Turok devs blame delay on PS3 version

by Scott Jon Siegel on Feb 10th 2008 2:30PM

The new Turok title was originally scheduled for release in November of last year, but only came out this past week. The reason for the four-month delay? According to developer Propaganda Games, it's the PS3's fault.

Josh Holmes, VP and studio manager at Propaganda, tells Canada.com that lead development of Turok took place on the Xbox 360, due to the console's easy compatibility with the Unreal Engine 3. Though the Xbox 360 version was finished on schedule, the PS3 version took a bit more finagling to get it "up to the standard of the 360 version."

X3F points out that Propaganda's difficulties stem somewhat from the sub-par PS3 port of Unreal Engine 3, which also led to Silicon Knights' lawsuit against Epic.

[Via X3F]

Source

Tags: propaganda, propaganda-games, PS3, turok, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (98)

I don't see how Turok has "mediocre" gameplay.

You guys are overly critical about games. Why can't a company make a fun, simple shooter any more? They get condemned for it. You don't need to have a fantastic storyline or even graphics that make real life look like 2D, all it has to be is fun, and Turok does it.

BUT, I'm sure you guys all consider Halo 3 to be the pinnacle of great games, amirite?

well Zeus.:God, one look at my avatar will tell you how i feel about Halo. i respect it, but i personally dont see anything special about it. now i admit, i only played the Turok demo, but i absolutely hated it and it was not fun to me at all. it is possible they just picked a bad level for the demo though but plenty of review sites gave it mediocre scores as well. i do realize that there are plenty of gems that get bad ratings but i just didnt think of Turok as one of those when i played what i played of it.

Maybe developers should stop using UE3... I'm tired of all these games looking almost indentical. It's always the same kinds of textures and dark brown/green colors.

Yup. I'm all for some "realistic" games, but I much, MUCH prefer games that have their own style.

Yea. It's always more enjoyable to see games with more color and its own unique visual style. Mass Effect, Uncharted, BioShock, and Ratchet and Clank are all games that use color very well. Unreal Games all look the same overall, just different people, guns, etc.

That's the problem, more realism is leading to the convergance of many art styles

It was bound to happen, of course. It's not a bad thing (necessarily), its just another casualty of progress (like console 2D gaming, which is on the rebound on PSN/WiiWare/XBLA)

Although I agree with you partly, I have to bring up that BioShock and Mass Effect are both Unreal Engine games. So it is possible to be creative with it, it's just that most Unreal Engine games...aren't.

An engine is not graphics. These are artistic directions and choices being made. Unreal Engine 3 could easily make Jet Set Radio 3 if developers want to...

Moffka: The delicious irony in your complaint, and subsequent endorsement of the use of colour etc. in a game like Mass Effect, is that Mass Effect uses the Unreal Engine 3 too.

- Scott

I think that's mainly the case of American art direction vs. Japanese art direction. When I got a PS2 at the end of its life after only having an xbox, I was reminded how different the two can be.

You DO know that Mass Effect and Bioshock are Unreal Engine 3 games, right?

A game's engine is given far too much credit for its art direction. Your example demonstrates that games with the same engine can still have wildly differing visual styles.

Ugh, end-of-page comments really don't work well on Joystiq. Sorry for the redundant info and double-post.

Hey it took four months to get the game up to crap? Thanks so much for that devs, seriously.

the PS3 version took a bit more finagling to get it "up to the standard of the 360 version."

Finagling!

I took them six years to get the best out of PS2 (God of War anyone?) so for the love of God, don't give me this bullshit about "Coders having to unleash PS3's true power/potential".

And the 360's versions standards weren't very high. I just played the demo, and what a waste of time that was.

I couldn't agree with you more.

Slow and dark plodding where enemies jump out at you and you have these weak ass guns that just let your enemies get close to you and maul you. Not too mention the fact that I kept falling off the ledge in the cave and the stupid f'ing dinosaurs kept on spawning and jumping me. Sh*t, I thought the infinite respawn of enemies went out with the 16-bit consoles. Jeeze, add some sort of realism to the game. i know you put in dinosaurs and it isn't a "realistic" game, but basic game play mechanics and "common sense" reality need to be in there somewhere.

