Dark Sector had some trouble running on PS3

by Nick Doerr { Feb 27th 2008 at 4:30PM }

We mean exactly what we said. Dark Sector was having some of the usual PS3 development issues. Josh Austin, producer for Digital Extreme's title, said these words: "So, yeah, this is the PS3 version, umm... it looks just as good as the 360 version, which we're very happy about. Towards the end we started having some serious conversations about what we were gonna do, uh, but we ended up pulling it off, so we're very proud of that." When asked for clarification, he said "It was just not running as well as the 360."

Hardly confirmation for proposed any sort of proposed cancellation, but it does lead one to believe there were some major issues with the PS3 version -- as usual. Everyone's got to get that first hot wing down before they can start eating the rest. If they spit it out, they'll never be able to handle the sauce. Who said food analogies were silly?

Tags: dark-sector, digital-extremes

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

TinyTim121 @ Feb 27th 2008 4:38PM

It's been around a year now, so i'm starting to get a bit worried as to why games developers are still having problems with the Playstation 3 hardware.

Don't get me wrong, when i look at games like resistance 2, Burnout paradise and LittleBigPlanet, i'm aware the PS3 is capable of exceptional games.

But still, there are a lot of developers who are still struggling with the PS3 hardware.

HalaMadrid!!! @ Feb 27th 2008 6:23PM

Sony should work more with Epic's unreal engine just like the 360 is doing right now not only in Unreal tournament 3 but in more upcoming games

Eddie @ Feb 27th 2008 6:35PM

Seriously man. If after a year the PS3 is running games with the same quality graphics as the 360, doesn't common sense tell you that when developers have worked with PS3 for 3 or 4 years the games will look better and run better than on any other console?

Or do the first PS2 games look better than the most recent ones?

Haiddasalami @ Feb 28th 2008 12:00AM

This is their first PS3 game. Give them time.

upz @ Feb 27th 2008 4:40PM

Remember all that talk a few months ago of "Rest assured, we're leading on PS3." And when all demo footage of the game showed 360 button prompts, we got "Oh we're not showing the 360 one for any reason in particular, we're leading on PS3." Remember when we were supposed to get a January demo? These guys have been feeding us bull from the day one. I'd be surprised if this game was anything but a sloppy mess on the PS3.

John McPoop @ Feb 27th 2008 7:33PM

@upz

AGREED!!! Great point. I was ready to buy this game for my PS3 but now I might go 360 (if I get it at all). But, I hate buying games for the 360 anymore and its still with Max being repaired for RROD #6. So I will probably just skip it all together. Especially with better games on the horizon and recent releases like The Club & Front Lines getting my attention (I like demos of both).

What a surprise that another UE3 game is having PS3 issues. Although I think its more than just that. Makes me mad because this game looked pretty solid.

rawd @ Feb 27th 2008 4:44PM

It's not problems with the hardware, it's the lazy devs relying on the middleware to port the 360 code to PS3.

It's not the 80's anymore, you cant just click a button and convert a game to multiplat.

Brock @ Feb 27th 2008 4:49PM

Obviously there are lots of devs (*glares at Capcom and EA*) that are still tempted by the big red port button.

chris.westermann @ Feb 27th 2008 4:51PM

Can we all just agree that there is no problem with game development on the PS3, its the developers that keep trying to shoehorn ports of Xbox360 games on the PS3 thats an issue. Geese, honestly.
Sony has come out the PhyreEngine platform that allows developers to program in a safe and familiar PC environment, and then build a PS3 specific version easily. Hopefully that will alleviate some of the problems first time developers have when writing PS3 games.
Anytime I hear of a game developer going on about how hard it was to port, or couldn't make the game perform well when compared to their initial Xbox360 version, it just tells me they are lousy game developers, period.

Chris Rah Osiris @ Feb 27th 2008 4:53PM

I feel very similar

TinyTim121 @ Feb 27th 2008 5:07PM

Oh yeah i agree, i don't think there is a problem with PS3 hardware. MGS4, LBP, Resistance 2, uncharted the list goes on and on

But still, why are all the developers still complaining of problems even if sony have helped them with new gaming engines?

