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All Three Next-Gen Consoles at e3 2005
Word is now out that, in all likelyhood, all three next generation consoles will be displayed in some form at this year's e3. Nintendo's Revolution has been rumoured to be making an appearance for a while. Yesterday Sony announced the PS3 would be available in playable form at the convention, and Microsoft was soon to follow regarding the Xbox Next. Game on?
Word is not out that, in all likelyhood, all three next generation consoles will be displayed in some form at this year's e3. Good to know there's no updates on the matter, thanks!
I suppose that in the interest of competition, all three are rushing to put something "showable" together, regaurdless of how close they are to market. I'd take anything I see with a grain of salt, knowing that these consoles were probably go through some big changes between E3 and market.
Here's what I'm hoping:
1) Sony uses a custom Linux distro for PS3
2) PS3 becomes infinitely popular
3) Sony releases cell processor for PCs
4) Cell processor takes over PC world
5) Linux now has hundreds of game titles, thanks to PS3 development
6) People dual boot Linux for games, eventually dump windows
7) No proft!
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Well, it is now.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
And thus begins the 12 month wankfest over which system is superior, based from debates online from people who have only seen press photos of the system in question and have never played it. I hate console -release years on my gaming forums.
This will make for quite the interesting year game wise. It will also make for lots of price slashes. Since the current consoles still have lot's of graphics power and a huge install base, it's going to be a good year to be a gamer.
Ah the circle of consoles. Makes my heart warm.
-- I have fans? Wow.
I have nothing but condolences in my heart for those poor devs and designers who just found out with these announcements that they're going to be pulling double or even triple duty for the next year in order to back up the salesmen's promises.
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Am I the only gamer that has finally grown tired of the hand-held controller input scheme? Isn't it time we dawn some sort of VR goggles or other similar display and perhaps a new input method? Or is the next generation of consoles going to be identical to the last (and the one before that!) with more ram, processing power, etc?
I know that Nintendo is working on a new type of controller, and that might be enought to persuade me to purchase their console over the other two. But really, I think it's time someone take a larger leap foward than touting it can render toy-story in realtime and has uber magic special online abilities.
Go here for teh [sic] funny.
Three companies all battling with hardware made by IBM.
comeon, those are just vaporware.. I'm holding out for the phantom.
Personally, I'm hoping that Nintendo has a winner on their hands with the Revolution. I've always been a fan of the kinds of games that get released on the Nintendo consoles. They tend to be unique and wonderfully playable. Some may complain that the titles tend towards the younger demographics, but I think that many of them are playable and, most importantly, fun at all ages. Their games tend to be unique whereas PS and Xbox tend to have their catalog dominated by titles that mimic (or are direct ports) of PC games. Sure, the GC has it's share of ported titles, but it also has a ton of exclusives that absolutely rock. Plus, it helps that I've always preferred Nintendo controllers to any others.
*Disclaimer: I would not call myself a Nintendo fanboy. I just bought a GameCube last year (my first console), but have played my friends' PS2s and Xboxes ad nauseam.
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Where is Intel eh? IBM recently sold off it's PC business. Hmmmm, no point in competing it;s own Cell Architecture. Is this IBM trying to take over the PC market again with a few sneaky consoles are a wedge in the door?
I'll flame people. They'll flame me. We'll get into a how long have you been gaming virtual penis measuring contest. We'll all enjoy it and point at each other and laugh. And no opinions will be swayed.
God himself could descend down upon gaming forums populated entirely by evangelicals in console launch years and declare his preference, backed up by Jesus and the holy ghost, and this is still how it would happen.
The key to the enjoyment of pop music is to replace any instance of "love" with "C.H.U.D."
If these use the latest tech, probably not. It looks like these machines will be using more mainstream hardware, so prices will come down quickly, just like the PC world.
Can we drop the "XBox Next" thing? There is absolutely no way the console will be called that, It's just something some game 'journalist' at IGN or ZD made up one day.
Wait, only three consoles? The Phantom is going to be there, right? I mean, c'mon, it's 2005.
...that all this processing power will run up.
I mean, if the PS3 does use 4 Cells, that alone will certainly be a power hog in itself, right?
I wonder what portion of energy today is used for CPU power.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
I might actually pass on buying any of these next consoles unless I can get them at a discount (not likely) or a game comes out that is so remarkable that its different from anything I've already got. I've already got a PC with a ton of games and a PS2 and gamecube that I rarely play. Show me something amazing and actually new and then I might be interested.
They are all using IBM processors but certainly not the cell -- only sony will use that. Others will use more traditional powerpc designs I suspect.
Open message to Sony, Nintendo and Xbox: Stop telling us what the chipset is capable of, and start telling us what you're going to do to encourage high-quality development for your platforms.
The Xbox was ultimately a poor investment for anyone who bought it. Sure Halo's 1&2 are system sellers. But then what? There were scant few good titles for Xbox.
Now Xbox and PS2 will be featuring variations of IBM's "Cell-based" computing chipset. Has *anyone* mentioned what its going to take to code for these things? No. Why? Because its going to be like drinking sand. Everythings about polygons per second, antialiasing, etc. Its what investors want to hear. But gamers want to hear about titles -- and that's it.
