Support NeoGAF

[SolidSnakex]

Saw this over at PSINext

Explains Chesire: “We looked at the middleware solutions we could use - we had no axe to grind, frankly, and just wanted to find the technology we could have ready for th next-gen so we weren’t left catching up in ten years’ time. We looked around at the Renderwares and the Unreals, but nothing really fulfilled our requirements – specifically for the PS3, anyway.”

So what do you do when your ideal platform is PS3? The answer is to speak to Sony. And together, Codemasters and Sony have come up with another answer: Neon.

A new next-gen engine built from scratch over the past year and a half, it’s been a significant investment – and is a new tool with an unique and
interesting backstory. “Sony knew early on that it was going to be hard to get the very best out of the PS3 early on, so the Japan office commissioned a team in Europe to start devising new technology and tools,” says Cheshire.

“We really only found out about it because a guy on that team is friends with a coder at Sony, but our guys have worked very hard on building that relationship with them. What we were able to do is exploit something that Sony was developing internally, which we were the first to see – and since then we’ve worked very closely with Sony. It’s a two-way street.”

Having Sony provide the springboard for next-gen development on another platform isn't as unlikely as your may think, however

"The odd thing is that we wouldn't have wanted to use it if it wasn't cross-platform," explains Cheshire. "But Sony said that was fine. Sony realises that the only way to make next-gen viable for everyone was to allow everyone to exploit technology."

It goes on to talk about how Codemasters has had a better looking into how the PS3 works than most others 3rd party developers have had. Colin McRae DIRT will be the first game to make use of the engine. It's also going to only be released on next gen systems. So no current gen systems holding it down.

 

[g23]

sounds pretty sexy.

Does anyone know what engine motorstorm uses?

 

[SolidSnakex]

sounds pretty sexy.

Does anyone know what engine motorstorm uses?

Evolution's own engine i'm pretty sure.

 

[KyanMehwulfe]

Interesting. Codemasters has done some nice graphical work. McRae always looks nice. Their canceled MMO Dragon Empires looked insanely beautifully for its day; too bad they couldn't get the gameplay or content side of the project done.

 

[Andy787]

So Sony joins forces to make an engine.. that their competition can use? Nice job, Sony.

 

[Oldschoolgamer]

So Sony joins forces to make an engine.. that their competition can use? Nice job, Sony.

Think outside of the box...

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Sony is really heading into the new generation fully equipped. The PS2 launch 1st generation fiasco was a tough lesson learned....back then devs had pratically jack to work with when it came to tools and documents...and forget about middleware!

Now a cross platform exploitable middleware too?

 

[Speevy]

So Sony joins forces to make an engine.. that their competition can use? Nice job, Sony.

It's a great idea, and works out in Sony's favor.

 

[mr_nothin]

It's a great idea, and works out in Sony's favor.

And now MS will do it?

Spoiler

Rite Mr Moore?.....rite?

Hopefully the game looks as good as the screens

 

[SolidSnakex]

Couple more things

- DIRT is due June 2007
- It's about to hit its first playable stages
- They were actually considering taking the series into a NFS/Burnout direction (as in on road). But they felt that was more of a reaction to what was popular in the market at the time and wasn't a good direction for the series. So its back to how the series has been.
- They felt they made a mistake with the current gen Colins because instead of building a completely new engine they used one that was based somewhat on the PSone engine. And that's one of the reasons Neon was created.
- The engine is created to take advantage of huge open terrains that are suited for more than just racing games

 

[trancejeremy]

While I'm not always sure about their game design, Codemasters are really good programmers. Their Toca games for the Xbox are by far the best racing games in terms of graphics, physics and frame rate. I really wish they could have taken their Toca engine and aplied it to a game like Forza (which had great gameplay, but lousy graphics and frame rate). But I guess now, someone else can, albeit on next-gen consoles.

 

[Striek]

And now MS will do it?

XNA?

Hopefully the game looks as good as the screens

*goes and looks at screens*
Dayum, I hope so too. Doubt it.

 

[Speevy]

XNA?

Yup.

 

[mr_nothin]

XNA?


*goes and looks at screens*
Dayum, I hope so too. Doubt it.

looks like someone got caught on the hook......

 

[Speevy]

I wonder what engine Overlord is using.

 

[DCharlie]

hold on, what happened to the Collada stuff and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?

Has that all gone by the wayside?

 

[Pseudo judo]

And now MS will do it?

Carmack's doing it for them.

 

[Andy787]

What happened to the ICE engine?

*edit: stfu DC Harlie.

 

[DCharlie]

*edit: stfu DC Harlie.

ha ha -

Give me five
on the side
up above
down bel...
TOO SLOW!

 

[Striek]

looks like someone got caught on the hook......

Baiting eh? MODS!
Seriously though, GAF sometimes...grrr

hold on, what happened to the Collada stuff and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?

Whats the relation between Collada and a middleware engine?

Also, I don't think it was ever implied that the hypothetical 'ICE' engine would be anything but a Naughty Dog - Insomniac - SCEA Santa Monica property. Looking at Naughty Dogs jungle game its certainly shaping up to be something special if realised.

 

[ralexand]

Never trust Codemaster screens.

 

[SolidSnakex]

hold on, what happened to the Collada stuff and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?

Has that all gone by the wayside?

Well Naughty Dog has even acknowledged that other teams will be using their engine. But went on to say that it extends far beyond them and alot of Sony's internal studios will be sharing engines for the PS3.

