Games developer Dean Calver, currently working as lead programmer for Ninja Theory on Heavenly Sword for the PS3, has posted an interesting article about programming for the PS3's Cell chip.
"Atomic Cache Unit. Never heard of it right?
Well its one of my favorite things on the PS3 and gets little love cos its one of those tiny features that make life so much nicer.
Atomic ops refer to the most important principle in multi threading. It say that a single processor must read/modify/write without another thread interrupting (hence atomic). Without atomicy, multiple core system are much harder (if not near impossible)
The ACU (s) are a part of each SPU that allow atomic updates to occur very quickly. It appears fairly simple each SPU had 512 bytes of cache (yes contrary to what you might have heard SPU do have a tiny bit of cache). 512 bytes is divided into 4 128 byte lines. The MFC (DMA) unit can bring a cache line in from memory and mark it reserved… if another processor writes to the same bit of memory the reservation is lost and you know to repeat the read/modify/write cycle to guarantee atomicy.
All good, but whats really clever its how its implemented. If another SPU asks for that bit of memory its get its from another SPUs cache, if its in there. So you effectively have a fast SHARED 512 bytes. When an SPU writes, the other SPU only have to read from the writing SPU cache rather than DMAing it back to main memory and DMAing it into LS. Cuts down alot of memory traffic. I even abuse it and just use it as a conventional cache and communication channel between SPU. You can push alot of data around with a fast 128 byte path."
The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.
Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!
The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer
Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱
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Grab your katana, and slice your way through this list featuring the best hack and slash games the PlayStation 3 had to offer.
Dante's inferno... an excellent GoW inspired game. So sad the sequels will never be.
heavenly sword was such a short, but amazing game. that game should be prime material to be made into a download only remaster.
I really enjoyed Castlevania, but struggled to get into it again reattempting it a few years back. I still think it does another of things well; story, presentation, level varietily and art style at least. Gameplay maybe has not stood test of time unfortunately which makes it a chore to get through.
dang you linked to his blog. Deano's coming into fame.
For the editing, I have been away from the site for about 6 months don't worry I will get it right from now on ^.^ enjoy
It's amzing how much info is STILL coming out regarding the Cell Chip, it's just amazing technology
that makes him super smart, And that makes our game super sweet!
"Well its one of my favorite things on the PS3 and gets little love cos its one of those tiny features that make life so much nicer."
It gets no love because it makes life so much nicer???
If something makes my life nicer, I give it love.
I doubt the reason it gets no love is "because its one of those tiny features that make life so much nicer.
I believe a language barrier is to blame