Typically the biggest problems with games are the visuals and sounds. Since telling the CPU to do these tasks will require a huge amount of memory and power, specialised processors were made for this. Over time we came to call these processors GPUs (graphics processing units) and we gave them all the work to do.

On the 360 we have a slower GPU. Therefore we should have graphics of lower quality. On the ps3 we have the mighty RSX. So why the design problem?

The design problem comes because sony had more reasons to sell the ps3 than just to sell games. They also wanted to push the CELL into the market, and to establish BLU RAY as a standard. The CELL is meant to be used in all kinds of consumer electronics, not only games. It is basically a supercomputer chip, capable of insane gigaflops figures. BLU RAY is an amazing storage technology able to hold more data than 3 DVD’s.

So far so good eh? Better GPU, better CPU, better storage? So why the probems? Why arent games as good or better ALL the time? Well here’s why:

* THE CELL ONLY ACHIEVES HIGH GIGAFLOPS WITH A SPECIFIC TYPE OF PROBLEM.

For tech reasons i wont bore you with, the CELL spe’s only perform superbly with a specific type of problem. This problem hardly surfaces in GAME PROGRAMMING except with reference to VISUALS. With all other operations, such as netcode, physics, AI, and game logic, the SPE’s cannot help

* THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM THE CELL CAN SOLVE IS ALREADY SOLVED BY THE GPU

GPU’s are basically cell processors dedicated to graphics alone. That means most of the graphics improvements that are gained from using the cell are already in effect in the RSX, needlessly duplicating functionality.

* THE PPE ALONE IS ONLY 1/3 OF THE POWER OF THE XENOS

The PPE in the cell is equivalent to just one core of the 360 processor. So any multiplat game that is using more than 33% of the 360’s CPU power immediately has problems

* THE WAY MEMORY IS SHARED IS NOT CONDUCIVE TO GAMING

On ps3, the cell has super speed access to its own half of memory. But the RSX cant access that memory. This is cool for a supercomputer that isnt trying to change a screen image 60 times a second. But for games, we need a system like he 360 where the xenos and xenon both access the SAME memory. The speed is high, not as high as ps3, but higher than when ps3 tries to shuttle data between the 2 halves of memory. PLUS the 10 meg EDRAM of 360 is custom built for gaming optimization.

* BLU RAY WAS NOT GAMING READY AT PS3 LAUNCH

Blu ray has high data capacity but low speed. that means that unlike DVD which can stream data during gameplay, bluray is much too slow and neccesitates hard drive installation.

* RSX HAS ONE CRITICAL FLAW

This is the closest to technobabble i will come, but it was a HUGE problem at launch until uncharted 1 showed everyone how to circumvent it (and it is still a problem, especially with capcom games, since capcom has no interest i updating MT framework to address this) : but the RSX will show Jagged edges on graphics if you try to use advanced lighting. Since practically all modern games use advanced lighting, it means programmers have to handle jagged edges manually instead of using the GPU. More on this below.

Now the technobabble ends. I tried my best to keep buzzwords to a minimum. So how does this affect the design of games on PS3?

>>> The CELL’s primary strength is its ability to do stuff that GPUs are supposed to do

>>> If you keep too much stuff in memory the PS3 will fail at moving them to the GPU in time

>>> If you are too cavalier about loading the PS3 will stutter during gameplay

>>> If you dont build your art to avoid jagged edges the PS3 will have more pixellation and more jagged edges than the competition

>>> If your game logic is too complex the PS3 will perform slower than the competition

SO what do you do? As a coder this is what you do:Adhere to the Laws Of Playstation:

>>> Make sure to include special graphical effects that neither RSX nor XENON can handle, and give the job to cell SPECIFICALLY to utilise the SPE’s, not out of neccesity.

>>> Build your art to minimize the amount of jagged edge removal the ps3 has to do BEFORE you use it

>>> Beforehand, design your art so the ps3 does not have to mess about with moving stuff between the cell and RSX too often

>>> Design your game assuming you will not have unlimited license to load whatever you like. If your world or level loads too much at a given time, redesign the world.

>>> Do NOT include game logic that will overburden a single PPE. If need be, dump gameplay features, dumb down AI, downgrade physics.

If you want a textbook example of a developer following these points look no further than Ninja gaiden sigma 2. The devs realised that to transition to ps3, they had to change the fundamental design of the game. When you adhere to the rules above, not only will you escape the pitfalls of the ps3s design, you will also:

GET SUPERIOR LOOKING VISUALS ON YOUR GAME

because the cell is doing extra effects, AND the RSX is already faster than the XENOS!!!!!!!

End result? Simply put: The 360 cannot show visuals as good as uncharted 2 because frankly it has no way to duplicate the cell-enhanced effects, and the art in Uncharted already is designed NOT to take advantage of the 360’s own advantages (automatic jagged edge fixing, Fast sharing of memory with the CPU, constant DVD streaming, more complex design)

However PS3 exclusives have to compromise on other GAME RELATED features due to the constraints above! For example MGS4 and KILLZONE both sidestepped the jagged edge issue by favouring straight line geometry in their designs. This means that if Kojima wanted to build something like the Ithavoll statue building in MGS4, he could not, because it would cause the Jagged edges to show glaringly. It also means that the designers of Killzone had to purposefully funnel players down a straight path, and were limited in their implementation of vehicles. It meant that Uncharted and Killzone could not include splitscreen modes even if they tried. It limited the variety of enemies that could be presented in Killzone because of AI issues. It limited the complexity of enemy AI and weapon ballistics in MGS4.

