Dhruin
SasqWatch
It seems Bethsoft is stuggling with the PS3 version of Dawnguard - possibly to the extent of not being able to resolve the issues. From Matt Grandstaff on the Bethsoft forums:
More information.
Skyrim - PS3 version of Dawnguard in doubt
- Thread starter Dhruin
- Start date
I feel really bad that I'm getting a case of schadenfreude about this. "That'll teach those Sony so-and-so engineers to make bad consoles with bad memory management and bad APIs." And me knowing nothing of the actual development environment.
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2009
- Messages
- 522
Lucky Day
Daywatch
The Cell Processor is a superior chip than the '86 or the IBM Xenon but its a completely different architecture.
When we had a lecture from a guest speaker from 2K games he talked about the perils and problems with it. Since the original is such a huge game Sony was likely going out of their way to make it work (which is what they do) but there may not be the enthusiasm for an expansion.
I wouldn't be surprised if its either a kind of gamesmanship between the two companies or Bethesda saw the sales numbers for Dawnguard on the other platforms and decided it was best to but their resources elsewhere.
When we had a lecture from a guest speaker from 2K games he talked about the perils and problems with it. Since the original is such a huge game Sony was likely going out of their way to make it work (which is what they do) but there may not be the enthusiasm for an expansion.
I wouldn't be surprised if its either a kind of gamesmanship between the two companies or Bethesda saw the sales numbers for Dawnguard on the other platforms and decided it was best to but their resources elsewhere.
Nameless one
Wizzard
Yeah, I've only had experience with some embedded work like PIC32 and random ARM stuff (Gumstix/Android/etc). Sometimes it can be a real pain when you're dealing with different memory, register, assembly instruction sets.
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2009
- Messages
- 522
CountChocula
Keeper of the Watch
Those figures are a outdated and exclude PC digital downloads.
The latest I've seen are -
Xbox: 6.2m
PS3: 4.06m
PC packaged retail: 2.38m
Even if the PC digital download sales are high enough to make the PS3 the least successful platform out of the three, I don't think any publisher would feel an installed base of 4m units is "not worth much effort"
Nameless one
Wizzard
Making dawnguard work on PS3 has already taken more resources than they planed and considering that it had mediocre reviews and reception I wouldn't be surprised that they decide that "it's more troubles than it's worth"and cancel it for PS3.That said you have the point and I did exaggerate in my previous post.
- Joined
- October 18, 2006
- Messages
- 3,508
It seems weird to me that an expansion, essentially using the same technology as the main game, would cause problems when the main game didn't. Anybody have an idea why that is?
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 3,508
It could be many factors. The expansion introduces allot of content and script changes. Maybe the PS3 cant handle them right. Developers for years have said how hard it is to program and code for the PS3.
JuliusMagnus
Indulgent Wastrel
- Joined
- October 22, 2006
- Messages
- 409
Uhm... the main game did cause problems on PS3.
Remember the save-game issues?
Having to load in a big expansion would cause them all over again.
I think the reasons are technical and early design decisions on the PS3 might have kept it from being a great match for games needing big save files like Skyrim and FNV.
Basically the problem has existed since Fallout 3: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3449799
So it isn't just the size of the savefile, since in Fallout 3 people started getting trouble after it was 10mb. Which is why alot less people had any problems.
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2006
- Messages
- 409
R
RPGFool
Guest
Your view is further supported by the following comments, posted in the corresponding Dawnguard/PS3 article at Game Front:
R.J.
Part of the reason I got this game for PC instead of PS3 like I did with the last two Fallout games is that those games showed me that Bethesda doesn’t seem to know how handle the PS3. Even though someone else developed New Vegas, it was still running on a Bethesda engine, and for whatever reason, those just don’t seem to work with the PS3….
Pat
As a PS3 Skyrim player, I’m getting tired of putting the game in and it freezing every single time. This is a day one problem for the game that is still not fixed! …
Part of the reason I got this game for PC instead of PS3 like I did with the last two Fallout games is that those games showed me that Bethesda doesn’t seem to know how handle the PS3. Even though someone else developed New Vegas, it was still running on a Bethesda engine, and for whatever reason, those just don’t seem to work with the PS3….
Pat
As a PS3 Skyrim player, I’m getting tired of putting the game in and it freezing every single time. This is a day one problem for the game that is still not fixed! …
__
CountChocula
Keeper of the Watch
I imagine it's the memory issue.
The game tracks tons of persistent data about what the player has done, any of thousands of objects moved, choices made, separate crime status in each hold, relationship with hundreds of NPCs, status of hundreds of quests, etc., and my understanding is that it was already resulting in some frame rate issues for the PS3, which has only 256MB RAM.
Running the game with Dawnguard probably compounded this issue. It seems the hardware is not a great match for a massive open world sandbox RPG with this much persistent data.
Lucky Day
Daywatch
first, sorry to hear about your passing. we all mourn, but at least I can get as far as 10 before having a big, big laugh.
second, then why do they list Steam statistics?
CountChocula
Keeper of the Watch
My passing? Do you know something I don't yet know?
Some Steam statistics are publicized, like the total number of players, and in the case of Skyrim, Valve's business development head made a public statement to the effect that "Skyrim is the fastest selling game in Steam's history."
However, Valve does not disclose Steam sales numbers to third party market research firms like NPD, so unless the game publisher issues a press release with the digital download numbers, it is never made public.
Lucky Day
Daywatch
My passing? Do you know something I don't yet know?
Oh no, you didn't hear the news about your sad demise?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2012/08/24/jerry-nelson-obit.html
right, and I think this is part of my point. those kind of numbers is about the best we can do about garnering the limit of sales. 280k accounts times $50 (minimum) a box is a minimum $1.4m in sales. But then you have to guess at how many of those sales weren't an original box copy in the case of this game.
CountChocula
Keeper of the Watch
If there were 280,000 simultaneous users at one point, this is still likely significantly lower than the total number of digital download sales for the game. For example, even the indie game Magicka sold more than 1 million digital downloads on Steam, and I don't recall ever seeing it listed among the top games with the most concurrent users. Skyrim, on the other hand, is still consistently listed among the titles with the most concurrent users, even nearly a year after release.
There is not really any accurate way to estimate the number of digital download copies sold, and it won't ever be disclosed unless the publisher issues a press release about this. I would imagine it's probably at least in the range of the total packaged retail PC copies, which was 2.38 million, potentially bringing the total PC copies sold up to something like 4 million, or even higher, as it remains among the top selling titles on Steam each week, many months after release.
(Incidentally, you have me mistaken for the wrong Count - don't worry, I'm still alive and kicking
)