 

[Shapingo]

both consoles should be able to do this......

Spoiler

in a few years anyway

 

[Moderation Unlimited]

Well think, MS has essentially done the same thing really. The Unreal3 engine was essentially a collaboration between Epic and MS and that went multiplatform.

 

[davepoobond]

Well think, MS has essentially done the same thing really. The Unreal3 engine was essentially a collaboration between Epic and MS and that went multiplatform.

sony copied again

 

[HokieJoe]

both consoles should be able to do this......

Spoiler

in a few years anyway

Sh**, I hope so. But that's an insane amount of ground detail. I've always loved Codemaster's stuff, even if some of their graphics are spartan (I'm looking at you OFP, but I love you anyway. )

 

[Grayman]

So Sony joins forces to make an engine.. that their competition can use? Nice job, Sony.

ps2 got the gimped versions of games compared to the xbox and gamecube(? never played anything multiplatform for it), with ps3 and a ps3 focused middleware the PS3 games will shine a lot more. People porting a 360 based middleware to ps3 for multiP games might make the 360 look closer to a ps3 version than vice versa

 

[SnakeXs]

Well, this is the sign of a good thing. Helping developers, namely ones that can't throw 8 billion dolars at the "problem" of next-gen developing, get a hold on the hardware. Sony should take half of it's shitty internal dev. teams and just use them for this sort of stuff.

Hopefully Sony keeps it up, though. God knows Sony's internal teams knew shit nobody else did about PS2. But it's a good jump start, that's for sure.

 

[Speevy]

got the gimped versions of games compared to the xbox and gamecube(? never played anything multiplatform for it),

Many times it was just a worse framerate and worse image quality and the XB/GCN versions were just cleaner and ran better. This time, porting from the PS3 helps everybody (that's not Nintendo).

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Well Naughty Dog has even acknowledged that other teams will be using their engine. But went on to say that it extends far beyond them and alot of Sony's internal studios will be sharing engines for the PS3.

From what (little) I know, I wouldn't say it's an engine so much as a sharing of tech resources and tools.

 

[Furret]

Has anyone got a direct link for this?

I can't see it anywhere on the PSINext site.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Apparently the engine is 80% Codemasters and 20% Sony. Hopefully with it going into its playable stages soon we'll get some screens or a trailer from DIRT.

 

[StingerNLG]

They were actually considering taking the series into a NFS/Burnout direction (as in on road).

Which would have instantly sealed it's death warrant with me. Colin McRae was always the ONLY other Rally game I put up against Rallisport Challenge. If they destroyed the meaning of the McRae games, I would never love Codemasters ever again.

 

[Luckyman]

Tangible difference confirmed? :lol

 

[Francias Castiglione]

Tangible difference confirmed? :lol

Without knowing how the 360 engine works? :lol

 

[mckmas8808]

Can't wait to see this game.

 

[Gek54]

Colin McDirt will run its physics at 1,000Hz, to put that in perspective, Forza 1 and Forza 2 run their physics at 180/360hz

 

[SolidSnakex]

Colin McDirt will run its physics at 1,000Hz, to put that in perspective, Forza 1 and Forza 2 run their physics at 180/360hz

And still the coolest thing is that the full Pikes Peak course is going to be included.

Here's hoping they support the G25.

 

[mckmas8808]

Colin McDirt will run its physics at 1,000Hz, to put that in perspective, Forza 1 and Forza 2 run their physics at 180/360hz

Yeah right.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Yeah right.

No, its true!

The sampling rate of the physics engine is 1 Mhz, IIRC......

 

[inpHilltr8r]

what happened to the Collada stuff

Collada is an interchange format, not an engine.

and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?

Since when were Codemasters part of SCE?

 

[aaaaa0]

No, its true!

The sampling rate of the physics engine is 1 Mhz, IIRC......

:lol

 

[Raistlin]

hold on, what happened to the Collada stuff and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?

Has that all gone by the wayside?

I'm sure there will be multiple middleware solutions available at different prices and with different advantages.

For example, some engines may cater to certain gameplay styles, etc.

 

[Gek54]

And still the coolest thing is that the full Pikes Peak course is going to be included.

Here's hoping they support the G25.

They will support the G25 on the PS3 and PC for sure. They wont comment on the 360 version.

 

[DCharlie]

and the oft-touted alliance between Naughty Dog + a few others to create a SCE wide middleware engine?
Since when were Codemasters part of SCE?

and there is the answer right there ! lol - thanks.

 

[MCF]

You can read the whole article about this (and where all the information came from) in Develop (http://www.developmag.com/download.php)

 

[SolidSnakex]

They will support the G25 on the PS3 and PC for sure. They wont comment on the 360 version.

Another game to add to the G25 list. Good news for everyone getting it as even though i'm buying it putting down that much more for something that isn't used much is kind of worrying. But with this and GT using it that makes the pirce fine.

 

[Shogmaster]

both consoles should be able to do this......

Spoiler

in a few years anyway

Both can do it now, except for the insanely high AA, which is about 4+ years away.

 

[element]

Well think, MS has essentially done the same thing really. The Unreal3 engine was essentially a collaboration between Epic and MS and that went multiplatform.

you sir are smoking crack if you think UE3 was a collaboration between MS and Epic. That relationship is one way, Epic telling MS what they need to do.

What happened to the ICE engine?

engine is a bad term. My understanding ICE is more of a framework that multiple studios work on. I only hear bits and pieces.