360 hype starting?
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Just noticed a blurb on gamespot.com that "analysts are already predicting a shortage of systems". Is it possible to sell anything anymore without intentionally producing a limited number to create hype? Things like this are exactly why I'm waiting to get my system because the first runs are always crap technology and I don't feel like fighting the posers who just think they need the new system so they can hang with the "cool geeks":sigh: ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done.
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Just noticed a blurb on gamespot.com that "analysts are already predicting a shortage of systems". Is it possible to sell anything anymore without intentionally producing a limited number to create hype? Things like this are exactly why I'm waiting to get my system because the first runs are always crap technology and I don't feel like fighting the posers who just think they need the new system so they can hang with the "cool geeks":sigh: ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done.
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Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
Or you if you want to play certain games that aren't on the PC. I would say Halo but that does eventually come out on PC. Only games I play that aren't PC are Metroid and Zelda (poor Nintendo). ------------------------------------- Do not do what has already been done.
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Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
JWood wrote: The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC. 1) There are games released only for the console 2) There are games released months apart from console to PC (BloodRayne2 PC released 8 months after the console version) _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
Not sure about that whole are they JWood wrote: that much better than PC games thing ... but there are people out there in the world that don't want to have to know how to install, configure, tweak, etc... a game and/or their PC hardware, and want to just drop in a CD and go ... I know my Son has run into problems a couple of times with games on the PC, leaving him frustrated and running to me for help (almost always it's a video driver and/or DirectX thing). But that XBox of his ... never an issue.
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Fold with us|Development Blogging|viksoe.dk's site -
Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
Well from what I've read on Ars about both the 360 and the PS3, the underlying tech is signifigantly better than what a traditional PC has (or at least what a PC game is written for), at least in terms of computing power. Now whether the game programmers actually make good use of all this new stuff is up in the air. The PS3 has 7-8 mini CPU's - that's gotta make a difference if you know how to program for it and take advantage of them. Ars had a good article a while back claiming that the really interesting stuff that the PS3 (and to a lesser degree the 360) represented was a shift in programming techniques. That while most games had started single threaded, and then more recently slowly moving towards multi-threaded, to really take advantage of the new systems, the game designers would have to invest in heavily multi-threaded designs, and that this would be a lot of work for the programmer to succesfully pull off. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
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Not sure about that whole are they JWood wrote: that much better than PC games thing ... but there are people out there in the world that don't want to have to know how to install, configure, tweak, etc... a game and/or their PC hardware, and want to just drop in a CD and go ... I know my Son has run into problems a couple of times with games on the PC, leaving him frustrated and running to me for help (almost always it's a video driver and/or DirectX thing). But that XBox of his ... never an issue.
:..::. Douglas H. Troy ::..
Fold with us|Development Blogging|viksoe.dk's siteDouglas Troy wrote: (almost always it's a video driver and/or DirectX thing). But that XBox of his ... never an issue. One of the distinct advantages of consoles is always stable (hopefully) unchanging technology over the life of the product. Where PCs have to be conserned with every possible crazy configuration from mine to others -- I feel sorry for the poor programmer that has to get into my mind to figure out what I have done to the machine before I load his game on... :) Consoles are extremely rigid in configuration, same, same, same from house to house, now compatibility worries (usually). _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Well from what I've read on Ars about both the 360 and the PS3, the underlying tech is signifigantly better than what a traditional PC has (or at least what a PC game is written for), at least in terms of computing power. Now whether the game programmers actually make good use of all this new stuff is up in the air. The PS3 has 7-8 mini CPU's - that's gotta make a difference if you know how to program for it and take advantage of them. Ars had a good article a while back claiming that the really interesting stuff that the PS3 (and to a lesser degree the 360) represented was a shift in programming techniques. That while most games had started single threaded, and then more recently slowly moving towards multi-threaded, to really take advantage of the new systems, the game designers would have to invest in heavily multi-threaded designs, and that this would be a lot of work for the programmer to succesfully pull off. ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! Real Mentats use only 100% pure, unfooled around with Sapho Juice(tm)! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF!
