Playstation Version

[Vigil]

Now this is not meant to be a bait thread or a flame starter, I apologize if it erupts into that.

 

I have been very interested in this game as rpgs have been my favorite genre of gaming for the past 20 years. Ever since I played Dues Ex I have really looked into games that allow me to choose how I make it through the game.

 

I just got finished watching the Alpha Protocol footage on the PSN digital magazine "Qore" and I noticed that the in game footage in the background was being played on an X-Box 360. While I find that fact amusing to a degree, I can't also help but feel disheartened. My X-Box 360 is broken and my computer is starting to feel its age, but I felt secure in that I would be able to play this title on my Playstation 3. As a side note upon registration I noticed only an area to indicate my gamertag and not my PSN id, strange.

 

Now for the question in this long winded post if a Playstation exclusive magazine cannot secure in game footage on its own console, how am I as the consumer supposed to believe that I won't be shelling out money for an inferior product? Setting any personal bias aside the majority of multiplatform games these days are looking identical to the naked eye, but I am now concerned.

 

If anyone has any answers or rebuttals that confirm or deny my post I would be happy to read them.

[cb.spike]

Describe the footage, pls.

[Zoma]

The game is using Unreal Engine 3 which is optimised for both PS3 and XBOX 360.

 

That assure you at all?

[Llyranor]

Say that again with a straight face, Zoma.

[Zoma]

The game is using Unreal Engine 3 which is optimised for both PS3 and XBOX 360.

 

That assure you at all?

 

Again and again and AGAIN.

 

But heyz, thiz iz internetz, take wordz with saltz yo dood?

[Vigil]

Describe the footage, pls.

 

In the footage the host Veronica Belmont and ( I forget his name it was late last night ) a member of the team working on Alpha Protocol were discussing the game. Set as their backdrop was a large, possibly 70 inch rear projection tv with the game being played on it. Several times during the sequence of gameplay there was prompts on the screen to press (A) in green to hop over obstacles or open up things etc.

 

To Zoma: As far as Unreal Engine 3 being optimized for PS3, I have seen some developers state that their game was really only possible after the releases of UT 3. I also point to the fact that Last Remnant is released for 360 while announced alongside the PS3 version which still has no release date. There is also the fact that Last Remnant will be releasing much sooner on PC when it wasn't even announced at the same time as the console versions. I honestly have my reservations about the Unreal Engine 3 or 3.5.

 

On another note I can't wait to see the CryEngine 3.

[Zoma]

In consideration of possibility that AP uses the latest Unreal engine build, I think the quality between PS3 and XBOX360 shouldn't differ too much or too far with exception of resolution size and anti-aliasing depth.

 

However, it is as you said that the PS3 version tends to take far longer to develop in comparison to the 360 version and the PC which is easily ported to and forth easily.

 

To express the issue of multi-platform of PS3 games, an Obsidian developer explained clearly the problem: A game made for PS3 has no difficulty to be ported to the 360. But if a game is made for a 360 in mind and then to be ported to the PS3 makes it technically difficult due to the differences of how the memory resource allocation architecture is set up.

 

I'm not sure what is the situation for the PS3 port for AP will be presented, but there is possibility of delays involved just like many other PS3 games you mentioned. I suppose the only comparison can be made with an Unreal3 engine game would be the recent Mirror's Edge.

[Alvin Nelson]

That was probably a bug with an icon.

[Wrath of Dagon]

The answer to your question is that 360 is most likely the lead platform, thus the only version which currently runs. Whether that means the PS3 port will be inferior/take longer, I don't think anyone will know until it's much closer to the game's release. It's true that it's much easier to port from PS3 to 360 than the other way around, but that also means leading with the PS3 puts the whole project at much greater risk.

 

Edit: Btw, 360 has a 3 yr warranty, have you tried to get MS to fix it? They're usually pretty good about that.

Edited March 13, 2009 by Wrath of Dagon

[GeneralLee]

Footage described!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFQ8masslQs

 

I didn't notice any 360-specific icons on the screen.

[Morgoth]

Me neither. But most of that footage is old it seems. I remember there're plenty of scenes that I already saw during the E3 2008 presentation.

[Vigil]

Footage described!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFQ8masslQs

 

I didn't notice any 360-specific icons on the screen.

 

While the normal footage is available in HD in Qore you can see a reference to it on the screen in 2:56 the button is there but hard to make out in this clip unfortunately.

 

To Wrath: Yes and Microsoft would not help me, the three year warranty is on the RROD issue, while my DVD drive stopped being able to read discs and constantly gouged them in a circular fashion.

 

I also don't understand how leading on PS3 is a riskier affair if it guarantees a quality product on both platforms, unless of course the team feels incapable of handling development on PS3, in which case maybe they should take the extra time to learn the ins and outs. I would just think that if I were trying to target a broader audience I would be avoiding all the retooling later and get the hard work done now. PS3 gamers have a real stigma against ' lousy 360 ports '. As you can tell by my initial post and concern.

 

I do appreciate all the replies here considering that I am new to the forums and would just like to say thanks for the mature responses.

 

I suppose I was grasping at straws hoping for a comment from a developer but I imagine they are quite busy working on this product, if anything I can hope this post and the interview with QORE shows the team working on Alpha Protocol that some black box users are extremely interested and look forward to a quality product.

 

Edit- I just noticed GeneralLee is a developer so please get back to me if you can. Thanks for your time.

 

Double Edit- So is Alvin Nelson >.< my mistake for not looking at the side bar. A more visible reference would be at 3:04 in the clip while the character is at the door. Oh to have a way to capture the image in Qore, ill see what I can do with my iphone.

