PS3 ports / porting / ported multi platform games

[neoglow]

I recently gave a shiny new Xbox 360 a good home under my TV next to my 3 year old PS3 and have set about researching into games to get. When I find myself bored sat at work I surf the tinterweb reading about the age old PS3 vs 360 fanboy slagging matches but also read into some interesting articles about the vast majority of multi platform games being developed on the 360 and then ported over to the PS3. Resulting in some inferior versions of games on the PS3.

Although this is not strictly always the case, I was interested in the general concenous toward this topic and what it means for 2011 releases.

I tend to get the impression that the PS3 is fantastic for its exclusive games, eg, killzone, god of war, MGS4 etc but the 360 seems to have the edge when it comes to the multi platform titles. Quite alot of the work internet bandwith has recently been used on the Eurogamer Digital Foundry website thanks to me which provides some great comparisons between titles that sometimes reveal eye widening differences from one platform to the next. Equally the 360 does its exclusive titles very well too, eg, Gears of War, Halo, Alan Wake etc.

I want to kind of sit on the fence with my PS3 and 360 and not take a side, I'd happily play PS3 exclusives and Blurays on the PS3, and everything else on the 360.

Thoughts anyone?
(PS, I am new to 360'ing and comparing titles as I've always been a PS3 owner and not known any different.)

[Flabio]

Generally the 360 version will be slightly better than the PS3 version. The gap has narrowed immensely in the past year though, situations like the dreadful PS3 port of Orange Box are getting rarer.

Because I've had my 360 longer, and I have more friends that own 360's than PS3's, I'll almost always buy a game that's available for both on the 360. I think the only exception I've made so far was for Final Fantasy 13, where the 360 port was pretty shocking.

From a technical point of view, it's easier to write the game for the 360 using the hardware to it's fullest and then port that to the PS3 than do it the other way around.

The architectures are quite distinctly different, and something that runs really fast on PS3 won't necessarily do the same on 360, but something that's pretty good on 360 can be made almost as good on PS3 with only a bit of work.

The two machines are roughly equivalent in power, but the 360 architecture is closer to the normal PC DirectX model, so there's lots more written about how to wring performance out of it than there is for the PS3's cel architecture.

But as I said, most developers have closed the gap now, and the differences are usually of the type that only the frame by frame analysis that DF do can even spot it.

It's still worth checking reviews to see if a duff port has been done (in either direction, although poor 360 versions are rarer than poor PS3 ones) though.

[Guts]

I want to kind of sit on the fence with my PS3 and 360 and not take a side, I'd happily play PS3 exclusives and Blurays on the PS3, and everything else on the 360.

Same here, if the versions are almost identical and cost the same, I'll probably buy the Xbox version. I like the 360 controller better plus the online options with Live are way better than online on PS3.

Plus Achievements over Trophies.

[InvisibleKid]

Same here, if the versions are almost identical and cost the same, I'll probably buy the Xbox version. I like the 360 controller better plus the online options with Live are way better than online on PS3.

Plus Achievements over Trophies.

I completely agreed with this.. until I got to Xbox number 4. (This was before the slim existed).

I migrated all the games I play over to PS3 - like Rockband, Burnout, Street Fighter etc.

The only main things I ever play on my Xbox now are Halo (rarely) and Final Fantasy XI (often).

Achievements and their integration with loads of external (to Microsoft) websites do trump trophies - but actually I don't regret the move at all.

I loved the Xbox exclusives particularly but the fact that there probably won't be a Gears of War 4 or another Halo by Bungie means I don't need to come back. It's sad but true.

I expect that I sound like some kind of PS3 fanboy but that isn't the case - the 360 definately provides a better all round online experience than the PS3 (cross game chat anyone?) but the fact that the console kept breaking (and the added benefit of bluray) moved me over to PS3 when the straw finally broke the camel's back.

[EvilBoris]

I think it's pretty much a non issue now, there have only been a couple of occasions of of real shocking stuff on PS3 (the Bayonetta Demo , Orange Box) but those are few and far between and 99.9% of the stuff is identical, especially if you are only physically playing one version.

