Sony: PS3 has not yet reached full potential, but will it ever?
To say that the PS3 has not yet reached its full potential is as pointless and obvious as saying Britney Spears is slightly coo coo. So rather than swallowing the line from Sony again, I think we need details of why, when, and how the PS3 will reach its potential. That’s if you believe it actually ever will.
We’ve already heard from SCEE managing director Ray Maguire once this week, when he stated that the reason Sony wouldn’t be dropping the price of the PS3 anytime soon was because “we have a business to run”. Now he’s back, or rather he never left the Gamer 3.0 conference in London, and VideoGamer has given us another snippet from his interview with them.
This time, he states that the PS3 is not even halfway done yet, and has a long way to go before reaching its full potential. Give the man a peanut for stating the blindingly obvious again. But he redeems himself by giving away a few snippets of information regarding where Sony may be headed towards with the Playstation 3. He said:
We’ve got miles to go. The power of PlayStation is just awesome and we’re starting to get to grips with it. But when we see the next generation of games coming after these, then I think we’re going to see something even more exciting, we’re going to see even more genres come to the marketplace rather than just sequel after sequel after sequel.
I think the online experience is going to change radically over the next few years. The online additions to our games, just the way we consume games, is going to change massively. We’re not even half way to where we need to get to. It’s all planned, it’s just a question of having the right amount of development time to make sure that when we bring it out it’s what people expect it to be, rather than rushing stuff into the marketplace.
They (PS3 game graphics) will get better but I don’t think that will be measurable. It’ll be about the game experience that will change. And I think that’s an area which, without saying what we will do, that’s the area to bear in mind that that’s where we’ll put our energy.
I agree with him that the power of the PS3 is awesome. On paper, it’s a gaming behemoth that should be sweeping away all comers. But what’s winning the console war? The Nintendo Wii, although personally I can’t understand why. The problem is, power equals nothing if the consumers don’t take to a product.
Maguire seems to hint that Sony will be trying to squeeze the potential out of the PS3 in a number ways. Firstly by introducing new IPs exclusive to the console. We’ve already seen this happen with LittleBigPlanet, and there’s MAG on the way. The online experience is also looking likely to be targeted in the future, with Home the most obvious first example of that.
But by far the most interesting comment Maguire makes is about the importance of the experience over graphics in the future. I don’t know what that could mean apart from that the fabled Wii-Remote style controller is finally due to make an appearance. How else can you change the experience of playing a game apart from changing the control system radically?
Sony clearly has a plan for the future of the PS3, even though a price cut doesn’t seem to yet feature in it. But I’m still on the pessimistic side over whether the PS3 will truly ever reach its full potential. Unless this generation lasts ten years, I just can’t see it happening.
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29 Responses to “Sony: PS3 has not yet reached full potential, but will it ever?”
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October 30th, 2008
hahah @ potential. How long are people going to swallow that word? Sure, it’s a powerful machine capable of doing a hell of a lot of calculations thanks to the cell processor, but it’s hindered by;
- Slow reading blu-ray technology
- Substandard graphics chip
- Substandard RAM configuration
- Cell – new technology that nobody is used to
Sony overshot the mark when designing the PS3. Rather than this behemoth, they should have gone for a more developer friendly type of system.
Oh well.
October 31st, 2008
You want something new and exciting now that will change the gaming spectrum as we speak and bring in new ideas and concepts. It called XNA Community Games. When that launches in November it’s going to be amazing to see what the home brew crowd has been doing for the last 2 years. The 360 is just amazing.
October 31st, 2008
‘they should have gone for a more developer friendly type of system.’
One PC in a ‘funky box’ coming right…oh wait, ms did that, but with less reliability
..
And fuck and I purchased it… I don’t know what happened…
Roll on the 19th because I am sick to death of that leaf blower dvd rom…
October 31st, 2008
SW, my point exactly. Making the 360 in a similar fashion to PC has made it incredibly easy to develop for.
Reliability issues – i’ve had none. My launch 360 hasn’t missed a beat.
Noise? What noise? Maybe i drown it out with the stereo system! hahaha
October 31st, 2008
I would love to know why the ps3 needs to load games to the HDD. Technically speaking the BDROM is faster than the 360’s DVD drive.
Let me explain. Since all 360 games are on a double layered dvd they only read at 8x rather than 16x which is slower than a BDROM reading at its 2x (less bytes per second read). Maybe the DVD’s are storing most of their loading data at the edges…but I’d love to find out from a developer.
I think the potential will be shown when developers really learn to pawn off a lot of the graphic cards operations to the cell.
October 31st, 2008
@ DAVE
Almost all your articles take jabs at Sony and the PS3. Are you a 360 fanboy? Or do you hate Sony, or the PS3? Or because the PS3 started out late?
I didn’t buy the PS3 when it came out, neither when the 360 when it came out. I gave off more than 6 months of waiting to see the recent and future games for both consoles from when the PS3 came out, and decide to go with the PS3 because it does more, got better features and has the games I want to play. The 360, so far, only has one game and thats Tales of Vesperia … everything else = not worth my time or my money.
