How will the PS3 stack up to (or surpass) the 360 graphically? Will Sony finally get online right on PS3? What´s the chance we´ll really see it in stores next March? These are all questions we´ve had since the system was unveiled at E3, and they´ve been echoed by mant of your emails to the PSM office. Ultimately, there´s no one better to answer those questions than the people making PS3 games (well, maybe except for Sony themselves, but they´ve ot this whole "impenetrable veil of secrecy" thing going on). So, that´s exactly who we went to... on the record or off. The result: a lot of great new info on the games, the hardware, and what´s going on behind the scenes. You´d think they´d be secretive rivals - and they are to some extent - but the PS3 developer community is actually a pretty tight bunch. In online forums, entirely off access from anyone but licensed third parties, game makers gather to talk, shop, cr*ck technical hurdles, and, believe it or not, share ideas. It helps to be tight with these guys (and gals) because it means PSM can glean cool new info from our contacts - on the total down low, of course. What’s the big buzz right now? As we’re writing this feature, game makers are really starting to get used to working with PS3 development hardware, and they’re finding some unexpected (but good) surprises, particularly when it comes to ease of development for the system: how it compares to the PS2, and more importantly, the Xbox 360. “The bitching this round sounds opposite of the last. Both are friendly, but the PS3 may actually be friendlier,” reports one of our PS2 and Xbox 360 development sources, who wished to remain anonymous. ”People are finding that the [Xbox] 360 has some stupid bottlenecks.” Developers will soon learn more about the ins-and-outs of creating PS3 games, as Sony has started taking orders for the final development hardware to be delivered by December. At that time, game creators will be able to tell just how much more extra polish they can put on their launch titles without worrying about them crapping out on a retail PS3. The latest on the PS3’s power “Once we have final hardware for both next-gen systems, we’ll have a much better ideo of how they compare, but the general consensus right now is that the PS3 is considerably more powerful than the X360 across the board,” said another source. “It’s important to get a good idea of which is the most powerful soon, since multi-platform games will need to be either ported down from PS3 to 360, or vice-versa.” Speaking of multi-platform games, another of our next-gen contacts chimed in with the following when we asked them, flat out, which system will ultimately have the best-looking games (sadly the #1 selling point for most people, over gameplay even): “Only games that are exclusive to either system will be real technical showcases,” adding “There will be strong points for each, but cross-platform games will most likely look and perform almost identically.” Thankfully, PS3 already has a serious amount of exclusive games behind it (as you can see on page 62). PS3’s promising online support In addition to all of the cool Wi-Fi based PSP to PS3 functionality we’ve previously reportedSony is working on (transferring media and save data between the two anywhere in the world at a hotspot), there’s some actual news to report on the online gameplay front. Not only that, it’s pretty good. (Although the gradual diminishing of Sony’s PS2 online plans over that console’s like will always have us taking their goals in this department with a grain of salt.) PS3 is slated to have an actual online community ready to back it up on day one, complete with friend tracking, messaging services, and a central hub for everything. If it sounds like Xbox Live, it should. Sony has been following Microsoft’s moves, and, well, plans to copt most of them, according to our sources. “They [Sony CEA] have a whole division that was put in place after the Network Adaptor was released for the PS2 that basically dropped focus on PS2 and moved to planning the PS3,” says one designer working on a PS3 online title. “They knew that early that they were not going to compete during the current gen.” Ramping up for an early release? There’s been a lot of talk about Sony’s E3 2005 proclamation that PS3 would ship in the spring of 2006. A lot. Would it be in Japan only, or were they talking about the U.S. too? Questioned further on the topic, Sony execs have since stuck to their guns, saying that the system would be available worldwide before next summer. Is that even possible? Yes. However, there’s the question of launch games and system price. Playstation creator Ken Kutaragi has told the Japanese press on several occasions that the PS3 would be more expensive than the Xbox 360. Maybe that’s when he thought, like many others, that Microsoft’s machine would sell for $299 and Sony was aiming for $399. Sony is already removing some of the less essential functions of the system to cut costs, and we expect others (like the second HDMI output) to follow. It’s also waiting on component prices to drop before talking about the system’s retail price; the same route they took with the PSP. A $399 PS3 isn’t entirely out of the picture, according to our sources, who are betting a lot on the system’s success. Sony has told PSM to expect a significant presence for the system at January’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, also in line with their PSP tactics. If a March launch does occur, it would be accompanied by onle a couple of first-party titles, another two or three from Electronic Arts, and one titleat most from their other third-parties. Madden NFL Football developer Tiburon has had PS3 dev hardware longer than almost any other U.S. developer. Rockstar North has had stable kits since at least August 2005; check out our GTA4 spotlight for more on what they’re up to. There’s a lot of talk among the PS3 developer community about the importance of being first-to-market, or at least not letting Microsoft get too much of an installed base before the PS3 ships. The general feeling is that Sony considers Xbox 360 to be a possible contender in this generation, so they’re not going to just rest on their laurels. In fact, developers report that Sony Japan is taking a much more hands-on role in the U.S. launch of the PS3 than it did with the PS2 or PSP. Shades of the PS1 launch, there. Watch this space PSM will continue to dip behind the scenes and stay on top of all the latest rumblings from the PS3 development community to make sure you’ll read all the biggest news here first. Don’t forget to visit psmonline.com and hit us with your burning PS3-related questions – through us, you’ve got a link to the developers, and we’ll keep passing along the best letters we get.
je suis comme toi je pense pas que tout ceci est vrai,mais juste pour l´info,PSM a recueilli ces informations aupres des developpeurs et non de sony.plusieurs vont dire que PSM se trompent souvent,ben pas vraiment ils ont ete les 1er a annoncer que mgs4 se deroulera en milieu urbain en plein guerre:ils ont eu raison,d´autres vont me dire qu´ils sont pro-sony,figurez vous que c´est les premiers a poster la fausse news indiquant que le rsx est moins puissant qu´une 7800gtx.