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Factor 5 impressed with PlayStation 3's CELL power

Posted Apr 27, 2007 at 1:25PM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: PS3 Tags: Factor 5, Julian Eggebrecht, playstation 3 updates, Sony

Often the root of many Xbox 360 versus PlayStation 3 wars, the Dragonlancer-esque game Lair is in itself one amazing title that needs serious horsepower stocked under Sony's next-generation console's hood. Not surprisingly, in an interview with GamePro, Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht, chief creative director, said that they were impressed by the power of the PlayStation 3.

We were blown away by Cell. Not so much by the graphics chip because that was basically what was known and what we expected, but the Cell suddenly made it possible to use techniques in Lair that we had talked about before, but which we never thought a system would be fast enough to actually support. We were able to make this insane level of detail changes possible from the very, very highest point up in the sky all the way to the ground.

Eggebrecht explained that in their former flight title Rebel Strike for the GameCube, they had to "cheat around" with massive levels, making them look massive by loading the next level once the fighter landed. It wasn't a fluid, smooth option from going all the way up to all the way down, but it worked.

Now with the PlayStation 3's CELL processor, however, that's a whole different story. In fact, Eggebrecht revealed that their AI uses the processing units dynamically. Instead of dedicating certain AI tasks to one of the SPUs, the game would allocate processing resources to an idle unit.

They have animations running on some of the SPUs, with a full-blown physics engine. They also have actual fluid mechanics being simulated for the first time in a game, thanks to the CELL. But perhaps the worst of it is, that for all that power and capability, the game isn't coming with a multiplayer mode.

Instead, it will have a ranking, online mode. But if Lair becomes a success and they get to work on a sequel, Factor 5 promises to put multi-play "on the table."

Via GamePro

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The thing is, they are impressed with the "cell" and it's been only 6 months since the ps3 have launched... now imagine in a couple of years when they finally get the full knowledge of the "cell"... impressive! I really don't want to bash the xbox 360 but the way I see it is in a couple of years, when developpers will get full knowledge of the cell structure and the ps3's power, the ps3 will crush the 360. No offense to you xbox owners but sony know what they are doing... thay are playing it seriously.

I'm impressed with Sony!

# ... — Guest 2007-04-27 17:20

a company that sucks balls and loves the cokc. I have no life and my bf rapes me every day. I hope i die

# yes — Guest 2007-04-27 17:27

I'm impresssed as well my friend.

# Ah, Factor 5 — Guest 2007-04-27 19:28

Haha, they're always been a fan of the tech specs. Through some form of black magic, they somehow crammed a commentary track into the N64 game, Battle for Naboo. I remember them talking about how one level was probably the biggest open space ever seen on the N64. If anyone will try to push a machine to the limit, it's those guys. Can't wait to see how their new game turns out.

# Finally someone old enough to remember :) — Guest 2007-04-27 20:31

This has always been the case with Factor 5. They choose one console to develop on and tell the world how great it is and how other devs can't do what they're doing and how other consoles cannot match it.

Hence Julian said all kinds of rubbish about the GC and XBox, claiming the GC was more powerful and that there's nothing the XBox can do that they cannot do on the GC and that he'll eat a broom if the XBox could match the GC. Later of course, he was forced to eat thoser words. ;)

So please guys, take whatever Julian says with a pinch of salt. His enthusiasm and support for the console he's working on is great to see, but he does tend to exaggerate how great the technology is and how great their game engine is compared to everyone else. :)

They do push the technology, but I must admit, I've never been a fan of the gameplay in Factor 5 games. I hope Lair is different, but I'm not building my hopes up, not yet anyway.

# ok? — Guest 2007-04-27 21:43

how much did Sony pay that company to say that.. lmao

Sony "Listen, we give you X amount of $ to say the Cell is a nice pice of technology okkkkeeey?"

Factor 5" What? why would we do that? We are only making this game for the PS3 because we were payed by Microsoft to do so. They felt bad that they own you!"

Sony "Waaaa? C'mon, PS3 need sales..."

Factor 5 "Ok, we will say that your pos Cell is good, only because I want you out of my f*king office"

Sony "yayaya! Thank you Mr. America man, my boss will like me so much now. Maybe I get payed more cash and feed my familyyyy, AIII YA!"

Factor 5 "Get the f*k out!!!"

True story.

# i don't see — gtauk 2007-04-27 22:27

i havn't seen anyone praising the other consoles lately, you just can't take it

# .. — Guest 2007-04-27 23:17

Hey guys dont you miss someone?

Common you all know who am talking about!!!

