Some random dev kit trivia:

• Dev kits can’t play retail games at all.
• Dev kits have much bigger system specs because we have to be able to run debug builds. Debug builds are much less optimized because of all the debug information that’s kept in memory.
• Dev kit software can do a lot of things like simulate online and/or disc latency, handle remote network connections, record game screenshots/video and controller inputs, and profile resource usage.
• Current gen dev kits require you to provide Sony/Microsoft with a whitelisted IP address. They won’t work if you aren’t connecting to the dev network without a recognized IP address. This has caused a lot of problems due to everyone working from home. Before the PS4 gen, this wasn’t the case - we could take our dev kits home if we wanted (and the company let us).

• There’s the beefy (and expensive) dev kit, and then there’s the less beefy (and cheaper) test kit. Dev kits have more features and better hardware.
• There’s a separate developer’s version of PSN and Xbox Live networks. This is so we can do things like test network stuff, locale, achievements, etc. without them going live
• Most of the time, the company is very careful about dev kits because they cost a lot. I’ve had dev kits chained to my desk before.
• When we had family events at the office like Halloween trick-or-treating, we had to cover up all of our (still under NDA) dev kits so children and family members could not see them.
• The Xbone’s Developer Mode Activation does not actually turn your Xbone into a dev kit. It still has the retail hardware specs and it doesn’t have all of the features or access to the special dev network.
• Last gen dev kits are a lot cheaper than the newest ones. You can probably get a PS4 or Xbone dev kit for under $2000 now.

Cheers!

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Somebody asked for trivia and/or pictures of dev kits, so I thought I would reblog this. I don't currently have a dev kit assigned by my current employer, so I reblogged my old post from a few years back with photos I took of my dev kits at my former office along with my stuffed baneling plush.

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Got a burning question you want answered?

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• Frequent Questions: The FAQ