PS3 and 360 Close in Capability, Says Ubisoft Boss

Ubisoft president doesn't believe one is harder to develop for than the other:

Yves Guillemot, president and CEO of Ubisoft, has stated his belief that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are very close in terms of what is possible from a development perspective.

[RadientFlux]

completely agree.. as I sad anyone excepting a PS2/Xbox difference this generation is going to be disappointed. Sure there will be the odd game but these games will be rare.

[unlimited]

uncharted drakes fortune and ratchet kill any 360 games in visually..

[unlimited]

uncharted drakes fortune and ratchet kill any 360 games in visually..

[gaffyh]

Xbox was a lot more advanced last gen, but PS2 won because it is more popular. Wasn't it Ubisoft that said Naruto could only be done on the 360? LMAO is all I have to say to that...

[hollabox]

I would not say Drake and especially Rachet kills any 360 titles. COD4 looks better then both, and the PS3 version in terms of textures and complexity.

[ktchong]

He actually made that statement at a stockholder conference - to the company's board and stockholders as part of his financial report and forecast.

So he's not making a PR statement to the media or press or anything like that.

[Vip3r]

So does this mean the PS3 actually can achieve the lighting in 360 exclusive Splinter Cell game?

[MK_Red]

They said that kind of lighting in SC5: Conviction (360 exclusive) can only be done on 360 hardware (at the time).

While Ubi is a studio that has worked on both PS3 and 360, I still think that tech pro studios like id, Criterion and Epic are the ones that should talk about these things not business men.

[beavis4play]

so does this mean that the 360 will ever have anything looking close to ratchet,uncharted, HS, KZ2, MGS4, FF13/versus,or GTprologue/5?

[Close_Second]

...I love it when fanboys stand on their soapbox and spiel out the same list of games time and time again. If it was all about visuals then the PS2 would have lost last gen. If it was all about visuals then consoles would never gain a foothold on PC gaming. If it was all about visuals then the Wii would not be kicking butt in terms of console sales.

Slightly off topic but if movies were all about visuals then movies like "Independence Day" would win Oscars for being the best movie, best actor, best director, etc, etc. Same would go for Episode III. However, the best movies most typically go to those that have substance and style over just style.

There is nothing wrong with great visuals but as any gamer knows, great visuals are the icing on the cake when there is great gameplay. Even the best visuals cannot save a game that has average or tired gameplay, regardless of what platform its released on.

By the way - Halo 3 had fantastic visuals. There were moments in that game of sheer stunning brilliance and just because it was in upscaled 720p did not matter one bit.

Oh yes, perhaps you should hold off listing games until they are released. I say this as people like you were probably listing things like Lair a few weeks back as well....and well, where is that now?

[mighty_douche]

this has flame bait writen all over it...

IW have already shown this. its DONE!

[jackfatal]

i guess not!! xbots will say xRROD have better games!!

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Pick one or take your schizo meds.

[jackfatal]

u cant help them!!i am happy with the ps3 but i dont hate 360!! i jusy dont like it!

[Meus Renaissance]

Only main difference right now seems to be the Blu-Ray disc.

[mighty_douche]

now you've gone and done it....

[Xi]

but you get some you lose some.

[THE TERMINATOR]

Look at Uncharted, Killzone 2, MGS4 proof that the Ps3 is way more powerful.
The end.

[The WildAttorney]

I'm sure it's easy to spurt nonsense when you have blinders on for anything that is not Sony. Look at Mass Effect. Look at Call of Duty 4. Both of those games on the Xbox 360 looks just as good as anything in the works for the PS3.

[karlostomy]

but KZ2 and MGS4 are NOT released yet!
Can we can the comparisons until the games are actually out?

[hollabox]

Konami has stated MGS4 can be done on the 360 on a couple of times. Again Drake is not bad looking, but its not like Drake is pushing a insane amount of polygons, or displaying any textures beyond the 360 capabilities. KZ2 is good lighten, but blurry textures based on alpha build.

[Bullseye]

the same thing.One machine has advantages in one department, the other machine has different advantage,but net result is roughly EVEN. Can we possibly drop the rhetoric now and just except it. Is there anyone out there that really still believes either machine is far superior to the other? There is not really any substantial power difference and no real winner in the next gen race. However, there is an awful lot of 'rubbish' next gen software, that we shouldn't be buying on both machines,IMHO.

