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The Future of Console Gaming, Part Deux
gmezero writes "The second part of my article on The Future of Console Gaming is now available. This part is 12 pages and features overviews on the successes and failures of Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Atari, as well as projections on the future plans of all but Atari. " We had linked to the first article - the second is along much of the same lines, in terms of style.
After the N64 sucks and They wont even be able to produce something as cool as the PS2.
Sorry, I meant Sega, not Sony.
I was actually comparing to using a mouse, not a keyboard.
One monkey died as a result of this post.
the original. I speak, of course, of PinBall. The Real Ones, not the feeble computer simulations. No waiting for the Nth generation of a console to get a version that looks half-way realistic. It's speed is limited only by the Laws of Physics. No trying to differentiate this 4-pixel blob from that 5-pixel blob. Resolution limited only by the quality of your eyesight. No looking for illogical programmer's traps to keep the game interesting. Game variations are limited only by your imagination. And best of all, no outrageous upfront cash layout. Fifty cents, and you are playing. No obsolesence. No guilt about 'investing all that money and it sits in the closet' if you decide not to play for six months.
Invent a better PinBall, and the world will beat a path to your door.
If you want to know about the history of Nintendo, along with the history of the videogames industry in general, then I doubt you can do better than the book "Game Over". The author's name escapes me at the moment, but is far and away the most interesting and informative account of the growth of the industry I have read.
The Console Game machines has an advantage: They use a single (and fast) standard. A PC have many diffrent standards, so the games becomes more complicated to write and somewhat slower.
>1. You just can't get decent graphics on a 320x240 resolution TV, no matter how good the graphics controller.
Check out Soul Caliber or Sonic Adventure or NFL2000. If those are'nt "decent graphics" I don't know what is....
The article is aimed at that casual gamer who is trying to understand the industry. I make no appologies for my style.
My point is also not to spend hundreds of pages explaining all of the various events, but provide the basic information of what has happened within said companies for the last ten years. After that, explain where I belive the company is headed as a whole.
My hopes then are that if you become interested enough in what I've written, you will both go read the references in both footnote pages. And maybe encourage someone else to write newer history books.
on rec.games.video.classic the Atari failure is talked about over and over. You all talk about vaporware and such about Microsoft, but Atari towers them easily. There's still talk about a much-hyped game for the Atari Jaguar named Battlesphere for years and it STILL Hasn't been released! Atari screwed up in numerous ways which lead to their demise. I was amazed how popular the Commie 64 was, and how long it lasted in the home computer market.
I agree with all of this (Dobson is an extraordinarily dangerous sociopath), but that does not change the fact that the Atari 2600 is the only moral gaming console.
I keep looking at the Sony Playstation as a fun toy that I'd like to write code for. Given the bleem and a suitable development environment (does anyone out there have one), and a playstation with a mod chip, you can develop your own code and run it (after you burn a CD). I keep wanting to turn my playstation into a tres cool MP3 player with graphics (a la the Sonique MP3 player and plugs ins...)
But where can I get a dev kit from? Has anyone produced an open version of it?
Those tracts are hilarious. A year ago or so, they probably would have made me mad, but in that time I've learned that most normal people are perfectly capable of seeing through Christian lies and so therefore when I see stuff like this, I find it more amusing than everything else. I like the one about evolution (the one about Allah and Muslims is pretty good, too.) They demonstrate that sorry, deteriorated state of fundamentalist Christian discourse: empty threats and non sequiters.
Worth a laugh, if you've got the time to download them.
Have you read the Dreamcast SDK Release Notes? No? Then hold your comments until you have. And when was the last time you tried to compile a VC++ 6 project under VC++ 4? Oh... I see... really? That simple?
As far as X-Box, my sources tell me that the target OS for it will be the the Rental version of consumer Windows. (of course in three years, who the hell knows what MS will do)
Also, I do take offense to the "apologist" comment since I'm not exactly sure what you think is being apologized for. What I do know is that I'm sick of listing to people like you and the original poster blather on about what a failure Nintendo is, or how they are a failure.