ALL THESE are non-issues in those games because the DESIGNERS OF THE GAMES DESIGNED AROUND THESE ISSUES. The console did not adapt to the designers, the designers adapted to the console.

On the 360 however, the only real constraints that you face moving from ps3 to 360 are visual. There are visuals that the ps3 can produce that the 360 frankly, cant. However you will not encounter a design issue that the 360 cannot handle. Need splitscreen? check. Need LAN play? check. 10 new enemy types? check. 10,000 enemies on screen? check. Genetic AI? check. Need the hero to fly between 5 different cities with no load screen? Check. Need a building with 10 stories and the ability to see each floor in a portable scanner? check.

If the ps3 version is WELL DONE, then maybe the 360 will show lower resolution, or maybe the depth of field effect or vsync is missing.

However more often than not, the ps3 version is unable to shine fully since designers may not adhere to the Laws Of Playstation above. Hence, the issues cause the ps3 to show inferior graphics. Hence the 360 version ends up looking better.

In the end, I say superior design because on the 360, the designers vision for the game is less limited than on the ps3. Great visuals can be created on ps3, but only if you build your game to avoid contravening the Laws Of Playstation.

Yesterday, after about 30 minutes configuring ICS, bluetooth tethering and Windows XP port forwarding, I went online with an MTN 3G prepaid account with an allowance of 50 megs and funded with 500 Naira for a sole purpose: To determine whether or not, as has been alleged by certain people, online gaming has indeed come to Nigeria in an affordable way. You probably know what the answer is already (since I took the pain to explain my setup, heh heh…) but this is such exciting news that I feel I need to drag my verdict out a little….. just to add a bit of drama!

So without further ado, off we go!

1. First things first: The Suffering!
2. Second things second: A ray of hope!
3. Third things third: The testing!
4. Last things Last: The final word.

Those of us who bought Metal gear Solid 4 also paid for MGS Online, but have had to ignore its existence until now. Call of Duty has been limited to its brief campaign modes, with the enormous world of experience points, perks, Nazi Zombie mode, and other online features largely unattainable. Games with huge amounts of staying power have been confined to the shelf, sad reminders of experiences hitherto unattainable.

Not any longer!

 I am yet to test competitive shooters (I need either to recall my copies of COD for playstation from Anambra or Set up a paid Xbox LIVE account, whichever occurs first) but my experience with Resident Evil leaves me wildly optimistic. I had earlier on decided not to bother with Uncharted 2 or Killzone, since both games are largely dependent on multiplayer modes for their success, but with this development I just may put down the hard earned money to pick them up.

I am pleased to report that online gaming is coming to Nigeria at last. From all indications, when Glo-1 lands, things should be even better. For now, however, this is my setup:

PS: Providence? My ISP called me just as I was finishing this article to tell me they had fixed all their problems and would give me a free extension of service to try it out? Hmmm….

Soulcalibur 4:

My litmus test! Primarily because it is a fighting game, and such games typically demand the highest quality links. I have successfully played SC4 online before, but such sessions were plagued by dropped connections and the worst kind of lag. However it usually gives a good idea of just what to expect from a particular link. After some time setting up the port forwarding sessions, I was able to join a game and get a battle going.

Verdict: Pretty good! Most opponents appeared with a ‘signal strength’ rating of about 50%. Not bad! The truth is, there was lag, and there were irritating pauses and jerks in the gameplay. However for the most part, buffered moves would come out instantly, and blocking/defense appeared to be accurate to less than half a second. Against an opponent of similar skill, I found myself losing repeatedly, but when in control of the game to the extent that I hardly needed to execute a move on reaction of less than 300ms, I found the system to be playable and stable! Not once did the connection drop, which is also important. (dropped connections will earn you a bad name online)

Streetfighter 4:

The ultimate fighting game! Since Soulcalibur players have bad habits of disconnecting when they feel they are losing, I decided to try streetfighter, where players are penalised for bad sportsmanship. Of course SF has its own form of bad sportsmanship (the opponent waits for you to pick a character, then invariably picks Ken or Sagat) but playing in the friendly lobby yielded some satisfying matchups.

Verdict: Excellent! The major problem I noticed was that SF had almost three times the bandwidth usage of SC (around 4kilobytes per second sustained during a match) but had a response time that defied logic! I found last minute dragon punches, reaction blocks, and so forth were actually possible even with the latency! Of course this was uneven- at inopportune times the reaction speed would suddenly go down, and there were annoying pauses now and then, and playing with top players became impossible.  However it was thoroughly enjoyable, and exciting for that reason!

