It's a one console market - DetroitStyle's Blog

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It's a one console market

Posted on February 17, 2012 at 02:26 PM.

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We never thought it would end up like this, nor did we think it ever could. Yet, as of this moment I'm wholly convinced that we're faced with a one console market: the Xbox 360. As superior in technology as the Playstation 3 is, it has not, and never will, hold up against Xbox 360 when it comes to multi-platform releases.

Technology Doesn't Matter
On paper the Playstation 3 has superior technology compared to the Xbox 360. This includes a better graphics chip, processor, media storage, and connectivity (before 360 released an HDMI version). By all accounts we were led to believe that this would mean that releases on the PS3 would be truly "next-gen". Unfortunately, outside of Sony exclusives we have yet to see any multi-platform release raise the bar on the PS3 over the 360. All releases so far have been identical except for a few games where they require one disc on the Playstation 3 as opposed to the Xbox 360 which requires two or more. The fact of the matter is that games are first developed with the lower technology (360) and are simply ported to the PS3, rendering the advanced technology moot.

Playstation 3 specific problems
Porting games from the Xbox 360 is never a simple process. In fact, the technologies differ in such a degree that doing so without the proper development can cause a string of issues. In a single year we've already seen too many to count. There have been numerous freezing issues in NBA 2K12 and NHL 12 as well as graphical rendering issues in Madden 12 and NCAA 12. All of which are exclusive to the Playstation 3.

(For reference: NHL 12, Madden 12 (1), Madden 12 (2))

In fact, graphically, the Playstation 3 tends to fall short almost always in terms of sports gaming. Blogs such as Head2Head from LensofTruth show this in their graphical comparisons. Remember, the Playstation 3 on paper is supposed to be superior in technology to the Xbox 360 but seems to always fall short. As mentioned earlier, this is a by product of porting to the PS3. But why does this happen?

Stubbornness across the pond
It's been no secret for years that East Asian companies such as Sony, Nintendo, and Sega, have had an iron fist when it comes to developing games on their console. Outside of exclusives like MLB the Show, to develop for any amount of time on these companies systems costs too much money and too much time. If you need an example of the struggles between these companies and developers see EA's struggle developing their first madden game on the Sega Genesis(Here).

Due to these circumstances, Microsoft jumped at the opportunity to give developers every tool imaginable to develop games first on the 360. What gives Microsoft even more incentive to do so is their pay-to-play online service Xbox Live. If developers can put out solid games on the 360 that work seamlessly online, then they can rake in a fortune on Xbox Live sales. If the 360 had the same issues as the PS3 mentioned in this article, it's likely that Xbox Live sales would drop significantly. Let's also remember that this isn't a majority issue. According to the latest sales reports (Here) the PS3 is actually outselling the 360. Thus, wouldn't developers want to develop on the majority system? As you can see that's not the case. Developers are even jumping ship on releasing simple patches on the Playstation 3. When 2K hockey was going under in 2009 with NHL 2K10, they released a patch on the 360 but not the PS3.

A one console market
It's only logical to assume that we're dealing with a one console market in terms of multi-platform releases. When specifically dealing with sports gaming you can see the negative effects it has on Playstation 3 owners. If you peruse the forums here at OS you can see many users exclaim that they will be purchasing "x" game on 360 but not PS3. So for those of us who dedicate ourselves to sports gaming, we might have to put away that PS3 and convert to the Xbox 360.

Comments

# 16 DetroitStyle @ Feb 21

I'm PC dominant as well. The only games I purchase for console are ones not released on PC. Which is why I'm going to be really dissapointed if 2K stop developing MLB, and if they stop developing NBA for PC. The lack of post release support for the PC is bad enough already.

# 17 DetroitStyle @ Feb 23

It's hardly a console flame war. It's just my opinion on the state of (mainly) sports gaming and how it seems to be skewed towards the 360. That's hardly a radical, nor flaming, opinion.

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