[Hydrollex]

the ps3 cell by itself without GPU can do more than 360 wtf is that noob dev talking about ? PS3 can do 4 times better than Splinter Cell 5. you want proof ? UNCHARTED

[The WildAttorney]

Keep believing that. Your faith in Sony is all you have to hold on to now. Have you not seen Mass Effect? Of course not. You don't want to see or hear anything that doesn't fit neatly into what you want to believe.

[Silver360]

using all three CPU's and six threads to make a 360 game?

[beavis4play]

what will have to happen is 360 games will have to be on multiple discs. that's what happens.

[THE TERMINATOR]

Oh i forgot to mention GT5

[Xi]

but fanboys still argue that theirs is stronger, the things are equal, only optimization will make a difference.

[bootsielon]

He is supposed to remain neutral.

More news from Captain obvious: "Sony said PS3 is more powerful", "Microsoft said 360 is more...", "Anonymous dev said what he prefers as if it was somehow true...".

By the way, Activision, Konami, Square, Sega, EA, Epic and iDSoftware said PS3 is more powerful, even though they should be neutral. Just take the average.

[hollabox]

Why have all developers produce sub PS3 ports compared to the 360 version? VF5,EA everything, Konami Soccer games etc. You get the point.

[pornflakes]

saying xRRoD you must be a stupid peace of garbage, moron.

@ all PS3fuktards.. iam gettig tired of ya retarded text.

First EA were noob devs, now Ubisoft right!? LOL

Saying the CELL could do more without RSX is the E3 2005 garbage from Sony. You really showed us now that you still believe in Motorstorm running at 120 FPS and 1080p :D :D.. what an social looser.

[beavis4play]

you're tired of retarded text? you can't type, spell and are making up words.(fuktard?) your posts are the very definition of "retarded text".

[patriotZero]

UBISOFT SHUT THE F..K UP

[Shadow Flare]

-Replicate the physics & lighting produced in Killzone 2

-Replicate ANY form of ray-trace lighting as shown in Gran Turismo 5, while producing it's level of graphics and running at 1080p/ 60fps

-Replicate the amount of physics involved in LittleBigPlanet

-Replicate the sheer graphics of Final Fantasy XIII

then i will never believe that the 360 is as powerful as the PlayStation 3

The PS3 is not just a little more powerful. It's alot more powerful

Play Beyond

[TheMART]

Ofcourse you know more then Ubisoft and Silicon Knights combined

RIGHT?

It's not important what's your 'truth'. It's important what dev's, guys that really know, give us as the truth.

Although specific games can be done on a specific console on a specific way which the other can't due to small differences. For example the 360 having the better GPU, Ubisoft can be right on Splinter Cell: Conviction only running on the 360, as another game could be running like it does on the PS3 only on the PS3. With minor tweaks it should run on the other system though.

PS3 is still missing a real online community. It's a free copy of a PC online system.

[Dareaver1]

none of these games have been released yet. State a game that has that now, every developer will hype their game, and feed you a whole lot of jargon. You really don't need to regurgitate it and spit out over and over again. Makes you sound like a lame fanboy. Not accusing you of being one, just stating that your actions are making you appear to be one. and umm as far as physics go, the 360 does have a proven released game that calculates physics at 360fps. Quite a feat if you ask me.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Killzone it looks like and old black and white movie where they try to add color to it, muzle flashes have color but everything else is grey.

[miganda]

keep on talking about games like UNCHARTED. the last bunch of games you sony losers talked about did real well in the sales department. really moved alot of units.hehehe things are now truly reversed. the emperor has foreseen it.last gen xbox fans cried that there games were superior while sony fans laughed all the way to the finish line. now sony droids claim tech superiority while 360 fans are getting all the sales, and best games. i'll take this position any day. push all the polly mumbo jumbo that you want, the bottom line is ps3 games are sittin on shelves while 360 games lead the new generation. dont believe me look who sold more guitar hero 3 games. hint it dosent start with an S. loser's

[TheMART]

So after Silicon Knights, Ubisoft says the same.

Sony tries to push the PS3 as überconsole. But its just a hard to program console mostly sold as a cheap BluRay player. It's missing the best part of gaming: an online premium service with unified friendlist (community)

EDIT

To that brainless one below:

Community indeed. A community forms itself, but is supported by a great communication system, like voice over ANY game you play. If I play Gears (Single player OR online doesn't matter) and my friend plays PGR4, on any time we can talk. Don't have to quit the game, can play on. On any time I can jump in to his online game, or he could join me for playin Gears co-op. With the achievement points in the community I can prove myself.

Home isn't a community. Home is a second life rippoff, another gimmick to drag the attention away from the things that ain't working in PSN right here, right now.

