PlayStation 3, are the problems really in the Hardware?

That Gaming Site:

The Playstation 3 has come a long way since its launch back in 2006. It has seen many needed updates and price cuts, that have proved to push the console into the homes of many.

From what everybody has been told, there is plenty for the future. Play TV, European Movie download service, Home, Life with PlayStation and much more. But is all this enough, does the hardware back it up?

[ape007]

mgs 4

uncharted

is that good enough for you

oh wait

killzone 2,motorstorm 2,r2

the graphics of ps3 is just unbelievable

[chaosatom]

!

[Draperc]

Heavy Rain for the win as well. =)

[Genesis5]

Can the hardware back it up? Well I hope so, it's the best hardware out there.

[Bangladesh]

The biggest problem with the ps3 IS it's hardware. Sony PR has made alot of people think that the Cell is this mammoth processor, and that blu-ray was a must for this generation of games. But what they don't say, for obvious reasons, is that blu-ray is an in-house technology built to support their other hardware divisions, namely their hdtv division. And Sony PR doesn't bother to tell anyone that the Cell is the cutting edge of HD video codec decoding processors. I'll bet half of the people here haven't bothered to find out why Toshiba helped engineer the Cell. Well here is your answer.:
http://www.afterdawn.com/ne...
http://www.videsignline.com...

The misconception is that Sony used this hardware to build an uber console. The reason Sony used this hardware was to monopolize with their in-house physical media format blu-ray. And it's been effective at misleading people(especially fanboys), the gaming media can see a decent looking ps3 title and gush all over it thanking the Cell processor. But the truth is ps3 isn't doing anything the 360 or PC can't do or hasn't already done. Here is an example of a game that got little "OMG's" from the gaming media. But I promise you, had this been a ps3 exclusive, the gaming media and fanboy's would still be harping about the power of "teh Cell" today, and this game came out in 2006 for the 360.
http://www.gametrailers.com...

The point I'm trying to make is that quickly swallowing PR from any company, sometimes isn't always what they are feeding you. Keeping an open mind or even a little reading outside of the "PR box" can often show you things that you wouldn't otherwise see.

[socomnick]

I would scratch resistance 2 off that list of graphically great games.

[FantasyStar]

I agree with you somewhat. You'd have to be swallowing the PR-Bull**** pretty well to not know the PS3 is the trojan horse and key-factor towards BR & Cell's success. (at the cost of annoying the developers)

However though, hardware wise I'd have to disagree a bit. Using Splinter Cell Double Agent as your backbone isn't a good game to flagship your argument (frame-rate issues, screen-tearing). IF you want to think hardware, the 360 is really a "poor-man's PC". 3 Cores, a GPU, & RAM. w/ some extra ram for AA solutions. I'm not saying that the 360's hardware isn't weak, but I am saying that Microsoft's architecture is "proven tested". It's a good thing because developers are already exposed to this and therefore can push out better looking, and more robust gameplay with little costs in the R&D. However things that are "proven-tested" tend to also have an expiration date. There's only so much you can do with old-techniques.

I don't need to recycle the argument that Cell BBE because all know that story already. Cell BBE shouldn't be underestimated as clearly showcased by the exclusive PS3 games. We all thought RSX was this weak Geforce 7xxx chip, but the games are proving us the PS3 has some life in it. Does the fact of the reference-model foreshadow some limitations in the PS3's future? What we know right now is that there's word on the street that 512MB of XDR RAM being manufactured right now. All we know is that Sony is doing something and we all think it has something to do with PS3, however it's very rumor-heavy.
IF Killzone 2 is a sign of how much potential Cell has, then there's going to be interesting news in the coming year or so when Guerrilla publishes their in-house tools on the Playstation Edge Network.

I agree that we all should keep an open mind as to how much power each console can push out, but that's no reason to deny the PS3's its rightful praise for the games it pushes out. Just like there's no reason to say the 360 has inferior hardware due to a last-gen storage medium. Both sides of the field are all purely FUD.

We haven't even fully embraced the multi-threaded era of computing yet, nor have we cracked the full potential of what BR can bring us. Games like GeoW prove that space is not an issue when it comes to good looking games. Like you said, all we can do is sit and watch.

Just keep your hand on your wallet.

[ThanatosDMC]

It's surprising how people would agree or disagree with someone automatically once they read that the person sides with either the PS3 on the 360.

I love the PS3!

[ThanatosDMC]

You do know that's the PC version ::snickers::

Also, did you notice CliffyB has something wrong with his front teeth??? I hate that guy since he talks so much crap!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I love the 360!