I don't think anyone at Nintendo thinks that they will somehow outdo Sony in numbers of units sold at this point. But you can't tell me that any company having dominance in a demographic ("boys 7 to 14"), along with having sales as of March 1999 of 79.33 million GameBoys sold and 24.1 million N64s sold, can be considered a failure or the mark of the company on the verge of being DOA. Just because you don't own an N64 doesn't mean nobody is buying them.
Also, don't forget, sales tracking numbers generated by a number of companies show that for each N64 system sold an average of three Nintendo corporate titles are sold. So... let's see, Nintendo corporate has possibly has sold around 75 million units of N64 software by March of last year??? Yeah, those numbers suck, they better close up shop now before they have to file for bankruptcy.
P-a-a-leeeease. Both Nintendo and Sony are doing fine. Sony just has bigger sales numbers.
It is no accident that the US is the premier country in terms of creativity (although I suppose europe will dethrone us if they ever become a single country). Read some articles on Japanese higher education and you will see what I mean. Although the Japanese (pardon the stereotyping) are taught to do math extremely well (as well as other things) they are never taught to really think. People learn more by finding creative ways to amuse themselves in class than by actually studying hard. These problem solving skills can't really be taught, and they can't be faked. That is why silicon valley is in the U.S. I know that I learned more by making programs that got me out of work than I would have had I done the work. As for the Japanese beating us in math and spelling, it aint no thing. With Mathmatica and a spell checker I can whip their whole country combined. However I don't think many of them can beat me in physics because of my finely tuned difficult math avoidance skills. More than a few times I have beaten people who are obviously intellectually my superiors in contests like that merely because they don't stop to think about what they are doing. Our education system isn't the best, but teaching people to think (even if it isn't constructively) is far more useful that teaching them to memorize tables and facts. Tables and facts are not for humans to master, they are for machines. Let people do what we can do and let calculators do what we are not good at. Teaching people to be human calculators may allow them to make decent engineers, but the ideas still come from the U.S. or Europe.
Been there, done that! Note there's a big distinction between the "Tramiel" years at Atari (post-crash: ST + Jaguar), and the "Warner" years (pre-crash: E.T. and the 5200). I can't decide which is worse myself!
Too bad Warner Bros. sold Atari long ago, or it could just be another part of the big AOL conglomorate.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
Yes, but us westerners have fun at school, and don't need to bask in teen angst anime and highschool girl wank mags.
Yeah, but the problem was that they strong armed the retailers to make up for their total lack of production control -- "For every Ms. PacMan you order, you need to order at least one surplus Outlaw or SpaceWar cartridge at full price.", things like that.
Atari was the only game in town, so they got away with this for a while. But when the 2600 was winding down on it's lifespan, the retailers realized that they were massively overstocked with old games nobody wanted to buy. When they dumped the supply and told Atari where to stick their computers and the 5200 (Winter '84), game prices dropped rapidly from $30 to $10 to $5 to $2 to $1...
This put Atari in a pretty poor position, revenue-wise, and is also the reason why every 2600 you find is always accompanied by the same common games (Asteroids, PacMan, Defender, etc.) which the original owner probably picked up from the surplus bin later on for cheap.
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Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
I base my comments on developing for various versions of DirectX (from DX3 forward) under two different versions of Visual Studio. Sure, you need to convert the project files itself, but there's nothing inherent in DirectX itself that prevents you from using it with a newer/older version of a compiler (within reasonable limits -- i.e. using 16-bit compilers is a no-no), or even a competitor's product. Unlike Java, the C++ language does not change significantly every six months...
If you're going to turn this into a qualifications game, then I'd be curious to hear what your qualifications are. Your personal page on the site doesn't have much in the way of information...
As far as my "apologist" comments went, I suppose that came on a bit strong, but I really think that the situation between Nintendo and Sony is approaching that of the ages-old Apple-PC rivalry. Apple may have better hardware, but systems (and gaming systems in particular) are sold on the basis of software -- both quality and quantity. I don't need to remind anyone who is dominant in the personal computer marketplace (despite Apple's recent about-face).
The GameBoy is 10+ years old IIRC. On the one hand, it's amazing that things are still being developed for it, and that it's still a popular platform. On the other hand, the system is looking extremely long in the tooth...
Another factor to keep in mind is that margins are much more in favor of CD systems as opposed to cartridge-based systems. This is attractive not only to the developers but also the system manufacturer, as it will encourage more people to develop for the system.