It's just easy to see you like to wait. For Home and games. And then be shocked because Sony has been lying to you AGAIN

[bootsielon]

Microsoft surely has brainwashed you. A unified friends list is not a community, jack ass. HOME looks more like it. You can't really see your friends' friends and interact with them, especially outside a specific game, can you? Community my 455

[fredy]

comment you must be the only one waiting for HOME to make virtual friends.

You need to get out and meet real people..

A little fresh air does not hurt.

HOME is a second life rip-off and it is doing nothing more different them Second life or Sims. You Sony fanboys need to get in touch with REALITY again.

Since this is coming from UBIsoft and similar sayings by that other dennis guy, as always fanboys talk like they know sh*t about game development on here....hahahaha Idiots

[pornflakes]

You know the White Enige in FF13 can run on xbox360?? Just google, moron.
You know 360 can handle the physics and lightning in KZ2? (rofl, theres nothing special, newbie)

GT5? You know Mass Effect displays more polygons then any car in GT5?

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

"It is questionable if there is a difference between 1080P and 720P. All of our games are likely to be 720P because of the faster refresh rates. There are all kinds of trade-offs. It takes a lot more RAM to do 1080P. You’ll reserve RAM for the textures. 720P is just less pixels. There is definitely a huge difference from 720P and analog."

Sony may be pushing the whole 1080p
Crap ,but its evident with 512 of Ram this is BS!!
The 1080p Games look rather less polished the texture suffer; the amount of Polygons in the background and environment suffer.

Split,512mb and 50 GB Blu-ray dont mix.Sony! thanks for deceiving us!
Im starting to notice this in games that do 1080p
They feel lifeless and dull not so rich!!
What a joke 1080p on all games!
IF this BS happens on their next system im done with PS3 and sticking with PC!
Unless they start building scalable Consoles with upgradabability ,since all these damn games are based on PC engines anyways!!!!DOOOH!
Just give us 720p and more life and detail in games!

[The WildAttorney]

Sony Fanyboys are the biggest fools I've ever seen in my entire life.

I note the following that has been posted by someone else with far greater knowledge than me:

The Playstation 3 can only display 275,000,000 polygons per second, compared to the 500,000,000 polygons per second of the Xbox 360.

That is the reason why games like John Madden Football 2008, NCAA Football 2008, All-Pro Football 2008, and many other games from EA Sports, 2K Sports, and so many others all run at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, but only 30 frames per second on the Playstation 3.

Gamespot specifically said in the review of those sports games: “The Xbox 360 versions run smoothly at 60 frames per second at 1080p resolution, while the Playstation 3 versions struggle to run at 30 frames per second at 720p resolution.”

It isn’t just sports games with that problem. Look at all the Tony Hawk Skating games, Tom Clancy Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and F.E.A.R. They have frame rates that drop below 20 frames per second on the PS3 and go into slow motion it is so bad…even though the Xbox 360 versions have very smooth framerates.

Oblivion is NOW BETTER on the Xbox 360!!!

When Oblivion was released a year later on the PS3, it used a new shader design…that had NOTHING to do with hardware technology; it was just something put into the new version of the game as a software program. The download was released for the Xbox 360 later on, but the PS3 fanboys always pointed out, “But when you compare the actual discs, the PS3 one has some advantages (although the Xbox 360 version also has advantages, and was ALWAYS rated higher).

Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition is now available for the Xbox 360, and when you now compare Oblivion on the Xbox 360 to Oblivion on the PS3, there is NO DOUBT that the Xbox 360 version is significantly better; that is why it is rated higher!

The Playstation 3 version of Oblivon is a perfect example that what this man is saying about the Hard Drive of the PS3 being used to help out with memory limitations is NOT true. Consider the FACT that the Playstation 3 version of Oblivion does NOT allow the entire world to exist in the game at the same time, like the Xbox 360 version does. This is because of the Memory Bandwidth hardware bottleneck of the Playstation 3.

Also, when it comes to RAM, the Xbox 360 certainly DOES have fundamental advantages over the Playstation 3!

For example, the CPU of the PS3 can NEVER access more than 256MB of RAM at any point. The Xbox 360 CPU is free to access up to 512MB of RAM if there was a need. With the PS3, there are plenty of times when the CPU needs more than 256MB of RAM, and the Video-RAM of the PS3 is actually using less than 256MB of RAM, which means that if the PS3 had a Unified RAM environment–like the Xbox 360’s–then that unused Video-RAM could help the CPU, like it does on the Xbox 360. OBVIOUSLY, the Xbox 360 RAM design is much more flexible; it helps developers in ways that they enjoy working with.

