Insider says PS3 Blacksite plagued with development trouble

[Zeus]

IGN recently revealed that players the PS3 version of Blacksite will not have all the online features of the 360 version. On the 360 players will be able to play ranked and unranked matches, and have voice support features. However an insider claims that problems run much deeper than this. He said "The PS3 version is experiencing issues and missed deadlines," and that it is likely the demo and full game will be delayed. "Midway isn't happy at all about the progress, and it's a story I've heard over and over this year across the industry when it comes to the PS3 and cross-platform titles," the insider states.

<center><img src="http://www.maxconsole.net/content_img/blacksiinsi.jpg"></center></a>



The Unreal Engine powers Blacksite, which presents the possibility that the engine itself is leading to development problems. Midway's other big PS3 releases of Stranglehold and Unreal Tournament 3 have also seen long delays.

Sadly, the problems with Blacksite: Area 51 only further the growing list of problematic multiplatform releases on the PS3, and could reinforce the qualms about working with the Unreal Engine among multiplatform developers.


News Source: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/10/24/industry-insider-blacksite-area-51" target=_blank">arstechnica</a>

[willizm]

Just wait until 2012 man, then you xbots will be sorry..:D

[Rotmm]

Lazy Devs :mad:

[RottenFox]

Lazy Devs :mad:

pretty much,i guess.
if they spent the time to make a quality product,then they should build it from the ground up,not some kind of hybrid port,and hope for the best.
the ps3,and 360 are two completely different beasts,and need handling as such.
it will more than likely be shite anyway,so who cares.

[whackawookie]

Lazy Devs :mad:


so if you call pretty much every developer lazy that has problems on the system then what good is having a system that has no good 3rd party games. a developer isnt lazy when they put years into a game and still have problems with it

[Cheunce]

Lazy Devs :mad:

And I guess you are a developer working with the PS3 or just someone that think it is easy to program games on cross platforms?

The problem is probably related to the cell architecture since it is so different from the other platforms. In the end it is Sony that have done a piss poor job developing the SDK.

Just my $0.05

[Ferretboy007]

I think this site is plagued.

[whackawookie]

I think this site is plagued.

then dont go to anyother site that isnt strictly ps3 because your going to find the same news everywhere

[Eric10301]

Looks like all these devs are being morons and building games for XBOX 360 then porting them to PS3. It's obvious PS3 can have some truely great games if the Dev arent a bunch of morons. Just look at Insomniac and what they have done on PS3.

[xllzerollx]

so some devs do it wrong, and its ps3 foults?

[bavelb]

Looks like all these devs are being morons and building games for XBOX 360 then porting them to PS3. It's obvious PS3 can have some truely great games if the Dev arent a bunch of morons. Just look at Insomniac and what they have done on PS3.


UT (also midway) is developed with PS3 as main platform and is experiencing similar issues with the same engine. Seems the only solution is to build engines from the ground up.

Something 3rd parties dont have resources for, or dont want to put resources into as there is an easier platform to develop for with a bigger playerbase and a higher attachment rate. How does developing for that platform make them morons. It makes perfect sense from a business/creativity point of view.

Developers and publishers aren't in it for Sony or their customers, they want to make bigselling hits with the easiest to use tools available. Something which Sony has not provided for them.

[xllzerollx]

Well, lets do like that guy on youtube sometime ago, let devs make the games for 360, and us play them on ps3 :D
like that guy, gears on ps3 :DDD

[cardboardbox]

Sony should fund development of a PS3 engine like Unreal and put it in the devkit. Probably too late to do that now as it would take a long time to build one from scratch.

On the topic of this game, I played the demo on 360 and its one of the worst FPS I've seen in recent memory. If there were any justice, this would simply be a cancelled game and disappear.

