Today GamePro put up an interview with Epic's Jeff Morris, discussing the optimization of UT3 on the ps3. Here are some of the more interesting tidbits:
GamePro: Interesting. So the PS3 really is closer to a PC's setup, with separate RAM pools for graphics and system memory...
JM: ...Exactly. It reminds me of old DOS memory management. You know, "I wish I could get that one kilobyte out of the texture memory and put it into the geometry memory instead."
[...]
JM: Basically, the Cell's SPEs are "accelerator processors" that function in addition to the primary processors. [To take advantage of the SPEs], we look for tasks that don't require insane CPU power but could be done in the background, in parallel. There are some threads in our multi-threaded code that we can dedicate to a single SPE, and the process will run happily in background while the main CPUs are dealing with AI and game play. If you program the Cell CPU the correct way, it is like having all these simple things in parallel. That's the thing about regular PCs; computers are really dumb, but incredibly fast. PCs can perform one little logical thing like crazy [makes rapid, back-and-forth ping-pong motion], and so we need to find those little logic checks that we can kick out to the SPEs. Doing so frees up the primary CPUs from having to do those mindless, but necessary, tasks.
GamePro: That's interesting. When I ask about the PS3, lots of developers say, "Oh, well, we're still figuring it out. It's hard." You guys seem to have a real advantage on PS3 development.
JM: You have to be disciplined and aggressive on where you optimize and how you organize it. And you have to make sure that artists aren't building assets that are never going to work.
Also published today was an interview by TheGameReviews with Dean Martinetti, who worked on Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Here are some of the highlights:
DEAN: Na, not even close.
TGR: Not even close, really?
DEAN: What my PS3 engineer says is we’ve maybe tapped 2%.
TGR: 2%?
DEAN: …it’s all the architecture … you have to make a game that goes to that architecture. Look at Uncharted. Uncharted is gorgeous. I mean not just drop dead gorgeous like the game, and I mean the game play as well…
TGR: Right.
DEAN: Now imagine, you give a developer 3 ½ years, which is a long freakin’ time, but 3 ½ years and a good budget to make a game for PS3, and you just say, guys have at it. Here is the technology, here are the tools kits you need, here are the SDKs you need, what ever else you need, and we are there for you 24/7. You get that kind of support from your publisher and from Sony first party; you’ll be knocking home runs out of the park. You’ll be the Barry %#@$ing Bonds of the gaming industry. You know what I mean? Which is cool, as it is what we all want. This is what Sony wants and what Microsoft wants. I think the biggest problem there has been is everybody is rushing to get the consumer dollar. They are forgetting the core point of this whole thing. We have to make entertainment that is quality enough that the player is going to like it.
TGR: Right.
DEAN: People are not idiot’s.
TGR: So they bust your balls?
DEAN: We’re sheep to a certain point. No, Sony never busted our balls, ever. They were always cool, they were just kind of slow, you know, but I mean they were slow with the PSP when it first released. Then all of a sudden, second generation, I mean you got all the support you ever needed plus, you know?
DEAN: [...]We just need to harness the power of the hardware. I mean you know a lot of us are still newbies with the 360 and the PS3 and if… you know what, this you can definitely quote me on. This is probably why we ran into most of our problems, because we were still learning the architecture. PS3, yeah it’s a baby still, man. You can’t blame Sony, it happened. I mean you could if you want to be a pussy and put the blame on somebody else, but the reality of it is you have to learn the hardware. You’ve got to master it before you can master what your building, right?
