Denis Dyack Talks Console Wars

**Pumpkin Head** · 10-31-2006, 07:08 PM

Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack said in an interview that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are "equal in power" and added that he won't be missing the glitzy version of E3.
Speaking to San Jose Mercury News journalist Dean Takahashi, Dyack said that next generation console technology is now on a level playing field. "The 360 and the PS3 are equal in power in my eyes," he said. "Maybe the PS3 has more processing power. The 360 has more available memory. It's pretty much a net, net. The public perception of the PS3 was that it was much more powerful. To developers, they look even."

Silicon Knights, the Canadian developer behind Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (both for GameCube), is currently working on Too Human for the Xbox 360--a game that was first unveiled as an original PlayStation game in the late 90s.

On the topic of 1080p resolutions vs. 720p, Dyack said that 1080p and HDMI (which is standard on the PS3) cable interfaces have the edge, but both look quite good. "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."

Regarding E3, Dyack said that he welcomed the demise of the show, calling it an expensive and time-consuming distraction. "Over the history of our company, E3 was the toughest crunch time. The problem was the more you spent on it, the less you spent on the game. People spent a crazy amount of money on E3."

Dyack also put in his two cents about who will "win" the console war. "It's a tough one," he admitted. "Microsoft is looking really good. Everyone is looking pretty good. At the beginning, everyone thought Sony would walk away with it. We won't know for sure for two years."

He added that Nintendo's success with the Wii depends on if the unique "controller stands the tests of time."

to me he sounds like he don't know what the hell he's talking about.

***masteratt*** · 10-31-2006, 07:28 PM

Urgh...Another developer working on X360 on the X360 side!!

WOOPDY DOO!! Throw me a freaking bone here! Advertise your f'ing game instead of the console you are working on.

I don't even know what 'Too Human' is >_< I heard about it but only through various bullshit comments such as above. "oh 360 is better! it can do too human!!"

**Old_Timer!** · 10-31-2006, 07:30 PM

He has some valid points with memory, but seeing as he's doing Too Human for the X360. He comes across to me as sucking on MS tits.

**Pumpkin Head** · 10-31-2006, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by Old_Timer!

He has some valid points with memory, but seeing as he's doing Too Human for the X360. He comes across to me as sucking on MS tits.

LOL that's how I see it..

**chrismt** · 10-31-2006, 07:33 PM

Needs source.

Why are developers saying there is more memory in the 360? I just don't understand.

**Old_Timer!** · 10-31-2006, 07:37 PM

360 unified memory, PS3 256+256 partitioned.... yet it's been said that the RSX can access the additional 256 when necessary. So it seem like Dennis is blowing steam here.

***masteratt*** · 10-31-2006, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by Old_Timer!

So it seem like Dennis is blowing steam here.

Among other things

**Pumpkin Head** · 10-31-2006, 07:42 PM

the PS3 and 360 are equal in power, then why does the PS3's launch titles look as good, if not better, than the 360's second generation of titles? This guy is incorrect in saying that the 360 has an advantage in terms of memory. The PS3's RSX can access the 256 MB of XDR RAM if it needs it. Moreover, the XDR System RAM runs at 3.2 Ghz, along with 256 MB GDR RAM @ 800 Mhz (I think), whereas the 360 has a uniform 512 MB GDR RAM @ 800 Mhz (I think). In both cases, memory has to be used for graphics, AI, physics, the level map etc. Its just that the PS3 splits the memory between graphics and system memory, but the graphics can nevertheless access the system memory. Having the greater processsing power also gives the PS3 a huge advantage for graphics because in game assets such as clouds can be procedurally generated ie. created on the fly, rather than pre-drawn and pre-animated, which requires lots of memory for storage. This guy sounds like he's been paid by MS to say both systems are equal in power, when the truth is the PS3 is a much more advanced machine

**CrumCon** · 10-31-2006, 07:44 PM

Is it me or many of dev that are developing Xbox360 games right now praises Xbox360 memory??