[willizm]

I'm sure that Sony new before the PS3 design was final that the 3rd party industry was expanding exclusivity to develop on multiple platforms as it is not cost effective to stay with just one platform. So would it be Sony's fault that they didn't develop their hardware for this potential trend??? I believe the answer is Yes it is Sony's fault and us PS3 owners are the ones that have to pay for that. The 360 is an easier platform to develop for with easier development tools then the PS3. Alot of these third party developers released titles for the PS2 without as many issues that they are now having on the PS3. That doesn't make them Lazy. If you make a platform that is easier to develop on then the project can afford to put more development into making the game better instead of getting stuck on issues that take time and money away from development.

[SpiderCyde]

Just wait until 2012 man, then you xbots will be sorry..:D

Um...??? *blinks, goes back to Bioshock on 360.*

[danight]

Its always everyones fault but sonys. :rolleyes:
Obviously sony put more thought into pushing their dvd format over making a good sdk. How many delays and cancellations and bad ports do we have to see before sony takes some blame for it? For christ sake games like bioshock can be ported to the pc from xbox 360 with no issues and there is like 1 million configurations that have to be accounted for. From ati to nvidia from intel to ram makers, to dual core, single core, 1-4 video cards setups, vista xp etc etc etc

yet let a game get near the ps3 and its lazy devs...... Face it sony whored the playstation name to force its blu-ray drive on the world and whats funny is people dont seem to mind.

Its funny they mention ut3 as sony bragged how they sent a swat team to help epic. Welp looks like the swat team dropped the ball as the pc version doesnt seem to have the issues the ps3 version has.

[MadMax31]

It's funny how many idiots say "lazy developers", I bet they don't have a clue how hard is to develop when the tools you are using aren't user developer friendly and you have time and money constrains.

[cardboardbox]

For christ sake games like bioshock can be ported to the pc from xbox 360 with no issueswhat makes you think it wasnt ported from pc to 360?

[SSChevy2001]

This is really starting to become the norm with the PS3. Sony fans you can stop calling developers lazy. They are doing the best with what Sony gave them. Sony needs to make things easier for developers, and it's looks like it's way to late for that this year.

[gonepostl]

so if you call pretty much every developer lazy that has problems on the system then what good is having a system that has no good 3rd party games. a developer isnt lazy when they put years into a game and still have problems with it

The best company's in the world aren't having problems.
It seems the system only rewards the most elite and wards off all the noobs. *cough* EA!

Only the best for the sony platform.
I've given my philosophy already on how luxery is not good for the gaming industry. Maybe I should put it in my sig..


This is really starting to become the norm with the PS3. Sony fans you can stop calling developers lazy. They are doing the best with what Sony gave them. Sony needs to make things easier for developers, and it's looks like it's way to late for that this year.

Bullsh1t! There is definetly a fukin trend and it seems you Xbox fans can't see it or you do and just bullsh1t bullsh1t bullsh1t. Only the most lazy untalented company's are complaining so SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS RIGHT FROM WHERE YOUR STATEMENT CAME FROM!

[SSChevy2001]

The best company's in the world aren't having problems.So what about epic needing help? Why was the Sony swat team sent out?
Bullsh1t! There is definetly a fukin trend and it seems you Xbox fans can't see it or you do and just bullsh1t bullsh1t bullsh1t. Only the most lazy untalented company's are complaining so SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS RIGHT FROM WHERE YOUR STATEMENT CAME FROM!So I guess all these companies are on that list of untalented developers.

Midway
Rockstar
Epic
Ubisoft
Valve
EA
Konami
Capcom

Please thank Sony for delaying GTA4, UT 2007, Army of Two, ... I mean I don't care if PS3 games get delayed, but why should us 360 owners have to suffer.

