PS/3 Development...Where we are at.

Ok, everybody wants to know the "real deal" with the Linux-development-on-PS3.

And here it is....

There is none...yet.

Ok, lets be cool everybody, XBox in my book is the clear "current" winner in the development of games for there system. XNA kicks ass, period.

So you shelled out $600-700 for a PS/3, plus a wireless keyboard and maybe a game or two. Put it at a grand easy. If you have been following our blog, you should be at the point where you have Linux installed and the Wi-Fi working correctly, maybe even with Apache running....sweet.

But, you say, Halo3 is out and all my friends are playing the coolest game out. All I got was a PS/3 with little to no games and Linux running in very confined quarters that is governed by the Hypervisor.

Home, the Secondlife for PS/3 users has been delayed and GTAIV is delayed too.

So where do we stand?

Ok, lets look at the deal Sony paired us with.

Because of problems with access to the 2D and 3D acceleration on board the PS/3 their are complications involved with making the PS/3 as a game development platform under Yellow-dog Linux and developing in OpenGL.

So just what level of graphics support is available on the PS/3?

The short answer is very limited. At this point in time, Yellow-dog Linux runs in frame-buffer mode on the PS3, meaning there is no 2D no 3D acceleration and thus no direct support for OpenGL.

A work around is the x.org driver, as it is fully functional in its frame-buffer mode, offering quality support for a wide variety of hi-def televisions and computer monitors that comply with the PS3 video output signals.

The gameOS, of course has the full gambit of the device, the Linux side is severely gimped.

For now we are going to continue to develop OpenGL, but on our Macs or PCs. I will have instructions for both platforms.