Any plans for DCS on the console?

[Guest]

Actually a PS3 could have a good chance of running Black Shark without problems. It's 8 core Cell processor is actually *designed* to handle complex mathematical calculations and clusters of PS3's are already being used as supercomputers. Xbox 360's Power PC processors on the other hand, are suited better for classical gaming without intense calculations.

 

Actually, this is not really true. First off, the PS3 does not have an 8 core processor. It is actually has one general purpose processor (the PPE) and then 7 specialised processors called SPEs (1 SPE is disabled to improve chip yields). Another SPE is reserved for OS use. So, in reality, the PS3 developer has 1 general purpose and 6 specialized processors to work with. The job of the PPE is generally to coordinate the activity of the SPEs, keep them fed with data, and handle any calculations the SPEs cannot handle. In contrast, the Xbox 360 has 3 general purpose processors that are almost identical to the single PPE on the PS3.

 

In any event, the SPEs on the PS3 are really only good for certain types of calculations. They have no branch prediction, so branch intensive code like AI is not very suitable. Because the way that SPEs work is by loading discrete programs onto them, and then passing data into them, and because the amount of local memory for each SPE is relatively small (256k), they are ideally suited for running repeated calculations using relatively small blocks of code. In short, they like to process lots of data using little code. Collision detection, particle systems, audio processing etc (and possibly physics calculations) are all ideal for SPEs. This is also why the Cell processor is suitable for certain types of specialized scientific processing that supercomputers do. However, this really should not be confused with general purpose processing power, which is what PC processors excel at. My understanding is that the majority of PS3 titles do not make use of all or even most of the SPEs.

 

Without knowing a lot more about how DCS is structured and how it consumes most of its CPU cycles, it would be very difficult to predict whether a PS3 would run it well.

Edited January 21, 2009 by wombat778

[Tiger27]

A licensed version of Il2 is being released for the console crowd sometime this year, IL2 Sturmovik Birds Of Prey, according to the forums at 1C it will have a large portion of the IL2 fm etc.

 

I don't own a console myself(my daughter has a Wii)but I'm all for these type of sims coming out on the consoles, I'm sure theres a few hard core simmers out there in console land that dont know they are hard core simmers yet, the more people we can draw into high end sims like BS the better for all IMHO:pilotfly:

 

III/JG11_Tiger

[RedTiger]

A licensed version of Il2 is being released for the console crowd sometime this year, IL2 Sturmovik Birds Of Prey, according to the forums at 1C it will have a large portion of the IL2 fm etc.

 

I don't own a console myself(my daughter has a Wii)but I'm all for these type of sims coming out on the consoles, I'm sure theres a few hard core simmers out there in console land that dont know they are hard core simmers yet, the more people we can draw into high end sims like BS the better for all IMHO:pilotfly:

 

III/JG11_Tiger

 

PC games and PC gamers lend themselves to "hardcore" types of games better than console players do. This isn't to say that both are mutually exclusive, because they aren't, but they can differ drastically.

 

Go google the term "catass". "Catassing" was coined from a person playing Everquest, a PC game. PC games that are not console ports tend to have much more depth, particularly RPGs, even ones you'd consider simplistic. PC gamers will literally play an RPG all night and memorize complex tables, crate spreadsheets, etc. just to increase the damage their character does by 1%. They will put in a lot of effort to get a very small advantage, and much of that effort is focused on more brainy things (researching tables, creating spreadsheets, programming simple programs, figuring out math equations for underlying game mechanics, etc).

 

In other words, consoles are mainstream. PC games are nerdy. :D

 

The very nature of this just makes PC gamers all the more flight sim-friendly. As someone who has done these very same things on various computer RPGs, I can tell you that the effort and drive is not all that different from the way someone might approach flight sims. :)