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PlayStation 3 Unveiled
The PlayStation 3 was unveiled yesterday afternoon in a press conference at Sony Pictures Studio. The event was full of beautiful demonstrations, specifications, and talk of the games of tomorrow. The machine is certainly impressive, with backwards compatibility, support for up to seven Bluetooth controllers, multiple HD signals, and intimate interactions with the PSP. Coverage, screenshots, and specs available from 1up.com, Gamespot, Joystiq, NYT, Voodoo Extreme, Gamespy, BBC, GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Anandtech, Kotaku, Gamasutra, and CNN Money. The only downside I see so far? The controller. Update: 05/18 21:35 GMT by Z : Gamespot has up a comprehensive look at the console based on what is known so far.
guess we wont be taking any servers down on this article...
By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/614/614619p1.html
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Go-Go-Gadget Joystick... What the hell is that thing?
But does it play World of Warcraft?
Yup. The new contoller looks crappy. Trying to tweak perfection = bad idea.
I hope they either provide a way to connect old PS2 controllers (bluetooth device with controller ports?) or release a 'classic' controller identical to PS2 model as option.
Looking at the image of the controller, it actually looks similar to the Logitech Action series of controllers for the PS2/XBox, with only the "fins" on either side being longer. I think, like any controller, the real test will be when you get it in your hands...so I wouldn't count it out quite yet...
They still didn't move the analog sticks.
My thumbs surrender.
MS/Nintendo cannot really match the Sony hardware. Lets hope the Sony SDK is also good enough. Then they are royally screwd !!
[all generalizations are untrue except this one]
7 bluetooth controllers? Why 7? not 8? even the current Playstation 2 lets you have 8 controllers!
Seems a step back... 8-way FIFA games are awesome!
Only long hours of gameplay experience will reveal the merits of the new Playstation-3 controller. Don't get all huffy - yet. One thing I'm wondering about is the # of controllres. Why 7? Is it a bluetooth limitation?
------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
Something must seriously be wrong at Sony if the PS3's rollout is going to be missing Christmas.
You have two hands and one brain, so always code twice as much as you think!
Looks like my sister will love this controller what not with it's vibration function.
I think the controller looks fine. I do have some questions about how well it'll fit my hands, but Sony has always been pretty good with ergonomics. So long as it's comfortable, I think it'll be great.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. --Will
The top five reasons why Sony might want to rethink the controller design:
1) Players would use it as a boomerang to exact revenge on their opponents outside the realm of the PS3
2) A certain religious group might object to the "crescent" shaped design and might get their panties in a knot.
3) The controller ends up being a tool to massage your pressure points and used less for gaming
4) Female Players take it further and use it to simulate two spots at once. Oh goody!
5) It looks like one of those guns in Battle Field Earth
Rapid Nirvana
/em puts on flame retardent suit Doesn't anyone else feel that it looks like a console from the 80's trying to hard to seem futuristic? I think the damn thing is ugly as sin. It looks like the controllers are going to be USB so it will probably take some kinda of USB adapter to use your old controllers. I'm sure if Sony doesn't release an adapter one of the other controller makers will do it soon after release.
So, the games I played on my C64 are now available as a battery powered joystick that plugs into a TV. The games I played on an Amiga are now available as cartridges for the GBA. The games I played on my PSOne and PS2 are being ported to the PSP. Square is releasing a sequel for Final Fantasy VII and there have to have been at least that many Armored Core games.
Notice a theme here? The horsepower of these systems surpassed the requirements of gamers a long time ago. The only reason for releasing the PS3 is to try and boost sales through increased press exposure and slightly prettier explosions.
Clear, Dark Skies
The console also boasts a new graphics chip from Nvidia, which Sony claims can create movie-quality images in real time in games.
Sure there was something said about the Playstation 2, Toy Story and realtime graphics quality that never turned out to be true......
Is it true that MS may cancel the whole xbox project after this past disastrous week? I think a delay would be a better idea, they have the money to go back to the drawing board and come up with something that can compete with the PS3.
