Over on the Opposable Thumbs website, Christophe Balestra, Naughty Dog’s Co-President, talks about working with the PS3 when creating Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. During the interview, he talks a little about the game and the work that went into creating it but he mostly focuses on the power of the PS3 and how he believes that it is the “machine of the future”. Christophe mentions that Uncharted only uses 30% of the PS3′s cell processor and states that the game would not have been made without it. Here is an excerpt:
The PlayStation 3 has a lot of power. When we started Uncharted we were really ambitious and had no idea what the PS3 would give us. Once we got the first dev-kits, we realized quickly that we could do everything we had planned to. The three main points for me are the Cell, Blu-Ray and the hard drive. We’ve been using the Cell for pretty much all our systems: rendering, particles, physics simulation, collision detection, animation, AI, decompression, water simulation, etc … and to give you an idea of the power of the PS3, we’re using only 30 percent of the Cell processor.
In terms of Blu-Ray, we just couldn’t have made Uncharted without it; with Uncharted we have almost filled it (91 percent). We’re also using the hard drive to pre-cache data from the Blu-Ray disc. That allows us to stream up to 12 streams for sound, load level data super fast and more importantly to stream textures constantly to guarantee high-res quality on the screen.
Hopefully other developers will start giving the PS3 a chance as well, especially if the PS3 exclusive Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is a hit. Add to this the fact that gaming giant Midway may start focusing their efforts on a PS3 port first when creating their games, the future for the PS3 does not look as foggy as many may think.
You can read the full interview with Christophe Balestra on the Opposable Thumbs website.
A big thanks goes out to our loyal reader Norbit for the tip!
15 Comments to Naughty Dog's Christophe Balestra Talks PS3 Shop
by: TommyBoy
On November 1, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Hope this will hammer into people thick skulls that PS3 is the most powerful console to ever grace this earth!
by: Esse
On November 1, 2007 at 3:50 pm
They better say that. It would be terrible if PS3 fans didn’t come out and support their game after all that investment. And what better way than flattery. Multi-core programming hasn’t taken off yet so only a small percentage of the 360′s processors are being used also. The PS3 is like a girl you take home that has a push-up bra and tight jeans on. Upon undressing her, you find she has small biddies and a flat ass. Stop making promises you can’t keep. You have poor kids like TommyBoy disillusioned.
by: Esse
On November 1, 2007 at 3:51 pm
To think, after all that, that’s what the game looks like. Tsk! Tsk!
by: Norbit
On November 1, 2007 at 5:06 pm
“Multi-core programming hasn’t taken off yet so only a small percentage of the 360′s processors are being used also.”
Utter nonsense. Why do you think they wont let the 360 to do Folding@Home? Its because the power of both consoles would be there in black and white for everyone to compare and the 360 would lose badly.
According to the devs Motorstorm apparently only uses between 15% and 20% of potential:
http://ps3.qj.net/Under-the-hood-MotorStorm-uses-15-20-of-available-SPU-resource-/pg/49/aid/92150
EA said in December they were using 20% of the PS3s power:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/ps3/ea-games-use-20-percent-of-ps3s-power-221137.php
On the other hand the developers of lost Planet said last year they were using 60% of the 360s power:
http://www.xbox365.com/news.cgi?id=GGrLrNudLu06041314
If the 360 is so much easier to develop for then it stands to reason that after 2 years they are going to be nearing its max.
by: Norbit
On November 1, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Just to clarify that. Just 8 months after the 360 was launched Capcom were already using 60% of what it had to offer.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=65246
by: justin
On November 2, 2007 at 1:14 am
Oh wow I like 360 so i guess I like getting shitted on by microsoft. wow 350 I save 50 dollars, but i can get a hd that doesnt play games for 180 and pay 50 dollars a year for internet and 100 dollars for wifi. Cool!!! Cause i love achievement cause that tell me i’m good now I dont think i suck ass at games anymore! pst! 360 is for p.c. losers who feel inferior! Ps3 and psp next will destroy!
by: The one
On November 2, 2007 at 4:22 am
@ Esse
Shut up you troll, I read your comments all over the net, and you allways write the same crap: “The PS3 is like a girl you take home that has a push-up bra and tight jeans on. Upon undressing her, you find she has small biddies and a flat ass. Stop making promises you can’t keep. You have poor kids like TommyBoy disillusioned.”
Can’t your brain do more? How pathetic you are, you’r just a X3fixme fanboy scared because you’r starting to see that your obsolete and (in soon death) X360 is loosing ground each day…
Let me enjoy this moment now… MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
And no, I’m not a fanboy, I love PS3 and Wii.. ok, not so much X360 because that thing just can’t play games for more than 3 days without crashing, but what I hate is pathetic losers like you, who post the same fanboy comments all over the place!
by: Tamara Petrovna
On November 2, 2007 at 8:38 am
Allright!I am waiting for Uncharted,but what about Jak and Daxter?
by: Norbit
On November 2, 2007 at 9:21 am
“what about Jak and Daxter?”
Naughty Dog were rumured to be starting work on the next Jak and Daxter game as soon as they finished Uncharted.
by: justin
On November 2, 2007 at 11:39 am
well here is a list of some exclusives soon to come within the next year. In total ps3 has 58 exclusives coming within the next year. I’m pretty excited about street fighter 4… ne wayz
Metal Gear Solid 4
Gran Turismo 5
Final Fantasy 13
Tekken 6
LittleBigPlanet
Killzone 2
L.A. Noire
The Agency
Coded Arms: Assault
Eight Days
FIA World Touring Car Championship
The Getaway 3
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Red Dead Revolver 2
Heavy Rain
Infamous
by: Tamara Petrovna
On November 3, 2007 at 10:19 am
Cool! Thank you!
by: Tamara Petrovna
On November 3, 2007 at 10:22 am
But?who knows smth real? not rumours?
by: justin
On November 5, 2007 at 11:06 am
all of those r definate exclusives, also ff13 versus. mgs4 is a definate one too. Midway/epic and capcom announced that they were going to start with building engines for games for a ps3 then port it to the 360. I’m excited about that because wehn that happens third party games will look like ps3 titles not 360 titles such as conan which is one of the biggest rip offs! peace
by: Norbit
On November 5, 2007 at 12:53 pm
@ Tamara Petrovna
It looks like Naughty Dog are definitely doing a PS3 Jak & Daxter game but don’t know when
http://www.ps3center.net/story-1170-MGS4-Delay-Hurts-PS3-and-Konami-Alike.html
by: justin
On November 6, 2007 at 1:08 am
I’m pretty excited about what level 5 is going to do than anything. They are working on white knight story and one other that I found in play magazine that are exclusives. I caN’T wait to get into some p3 rpg’s!