[Nate Frog]

Call of Duty 4 looks better than Killzone 2
http://www.gametrailers.com...

Are they playing on a black and white tv in that Killzone 2 video? j/k
But seriously that's a pretty cheap trick trying to hide it's flaws by making everything the same color shade.

[Irish J]

I think Bioshock looks better than anything I've seen or played on PS3.
http://www.gametrailers.com...

[karlostomy]

well said

@ irish

bioshock is also coming to ps3 and will look good.

[Syronicus]

Sony using me as a tool?

Well, if Sony providing me with a BD player for my big screen 1080p HDTV, WiFi and connectivity to my PSP, Great games like Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, MGS4, GT5:P, and many more means they are treating me like a tool then sign me up for the tool shed. I get free online play, great games and a plethora of high tech gadgetry when I buy a PS3, and if that is being used as a tool for that simple purchase then being a tool never felt better.

At least they didn't use me as a beta tester for poorly built hardware with a failure rate upon launch of 33%...

[Pr3-M3d_G4M3R]

Of course it can back it all up why you ask....because the PS3 is the TOWER OF POWER, whereas the Xbox is the TOWER OR COWER

[UNCyrus]

Because some dev's are too lazy to get to learn the architecture of the cell processor, they blame it on the processor itself. Maybe they should stop being close-minded and get to know the way of the future...

[Danja]

I can't believe ppl are still questioning the hardware of the PS3 it has surpassed what is being done on the 360....which means it's thee most powerful system out....

Devs are the ones making crappy PS3 games , The question should be "Why are Devs still having probs with the PS3 Architecture" ?

[Mr_cheese]

If you read the article, they actually blame developers. Stating that the PS3 is next to perfection.

[TOSgamer]

I'd be surprised if you ever worked half as hard as one of these "lazy devs".

[season007]

i aren't dev but i don't assume they are the hardest working persons on earth

we can clearly see there are devs that devote more work and time on a game and there are devs that just rush the game out...no matter its the company's policy or their own laziness..

And yes i do hope they work hard and be a good moral dev that release the best game they can do with the time they have

[Tobias123]

are some of the hardest working people in entertainment. Havn't you read the stories about people sometimes working 12 hour shifts nearly everyday for extended periods in the crunch period leading up to a deadline? It's insane. Getting to grips with a tricky piece of hardware is like getting to grips with a twitchy sports/racing car. It's hard to learn and will take awhile, but once you do you can get some pretty impressive results out of it.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

It isn't about the developers being lazy. I think developers in general want the bleeding edge technology as they enjoy it. At the end of the day, there is limited resources and how one delegate it.

So the question then is, given finite resources should the developer try to figure out how to work with the tools or try to improve the game mechanics? Would you prefer stellar graphics over gameplay?

I think the bottom line here (regardless of what other consoler makers have done) Sony dropped the balled and forgot all about video game development. They built in features into the console as a multimedia powerhouse (decoding/encodinv video) and not a gaming console. That is why it is a b*tch to program for it and why the console can do gazillion computations a second. Who the f*ck cares about high performance Fast Fourier Transforms on a gaming console? IBM built it to suit their needs, not Sony's gaming development need.

MS understood this and did an excellent job building their development tools and an easier to work with architecture. Nintendo understood this and built a console focusing on lower cost development (and arguably gimmicky gameplay).

Assuming all else equal, would I make a game for PS3 or Xbox 360? I would hands down choose the X360, because of the lower cost and time needed to develope the game. If I wanted to work on some bleeding edge hardware because I enjoy trying out things, then the PS3 is the way to go.

I bet you that the next generation console from Sony will have much better tools and focus on ease of development instead of theoretical power.

Don't give me the crap about proof that there is nothing wrong with the console because there are great games like MGS4. For a fair comparison, one should take into account how much time and talent was put into making the game. This is the same as saying there was no hardware problem on the 360 since there are still 360 launch consoles still working that had never been serviced. Because there are exceptions, it doesn't mean it is the rule.

I'm an owner of all 3 consoles and don't care which console wins as long as I get great games across all 3 consoles. Right now my 360 gets the most love, then the PS3 and finally the Wii (that almost never get used).

[Taker_129]

So you think you know more than Sony? You say Sony's next console will focus on easy of development and Blah, Blah, Blah. Sony had the same complaints when they built the ps1, ps2 and now with the ps3. Sony has never been a short sited company. They think about the future. Why do you think the ps2 sells as well as its does, even after 8+ years on the market? Its because Sony makes Hardware that can hold up for years. Microsoft and Nintendo have always thought of the NOW and never the Future, thats why Gamecube and Xbox 1 are dead now, and the samething will happen to the Wii and xbox 360.