Perhaps it is just down to laziness, i dunno. I don't have much knowledge in the area to be fair lol

I do hope that developers start getting to grips with Sonys system soon though

upz @ Feb 27th 2008 4:53PM

It seems that the post I intended to make is refusing to show up, but I'll just say that this is pretty damn disappointing for a game that was supposedly "leading development on PS3."

reson8er @ Feb 27th 2008 5:07PM

I have a bad feeling about this...

Stef Geiger @ Feb 27th 2008 5:14PM

I may be wrong, but didn't Dark Sector START its life on the PS3? I distinctly remember it being announced as a PS3 game in April 2004 - yes, 2004. That being said, I would wonder what made the PS3 build so sickly considering the fact that it wasn't likely ported from the 360.

Jason @ Feb 27th 2008 5:19PM

This sort of complaining from 360 centric devs makes me sick.

The PS3 is a fantastic platform to program for. These devs should be applauding Sony's forward looking design, not bitching about it because it's not as easy as the already-obsolete 360 design.

Just wait till the PS3 starts amazing everyone with real time ray traced graphics that the 360 architecture couldnt dream of.

The CELL is like a baby giant right now, its big and strong in its current state, but nothing like when it matures. Just wait people, the PS3 is going to drop jaws in the next few years.

Stef Geiger @ Feb 27th 2008 6:11PM

...the PS3 is going to start amazing people with "real-time ray-traced graphics"? Now, I know what you're referring to, but in general, do you have any CLUE as to what the hell you're talking about?

Jason @ Feb 27th 2008 6:57PM

Yes I do have a CLUE Stef. Look it up before you start spewing your ignorance trying to make people look stupid.

There have been numerous articles written on the fairly new field of gaming grade real time ray tracing, and a few times it is mentioned that the PS3 would demolish 360's AND current PC's at it. The CELL is exceedingly fast at doing exactly what is needed to pull this off.

Seriously Stef, at least do your homework before you make a fool of yourself next time.

Syn @ Feb 27th 2008 5:22PM

For starters. This is Dark Sector's first PS3 game. And second they've mainly worked on PC titles. It only makes sense, they are really just trying to copy/paste it onto the PS3. Its like trying to put a square into a hole of circle.

Syn @ Feb 27th 2008 5:33PM

By Dark Sector I mean Digital Extreme's first game...

Jona @ Feb 27th 2008 9:58PM

I hope this gets sorted out soon too since I love my PS3, but the reason for all the porting is probably the quality of the development tools for the 360. Having used Visual Studio before (though not for games), it is significantly better than everything else out there. I wouldn't be surprised if the directX/VS combo is the main reason for all this porting.

Dahk @ Feb 27th 2008 5:27PM

Well you can't deny that the PS3 is more difficult to program for naturally. Give developers time to ramp up, especially since it'll be their first PS3 project. Lax it up folks - don't just talk it up like it's the simplest thing in the world.

wauktownzown @ Feb 27th 2008 5:39PM

dark sector isnt the company syn..digital extremes is..i wanted to check this game out at 1st..but come to find out it runs on the unreal engine 3..idk..me and that engine dont click..

John @ Feb 27th 2008 8:55PM

At first I wasn't sure what was so great about Unreal Engine... but the more I play, the more subtleties I see... and allowance for very consistent framerates with a lot of stuff going on and different lighting features. Wanna know how to instantly love Unreal engine? Play the Lost Planet demo.

KiraXD @ Feb 27th 2008 5:59PM

uh... i thought it uses Digital Extremes own Engine called Evolution Engine... it doesnt use UE3.

John McPoop @ Feb 27th 2008 7:42PM

Your right.. My apologies...They were going to use UE3 but did not because it was not far enough along for PS3 development

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/1715/Dark-Sector-Preview

mojojojo1 @ Feb 27th 2008 6:25PM

any1 cares for this game anyway??

