PS4 Devs: Development

Showing posts with label Development. Show all posts

Monday, January 6, 2014

PS4's "Share" to Have its Limits

As part of its reveal event in February, Sony chose to make a pretty big deal about the PS4's new sharing capability. By the push of a button on the upcoming DualShock 4, players will be able to post both clips and images to various social networks on an instantaneous basis while they play their favorite games. Thanks to that speedy X86-64 processor, all of this will indeed be possible, but there may be a few limitations to its functionality.

Thankfully however, these will not at all be related to the hardware itself. Instead it will be a matter of developer choice. For example, the game creators may not want to let you record that closing cinematic or climatic boss fight because they don't want to spoil their well-crafted story. For these kinds of reasons only, there might be times where share is disabled. True PS fans shouldn't be surprised because we see similar caveats now in place with regards to screenshots on the Vita. In sum, it will be a developer's choice to decide when and how sharing can be used.

Are you okay with these kinds of limits to content sharing? Let me know in the comments!

Source: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps4/ps4-news/ps4s-share-to-have-its-limits.html

Steve at 4:13 PM 1 comment: Read More

PS4's Price Appeal

When a new console is about to hit the market, price is always one of the very first things that comes to mind. For the majority of consumers, it doesn't exactly matter how great the graphics look if you're going to have to take out a loan and sell your first born child to afford it. If only Sony had realized this in the beginning of the PS3 era where the high $599 price tag lead to an initially slow adoption rate for the console. What about the PS4? Could Sony be in for making the same mistake twice?

If you asked Sony Worldwide Studio's VP Michael Denny, he would be inclined to say no. With their next generation system, he claims "that we listen and learn and take the judgement from every console launch we ever have and we have to be informed" about, while learning from those kinds of past errors. He says that unlike the last system which was set towards only the most hardcore sector "we have created a console absolutely focused on gamers--and we want that to be gamers in the broadest sense as well. I think to some extent I can ask you to draw your own conclusions."

So what conclusions can we draw? Will Sony offer a heavily subsidized configuration much like we now see with the 360, or will the machine just be cheap outright? What price do you think we could see for PS4?

Source: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps4/ps4-news/ps4s-price-will-appeal-to-the-broad-sense-gamer.html

Steve at 4:10 PM No comments: Read More

Development Games

DRM: Pain for Developers and Gamers

SimCity - EA and Maxis:

If we want to talk about a game that has brought DRM back into more recent headlines, SimCity is your obvious first choice. When the game was in development, both players and designers alike had huge plans for the revival of this much beloved series. Thanks to the integration of new multiplayer features, gamers would now not only be able to create the city of their dreams, but they could also share it with the world through online interaction. It was said that if you wanted to you would have the ability to both rival and support neighboring cities with supplies while those around you could do the same. This all sounded pretty epic until EA informed the public that being connected to the network was absolutely mandatory to play the game. That's when things got out of hand.

Read More: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps3/ps3-news/drm-can-be-a-pain-for-developers-and-gamers-here-are-some-of-the-biggest-rights-management-debacles-in-industry-history.html

Steve at 4:07 PM No comments: Read More

Development PS4 News

PS4 GDC News Roundup

Because GDC is more attuned to the developers working with the PS4 rather than the general public, a lot of the details discussed at the Sony panel were a lot more hardcore and spec-heavy than many of us will care to know. On the game construction front, I will spare you those kinds of details then and just confirm for you that the PS4 will in fact use 8GB of GDDR RAM which is typically only used in PC graphics cards. The development environment will also be adapted for Windows 7 64-bit which means all of the debugging you do for a console game will be the exact same as you do on a PC. More specific data can be found at my source, so it's there for those that want it.

Now for the fun stuff. With regards to the controller, it will feature a 1920x900 resolution touchpad that clicks when pushed. The emanating light sensors can also be changed between blue, red, green, and pink. In the development sense, this could mean different number players could show different color lights from their remotes. Most importantly in my mind is that the so-called DualShock 4 will also charge even when the console is tuned off! Additionally there was also mention of the 1280x800 dual camera PlayStation 4 Eye which will have a proprietary port connection that you will not be able to use on PC. Regardless, the tech could be used for functions such as "walkthrough videos, killcam taunting, system login, speech recognition, and even moving of split screens relative to room position."

Secondly there was a lot of talk about apps and social gaming as well. Once you are on the network, you will be able to toggle between using your real name and a handle much like Steam. From there you could see what your friends are saying about the game and some of the choices they have made throughout their play. Probably the best feature is the PlayStation smartphone app. Hypothetically, it could allow you to download a new game while on the go, and by the time you get home the content will be installed on your hard drive.

It's important to note that the majority of these features will only happen if developers make use of them, but what do you think? More reason to be stoked for the "next generation of Play?"

Source: http://psx-scene.com/forums/content/ps4-new-details-sony-gdc-3168/

Steve at 4:05 PM No comments: Read More

Development PS4 News

nVidia says No to the PS4!

In an interview with Gamespot, nVidia were pretty upfront on the their involvement with Sony's upcoming 8th generation console the PS4. The company stated that they wanted nothing to do with supplying Sony the means of using their graphics chip on the console. This was due to Sony not forking out the money and paying nVidia what they were asking for. nVidia have gone on to claim that the PlayStation 4 will not be worth the price of admission and warns customers to save their money and wait off for something else.

It has been rumored that nVidia would be sticking exclusively with Microsoft's next generation console, which is believed to be unveiled at E3 later this year. This comes off rumors also that nVidia is to be believed to be helping with the developement team of the next XBOX very closely.

In a quote given to Gamespot Senoir VP of nVidia Tony Tamasi said "We're building a whole bunch of stuff and we had to look at console business as an opportunity cost. If we say, did a console, what other piece of our business would we put on hold to chase after that?"

It is believed that AMD are also having their doubts over the PS4, but these are just rumors at the moment as they are sticking by Sony's PS4. This also comes after AMD's Austin based Headquarters was sold off earlier this week due to "budget cuts", following a quarterly loss of $131 million.

In the last quarterly, nVidia posted a profit of $174 million.

Source: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps4/ps4-news/nvidia-says-no-to-the-ps4-sony-wont-pay-up.html

Steve at 3:53 PM No comments: Read More

Development Games

Is DRM a Necessary Evil?

It Protects the Rights of Developers:

If you're a real hardcore gamer, then in a lot of cases there are certain developers and development teams you just cant get enough of. Are you a fan of Quantic Dream's interactive move-like gameplay, or is it that you just can't seem to put down any game with the Final Fantasy name in it? Either way, it doesn't matter. Many of us are loyal to the people that create the games we love, and I think that's a good thing. After all, they do slave for years and spend millions of dollars with the goal of making us happy, so don't they deserve a little piece of mind in knowing that they own the right to do whatever they want with what they have made?

Read More: http://www.dashhacks.com/ps4/ps4-news/gaming-shades-of-grey-is-drm-a-necessary-evil.html

Steve at 3:44 PM No comments: Read More

Pages

PS4 Devs

Recent Post