I've got a simple question (a side issue to my original question about "breaking into the industry"): When you're trying to land a programming job with companies doing Playstation 2 development, and you want to make a PS2 demo, what tools are available publicly to help you develop that code? From what I understand, you must obtain a developer's license to get access to the SDK for the PS2, and this SDK is very expensive. I've done a little searching on the web, and it seems that the alternatives are either YaBasic or the Linux-based C++ development kit (which I don't know much about yet). Is anything available for Windows environments, or would I have to set up a Linux box before I could do any PS2 development? Thanks, --Neil. ---------------------- Check out my game demo and resume at www.fivestory.com/projects/game. [edited by - HoozitWhatzit on November 17, 2002 3:12:49 AM]

I haven''t seen YaBasic, but I wouldn''t recommend this as a way to get PS2 experience - I suspect it doesn''t expose much of the hardware in the PS2, which is what you (presumably) want.. I could be wrong on this though..

The PS2 Linux kit doesn''t require you to set up a Linux Box. It is a couple of DVDs which you put into a PS2, and it installs Linux on the addon hard drive so you can use Linux on PS2. Then you do the actual dev on the PS2 (plug in a USB keyboard/mouse to the PS2 etc)

From what I remember you get full access to the EE CPU, both vector units and the GS (graphics synthesiser) chip. But I think you don''t get raw access to the IO processor or the sound chip. You could still get some good experience with it though - getting used to programming the EE, VUs and GS would probably be helpful in landing a job doing PS2 work..

Oh God. You don''t want to start in the game industry as a PS2 programmer. The horror, the horror.

Agreed. The PS2''s architecture was designed by someone who thought the Sega Saturn was too easy to program. From what little I''ve seen, the PS3 is going to be even nastier inside. 1stGen PS3 titles are going to need middleware just to get done.

There was nothing wrong with the Sega Saturn...for a 14-year-old idiot savant programmer. With daily IV infusions of caffeine.

Wow, okay...that''s interesting. So far, I''ve got one response saying that I should load Linux onto the PS2 to learn development, and three responses saying that PS2 development is a hell to be avoided...

I now consider myself to be warned of the dangers.

I assume the three of you (the "avoid PS2" responders) are PS2 developers, so let me ask each of you: how did you get started in PS2 development?

Thanks for all the responses.

--Neil.

Nope. I just have heard horror stories from acquaintances of mine. Sorry.

I don''t work with the PS2 either. Just heard the horror stories while job-hunting. The PS2 is hard to develop for, the games have reached second generation, and experienced PS2 programmers are out there. So I imagine it''d be tough for someone without console development experience to land a job doing any serious PS2 work.

But yeah, I agree with the other AP. Buy the <a href="http://www.us.playstation.com/hardware/more/SCPH-97047.asp">official Linux kit</a>. It''s probably your best short-term bet. But I imagine if you''re job-hunting right now, aren''t you pretty busy with coding tests anyway?

Started in the 16-bit days, putting out random licensed crap for the Genesis and SNES. Did the same for the PSX and PS2, and now XBox (oooooh, so much room!). I''d probably never buy the games I''m paid to make, but the money''s okay.

I''m the guy who recommended you load Linux onto the PS2. There''s really two things about programming the PS2..

1) *If* you know a good deal about low level hardware (ie interrupt handlers, DMA, caches, assembly), and you have a good knowledge of the intricacies of C/pointers/etc then the majority of dev on the PS2 isn''t that difficult - it just takes a while to get used to it as the architecture is very weird if you are only used to the architecture of a PC..

2) When something does go wrong (bad DMA packets/misaligned data structures etc) the PS2 usually blows up - you normally get unfriendly exception and can easily waste days trying to find what is causing it.. This is I guess where the horror stories come from..

It''s a very interesting architecture though, if you are interested in low level programming..