I dunno, I feel like I can still pick out PS3-era graphics. But the PS4 and PS5 are so similar that they still co-release games for both with only minor visual upgrades, so I agree with your overall point if not your example.
From my limited understanding, the PS3’s architecture is actually very different from PCs and modern consoles. From a developer’s perspective, it was very different to make games for it, its capabilities and strengths and weaknesses were just different. So it’s no surprise that its games have a certain look and feel to them.
The PS4 and later, OTOH, is a more standard PC architecture which means iterative improvements and less difference between generations.
Disclaimer: didn’t fact-check any of this, would appreciate replies correcting mistakes
I think you might be one generation ahead. I remember the PS3 being touted as a computer in its own right, and stories about people installing Linux on it.
In mid-2007, Gaurav Khanna, a professor in the Physics Department of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth independently built a message-passing based cluster using eight PS3s running Fedora Linux, named the PS3 Gravity Grid. It was built with support from Sony Computer Entertainment as the first PS3 cluster with published scientific results. It performed astrophysical simulations of large supermassive black holes capturing smaller compact objects. Khanna claims that its performance exceeds that of a 100+ Intel Xeon core based traditional Linux cluster, on his simulations. The PS3 Gravity Grid gathered significant media attention from 2007 through 2010. Khanna also created an instructional website on building such clusters.
On March 28, 2010, Sony announced it would be disabling the PS3’s OtherOS feature, with the v3.21 update, due to security concerns. This update would not affect any existing supercomputing clusters, because they are not connected to PlayStation Network and would not be forced to update. However, it would make replacing the individual consoles that compose the clusters very difficult or impossible, because newer models would be shipped with v3.21. This caused the end of the PS3’s common use for clustered computing, though projects like “The Condor” were still being created with older PS3 units, and have come online after that update.
The PS3 could run Linux initially, but Sony remotely disabled it on account of being a shower of cunts, resulting in a bunch of lawsuits (which even more cuntingly they paid out on, sooner than re-enable Linux).
That said I think you may be talking slightly at cross purposes; the ability to run Linux isn’t tied to processor architecture, and doesn’t mean anything in terms of what the PS3 was like to develop for as a professional game studio.
As a child of the eighties, it feels like post PS3 things totally stagnated but this is a couple of factors working together to create the illusion that there’s been no progress. First off we went from everything being 2d to everything being 3d in the course of a single console generation. There used to be huge and noticeable upgrades because models were getting so much more detail with every generation. There’s also the diminishing returns they’re getting on graphical enhancements; the leaps forward require massively more powerful hardware to render and most of the enhancement is in details and effects which aren’t as noticeable as doubling the polygon count of your models.
I mean, we are on PS5 and that feels like it came out a while ago.
It’s also technology plateauing, a PS3 isn’t functionally very different than a PS5.
IMO it’s actually inferior since you got to play for online play
Not to mention the awful UI for the PS5 and potential lack of a disc drive, so you may not have a bluray/DVD player
Also I have to turn off the ps5 controllers before plugging them in or they won’t charge.
I dunno, I feel like I can still pick out PS3-era graphics. But the PS4 and PS5 are so similar that they still co-release games for both with only minor visual upgrades, so I agree with your overall point if not your example.
From my limited understanding, the PS3’s architecture is actually very different from PCs and modern consoles. From a developer’s perspective, it was very different to make games for it, its capabilities and strengths and weaknesses were just different. So it’s no surprise that its games have a certain look and feel to them.
The PS4 and later, OTOH, is a more standard PC architecture which means iterative improvements and less difference between generations.
Disclaimer: didn’t fact-check any of this, would appreciate replies correcting mistakes
I think you might be one generation ahead. I remember the PS3 being touted as a computer in its own right, and stories about people installing Linux on it.
But I could be wrong.
PS3 cell processor was so amazing that people were building supercomputers with it, it was cheaper that using regular computers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster
In mid-2007, Gaurav Khanna, a professor in the Physics Department of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth independently built a message-passing based cluster using eight PS3s running Fedora Linux, named the PS3 Gravity Grid. It was built with support from Sony Computer Entertainment as the first PS3 cluster with published scientific results. It performed astrophysical simulations of large supermassive black holes capturing smaller compact objects. Khanna claims that its performance exceeds that of a 100+ Intel Xeon core based traditional Linux cluster, on his simulations. The PS3 Gravity Grid gathered significant media attention from 2007 through 2010. Khanna also created an instructional website on building such clusters.
On March 28, 2010, Sony announced it would be disabling the PS3’s OtherOS feature, with the v3.21 update, due to security concerns. This update would not affect any existing supercomputing clusters, because they are not connected to PlayStation Network and would not be forced to update. However, it would make replacing the individual consoles that compose the clusters very difficult or impossible, because newer models would be shipped with v3.21. This caused the end of the PS3’s common use for clustered computing, though projects like “The Condor” were still being created with older PS3 units, and have come online after that update.
It was marketed for PS2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_for_PlayStation_2
The PS3 could run Linux initially, but Sony remotely disabled it on account of being a shower of cunts, resulting in a bunch of lawsuits (which even more cuntingly they paid out on, sooner than re-enable Linux).
That said I think you may be talking slightly at cross purposes; the ability to run Linux isn’t tied to processor architecture, and doesn’t mean anything in terms of what the PS3 was like to develop for as a professional game studio.
Fair point.
As a child of the eighties, it feels like post PS3 things totally stagnated but this is a couple of factors working together to create the illusion that there’s been no progress. First off we went from everything being 2d to everything being 3d in the course of a single console generation. There used to be huge and noticeable upgrades because models were getting so much more detail with every generation. There’s also the diminishing returns they’re getting on graphical enhancements; the leaps forward require massively more powerful hardware to render and most of the enhancement is in details and effects which aren’t as noticeable as doubling the polygon count of your models.