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29 Jul 05
I won't claim I'm back at 100 percent. That was a particularly nasty bug. Chills, then hot flashes with sweating followed by intense nausea. I won't even get into the various bodily fluids. I wouldn't wish that on my enemy. I'm going to get some more rest. Please check out the rest of the site to find something you haven't read. If that fails, you can play with the random link generator, HERE.
Jason
28 Jul 05
Stomach Flu has taken over our household. I'll try to get things back to normal once we've recovered.
Jason
27 Jul 05
In the name of balance, I should point out that I don't think Sony is doing everything right. In fact, most of what they are doing right is fixing glaring blunders from the PS2 launch. The big problem then was lack of RAM and poor developer support. Now they've created a system with a good amount of RAM, and they're putting all the pieces together of a solid dev kit that should allow companies to hit the ground running on the PS3.
The problem is there were a couple of other errors from the PS2 that they haven't adequately addressed yet. Save storage hasn't been addressed yet. There are all these card slots and ports. If you can use them to save your games like the PSP, great. By the way Sony, we're still waiting for the big version of the PS2 memory card or the promised memory stick adapter. It seems like a good time since people who've waited this long to buy a PS2 aren't going to pick up multiple memory cards. Sony could probably put out a 32 MB memory card tomorrow for about the same cost to them and sell millions.
Then there's the big memory card, the Hard Disk Drive (HDD). The HDD was supposed to become the center of our digital entertainment hub, the PS2. We can see how that turned out. Sony waited too long to get it out. They never bundled it with the PS2. Developers never had any incentive to program for it since it was guaranteed that most of their customers wouldn't have it. It looks like that game plan is the same for the PS3. I'm sure a few games will take advantage of it, but most developers will ignore it. Microsoft is officially not requiring the HDD to be supported for the 360 either, but they're bundling one in thereby giving developers the enticement they need to use the features when it's available.
Of course, that's not the big area Sony is behind the 360. That can be summed up in one word: Live. Sony had entered the online world, but mainly by just providing the hardware. If you're in a clan that only plays one game, that's not a problem. If you want to play multiple games online, you've got different features, interfaces, usernames, options, user (friends) lists and servers. Yes, but it's free, you say. But Microsoft is going to offer a free level of service with Live.
The answer for Sony is simple. Rip off Live. Sure, Microsoft will gloat, but that's a small price to pay to neutralized part of one of the 360's biggest advantages. Set up an authentication server (with match making and friend tracking features). Put some standard interface tools, programming hooks and utilities in that dev kit. Then Sony can even launch a premium level of service for "hardcore" online players.
With all the give and take, it looks like the next generation console wars is still shaping up to be an interesting battle. It's just not taking place how, when and where we thought it would be. Sounds like a good strategy.
Jason
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26 Jul 05
I almost feel bad bumping the Ghost Wars interview off the front page. Don't worry you can still check it out Here.
Right now my internet connection is down (that means my phone is down as well). Obviously, I can't get this posted until I'm back online. Hopefully that will be soon.
Each of the next generation consoles has a plan to keep development costs from getting out of hand. Microsoft has the XNA development environment which should aid in production of dual 360/PC games. The down side to that is until multicore PC's are common (they're hardly a blip right now), much of the 360's processing power will go to waste.
Nintendo has an even simpler solution. They're sticking to lower resolutions (think 480i and 480p). They're keeping the same development tools from the Gamecube (think of it more as upgrading your CPU, graphics card and memory but the same OS). Mario's owners are also emphasizing pick up and play games that are fun for the whole family. That means a move away from nonstop eye candy.
Sony has the most interesting plan. At first glance, it may even be the best. They've bought a middleware company. They've used a standardized GPU interface (and Cg programming) from Nvidia. But the most important thing they've done is found a way for developers to easily use the power of the cell.
Before I go into that, I'd like to briefly explain why that's a problem. Even better, I'll let Gabe Newell do it for me. Check it out Here. As a brief summary, Newell explains that multicore game development is something no one has experience doing. Troubleshooting alone could become mind boggling.
Sony realizes it could be three or four years down the line before truly optimized implementations of multicore gaming code start appearing. So what does Sony do? Well, the strength of the cell is in doing parallel numerical calculations. It works best if those calculations have fewer interdependencies. What common high CPU demand calculations are commonly used in gaming and could benefit from parallel calculations. The obvious answer is physics.
Coincidentally, as I've mentioned before, the cell is similar in design to the proposed physics card AGEIA is working to design. So Sony licenses their SDK to be included in PS3 dev kits. Then they go to the other big physics SDK, HAVOK. They negotiate that SDK into dev kits as well. Then they finalize both agreements and announce them on the same day last week. I'm sure the competition helped keep Sony's costs down.
The great part for Sony is that they allow developers to continue to make games in the way they're comfortable while allowing them to still take advantage of the power of the cell through physics. Like I said, it looks like a smart move.
Jason
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25 Jul 05
David had an eye appointment today. Since he was a preemie, he's been going to a specialist to check for signs of ROP. Fortunately, he got a clean bill of health. The only down side was the specialist works in the Texas Medical Center. That's a long, annoying trip from where we live. I had some things I wanted to go over, but it's late and I'm tired (but relieved). So I think I'll just leave you with a game of the week.
This week's game is a new take on the venerable Space 4X genre. It's Sword of the Stars (official site) from Kerberos Productions. While there are Four X's, they want to focus on the last, eXterminate. They want a solid emphasis on fun, fast, tactical combat. You lead a faction of one of four races (each with a unique propulsion system) to attempt to dominate the 3D star map. You can customize your ships as you research your way up the tech tree. While core technologies will remain the same, the rest of the 150 techs are randomized so there is no optimal build order to learn. You can find some more details over at Octopus Overlords where a developer has stopped in to answer questions.
Jason
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