Quote: "Pure and utter bulls***. Sceners have been using procedural graphics on PCs for years"
Seconded and raised a "most biased PS3 hype-crap article ever award". Sorry but their entire argument behind this is that because of the design of the Playstation 3 processor, this is why the "Bayou" tech demo .. which btw is using a modified version of the Unreal 3 engine, the same engine that powered Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 2008 the latter of which was shown off on both consoles and while running at 60+fps @ 720p on the 360, only managed a meager 27fps @ 720p on the PS3.
Now yes that can be attributed to that Epic didn't fully understand the hardware for the PS3, but frankly it isn't rocket science.
Xbox 360 3.2GHz 3x 64bit PPC with 6 Hardware Processing Threads and 3x 128-bit VMX.
Playstation 3 3.2GHz 1x 64bit PPC with 2 Hardware Processing Threads and 7x 128-bit VMX (snazzily renamed SPE because the controller can manage the memory across networked machines.. big freaking whoop, who the hell is going to be using more than one and why would you need that much floating-point processing power?)
Realistically speaking the 360 processor not only is easier to push further but also has higher processing capabilities period.
So the argument that given they're procedurally generating using the processor (which to me is boarderline retarded, especially given the design of the PS3 means they have to not only degredate colour quality but also limit how much can be done per-scene due to memory restrictions and bus latency) just doesn't hold up given it is just as possible to achieve the same tech demo probably rendering quicker on the 360 if it is to be believed it is an entirely Processor based solution that is handed over to the Shader Core.
Now if they had said that it was being done purely on the GPU, then there is a little more merit there that it might not render as quickly on the 360 given the performance difference between the two gpus provided of course that the video drivers are actually capable of unlocking the potencial of the gpu, which tbh I highly doubt. The RSX certainly as hell doesn't have the Image Quality and same shader performance between smaller branched programs and the longer all-in-one models nvidia really reval in.
Lastly, procedural textures aren't new. Layering them is relatively new in game terms to have multiple combined shaders interacting well frankly that is Shader 3.0 territory which up until recently the 360 has actually lacked full support for (mainly due to microsoft ineptitude in the matter), yet with it.. there is no reason you won't be seeing these things now migrating in to games more readily. Apart from anything else it saves quite a bit of time for the artists.
Spore as mentioned above is an entirely procedural title, with the exception of the building blocks the rest is just rule based procedurally created in-engine. A title which is eventually destined for the 360, and Playstation 3. So that really makes their entire article fall down right there.
If this "4D" graphics as they seem to coin it (which is not the term currently used by others who are actually making games with this sort of technology base) is something special only the PS3 can do, then I'd love to hear the developers themselves explain to me why.
Personally I would bet the answer from them would be "we only develop FOR the PS3".
The actual technology and what they've achieved with it is quite amazing mind, but realistically it could be made on the 360 as well. Hell Perfect Dark Zero used procedural textures for near enough everything world-based, simply because development needed to be cut-short.
This really is just another example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read online. Or rather not take it at face value all the time.
[edit] Been checking out the website of the company have made the technology behind this, and I can safely say that the article was written by a retarded monkey.
Check Here to find out why...
