360 and PS3 Versions of GTA IV Almost Identical in Graphics: Rockstar Head

A week ahead of Grand Theft Auto IV's release, Rockstar Games President Sam Houser said the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 each presented their own challenges but that the game looks "pretty much identical" on the two platforms.

Echoing comments of several other major developing houses, the Rockstar head said the PS3 at first presented some difficulties but that the hurdle had been cleared.

"Getting things running on the PS3 initially was challenging. I think it was challenging for a lot of companies, but it's also a machine where, now that we've got comfortable with it - I don't want to say we've cracked it, but we've got comfortable with it - we know we can make our games," he said.

While he praised the 360 as being "a very, very accessible, familiar, effective environment to work in," Microsoft's decision to produce a hard drive-less discount model "complicated" efforts to develop the game for it, Houser said.

He also expressed some concern about the expanding disc size of games - not a problem for the Blu-ray capable PS3 but a challenge for the DVD-only 360.

"If we're filling up the disc right now, where are we going?" Houser asked. "It's not like our games are going to get any smaller."

Source: 1up.com

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Good, fanboys won't moan saying "LOL H4X0R, I H45 T4 BESTEST G4M3", what bliss, thank you rockstar.

sirdanrhodes:
Good, fanboys won't moan saying "LOL H4X0R, I H45 T4 BESTEST G4M3", what bliss, thank you rockstar.

No, they'll do that anyway, thereby proving their own ignorance even further.

Echoing comments of several other major developing houses, the Rockstar head said the PS3 at first presented some difficulties but that the hurdle had been cleared.

Ironic, considering an outsider such as myself may have been led to believe it would be the 360 which would be the one presenting problems.

Ah well, you know what they say about 'untapped potential'; Hindenburg and all that.

Melaisis:
Ironic, considering an outsider such as myself may have been led to believe it would be the 360 which would be the one presenting problems.

I'm being a fanboy here (well, not intentionally), but, uh, why would the PS3 be easier to develop for? Everyone knows that X360 architecture is quite similar to PC. Also, the PS3 uses the Cell Processor, which is quite new to developers, as well as the (from what I hear) lack of developer help from Sony.

- A procrastinator

stompy:

Melaisis:
Ironic, considering an outsider such as myself may have been led to believe it would be the 360 which would be the one presenting problems.

I'm being a fanboy here (well, not intentionally), but, uh, why would the PS3 be easier to develop for? Everyone knows that X360 architecture is quite similar to PC. Also, the PS3 uses the Cell Processor, which is quite new to developers, as well as the (from what I hear) lack of developer help from Sony.

- A procrastinator

Ah. My apologies; I initially believed that Sony was helping spearhead the project due to the general high amount of profile around the title. Hence, it would make a large amount of sense (from a business prospective) for Sony to provide Rockstar with all the available resources in order to get GTA out there. After all, it was claimed that IV would be a PS3-only title, but due to the lack of support from the console (from, it appears, both the company and sales in general), its had to go multi-platform. All the same, despite the hardware differences (the whole 'Xbox is similar to a PC' thing and the fact the PS3 is like nothing we've seen before) you'd expect Sony to make up for the difference by helping out in any way possible.

Hence my original presumptions, heh.

sirdanrhodes:
Good, fanboys won't moan saying "LOL H4X0R, I H45 T4 BESTEST G4M3", what bliss, thank you rockstar.

No, PS fanboys will always tell you there's a difference and if you can't see it you need your eyes checked. It's what they do.

i dunno man, sony has a pretty bad rap for not helping game developers and if the game went multiplatform due to lack of support from sony what makes you think sony would support them.... i dunno just kinda strikes me as odd to connect the dots that way.

"If we're filling up the disc right now, where are we going?" Houser asked. "It's not like our games are going to get any smaller."

While I understand that Developers treat us as "console-tards/retarded 20-ish with cash", I believe that the demographic is still smart enough to be able to swap discs.

PS: And looking at a Graphics Comparison, I still prefer the 360 version.PS3's colours are a lot more cheesy and a bit over the top.

JakubK666:
I believe that the demographic is still smart enough to be able to swap discs.

That presents two problems. One, swapping disks is archaic. There is a larger storage format available, and it's a new generation. There isn't much excuse for choosing the lesser choice.
Much more importantly, while swapping disks would be perfectly effective in paced games such as RPGs, Rockstar games seem to require access to almost everything in the game at the same time. They couldn't put half of Liberty City on one disk, and half on the other, without limiting the alleged player freedom.