Skyrim and Consoles: When your reach exceeds your grasp

[Dendio]

Do you blame Bethesda for the broken ps3 version of Skyrim? Maybe we should blame Sony.

Skyrim has a memory issue where the longer you play the more memory it takes. The devs say its just how the game works. Well in this day and age shouldn't it be reasonable to expect a system to have more than a paltry 256 mb ram for gaming? The consoles are falling further and further behind what developers are capable of doing. Sony refuses to release a new console with updated specs because they want to recoup their investments from selling the ps3 at a loss during the first half of its life span.

The 360 is even older than the ps3 but has double the ram. Even so 512 mb ram is laughable compared to todays expectations. While the ps3 can barely run skyrim as is, the 360 has the lowest graphical settings of the three versions and its 512 mb will eventually succumb as well.

Meanwhile PC gamers are modding their versions to surpass the 2 gig limit. The consoles are holding games back. Bethesda had alot of ambition for Skyrim and the current consoles are becoming incapable of fulfilling the developers reach. Hopefully when the Wii U comes out it will embarrass the 360 and ps3. Games that barely run or do so with lowered settings for the ps3/360 should run excellently on the Wii U and PC. Hopefully this encourages sony and microsoft to move on and release up to date consoles that give the developers something reasonable to work with.

 

[Archangel768]

No use blaming the console manufacturers. It's up to the devs to use the hardware that is provided and not screw up as bad as they do. Since it's Bethesda and they've supposedly had issues like this in the past then I think they have no one to blame but themselves for not making the game properly. If they can't make the game properly for a system then they shouldn't rip customers off and release it on a system that won't run it in the first place. They should have sorted out their issues a long time ago. This is in no way Sonys fault.

 

[Rednog]

I honestly wouldn't blame Sony, Bethesda knew that the problem existed from Fallout, and yet they still just go along and make the game, hell or high water.
Various companies do the same thing too, "Id Tech" used in games like Rage and Brink is notoriously bad for botching the PC ports and causing absolutely insane problems. But companies will still use Id Tech and they won't give a rat's ass after the game ships.
The developers make a game, they know the limitations of the hardware, no console company should have to bend over and change their product for a single new game.

Even if Microsoft or Sony did change their consoles to have more ram, this would only help people buying the new systems, the problem would still exist for the millions with old consoles.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Long story short. It should have been PC exclusive! I know I didn't have any issues with my 8GB of RAM. Before anyone corrects me on the fact the exe is 32bit, there are ways around that to allow the application to use more RAM.
The hardware capabilities of the current gen consoles is just absolutely pathetic. They need to come out with some new ones already. HOWEVER, all that aside, it is Bethesda's fault for not foreseeing this issue. They should have worked around it on the PS3 version.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Well, yes, they should have replaced their consoles years ago.
Instead, they chose to prolong its life with Kinnect and Move.

Anyway, I wanted mods, so I got it for PC.
And I've got no problems.
Except that when I'm using my laptop, I have to run it on low.
But it's a couple of years old now. (Still nowhere as old as the current console generation)
My desktop has no problems running it on high. (Which is why I'm waiting to get home to my desktop to do some of the quests which I think will be more epic. (On low I can't see the snow blowing over the edges of the mountains))

 

[DEAD34345]

I've been playing on the 360, have had no problems whatsoever, and the game looks beautiful. I don't have the money to afford another console, and I certainly don't have the money to afford a semi-decent gaming computer. More to the point, I don't particularly want either.

If the consoles are holding back the graphics upgrades possible with PC games, I'm glad. I'd much rather developers spent some time improving the gameplay and mechanics of their games rather than making ever more realistically swaying blades of grass, because I'm just beyond the point of caring about that stuff.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Well, yes, they should have replaced their consoles years ago.
Instead, they chose to prolong its life with Kinnect and Move.

Anyway, I wanted mods, so I got it for PC.
And I've got no problems.

Agreed on all counts. Current console generation is way past its prime and if the 360/PS3 was an animal, it would have been sold to McDonald's and passed off as beef 2 years ago.

I cannot imagine why someone would want to play TES games on a console, particularly in light of the modding community. Further, I'm not a fan of Skyrim's UI that had to be designed for consoles first, PC second, not to mention the constant loading screens because current consoles don't have enough RAM for larger maps & textures.

My PC has 4GB RAM and a 1 or 1.5GB RAM GFX card and could easily load most 2-3 stage dungeons into memory in their entirety. I'm already using higher resolution textures and have a utility to allow skyrim to utilise more than 2GB RAM. The tragedy is that I shouldn't have to, if Bethesda had spent time making a PC version of the game instead of a PC port of it, and if next gen consoles were released when they should've been instead of the Kinect/Move bollocks.

Still, I Have enjoyed the game. It looks great, hardly any performance issues to speak of, a few annoying CTDs (infrequent enough that I'm not that bothered) and some simple, fun mods from Skyrim Nexus, mostly replacers and retextures. It is a worthy TES game, better than Oblivion, almost as good as Morrowind (better in some ways, particularly the guilds) and absorbed me for 120 hours before I could say I'd finished pretty much everything.

