I use to have a Commodore VIC-20, Still do, not very useful with just the cassette cartridge for storage. Software has gotten more powerful and cheaper. Ever try Visual Basic Ver 1.0 then try VB 4.0.
Big difference.
>> Cheaper tools result in more creative, eclectic development.<<<
Of the thousands of garage operations not too many have been successful yet. The PC platform is a moving target every quarter new bells and whistles comes out that needs to be support delaying SW
releases. ie MMX, PII, 3D, 3dfx Voodoo, OPENGL, D3D Version 1-6,
Internet multiplayer.
With consoles there is no Minimum requirement for the console. SW
development requires that you need not support dozens of different
video cards, sound cards, P5, P6, MMX, compatibility tests and DirectX drivers, etc.
So there is a trade off doing development for consoles and the PC. Look how often Falcon 4.0 or M1 TankCommander have been delayed to add in new features to support the new Technology. Which is why the companys that developed console games are further ahead. One Platform one version of the game.
If you look at the state of 3D games, once a hit game comes out other
SW developers license the 3D engine. ION Storm, MPRS licensed the UNREAL engine from EPIC MegaGames. Numerous SW houses licenced the
Quake and Quake II engines.
It may seem to you that there is less Console development but the
biggest console developers themselves are Nintendo, SEGA and Sony Interactive. Also the Japanese SW houses Capcom, Konami, Namco, Temco,
and Bandai. The console market is very large indeed to support all
these companies. If it were not, everyone would just develop PC games
and Cut each others throat.
>>And that is part of why, to answer again your lament that seems to have started this debate, there is less console development. There can be thousands of garage operations trying to come up with the next Doom, because the PC (and Mac) tools costs and variety allow that, though less than they used to.<<<<
Well if you look up H2O who developed Terisphere for the N64. They are by no means a large BIG Development House. They are Teeny Tiny SW
company. EA took a wait and see on Consoles. They developed for the PSX and now are doing it on the N64. THQI is not exactly a powerhouse
in the industry either.
>>> But only big development houses can afford to develop for consoles, which is exactly how the console makers have wanted it in the past. But those same big developers are doing less console stuff because of the smaller market share. Or they do it later, as ports - like Riven on consoles is a port, presumably.<<<
All the information you need was available at the Metrowerks link
i previously gave. MetroWerks plug:
"Check out how CodeWarrior can help
increase your productivity, reduce
your time-to-market, and save you
money on your development tools. "
metrowerks.com
MetroWerk's Code Warrior is the only company I know of that develops programming tools for various embedded uP and other platforms.
In addition to the IDE you would need Sony's Playstation Development
Kit.
scea.sony.com
If you just want to play around with the PSX there is a low cost
CodeWarrior for Net Yaroze. CodeWarrior for Net Yaroze may be ordered with your Net Yaroze Membership from Sony Computer Entertainment
(SCEA) in the U.S.
>>>All argument aside, I would be glad to hear about better IDE C++ compilers than the GNU one in the dev kit for Playstation. So far I'm open to suggestions, and would like to get your opinion on that. Where is the best one available, and what else would I need besides the compiler?<<<
cl |