[AlphaTrion]

Just wait until 2012 man, then you xbots will be sorry..:D

now that is damn funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[danight]

Yeah that was a good one :D
I kinda miss satel saying "amg xbots the world is nothing but xbots"

[SpiderCyde]

Yeah that was a good one :D
I kinda miss satel saying "omg xbots the world is nothing but xbots"


LOL "omg xbots the world is nothing but xbots" now that's funny, I actually did laugh to that. I'm an "xbot" but I'll throw down the cash for a ps3 when it hits $300 or so (like the ps2 launched for), and has a decent game library. I could give two craps less about blu-ray at the moment though since I don't watch tv, not gonna buy a new one. I'd actually like to see Sony put up a good fight w/MS though because it'd mean better games for everyone. :D

[shadyx]

why do you call them "lazy devs"

theyre obviously not when they can get the games to run just as well on other consoles.

are you guys really so blind to see that sony offers little to NO help to 3rd party software devs, yet offer all their support to 1st party devs.

this is the problem

not the "lazy devs", as its incredibly obvious that the devs are struggling with the odd decisions sony made to make sure their bluray player (err...i mean console) was different from the rest of the already established market.

talk about shooting yourself in the foot.....just like everytime you guys blame lazy devs.

i mean seriously, even one of sony's best developers Polyphony Digital have even just claimed that its hard to work on the ps3 so they have to delay psp gt until they can get it right. thats proof right there that this console is just a ***** to program for and its got nothing to do with lazy devs.

[croatoan]

Again another porting problem.

The best games are exclusives. They are designed for the system and take into account the systems strenghts and weaknesses.

For gods sake name me a good game thats consistantly A CLASS on multiple systems.

IMOA sony should spend some money and get some games soley on the ps3.

1. No comparison to 360
2. Optimised for hardware
3. Increase unit sales.

Multiformat games are the bain of the industry, lack creative talent and seldom offer the same quality across platforms.

Look at Gears of War, Resident Evil 4. Great games and developed initially for one system alone. THEN PORTED

I repeat THEN PORTED. Not all at the same time then bloody shoe horned to fit.

The problem is not the machine its the PUBLISHERS. Too greedy for sales and profits.

If the machines were the same then we wouldnt have the problems.............................Then we wouldnt have a competition would we.


This has been going on since the spectrum,C64 etc. This does not make one console better than the other.....................................makes me angry :mad:

[croatoan]

It's funny how many idiots say "lazy developers", I bet they don't have a clue how hard is to develop when the tools you are using aren't user developer friendly and you have time and money constrains.


Funny how many people expect games on different architecture to be identical? PORTING IS LAZY, CROSS DEVELOPMENT IS LAZY

Its for financial benefit spaz, more sales more money.

MONEY MONEY MONEY

EA is probaly the worst culprit ever

[JohnsShadow]

i would rather play a Great/good game that is delayed then a game that is ok/ bad reliced early

or even worse a game that lacks "polish"

best example Killzone fun, but LOTS of glitches, I got stuck on a level because of one and almost cried when there went any cheats to warp level now i cant finish the game *cries alone in corner*

gmaes should live up to there potental end of story no matter how long it takes

[[ACF]Umax]

So what about epic needing help? Why was the Sony swat team sent out?So I guess all these companies are on that list of untalented developers.

Midway
Rockstar
Epic
Ubisoft
Valve
EA
Konami
Capcom

Please thank Sony for delaying GTA4, UT 2007, Army of Two, ... I mean I don't care if PS3 games get delayed, but why should us 360 owners have to suffer.

... "OWNED"!

[Rotmm]

So I guess all these companies are on that list of untalented developers.

Midway
Rockstar
Epic
Ubisoft
Valve
EA
Konami
Capcom

Please thank Sony for delaying GTA4, UT 2007, Army of Two, ... I mean I don't care if PS3 games get delayed, but why should us 360 owners have to suffer.

Don't forget to add developers such as Starbreeze, Codemasters, THQ and 2K Games to that list of untalented.

And, of course, Sony themselves. Home isn't exactly running to schedule, which must be down to untalented developers according to the wisdom of gonepostl.

[EliteStance]

Its always everyones fault but sonys. :rolleyes:
Obviously sony put more thought into pushing their dvd format over making a good sdk. How many delays and cancellations and bad ports do we have to see before sony takes some blame for it? For christ sake games like bioshock can be ported to the pc from xbox 360 with no issues and there is like 1 million configurations that have to be accounted for. From ati to nvidia from intel to ram makers, to dual core, single core, 1-4 video cards setups, vista xp etc etc etc

yet let a game get near the ps3 and its lazy devs...... Face it sony whored the playstation name to force its blu-ray drive on the world and whats funny is people dont seem to mind.