And as far as MGS4, you say how much time and talent it took, but what about how much time and talent it took for Too Huamn and thats not even that great a game. But games like LBP only have a staff on 25 people and look what they have accomplished. Everyday Shooter was made by one man. So don't judge the ps3 on that because you dont know what it took to get those games out. Change of concepts, problems with management, other games in development, poorly managed schedules, etc. are all reasons for why a game could be delayed that have nothing to do with the ps3.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

Of course there are going to be managment issues and so on, but this affects both companies. Do you think the managing development on a PS3 is any different than a 360? I wouldn't imagine there would be too much difference, a game is a game.

Consider this:

- Sony themselves stated they have "improved" their tools as well as increased support for 3rd party developers.
- Many developers have time and time again stated the difficulty in developing for the PS3
- Numerous delayed games that look subpar to the 360

To me this is an indication that Sony did not do a good job listening to what the developers need. That is the Sony way, as they used to a very arrogant company. I don't think they knew why they had such successful consoles with the PS1 and PS2.

It all depends on how you look at it. The Sony cycle is growing pains, but lot of potential. The MS cycle is ease of development and short cycle at least based on theirs short history in consoles. Nintendo is all over the place and frankly does whatever it thinks works at the time.

What I do look at is, about 5 years ago I bought an original Xbox. I now have a 360, PS3 and Wii. Do I care that there is sales of PS2? Yes, because PS3 lacks backwards compatibility on the 40GB MGS4 PS3 LE console! Otherwise, I would be playing PS2 games on the PS3.

Basically, what I'm saying is the hardware isn't built to last 10 years for the PS2 as they claim. They are only saying that to make a sale. If the PS2 sold poorly and they were loosing money, Sony would drop the PS2 like a dead fish! If they didn't they would be idiots. Sony, Nintendo, MS are all in it for the money! The PS1/PS2 is enjoying a long life cycle because there is so freaken many consoles out and so many games for it. It gets even more important when dev cost go up... suddenly the PS2 seems very attractive for dev teams.

[Rice]

Shaboobla...

[andron]

And that certainly isn't the PS3 or even the Wii.

It take for developers to get used to new hardware. PS3 has the most advanced and different technology, so it has taken the longest for developers to nail it.

From the end of the year/early 2009, shoddy ports will mostly be a thing of the past.

[Danja]

I was wondering when someone was gonna say that...lol

[andron]

But not in a mean way, just stating facts LOL

[GiantEnemyCrab]

The PS2? Because that is the only system I've ever had hardware problems with.

2 360's no problems, played all the time, left on all the time.

haha. I know what you meant though.

[silverchode]

which can be left on longer a ps2 or a 360?

[Cajun Chicken]

This has been more than proved now. These consoles (PS3 and 360) are graphically equal and have about the same power under the hood at this point in time, NEITHER have outdone each other yet.

The only thing that's sets them apart is a few exclusive games and the online services, one is free and more than capable to host online games and one charges you a year/month, (whatever) for slightly better features and not much more.

Sorry, but due to in-house developers, great franchises that have been around for years, great controller that's hardly changed over 3 gens but with a few nifty added features and chargable with USB lead without buying any accessories, you can put a bigger cheap hardrive in no problem, a huge number of USB devices can be used in the PS3 and its a great, great companion to the PSP. Its a brilliant machine.

Fantastic built in features with firmware like the web browser and predictable text, Earth music visualiser, create your own XMB themes with different Icons on PC and so forth and upload them to your PS3, setting custom moving thumbnails for movies to create 3 second loop previews, album covers for MP3s, Folding@home, the upcoming Life with Playstation and Home...oh, and the Blu-Ray which I will probably start using and snapping up titles once I get hold of a cheap copy of Cloverfield.

Except games; seriously games just don't come for free on ANY console, you have to buy those; sorry.

The fact neither my PS2's or PS1's CD/DVD drives have died but my XBOX1 has with my 360 hanging in there in recent times, just shows; Sony know how to build robust hardware like Nintendo and Commodore did.
Get the games going properly and its the ULTIMATE dream console.

Ahh, I should become a salesman.

[Mr_cheese]

The article does state there is nothign wrong with the hardware and that developers just haven't come to terms with it yet.
and yes SALES MAN OF THE YEAR! bubble for you!

