hmmmm.... I think the real question is this:
Which SDK of the ones above do you think you can actually get?
If I understand correctly you want to do an indie development, and AFAIK, these SDKs cost a lot of money, and are only given to select developers.

Quote:Original post by adiash
hmmmm.... I think the real question is this:
Which SDK of the ones above do you think you can actually get?
If I understand correctly you want to do an indie development, and AFAIK, these SDKs cost a lot of money, and are only given to select developers.

But you didn't answer his question!

Quote:Original post by remi

Quote:Original post by adiash
hmmmm.... I think the real question is this:
Which SDK of the ones above do you think you can actually get?
If I understand correctly you want to do an indie development, and AFAIK, these SDKs cost a lot of money, and are only given to select developers.

But you didn't answer his question!

I know, I think some more info is required to answer it.
For example, if you are proficient with DirectX you might find XBox easier then PS2. However, due to the scale of the games, one might consider the GBA much easier to complete a game on.
Anyway, I'm just blabbing away here so it's best if I just stop posting on things I know nothing about :P

xbox is far easier to program on. if you got a modded xbox (as i do, which btw i only got so i could mod it and code for it( well that and running xbox media player to watch divx on my tv)) you can get hold of the XDK (xbok developers kit) from the misty reaches of the internet and install it on your dev machine/dev xbox. this gives you a fully working development XBox with remote debugging and directx 8.
only thing that stopped me from really getting stuck into porting my terrain engine to the xbox was that its only got 64 megs to play with, and you loose 5 or so just for creating the d3d device and buffers. I'm still planning on porting it at some point but my original plan was for concurrent development but it'd be too much work.
Its a pity you have to mod you xbox to get it into development mode they should've come up with a way to let the average user convert it simply but meh.

NOTE: i've also used a dev PS2 (the proper one) and developing for the xbox is a damn sight easier than the ps2. good ol' DirectX.

Omar:

Unfortunately, if a job advert says "PS2 experience", "Xbox experience" or "Gamecube experience", that usually means "you have worked on a SHIPPED title on that platform". Knowing the platform and how it works is definately a good thing and puts you above other candidates, but unless you've worked on a game which has been sold through the usual retail stores, and is in a shrink wrapped box on a shelf, your knowledge is devalued somewhat because you can't easily "prove" what you know. Knowing a platform is good, but it doesn't mean "experience" in the sense usually used in job adverts.

I would still advise you to learn as much as you can about those platforms, and to advance your academic skills as much as possible (a BSc or MSc in a subject such as mathematics, physics or computer science is very useful to let people know you're serious and have intelligence).

Having said that, the majority of jobs in games programming areas don't require detailed knowledge of any platform!! - and even a specialist area such as engine programming requires GRAPHICS programming experience rather than experience of a particular platform...


Going back to your original question of which is easiest - it really does depend on your own background - to get a 3D model spinning on Gamecube, PS2 or Xbox is really very easy - however making an engine which is competitive is a tad more difficult. To get a spinning cube on the screen, all platforms are about equal... GameCube and Xbox are easier for some of the more basic effects, but to do anything more difficult - it really depends on the platform.

I disagree. Having worked on all three of the current consoles I would say Xbox wins hands down in terms of everything from getting your first app up and running, to doing advanced stuff- assuming of course you have a proper dev or debug kit and the official software ;) Even the dev environment is better- VS.Net leaves Codewarrior looking a bit pale by comparison.

The Xbox is a fantastic platform to code for, it's unified memory (what do you mean ONLY 64M!!! try working in 24!) is great and it behaves pretty much like a PC, but without other apps interfering. The samples that come with the XDK will teach you everything from the basics, to some of the advanced shader techniques. As for as going the indie route though, a modded Xbox with the XDK and Xbox shell plugin (to browse xboxes like remote PCs) is about as close to the real thing as you'll ever need to get.


Next in line is the GameCube, not too tough to work on, though the fact that it uses big endian is a pain in the ass at first. It's capable of some pretty cool stuff, if you treat it nicely ;) Dunno if there's any way to go indie on it.

And PS2.. well, that's another story entirely. It is an evil beast that you will fight with about absolutely everything. As someone wise once said to me: 'Do not underestimate coding on the PS2'. He was right.

And whoever said that 64M is too little.. you need to optimise your data more ;) The other consoles have just 24M, though the cube at least has some extra, slower memory that could be used for buffering and stuff if necessary.

its not my data thats taking up the 64 megs, its my textures :)
in the PC version of my engine i just load em all up and let the API take care of em, but in the xbox i cant do that cos there 8x8 textures or 1024x1024 plus all the mipmap levels, so i rather quickly ran out of memory. ah well. i could always make it unload textures its not using but i'm modifying my pc engine to use procedural textures anyway.
ps anyone know it the XBox supports pixel shaders???