P-a-a-leeeease. Both Nintendo and Sony are doing fine. Sony just has bigger sales numbers.
I hate to sound flippant, but "having bigger sales numbers" is pretty damn important to a company's success. Gaming is no longer a niche area, like how it was in the early '80s, where a variety of companies can carve out their own pieces of the market. If you're not in first place, you're endangered.
Nintendo may not be "poor" but they are certainly not in an enviable position right now -- their chief rival, who blew onto the marketplace a few years ago with all the subtlety of a tornado, is now preparing their next salvo. Developers are lining up by the truckload to put out games for the PS2, the hype is being built up (to the level where everyone knows about the PS2), and, most importantly, they're beating Nintendo to market.
I think that Nintendo is in the proverbial lull before the storm. Clear skies now, stormy weather ahead...
Wherever there's a will, there's a motorway.
Yeah.... my english teacher yelled at me to spell out any number less than 100 also. 12->twelve and don't forget to hypenate those numbers either! 25->twenty-five Yeah... Linguistics is killing me... damn perspectivism :)
Well some of us don't *need* to bask in teen angst anime and highschool wank mags... but we do anyway...
The ps2 will run on tvs. DTVs and PC monitors.
How much does a PC monitor Cost. The same as you pay to play PC games.
So the PS2 has got NO draw backs when it comes to the display.
As far as graphics go. Nothing compares as of to date.
comparing game pads, sony dual shock, to a mouse is realy bad. A mouse could not compare. If you've ever played a game with a mouse for 12 hours and then played one with the Dual Shock then you would know what I'm talking about.
Yes It does. : )
eat snacky smores
History is re-written by the victors, and the victors have lied to you about why the console market crashed after the 2600.
Yup, it's because Atari decided to bet the future on desktops rather than consoles.
Yup, it's because console games started to suck - because developers were focusing their attention elsewhere. The question is where?
The answer that no one wants to tell you is that console gaming died because of one little thing:
LOAD "*",8,1
That's right. The Commodore 64 killed the Console Star. Here was a computer - with all the educational connotations that go along with it - that wasn't as high-priced as the expensive Apple II or luxurious Macintosh. It didn't cost that much more than a console, and parents got duped into thinking that it might be much more educational to their kids than a dummy console. By 1984, the Commodore 64 was the king of home computers.
Of course, little did the parents know that most kids wouldn't know how to do anything more than LOAD "*",8,1.
But Commodore failed to innovate the 64 line. It wasn't expandible. The 128 was a dud. Commodore US tried to position the Amiga as a business computer. By 1986 cheap PCs took out the 64 on the high-end and Nintendo was taking out the 64 on the low end.
Don't let the ignoramuses rewrite history. Atari died at the hands of Commodore long before Nintendo ever walked on the scene.
Console games will never match computer games.
No, of course they won't, and neither will computer games ever match console games. The two are really exclusive from each other, since computers excel at certain aspects of gaming and console systems excel at others which computers don't seem to have done very well at.
1. You just can't get decent graphics on a 320x240 resolution TV, no matter how good the graphics controller.
Graphics aren't everything. Again, this simply reflects the different nature of console vs. computer - the graphics in computer games are obviously much more detailed in many instances, and this makes them *different* than console games, not *necessarily* better.
2. They're too friggin expensive(the games).
Most console games seem to be in the same price range as most computer games as far as I've noticed...
6. Impossible to copy, at least they would be if all the console makers were as smart as Sony.
Two words: mod chip.
7. Less competition=less quality.Hmm. While it's true that there are hordes of game developers for the PC and only a handful (comparatively) of companies developing for consoles, again, this doesn't *necessarily* mean that game consoles are going to have lower quality games. I tend to find that, in my own opinion, anyway, game consoles tend to have a greater number of games that are enjoyable (to me) than computers...and again, this simply represents the fact that computer games are different in nature than console games.
He's a designer and, more recently an executive producer. Very surprising that the author didn't realize this.
If I'm Sony, I'd try to cut a deal with AT&T to replace its cable descramblers with a descrambler-enhanced version of the Playstation 2. No matter what kind of losses I'd take on the console deal, I'm putting a DVD player and my console in 25% of U.S. households. Razor, meet razor blades...
