There may be more games developed for the Sony PlayStation 3 in the coming months, thanks to a drastic cut in the cost of the PS3’s developer’s kit.

According to a Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) spokesman, the price for its PS3 Reference Tool will drop to 950,000 yen in Japan, US $10,250 in North America and €7,500 in Europe.

There is little question that the move is in reaction to the on-going market battle between PS3 and the Nintendo Wii. The $249 basic Wii kit has dominated the market of late, and PlayStation 3 needs a boost. Some cool new games would be just the ticket.

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Back in 2005, Sony commanded a princely US $25,000 for the developer’s kit. Still, the PS3 garnered a number of third-party games. The simple fact, however, is that PS3 needs more games, more good games.

SCEI said it will integrate programming tools developed by SN Systems, Ltd. as part of the PS3 Software Development Kit (SDK).

The pot is even sweeter. SCEI will enable the Debugging Station for PS3 (DECHA007J/ DECHA007A) to take part in the programming process, effectively assisting PS3 game title development on the Reference Tool (DECR-1000/ DECR-1000A).

The developer’s kit announcement comes at about the same time Sony set a $399 price point for the PS3. Pricing for the 40 GB version was announced on November 4 and was backed by multiple TV spots on shows ranging from football games to Prison Break to Saturday Night Live. There also was a $100 price cut on the 80GB PS3 to $499.

Along with this boost to the PS3 game development environment, SCEI will further reinforce its support system to the development community, and continue to further expand the PS3 platform, the company spokesman says.

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SCEI says the tools to be integrated into the PS3 SDK include the ProDG, SN Distributed Build, SN Linker and SN Compiler.

ProDG is a programming tool developed by SN Systems, which will become available free of charge as part of the PS3 SDK. Additionally, through the improvement of its functionalities, ProDG, which used to be available for use only on the Reference Tool, is now available for use on the Debugging Station as well, contributing to reduction in development costs.
License and support fees for SN Distributed Build System (SN-DBS) were eliminated last month. SN-DBS is a distributed build system that improves productivity by dramatically reducing compiling time by distributing source code builds to multiple PCs on a local area network, allowing them to process in parallel. Compiling time is reduced by approximately 80% when using six PCs.

SN Linker is a program used during the building process for linking compiled programs. Compared to the existing linker, linking speed is significantly improved and can be up to eight times faster. The release of this program has already started through the SDK’s system software update released on November 2.

SN Compiler (SNC) is a new compiler that will be provided as the standard compiler for PS3. It is optimized for use for PS3 by adopting the industry standard C++ front-end. SCEI says it will significantly elevate game quality as well as improve productivity. This is due to its improved code generating efficiency. Release of the beta version of SNC will start from mid December as part of the SDK.

In addition to the provision of these powerful tools as part of the SDK, SCEI has also added the capability for the Debugging Station to take part in programming, thus assisting PS3 game title development on the Reference Tool, instead of using it only as a quality assurance system for games under development.