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PS4 architect knew in 2007 that 'clearly we had some issues with PlayStation 3'

Draft

Member
Turns out all along Krazy Ken should have been building gaming PCs with lots of RAM. That's probably why they fired him.
 

DaBoss

Member
Of course it was. When you see what their 1st party studios did on PS3 and then see most of the third party ports you can tell they just didn't want to put the work in to learn the system when 360 was basically a PC.

Now Sony's not giving them that excuse.

Or maybe the PS3 had an archaic hardware structure compared to the 360, and now they remedied that. 1st party studios SHOULD be able to have the best output compared to 3rd parties.
 

Alx

Member
Of course it was. When you see what their 1st party studios did on PS3 and then see most of the third party ports you can tell they just didn't want to put the work in to learn the system when 360 was basically a PC.

Additional work is additional cost. Why would they want to go over-budget just to do things that should be easier to do ? That's not laziness, it's just business.
First party studios had to spend time and money to improve their efficiency and shared that knowledge with other developers because it was in Sony's interest. Is it so hard to accept that the hardware was at fault, when the new hardware designer of Sony himself has been admitting it for weeks now ?
 
While I'm not all too excited for PS4, I have to say that from my perspetcive hardware-wise the PSV is the best designed Sony console ever, so having the guy responsible for that design the hardware for PS4 seems to be a good idea. The only three things (despite the memory card fraud which obviously was an intentional financial decision) I do not like are the choice of touchscreen technology (I prefer stylus based touch-gaming), the useless back-touchscreen and (although thanks to the form facor it isn't as bad as it is for the home consoles) the positioning of the left stick. Not being able to start the game in the slot right away sadly is expected nowadays anyway. Other than that the system feels great, produces great graphics on a bright and crisp screen and seems really well put together.

Now if only they had some creative person (with a bit of knowledge in ergonomics) let design a new controller for it :/.

What do you mean by the bolded? I agree though, the Vita is just fantastic hardware IMO. Hopefully the PS4 will do better sales wise.
 

Oppo

Member
Of course it was. When you see what their 1st party studios did on PS3 and then see most of the third party ports you can tell they just didn't want to put the work in to learn the system when 360 was basically a PC.

Now Sony's not giving them that excuse.

I don't think that's really fair.

Sony exclusive devs had the luxury of not needing to test across platforms, and probably some extra rope they could use (budget/time) due to being exclusive. Can't expect every single dev big and small to jump backflips just to eek out that extra bit of SPE time or whatever.

Also the 360 used "PC" libraries but it was a G4 Mac more than anything else. 3 cores was always weird.
 

Acheteedo

Member
I really hope this approach pays off. What Sony are doing now is good for gamers and game developers. If the PS4 fails then no console manufacturer will put developers and gamers first ever again.

I've got my fingers crossed for you, Cerny.
 

UrbanRats

Member
It is ok. You can enter the circle. I wont bite.

Probably will not end up purchasing a PS4 (PC and all that.. plus lack of funds)... but Sony did hit the jackpot with this guy.

To be fair the dude does some amazing reaction faces:

iiFximKzGUhOz.JPG
iboTdJe7XJHjOt.JPG
iOR7ZB0EdjMuP.JPG
ibowISq06bIv3i.JPG
ibblu6DQ4rxAe1.JPG
ibk3O5NrTyV0ch.JPG
 
I really hope this approach pays off.What Sony are doing now is good for gamers and game developers. If the PS4 fails then no console manufacturer will put developers and gamers first ever again.

I've got my fingers crossed for you, Cerny.

I'll be doing my part. (Letting my wallet do the talking)
 
I find it amazing that the same guy responsible for this...

118124213742.png


seeing those graphics compared to the Pacman and Galaxian cabinets all around it, blew me away as a kid.

and is now coming back 28yrs later to blow me away with the PS4.
 

danwarb

Member
Of course it was. When you see what their 1st party studios did on PS3 and then see most of the third party ports you can tell they just didn't want to put the work in to learn the system when 360 was basically a PC.

Now Sony's not giving them that excuse.

No. It took Sony's studios a good while and loads of money to get the most out of that system. It just wasn't nearly as well suited for game development at the time as the Xbox 360 was. Power in all the wrong places and awkward as hell. Their mistake was expecting studios to spend more money and time, make big changes just to reach parity with other platforms.
I think if it wasn't for 360 pushing them on, a lot of games might've performed even worse than they did in the eary days.