Actually what you can see is Sony and MS really putting a design effort into their products (whether they succeeded or not is of course an other question and would make great flamewar material.)
But in the vain light of iPod popularity? No, not really when you look at them.
The only thing where the iPod might actually have played a role is in reminding tech companies that design does indeed matter, which btw. is a good thing.
This will get Blu-Ray players into peoples home like the playstation did with dvds.
.
Interesting to compare tatics, as MS is ending xbox games development this year and Sony is continuing for 2 more. Nintendo is also continueing development.
Also playstation will be backward compatable. This is great, because there will be a huge library of working games for it. Also they get that games are not just about the graphics, so HD will not be requires
From NYT
"
While every Xbox 360 title must be developed in high definition, Sony officials are playing down that aspect of the new PlayStation. "Blu-ray technology guarantees the highest graphic quality," said Jack Tretton, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. "HD is not the be-all and end-all," Mr. Tretton said, noting that the depth of game play could be more important.
Microsoft executives have decided to end internal development of games for the current Xbox this year, but Sony will continue to create titles for the PlayStation 2.
"We'd be crazy to abandon them," said Mr. Tretton, speaking of PlayStation 2 owners.
According to the article the PS3 will be backwardly compatible and the Nintendo Revolution is going to have it too. Microsoft havent said anything yet so it sounds like they may not have it. either that or they are trying to make it work somehow and havent yet. I think without it the Xbox 360 is going to look very bad, even if it has more power than say the revolution.
I'm fairly certain the Feral Kid used the PS3 controller in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
might look crappy...but it might work out fine...
I like the old PSX controllers, except for one point: the grips are too small for my hands; after a couple hours of intense gameplay, my hands ache from trying to squeeze something so small. The XBox controllers, on the other hand, fit my hands quite nicely (although I don't really like where the buttons are), and everyone seemed to pick on the controllers back when the XBox was released.
1) Neither the xbox360 nor the ps3 are designed to have anything stack on top of it. The gamecube certainly didn't. No desire for people to have more than one system eh?
2) The xbox and its controller are clearly designed to integrate gaming with other uses of the console and television screen, particularly for use of the xbox live service. In particular there was a special button on the controller for it. PS3 does not appear to have an equivalent, which could be a serious mistake. However, their blu-ray drive will help draw in purchases.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
I also think that the controller wont be as good as the ps/ps2 one. I think that the ps/ps2 controllers are an incredible feat of ergonomic engineering, and nothing else has come close (xbox controller anyone?). However, i am prepared to give them a chance when they're released. And then hate them.
I wouldn't call it the vain light. Rather, the iPod, in this case, inspired designers to break out of there black box designs.
It's also obvious these don't copy the iPod. What they do is suggest more creative and liberal industrial design - empowered by Apple's success. More power to everyone for that.
-dave
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I hope they either provide a way to connect old PS2 controllers (bluetooth device with controller ports?) or release a 'classic' controller identical to PS2 model as option.
Since it is supposed to be - quoting TFA - "backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation" - it will be obviously possible. Backwards compatibility was the key factor for me to chose PS2 instead of XBox - I just would miss Syphon Filter and my kids would miss Crash Bandicoot games too much to scrap all our old collection of our favorite games. PS2 even reads PSX memory cards, so we could move even our saved game profiles. I hope this will be possible with PS3 too. If it will - and it looks like it will - then Microsoft has nothing to offer me. Again.
I personally think the thing is ugly, but my main question is, why have on surface curved? won't that make it harder to stack within all your other media components? Also did Spider-man have something to do with the development, because they decided to steal his font.
You can bet your last sheckel that the folks at sony have done their research as far as the ergonomics go... They did a pretty good job with the last controller. We'll have to see how it feels when in the hand... It looks funky anyway *grin* co it could very well be an improvement if it is as comfortable as the old one - at least it's shiny! Looks pretty hot - and I'm sure there'll be a booster gadget of some kind that will allow additional controllers...
