DivX technology extended to PS3 game developers
DivX support has been on the PS3 for a good old while now. Combined with the DNLA media server networking and its excellent upscaling, the only way it could be better at supporting the scurvy arts is to include a copy of BitComet in the next firmware update.
Sony is presumably not just after DivX capabilities to simplify the process of watching illegally distributed video content (although we are extremely thankful for it) and so it’s high time that the technology was extended to further uses. To that end, DivX has just announced that the video encoding system is now available for PS3 game developers as well.
“We are excited to work with Sony Computer Entertainment to offer DivX video encoding to PS3 game developers,” said Kevin Hell, CEO of DivX, Inc. “PS3 users can already use their PS3s to watch their own DivX videos, and now they’ll also be able to enjoy the quality of DivX in the games.”
I can’t call myself an expert on video encoding, but the reason for its popularity is that it enables otherwise quite large files to be compressed, and that in turns has made them easier to distribute over the internet. In games, especially on PS3 games, there’s much less need to compress the video as there’s oodles of space on those 50GB Blu-ray discs.
However, even though Sony is a bit less restrictive than rival Microsoft when it comes to downloadable titles, PSN games are the ones that stand to gain the most from more compression techniques, so maybe the technology will help drive more interesting narrative based titles in the PlayStation Store. And it might have an interesting role to play in Home too, if it ever arrives.
DivX (via GamingToday)
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