Sony Online Entertainmentās upcoming massively multiplayer online spy game The Agency will be playable on both the PC and the PS3, and both versions are being developed at the same time. Theyāre building the title to permit interaction between PC and PS3 gamers, but they do have some obstacles to overcome to make this work properly.
PC titles are open to hacking. These exploits could put console gamers at a disadvantage, spoiling the whole concept of console and PC play.
Thereās also the issue of balance when it comes to control methods. PC gamers prefer a mouse-and-keyboard configuration, while console gamers usually donāt have a choice. Executive producer Wilson is taking this into consideration.
āWe can do things to equalize them, whether thatās aim assist on the console or other things on the PC, but when weāve actually done focus group testing and so forth, youāre always going to have the console players versus the PC players,ā Wilson says.
Finally, Wilson says the biggest challenge will be the updates that PC MMOs live by. Since the PS3 has a certification process, maintaining a synchronization of update releases will be difficult.
In the end, accounts will be cross-compatible. PS3 gamers can pick up their game on a PC and vice-versa. And the games should be pretty similar content-wise, according to Wilson.
āThe nice part about the PS3 is that itās a powerhouse console, and if weāre designing it with the PS3 in mind, weāre still going to have a high fidelity game on the PC. And so, from a content perspective, weāre really not doing anything differently, whether itās the PC or the PS3.ā
[Via Gamasutra]
Published: Sep 11, 2008 6:36 PM UTC