Plus, it’s important to remember that the original design of the Playstation 3 called for the used of TWO Cell CPU processors–each with two Threads that could Send signals to the SPE subprocessors.

However, when Sony saw the design of the Xbox 360, and they saw how much better the Xbox 360 was, then Sony was forced to redesign the Playstation 3 very quickly in a way that hurt the PS3 system. This is nearly identical to what happened with Sega and the Saturn. Sega saw how much better the original PS1 was, and they were forced to quickly redesign the Saturn in a way that used parallel processing that was difficult to work with and was more expensive. This is EXACTLY what happened with the Playstation 3.

The original design of the PS3 was not even supposed to used a GPU, because it was going to have two of the Cell CPU processors. But when Sony saw the revolutionary ATI GPU in the Xbox 360 that was Custom designed for the Xbox 360, and was 1.5 years ahead of its time (since the PC didn’t see similar Unified Shader technology until January 30, 2007), then Sony was forced to removed one of the Cell CPUs in the PS3, and instead add a Nvidia GPU. But there was NOT time to custom design the GPU, so Sony was forced to included a four-year old generic GPU in the PS3. That is why people often point out the vast superiority of the Xbox 360 GPU.

Now that the PS3 only has one 3.2Ghz Cell CPU, it means that the PS3 has only two Threads capable of Sending signals to the six SPE sub-processors running parallel. Each of those six SPE processors is capable of Receiving a Threaded signal; however, the PS3 CPU is only capable of Sending two Threaded signals. This is where the hardware “bottleneck” of the PS3 reveals itself. Programmers often say that the PS3 has two arms (CPU Threads) that are trying to juggle six balls (SPE sub-processors). Obviously, that is NOT possible, and that is why the Playstation 3 hardware is such a BIG disappointment.

With the Xbox 360, Microsoft used a much newer and better form of technology. PCs often brag about their “dual-core” CPU design. The Xbox 360 actually takes that to the next level and used a “tri-core” CPU design, with each CPU using the most developer-favored videogame processor available–the PowerPC.

The Xbox 360 is literally the exact opposite when compared to the Playstation 3 in terms of hardware design and efficiency. The Xbox 360 has three 3.2Ghz CPUs, each with two Threads capable of Sending instructions. But the Xbox 360 doesn’t the outdated parallel processing environment of the PS3. There are no “sub-processors” to worry about with the Xbox 360. The signals can be focused on CPU and GPU commands. This literally means the Xbox 360 has six arms (CPU Threads) that are being asked to juggle only two balls (GPU and CPU functions).

THAT is why the developers absolutely LOVE the Xbox 360 and can design games so much more efficiently for the Xbox 360.

THAT is why games are released so much earlier for the Xbox 360.

THAT is why the overwhelming majority of Xbox 360 games offer better graphic and online performance on the Xbox 360.

THAT is NOT going to change!

It may be easier to port a PS3 game to the Xbox 360 than it is to port an Xbox 360 to the PS3 (since the Xbox 360 is more powerful in terms of videogame performance–500,000,000 polygons for the Xbox 360 is more than the 275,000,000 for the PS3), but the Xbox 360 will continue to be the Lead Platform this generation for two reasons:

(1) Because the Xbox 360 is so much easier for developers to develop games for and experiment with new types of gameplay.

(2) Because the Xbox 360 has sold over Eight-Million more systems than the Playstation 3, and that lead continues grow by hundreds of thousands of systems each month, in terms of Worldwide Sales.

[ip-student]

But I suspect developers are going to compensate for the graphical short comings of the PS3 (as well as its problems handling branching code) and in the end it will be a wash (or hard to see when you are playing a game). The real problem for PS3-only developers is that they are going to have to be more careful and spend more money getting the performance out of the PS3. So they are not going to have the profit they would have on other systems.

And the cost of making a DS game is such that they can make money with only 500k invested rather than the 15-17 mil is takes to make a great console game for the PS3/XBOX 360. We need to have better ways of creating inexpensive games so that developers can sell 200k and still make money (rather than need to sell over a million to pay for the 15 mil budget.

This is why I am a fan of ray tracing - it wastes a lot of cpu power but it can potentially completely change the cost of creating games.

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

But you forget one thing!You are not an engineer nor game Programmer with
Sony or MS.
SO shut the Fuukup go type an essay on Parallelism or SSD Nand Technology.Noob.Loser!
News flash!
The Xenos and RSX are already outdated!Both are budgeted designs for console versions and perform acording to their generation(about same!).

Although Nvidia now holds the clear Crown. With 8800Ultra 768MB cards.