I can't wait for the ZP review on this one!

the issue isnt that its a bad game, its mediocre at best which isnt necessarily a bad thing. the issue is that this is another example where the developer is complaining about the ps3's programming. i believe capcom is having similar issues with Lost Planet, and the fact that you have to install 5 gigs on your HDD to play DMC4 on ps3

Lets just all try and forget about and never mention this horrible game again? please?

"Theres definitely a problem with the PS3."

Sure Fernando's sure, a crap developer is going to put out crap no matter how long it takes.

Does Insomniac have a "problem" with the PS3?
Does Polyphony?
Does Naughty Dog?
Perhaps Incognito?
Maybe Evolution Studios?
Sqeenix?
Guerrilla?
Team Ico?
Epic?
Team Ninja?

No matter how much you dress up a piece of shit, it will still look, smell, and BE a piece of shit.

I could lay the usual BLAME on Sony but having played the 360 demo I really can't. They could have used the extra time to make the 360 version better then. The demo feels like I'll bet Gear of War felt like when it was 3 days into development! We should be thanking Sony for delaying this game. Imagine how bad it would be had it come out on time!

It's funny how people with GOOD games like Naughty Dog have no problems with the PS3's hardware.

Well it is well known that the Unreal3 engine didn't have a good PS3 port until they finished Unreal Tournament 3 (with development help from Sony). So games who started development before UT3 would have gotten a Unreal engine which didn't work very well on the PS3.

Games who start their development now however should get the same engine version Epic used for UT3 and thus the games we see appearing using the Unreal engine starting as early as this summer should not have the teething issues of the Unreal engine games we seen so far.

Only you can prevent game delays, so don't buy a PS3
/endjoke

On more serious note devs don't blame the console/gamers/reviewers/anything else when YOU made the crap game.

We need just one console so we can argue about games instead of hardware.

Crap, someone is going to scream "PC", I just know it.

PC!!!

Well, this is the first time I've heard this. No wonder I'm seeing all this anger from so many fair, clear-headed thinkers. I mean, nobody's EVER said the PS3 is harder to code for. Obviously, they just hate Sony.

"The developers are saying that they are not going to downgrade the 360 just to make both versio equally... so they are struggling to make the PS3 version looks closer to the 360 version."
Actually, I believe the quote was that they wouldn't HAVE to gimp the 360 version, which basically states the exact opposite of what you twisted it into. Considering they wouldn't have to downgrade it, that suggests the PS3 has to be at least as powerful, if not moreso to run the game exactly the same as the 360 without any quality loss on the 360 version.

well, I blame the devs for the game sucking

I love how they're trying to distract us from how crappy this game turned out by quickly diverting our attention to the oh-so-easy failsafe topic that is PS3 UE3 problems.

When publishers/developers release their titles and it's not doing well!!! Blame the scape goat PS3. I've heard all this before.

We all know Turok is not doing so good. Blaming the PS3 will not increase your sales people! LOL

You guys are overly critical about games. Why can't a company make a fun, simple shooter any more? They get condemned for it. You don't need to have a fantastic storyline or even graphics that make real life look like 2D, all it has to be is fun, and Turok does it.

BUT, I'm sure you guys all consider Halo 3 to be the pinnacle of great games, amirite?

"You guys are overly critical about games."
I can get behind this...

"Why can't a company make a fun, simple shooter any more?"
Okay, this sounds reasonable. UT3, Warhawk, and even Timesplitters have all be fun, simple shooters.

"They get condemned for it."
But they didn't make a fun, simple shooter... they made shit. They get condemned for making shit.

"You don't need to have a fantastic storyline or even graphics that make real life look like 2D, all it has to be is fun, and Turok does it."
If the problem with the game was just graphics, it wouldn't be a problem. But it's not. Weapons are generic (in a Turok game... the fuck?!?), Knife is over powered whereas guns are underpowered, the thril of an occasional dinosaur is lost as they become far too common, story is shit... period... shit.

Look, as a guy currently working through Killzone (talk about developing a game beyond a systems abilities... PS3 BC helps this title a lot...), I find I'm pretty forgiving. But the demo was horrible
and did nothing to tell me these developers actually KNEW what they were doing.