At the end of the day, what I really want as a consumer is the platform with the "most best" games. Developers want something different though: they are going to choose their platforms based on market size and a time & risk based assessment for building products. (And market size will be determined by quality titles which goes back to time & risk). The potential for Eye-candy will be a secondary factor.
I'm hoping we see the evangelizing begin at e3 -- not to consumers, not to the press, but to developers. Only that will ultimately decide the winning platform.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
I've leaned towards the shorter FPS games (ie, Halo2, Ghost Recon 2) for a simple lack of time. I can't dedicate hours a day, forgetting to eat, on a RPG like when I was younger. I tend to prefer the games that I can play for 30 minutes and stop. That's just my $0.02.
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Has Sony come out and said the PS3 will be backwards compatible? I think they would have the biggest hurdle seeing as they're doing a complete architecture change. What made backwards compatibility so easy for the PS2 is that they used the original PSX chip for I/O. Unless they plan on dropping the set of processors created for the PS2 into the PS3 they're going to have to do it through emulation, just like Microsoft.
After saying that I'm interested in seeing what Sony will come out with. I like that they're using nVidia, because I'm still a little biased against ATi, but I have this sneaking suspicion that Cell either isn't going to perform the way Sony expects it to, or that it will be way behind schedule. Historically Sony doesn't innovate worth a shit, they just take what other people have done and make evolutionary changes to it. If they can use IBM's technology (notice how they didn't even *try* to do it themselves this time) and produce a solid consumer product (something they are very good at), I can see it being a nice machine.
Of course it all has to do with the games, and there hasn't been a PS2 game since Xenosaga: Espisode 1 that hasn't also been released on XBox that I had any interest in. Of course most people disagree with me if sales numbers are any indication.
mmm... yeah, PCs have dropped, but what about PCs that can produce the same graphics as one of these new consoles? I think the price for one of those is still going to be AT LEAST $500...
I think consoles can go as high as $300, maybe $350 before they they need to worry about PC competition.
Final Fantasy exists on the Gamecube and Gameboy Advance platforms. As a matter of fact, I've been sorta playing FF:Crystal Chronicles on the GC with a buddy and two GBA:SPs, it's pretty fun, but I wish they'd release an FF6-style game with multiplay support... Oh, and FF1 and FF2 for the GBA were a lifesaver during jury duty.
Slashdot is proof that Sturgeon's Law applies to mankind.
Personally I hate the fact that games are getting shorter, it is especially noticeable with FPS's. Unreal, Half Life (1), quake 2, these games all offered great value for money single player experiences.
However devs are responding to the market, there was a survery that found out that something like 75% of all games sont get completed, which is ridiculous compared to other media like films and books.
xBox also has the KotoR series, which is a big deal right now. I've found that if you're a western (D&D style) RPG fan, the xBox is the way to go. In general, the xBox excels in the genres traditionally dominated by the PC, which fits in with its chosen market segment (older gamers).
The new M$ console will fail in Japan, of course, but in the US it should do at least as well as the xBox. If it really is MCE in a cheaper package, it may even do better.
The only thing keeping Nintendo alive is Mario and a couple of other never-ending nostalgia franchises, plus their kid-friendly image. Unless the Revolution really changes things, look for Nintendo to lose even more ground.
Sony inhabits the middle ground, which happens to be the standard console market of yore. They'll be fine whatever they do. Even tying themselves to yet another proprietary format (BluRay) won't topple Sony's gaming empire.
(Thanks, Simpsons!)
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Let us, for the sake of arguement, say there are 3 grades of titles.
Grade A: These games move systems, and are platform exclusive. Halo, Super Smash Brothers, Gran Turismo, Zelda, Metroid, Final Fantasy.
Grade B: A grade B title is a great game that does not quite move a system, or would if it were not multi-platform. EA's sports titles, Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, Pikmin, etc.
Grade C: A grade C title is a pure average game, most often available on many platforms.
The X-Box is a collection of a small number of A titles and a large number of C titles.
The Gamecube has a large number of A titles, and a small number of B games and an average number of C titles.
The PS2 has a merely average number of A titles, but a staggering number of B and C titles.
Grade A games do move consoles, but you actually have to like the game to buy the console. Mario Sunshine is a grade A title. But if you think its a kiddie game, then it wont move you to buy a cube. The quantity of B class titles is what makes a console a good investment. This is because there will be more B class games on a given platform then A class games, and while you may not find many 'A' games, you probably will find enough 'B' games to make a difference.
Multi-Platform games, like Activisions Spiderman 2 game and EA's sports games, are qualified as B titles because they are multi-platform. But multi-platoform games only really help the platform that already has the larger installed base. It does not matter if it looks better on the X-Box if you dont own an X-box.
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Not that this much matters to the performence of the systems, but I can't help but notice the unoriginal names that the Sony and Microsoft systems have.
"Playstation 3" - that's VERY original.
"X-Box Next" - there's the X-Box word in the next console again.
"Revolution" - That's something new, original; much better than "Gamecube 2" or whatever.
I mean, come on guys, pick a good name for your creation!