Sony's new found Love for PS3 Developers continues with new DECR-1400A and more

Mar 24 2009, 6:00am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

In early March Sony made some waves saying the PS3 is hard to develop for on purpose. In the last days news surrounding new tools for PS3 developers have appeared. We already reported about the NVIDIA PhysX engine available now on the PS3.
Now Sony is further enhancing its support for developers with the introduction of new Reference Tool models in March 2009, DECR-1400A for North America and Europe/PAL territories at US $2,000 and €1,700 respectively, and DECR-1400J for Japan at JPY 200,000.
Having the same form factor as the commercially available PS3, the new Reference Tool models allow advanced game programming and more efficient computer graphics rendering. With its more affordable pricing, this new model will appeal to a broader range of developers and publishers, and will help to provide a more streamlined game development environment, further accelerating the game development for PS3.
In addition to the introduction of new Reference Tool models, SCE will also enhance its support by providing a comprehensive line-up of software tools as well as technical support to the game development community. “SNC PPU toolchain for PLAYSTATION 3 (SNC)”, a compiler made available as part of the Software Development Kit* since February 2008, is optimized to the power of PS3 and generates high-quality code. As a result, not only will it contribute to raising the quality of the game but also to significantly improving productivity.

SNC is widely supported by many developers and publishers for its quality and efficiency, and is utilized in some of the best-selling franchise titles including Fallout 3 from Bethesda Softworks LLC, Killzone 2 from Guerrilla Games, and Ryu ga Gotoku 3 from SEGA Corporation. SCE will continue to further improve the performance of SNC and will expand its features to meet the needs of the game creators.

Additionally, at the Game Developer’s Conference held in San Francisco, California, in February 2008, SCE introduced a graphics-rendering engine known as the PhyreEngine. Provided as a full package along with its source code, and incorporated with many updated features including the linkage with the physics engines, this graphics rendering engine is adaptable to various game development styles. Furthermore, documents describing the technical aspects and overview of PhyreEngine have been made available to help the game developer community in creating games more efficiently using this graphics engine. The latest version 2.40, released in March 2009, includes a new “foliage rendering” system that provides tools and technology to render ultra-realistic trees and plants to be easily integrated into games, helping game developers to express their creativity more freely on the PS3 system.

Looking at these announcements Sony seem to have understood that the PS3 needs better games faster to differentiate the console from the Xbox 360. New exclusive games that are not available on the Xbox combined with a price-cut could turn things around for the PS3. See also the February Video Game Sales numbers where Xbox 360 was selling better than the PS3 again.

Via this Sony announcement.

where to buy

Buy from Amazon

What Others Say about This

Tech Weekly podcast: The Twitter Joke Trial and Ultrabooks

Graham Linehan and Nick Cohen discuss the implications of joking on Twitter, and Charles Arthur finds out about Ultrabooks from the MD of Intel UK. Plus we discuss technology patents and Windows 8 In January 2010, accountant Paul Chambers tweeted that be ...
Full article at: Guardian Unlimited More like this 22 minutes ago

Here Are the D.I.C.E. 2012 Indie Game Challenge Winners

Symphony and The Bridge grab multiple awards in the D.I.C.E. Summit's annual Indie Game Challenge, with Closure by Eyebrow Interactive taking home the big $100,000 prize, proving that the puzzle-platformer is and will continue to be alive and well in the ...
Full article at: MTV.com More like this 28 minutes ago

Head of Sony justifies high price of Sony Vita games

Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Worldwide Studios boss, made an effort to justify the $40 price tag of the PlayStation Vita games, in a recent interview. Yoshida stated that the reason behind the high price of the games is rising competition in the market, while sa ...
Full article at: IT Pro Portal More like this 31 minutes ago

Don't miss ...

Gaming

New Xbox to be unveiled at E3 2012?

Luigi Lugmayr
Luigi is the founding chief Editor of I4U News and brings over 15 years experience in the technology field to the ever evolving and exciting world of gadgets. He started I4U News back in 2000 and evolved it into vibrant technology magazine.
Luigi can be contacted directly at ml@i4u.com. Luigi posts regularly on LuigiMe.com about his experience running I4U.