It's the same story over and over and over again. Now I know the fanboys will defend at all costs but do you REALLY think that there's an industry wide conspiracy to bash the PS3 afoot here? They don't say this shit to knock Sony down a peg or 2, they say it because it's true. Sooner or later, Devs are going to decide that simultaneous releases are not worth it and you'll find the PS MONTHS behind the curve when it comes to games. If GTA IV had been shipped for the 360 when it was done, almost 4 months ago, Sony would be in BIG trouble today. I don't think anyone with any common sense can deny that. If the trend continues I can see that helpful edge being lost.

See my comment above. Your assumption is false. Your conclusion that they'll just stop caring about the PS3 version is also foolish at best given that it appears now that PS3 will beat out the 360 in two of the three major markets.

80 comments?

Don't wry about it guys, they're obvioudly upset about the sale of Turok (idk wut they r but the game is BAD) and decided to go the obvious route of blaming ps3. Lots of ppl did it in 2006. Maybe they're trying to bring it back.

Problem: Game sucks
Solution: Spin suckness away with blame at PS3
Outcome: PS3 fanboys see the spin. 360fanboys buy more lotion.

Xbox 360: 19820181082 PS3: -90001

wow, it's UNDER 9000!

Wow, look that all the idiots bashing an 8+ hour game based on a demo. Here's an idea, actually play the game and then you can bash it. Or you can go back to being sheep.

Surprising so many people care that the PS3 version of a crappy game is slightly crappier... You wasted you money either way.

The Xbox uses a system that is familiar to developers, similar to a normal PC game. The PS3 uses a proprietary architecture. Why are people still shocked / outraged that it takes longer to develop for the PS3?

BREAKING: Mediocre dev whines about something!

Waaah. They should have made the PS3 the leading platform. I hear its relatively easy to port a game to the 360 and make it up to par. It's their own damn fault for being...what's the word...oh yeah, stupid.

there's no need for us to play the demo, you can just read the reviews about how mediocre/bad it was.

and for the people that have played the demo: of course they can make fun of an 8 hour game from the impressions of the demo, thats what a demo is supposed to do. a demo is supposed to make you want to buy the full game, so if you didnt like the demo then most likely youre not gonna like the full game.

so please stop calling people idiots, cause the only idiot i see is you

damn reply system! that was meant for Juan.
who said:

"Wow, look that all the idiots bashing an 8+ hour game based on a demo. Here's an idea, actually play the game and then you can bash it. Or you can go back to being sheep. "

Previous 50 Comments

Turok devs blame delay on PS3 version

Reader Comments (98)

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 8:46PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:45PM SoCoolCurt said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 2:49PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 2:51PM jorojoserojas said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 2:55PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:26PM Mr Khan said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:27PM Rollins said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:29PM SheppyReturns said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:03PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 6:35PM Dr Stabbingworth said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:40PM FraGNeM said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:40PM FraGNeM said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:43PM FraGNeM said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 2:51PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 2:52PM Batzarro The worlds WOrst Detect said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:14PM Jakey777 said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:05PM Mal F4cti0n said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 1:27PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 3:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:03PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:41PM horngreen said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:32PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:32PM Uraeus said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:36PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:40PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 4:41PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 5:06PM xGearSecondx said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 5:06PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 5:33PM Goity said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 7:16PM letherclad said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 7:40PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 17th 2008 12:16AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 8:46PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 9:08PM SheppyReturns said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 3:18AM spin cycle said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 12:13AM xThePunisherx said

Posted: Feb 10th 2008 11:55PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 12:55AM Fox318 said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 2:26AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 2:24AM TUROK1134 said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 2:25AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 10:59AM FredFredrickson said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 11:55AM Tez said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 12:55PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 1:42PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 11th 2008 1:44PM (Unverified) said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

WB conjures up Harry Potter for Kinect this fall

Featured Stories

Silver Lining: I Am Alive's unfeeling world

Game Of Thrones and the paradoxes of adaptation

Super Joystiq Podcast 004: 38 Studios meltdown, Gravity Rush, Civilization 5: Gods & Kings, Dragon's Dogma

Engadget

TUAW

Massively

WoW