Hi resolution and frame rate are dependent on RAM and 512 is not enough !!There will be sacrifice! Not everything is for Graphics Idiot.
Stick to playing games not hardware!

[Cynical-Gamerzus]

But you forget one thing!You are not an engineer nor game Programmer with
Sony or MS.
SO shut the Fuukup go type an essay on Parallelism or SSD Nand Technology.Noob.Loser!
News flash!
The Xenos and RSX are already outdated!Both are budgeted designs for console versions and perform acording to their generation(about same!).

Although Nvidia now holds the clear Crown. With 8800Ultra 768MB cards.

Hi resolution and frame rate are dependent on RAM and 512 is not enough !!There will be sacrifice! Not everything is for Graphics Idiot.
Stick to playing games not hardware!

[bootsielon]

The cell doesn't even work that way you dipsh1t. The SPUs don't need to communicate with the main CPU. You sure eat whatever anyone throws at you, right moron? No wonder you're an "Attorney" and not a programmer.

[Guardian0fPeace]

I think people do need to understand that whether geting the 360 or the ps3, they're getting one helluva deal. This is not the first article from reliable sources that have constantly been working with both systems and find both to be astonishingly close in capability. Some articles from other such sources (They have been seen on this site) have described how the 360 is capable of 10-15% more graphic detail, while the ps3, due to the spe's (floating point processors) is just around 10-15% more capable of accurate physics. Really people, why all the fighting? The systems are close enough in hardware capability that if that is one of the factors in determining which console to get, you can just disregard the hardware and decide based on the games. We all have different tastes for games, there's no right or wrong in that aspect, so why people bash each other over that is beyond me.

[pornflakes]

Devs really dont care about hardware sales.. they just want to see software sales.

The PS3 is better known as a cheap Blu Ray player than a videogame System. Devs are scared about that opinion - we see it on the Software sales.

Iam just waiting on the best PS3 game so far how much it will be sold... i bet 1 Million in its first 2 weeks for 360

and 100-200k for PS3

[aliveinboston]

This site is being taken over by paid Microsoft goons who copy and paste their own posts under various user names in various threads.

What's worse, those posts are filled with something called FUD. This is a dirty technique that some companies, especially Microsoft, have been known to use to intentionally confuse customers. Typical Microsoft dirty tricks.

Disgusting. The people who run this site ought to start tracing IP addresses.

[Guardian0fPeace]

You're right, they should track IP addresses...didn't they say they were going to like, a year ago? Well maybe they did for a while but got tired of it and settled down. Not cool...

[Raptors]

lol @ people on this site trying to dispute what developers say. Honestly I'm tired of hearing bash what the 360 can do. Have you seen COD 4? I'm not talking about low res videos. Im talking about playing the hgame on an HDTV. That game is friggin beautiful and in my opinion the best looking game on both systems. Both systems pulled off the game beautifully, so how can you dispute the 360 is not a powerful console? I'll say it again, we were lied about the emotion engine and if you think games are gonna look much better than KZ 2 or COD 4 then you're in for another disappointment.

[Solotov]

Yet another developer saying the 2 consoles are essentially equal.

[fredy]

Lied...to it's fans, same as 1080P on every game.

[SaMiR111]

COOL

[Shaka2K6]

Then we talk, gears was the best x360 could do with like only 2 enemieson screen so, PS3 is easily 5 times more powerfull then x360.

[heihoosilver]

in my country we call you " um gajo com um monte de merda na cabeça."
" one guy with is head full of sh!t."
everyone is telling that they are prety equal, the people that work with the machines and now came a sh!t head trying to be smart.

[Lanontscuz]

they are probably equal in power....maybe. i am just a gamer not a programmer and i own a ps3. bcuz out of the box i thought ps3 has more to offer in terms of other things it can do...ie bluray player which was a big plus for me bcuz i wanted an hd player. playing a different music other than what came with the game is no biggie...hello IPOD!. anyways it all ends with our preference with the games each console comes out with.

[Guardian0fPeace]

it is all about the games, hardware capability comparisons are pretty much irrelevant since the systems are so close in that respect--one has a slight advantage over the other in a couple aspects, just as the other does in other aspects, it's not like pone system has it all and the other's got nothing, and people here are just pounding each other over preferences. Personally, I hope that one day someone like Epic will make a game (would make me leap for joy if they were to do this with UT3) that would allow players from ps3, 360 and PC all play eachother online--with a 360, quad-core pc, and eventually 2 ps3's and another 360 in the house, I'll would be having some serious party-gaming!!