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Facepalm: PS3 Hard to Program for "On Purpose"

Posted by Bob Mackey

 

Kaz Hirai: "We meant to do that."

Apparently, console business sense dictates that you show utter contempt for any programmer with the hubris to program for your hardware--according to Sony Computer Entertainment chairman Kaz Hirai, anyway. It seems that the PS3 was intentionally made difficult to program for so that the software won't really "wow" us until Sony's newest console reaches its final days. Hey, it worked for the PS2; right, guys? Guys? Guys!?

Hirai's quote on the subject from a recent Official Playstation Magazine interview (via Eurogamer) is actually much more damaging than my personal attempts to insult him:

"We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that [developers] want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?"

I ask that you answer Hirai's rhetorical question in the comments below. Thanks for your time.

(Example: YOU MAKE GAMES EASILY WITHOUT ARTIFICIAL CONSTRAINTS YOU MORON)

Related Links:

New Year's PS3 Wish List: part 1
New Year's PS3 Wish List: part 2
Sign of the Times: Current Gen to Stick Around a Little Longer


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

joel said:

<img src="img513.imageshack.us/.../>

January 21, 2009 3:59 PM

GeekIndustries said:

You try to breathe while getting SMOKED by Nintendo.

...tsc tsc tsc.

January 21, 2009 4:44 PM

Amber Ahlborn said:

This seems to be his standard reply for all of Sony's screw ups.  Remember the button placement debacle on the PSP?  

January 21, 2009 4:46 PM

Ian said:

So what he's saying is essentially thus:

When it's easy for programmers to get amazing graphics in a game and they get them right off the bat, then the system becomes pointless for the rest of the 9...I mean 4 or 5 years of it's life span?

Wow.  Maybe what you can do is make better GAMES?  Pretty graphics don't make a good game, I wish execs realized this.

January 21, 2009 9:36 PM

Bob Mackey said:

You only need to look at the first year of the PS2 to see what happens when a console is hard to program for.

January 22, 2009 8:52 AM

John Constantine said:

Truer words were never spoken, Bob. Every now and again, I remember Driving Emotion Type S and I start dry heaving.

But yeah, Kaz really needs to shut up. Public opinion of Sony as a gaming brand has been falling into the shitter ever since Ken Kutaragi said the Playstation 3 was going to be so AWESOME and so EXPENSIVE that people are going to want to work longer hours just to get one. The arrogance is staggering.

It's strange to hear the "PS3 is too difficult to program for" line popping back up in the press. Most multi-platform games run identically on both the 360 and PS3 at this point, and Sony's first and second-party studios have stopped commenting on the growing pains of programming for Cell-architecture back in late '07.

January 22, 2009 1:18 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for partial refund.

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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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