Musiczone @ Feb 27th 2008 6:46PM

I am really starting to loose hope of ever getting any equal versions of PS3 games compared to 360 games... I wouldn't be surprised if GTA IV gets screwed up on PS3 because currently I really am just about putting up with not buying bad ports of 360 games and just hoping one of my favourite games GTA IV will be indentical on the PS3 but now I really don't know about any PS3 game anymore.

Its terrible to own a system where you have to check reviews to see if the framerate is equal on the PS3 for every single game and keep your fingers crossed for any game on PS3 to be equal to a console that is inferior. I really hate it!

John @ Feb 27th 2008 8:58PM

Yeah, but remember dude, the ps3 exclusives are always better than the ports-- and remember too in the beginning of ps2... for some developers it took years to get it right. As for Rockstar, Midnight Club 3 on Xbox was almost identical to that of ps2... the ps2 version is amazing, and the xbox runs more than three times faster-- that's Sony's future-proof at work (ps2 architecture is very strange-- 128-bit-wide data path, etc.)

kiel @ Feb 27th 2008 7:45PM

I just don't understand how a game like Dark Sector has trouble running on PS3.. I mean, for gods sake, it was the first PS3 game shown!

Mind you, it was a still screen shot that you could barely even make out, but still.... NFI how a game that's been in development for that long has trouble.. Doesn't make a damn lick of sense if you ask me

rd2000 @ Feb 27th 2008 8:04PM

Jebus guys!

Some of you just want to read loom ad gloom..

Here is a picture some of you might understand:

Xbox 360 is like a nice cool car. It won't take you long to know what the wheel,stick and clutch do to get you moving.

Now step into PS3. A brand new Airbus 360!

I'm pretty sure you will go WTF?? For a long time watching all the buttons in that cockpit.

And that is exactly where most programmers are atm. They just drove their nice car up to the Airbus 360 and are just learning WTH it is going to take to make it taxi out to the landing strip, not to mention to take off!

But don't worry! They will learn every single button in that cockpit very soon, and when they do.. Boy! are we in for a flight! :)

Rob @ Feb 28th 2008 3:24AM

Lol.. I loved this analogy! ;) Great!

xFenixKnightx @ Feb 27th 2008 11:34PM

This game DOES NOT.....run on UE3!!!! It run on Proprietary Engine. Stop your whining already!!!

xFenixKnightx @ Feb 27th 2008 11:48PM

*It runs on the Evolution Engine, a Proprietary Next-Gen technology developed by Digital Extremes. Again, NOT the UE3...

Darkdrium777 @ Mar 2nd 2008 10:05PM

I confirm. It was never planned that this game would run on the Unreal Engine. Even since the first sci-fi concept of Dark Sector (Which IMHO looked much better than the apparently generic horror shooter it's become) was running on a proprietary engine by Digital Extremes.
I guess the confusion is due to the fact that DE and Epic collaborated on Unreal Tournament GOTY and prior for the development of those games. Since UT2003 they have split I believe. For sure though, DE didn't take part in UT2004's development, and in UT3's dev as well... The game looks great, but I have lost any interest in it since the shift in concept... I wanted the sci-fi shooter. :/

tatoosx @ Feb 28th 2008 7:19AM

They should ask consulting from Infinity Wards, Naughty Dog, Insomniac or any other successful game developers available on the street. Or may be Digital Extremes should consider to ask them to developed his software’s. Look like they are not that extremes.

Stodge @ Feb 28th 2008 5:27PM

To an earlier poster - Sony released a free graphics engine, not a game engine. Huge difference.

coyurtney @ Feb 28th 2008 4:49PM

ok, yeah PS3 is great, got one (nice blu ray player)

anyway, all I hear is "just wait 2 to 3 years and games will blow you away". Come on! that will not happen, by the time that does try to happen MS will come out with a new 360 that will look better then that, maybe even a better Wii

The PS3 should look better then the 360 does right now like they said they would.

I think the reason why devs complain is that it is so easy to compalin when it is #3 and their games don't sell that great on the PS3. They said the PS2 was hard to program but no one care because it was worth it.