Ben-DutkaWe all learn from our mistakes. This includes video game developers, especially when they're facing the intimidating prospect of learning brand new hardware. Such is often the case with the PlayStation 3, and Midway knows this better than most. After experiencing several issues when developing Stranglehold and Unreal Tournament 3 , the publisher now says they've pushed past the difficulties and are looking toward a smoother future.
"For our first wave of next-gen games… lead development has been on the Xbox 360, due to its earlier introduction and larger installed base," said David F. Zucker, Midway CEO. "We ran into some technical issues developing for the PlayStation 3 that have taken more time to finalize than we expected. These include… making sure that the framerate, networking, and graphical features are at parity between the platforms. We've also encountered challenges as a result of shipping two of the very first PS3 games using Epic's Unreal Engine 3." (source- Gamasutra)
The games he's referring to are Stranglehold (now available in stores) and the upcoming Blacksite: Area 51 . Zucker claims all the technical issues the team encountered in the past are behind them, and he expects the PS3 versions of their forthcoming projects to ship right alongside the Xbox 360 versions. Remember, another Midway executive said yesterday that it might be best to start off developing on the PS3, but perhaps that won't be necessary. If they've solved the problem, than they can proceed forward as usual. Lastly, at the end of this call with Gamasutra, Zucker hinted at an "ambitious, open-world game," which will be announced soon.
Yep, we like to see developers learning as they go.