Jim Crafton wrote: to really take advantage of the new systems, the game designers would have to invest in heavily multi-threaded designs, and that this would be a lot of work for the programmer to succesfully pull off. I hear this often, repeated over and over and I disagree. I don't think multi-threaded is the big monster of fear it is made up to be. Windows machines are at the core multi-threaded and it has been so for a decade. There has been all kinds of efforts to do cooperative multi-threaded (simulated multi-threading on single core) for a decade longer. There are articles here on CP on worker threads to thread encapsulated classes. Althought threads add extra complexity to the debugging cycle: race conditions, sharing data, etc. I don't find multi-threaded designs that much more difficult to impliment. Once you loose the fear of the monster than lives at the single Core barrier, he disappears rapidly. We have become dependant upon single core from habit, that doesn't mean we have to throw out all we have learned. It is a step, but not a huge chasm leap. And if you get your boss to send you to conferences, Intel and MS give classes/tutorials/presentations on how to take advantage of it. So the resources are there too. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
From the small developer end of the PC game industry, we find it harder and harder to get our games into the steadily decreasing fraction of retail shelf space allotted for PC games. In other words, in recent years if you extend the current trend forward in time you can easily see a point where there are NO PC games. Hopefully it won't ever really get that bad, but business-wise, I think it is already effectively there and PC games may only be running on inertia. - Matt Jessick
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Jim Crafton wrote: to really take advantage of the new systems, the game designers would have to invest in heavily multi-threaded designs, and that this would be a lot of work for the programmer to succesfully pull off. I hear this often, repeated over and over and I disagree. I don't think multi-threaded is the big monster of fear it is made up to be. Windows machines are at the core multi-threaded and it has been so for a decade. There has been all kinds of efforts to do cooperative multi-threaded (simulated multi-threading on single core) for a decade longer. There are articles here on CP on worker threads to thread encapsulated classes. Althought threads add extra complexity to the debugging cycle: race conditions, sharing data, etc. I don't find multi-threaded designs that much more difficult to impliment. Once you loose the fear of the monster than lives at the single Core barrier, he disappears rapidly. We have become dependant upon single core from habit, that doesn't mean we have to throw out all we have learned. It is a step, but not a huge chasm leap. And if you get your boss to send you to conferences, Intel and MS give classes/tutorials/presentations on how to take advantage of it. So the resources are there too. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
But writing bad performing code is much easier with multi-threading. Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
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But writing bad performing code is much easier with multi-threading. Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke
Joe Woodbury wrote: But writing bad performing code is much easier with multi-threading. Again I would disagree. Implimenting an array through a STL list template would significantly reduce performance better. Multi-threading does introduce new data parallels vs. code parallels and hybrid models, etc. But these are extra considerations in performance, but they all come down to fitting square pegs in round holes creates performance problems. If we can learn templates, and use them properly, if we can change from C to C++ to C# to what ever is next, we can learn this. It is the absolute reluctance to budge I find frustrating. If none of us could ever learn something new, we would all still be programming in Cobol (or worse, machine code). In parallels simplest form you are creating autonomy, similar to object oriented with minimal shared infrastructures/heirarchies. Autonomic threads would behave completely independant from each other and share minimal data. We are autonomic in our functions, I do not have to communicate [constantly] with you for you to write code, I simply need to tell you what to write. Input output and the rest you do. I trust you to write that code, so you have autonomy. If you think in single processing methods a micromanager would stand over your shoulder and check your every line of code as you write it, the constant race conditions from what he wanted and what you thought of and lack of trust would grind the process to a halt and probably be less efficient than a single autonomous programmer. :) So the goal is to provide as much flexibility in your own code and performance therein as we would (hopefully) wish to receive as programmers. _________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) -- modified at 19:53 Monday 3rd October, 2005
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Are console games all that much better than PC games? The only reason to buy one as I can see, is if you can't afford an upgraded PC.
No. The only advantage to a console is that the game is guaranteed to work on the labelled console. No CPU, GPU, HD and so on compabtibility problems. I downloaded 350megs of Serious Sam 2 demo the other day and the stupid thing would not run on my PC. Bloody annoying but I understand, older hardware. regards, Paul Watson South Africa Colib and ilikecameras. K(arl) wrote: oh, and BTW, CHRISTIAN ISN'T A PARADOX, HE IS A TASMANIAN!