Oblivion: Downgraded for PS3, not happening on Wii [update 1]

Well, the 360 load times are much improved now that I have a new model Xbox 360 with the super-quiet, faster Benq DVD drive.

And no, PS3 fanboys, I'm not at all interested in Virtua Fighter 5. I'll have Crackdown, Dead Rising, and WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW to keep me busy for now, and lots of other exclusives after those. What's that? You didn't get any of these? Oh, too bad. They all rock.

But hey, if you want to play the fifth incarnation of a lame fighting game on a console that nobody wants, that's your business.

To each their own. . . As long as you understand that your choice sucks.

#98
"But hey, if you want to play the fifth incarnation of a lame fighting game on a console that nobody wants, that's your business.

To each their own. . . As long as you understand that your choice sucks."

Hell yeah! Tell those Xbots and their precious DOA5 who's boss!

Not enough memory? 256MB of CPU memory and 256MB of graphics memory isn't enough?

"640K ought to be enough."

When Nintendo releases Wii 3, they should be able to port Oblivion then.

They really SHOULD put it on the Wii.. sword and weapon combat would rock on the Wii.. though they'd probably have to retool it a bit and make it more like Morrowind. (different moves, etc..)

Could even go with drawing shapes to cast spells.. twisting the remote to pick locks, etc..

I'd imagine they could cut down the visuals a lot on a SD tv and it'd still look pretty good. (especially if they can do a PSP version.. Wii instal base must overtake PSP pretty soon..)

Only problem I have is that by the time it'd be released I'd already have played it on another system.. as would most people.

But a game like that would rock on the Wii.
(maybe they should release an updated morrowind. Base it off the xbox version, but include a lot of the Oblivion improvements.. )

Did anyone actually read this stuff, or just go on Joystiq and 1UP's word? Note keywords like "at launch" and "still undefined." It just means that all the content won't be immediately available. This isn't "it's been downgraded for PS3, end of story." That's like claiming VF5 won't release for Xbox 360, while casually ignoring that its release date is simply later than the PS3 version.

From the Shacknews interview:
Pete Hines: The caveat is that on PS3, the downloadable content plans are still undefined. We're not sure yet how many we're going to offer, which ones we're going to offer.

Shack: So there will be no downloadable PS3 content at launch?

Pete Hines: I don't think so, no. Any one of those we could probably release [for PS3] and be okay, but we have to make sure everything's going to work together with memory requirements and other factors and so forth. It's just going to take us a little while to figure out.

@99

I hate DOA too. Fighting games have sucked for the past 10 years.

But you keep trying to find a chink in the Xbox armor. Maybe PS3 will get the exclusive on My Little Pony.

The ign article said that not only are there many PS3 specific optimizations that will never make it to the PC and 360, that technical limitations have NOTHING to do with the downloadable content being missing from the start.
"Other websites have reported that the justification behind the missing missions and features was due to technical limitations of the console. According to Hines, nothing could be farther from the truth."

The ign article LINKED ON THIS ENTRY states clearly that it's not a technical limitation, and that the PS3 version has optimizations not available ever on any other platform.

This should be the end of the discussion.

@108

Seems the only logical and true comment in this entire entry... officially seconded!
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Who cares, anyways? If PS3 owners want to pay for a dumbed-down port of an AMAZING game, let them. They'll still be getting an amazing game, and by the time they get to the point where the best Downloadable Content would be of any real use to them, it will likely be available... but will eventually be available regardless. For the year I've been playing it on 360, all I can say is enjoy the best True-RPG ever created... and shame on you for not adopting the 360 (not that the PS3 is terrible... it's just, one-year-later)

What is joystiq smoking? Click on the ign link provided in the article and read it for yourself.

"Rumors were rampant about the reasons behind the lack of downloadable content. Other websites have reported that the justification behind the missing missions and features was due to technical limitations of the console. According to Hines, nothing could be farther from the truth. There were two specific reasons behind why items like the Orrery and Mehrunes's Razor will not be included within the PS3 version of the game. First of all, there was a concern about the balancing of the game and initially giving players access to a thieves den or a wizard's tower immediately at the start of the game. "There was no good way to incorporate these features into the game as soon as it started because it didn't make sense," Hines said. While he didn't rule out the possibility of some of these side quests or features making it into the game, it wouldn't necessarily be as soon as the game hit store shelves."

@105

ooh... i never actually read the shacknews interview with pete hines.

just to clear up something about the 1up comments. he didn't actually say that no content would make it to PS3. what he said was bethesda had problems with loading *ALL* the content on the PS3. not at any point did he say there wasn't going to be any content, just that due to technical limitations they were finding it hard to add them all. he also stated that one way to solve the problem would be to release only certain add-ons, maybe the ones that bethesda feel are the best.

from the shacknews interview:

"Pete Hines: I don't think so, no. Any one of those we could probably release [for PS3] and be okay, but we have to make sure everything's going to work together with memory requirements and other factors and so forth. It's just going to take us a little while to figure out."

it's totally consistant with what 1up were saying. pete hines says that any *ONE* of them could work, but they have to make sure *EVERYTHING* will work together with *MEMORY* requirements.

i find this quite revealing actually. i personally think what was said in the IGN article is just damage limitation. it doesn't make PR sense to say you're releasing an inferior version.

