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Dec 18 / Ozymandias

Dean Takahashi on PS3 vs. 360

Saw that Dean Takahashi wrote up some of his thoughts on seeing a comparison of the Xbox 360 to the PS3. I agree with many of his points (and have written about them before, in particular about this generation being a 720p generation – at least for games). Don't agree with others, but instead of picking and choosing quotes I'll just point you at the article so you can make up your own mind.

Hope you're all having a great holiday! I'm technically on vacation now, and even thinking about sending out holiday cards for the first time in 20 years or so. Scary times…. Wink

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  3. Monday Morning Quarterbacking of April NPD Sales
  • Shawn

    Why does he show a in game screen shot of Resistance, but not a in game screen shot of Gears of War?

  • Mr. Surname

    Why is it that the parallels in this "next gen" format dispute are getting harder and harder to recognize? It seems that the PS3 and the Xbox 360 are so much alike. However, Nintendo consistently seems to be on a streak of thinking they’ve invented something greater than the wheel.

    Really, my observations give light, and are synonomous, with what your instincts would tell you. I just have to say it:

    ‘PlayStation 3 is a copy-cat.’

    Assessing Sony’s new toy, it’s basically a Wii and an Xbox 360 combined. The only true difference lies in the hands of developers, which have obviously gone through the lapse of time. And the lapse of time obviously had them coming away with mixed reactions of the PS3. Not that it matters, of course.

    I no someone ‘special’(referring to his mental epiphamy that tells him common sense is for gummy bears) that was in on the development process for the 360. He puts it this way:

    The evolution of technology is like icecream. At one point, you order the icecream. That’s the first and biggest step. Then you take that icecream and put toppings on it. Before you get to the table and sit down, you can’t do anything but smell the aroma and gaze at how wonderful this sugary confection looks. You keep adding to it, and eventually you’re forced to stop. The toppings are fludding out of the top of the container. So, finally you sit down, and you realize that you have to start eating and tasting the icecream that you’ve tried to make your own. But in the knick of time, your friends finally show up, and start ordering thier favorite icecream. They start putting all sorts of different toppings on top. They sit down, and all you can really think about is talking with them. Eventually, you look down and think to yourself that your icecream looks better than anyone elses. I mean come on, the guy sitting next to you put spicy jawbreakers on top of his. But maybe he thinks that that choice of topping is better than yours. Finally, you start to delve into your icecream, enjoying the smooth chocolate that you’ve drenched it in. Then, out of no where, the one friend that you were beginning to think wouldn’t show up…arrives. And what does he have? He has a chocolate fudge browny cake with icecream covering the top. He basically just turned your idea upside down. And you want it… really bad. That warm, creamy chocalate looks more delicious than that cold, bitter icecream. You realize that all you’ve done is cover the taste of the icecream up. Yor friendly enhanced the taste of the browny fudge cake with vanilla bean icecream.

    Think about that analogy because, besides being the story of your life at Dairy Queen, it’s also the counterpart, or the fundamental basis which the industry has decided to invest iself into.

  • ericdrum

    Why does Dean compare PDZ to Resistance? That makes no sense. I mean the thing that held the PS3 up from being released sooner had a heck of a lot to do with BluRay. Resistance was being worked on for a long time. Just because the PS3 was released 1 year later than the 360 doesn’t mean that there’s this one year margin that we compare the consoles with. Yeah, Rare probably had dev kits for the 360 longer than Insomniac had dev kits for the PS3, but so what? The devs don’t start making the game when the dev kits arrive, they work on it a ton before they get them. The aforementioned games are just a game on their respective system that look great. Games will come along in a year on each console that don’t look as good as either of the games look right now. What does that mean? Nothing. These 2 developers made great looking games that set the bar for their respective systems. That’s all there really is to it. Compare GoW and Resistance if you want because consumers will. They are the current graphical flag ships of their consoles. If something looks better it will get credit, the consumers aren’t going to care that MS released a year earlier.

    The good news for 360 owners is that with GoW, it was made with UE3 and we have a bunch of games coming that will be using the same technology. It at least gives you hope that we can see some graphical greatness coming soon.

    When Xbox1 was released didn’t everybody say, "the xbox should look better, it’s newer"?

  • Joseph

    It really shouldn’t matter when the consoles were released. The games exist now and should be judged as such. Tough luck if Sony released a year later.

    The thing I have to ponder is that where is the superiority of the Xbox360? It is supposed to be far easier to program for than the PS3 but doesn’t have anything to show how much better it is.

    I also found it interesting when interactivity was mentioned. Does Gears of War sacrifice frame rate and user interaction to achieve its visuals?

  • Islandkiwi

    His comment that it would be more fair to compare Resistance to PDZ is unfair; technology and games advance with the times.  I understand that the PS3 is a new console, but in reality it’s only new to us, the consumer.  Insomniac has been working on this game for quite a while.

    That being said, after that comment he did not compare PDZ to Resistance, he compared (rightly so) to Gears.  

    In my mind, the PS3′s problems will not be because of graphics…but rather the lack of rumble, and the lack of achievements.  If I have a choice on a multi-console game, I’m picking the 360 for those two reasons.

  • deftangel

    Haha, did you read the comments Ozy? :) I thought his assertion that the 360 might not be able to render lots of high moving textures because you can’t turn round quickly in Gears to be rubbish and posted as much! Thought you might have windmilled in to back me up!

    Anyway, I find Dean’s blog good value, like his book and he’s generally fair.

  • Melchezidek

    I read the post and then commented about how disappointed I am in Dean for what he wrote.  His piece read like something a 14 year-old Sony fanboy would come up with.  It’s sad.  Dean is a good giy, but he is capable of so much more than that and he is an industry insider of sorts that has access to a lot of factual info.  It is confusing to me to read something of his that is so baseless and awkward.  I hate the spread of misinformation about my darling 360.

  • Josh

    Joseph, read the comments after Dean’s article.  The things that Dean thought were technical limiations of the XBox were really just design choices made by Epic.

  • Bruce

    I don’t think "Different Games" that are developed by "Different Teams" for  "Different Platforms" should be compared at all.

    On that note, it needs to be said that Sony is not the only organisation guilty of that.  Microsoft actually did a side by side demo of GOW against Resistance as proof of the 360′s superiority.  Apples and Oranges.  It seems to me, that only the same game developed by the same team is likely to yield a fair comparison of which system has the technical edge.  Even then, it could be argued that one of the versions has been "dumbed down" so that development overhead between the two systems is kept to a minimum.

    A more realistic approach is to look at the underlying hardware, not just in terms of horses, but also in terms of how accessible that power is.

    It seems that from this POV, the 360 has a clear upper-hand, although I suspect that game and graphic engines will eventually mask the complexity inherent in the PS3′s architecture to the point where this will stop being a significant issue.

    I’m suspecting, more and more, that the success of the PS3 is sitting on a knifes-edge.  The debate about the quality of the hardware, or it’s ability to produce stunning games is a silly one.  Pound for pound, it matches or betters the 360.  The real issue is whether the amazing amount of technology packed into that system has been brought to market in a way that will make it a best seller, which it needs to be, in order to reach it’s full potential (which is massive).

    On a completely unrealted subject, Merry Christmas to all, -I’ve recently been playing up a storm with GRAW online, which is to say, getting slaughtered by experienced players who sit waiting at the respawn points ready to pick you off the moment you come back.  Anyway, never knew online gaming was so much fun until I tried it.  My gamer tag is bendybruce if you want a bit of extra target practice :-)