Booth: PS3 misconceptions and spin

[Andir]

senatorpjt said:

makingmusic476 said:
His main argument against the Cell is that it has multiple cores, and developers have a hard time maximizing the output of the multiple cores. The 360 has multiple cores as well, so I don't see how that makes much of a difference.

Also, the developes of GH1&2 never exactly pushed the limitsof the ps2 or the 360, so I don't think he has room to talk, especially with graphically stunning games like Uncharted, MGS4, KZ2, and CoD4 coming out on the ps3.

The difference between the Cell and the 360 cpu being multicore is that the Cell cores are asymmetric. I don't know how the actual PS3 devkits work, but on the IBM Cell SDK there is a lot of manual effort required to efficiently distribute code to the SPE's, whereas on a symmetric core processor it can basically just distribute threads to any processor.

Wrong. There is no Multi-Core processor on any market that will just automatically split it's work load. Hyperthreading was about the closest thing to what your saying (The PPC cores don't have it) and it was basically the exact opposite. It used two threads per core and balanced the workload more efficiently for threads that were performing intense calculations while limiting the CPU time to idle threads and threads in wait states.

The catch to the SPU is that it uses a different call format than the standard pthreads or createthread methods used on today's processors. (There are some other things to allocate memory to the SPU, but it's essentially the same thing, just a different name so you know what your doing.) If an engine used the older methods to distribute physics calculations or something else, it would not use the SPU because of the different method name.

Not many engines use multithreading anyway (as it is) for complex calculation. In fact, many of the big name studios expected multi-core machines to be a fad and didn't plan for it up until the most recent iterations. Of course, Microsoft is the one cashing in on a good chunk of it claiming that DX10 is what makes these new engines possible when in fact it's the developers adjusting to the market. Timing.

Add all that to the fact that some of these dev teams either bought the engine they use or they made one in house and the lead programmer no longer works there. Since they can't seamlessly transfer the engine, they start cutting parts form the game or reduce the framerate.

But thanks to the Internet(!), we get to listen to people bashing company A and Console B because they think it's cool and the advertising money the site owner will get for people coming to their site to argue about it makes them happy.

Blogs have turned the world into marketters. You thought companies were competitive before? They have rules they need to follow. The internet has no rules.

edit: some clarification