Mr Common Sense were is he? He literarly spent his life trying to bash the ps3 and explain in ''common sense''...let me rephrase that ''common microsoft sense'' that the xbox is actually better than the ps3 in terms of power... But now that everybody in the gaming industry, MIT and others are impressed about the small supercomputer (for 600 bucks amazing price dont you think???)

Common butterfly come out of your coccoon we all missed your lame a-s-s fantarted views...

# No-one paid them to say this but... — Guest 2007-04-27 23:18

...to echo my post above, Julian is ALWAYS like this with the console he's working on. It's always the greatest thing ever which can do things that no other console can do, and he ASLWAYS says Factor 5 are doing things no other developer are doing and that their game engine is doing things no other game engine is doing...etc....see a pattern yet? :)

Julian's comments shouldn't be taken seriously as a result, however Factor 5 are techically VERY talented, I just question their ability to create great gameplay with that talent.

# well.. — Guest 2007-04-28 00:13

well in about 3 years microsoft will have released abuot 3 more versions of the x360,

notso-elite, spectaculuuhr and the pwnz0r.

with the final one rivaling the ps3 and slightly overpowering it.

And by that time you'll see all the x360 fans going, see xbox360 is better !!!!

not realising they bought 5 systems

# The Cell IS great... — Darth Manson 2007-04-28 05:02

as long as it's not in a PS3!

# stfu — Guest 2007-04-28 06:17

darth manson is a gimp... you prolly own a Wii, go home two year old!

# Cell is a totally new approach — damonous 2007-04-28 06:21

I think this is only the first of a long line of praise we'll see for the Cell over the years. This is a quite a paradigm shift in computing theory, I believe, to go from multiple 'worker-bee' cores off of a master CPU vs symmetric cores. Whatever Factor 5 is learning now after only a year of so of development (my presumption) will certainly be eclipsed in the years to come as others gain more experience with the chip. As to whether or not they've been paid to glow about the Cell, ---well anyone who's doing an "exclusive" console game is likely to already have been paid to keep it exclusive. This includes studios making exclusive games for Microsoft. So, I think it's a silly point to try and say that Factor 5 is paid to say good things about Cell. We can safely say that ALL development houses make comments about the systems from time-to-time that are in their best interests (whether it be to gain favoratism from the host system owners, etc.). That doesn't mean we should immediately throw their comments out as false.

# Lair is average at best — Guest 2007-04-28 06:33

Lair looks poor, looks like the terrible game Eragon, I may be wrong but watching the video of them fighting on the dragons it looked average..

# Cell is just a name, remeber the Emotion engine ? — Guest 2007-04-28 06:38

The PS3 Emotion engine ! the only emotional thing about it was how poor games looked, driving games had fog,no distance and grey floors.

So a company that is about to release a PS3 game tells us that the machine is this or that ?, they are hardly likely to say anything else are they FFS...

# 360 ? — Guest 2007-04-28 06:40

You crafty git, I didn't realize you bought a 360..

# ok — Guest 2007-04-28 06:43

i hope noone belives this *****, how could microsoft pay factor 5 if its SPONSERED MY SONY! do you even no what a cell profeccer is you probably dont because you dont have one in your ***** console. well have the last laghf when lair ownes xbox 360:)

# "Cell is just a name, remeber the Emotion engine ?" — Guest 2007-04-28 07:03

You're an idiot.

First of all, all those things you mentioned, are handled by the graphics processor. Not the emotion engine.

Second ps2 games don't look bad, have you seen god of war 2 and Shadow of the colossus, they look ****ing awesome.

And third, the ps2's processor was actually very powerful for it's time. There was a ps2 game that literally had over 65,000 ememies on screen at once

# you "prolly" say.. — Darth Manson 2007-04-28 07:43

"prolly" you effete limey bastard go back to your "flat" bloke.

# Business — Guest 2007-04-28 11:43

Factor 5 wants their game to sell that's why they are hyping it so much. Don't get me wrong I'm a PS3 owner and I'm happy with every cent but I'm not buying the hype coming from Sony 1st party devs anymore. Let's just wait for the game. What they are saying is about as true as what the Microsoft first parties (id, Bungie, etc) had to say about the Cell: "it's a piece of trash, it was poorly designed, not suited for games, not enough RAM to exploit it...". Let's just wait for the games and enjoy them if they deserve it

# Hmm — Guest 2007-04-28 14:19

The Xbox360 wont be in "Trouble" even if this game sells the PS3 4 million more consoles. They would still be another 5 behind.

When this game comes out I hope someone does a comparison of graphics between this game and Gears of War. Gears is STILL the best looking game out there (for any console.)

Im glad you guys can have fun playing your PS3 and I hope the PS3 doesnt fail. Being a hardcore gamer myself I respect the PS3 for what it is, a gaming machine, not a computer or media center but a gaming machine...nothing more. Once Sony realizes this we will start to see some REAL games.