[Cajun Chicken]

I just needed an excuse to get all that off my chest recently, lol

Thanks for the bubble! :D

[JUUKENS HOT]

mgs4 and uncharted have graphically outdone anygame on the 360

[Dyingduck]

However, to my beloved Xbot M$ lemming…I mean Xbox360 friend [RE: Xbot problems],

So, what is like playing a 10-year Too Flop? 10-years must make it one hella good Flop!

Oh wait, did you forget to pay your LIVE bill...yet? You don't want to pay 50 bucks for 1 month worth of LIVE. Hey, I am here for you if you need any loan. I promise I won’t charge you 100% interest if you’re late!

Oh yeah, how many times did you say your beloved 360 pooped out, RRODed? I was wondering, was it like more annoying the first time or the 4th time? I bet you had M$ support numbers saved somewhere on your phone. Do you know if Sony has one? I never had to call…

Speaking of which, how many games did you lose due to disc scratching problems? Have you tried renting Xbox360 games? It’s like playing Russian roulette with 3 chambers and one bullet! Yeah, I am totally sorry that one time my dog ran over your Xbox360 while you were playing Too Flop. My dog did the same crap on mine, but I just continued playing.

Did your living room burn down yet due to over-heating? Did you try to cook eggs on the XBOX, yet? My friends did and it worked. We actually ate the eggs ON it – we got bored playing too flop…

What are you going to do to your crap-box come this September or whenever your warranty runs out? My favorite was to use it as a door stopper or use it as a book-end…

Oh...how's Halo 3? What!!? You're playing CoD4, instead? Aww, me too!!! Of course, mine is free to play on dedicated less-lag servers! No worries brother, you DEFINTELY don’t need to worry about lag when playing a FPS!

You must be also very excited for Gears2! It will be just like those OLD, glorious days!!! ... in fact, "EXACTLY" like those old times! Enjoy your Gears 1.5! Aww, don’t worry about me you silly goose, I’ll get the superior version on my PC just like the original Gear! No need to be so concerned!
Go here: http://i37.tinypic.com/1zvp...

So, what about your HD? Did you run out of space? Want to borrow my 320GB HD? Awww! Too bad you can't, go spend ~120 dollars on 60gigs…I got my 320gigs @ newegg.com for like ~2games worth. It’s a good deal.

Oh and what color will you make your kiddie Wii-copycap avatar wear? I am excited!!! Please tell me when you know! I will be waiting.

Well until next time,
RIP, 360
-Your fellow PS3 friend

PS. R = RROD

[Harry190]

...Did they just make that article because they come on N4G a lot? I am sure that's it. For the past few days there have been quite a lot of those articles here.

[ReBurn]

And by article you mean unreferenced, opinion-filled blog post. Right?

[TOSgamer]

They've moved the configurations all over the place but the PS3 launched at $499 and $599. Now its at $399 and $499. That's one price cut. Why is it so hard for people to understand?

[soljah]

hey guys remember sony's 10 year plan. seems like they keep adding functionality and more and more developers are jumping on board and starting to get their hands around the cell. the future looks bright

[TrevorPhillips]

the ps3 is the beast

[byeGollum]

funny thing is... the media do their best to downplay the ps3 (the best) .. it always one thing after the other .. yet alot of ps3 games shut them up (MGS4 KZ2 Ucharted,Mainly Exclusives), yet they just wont give up *sigh*

[beoulve]

The Real problem is xbot not ps3.

[Cajun Chicken]

I personally think its the fact people don't know about the PS3 what I mentioned above. Seriously; these features AREN'T advertised ANYWHERE.

I think even some people that actually own a PS3 don't have a clue what the hell it can do or what you can do TO it.

[Cajun Chicken]

Disagree if you think the disagreeing phantom is lame.

EDIT:
Ahh, but you see, if that 'agree' was from the disagreeing phantom, then it agrees with this comment...
being the strong opinion that 'the disagreeing phantom is lame' and is telling other people to click 'disagree'; which means the phantom is lame.

EDIT 2
This comment and test has sort of worked like those phrases; 'The man you love to hate' or 'The man you hate to love' meaning the same result.

[DJ]

PS3 is the most powerful, most capable console on the market.

[Droid]

no. more problems than that.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

LOL! 5 Agrees? pulled out your o'l extra accounts for that one comment?

You sad,sad troll.

[Cajun Chicken]

I love the way people 'xbots' were confused with agreeing or disagreeing with my fourth comment and just left it alone...

[BoneMagnus]

I've played on the 360 since launch, and I love it, but I've been playing my new PS3 for the last 3 weeks, and it is brilliant as well - tried online with Resistance for the first time last night - worked perfectly.

And any system that can give me MGS4 is fine in my book.

