PS3 'in better place for launch' than 360 - Mark Rein

Amidst all the arguments over PS3's hefty price tag, how much the world really cares about Blu-ray, and how important Xbox 360's steadily growing lead will prove, self-styled 'industry loudmouth' and Epic boss Mark Rein has revealed an interesting take on the next-gen battle from a developer's perspective.

Comparing the situation for developers last year ahead of the launch of 360, Rein believes Sony's efforts to get final dev kits out to studios compares favourably with those of its bitter rival.

"Developers were just getting final PS3 hardware [around E3], which is a long time before ship," Rein told Eurogamer TV. "Developers did not have finished Xbox 360 hardware last year at E3. So Sony's actually maybe in a better place vis-a-vis Microsoft in relation to launch."

"I think Sony's in a good spot with the PlayStation 3," he added. "I know we're getting some great results with it back at our house, so I would expect other developers will be as well."

And speaking of Epic games in development, while 360 action title Gears of War was undoubtedly one of the more visually amazing titles on show during May's gaming spectacular, Rein promised that improved tech will mean that the final version will raise the bar still further.

"[The E3 demo] was using our single-threaded rendered. We have our new Gemini multi-threaded rendered working in the engine right now," Rein explained. "The final game's built on it, it gives us better frame rates and more fluidity - UT 2007 will also benefit from it. It only gets better from here. So if you were impressed with Gears of War at E3, the finished game's going to be much better, it's going to be spectacular."