It's strange cause they didnt even talk about the fukin memeory since the E3.. and its strange that they talk it when the PS3 is about to hit the shelves ????!!!

**PUNK em 733** · 10-31-2006, 07:50 PM

Nothing new here. Just another MS nutswinger, this guy should concentrate on getting his game out...looks like another Duke Nukem 3d here.

**Chris** · 10-31-2006, 07:57 PM

Not Duke Nukem 3D, it's Duke Nukem Forever that's vaporware, and Too Human is in the same boat, the game was supposed to come out at least 8 years ago on PlayStation. Then they went with Nintendo and it was supposed to come out on 64, then Gamecube, now 360. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced tomorrow that it will be developed with the next systems in mind in order to take full advantage of future capabilities.

**PUNK em 733** · 10-31-2006, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Chris

Not Duke Nukem 3D, it's Duke Nukem Forever that's vaporware, and Too Human is in the same boat, the game was supposed to come out at least 8 years ago on PlayStation. Then they went with Nintendo and it was supposed to come out on 64, then Gamecube, now 360. I wouldn't be surprised if they announced tomorrow that it will be developed with the next systems in mind in order to take full advantage of future capabilities.

Ahh yes Forever.

**Old_Timer!** · 10-31-2006, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by PUNK em 733

Nothing new here. Just another MS nutswinger, this guy should concentrate on getting his game out...looks like another Duke Nukem 3d here.

How true indeed.
So far the games have done the talking for Sony, Volumetric Clouds, HDR, Advanced A.I., 1080p, Sixaxis Input, etc. MS might talk about all these things coming in the future but PS3 has them all at launch. Now is it that PS3 is just more powerful off the bat and the devs were able to push the system so quickly. Or is it that the devs weren't thinking when making the MS games?

**Crossbar** · 10-31-2006, 08:22 PM

Maybe the PS3 has more processing power

Sorry Denis, you lost all credibility by adding that "maybe" in the beginning. Every bloody developer knows PS3 has significantly more processing power over the 360. Another Microsoft lapdog brown-nosing Bill Gates, just to get some more funding for his game.

Denis you should not bite the hand that feeds you, but this was just ridicilous!!!

***Mach*** · 10-31-2006, 08:33 PM

Maybe I didnt read the same article, but the guy seemed rather fair and balanced when assessing all 3 consoles. He didn't praise one console over another. So why attack him?

**Crossbar** · 10-31-2006, 08:56 PM

Originally Posted by Mach

Maybe I didnt read the same article, but the guy seemed rather fair and balanced when assessing all 3 consoles. He didn't praise one console over another. So why attack him?

Perhaps, because he is almost using the same wording as Bill Gates, when he was describing the PS3 - 360 difference back in 2005. Do you think Bill Gates is fair and balanced on this topic?

**Old_Timer!** · 10-31-2006, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Mach

Maybe I didnt read the same article, but the guy seemed rather fair and balanced when assessing all 3 consoles. He didn't praise one console over another. So why attack him?

Sure one white lie here, one white lie there.... you gotta remember these quotes aren't geared towards other devs, it's to us the end users/gamers.

**8_Bit** · 10-31-2006, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by Old_Timer!

360 unified memory, PS3 256+256 partitioned.... yet it's been said that the RSX can access the additional 256 when necessary. So it seem like Dennis is blowing steam here.

"That's not all he's blowing!"

...sorry. Joke was way too easy.

Originally Posted by masteratt

Among other things

...and masterratt beat me to it anyway. I suck almost as much as Too Human at E3...

***masteratt*** · 10-31-2006, 09:24 PM

I already made that joke

Read other posts people! This is like the 10th time I had to say that in a week.
If this community has one problem, it seems to be that people don't read other posts >_<

**8_Bit** · 10-31-2006, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by masteratt

I already made that joke

Read other posts people! This is like the 10th time I had to say that in a week.
If this community has one problem, it seems to be that people don't read other posts >_<

Follow your own advice. I edited my post before you corrected me.

...and lighten up, Francis.