Why there's no showstopper like Infinity Blade for Android

[RockdaMan]

Epic's Tim Sweeney:

While, to my surprise, they're totally happy with the iPad 2's 512MB—"it's as much as the Xbox 360"—they just want the amount they're given to work to be predictable. "We need X amount of memory available. Sometimes it works, sometimes you have to shut down other apps or reboot your phone." Right now, "It's a massive problem," says Sweeney.

Speaking of Android, you're probably wondering why there's no showstopper like Infinity Blade for the platform. Well, wonder no more. Says Sweeney, "When a consumer gets the phone and they wanna play a game that uses our technology, it's got to be a consistent experience, and we can't guarantee that [on Android]. That's what held us off of Android." The problem with Android is consistency. "If you took the underlying NGP hardware and shipped Android on it, you'd find far far less performance on Android. Let's say you took an NGP phone and made four versions of it. Each one would give you a different amount of memory and performance based on the crap [the carriers] put on their phone." Bottom line, for Epic to do the kinds of things they do on iOS, "Google needs to be a little more evil. They need to be far more controlling." Even so, the main reason Epic has focused on iOS? "It's really the best place to make money."

[boswd]

I never really buy into their excuses. Simply because they control how many Android Versions they want to make their game for. They simply could just make the the game to run on Android 2.1 and higher, Would be no different then the two or three different iOS version that are out there. All the high End Android phones would be running it.
And if they want to make money then here is a novel idea , don't give out for free and then complain you don't make any money. Charge. If it's that great people will pay.
Simple.

[madsquabbles]

Originally Posted by boswd

Android 2.1 and higher, Would be no different then the two or three different iOS version that are out there.

it's not the version of the software, it's the hardware. android ranges from phones with no dedicated gpu to devices that use tegra2 or power vr chips. there is no standard and the fragmentation is what's the problem. all these different hardware versions can or do run 2.1 and higher.

you'd suppose they could scale the games like they do on pc's or even on ios (infinity blade renders better on the ipad 2 than on the orig ipad).

[bwaldron]

What Apple wants people to label as "fragmentation," I prefer to see as "choice."

Part of the job of an OS is to let the developer write without worrying about the specific hardware. Of course, that's never perfect or complete in practice, and it is a bit more difficult than writing for a single hardware platform.

So be it. Developing for Apple has its own set of issues.

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

it's not the version of the software, it's the hardware. android ranges from phones with no dedicated gpu to devices that use tegra2 or power vr chips. there is no standard and the fragmentation is what's the problem. all these different hardware versions can or do run 2.1 and higher.

you'd suppose they could scale the games like they do on pc's or even on ios (infinity blade renders better on the ipad 2 than on the orig ipad).

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

Part of the job of an OS is to let the developer write without worrying

Thats what Epic does for iOS.

[wodin]

I think the assumption here is that Infinity Blade is a showstopper.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by wodin

I think the assumption here is that Infinity Blade is a showstopper.

Seen the reviews?

[wodin]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Seen the reviews?

Why would I do that? And images from the publisher's website do not constitute reviews.

[RockdaMan]

The images display the graphics, the reviews are from third parities that are easily verifiable.

[kjk]

It's a pretty gorgeous game, esp. on the iPad 2. The difficulty level ramps up considerably though-haven't finished it yet.

And its not just "Apple wanting people to label it fragmentation". It is also Android developers labeling it fragmentation. Let's try not to blame Apple for this issue.

Andy Rubin posted a nice blog entry about the issue, actually.

[RockdaMan]

Baird Research polled 250 working developers (the dudes who do this for a living) on the matter, asking them straight up: “Do You View Android Fragmentation As A Problem?”

Overall, 87% (217) of the 250 developers view Android’s fragmentation as some sort of problem, ranging from “Somewhat of a problem” to a “Huge Problem”.
Nearly 1/4 (24%, or 60) of the developers went as far as classifying it as a “Huge Problem”.
Only 14% (35) of the 250 developers don’t consider it a problem at all.

Take it as you will. Commenters on the Internet are quick to unleash massive diatribes anytime dares mention Android’s fragmentation issues — but when the people who do this stuff to put food on the table say there are issues, there are probably issues.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by kjk

Andy Rubin posted a nice blog entry about the issue, actually.

I posted your fragmentation piece above, because it is compelling.

The Rubin piece later quoted is not. In fact, it's full of senior management speak:

it’s clear that quality and consistency continue to be top priorities.

Our “anti-fragmentation” program has been in place since Android 1.0 and remains a priority for us to provide a great user experience for consumers and a consistent platform for developers.

We remain firmly committed to providing Android as an open source platform across many device types.

[kjk]

I'm just happy he didn't just post the command line thing again

Actually, what I find fascinating is how Sony is going to bring PSOne games for Android... but exclusively for Sony devices like the Xperia, at least to start.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I noticed that there is no catagory for "I think it's an asset"

[boswd]

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

it's not the version of the software, it's the hardware. android ranges from phones with no dedicated gpu to devices that use tegra2 or power vr chips. there is no standard and the fragmentation is what's the problem. all these different hardware versions can or do run 2.1 and higher.

you'd suppose they could scale the games like they do on pc's or even on ios (infinity blade renders better on the ipad 2 than on the orig ipad).

like I said don't try to aim the game for every model of Android, besides all high end Android phones, Droid X, Droid 2 The incredible ,EVO Galaxy S etc all have hardware that is arguable superior to the iPhone. And besides the Screen real estate alone on all the high end Android phones would make a much more superior and enjoyable gaming experience as opposed the the iPhone's 3.5 screen. Heck our receptionist can't stand playing angry birds on her iPhone after she plays it on my Droid X. and that's about of a basic game as you are going to get.

Again I don't buy it.