21st November 2005, 12:38 PM
DJ/ This is the first major overhaul of hardware of how to read, code, etc for a long time. The best example from history would be the original Gameboy Vs. the GBA. Look at the very best (graphically) the GB had to offer and compare it to the first gen GBA stuff.
The GB didn't even need a dev kit, everything was super easy machine language and the more time you spent on it the better games would look. The GBA brought in a system that needed more precision and care with a SNES dev kit. This meant alot of older companies were happy but many other companies had to re-train themselves in order to take advantage of the new system. Companies that for example, never had or used a SNES dev kit and wanted to keep their uber easy machine language tools, but now couldn't. The end result is that last gen GB games look fantastic, some even using FMV, sampled voice and music and running games like Donkey Kong Country that looked on par (sans color) with it's SNES counterpart.
The first GBA games looked like early 16 bit krap, nothing more than cleaner colorized versions of GB games. No major visual notch was raised as far as graphics are concerned. And then today, we have GBA games that rival PS1 graphics. They just to get retrained in using the hardware.
*everyone* knows how to code for a PS2. Nintendo knows how to code for a PS2. The PS2 uses already existing technology (at its inception) with some minor bottlenecks and adjustments. Now the in order processor is making games run slow for no apparent reason and you have to look deep in buried registers to find the issues. So it's just going to take time for developers to throw out most or all of their R&D from the past 20 years and start over.
Isn't "evolution"* grand? ;)
*hardware manufacturers trying to invent marketable monopolies through force and scare tactics by destroying all small studios and pissing off the large ones with bullshit confusing architecture
The GB didn't even need a dev kit, everything was super easy machine language and the more time you spent on it the better games would look. The GBA brought in a system that needed more precision and care with a SNES dev kit. This meant alot of older companies were happy but many other companies had to re-train themselves in order to take advantage of the new system. Companies that for example, never had or used a SNES dev kit and wanted to keep their uber easy machine language tools, but now couldn't. The end result is that last gen GB games look fantastic, some even using FMV, sampled voice and music and running games like Donkey Kong Country that looked on par (sans color) with it's SNES counterpart.
The first GBA games looked like early 16 bit krap, nothing more than cleaner colorized versions of GB games. No major visual notch was raised as far as graphics are concerned. And then today, we have GBA games that rival PS1 graphics. They just to get retrained in using the hardware.
*everyone* knows how to code for a PS2. Nintendo knows how to code for a PS2. The PS2 uses already existing technology (at its inception) with some minor bottlenecks and adjustments. Now the in order processor is making games run slow for no apparent reason and you have to look deep in buried registers to find the issues. So it's just going to take time for developers to throw out most or all of their R&D from the past 20 years and start over.
Isn't "evolution"* grand? ;)
*hardware manufacturers trying to invent marketable monopolies through force and scare tactics by destroying all small studios and pissing off the large ones with bullshit confusing architecture