After all is said and done about the design,the real make-or-break will be the ease of programmability. As im sure you have heared, the ps2 was a nightmare to code for compared to the xbox. ps2 games slowly increased in graphical complexity as developers learned how to get the most out of the ps2. The xbox plateaued very early as devs learnt how to get the most out of it very quickly (due to its familiar architecture). Now hears the thing: CELL. Its the ps3's strongest asset, but potentially its greatest liability, if it proves to be a nightmare to code for. I have a strange feeling that two powerpc cores (or whatever the fuck the 360 has) will be a hell of a easier to code for than the unique eight string (?) CELL. I just hope im wrong though, because i beleive the ps3 has a lot more potential. Thats your hardware lesson for the day folks, now let your teacher drown his sorrows in his cheap imported brandy.
-- im TIRED. leave me alone
The PS2 controllers are anything but perfection. I in fact just added a PS2 to my collection, and I must say, I find it the most uncomfortable (not to mention the least well built) of the three controllers. I'm downright stunned they didn't move the left analog stick to the primary position. Also, I think MS has a good thing going with triggers instead of shoulder buttons...I was hoping Sony would adopt that as well (beats the hell out of using the right stick for racers and such). That said, I could give a crap what it looks like if it doesn't hurt my hands.
I think you're wrong this time. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the PS2 that comes out significantly later than Spring 2006, with the earlier stated date intended to stop customers buying the xbox. If you'd done any research you'd know that Xbox360 is more or less confirmed for November launch, the PS3 on the other hand wasn't supposed to come out till late in 2006.
I will never quite comprehend how so many people think the puny little PS2 controller (designed to fit the tiny hands of Japanese children) is somehow the only acceptable size and shape for a controller to be.
Shit, I get CTS just looking at that cheap plastic hunk of junk.
The original "huge" X-Box controller was fantastic. This new PS3 controller looks pretty good.
Don't like it? I'm sure somebody will release an alternative just for you whining bitches.
Is it me or does this look like the Xbox 2 to anyone else? They both seem to be giant iPods with a weird shape...
I guess Nintendos "new kickass thing" is not using a design which is already looking generic and vile. If you look at any of Nintendos consoles they date well because they have their own "clunky yet cool" style, which even the PS has to some point. Where as the latest two machines unveiled just appear to be clones of the same damn thing. Give it 5 years when iPods arn't so cool any more and it'll seem like an eye sore.
On the other hand a Gundam game has already been shown for it (Mobile Suit Gundam : Mobile suit Gundam world), so I'll be buying one for that like I bought the PS2 for Gundam games.
I like muppets.
Did anyone else look at that controller and think, "steering wheel". I wonder what is inside it.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
I highly doubt that Microsoft would risk such a leathal blow as to slip the all-important holiday season. They'll need all the help they can get now that the PS3 has announced they're full backwards compatible, with some nifty features that the Xbox 360 doesn't have (Bluetooth, 1080i).
There is a huge PC gamer community and I'm sure many would want to play games that look like these next gen console games. Why would they spend $1000 on two ATI 6800s (and then multicore processors.. crap loads of RAM etcetc) when they could get an xbox360 or PS3 for around $300 to $400. Plus these have multicore procecssors etc..
Are the prices for PC hardware coming down significantly now? At least low enough so that a $1500 computer would be able to do everything a PS3 could do?
It went to an ugly controller contest and they said, "Sorry, no professionals."
Can someone who actually has a clue speculate on what it means to compare the
PS3: PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE * 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
to the xbox360:
Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
1 MB L2 cache
Also, what is XDR RAM? I've never heard of it, but the PS3 has 256MB of it running at 3.2GHz. It also has 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM at 700MHz.
The xbox360 has 512MB GDDR3 RAM at 700MHz unified, for the ATI video chip and CPU to share. How will these compare? Unified vs 256MB of blazing fast? Is it too late and or costly for Microsoft to switch to XDR?
perhaps MS employees are too busy watching Toy Story rendering on their PS2.
The Cylons designed the PS3 controllers!
Run for your lives!
The XBox has 1080i, as does the XBox 360.
:-)
Oddly enough, the Atari Collection for XBox is one of the games that supports 1080i...why?