Your comments are just so obvious, Dave. Can’t you be more of a real editor, reviewer, or whatever that you basically are?! Your opinions are just that irritating to read. I’m honestly considering leaving this site now, … not like you care, but my words reaching to tens and hundreds of people on this site will be the obvious thing from a gamer.
As for the people who claim “LOOK WE GOT MORE SPEED ON THE DVD THAN BLU-RAY”. And I wonder why games run more efficient and faster than on the 360, if the developers put in the right work for it. You don’t know how these things run. You claim, you say, you bash, yet you don’t read the numbers or state the facts. You can knock on my door when the 360 reaches the gameplay and graphic level of Heavy Rain, Killzone 2, God of War III and other future games like ICO’s, etc. And I doubt FF XIII’s 360 will even come close to the real and original version on the PS3.
And just to add to your opinion, Dave … the PS3 will show its true colors sooner than you think.
Just sick of all the hate and bashing.
October 31st, 2008
@ PHRANCTOAST
It’s the developers choice. Because the PS3 offers HDD, Sony allows them to install on the HDD and take advantage of it, the developers gets the choice of whether to allow mandatory installation or not. Most games on the PS3 don’t require any installations, and those that do will take advantage of the system’s reliability to give better framerates or load faster.
October 31st, 2008
Since the PS3 is moving third party software better than any other console (http://gamer.blorge.com/2008/10/26/analysis-ps3-selling-more-games-than-xbox-360-with-smaller-install-base/) , hopefully developers will see this and take note. At the moment the PS3s install base is still relatively small due to its price. Once they make another price cut, the install base will explode. So we can assume that third party software sales will grow also.
We got a good glimpse at what the PS3 can really do with MGS4. The ball is in the developer’s court at this point. Sony will continue to provide amazing first party titles, but unfortunately with third part developers making all titles multi-platform, they might not push the limits of the PS3 as much as they can.
October 31st, 2008
PS3 is moving 3rd party software better because there are far less great exlusives. That is NOT a good sign.
Most 3rd party games run much more efficient on 360, the framerates are much better.
PS3’s blind fanboys have no clue that the Cell just isn’t meant to be a game processor, it’s a calculator, the fastest in it’s class but thats it.
MGS4 is hardly better looking the the first Gears of War that came out 2 years ago.
October 31st, 2008
Pranctoast
What kind of non-sence are you talking. BD speed is 2X and DVD is 12X. The bottom line is it works on all games on the 360. No long loading or anything like that. No mandatory HD install. Your argument is week. The 360 does suffer from Pop-ins at times but that just shows how fast the DVD get information off the disk. If it was a little faster the problem would be solved. Compare that to Bluray and the many games that require HD installs and your argument is lame. I do like the fact that come Nov 19 360 will have the ability to install games on the HD at your own choice. GTA 4 will be a game that gets install for me because of the Pop-ins and maybe Gears of war 2 because I know I will play the hell out of that game for some time to come. I can not think of any other game that needs it. Besides I got the 120G HD so I got space.
October 31st, 2008
Tatsujin
Dave is a PS3 Fanboy. Everyone here know this is a PS3 Pro Site. He is just coming to reality that His PS3 and all it potential is a load of hog wash.
October 31st, 2008
Tatsujin
Also as for the Bluray load times. Developers have already said it take long to get information out of a Bluray because the information is spun so tight and Bluray on does 2X speed. Your not a developer so cut the crap.
October 31st, 2008
CAD,
Are you implying that you ARE a developer?
-Arvis
October 31st, 2008
@CAD
2x Blu-ray Drive (72Mbps(9MB/s))
Single Layer (2x CLV) – Constant Linear Velocity (Same speed across entire disk)
Double Layer – Couldn’t find any data but no games have been released on a double layer yet.
Entire Blu-ray Disk is read at 9MB/s.
12x DVD-Rom Drive SL (9.25MB/S-15.85MB/s(AVG ~8x(10.57MB/s) DL (4.36MB/s-10.57MB/s(AVG ~6x(7.93MB/s)
SL(DVD-5) 12x Max (5-12x Full CAV) – Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)
DL(DVD-9) 8x Max (3.3-8x Full CAV) – Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)
SL DVD AVG 1.57MB/s > SL Blu-ray
DL DVD AVG 1.07MB/s < SL Blu-ray
Majority of 360 games are on DVD-9
The blu ray drive in the ps3 reads faster (more bytes per second) than the dvd drive in the 360.
October 31st, 2008
@down 411 – Agh back from bashing the PS3 on G4’s blog I see. G4 sucks btw.… Xbots still use that lame excuse about how the PS3 doesn’t have any good exclusives. That’s an excuse that you and your fellow frat boys at G4 try to use. The fact remains that Sony has many more first party developers. Microsoft only has two studios. Have fun playing Gaylo and Fable, because that’s all you will be getting.