Steven E. Ehrbar
I don't regret it, though. I'm older now, and I can appreciate the technological aspect of eye-candy games (Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi), and allow myself to be immersed in a fantastic story (Zelda 64, Final Fantasy Anything, Soul Reaver) the developers have spent a lot of time meticulously putting together.
Games don't look as good as movies yet, but a well crafted game can be just as satisfying, if not moreso that some movies.
Same reason running around the yard pretending to shoot your brother isn't as fun anymore. Its not the games man, its YOU.
Watch your kids play the new games, they feel the same way you did back then.
You grew up.
Weeeell these might be considered illegal in some way but I have the preview movies of Final Fantasy 9,10, and 11. They rock. I believe they are for dreamcast, because that is what the game shows.. uhm ok. Some guy took a camcorder into a DC Final Fantasy closed doors deal and taped this little presentation, its awesome. If you are interested I could put them up on my ftp server.. cable of course... email wh0rde(at)home(dot)com..
[w00t@freaky.bish]# rm
That's broadcast resolution in the US. Some (but not all) TVs can do better.
Besides, I think you're reacting a little too strongly to what was obviously a joke. I always find it funny how worked up and angry people get at someone/something that supposedly doesn't exist. What are you so threatened by? Hmmm? That you might actually be WRONG and may be held accountable? Yeah, that would scare me too.
Oh, don't let people who are critical of your article get you down. I thought it was a good article, though a bit long to read in one sitting.
Oh, by the way, I have a Lynx, so I can explain a few of the problems with it. The old version Lynx was a big, clumsy bulky machine. It had great graphics, but ordinary sound. It ran through batteries like crazy. It had a few good games but not enough variety and it couldn't compare to some of the Gameboy games. Oh! And RPGs were practically an impossibility, only password saving was possible. (Also, the less said about RPG atrocities like Viking Child --shudder-- the better. )
The Lynx was a mixed bag, too big to be a portable system, but a top of the line piece of hardware if only it had more software to take advantage of it. Oh, and of course, as mentioned in an aticle I read in Penthouse magazine (really!) it was completely blown away by NECs TurboExpress.
I think the best Lynx games were some of the originals like Gates of Zendocon and Chip's Challenge. Oh, and the version of Ninja Gaiden III for it is good, though it is a clone of the NES version and I'd have preferred Ninja Gaiden II. Oh, and the best accessory for it was a batter pack that you could put 8 D batteries in so you could actually play with it for a while. (Of course, in doing so, your Lynx ceased to even pretend it was in Gameboy territory, a huge heavy battery pack + a huge heavy Lynx, it was fun at picnics though.)
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
It's all about the games and their value. If the games aren't there, the console will bust. If the hardware/software is too expensive, same result.
Obviously, you just don't know the right people.
As to shareware/freeware, Sony has quasi-shareware promotional disks they send out now and then. I've got a few, basically whatever ten games they are pushing for Christmas. Mods are a much bigger advantage for PCs than freeware. Of course, there is more freeware for PCs that is actually good...
Console Gamers and PC Gamers are just different, they like different things. Sure, PCs are 'superior' but where are all the fighting games! How about anime-style RPG games?
I cross over now and then so I've noticed one big thing about consoles is they are cheap, portable and disposable, which is not true of a top of the line PC.
Of course, what they really need to do is bring back text-based games... (Yeah, yeah, I know they never really left... but I mean back to the age of glory they had when I was a kid..)
Oh, the one thing that console games, especially Sony have as a big negative is that they tend to be, well, created by actually evil companies. You can buy good gaming PCs from nice, pro-gamer people and they won't have lockout chips for foriegn games (at least, not yet).
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Playstation was originally supposed to be an attachment for Super Nintendo. Nintendo made two huge mistakes in the last console war:
1. Trusting Sony
2. Believing their monopoly status would last forever
Did you ever wonder, for examply, why Namco made nothing for Nintendo? (Well, nothing important, they may have made some unimportant game I don't know about.) It was because Hiroshi Yamauchi deliberately snubbed Masaya Nakamura. I mean, even though the N64 was expensive to develop for, I have to believe it would've been worth it for Namco to port a Tekken game to it, but they didn't. I don't know what was up with Capcom, but I know Nintendo used to ride them pretty hard too. (No Megaman games and no exclusive Street Fighter II: Champion Edition for Genesis.)