Its funny they mention ut3 as sony bragged how they sent a swat team to help epic. Welp looks like the swat team dropped the ball as the pc version doesnt seem to have the issues the ps3 version has.

Just to provide a little perspective. Bio was developed on an engine originally designed for PC. 360 is very like a PC (actually, main reason I haven't bought a 360 is that every game I would want to play on it plays better on my PC. Seeing GOW coming with extra content just confirms my choice for me - this is nothing against 360 BTW, just that I already had a great gaming PC setup. If I didn't have my PC and cost was an issue then I'd get a 360).

UT3 is also on that engine and your guess (which is what is it) doesn't fit the timing IMO. The swat team was brought in late in the cycle and the more likely scenario is that they realised the less experienced UT3 team hadn't done as good a job as they could and it was decided it would be better to take more time and work with Sony's team to put together a better product. Assuming that is the case I would def agree with them taking the exta time (I know it might seem easy to say that as I will be getting UT3 for PC, but if I wasn't I'd rather wait).

Also, I think the lead designer for PS3 (funny how people always say Sony - Sony is a large corporation with many divisions. You should look to the PS3 development team) made decisions that took the console in a direction that went against many gamers expectations - i.e. an architecture and approach that wasn't fully optimised for games but balanced to support better multi-media support and yes, included BR.

But you know what? They did the same thing with PS2. A little research and its obvious that developers moaned and bitched about that baby too as it also had a funky architecture. Once (or if) PS3 reaches a certain critical mass (which I think it will, on brand power alone) then the devs will once again have no choice to knuckle down. Also, look at ID's new engine which apparently has been built from ground up for console / PC... I think you'll see the same thing happen more and more and it's already been posted that the core Unreal Engine will also be getting more work to make is optimised for PS3 from the get go.

So, right now there will be issues. But clearly they will be going away - it's a question of when, and this will likely be linked to how quickly Sony get pricing sorted out and sell more consoles.

[EliteStance]

This is really starting to become the norm with the PS3. Sony fans you can stop calling developers lazy. They are doing the best with what Sony gave them. Sony needs to make things easier for developers, and it's looks like it's way to late for that this year.

No they're not. They're taking the easy road (not lazy) that costs less money. Most 3rd party engines (like Unreal) are currently best optimised for PC and have been well optimised for 360. Also, due to architecture of 360 it has been easy to pick up for devs - don't forget the graphics, etc. on 360 have been on PC for years, plenty of people know how to build that kind of game for PC and have learnt quickly for 360.

Recent R&C release and even RFOM and Motorstorm showed you can develop stellar games for PS3.

What you do get right is Sony needed to provide better help from beginning and get better dev kits out there. They didn't but that's water under the bridge now. They seem to be putting in the effort now (see, that's the good side of competition) but you aren't going to see results in games that have been in development for ages. I think UT3 seems to have been caught in nick of time for improving but right now, I'd only buy PS3 specific games like R&C or Folklore as they deliver. Or games that came out later for PS3 and the devs put in more time to do a good job (like Oblivion or Dirt). BTW, to try and head off obvious fanboy responses - both PS3 and 360 have had poor games specific to each console. You're always going to get poor games whether console specific or not - just goes with the business.

Due to PS2 Sony assumed devs would shut up and put out. They didn't... but neither are they taking the route for best results (i.e. over invest now to deliver the quality of games they could with the extra effort) they are taking the easy route - well, not all, but def folks like EA, but really, what EA developed games were really stellar in terms of pushing graphics and/or performance envelope?

[gonepostl]

So what about epic needing help? Why was the Sony swat team sent out?So I guess all these companies are on that list of untalented developers.

