Creator of Doom Thinks Sony's NGP Is the Bee's Knees

[migo]

What do you think? Will Sony give Nintendo and Apple a run for their money in the handheld gaming market with the NGP?

Nope. By that logic, the PS3 should have won ace and spades ahead of the Wii.

But it didn't, not even close.

in a handheld sense though, I think it will be primarily Sony vs. Nintendo since both blow Apple out of the water and into the sun.

I mean, the NGP supposedly is a mini-PS3, the 3DS in itself has a decent niche that other handhelds don't at the moment.



but then again, none of them compare to the Ngage, that was the best handheld ever created, others just don't compare!

That's not what it's like at all. If anything, Apple will blow both Sony and Nintendo out of the water.

 

[Boemmel]

An API is an application programming interface - it's how a programmer makes use of resources from within their program. For example, there's a twitter API, that allows a program to easily communicate with twitter.

In relation to programming, low-level vs. high-level refers to how much work a computer or processor has to do in order to convert from an instruction given to an instruction a CPU can understand.

A high-level instruction might look like this: "print 'Hello'" whereas a low-level instruction might be in binary. Obviously, it's easier for a human to work with "print 'Hello'" than with binary, but the trade-off is that the computer has to work harder to understand the high-level stuff.

Because of this, exposing lower-level APIs to developers allows them to increase performance, and get more out of the same specs than when using high-level APIs.

Hopefully that makes sense to you guys!

I think that is a good explanation, kudos to you

I would only like to add that while having access to lower-level APIs can be great to squeeze out more performance, having a higher level abstraction can also have its benefits: Namely, low-level programming tends to be much more complicated to program and depending on how robust your SDK and library support is, high-level APIs can aid developers immensely. For games, this is usually not as important (and good performance is actually much more critical to them as well) but all those neat little smartphone apps can be developed much more quickly and easily with good high-level APIs found in modern smartphone operating systems.

Being too low-level can even hurt potential development as it could make development too complex and cost-intensive. Not all developers are as capable in low-level stuff as John Carmack: What seems to be acceptable levels of low-level programming to him might be too tedious for other development houses.

Besides, I would worry a little about Sony giving developers low-level APIs to work with: The PS2 and PS3 were kind of exotic systems hardware-wise and notoriously difficult to program for, especially freshly after release because Sony was not very good at giving developers great resources to work with. The consequences of this can still be seen today for example in multi-platform titles: PS3 versions still can be comparatively inferior to the XBox 360 version, even though the hardware should be more than capable enough. But as far as I know, Microsoft did a good job giving developers better resources to work with, which still makes exploiting the capabilities of the Xbox easier to do than on the Sony side.

If the Sony NGP follows the same path again, I could see the low-level APIs as having the potential to be a serious pain in the butt to developers. If the other handheld system makers can court developers with better API support, all the powerful hardware could end up being a lot less useful than potentially possible.

 

[Marik2]

Well Im hoping that it will be able to play PSP1 games...

Cuz so far the new ps3's cant play ps2 games

 

[migo]

That's not what it's like at all. If anything, Apple will blow both Sony and Nintendo out of the water.

In the casual flash-based tiny games market, yeah probably. As far as actual games that take serious work to create. Absolutely not, Apple's nowhere even close to becoming a market leader there. But, yeah, they definitely helped bring casual $1 app games to the limelight. Not really what this device is intended for however.

You're making a fictitious comparison. It's about hardware sales and software sales. iOS games can afford to sell at a much lower price because they sell at a much higher volume, so games that were selling for $40 on the PSP went down to $10 when ported to iOS. Sony's going to have to do something about it, and start offering those games at a more impressive price.

Also, you're clearly talking out of your ass. Unreal Engine 3 runs on iOS, and Rage will too. That blows your idea about "actual games" straight out of the water.

 

[KSarty]

People are blowing the price thing out of proportion as well. Most people jumped at the opportunity to defend the $600 price tage of an iPad, but I've heard many people say that this should be no more than $300. Why? It is quite obviously a more powerful device, and while it has a more specific use, it will blow anything else away when it comes to that use.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Depending on the price, I'm mostly like going to get it, and I will just suck it up because the thing is pretty damn cool. I will probably get this first before the 3DS, honestly I'm not that impressed by the launch games from Nintendo. And if it gives developers more room to create games that they wanted instead of changing it due to limitations then I'm all for it.

 

[Megacherv]

That's not what it's like at all. If anything, Apple will blow both Sony and Nintendo out of the water.

In the casual flash-based tiny games market, yeah probably. As far as actual games that take serious work to create. Absolutely not, Apple's nowhere even close to becoming a market leader there. But, yeah, they definitely helped bring casual $1 app games to the limelight. Not really what this device is intended for however.