Now, the changing of the guard at Nintendo may not be a coincidence, Arakawa is a much nicer and easier going person than Yamauchi. This could be a strategic thing to win back (or win better) support from some of the third parties that had been alienated by Nintendo's heavy handed tactics back in their time of dominance. I don't think the third parties are going to want to see Sony gain absolute dominance, they'll give Nintendo support so that they don't end up with a new, nasty task master. (I'll admit, it might be too late.) I think Nintendo may be ready to come out of the wilderness.
Hey, I for one am sick of Sony's stomping all over my rights as a consumer, so I might consider a Dolphin. I don't really doubt it will be a decent piece of hardware.
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
I've had a few games I've really like for the newer consoles, but mostly I feel the same as you. I assume Soul Calibur is good, since Soul Blade is one of the few Playstation games I actually love...
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
gmezero writes "The second part of my article on The Future of Console Gaming is now available. This part is twelve pages and features overviews on the successes and failures of Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Atari. As well as projections on the future plans of all but Atari. " We had linked to the first article - the second is along much of the same lines, in terms of style.
A big round of applause for everyone over at Texas Instruments for keeping me (and countless others) entertained during high-school classes.
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"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
Man, what would Geometry have been without a little tetris and pong....
No, the HP48 is much better.
Would this make you the first ever karma whore AC?
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"You can't shake the Devil's hand and say you're only kidding."
This article is just as bad as the first article. Why is it being given such prominence? I've read better essays in 7th grade English class.
Hates people who have stupid little sigs
Friends, I read this article, and I'm sure that many of the heathen posters here will try to dazzle you with official-sounding names like "Dreamcast" and "Playstation." Be steadfast, my friends, and don't let them sway you. Let's look at what some of those names actually mean.
.. lots. "Playstation" can be rearranged into "I Ply To Satan", which pretty much tells you where Sony's loyalties lie. If Sega's Dreamcast is bad because it uses the new-age false religion of yoga to lure children away from Christianity and therefore Absolute Morality, then Sony's Playstation is exponentially worse because it encourages children to ally themselves with the Prince of Darkness himself.
For example, the letters in the word "Dreamcast" can be rearranged to spell "Sacred Mat." This is clearly an invitation for young children to take part in the damned, liberal religion of yoga. Meditation! Criminy, friends! What's next? Sniffing airplane glue? Unfortunately for the "Dreamcast", it can also be rearranged to spell "Trade Scam", which is pretty much what it amounts to: a left-wing scam to part you and your money and put it in the pockets of liberal trial lawyers.
But the Sony Playstation is much worse. What does the Sony Corporation want to subliminally tell your children? Lots, friends
Friends, we can find out things like this about almost all gaming consoles. Even the famed "Colecovision" can be rearranged to give "Coco, I Love Sin!" What does this tell us, friends? It tells us that nearly all game consoles are a Satanic conspiracy to ensnare your children. Except for one, that is.
That platform is the Atari 2600. "Atari" can be rearranged to form nothing, other than the morally-ambiguous "I, A Rat." The Atari 2600 is the clear moral choice for platform gaming. Very few of its games display the sort of graphic violence that you will see in other consoles (with the exception of the ultra-violent Pitfall, which graphically depicts humans being eaten by crocodiles and started on fire.) Parents should provide their children with an Atari 2600, as a builder of morals and character. If Jesus were among us today, there can be little doubt that He would be an Atari 2600 enthusiast.
If you don't trust me, friends, you can verify all of this information for yourself in James Dobson's latest Focus on the Family Newslettter. In the same issue, you can also learn how several parents are investigating the sexual overtones to the television show title "Touched by an Angel."
Thank you for your time.
Give me my shmups. G-Darius, Einhander, or Sokyugurentai quality preferred, but a few good shmups in the air of Radiant Silvergun or Layer Section will do(heck, probably even Raiden Fighters 2/Jet).