Edited March 14, 2009 by Vigil

[Vigil]

 

 

So these are the images I was able to capture and upload using my iphone, I am sorry about the poor quality of the images but they are slightly better than youtube video. These images reflect 3:04 of the footage on the youtube video, I hope this clears up what I am trying to point out in this post.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I also don't understand how leading on PS3 is a riskier affair if it guarantees a quality product on both platforms, unless of course the team feels incapable of handling development on PS3, in which case maybe they should take the extra time to learn the ins and outs. I would just think that if I were trying to target a broader audience I would be avoiding all the retooling later and get the hard work done now. PS3 gamers have a real stigma against ' lousy 360 ports '. As you can tell by my initial post and concern.

It's more difficult to develop for, so could take a lot longer, which costs money, which means the whole project could be canceled. At least leading on the 360, they know they can get that and the PC version done if worse comes to worse.

[Vigil]

I also don't understand how leading on PS3 is a riskier affair if it guarantees a quality product on both platforms, unless of course the team feels incapable of handling development on PS3, in which case maybe they should take the extra time to learn the ins and outs. I would just think that if I were trying to target a broader audience I would be avoiding all the retooling later and get the hard work done now. PS3 gamers have a real stigma against ' lousy 360 ports '. As you can tell by my initial post and concern.

It's more difficult to develop for, so could take a lot longer, which costs money, which means the whole project could be canceled. At least leading on the 360, they know they can get that and the PC version done if worse comes to worse.

 

 

Well I suppose that makes a bit of sense logistically if you feel your project could be shuttered mid term, and given the times who knows?

 

I just want to use this post to also note that I came to the realization that in my initial post I never pointed out what led me to believe the footage was from the 360 version of the game. At many points through the course of the footage the character would go to take an action and a big green (A) button would appear, or so it looks like to me. It looks like a system used in many games where they require an action button. Now there is no A button on the PS3 controller that I can recall, and while there is an A on the keyboard they aren't typically green. This is what I am trying to show people in my above image so I can gather some more response.

[Deraldin]

I just got finished watching the Alpha Protocol footage on the PSN digital magazine "Qore" and I noticed that the in game footage in the background was being played on an X-Box 360. While I find that fact amusing to a degree, I can't also help but feel disheartened. My X-Box 360 is broken and my computer is starting to feel its age, but I felt secure in that I would be able to play this title on my Playstation 3. As a side note upon registration I noticed only an area to indicate my gamertag and not my PSN id, strange.

 

Now for the question in this long winded post if a Playstation exclusive magazine cannot secure in game footage on its own console, how am I as the consumer supposed to believe that I won't be shelling out money for an inferior product? Setting any personal bias aside the majority of multiplatform games these days are looking identical to the naked eye, but I am now concerned.

 

If anyone has any answers or rebuttals that confirm or deny my post I would be happy to read them.

 

I wouldn't worry about the button prompts too much. They probably didn't even think about the button prompts when they were putting together the demo footage for Qore. If you have/are watching Gametrailers TV, there were a couple segments of dialogue that were shown that had playstation button prompts.

[mkreku]

I guess this capture (from GTTV) should ease your mind:

 

[Vigil]

Ah well it seems I will have to hop on over to gametrailers and take a look at some of the footage they have of the game. I haven't really used them as a source since they ran x-box footage and labeled it playstation footage in a side by side comparison of GRID.

[Jason Bourne]

Yikes. Those are some of the ugliest looking textures on his arm/hand I've ever seen!

 

EDIT-I was beaten!

Edited March 14, 2009 by Jason Bourne

[Niles Rodriguez]

Personally the only version I'm going to touch is the PC version even if I own both 360 and PS3. I already can't stand the lesser textures and other rough edges of most 720p console games upscaled to my 1080p Bravia. PC with a Radeon 4870 + wireless Xbox 360 controller and wireless gaming receiver + long DVI to HDMI cable from my computer room to my living room = the ultimate gaming experience and the best of both PC and console worlds.

 

Unreal Engine 3 games run very well even on older PCs, and you can get a cheap 8800 GT or Radeon 4850 for a song.

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

A product is a product. I highly doubt that the 360 and PC versions will be great and the PS3 version will suck. Do you have any examples to cite of such a game?

[Pop]

Team Fortress 2's PS3 port blew in comparison to other platforms, but that was mainly because Valve didn't really support it and the port was handed off to some other, smaller developer.

[Cl_Flushentityhero]

Um, how? A few aliasing problems?

 

Edit: for reference http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/...fe2theorangebox

 

In comparison to other platforms is not the point. The point is that a good game is still a good game regardless of a finicky port, which the topic creator suggested was not the case.

Edited March 15, 2009 by Cl_Flushentityhero

[Moatilliatta]

Um, how? A few aliasing problems?

They mention more than that in the first quoted review:

There has been some criticism levied against the PS3 version of Orange Box for daunting load times and framerate issues and while they are present, it's easy to forgive these technical issues given the quality of the game itself.

I've also heard about connection problems and other nasties.

 

Edit: Also not that the other versiosn got a better average score.

 

I doubt any of this matters as Obsidian doesn't seem like they're gonna leave the PS3 cold.

Edited March 15, 2009 by Moatilliatta

[Vigil]

The original Rainbow Six Vegas was a pretty bad port, and the whole Orange Box as mentioned was really bad in many ways. When I started playing HL2 on the PS3 the loading was every few minutes . . . literally.

 

My concern however was that perhaps the PS3 version may not be up to snuff in comparison and I would find that disheartening, because yes it has happened before.

 

Some more I can think of would be F.E.A.R., early iterations of EA sports titles like Madden 08 or the really bad port of Pro Evolution Soccer 08. I had heard the Lost Planet version for PS3 was real bad but it seemed fine to me =/

 

Oh and something a bit more recent would be the release of C&C Red Alert 3 : Ultimate Edition