Red Alert 3 skipping PS3 due to 'exotic and tough' development

Starting off with an insult is a great way to make a point. Then to follow it up with complaining... are you from the RA3 dev team?

No, just someone with history with multi-core programming.

*shudder*

Right.. so because you have trouble programming for multiple cores, that must mean that it's just downright impossible for anyone else to do so. I smell bullshit, because for every game company that complains about the PS3 being "too difficult to program for" (which really means "we hired a bunch of know nothing college interns who only know how to program directx"), there are many others pumping out great titles that look fantastic.

Konami seems to do just fine with 7 cores.

He never said it was impossible, just harder. Sheesh learn how to understand what you read.

And it's true, it IS harder to program for multiple cores. It takes more time because the smaller cores can only handle a few tasks at a time. You have to parse out the workload so to speak.

Plus, the more experienced programmers are in greater supply for non-multicore work. It's just that it's still pretty new, and not everyone can take time to learn the new architecture. It doesnt mean the PS3 suxors, only that it costs more to develop for because it's that different from other systems.

So A) multicore programming takes more time and so costs more money (check how much Konami spent on dev) and B) most programers have to learn the PS3's dev tools, so that's more time and effort not everyone is willing to pay for.

I love the PS3, and do see it's potential, but it takes time to learn to use that potential and some devs don't feel they have that time. It's not a knock against the system really.

@Tim The Enchanter:

Yeah, I got what he said. I was just being sarcastic. I also write code (although not multicore), and I do understand it is more difficult. However, I just don't buy EA's excuse. They are a huge company with vast resources. Why is it the smaller studios have no problem whatsoever (Insomniac, Naughty Dog, etc) with the PS3, but for some reason a huge company like EA cannot seem to hire anyone with enough talent to make things work. The Dead Space team @ EA isn't complaining. What they really should have said is "our programming team is using an outdated engine" or "our programmers aren't talented enough". Don't blame the platform when there are numerous other studios with much smaller budgets making much better games.

@Aaron: But this is Red Alert 3, not "brand new PS3 IP based on all-new technologies". The point of the successful franchise that you've built up and promoted and developed a big fanbase for is that from a business perspective, it lets you milk your existing talent, tools, and codebase for the spinoff/sequel.

So, when the Executive developers went to the board to get approval for RA3, they didn't pitch a brand new IP, they pitched a sequel. They got a sequel's budget, with the expectation that some technologies and talent would be recycled.

EA is huge, but they don't re-invent the wheel for each game in a series, and they shouldn't have to.

These small developers are starting fresh, with a longer development time, new tools and engines, much larger risk. It's a completely different environment, business strategy, cost structure, etc. etc.

Dead Space = new development, new research, new IP budget, HUGE risk.

RA3 = known development environment, recycled tools, quick development cycle, contained risk.

@ Aaron, I was replying to Autopsy, I knew you were being sarcastic.

And you miss my point. Just because a company has the resources doesnt mean they'll sink them in each project. This was likely considered not worth the effort to them.

The point I was making was that though it's possible, they watch the bottom dollar more than what they're capable of.

PS3 has mouse and keyboard support, so if Red Alert 3 had come out onto PS3, it coulda been just like the PC version. *sigh*

Actually:

Translation: Our Devry University interns can only program Windows APIs and DirectX. Therefore we can only support Xbox 360.

The PS3 does support a keyboard/mouse, however I do believe that keyboard/mouse support also has to be built into the game for it to work. I guess most developers assume there won't be enough people using keyboard/mouse to warrant the time/money investment to make it happen.