Dragonborn DLC Coming To PS3 In 2013

Dawnguard and Hearthfire are good but Dragonborn greatness written all over it.

This article would have been much better minus the last sentence. Either way, I don't get why Bethesda has such a hard time with the PS3.

It's due to a combination of hardware and software issues. The software uses a bit field for storing and retrieving information from save files. Any time an object is interacted with, its information changes and that has to be written into the bit field. In a game with thousands of NPCs, many times more objects, sources of new objects that periodically refresh, and dynamic elements like roving traders, packs of giants, bandits, and dynamic dragon attacks with all interaction states preserved for future use (otherwise the game world would periodically 'refresh', like in GTA) the bit field will constantly grow and the save file with it. Where this becomes a problem is the limited amount of system memory available on consoles. All of that information has to be cached for the game to run properly. This becomes a problem on the PS3 which will run out of memory faster than other platforms due to its architecture.

The PS3 has two memory blocks each 256 MB, one for video, one for system. The 360 has a unified memory pool of 512 MB and the average gaming PC now has at least 16 times the system memory of the 360, and twice as much dedicated to video. The system block for the PS3 is hampered in by the OS. A quick google search has it using anywhere from 120MB down to 50MB after a firmware update. Even then that means there's 206MB, minus the save file (which can easily creep way past 10MB and get up to 20MB with DLC) which means there's less than 200MB to actually work with for everything in the game. That's remarkably little memory. On the 360 side tricks are open for bleeding some extra performance out of the box - namely reducing the visual memory footprint to free up more memory for system tasks. This is not an option for the PS3. Unspent visual memory cannot be reassigned to system tasks. On a long enough playthrough it's inevitable - the game runs into a brick wall with the hardware.

There are a few solutions to this problem. One would involve stripping interactables from the environment. This would run the risk of wrecking the feel of the game. Part of the unique appeal of the Elder Scrolls games and the newer Fallout games is the tactility of their world. If you see something and it isn't nailed down you can nearly always at least pick it up and sell it but there are often interesting uses for it. So if this is done it must be done to a very limited extent and with as great care as possible. Another solution would involve rebuilding the file access system in the engine to dynamically partition information and only drum it up as needed. Moving forward it would be a good solution but it is not realistic to do it for programs that exist now. It would require a massive overhaul of the code base and could not be done in a patch due to load order problems. The third solution for a given program would be to throw more RAM at it, either by increasing the amount of physical memory available or make it large-address aware if it is not. This is not a solution for the PS3 or 360 at all. They have what they have and there's no way to increase that. At root the problems for Skyrim/Fallout 3/NV/Oblivion on the PS3 are basically intractible. There's no real way to solve them.

There are a few solutions to this problem. One would involve stripping interactables from the environment. This would run the risk of wrecking the feel of the game. Part of the unique appeal of the Elder Scrolls games and the newer Fallout games is the tactility of their world. If you see something and it isn't nailed down you can nearly always at least pick it up and sell it but there are often interesting uses for it. So if this is done it must be done to a very limited extent and with as great care as possible. Another solution would involve rebuilding the file access system in the engine to dynamically partition information and only drum it up as needed. Moving forward it would be a good solution but it is not realistic to do it for programs that exist now. It would require a massive overhaul of the code base and could not be done in a patch due to load order problems. The third solution for a given program would be to throw more RAM at it, either by increasing the amount of physical memory available or make it large-address aware if it is not. This is not a solution for the PS3 or 360 at all. They have what they have and there's no way to increase that. At root the problems for Skyrim/Fallout 3/NV/Oblivion on the PS3 are basically intractible. There's no real way to solve them.

20$ for DLC is nuts. I sold my Skyrim copy anyway, so I'll wait for the inevitable GOTY edition or until I get a capable desktop.

Too late, Bethesda. Don't care anymore.

Too late, Bethesda. Don't care anymore.