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[doncale]

well first off, when are Playstation3 development kits likely to ship? I know PS3 games are in development. many have started this year, and maybe a few started late last year. but these are all on PCs or Macs or maybe workstations, not on actual PS3 kits, at least not yet. it's unlikely that anyone outside of Sony 1st parties have working PS3 kits yet, or am I wrong?

predict what kind of problems are likely to surface in the next year, as PS3 kits start to become available.


here's a funny flashback from IGN on PS2 dev-kit problems
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/072/072803p1.html

PS2 Dev Kits Hit US Shores
Developers finally get their dev kits, but not all is perfect in PlayStation land.

September 01, 1999 - More than 40 U.S. developers have recently received their first PlayStation 2 development kits, two development teams (who asked to remain anonymous) told IGNPS2 today.


Following through on its promise to development teams they would get their kits by end of August, Sony came through with at least a partial delivery. The kits aren't complete, though. The $20,000 kits don't include several major elements. These "partial" kits are running at half their processor speeds, don't have sound chips in them, and none of them are running DVD just yet.

Supporting Merrill Lynch's analyst report, which first posted three weeks ago on Gaming Age, one developer said that the system probably won't support DVD movie playback for quite a while, (lol!) certainly not right out of the box, though eventually Sony will enable it in the years to come. Whether Sony supports an add-on, or a new system, is still pure speculation.

Sony has told Japanese development teams that they will receive the full kits by the end of October, with US teams receiving them by end of November, beginning of December.

In line with many other developers' opinions, Sony's PlayStation 2 appears to be difficult to program. And while Sony's rival, Nintendo, doesn't actually have a machine to show for, at least one developer told IGN that the Dolphin is going to be easier to program, compared to PS2.

Another complaint, in regard to programming, centers on the VMU (visual memory unit). Both developers explained that it the VMU caused difficulties while programming.

they meant the VUs (Vector Units, lol)

Sony has said it will announce most of the most pertinent details - price, what the unit looks like, playable games, and release date, et al - on September 13 at a special press event in Japan. The Fall Tokyo Game Show begins on Friday, September 17.

 

[AniHawk]

Maybe Sony's making it easier this round? Is the PSP easy to develop for? I thought the PSX was easy to develop for..

 

[Mr Gump]

I predict that this thread wont last long.

 

[cybamerc]

Maybe Sony's making it easier this round? Is the PSP easy to develop for? I thought the PSX was easy to develop for..

PSP is a much simpler design though. But I'm sure Sony is planning on making development as easy as possible. The question is if they will succeed.

 

[Fafalada]

it's unlikely that anyone outside of Sony 1st parties have working PS3 kits yet, or am I wrong?

Right now noone has PS3 kits of any kind yet, 1st party or otherwise. As far as public info goes - according to a recently posted roadmap, the first kits for a "next platform" are to be released towards the end of Fiscal 2004.

Speaking of old PS2 kits - the half speed ones actually Had sound support. Don't get me started on the software we used back then though...

 

[Falch]

one developer said that the system probably won't support DVD movie playback for quite a while

What? That's doesn't make any sense. Doesn't Blu-ray automatically read cd/dvd music/games/movies anyway?

 

[border]

I'm not likely to trust any report that claims the PS3 won't support DVD-video out-of-the-box. That would be truly ridiculous, given that both Sony and MS aspire to have their machines become some kind of media hub. DVD and BluRay are both important cornerstones in this plan.

 

[cybamerc]

Falch:

> Doesn't Blu-ray automatically read cd/dvd music/games/movies anyway?

No.

 

[border]

Well it can automatically read them....as in, it can understand and pull data off the disc. If it can't read DVDs and CDs then how is it going to be backwards-compatible?

Whether or not it has the firmware to provide proper MPEG2 video playback is perhaps the better question. Given that one of the accepted codecs for BluRay is high-resolution MPEG2, I see absolutely no reason why it couldn't play low-res DVD MPEG2.

 

[carbonbased]

What? That's doesn't make any sense. Doesn't Blu-ray automatically read cd/dvd music/games/movies anyway?

R>C>P

 

[cybamerc]

The Blu-ray format isn't backwards compatible. Blu-ray players might be. BRD is using a different laser from CD and DVD.

 

[carbonbased]

For God's sake, people, the article was written in 1999 and is speculation on whether or not the PS2 would play DVD movies.

 

[ninge]

i predict that within minutes of them being plugged into the network several people will rename their ps3 "tools" to things like "arsecakes" "sony sucks" and "i hate the ee" (or equivelent), half the CD drives won't work (if you're even lucky enough to have a drive in your machine), the other half will be snapped off within a week due to people leaving them open and then getting up from their desks and kicking the ankle height tray, the joypad ports will pack up shortly after due to further kicking of the on-floor devkit and then about 6 months after they first arrive the first windows based debugger will appear. it will sometimes work for no apparent reason, most of the time fail to even load and occaisonally just destroy all your environment settings for a laugh.. these problems will still be present 3 years later.

par for the couse really..

edit: oh yeah, and the HDD kit will remain in it's boxed unused for about 4 years until sony decide to drop support from the new model and everyone just chucks them in the bin!

 

[Falch]

The Blu-ray format isn't backwards compatible. Blu-ray players might be. BRD is using a different laser from CD and DVD.

Ah yes ofcourse. But I assume correctly if I say that most likely Blu-ray players will support cd/dvd, right? I mean, can we expect consumer Blu-ray players to have that ability?

 

[Gek54]

You work for codemasters!

 

[border]

DVD uses a different sort of laser than CD (same color I think, different wavelength), but that didn't stop the PS2 from reading CDs.

 

[cybamerc]

I mean, can we expect consumer Blu-ray players to have that ability?

Yes.

 

[ninge]

Not codemasters but good to see it's not only us

 

[doncale]

I'm not likely to trust any report that claims the PS3 won't support DVD-video out-of-the-box. That would be truly ridiculous, given that both Sony and MS aspire to have their machines become some kind of media hub. DVD and BluRay are both important cornerstones in this plan.

For God's sake, people, the article was written in 1999 and is speculation on whether or not the PS2 would play DVD movies.

hehe :lol

 

[Vennt]

I predict that narrow minded anti-Sony zealots will use each and every possible piece of negative rumors/news regarding PS3 devkits as "ammunition" in their tired "Sony is doomed" campaign, regardless or not whether they even understand WTH they are talking about.

I predict that narrow minded pro-Sony zealots will hype any rumors / news regardless of probably knowing about as much as those in the catagory above, and shall respond to the aboves negative attacks in equally lunatic spasms of insult flinging.

I predict that the smart will laugh and throw insults at both camps whilst eagerly awaiting, and playing games from many companies

You know I'm right...

 

[TTP]

:lol :lol :lol this thread is going out of control

 

[deadhorse32]

I predict some dev will bitch and some won't.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Falch:

> Doesn't Blu-ray automatically read cd/dvd music/games/movies anyway?

No.

The specs for Blu-Ray ROM MANDATE backward-compatibility and Sony already finished the dvelopment for their monolothic laser opetical pick-up system with support for Blu-Ray discs, DVDs and CDs.