Which, if we remember the lessons of Osborne, could blow up in their face. They announced the successors to the Osborne 1 way too early--people stopped buying Osborne 1s because they wanted to wait for the "just around the corner" Osborne 2. They eventually got the Osborne 2 out the door, but by then, the company had pretty much run out of money.
So I'm wondering if Microsoft's early announcement is going to screw them. Especially given that, as far as I've heard, they've made no specific announcement with regards to backwards compatibility as of yet.
(Then again, lack of backwards compatibility might just work in Microsoft's favor. People might just think of the XBox and XBox 360 as completely different systems, so they'll still buy one to play games like Halo and Halo 2 even though there's a new machine coming out in the not-too-distant future, whereas with the PS3, consumers who want to play PS2/PSX games might wait so they're not left out when PS3 games start appearing)
Come on people, captures of FMVs are NOT SCREENSHOTS of games. We want to see playable. It's like taking a screencapture of Toy Story and saying that the PS2 can render it in realtime. Wait...
CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
At least when you get pissed off at the game and throw the controller at the tv, it'll come back to you now...
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
There's a utterly spectacular Killzone video doing the rounds, along with some rather pretty screenshots.
Except they look a bit too good. Almost, dare I say it, pre-rendered. Has Sony done the ultimate and presented a completely non-PS3, non-game 3D animation as actual gameplay?
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
as posted in the earlier PS3 article:
kill zone trailer, on the ps3, in-game/real-time apparently
it was also pointed out (by KDR_11k (778916)) that it's being argued if the trailer is pre-rendered or in-game here
It mentions some potential for compatibility with the PSP...this was one of the reasons I held back on buying the handheld console. Although it's interesting that the Playstation 3 does not include some sort of a UMD player (perhaps the PSP will load UMD format games onto the Playstation 3?)
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another diff is that the xbox has a burner and the ps3 doesnt.
This is incorrect. The XBox 360 does not have a burner.
"Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
How exactly? I mean, neither of those look like an iPod. Or do you think that they do, since they are both white (PS3 comes in other colors as well), and iPod is white as well? So, all new products that happen to be white, are iPod knock-offs?
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
1- How MUCH is it going to be? If it's over $300, it's not going to sell real fast. Hardcore guys will pay anything for it, but Mom and Dad won't pay that much for junior's box. Stretch out that PS2, son, or get a job.
2- Will there be a Linux kit for this model, now that it has increased hardware specs? 256 mb seems a little low on the ram for that, but the PS2 kit got by with 32...
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Middleware and tool developers must be licking their lips at the prospect.
Sony has stated repeatedly that they were aiming for a machine that was 1000 times more powerful than the PS2, and with talk of a 4 or 8 cell machine, it looked like they might come at least respectably close to that figure.
But now we find out that it's only 35 times quicker than a PS2? It's a fair advance obviously, but it's a hell of a long way short of what we were promised. So I suspect that, as with the PS2, all the talk of real-time photo realistic graphics will turn out to be just that; talk.
It's a nice machine, sure, but evolutionary rather than revolutionary.
with some nifty features that the Xbox 360 doesn't have (Bluetooth, 1080i).
no, that's 1080p
I took the time out to compare and contrast between the Xbox 360 & PS3 and I came to to this conclusion.