# Learn math — Guest 2007-04-28 14:26

"The Xbox360 wont be in "Trouble" even if this game sells the PS3 4 million more consoles. They would still be another 5 behind."

Are you mentally retarded? Ps3 has already almost sold 4 million. The 360 is at 10 million. 4 million + 4 million + 8 million. That's two million behind. You're an idiot.

# It's past your bedtime — Guest 2007-04-28 17:48

He is obviously retarded...

Somebody comparing the graphics of a close quarters first person shooter to an action adventure with practically limitless boundaries...

Obviously scale is what is of importance in Lair, with hundreds of enemies observable from afar, miles of territory to cover, all flowing seamlessly with no in game load times. We're not talking about flat surfaced buildings with small little textured hallways that lead to corridors with your fabled bump mapped cobblestone with 5 or 6 enemies hiding behind the next corner that's ready to load in a minute...

You have no appreciation of the work put into either program, GeOW or Lair, idiot.

# this is funny — Guest 2007-04-28 18:24

you know how Oblivion looks better on the PS3 than it does on the X-BOX 360? All the X-BOX fanboys are complaining that it only looks better on PS3 because it had more time to fine tune the game.

Ok, then they compare Gears of War with release titles on the PS3 saying how much better X-BOX 360 is. X-BOX only looks better NOW because how long it's been out.

It's a classic example of the game Oblivion. Just wait you X-BOX fangays until the PS3 has been out as long as the 360. When we see games that have been built from ground up for the PS3 then you can start making a fair comparrison. But when the PS3 starts to kick some serious ass, Microsoft will be there releasing a new console again to get more money out of you loosers. Ha. can't wait!

# SO TRUE — Guest 2007-04-28 19:29

the guy above me is so right, its happened with every other console in the past that microsoft have worked on (dreamcast and the xbox) and with both the companies both lost soooooooo much money. You cannot compare the graphics now and people who say that they look the same are just bagging out the 360 because its been out for a year long that the PS3 and the PS3 only has what like 35 games. When games like FFXIII and Metal Gear Solid come out then the Xbox will be considered a piece of **** and Microsoft might loose some of there arrogance (if thats even possible) and realize that they have a really ***** console on the market and they will leave it to make another console, in an endless cycle of failing.

# money — Guest 2007-04-28 19:43

microsoft has too much money. they will just keep coming out with new systems untill they win. Sony will continue to kick some m$ ass untill M$ comes out with some supersystem that cost them 100bill to build and put 3 cell chips in it. Sony will only be at PS4 when M$ comes out with xbox 2160. and man I love this clip on keyboard. now i can type on qj on my ps3

# I don't like fanboys, but this time they are RIGHT! — Guest 2007-04-28 21:12

" All the X-BOX fanboys are complaining that it only looks better on PS3 because it had more time to fine tune the game."

This is what the developers have said numerous times about Oblivion. They say it was extra time and not power that allowed them to improve the game ENGINE.

Read it here in their own words;

http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2007/020807_petehines_1.x

"Shack: Can you offer any insight into how much of that was made possible by the PS3 hardware versus simply the additional development time?

Pete Hines: IT WAS ENTIRELY DUE TO EXTRA DEVELOPMENT TIME. It's not like the PS3 can do this and the others can't, it's actually something we were considering doing for the other platforms as well. We specifically did it here because we had some time and one of our graphics programmers said he could do it."

It's fine to laugh at fanboys (I do too), but make sure you get your facts right before you do so. ;)

# more math — Guest 2007-04-29 02:35

m$ is nowhere near 10mil. its more so about 6 mil. they counted broken systems! so 4mil ps3s would put sony ahead!

# Uh huh — Guest 2007-04-29 11:21

"m$ is nowhere near 10mil. its more so about 6 mil"

Why? Because YOU say so? LOL! Oh yeah, the PS3 has sold 20 million...why?...because I SAY SO.

Idiot! The 360 has sold over 10 million, that's official and all the major websites, magazines, analysts agree. You're a nobody who thinks it's 6 million with NO evidence...so I suggest you STFU.

# Careful SummerGamer --- — Guest 2007-04-29 11:26

--- Fanboys are confused by facts, they don't like them unless they support the views of their tiny minds. :)

So you are right about Oblivion, but the fanboys don't want to hear that.

# what are you smoking? — Guest 2007-04-30 00:57

Did you wake up from your dream yet?

Everyone knows sony led by the now disgraced Ken Kutaragi is the most egotistical arrogant company in gaming and look what that got them.

PS3 is already dead. Playstation's "endless cycle of failing" may have just begun.

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