[Matt]

Yep. Up to a year, maybe 6 months back, 360 titles were pretty much always better. These days, any differences are usually so marginal to be non-events for anyone but the most bigotted of fanboys. There are some instances the PS3 "wins", like, er, I recall was it Saboteur had very nice AA on the PS3 version?

The 360 used to be the lead on everything. I'm not sure that's the case on everything these days, some companies tend to focus on the PS3 as it's easier to get an equivalent game going on the 360 [with it being easier to program], rather than vice versa. Plus the working practices the multi-core PS3 requires translate well to the 360 I believe.

I still maintain PS3 exclusives tend to be significantly better looking that 360 ports, but that's me being technicallly minded and doesn't mean you'll like it more as artistic direction tends to outweight technical achievements for most (as it well should).

[Shozuki]

Yeah back in the day 360 was the better machine in terms of multi-platform games, but these days its a non-issue and PS3 exclusives are far superior. I much prefer my PS3 - infact the 360 barely gets turned on, its just not worth it, it lacks any substantial games these days. I do wish however online was better for the PS3..

[rmoxon]

PS3 deffinitley seems to have more worthwhile exclusives,they were actualy quite sparse last year but this year theres a heck of alot of them and I can pretty much only think of one 360 exclusive thats coming out this year off the top of my head.

I still think the 360 is the better machine though, Live, the controller, achievments, just everything about it is better to me, so I will nearly always get multifortmat games on the 360 unless the PS3 version is substantialy better like it was with Final Fantasy XIII

[Matt]

Multi-player is always 360 for me, it's where all my friends game and Live is simple to use. We've given PS3 exclusives a try, but TBH it's a pain getting everyone together with no standard Game Invites, and voice chat is hit and miss even with the official PS3 headset. I keep hoping Sony will address the invite issue in the SDK and standardise everything, but guess it's too late / costly to implement this late in the game for this gen.

[Dogg Thang]

I've said this in other threads but, for me, a 360 version of any game is not worth the risk. I'll buy exclusives and sometimes ones that have exclusive DLC (went for Dead Rising 2 on 360 because of the other available cases) but I don't want to pop in a game and see the dreaded RRoD. It's stress I don't need. So I'll always go PS3 where I can.

I have RRoDphobia. Once bitten and all that.

[neoglow]

Strangely, Im itching to just see what the multi platform games I own on the PS3 look like on the 360 now. Not really a cheap task to do as I own 15-20 multi plat PS3 games but Im really intrigued. I guess the only thing I could do is download the demos on the 360 and see how each game looks and feels on my telly, through my eyes and in my hands to really see if there is much difference between the two.

Something I will do for 2011 and beyond is consult the reviews more and look to have a play on multi plat titles before choosing which version to buy.

I dont know why, but I have a feeling the upcoming Bulletstorm (which looks darn good and right up my street) will be a 360 purchase for me. Considering how good the unreal engine / Gears of war looks on the 360 I await a Digital Foundry comparison in due course.

Cheers for replies everyone.

[dogen]

Strangely, Im itching to just see what the multi platform games I own on the PS3 look like on the 360 now. Not really a cheap task to do as I own 15-20 multi plat PS3 games but Im really intrigued. I guess the only thing I could do is download the demos on the 360 and see how each game looks and feels on my telly, through my eyes and in my hands to really see if there is much difference between the two...

www.lensoftruth.com

Head2Heads - Tells it how it is.

[Neon Ignition]

The 360 definately has the largest proportion of superior port versions though like people have said as this generation continues it's beginning to swing the other way and by the end the PS3 will likely have the better versions due to the extra storage and grunt it has under the hood. The studios tend to prioritise the bigger user base so as the 360 slips to 3rd place and they get more adept at PS3 development and keeping up visually with the competition it'll shift. That said, it's probably countable on one hand the amount of times the difference is enough to be worth affecting purchasing decisions over.

[neoglow]

www.lensoftruth.com

Head2Heads - Tells it how it is.

Cheers dogen, another great source for multi platform info!

[Golgo]

I'm looking askance at my PS3 GOTY better than 360 whistles-and-bells port of Mass Effect 2 right now, which I learned today has a save bug that can reformat the entire hard drive.

/says a rude word.