Xbox 360 has a CPU FPS of 45 GFlops*
PS3 has a CPU FPS of 218 GFlops
Xbox 360 has a GPU FPS of around 955 GFlops**
PS3 has a GPU FPS of 1.8TFlops
Xbox 360 has a combined FPS of 1TFlops
PS3 has a combined FPS of 2.18TFlops
Xbox 360 has a DVD-ROM
PS3 has a BD-ROM
Xbox 360 is WiFi ready
PS3 is WiFi built-in
Xbox 360 has 3 x USB 2.0 ports
PS3 has 6 x USB 2.0 ports
Xbox 360 has support for 4 wireless controllers
PS3 has support for 7 wireless (Bluetooth) controllers
Xbox 360 uses Memory Units
PS3 uses MS Standard/Duo/Pro, SD standard/mini & Compact Flash Type I/II
Xbox 360 has support for select Xbox1 games
PS3 has support for PS1 & PS2 games
Xbox 360 has support for 1 720p & 1080i display
PS3 has support for 2 480p, 720p, 1080i & 1080p displays
Note:
* Derived from CPU Game Math Performance of 9 billion dot product operations per second
** Derived from subtracting published Overall System Floating-Point Performance of 1TFlops with derived from CPU Game Math Performance of 9 billion dot product operations per second
Source:
Wikipedia's PS3 Tech Specs
Official Xbox 360 Fact Sheet
Formula for Dot Product Operations Per Second to GFlops
Agreed. Tiny controller = hurt hands in an hour. Xbox controller = I can play all day.
*elevator music plays*
Did you guys see the Technical Demo of Final Fantasy VII for the PS3? It looks pretty amazing..
While I do absolutely love the PS2 controller and ravenously attack anyone who tries to sell me something which does not match its design exactly (wireless controllers tend to be huge round masses of suck, for example), my one complaint would be that it can at times be too small, and my hands can get cramped after holding it for a while. This new controller appears to be the same basic design, but with larger grips. I guess we'll see if it turns out to be crap, but I'm not going to dismiss it immediately. (The lack of ports for non-wireless controllers is off-putting, though. I would like to have the option of using my old controller, since there dont appear to be any differences)
But hey, everything can change.
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
I have a logitech dinovo blouetooth keyboard/mouse combo and I do not use that mouse for gaming. It's way to laggy, I think bluetooth has maximum update of 80hz or something. Have they worked around that?
The 360 can read burned DVDs, but I don't think it has a burner itself. Check the offical specs again.
Also, MS has already said (Time article this week) they plan to hold Halo 3 until the PS3 launch. That means launch the console early, see how it does, then bolster it with Halo 3 sales -- interesting strategy.
Seriously, wait till you've had a go with it, you might change your mind it feels very comforatble.
Anyone know if Sony will allow viewing of HD content on DVI only TVs?
I know there are HDMI->DVI adaptors; I am interested in whether Sony will downgrade the signal or have some content/copy restriction on those sets with "merely" DVI.
If I recall there is some sort of content restriction on many DVI sets too....
Cheers,
-b
Why not stick with a controller for a few systems. I understand new items are added to controllers to upgrade performance or add some new element to the game (rumble pack for GC for example), but there's a clear threshhold where a controller doesn't need to be "enhanced" much more to be suitable for a new system. Just update the system, gamers will probably like you better for it. Then again, they aren't getting the extra sales for those controllers they would have been selling... perhaps thats the motivation.
Yup, this controller looks exactly like some of the 3rd party ones i've seen for sale. Every single one of those was a huge pain in the ass (hands?) to hold.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
I love both the button layout and the tactile feel of the PS2 controller. As to the trigger vs. shoulder buttons, I find the triggers are better for racers but worse for most other types of games.
Try out fish, the friendly interactive shell.
Is anyone excited by the games they are announcing for this? I bought a PS2 at launch and an X-Box shortly after launch last time around. The only thing I used them for was SNK vs Capcom EO, GTA, and the Madden series. Everything else I can play on my pc (Madden just doesn't feel right on the PC.).
Nothing really jumps out at me personally gamewise that I'd want, except tekken if it's online. I know a lot of people liked devil may cry, and MGS4 and GT will be popular. I don't see the standout game that will sell the system.
Or maybe software doesn't sell hardware anymore? Maybe having one of these things at launch is just a 'status symbol' now. *shutters*
another diff is that the xbox has a burner and the ps3 doesnt.
:
:
Jesus. Look, when a drive is said to support "CD,CDR,CDRW,DVD,DVDR,DVDRW" etc..etc.. that doesn't necessarily mean that it can write to them. It just means that it can read from them.
So just because the XBox 360 press release said "CDR" support doesn't mean it's going to have a burner.
