Valve's Gabe Newell interview.

[Destro777]

http://valve.1up.com/

Check out Friday's Gabe Newell interview, especially part 2. He says some very interesting things about the whole coding process for the next gen, and how the new systems could potentially be focusing on all the wrong things.

[James]

Agree on some things, disagree on others. Sony making the PS3 so it has to be coded to specifically, thanks to its multi-thingyed core whatsit (it's late, I was drifting off during the SPE bit, and I don't really care that much what they're called right now) is a valid point. Multi-console middleware will be desperately needed, and it's going to be a good long while before it's seen.

On the other hand, saying that the advances of the new systems pale in comparison to the communication between consumer and developer that Steam offers struck me as maybe a bit not right.

James

[Sl1p]

His thoughts on the PS3 backed up all of my fears about the console. I'm relieved and even more frightened. Great interview though.

<3 1UP

[sedition]

ps3 is next generation's saturn... yikes!

[Master]

Gabe is a Negative Nelly.

[Mzo]

Gabe Newell is like unto a god.

[dave is ok]

Is Day of Defeat Source out yet?

[Dyne]

ps3 is next generation's saturn... yikes!

you needed this article to point this fact out?

[SamuraiMoogle]

Damn. So basically PS3 is such a P.O.S. to develop for, the games HAVE to be coded for it only. That then makes porting to all 3 systems impossible and if it is done it would just suck up way too much of the developers money.

[outRider]

I think he overstates his case. Yes multithreaded programming is harder, but it's necessary because there is little room left for improving CPU speed. The problems they'll face on a PS3 are equivalent to the problems they'll face on an Xbox360 and a PC in a year or two, so there's no use hiding and wishing it wont come to that. If he's never written a line of multithreaded code he's either exaggerating or unorthodox, but I'm sure we'll all be experts in 3-5 years.

And besides, the Saturn wasn't poor hardware because it had two processors, it was poor because Sega was forced to use the processors for tasks they weren't designed for, that's not the case on the PS3, Xbox360, or multicore PCs.

Damn. So basically PS3 is such a P.O.S. to develop for, the games HAVE to be coded for it only. That then makes porting to all 3 systems impossible and if it is done it would just suck up way too much of the developers money.

Not really. At a low-level obviously both systems are different, but that has always been the case with every console. At a high-level there's not much difference in running 6 threads on 3 cores on an Xbox360 and running 6 threads on 1 core and 5 SPEs on a PS3.