PS4 is miles better.
 

Poona

Member
Has there been any negative news on the PS4?

Yes.

No Backwards Compatibility. Changed my purchase from 'definite' to a 'might get it in a year or few depending on what it offers'.

Then there's also that thing about supposedly not allowing the playing of CDs. Not sure if that was ever cleared up, but it seemed terribly strange to leave out.
 

kuroshiki

Member
Yes.

No Backwards Compatibility. Changed my purchase from 'definite' to a 'might get it in a year or few depending on what it offers'.

Then there's also that thing about supposedly not allowing the playing of CDs. Not sure if that was ever cleared up, but it seemed terribly strange to leave out.

I swear that I never, ever played CD on my console after PS2. EVER.

I'm also sure that majority of people don't give a jackshit about CD playback. Seriously, this day of age?
 

i-Lo

Member
To be fair the dude does some amazing reaction faces:

iiFximKzGUhOz.JPG
iboTdJe7XJHjOt.JPG
iOR7ZB0EdjMuP.JPG
ibowISq06bIv3i.JPG
ibblu6DQ4rxAe1.JPG
ibk3O5NrTyV0ch.JPG

If it weren't for his emotions, I'd call him a Vulcan but he is more like a down to earth Romulan.

I love the way he speaks and hope that he makes a return at E3 instead of regular corporate suits whose presentations lack life and are verbose.
 

Tobor

Member
Yes.

No Backwards Compatibility. Changed my purchase from 'definite' to a 'might get it in a year or few depending on what it offers'.

Then there's also that thing about supposedly not allowing the playing of CDs. Not sure if that was ever cleared up, but it seemed terribly strange to leave out.

If that's all Sony is in fantastic shape.
 

IrishNinja

Member
agreed with all the Cerny-love, really hope to see him more at E3 as well

I swear that I never, ever played CD on my console after PS2. EVER.

I'm also sure that majority of people don't give a jackshit about CD playback. Seriously, this day of age?

PS1 games is the only bit i'll notice

If that's all Sony is in fantastic shape.

sure, ditching all prior purchases from PSN is an excellent way to lock people into your ecosystem
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
I swear that I never, ever played CD on my console after PS2. EVER.

I'm also sure that majority of people don't give a jackshit about CD playback. Seriously, this day of age?

My friend had a console where the games were on casette tapes. Neither of us were upset that future consoles abandonned the ability to play audio casettes.
 

Frumix

Suffering From Success
No Backwards Compatibility. Changed my purchase from 'definite' to a 'might get it in a year or few depending on what it offers'.
This is more of a PS3's failure than PS4's.
 

PaulLFC

Member
Honestly, to date the only major negative I can think of is the lack of BC. If that's the worst news we hear about the PS4, Sony should be in great shape.
They still have to reveal clearly how used games will be handled, but so far I've been very, very impressed by what I've heard of PS4.
 
Honestly, to date the only major negative I can think of is the lack of BC. If that's the worst news we hear about the PS4, Sony should be in great shape.

I think Sony purposefully got that bad news out of the way early (through a low-key interview immeditely following the PS4 reveal, and obviously not spoken of at the event). If it was revealed near or found out post-launch, the outcry would be huge. Now they can just kind of sweep it under the rug, because it's "old news".

Still a really terrible thing that huge PSN library built up since 2006 is going to be a thing of the past soon, titles totally forgotten soon after. Would have served as decent income for Sony early in the console's life and of course beyond. But if it's sacrificed in the sake of cutting edge console hardware and paving a way for higher quality 3rd party titles to be standard, then it's not as much of a large blow.

However, I'm sure Microsoft will have all their digital titles playable next gen. The only worry is that their rumored weaker hardware will gimp the 3rd party offerings potential across all platforms, if Xbox is the monopoly again. All hopes are on MS to announce their console with specs opposite of the rumors, rivaling or surpassing PS4 overall.
 

Alx

Member
I really hope this approach pays off. What Sony are doing now is good for gamers and game developers. If the PS4 fails then no console manufacturer will put developers and gamers first ever again.