Try and use a bit of critical thought in future. Here, I'll give you a start
Q.What advantages would MS get from building a CD/DVD burner into the XBox? What disadvantages would result?
If you'd have thought about it long enough to come up with that question I suspect you would also have come up with the answers
None whatsoever. Extra cost, extra point of failure, piracy etc..
Not so hard was it?
Well, say goodbye to the HD-DVD standard. All Sony will have to do is release a few dozen of their blockbusters in 1080p resolution and put them on the top shelf of the PS3 sales rack. Newly scanned James Bond collection exclusively on Blu-ray, a new rerelease of some popular trilogy, etc.
;-).
Apple will help to make the hit a home run with HDTV iMovie on a new Blu-ray sporting iMac. Watch your home movies at high resolution. They already joined the Blu-ray camp and had Sony come on stage to showcase their 1080i consumer cam. Anyone stupid enough to have bought one will be laughed at as sales persons will deem 1080p the standard; each frame is a perfect still, you can fill a photo-album with the best frames. I would not be surprised if iMovie gains a CoreVideo filter to enhance DV material to HDTV for those who can afford an iMac but not yet the camcorder which will start at outrageous 'pro-sumer' prices, but then again your kids will only once take their first steps
Sony could even disrupt the upcoming Christmas sales for Microsoft if they launch a 'prepare fo playstation 3' campaign and start selling '1080p enhanced PS3 compatible' games for the PS2 where the render engine can be network patched in the summer to render to 1080p, or where the splitscreen racer will become dual 1080p on a PS3. Or simply by enhancing the graphics of PSone puzzlers to be 1080p friendly as a tie me over / keep up the grades in your final year graduation (or you won't get a PS3) present.
Completely untrue that microsoft is ending xbox game development this year.
also, blu-ray technology guarantees the highest graphic quality....what. i guess sony are planning on making FMV games then? Sure you might be able to store more textures on a blu-ray disc, but really you could do the same exact thing with DVDs, just might need multiple ones.
from gamespy
"While just about everyone is (rightfully) focused on the future, Robbie wanted to make sure gamers knew that Microsoft would still be very supportive of the current generation system, as would their third-party partners. He said that their success is ultimately rooted in games, and we were treated to a glimpse of things to come, and a video rolled that showed off a ton of upcoming games, including titles like Half-Life 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Conker: Live and Reloaded. We were told that there will be over 200 Xbox games released this year, and there will be more to come in 2006."
The Playstation 3 will be backwards compatible with the Playstation 2
The Playstation 2 is backwards compatible with the Playstation.
Any chance that the Playstation 3 will be compatible *all the way back* to the Playstation?
There are some classic games that I would hate to lose.
Actually, I believe the exact quote was:
Microsoft finally let the world know that the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible with top-selling Xbox games.
It sounds to me like they'll be using some kind of Bleem! style system with software emulation being customized for only certain xbox games. Perhaps you'll need to purchase "compatibility modules" through their micropayment-driven marketplace? With Microsoft, I wouldn't put it past them.
Both Xbox 360 and PS3 have wireless controllers. Is this going to work out?
With our regular xboxes we often play system link games where we have 2-3 xboxes in the same/adjoining room. See the potential problem? I'm sure they've thought of something to solve this.. I hope.
twitter.com/gravitronic
The PS1 controller was an oddity when it first came out, though I found once I used it I fell in love with the simple design. It was interesting to me that I didn't have to have something filling my entire hand to be comfortable and usable at the same time.
This new one looks pretty interesting, obviously looks and use and two very different things. I think Sony will learn from its PS1/PS2 design, learn from what works and what possibly didn't.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
you might want to take longhorn as an example of microsoft meeting their release dates and withdraw your bet of $20... I highly doubt MS will have their console out on time. I can just see the /. article in november: "Microsoft Delays Release of XBOX 360."
With as much money as Microsoft is throwing at this effort, its interesting to see how well they're not doing. Sony beat Microsoft out of the gate with the PS2 and essentially captured the market (arguments about how much nicer the XBox is than the PS2 aside, Sony still sold 2098309548230958 more units). