The Next-Gen Consoles - Sort Fact From Fiction

1up.com continues its trend of topical features by delving into Generation Next: Separating the Facts from the Fiction of the Next-Gen Consoles. From the article: "Photorealistic graphics, streaming multimedia content, complete Internet integration and revolutionary new kinds of gameplay are all promises of next generation gaming. Right now, it's all executives blowing hot air and technobabble, but in just a short few weeks, the battle for the living room starts again, as Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony take the wraps off their new babies and show the world their visions of the industry's future."

Comments

anandtech had a great CELL article.

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx? i=2379

Cell will either make the PS3 much more powerful then the XBox360 or an impossible mess to program for. A lot of it will come down to how well Sony's early generation dev kits are.

The Cell gets it's speed by assuming it is passed in order instructions, unlike almost any other type of CPU. It will choke on anything out of order. Sony better make a kick ass compiler, as I don't see game developers to keen on making assembly langauge level tweaks on something they are unfamilliar with.

My money is on XBox360. The Cell chip is better suited for video cards then a general purpose CPU. Having to tweak code for it will be a disaster.

Re:anandtech had a great CELL article.

[jonabbey]

The PowerPC cores on XBox 360 are also rumored to be in-order.

Cell will pose some interesting design challenges to programmers, no doubt about it, but Sony's talking about directly supporting a shader-enhanced version of OpenGL, which should be much easier to program for than PS2 was.

Really, it'll come down to market share. If PS3 dominates market share the way PS2 did, it won't matter all that much how hard or easy it is to program for.

Re:anandtech had a great CELL article.

[Corngood]

The Cell gets it's speed by assuming it is passed in order instructions, unlike almost any other type of CPU. It will choke on anything out of order. Sony better make a kick ass compiler, as I don't see game developers to keen on making assembly langauge level tweaks on something they are unfamilliar with.

First of all, your description of in-order execution is basically nonsense. All processors are passed instructions in-order. The difference with out-of-order processors is that they can reorder the instructions on the fly. I think Sony/IBM/Whoever have the right idea with this, let the compilers do the optimisation, not the hardware.

That time again

[vain gloria]

Guess we can look forward to nothing but basic fighting and driving games for a couple of years until programmers figure the new systems out. Rehashed Tekken and Gran Turismo with slightly better graphics anyone?

Always wanting money! :)

[soniCron88]

FTA: "Imagine players slapping down $.99 to buy a one-of-a-kind, fully tricked-out racing car to be the envy of their buddies," says Microsoft

What would be even more "tricked-out" would be not having to pay for it. Ladies and gents: In game customizations will now cost you a buck a pop.

I know "The Sims" would be so much more fun if I had to spend my money on their furniture, rather than Simoleans.

I don't think so

[cow_licker]

Fact from fiction? Not quite. Basically an article that collects the hype from all three console camps.

"the next generation PlayStation "orders of magnitude" more powerful than the next Xbox"

Sure it will. The Playstation 2 will also be able to render Toy Story real time. Nothing to see here folks.

Casualties

[tprime]

RIP Nintendo. I really wish I understood what they have been trying to do for the last 8 or so years. Ever since they decided reneg on their agreement with Sony to make the Nintendo64 CD thing (or whatever it was supposed to be called) they have been trying to catch up. I really can't imagine a console gaming world without Nintendo, but 10 years out we might be remembering back to the times when we had Nintendo's like we do now with Atari games.

As for Sony and Microsoft, I am going to enjoy this battle and am, in a lot of ways, rooting for Microsoft to do well. Where Sony has followed their traditional arrogance (lack of support, proprietary hardware, proprietary accessories) with most of their consumer electronics (cameras, CLIE, etc.) Microsoft has really done a good job distancing the xbox from the mothership that we all complain about.
Who would have thought that it would be Microsoft trying to force game companies to support older titles (EA's sports titles to be exact) for longer than the game publisher had intended.

Honestly, I think that the reason that the next iteration of Microsoft's console will include the name xbox in the title is to continue the separation between xbox and the Microsoft name. Sony uses Sony in all of the titles as does Nintendo, where MS is only listed in small print.

Regardless of how things turn out, it will be fun to watch

Re:Casualties

[Thrakkerzog]

RIP Nintendo. I really wish I understood what they have been trying to do for the last 8 or so years.