Give me Armored Core. I don't mean some American PC game company's (bad) attempt to copy the style of a show that wasn't about mecha, or yet another saga in the overblown tales of pseudo-knights in slow, overheated walking tanks. I want my giant robot to be fast, somewhat airborne, and the ability to color it plaid with a smilely face on the shoulder. And have a guided-missile launcher hanging off said shoulder.
Give me Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu, or Trap Gunner. Give me more than just one or two (very-well done) attempts at skulking through the shadows, or failing that, give me the ability to move fast and leave non-propelled explosive/kinetic gifts for my(hopefully non-silicon) foes.
Can you give me those from the American PC game companies? Hm?
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LOOOOOOOOOOOL
I still think playing Goldeneye on the N64 is a lot easier with the N64 controller than using a keyboard and mouse. Every time I play Quake, I wish I could be using a Nintendo controller.
Got HTML? Want LaTeX? Try html2latex
What's the deal with this statement? Windows based PC ports will likely taper off though after the next version of Direct X is released and the task of porting backwards (across two versions of Direct X, and two versions of the Visual C compiler) becomes close to impossible unless the code was correctly implemented from scratch to accommodate the Dreamcast port up front.
WinCE is included on the game disc - it is not hard-coded into the system. And as such, the DirectX and Virtual C libraries would be included on the actual disc and could be kept current, correct?
Also, they're giving Nintendo far too much credit for recent success. Globally, the N64 is a bust - both the Playstation and the Dreamcast are outselling it. Nintendo's primary source of revenue for the past year has been Pokemon - not the N64.
...my comment stands. I'm going take if from your comment that you don't know much about Dreamcast/WinCE development.
WinCE for the Dreamcast is a specialized version that is currently locked into a Dreamcast specific build of DirectX 7.0 using Visual C++ 6.0. Unless Microsoft releases a new build of both WinCE/DirectX for the Dreamcast, you could find yourslef looking at taking a current title written in Visual C++ 7 or greater code using DirectX 8 or greater functions and needing to port it backwards.
The only alternative is to program your game up front for WinCE/DirectX 7 either simultaniously or prior to your regular PC distribution. (Microsoft even tells you this upfont in the developer documentation that I have seen.)
As for giving Nintendo to much credit. Look at the Nintendo figures on their own and it's hard to say that they are bust. They are still moving hardware, and they consistantly have top selling titles (both N64 and GameBoy).
> Where do you live where TVs are only 320*240?
The ORIGINAL Playstation used that resolution.
If you TRY to use 640x480 you have NO RAM left over in the frame buffer for textures since it only has 2 Megs for video.
Cheers
> 1. You just can't get decent graphics on a 320x240 resolution TV
I think you meant TEXT output at 320x240 on a TV.
When I worked on the PSX Need For Speed, we tried using 640x480. The higher resolution helped with the smaller fonts, but we had almost no room left over for textures in the 2 Megs video buffer. So we went back to 320x240 and had a richer color to boot (excuse the pun.)
The Dreamcast uses 640x480 and has a VGA output.
This certainly helps, but TV does antialiasing "for free" so it is STILL a problem of designing a readable font at SMALL sizes.
Thankfully the Dreamcast has a 16 Megs of video memory.
> 4. Ever try playing Tiberian Sun with a gamepad?
Yes, RTS games are very bad on a console. Until keyboards and mice come standard with a console, playing FPS and RTS games are "better" on the PC.
The argument which is beter, is pretty pointless. They were designed for different things. i.e. I don't see any game developers running DevStudio ON a console.
Firing Squad has an interesting link comparing the genres on PC vs Console.
PC vs Console game genres
Cheers
3d game programmer
I fail to see any relationship between the version of a compiler being used and the version of DirectX being used, so "I'm going take if from your comment" that you don't know much about development.
And as far as DirectX being updated for WinCE, it would seem to be in Microsoft's interests to do so, since the X-Box will certainly use DirectX (and will hopefully not use a full-blown, slow version of Windows)...
I tend to agree with the earlier poster who labeled the article as "Nintendo apologist" -- Nintendo's success is currently based off of the Pokemon franchise (sickeningly so), and their market share has dwindled considerably in comparison to Sony, which came out of nowhere. Remember, the name of the economic game is not whichever system is better, but which system is the most dominant and prevalent in the home. Nintendo's not dead yet, but they better come packin' heat with the Dolphin or they will be DOA...