I doubt anybody would blame focus on developers on an hypothetical failure. Raising efficiency and lowering budgets is a good thing however you consider it. When the dreamcast failed, nobody blamed it on the fact that it was (relatively) developer-friendly.

Focus on gamers is another story though. Hardware is about measurable performance, target audience is about strategy. If Sony has a "games only" strategy and fails, that strategy would certainly be blamed and never tried again. But I don't think they'll have such a strategy anyway, precisely because it would probably fail. They can't ignore the fact that their audience expects more than games from their consoles.
 

IrishNinja

Member
What should they have done then? Stick with the Cell or having a console with both a x86 and Cell processor for $599+?

my reply was an answer to the "fantastic shape" bit; as i wasn't tasked with the decision to use the cell, i'm likewise not in charge of fixing that problem. however, pretending it's not a problem because it doesn't personally bother you is every bit a non-answer.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Of course it was. When you see what their 1st party studios did on PS3 and then see most of the third party ports you can tell they just didn't want to put the work in to learn the system when 360 was basically a PC.

Now Sony's not giving them that excuse.

Wrong, it's not that they "didn't want to put the work in to learn the system." The problem was that it wasn't economically feasible to do so, not when 60%+ of sales came from the Xbox 360.
 

Tobor

Member
my reply was an answer to the "fantastic shape" bit; as i wasn't tasked with the decision to use the cell, i'm likewise not in charge of fixing that problem. however, pretending it's not a problem because it doesn't personally bother you is every bit a non-answer.

I'm not pretending it isn't a problem. I'm stating it won't impact the systems chances at retail.
 

Drencrom

Member
my reply was an answer to the "fantastic shape" bit; as i wasn't tasked with the decision to use the cell, i'm likewise not in charge of fixing that problem. however, pretending it's not a problem because it doesn't personally bother you is every bit a non-answer.

I never said or implied it's not a problem and that I'm not personally affected by it, I just wanted to say that BC wasn't a realistic expectation because of the Cell architecture.

But yeah, it's sucks. But i'm glad they ditched the monstrosity that is the Cell and moved on.

Shouldn't it be Krazy Ken to Censible Cerny?

Hahahah
 
What should they have done then? Stick with the Cell or having a console with both a x86 and Cell processor for $599+?

I know it sounds crazy, but what about if Sony, instead of using existing architecture that's already out there, worked hard to make a "Super Cell" (no DBZ references please)? Full BC with PS3 and all of it's digital offerings (large amount of retro archive games down the drain now too) plus a high end, cutting edge console. Then we get to the idea that it would be hard to develop for like PS3. Well, that's why it's the Super Cell. It would use custom tailored, just as PS2 and PS3 architecture/chips were, to be as easy to develop for as x86. Why should we say Cell is bound to what it was in 2006?

But for fun, let's just say they didn't do that, they did what you brought up. An expensive x86 console with Cell hardware included. Really, how much more would that be running? They could easily do a "premium" SKU that has full BC (Cell, PS4+PS3) for even $200 USD more than the standard SKU (x86, PS4 software only).
 

Tobor

Member
I know it sounds crazy, but what about if Sony, instead of using existing architecture that's already out there, worked hard to make a "Super Cell" (no DBZ references please)? Full BC with PS3 and all of it's digital offerings (large amount of retro archive games down the drain now too) plus a high end, cutting edge console. Then we get to the idea that it would be hard to develop for like PS3. Well, that's why it's the Super Cell. It would use custom tailored, just as PS2 and PS3 architecture/chips were, to be as easy to develop for as x86. Why should we say Cell is bound to what it was in 2006?

Magic Unicorn processors were not an option. Cerny had to work with system architectures that exist in reality.
 
Magic Unicorn processors were not an option. Cerny had to work with system architectures that exist in reality.

Yes, they don't exist. But over the years I could imagine Sony could have made some kind of Cell hybrid or just next-gen Cell re-done/x86-esque work.

And if not, like I mentioned above, a "super premium" PS4 SKU that includes both x86 and Cell for full BC. There's no reason a SKU like that shouldn't exist Maybe it will, we'll have to wait until E3 to know... There will be a large outcry later on when it's discovered the massive digital libraries will be scrapped, and those who are outraged should at least have an option; just as PS3 had multiple SKUs at launch.
 
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