it's possible to do it all, it never will be because the time required to write the "perfect code" would never be worth return of investment (time used). Even if it had a GX280 in the PS3, you are still limited by the PPE being the master of all instructions. Making it the weakest point because it quickly becomes bottlenecked waiting and determining which SPE is available to take advantage of.

 

[sethrobe]

I must be a strange person but I have a pc with dual 5770s, each overclocked to run at over 1Ghz and I'm still blown away by Uncharted 2 on my PS3. Say what you will about it only being 720p but it looks g'damn good. If Sony can squeeze even more out of the system, I'll be happy with it for the next few years.