xoanon

Im after some constructive feedback on the games that are multiplatform, and your experience with them. Im worried that games designed for the 360 will be somewhat of a port to the PS3, and not utilize the better technology the PS3 has.

Observations, comments?

The Benny (Macho)

Eurogamer has made several comparisons throughout the year for the multiformat titles - One, Two, Three and Four. Most of the games covered started on the 360 and then jumped over so a lot of the time the 360 version ends up being the stronger of the two, especially with the earlier ports. It's certainly changing now though, developers either understanding the PS3 hardware better or respecting its differences more.

There aren't many games yet that have been ported in the other direction so it will be interesting to see how the PS3 to 360 route works out, especially with games that take advantage of the greater disc capacity or raw system power.

Ben D.

Here's a general rule of thumb to follow regarding multiplatform games-

If the game was initially developed as a multiplatform title, all final products should be very similar; perhaps even identical in most aspects. This will become more true as time goes on, when developers learn more about the PS3. On the other hand, if a game is expressly designed for one platform but later ported to another, the original version is usually superior to the port.

There are exceptions to every rule, though. For example, most will say the PS3 version of Oblivion, while it didn't come out until long after the 360 version, was better. On the other hand, many of this year's EA Sports titles (especially Madden 08) were designed with all platforms in mind, and the PS3 versions ended up being significantly inferior. This is simply because EA is lagging behind and having difficulty with PS3 hardware, so I wouldn't expect this to happen next year.

For the most part, I would buy a game for the platform it was initially designed for. If it was developed from the ground up as a multiplatform title, I'll probably end up factoring in other things, like release date (sometimes, they're not the same), which controller I prefer, etc. I do that because as this generation continues on, multiplat titles will become more and more similar to one another.

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Gabriel013

I agree for the most part with Ben except that I beleive that mulitplatform titles will look better on the PS3 in the future though there is not really much to choose between them at the moment. I base this opinion on the advancements from release titles to those several years down the line on the PS and the PS2.

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The Benny (Macho)

Eurogamer had another of their multi-platform comparisons today, covering:

• Virtua Fighter 5 (360 has more features and better graphics, PS3 has more solid controls)
• SKATE (360 has better framerate, 'fundamentally broken on PS3')
• Transformers: The Game (PS3 is uglier due to software scaling method)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (360 has better graphics, smoother framerate)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (PS3 looks better, includes interesting scaling method)
• Colin McRae: DiRT (PS3 greatly improved visually, better framerate and better controls)
• Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (PS3 slightly rougher, some framerate issues)
• SEGA Rally (almost identical, slightly more tearing on PS3)
• FIFA 08 (almost identical, 360 has some additional anti-aliasing)

So generally things seem to be improving, with a few disappointingly lazy conversions. Things have certainly moved on from earlier in the year when developers were just slapping their 360 titles onto a PS3 without any effort to optimise them for the console.

Gabriel013

Thanks for the info. As per your last statement my mind screams BLAZING ANGELS!

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Ryan H.

Unless it's developed for the PS3 from the start, you better go with the Xbox version.

I know that will generate hate here, and I know I used to write for this place, but fact is the PS3 is significantly harder to develop for, and unless a developer is devoting full resource to code for it, it's simply not going to take advantage.

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The Benny (Macho)

It's interesting though that developers (or I suppose the publishers are the more likely offenders) are content to let badly optimised games loose on the PS3. Whether the attitude is down to them feeling the PS3 requires too much effort to optimise quickly, doesn't have the installed base yet to justify too much effort or that with less games available it's likely to sell regardless it's still disappointing.

As I've mentioned elsewhere the PS3 has to attract purchases almost entirely on the strengths of its exclusives, and it's only enhanced if the 360 has both decent exclusives and better versions of a lot of the multiformat games. Hopefully it will turnaround soon either with more experience with the PS3 or developing the 360 code with the knowledge that specific portions will need major changes.

Gabriel013

I agree with Ryan. I do however think it's possible to make improvements, but lot of devs don't think it's worth making the effort.

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xoanon

thanks for the comments guys