Midway
Rockstar
Epic
Ubisoft
Valve
EA
Konami
Capcom

Please thank Sony for delaying GTA4, UT 2007, Army of Two, ... I mean I don't care if PS3 games get delayed, but why should us 360 owners have to suffer.

Now that I'm awake...
I've only heard complaints from only a couple of those people. Start listing specific games or stfu

[onyxx]

I think whats happening with the dev problems is that they are banging out the 360 version an thinking they will just port the ps3 version an they hit a wall when they figure out its not that easy.

[SSChevy2001]

EliteStance - Your right EA likes to make easy cash, and with all the repeat sport titles they do. Also I agree EA titles aren't stellar, though army of two looks okay. My biggest problem is hearing that developer are lazy, because the 360 tiles run better. It all comes down to sony and their SDK. Your right with the PS2 sony could push developers, but with this time around it's sony that needs to step up. You mention RFOM, R&C, and Motorstorm , but aren't those all 1st party games?

Well like everything time will tell. If things change I'll eat my words and pickup a ps3.

[gonepostl]

Couldn't list specific games eh? That's what I thought

[SSChevy2001]

Couldn't list specific games eh? That's what I thoughtSorry buddy I didn't make time for that. I even worked today and made some cash. Now time to go on LIVE and play some games. After that I got to start looking into 3.71 theme making so I can redo my PSP themes ( PSP3, P360, and Halo3 ). Maybe you should do yourself a favor and play some games on PS3 if you think it's so great.

[Rotmm]

Couldn't list specific games eh? That's what I thought

How about I do just a few?

Madden 08 - PS3 30fps + stuttering
Fight Night 3 - PS3 poorer lighting and reduced background detail
NHL 08 - 30fps + stuttering
skate - Stuttering, aliasing, blurry textures
Splinter Cell Double Agent - bad aliasing, poor framerate, lots of stuttering
Rainbow Six Vegas - Aliasing, reduced texture resolution
GRAW 2 - Reduced resolution and effects
Call of Duty 3 - Stuttering framerate
Tony Hawks Project 8 - Poor HDR, poor framerate, stuttering
Spiderman 3 - Reduced texture resolution, slowdown and stuttering framerate
F.E.A.R. - Very bad framerate, reduced graphical fidelity
The Darkness - Reduced resolution and textures
DiRT - Simplified lighting and reduced geometry
Lair - Terrible framerate
Home - Delayed
Virtua Tennis 3 - No online
Virtua Fighter 5 - No online
Pro Evo Soccer 7 - Stuttering framerate

All those, and clearly many more, are the work of untalented developers :mad:

[Rotmm]

Strange that gonepostl hasn't come back to this thread now that an answer is out there, as he was very keen to pass out the "stfu" previously.

[SSChevy2001]

Strange that gonepostl hasn't come back to this thread now that an answer is out there, as he was very keen to pass out the "stfu" previously.I hear you, don't think he'll come back. Thanks for posting the info though, maybe now gonepostl will stfu.

[EliteStance]

EliteStance - Your right EA likes to make easy cash, and with all the repeat sport titles they do. Also I agree EA titles aren't stellar, though army of two looks okay. My biggest problem is hearing that developer are lazy, because the 360 tiles run better. It all comes down to sony and their SDK. Your right with the PS2 sony could push developers, but with this time around it's sony that needs to step up. You mention RFOM, R&C, and Motorstorm , but aren't those all 1st party games?

Well like everything time will tell. If things change I'll eat my words and pickup a ps3.

I thought 1st party meant Sony themselves. RFOM was Insomniac, right? I know they only develop for PS3 / PS2 but they are seperate so that still makes them 3rd party, doesn't it? I'm asking genuinely as I don't know what the specific criteria is. Motorstorm developer was bought by Sony but were seperate company when it was first released. So in my eyes these developers were essentially making exclusives.

I note that Next Gen has a story about a developer where they state that the found PS3 and 360 equally fine - just like the GRAW developers stated, so I guess the issue is a rather muddy one right now.