Wherever there's a will, there's a motorway.
You are an ANONYMOUS COWARMA WHORE!
1. You just can't get decent graphics on a 320x240 resolution TV, no matter how good the graphics controller.
2. They're too friggin expensive(the games).
3. Ever try playing Quake 3 with a gamepad?
4. Ever try playing Tiberian Sun with a gamepad?
5. No shareware/freeware games.
6. Impossible to copy, at least they would be if all the console makers were as smart as Sony.
7. Less competition=less quality.
I'm sure there are more reasons, but that's enough for now.
Stop trolling for me. I do not approve being subject to your worldly shite.
-Enjoy an fresh juicy Washington Apple little girl.
I for one am looking forward to that!
Video games... have we really progressed? I got sort of a quandary here. My first system was the Magnavox Oddesy. I remember how intense my desire was to play Pong... I couldn't leave the damn thing alone. I was even excited that it had hockey (pong with 2 paddles :). I remember all the systems I have had over the years and how excited I was when a new incredible game came out for it.
Now my issue. I still love video games, and for as much as they have advanced over the years, I still can't capture that feeling of playing Adventure, Pitfall (2600), Mario Brothers, Zelda, Metroid (NES), etc.
I just picked up Crazy Taxi and Soul Reaver for the Dreamcast. And as incredible as those games are, I can't get that old feeling back. I am almost bored with both of them already. Why?
Did the developers of today's consoles loose the ability to make good games? Sure they look better, but where is the magic? Or is it because I'm just older and the magic is gone in me?
This happen to anyone else?
Go SHU Pirates!
Anyone know what episode my sig is from?
Lates!
I agree. I think it beats out serial any day, especially with programs like ps2rate.
Poor style, structure. Is it meant for industry people? If so, it is condescending. For the casual gamer who want to know more? Then it should rein in its literary diarrhea and actual explain some of the events it makes passing reference to as justifications for its points.
Check out its Databus width. 2560 bits wide.
Graphics Synthesizer - Features and General Specifications:
GS Core: Parallel Rendering Processor with embedded DRAM
Clock Frequency: 150 MHz
No. of Pixel Engines: 16 (in Parallel)
Embedded DRAM: 4 MB of multi-port DRAM (Synced at 150MHz)
Total Memory Bandwidth: 48 gigabytes per second
Combined Internal Data Bus Bandwidth: 2,560 bit
Read: 1,024 bit
Write: 1,024 bit
Texture: 512 bit
Display Color Depth: 32 bit (RGBA: 8 bits each)
Z Buffering: 32 bit
Rendering Functions: Texture Mapping, Bump Mapping, Fogging, Alpha Blending, Bi- and Tri-Linear Filtering,
MIPMAP, Anti-aliasing, Multi-pass Rendering
Rendering Performance
Pixel Fill Rate: 2.4 giga pixel per second (with Z buffer and Alphablend enabled), 1.2 giga pixel per second (with Z buffer, Alpha and Texture)
Particle Drawing Rate: 150 million/sec
Polygon Drawing Rate: 75 million/sec (small polygon), 50 million/sec (48 pixel quad with Z and A),
30 million/sec (50 pixel triangle with Z and A), 25 million/sec (48 pixel quad with Z, A and T)
Sprite Drawing Rate: 18.75 million (8 x 8 pixels)
Display Output
NTSC/PAL
Digital TV (DTV)
VESA (maximum 1280 x 1024 pixels)
Silicon Process Technology: 0.25 4-level metal
Total Number of Transistors: 43 million
Die Size: 279 mm2
Package Type: 384 pin BGA
you'll first have to help me pull out my fist. I got it stuck there in 97 when I was trying to retrieve my pet hamster...
While everyone is looking at the future of console gaming, I found this link on Zophar's Domain... It's a history of Nintendo and how they transformed gaming and kept afloat despite competitors like Sony, Sega, and NEC.
The article is here at Video Games.Com.
Did you know that Nintendo is a company that is over 100 years old? If not, I suggest you go read the article - it's quite enlightening.
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.