Shatter developer talks up benefits of PhyreEngine

by Griffin McElroy { Jul 22nd 2009 at 12:30PM }

Just because Sony's cross-platform PhyreEngine -- which powered games such as Flower, Critter Crunch and Catan -- is free to use, doesn't mean it's not beefy. At least, that's how GripShift and Shatter developer Sidhe feels -- both of their PSN releases used the engine, and they've got nothing but rave reviews for the technology.

Sidhe managing director Mario Wynands called the PhyreEngine a "great solution for download products where budgets are lower and every dollar counts." So, if you're having difficulties getting your next-gen Rock Paper Scissors sim off the ground, Sidhe's just supplied a ringing endorsement for an extremely cost efficient solution.

Tags: downloadable, gripshift, phyreengine, psn, shatter, sidhe, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jared @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:40PM

Make PhyreEngine available to the public not just certified developers and PSN releases will vastly increase, and it will be awesome.

Andrew Yoon @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:45PM

It takes much more than a game engine to make a game. It's already very cheap to get a PS3 devkit and become a certified developer. I'd rather see PSN continue to have high-quality releases than have it become the Wild West, a la the iPhone App Store.

rells009 @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:46PM

I imagine Sony's trying to avoid PSN being flooded with "crap". It let's 'em know just how serious people are about making games.

Don't worry. I hear they're changing a few of their policies to make it easier for people to get games on PSN.

Jared @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:53PM

I agree that it could possibly become the "Wild West" with 7 billion games about farting, I would just like to see more games like the Pixel Junk series and flow, where they are cheap, simple and extremely fun to play.

tobz1000 @ Jul 22nd 2009 2:01PM

Agreed. Looks like the floodgates are gonna open for the PSP; at least keep the PS3 free from crap.

Davito @ Jul 22nd 2009 12:49PM

Please Joystiq! Could you write an article about Catan for the PS3? Just go Gestapo on the guys from Game Republic. I've been waiting for ages for any kind of news concerning Catan, but I haven't heard a thing.

Andrew Yoon @ Jul 22nd 2009 3:37PM

Catan is a tricky game, if only because so many people have their hands on licensing. (Look at how long Afrika took to come here, for example.)

Davito @ Jul 22nd 2009 3:43PM

Ghaaar! The humanity!

Aarrowgant @ Jul 22nd 2009 1:51PM

I find it rather interesting that Sony's free grfx engine for ps3 are being used for ports to xbox360- like gripshift (read the article).

If the roles were reversed I am sure Microsoft would require devs to sign a waiver that they get exclusivity or timed release if their engine(s) were used...

David @ Jul 22nd 2009 1:58PM

Although I agree that it's great that Sony is offering this engine for free let us not forget their situation in this generation. They had to come up with stuff that made the PS3 very enticing and welcoming to the third-party developers community. It could've been a different story if Sony had released their system first and were ahead in market share this gen.

David @ Jul 22nd 2009 1:53PM

I think Flower is proof enough of the graphical prowess of the engine. Also you guys should add Colin Mcrae's Dirt to the lineup of PhyreEngine developed games. That was a full reatil game which had very good graphics so the engine isn't limited to small downloadble games.