October 31st, 2008
@Harry
I’ve had no issues either tbh. Mine isn’t launch day or anywhere near it of course.
But man the DVD drive is a loud ass mother. I’d need a 747 at %100 thrust parked outside my house.
October 31st, 2008
For the love of God, stop posting if YOU DO NOT KNOW how things work. DVD is NOT faster than the Blu-ray.
The-Internet-Is-Your-Best-Friend. Do homework and come back to post here. The “data” (not information) spins faster on the Blu-ray disc. And honestly, NO developer has even complained about Blu-rays speed because the actual speed is honestly good and even better enough for games. There’s games that load FASTER and MORE efficient on PS3 than the 360 versions. Someone please pull the data for GTA IV. Oh no, not only speed, and capacity but HARDWARE compabilities.
The problem with the PS3, in hardware terms, is the memory. Alot of smart developers actually don’t use the memory on the PS3 … and some developers are not at that level so they complain about the memory. Which honestly, I side by them. Sony should have knocked the memory to DDR2 and increased it to 512.
I’ll stop here, I’m gonna get back to work. If you are gonna post, be sure to have done some actual homework from real reports rather than ranting from fanboy stats websites.
October 31st, 2008
haha @ SW, I don’t think you’ll be getting that unless you live under a flight path. Just do what I did, buy a stereo system with good speakers! Problem solved! Although you’ll probably piss the neighbours off, but who cares?
October 31st, 2008
If Blu-Ray is faster than DVD, then why do a lot of PS3 games have the same data copied 4-5 times (i.e MGS4)? If the read speed was so great, shouldn’t it only need to be there only once? Just asking…
and CAD isn’t a developer, I am. I develop cosby kids every morning.
October 31st, 2008
you take those kids swimming?
All good questions Harry. I’d like to know the deal myself. I just showed the numbers, and it doesn’t appear to make sense as to the over use of the HDD when the blu ray drive is clearly quicker than the 360 dvd drive when dvd is using DL discs.
Maybe like Tatsujin said..it’s a memory bottleneck issue instead.
October 31st, 2008
So I’ve heared this ‘data copied 4-5 times’ thing here before, where the heck did you guys get that from?
The point is really moot for me anywhoos I guess. Come the 19th I am ‘ISO’ing’ EVERY game on my 360 that I play (2 or so at a time of course
*shakes fist at ms and thier hdd’s*)
October 31st, 2008
@ Harry
And you have a very solid point! Blu-ray is not at fault here. MGS IV is a very, very deep game that there has not been one game that can come close to its techniquel (spelling?) programming. Every single character on the map spans over 500,000 polygons ALONE! Every-character, even those little AI guys as well. The enviorement is very detail and nothing like I have ever experienced and seen on any game. The game is done in CG real-time, NOT your typical Unreal Engine 3 thing … You don’t see your player’s hands or armor or whatever going through other things. Physics are pure, and amazingly perfect in the game. If you toss a grenade next to Snake, his body will actually corrspond (spelling) to where it explodes and it will fly off. The graphics were heavily detailed as well and they’ve been working on this game since 2005. There is sand, there is water, there is your AI, characters, graphic fields, and many many other things that honestly (and I am not binding my words to this) if they took more time on this they could have killed the issue with installing different things per Act. But this game truely pushes the PS3 really really far, it uses a minimum of 5 SPE’s and maxes out at 6 SPEs. I have to go, I’m at work. But hope you get my point.
October 31st, 2008
Pranctoast
I don’t care what figures you want to throw I’m talking reality. Bluray takes longer to download period.
October 31st, 2008
Harry is making the same point I was saying. I just took it from the developers mouth. You go do some rearch because I now I have and this is an old argument on blorge that you new peeps are rehashing. Because it is sooooo Slooooow they have to thaey have to copy the same data multiple times because it’s soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Slooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
October 31st, 2008
The game paly of MGS IV sucks so who cares about graphics when the game sucks. And yes I have played it. To slow for my liking. Solid sank walks like he has a dick up his ass.
October 31st, 2008
“I don’t care what figures you want to throw I’m talking reality. Bluray takes longer to download period.”
CAD: You have proven you are a 360 fanboy…… You know nothing about the subject, but blindly believe anything that is anti ps3.
I have played/used all different systems and the load times on all are a non issue.
November 1st, 2008
It looks like the PS3 will be reaching it’s full potential in about 3yrs – 5yrs time.
So, about 2yrs into the cycle of the next next gen console.
A full gen behind is it’s future.
It’s an epic fail whatever way you look at it.
November 3rd, 2008
‘It’s an epic fail whatever way you look at it.’
Yes, when you view it thru an xbots eyes.
November 4th, 2008
spidey – the bd/ps3 drives have a slower read speed than the 360’s drive. That’s why ps3 games take soooooo painfully long to load before you can even play the thing…
simply terrible idea…. have a gamer sit for 20 minutes to load a game just to save him from spending 10 seconds to swap a disk if ones needed…..