Sony discounts PS3 dev kit, hopes it will boost development

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It’s a known fact that the PS3 is a developer’s nightmare but Sony is hoping that a price cut to all existing dev kits will increase development. Sony reduced the price of Reference Tool model DECR-1400A to $2000 in the US and will go for €1,700 in Europe and PAL nations. Let’s hope this stirs up some more interest in Sony’s console that results in better games for the platform. Because they’re going to need a strong push in third party titles this year if they want to stay competitive with the Xbox 360 and Wii.

Sony also introduced their brand new graphics rendering engine, PhyreEngine, at GDC.

Provided as a full package along with its source code, and incorporated with many updated features including the linkage with the physics engines, this graphics rendering engine is adaptable to various game development styles. Furthermore, documents describing the technical aspects and overview of PhyreEngine have been made available to help the game developer community in creating games more efficiently using this graphics engine. The latest version 2.40, released in March 2009, includes a new “foliage rendering” system that provides tools and technology to render ultra-realistic trees and plants to be easily integrated into games, helping game developers to express their creativity more freely on the PS3 system.