They have actually been quite profitable.

Re:Casualties

[Anonymous Coward]

Your perception of history and reality is fascinating. I like how facts never enter the equation with you at all, just flat out inaccurate bits & pieces you've picked up by being a casual non-interested bystander while things were going on around you, like a dung beetle rolling a shitball back to its mate in the middle of a burning forest.

Now go back and tell the other retards in the loony bin about the time you've wasted here today while the "norms" were discussing something serious.

Re:Casualties

[Spleener12]

Christ, people. BEING IN THIRD PLACE != BEING DEAD! If that were the case, Microsoft would be dying too (they're a distant third in the Japanese market.) Yes, their past couple of home consoles have had problems (ie lack of more than a couple of worthwile third-party games.) But they've been dominating the portable market for over 15 years, which has been more than compensating for their losses elsewhere. Yes, the PSP might change this- hopefully it will change this, because monopolies are a bad, bad thing.

Point is, Nintendo isn't dead yet. Do I expect them to make a massive comeback and smash their competitors? Hell no. Nobody expects that save the rabid fanboys. They'll be the Apple of the home console industry- the portion of the market that likes what they make will continue to keep them alive (at least until Miyamoto retires/croaks.)

Re:Casualties

[superpulpsicle]

You have a very optimistic view. The pesimistic view saids...

Japan is the only country left on the planet where Nintendo is NOT last place. It is 3rd place in US, Europe, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada etc etc. And 3rd place = last place. There is no other console after Nintendo.

Re:Casualties

[Zangief]

The real view says:

Nintendo posted HUGE profits last quarter. After a initial good sales, PSP sales are slowing down DESPITE the increased availability. Nintendo has huge reserves in the bank, and its major actionist is the Yamauchi Family, so is unlikely to be sold.

Nintendo in on solid ground. Just because Sega had to leave the hardware market, doesn't mean Nintendo has to too. That is just an stupid and shortsighted analysis.

Re:Casualties

[C0rinthian]

Okay, they're in last place. If they are still turning a profit and their stockholders are happy, who cares?

Nintendo, like Apple is NOT dying

[Cadallin]

I don't know why you think Nintendo is dying. That's exactly like saying apple is dying. Apparently they're "dying" while raking in moderate to large profits each quarter while their competitors struggle to break even. Nintendo isn't going anywhere. And secondly, the joint Nintendo/Sony Venture was an SNES expansion, that gave rise to the PS1.

Re:Nintendo, like Apple is NOT dying

[cgenman]

It should be pointed out, though, that the bedrock of Nintendo's large profits have been thanks to GameBoy-related sales. With the PSP looking stronger than the DS currently, it is questionable whether or not this will continue, or whether the significantly cheaper and more durable GBA will continue to rule the market.

Not that the 64 or the 'Cube lost money over it's lifetime, but the GBA has really been key to Nintendo's profits for a while. I'm not saying Nintendo is dying. Nintendo has been a master of making money as the second (or third) console platform, with profit-based payouts to suppliers and the like. I'm just saying their position isn't as assured as before. At some point they may have to start dipping into their bags and bags of money to reinvent themselves.

Re:Nintendo, like Apple is NOT dying

[cgenman]

Was a complete and utter failure? While it didn't sell out in the first 10 minutes, it still sold quite respectably. 150 million dollars in sales in the first weeks is not a failure. It hit the 500,000 mark in 2 days, which is a bit ahead of the GBA and DS's launch week to hit that mark.

Plus, it's already engendering certain emotions not otherwise seen in the gaming community. (not since Rez, anyway). Of course, GGA has a good writeup. Anything that can make gaming not dorky is a success in my book, independent of sales.

I don't own a PSP and I don't plan to any time soon. But the system has quickly grabbed a respectable user base, and become a real part of the gaming landscape. They're giving the big N at least a run for their money, and they have a real chance at grabbing the pocket-sized crown. Kudos to Sony for doing what Sega, NEC, Tiger, Bandai, SNK Playmore, and Atari couldn't.

Sony hype refers to the PS4

[Filiks]

Remember when Sony said the PS2 could do Toy Story in real time? They did. Turns out they meant the PS3 will be able to do it. So just keep in mind that whatever they say about the visual quality of the PS3, actually refers to the PS4.