@107

you failed to mention that the actual *SHADER* upgrade is coming to 360 and PC. that would make what 1up said accurate again. you kind of exaggerated the "exclusive" PS3 optimisations there a little, but notice he doesn't actually say what these "exclusive" PS3 optimisations are? it probably isn't anything special in the visual department. ;)

ive just listened to the 1up podcast. they actually talk about the original IGN article. he basically says that they were talking rubbish.. lol the only tangible difference in the game's visuals is the distant textures which of course the 360 is going to get.

oh, and he also states that the reason the PS3 has faster loading times is because they made duplicate copies of the game on the blu-ray disk which somehow speeds up the access time. so that's your "exclusive" PS3 optimisations right there. ;)

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3149993

Here is some information I copied and pasted from another website:

Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion

Let’s remember a few things, particularly #10, which is crucially important.

(1) The Xbox 360 version of Oblivion has been available for ONE FULL YEAR, ahead of the Playstation 3 version.

(2) The Xbox 360 version of Oblivion was made during the Launch Era, where the developers were forced to use Pre-Alpha Development Kits for their games. Xbox 360 hardware has three 3.2Ghz CPUs, each with two threads. But the Pre-Alpha Development Kits only gave developers access to one CPU, and only one of the two threads on that CPU.

(3) The Final Version of the Xbox 360 Development Kit that gave developers access to 100% of the available General Purpose CPU power was not finished until the summer of 2006

(4) The Final Version of the Playstation 3 Development Kit that gave developers access to 100% of the available General Purpose CPU power was also finished in the summer of 2006.

(5) The Playstation 3 version of Oblivion was made during the “DELAYED” Launch Era, for the Playstation 3!!! The Playstation 3 was supposed to be released in the spring of 2006, but it wasn’t released until November of 2006!

(6) This means that launch games for the Playstation 3 had SIX FULL MONTHS of access time to the Final Version of the Development Kit that gave access to 100% of the PS3 General Purpose CPU power.

(7) Oblivion on the Playstation 3 was originally scheduled for the systems launch, but it will actually not make it until months later! This means that the developers have had nearly a year to work with the Final Version of the PS3 Development Kit!!! That is an advantage the developers didn’t have with the Xbox 360 version, so it is obviously not a fair way to compare games if you want to do a hardware comparison.

(8) When you look at the two different versions of the game, they look nearly identical. The Playstation 3 version is actually just a “port” of the PC and Xbox 360 versions, because the Playstation 3 is certainly not the primarily development platform at Bethesda software.

(9) Since the initial release of Oblivion, an expansion called The Knights of the Nine has been released for the PC and the Xbox 360. This is something that can also be played on the Playstation 3 when it is released later in 2007.

(10) HOWEVER, there is also an expansion called Shivering Isles that is only being released for the Xbox 360 and the PC!!! The Shivering Isles expansion is something that is not scheduled to be available for the Playstation 3 version of Oblivion!!!

When you consider that the Xbox 360 and the PC have access to BOTH Knights of the Nine, as well as Shivering Isles, while the Playstation 3 version of the game will not have access to Oblivion: Shivering Isles, then there is NO DOUBT that the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game are superior. That much is very obvious!

It looks like the reason why the Playstation 3 will not receive the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion is because of the memory limitations of the Playstation 3. The developers also talk about this when they are referring to how the Playstation 3 will not be getting the downloadable expansions such as Horse Armor, which were available on the Xbox 360.

This is yet another example of how the difficult development environment of the Playstation 3 causes games to be released much later, but it offers fewer fundamental features!

Here is something else I copied and pasted:

When games are released on both systems, and the hard-drives are not used to help with load times, the Xbox 360 always has a 45% load-time performance advantage over the Playstation 3, simply because of the fact that the Data Transfer Rate of the 12x DVD-ROM used in the Xbox 360 is faster than the 2x Blu-ray found in the Playstation 3, with only a 9MB per second Data Transfer Rate.

The only way that the load times of the PS3 can be improved is by having the hard-drive assist in the loading process so that data is sent to the hard-drive while the game is being played. This helps with the load times, but it takes away from performance in other areas. This is the reason why there are only a handful of PS3 games that use the hard drive for load time help...plus, it makes programming the game more difficult.

It looks like the reason why the Playstation 3 will not receive the Shivering Isles expansion for Oblivion is because of the memory limitations of the Playstation 3. The developers also talk about this when they are referring to how the Playstation 3 will not be getting the downloadable expansions such as Horse Armor, which were available on the Xbox 360.

I have played both the PS3 version and the 360 version, and it is very clear that as of RIGHT NOW the PS3 version is SUPERIOR!

Loading times in elder scrolls is a very important factor. PS3 and computer loading times blow the 360 version out of the water, period. Besides that, you have a much better, lighter, battery-less controller to enjoy the game with on PS3. You cant beat that with stick :) (or a 50lb 360 controller).

I am positive that downloadable content will be added at a later if not sooner date. But even if it is not, I would rather have the base game on PS3 that takes only 3-10 seconds to load from one room zone or field zone to the next instead of the 360 version that takes 7-20. No offense to the 360 fans.

WOW, i really think that what ever harcore Halo fanboy wrote this should really rely on facts instead of their own bias opinion of how they say the 360 is better than the PS3.

"I hate DOA too. Fighting games have sucked for the past 10 years.

But you keep trying to find a chink in the Xbox armor. Maybe PS3 will get the exclusive on My Little Pony."

Ever heard of Metal Gear Solid 4? Heavenly Sword? Lair? God of War 3? Final Fantasy 13 VS? Cipher Complex? Resistance? Omikron 2? Zone of the Enders 3? I guess not. Not to say that Gears of War isn't good, but as was shown in the past, unless you like sports games, or hands the size of Paul Bunyan, you may want a PS3 more. And don't come with that crap of sequels, microsoft is in the same boat, even Nintendo!