 

[Gammayun]

The reason the ps3 is so buggy is because it use a different programing language from pc and xbox which both use directx(mainly because microsoft devolopes directx),i dont know what the ps3 uses,but it does mean it is a lot more difficult to port games over from the pc or xbox as even valve had to get a third part to port over the orange box. Btw a buggy becuse of falts in the prgramming not because the console is not powerful enough just look at oblivion. Then why are everyone obsesing over a new console generation games still look fab on them.

 

[ResonanceSD]

sadlkasj

You get what you pay for. I know for a fact that my $4000 custom PC is streets better hardware wise than any console =D And operates to match.

 

[lionsprey]

nope its Bethesda fault if you release a game for a console its your job to make sure it works.

 

[Zeh Don]

Company makes new engine focused on console development, with PC development a distant second.
Company makes new game using this new engine for consoles.
Numerous design elements, such as skills, mechanics and the GUI are designed solely for the console crowd.
Game doesn't operate correctly on the consoles.

Sounds to me like the Company didn't do their job correctly. Considering how much they focused on consoles, there is literally no excuse.

Now, excuse me, my PC Version is calling.

 

[Pearwood]

I've played prettier games on my PS3 with no lag whatsoever. The slowdown after playing for a long time has been pretty much fixed with the last patch though at least for me. It's just been replaced with a rather nice autosave bug that crashes the game every so often. It's worth mentioning as well that PCs have background programs running and high-RAM operating systems so you can't really just compare the numbers, 256MB is just fine for every other game on the platform.

 

[Mr Jack]

If Bethesda could not get the game to run properly on the PS3, they should not have released it. It doesn't matter that the console are increasingly underpowered.

As for the Wii U debate, recently released rumoured specs paint it as having a similar CPU to the Xbox, an ATI GPU, and 768MB of shared memory. Source: http://wiiudaily.com/2011/12/wii-u-has-quad-core-3ghz-cpu-768-mb-of-ram/

 

[Something Amyss]

Do you blame Bethesda for the broken ps3 version of Skyrim?

Yes. Either don't put it out for the console or don't build a broken game.

How dare people expect Bethesda to actually do their job?

 

[Sandernista]

Consoles are indeed holding gaming back, sadly. Inferior control interfaces and inferior hardware means that since almost all games are developed for multiple platforms at once, the lowest common denominator (pretty much always the console) will be the reigning version. This in turn means that more powerful platforms with more adaptable and flexible controls, hardware and so on will be getting the drivel that's released on inferior platforms.

While this isn't always a bad thing and doesn't always negatively impact the games in question much, it's often enough something that has a negative impact that it's very hard not to resent how the consoles are ruining it for the rest of us. It's a sad fact, but there it is.

However, it's not something that'll change. The console market is where the big bucks are and the gaming industry knows it. Hell, I don't even blame them for going for the money rather than quality. It's probably what I would do if I was in a position to rake in money hand over fist.

By the way, overpuce... I did a little math on how much I've spent on my PC and games there, then on what I spent for the PS3 I use for Blurays and Folding@Home. If I were to buy all the games I have on my PC for the PS3 at average 'new game' prices, I would actually have spent 28% more than on the PC. Short term, you are right. The console is the cheaper way to go. Long-term, the PC is a cheaper system both due to cheaper games (MUCH cheaper if you take Steam sales and so on into account) and the option for gradual upgrades. This isn't even taking into account the fact that most households will need/use a PC anyway, which means the PS3 comes as an extra expense next to the cheap household PC.

Cheap PC=/= Gaming PC. My PC can't play most new games on higher settings, and it was about $800, and that's just hardware, my 360? $130, and I can guarantee all my games will play well.

ETA: My copy of Skyrim works just fine, no bugs at all, maybe some clipping issues.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Do you blame Bethesda for the broken ps3 version of Skyrim? Maybe we should blame Sony.

Skyrim has a memory issue where the longer you play the more memory it takes. The devs say its just how the game works. Well in this day and age shouldn't it be reasonable to expect a system to have more than a paltry 256 mb ram for gaming? The consoles are falling further and further behind what developers are capable of doing. Sony refuses to release a new console with updated specs because they want to recoup their investments from selling the ps3 at a loss during the first half of its life span.

The 360 is even older than the ps3 but has double the ram. Even so 512 mb ram is laughable compared to todays expectations. While the ps3 can barely run skyrim as is, the 360 has the lowest graphical settings of the three versions and its 512 mb will eventually succumb as well.

Meanwhile PC gamers are modding their versions to surpass the 2 gig limit. The consoles are holding games back. Bethesda had alot of ambition for Skyrim and the current consoles are becoming incapable of fulfilling the developers reach. Hopefully when the Wii U comes out it will embarrass the 360 and ps3. Games that barely run or do so with lowered settings for the ps3/360 should run excellently on the Wii U and PC. Hopefully this encourages sony and microsoft to move on and release up to date consoles that give the developers something reasonable to work with.

Ahem.....
[HEADING=1]No one should give Bethesda any kind of pass here.[/HEADING]
They knowingly released a broken game. That is fraud. Don't make excuses for them.