Resident Evil 5:

Now this was important. I used the fighting games to kick off the test because of their high requirements. Any link that supports a fighting game in a playable form should be excellent for a shooting game. I had intended to test using Metal Gear Online, but faced with an update that would definitely exhaust my meagre allowance (50 megabytes, would you believe it) I had to pass up on it. Resident evil supports a cooperative singleplayer mode. I fired it up, looked for a person waiting to play the first chapter, and logged on.

Verdict: Now THIS is the reason I wrote this article. The fighting games are playable, but not accurate or even remotely close to serious relevance in terms of proper competitive play. At best, they are nice ‘proofs of concept’. However Res5 was virtually flawless. My coop partner was a Canadian who, feeling I was new to the game, took it upon himself to give me a virtual tutorial and tour of the first two stages, even helping out by showing me the locations of the elusive BSAA emblems as we went along. There was also voice chat going on- seamlessly integrated into the gameplay! There was NO lag whatsoever- At no time did I see my aim go wildly off target, did I notice a delay between pulling the trigger and shooting, or did I see enemies teleporting about like nightcrawler. My partner did teleport a little, which may point to potential problems with competitive shooters down the line, but this was an almost 1 hour gaming time uninterrupted: NO disconnections!

In other words- I WAS PLAYING ONLINE FOR REAL WITH A PLAYER HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD. (emphasis intended)

4. Last things Last: The final word.

Of course, the rest is history!

I’m glad to say that on testing out the MTN 3G prepaid package, I was able to get latency figures similar to what he reported, and proceeded to set things up to allow my playstation to connect to the free playstation network. I then proceeded to test three games (Soulcalibur 4, Streetfighter 4 and Resident evil 5) and my findings are reported on the next page!

3. Third things third: The testing!

Now, Anyone who  has had to change ISP’s in our dear country is aware of the headaches of sub-Saharan Africa and the Internet- you have the GSM providers on one hand, with their wide coverage and good speeds due to recent flirtations with 3G,EDGE and HSDPA. Providers who, due to their primary desire to preserve their more valuable property (overpriced cellphone calls and SMS) impose ridiculous download caps with varied (but uniformly ugly) penalties for overshooting said limits- anything from summary disconnection to 15x to 30x price hikes.

On another hand, you have the CDMA providers, who are not (usually) as protective of their bandwidth, and offer the promise of good speeds and coverage due to widespread deployment of EVDO, but rarely deliver due to oversaturated networks and where they do deliver, usually mask high latencies behind their equally high speeds (buh?! Latency??? What that?!??!  If you really want to play games online, you owe it to yourself to find out what this is, so read on!)

And then you have the oddballs. Wimax, Cable modem providers, etc etc. Unified by a universal trade off: High setup costs versus horrible performance.

So far, the outlook is pretty bleak. Picking one from this lot is a tough (and expensive) proposition. And as a gamer, there are other things to look for. You see, games don’t just demand speed. There are two other key features (bear with me here, grammar wan begin plenty):

1. Latency: Unfortunately, no provider in Nigeria (to my knowledge) offers information on latency. It’s just a trial-and-error game of chance. So whats the difference between latency and bandwidth? Well this is the best way to explain it: if bandwidth is the speed at which netjuice pours through your internet pipe, latency is the time it takes for the flow to get to you. In other words, you may have a download of 100kbps, but a latency delay of 2000 ms (2 seconds). This means that in GEARS OF WAR, there will be a full four seconds between the time you pull the trigger, and the time your gun begins to fire. Not good.
2. NAT reachability: For whatever reason, both xbox live and playstation Network require us to perform some settings known as port forwarding in order to connect. Port forwarding is out of the scope of this article, but what we need to know is that some providers do not allow this, and anyone trying to game on such networks, regardless of latency and bandwidth, is SOL (sh*t out of luck)

With all the above, it’s pretty obvious that the most reliable source of information, besides blind random luck, would have to be a recommendation from a friend. Unfortunately, since many people are masters in the art of denial, and can happily spend hours playing an unplayable, jerking, lag-ridden session online mainly due to a stubborn refusal to accept the fact that ‘dem money don burn finish’ (thousands of Naira down the drain- tra la la….), I have had people make the most insane recommendations, both on and offline! Eventually I just came to the conclusion that since the SAT-3 (West Africa’s premier link to the civilised world) is unable to deliver the needed low latency, Nigerian gamers should just be content to lug their systems across the nation and be done with it.

2. Second things second: A ray of hope!

To start with, I’d like to mention the purpose of portlagos.com. Those who know me IRL know there are a few projects cooking in my as yet internet-virgin oven. From my chosen handle, it should also be obvious that they will (for the most part) be development projects, and (hopefully!) creative. At the moment, there’s an iPhone game, three webcomics, and (still on the drawing board) a Java mobile game. I’m really excited about the pace of progress on all of these and the world will see them soon! Exciting times, indeed.

Other possibilities, once things get going, will be podcasts, general gadget and videogame reviews, and commentary on tech, the internet, and subsaharan Africa in general. Portlagos.com will be the wellspring of these creations, and this blog will be my personal soapbox on which I will preach to whosoever will listen!

And now, the ball is rolling…..