The bottom line is that while MS and Sony both made some errors/mistakes, they both made great consoles that play games I love playing. Does anything else matter?

[grantps3]

yeah if devs. just wanted to get all they could out of the ps3 they just need to try harder. i know im not a dev. and i have no idea how hard it is to make a ps3 game.

they just need to start on ps3 as lead platform to make sure they make it look good.

[Merritt]

Seriously. How many more "articles" from some blog are going to get posted about the superiority of the PS3? This site has become a haven for the PS3 loyalists. It's become nearly worthless to visit this site anymore.

Blogs posted as news or articles. By people who have not even a shred of journalistic ability or integrity. Articles that are posted that have no factual based information. It's really sad. I would hope the approval process changes, because this site is being controlled by a certain few people with a definite agenda.

[BoBo33]

The guy who wrote the article in this story is also one of the admins of N4G. Jamie Si

Read the comments at the bottom of the story and highlight Jamie Si's invisible post.

So yeah, you could be onto something.

[Merritt]

Thank you, I'm a 360 fan at heart I've always said it. This site though, is getting a bit out of control with the worthless posts and negative press towards ANYTHING not Sony.

How can one be an Admin of a videogame "news site" yet write for another "news site" in another capacity. Professionally that's known as a conflict of interest. Here obviously it's skewing the news to a pro-Sony rant. It's disheartning.

I'm not usually one to go on about such things, Although, lately this site has been a haven for the Sony PR machine. Anyone getting any kickbacks around here?

[thereapersson]

So therein lies your problem, and the reason that you cannot complain when you obviously have a far leaning toward the 360 in the first place. You are so opposed to the PS3 that you are willing to come up with these bizarre conspiracy theories, just as there are the PS3 fanboys who incessantly shout "OMG 360 BIAS!!!" at every single website that gives a PS3 game a bad score, even if it deserves it nor not.

I'm sure you never had a problem when all the negative articles predicting doom and gloom on the PS3 were running rampant on this website last year. You just see less now of them because most of the media have realized that the PS3 isn't going anywhere, just as the xbox 360 isn't going anywhere despite the ill-will wished upon it.

Hell, this site is affiliate with GamesRadar, one of the more pro-360 sites on the net. What does that tell you about things?

[Says you]

Been any game that cant be done on the XBox 360 then how come its been using so much of Unreal Engine 3 lately how come theres no graphics like Killzone 2 and don't show me Unreal Engine 3 games cause they don't count show me a game that doesn't use Unreal Engine 3 and your telling us the stuff that you said about Sony, wouldn't that apply to what Microfony said considering there lying about there console saying they have the most powerful console when infact its just an Unreal Engine 3 console nothing more and oh I guess heavy rain is proof enough considering the XBox 360 hasn't done those graphics that your agreements are useless and meaningless considering there are different cells for electronics you moronic fool that toshiba is using not the same cell for cpu that is inside the PS3

you talk big but you just cant seem to back it up you cant even show proof there hasn't been one XBox 360 game that looks the same as Killzone 2 or Heavy Rain infact there was an article about Ratchet & Clank: Future tools of Destruction that said that Ratchet & Clank: Future tools of Destruction looks like a Pixar movie now where do you see a game on the XBox 360 that says that oh that's right there isn't any!

your just digging up old articles and besides those are different type of cells its not the same cell that they would use for a cpu for electronics you twit!.

[AIi_The_Brit]

Since MGS4 its simply gone, any thoughts of "is it the hardware"

Granted, the PS3 hardware may be a bit trickier to get your head round compared to the 360's

but that doesnt make it bad

you know what p*sses me off?

xbots who have the NERVE to say the PS3 hardware is bad, LMFAO, no, no, shut up, no, you have NO right and i wont ever listen to you when you try tell me PS3 hardware is bad when your hardware has a 33% fail rate, just GTFO

PS3 is superior in hardware

360 is superior in software

simple as

dont try act (and i address this to xbots AND droids) like your console is superior in both because it simply isnt true

[LevDog]

The problem is in Everyones head.. Its a myth, there is no problem with PS3.. except maybe lazy devs.. People who dev for Sony do just fine.. Look at the games they have made.. MGS4 Uncharted Motostorm MLB the show, just to name a few..

[Zulwarn]

the bs3 IS the problem

[pwnsause]

your avatar is a problem, it RRODs the xbox.

[VMAN_01]

After Uncharted came out I didn't see anything better on the 360(graphics wise).

[Irish J]

You must not have been looking. Uncharted is a good looking game, but it didn't wow me like Bioshock and Mass Effect.

[Time_Is_On_My_Side]

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