Which are then ported to other consoles as well (i.e. Angry Birds to PS3 and PSP)

I've decided to not save up for a 3DS. As cool as they look, it's gonna get expensive, and I'm a secret Sony-fanboy (curse you Kevin Butler for your awesomeness!). Plus it'll give me longer to save up for it.

Sorry Nintendo, you would've won my heart, but I have to back to Sony, I hope you'll understand.

 

[JediMB]

I hope developers won't just make handheld PS3 games for the NGP. If that's the case, it will be utterly uninteresting to me. (I'm likely to get a PSPhone though, to replace my Xperia X10.)

I'd rather see games of the sorts that can't be made on the home consoles. Look at "augmented reality" games on the 3DS for an example.

 

[Jumplion]

People are blowing the price thing out of proportion as well. Most people jumped at the opportunity to defend the $600 price tage of an iPad, but I've heard many people say that this should be no more than $300. Why? It is quite obviously a more powerful device, and while it has a more specific use, it will blow anything else away when it comes to that use.

That's true, good for pointing out that double-standard.

But regardless of what the price of the PSP2/NGP/whatever is, I doubt I will buy it. Personally, I am not a handheld gamer as evident by my severe lack of playing my DS. I only pop my DS out on the annual family vacation, but on any other day of the year it sits quietly, waiting on my shelf, moaning at me, "Please, sir, may you come to play me?"

I look over. I sigh, "I'm sorry, Dee Ess," I whisper, "But I just can't bring myself to do so. You know as well as I that I will break your heart after 2 weeks."

And so my DS sits on the shelf, quietly sobbing, waiting for the day in which we play...

...ehem, sorry, got out of hand there, ANYWAY, the new handheld does look very interesting but, again, I doubt I'll be getting it. I'll keep the option open, though.

 

[Tennou486]

I think that if Sony can keep the price under control and keep a steady line of good games, then this thing could give them a shot in the arm.

 

[Kinokohatake]

I was sooo excited for the PSP. And was viciously dissapointed. If the PSP2 will truly have two analog sticks, decent graphics, and fun games, then maybe. But really, the DS has been more fun consistently.

 

[CrystalShadow]

His comments make perfect sense compared to phones, but are unlikely to mean much compared to other gaming systems.

Low level API's are par for the course in game development, because they allow performance tricks that a high level API simply won't cope with.

The fact that console games on static hardware get more impressive the longer the hardware has been around is largely due to low-level APIs being used;

To get good performance from low-level code depends for the most part on the skill of the programmer, and how well they understand the hardware they're working with.
(A side note is that this same process means consoles hit above their weight compared to PC's; A PC developer can't fully optimize their code because they have no control over what their game ends up running on.
If I were to develop a game using low level programming optimized specifically for the components in one specific PC, it would run amazingly well on that one computer; but there's a large chance it would run badly, or even not at all on a different one)

A high-level API, by contrast is a lot easier to work with, but it's performance is determined largely by who wrote the API, rather than who wrote the program making use of the API.
Improve the API, and things run faster. But mobile phone APIs aren't usually designed with games are their main purpose, so performance in the areas games need it most are not usually a priority.
Aside from which, no two games necessarily have quite the same needs, and if you're using a high-level API, it's a lot more difficult to optimize your game for what it specifically needs to run quickly.

 

[Worgen]

I think this will blow both the Apple and Nintendo completely out of the water... if Sony can keep the price down, which is highly unlikely considering Sony's track record.

Ive heard its going to be selling for 300, a bit close to the 3ds but the 3ds will beat it to market by a few months so its possible it could take off but it will have to really show its better in ways that arnt just graphics

 

[Callate]

Carmack has always been a tech guy; if he says the tech is noteworthy, I tend to believe him. But much like creativity has often taken a back seat to technology in Carmack's work, it's the software and use of interface that will make or break the thing. The NGP could herald a new generation of hand-held entertainment technology, or it could be a repository for shovelware, gimickry, and a certain type of game most notable for the tedium of its creators cinematic aspirations (I'm sure you can name some offenders.)

 

[Casual Shinji]

Even with Carmack's blessing I'm still very sceptical about the new PSP.

I seriously hope for Sony that it'll be the next big thing, but I don't think that spin-off games are the answer. If Sony wants to make the NGP work, then they'd better develope some pretty unique and innovative games for it that make good use of the various control options.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

Normally I'd say "whatever", but this is John Carmack after all.

But, it depends on how much it costs. It'd have to be priced low for many people to buy it. And pricing low isn't exactly Sony's strong suit.

That's not entirely fair, the PS3 was sold at the lowest price Sony themselves could afford. Otherwise, it would've been on shelves for over $800 at launch. In the very least, Sony's at least willing to sell things at a loss.

In the end, it doesn't matter. What matters is what people are willing to pay, and most people weren't willing to pay $600.

I had to choose between paying $1000 or paying $700 for a PS3 in Australia, so count yourself lucky sport.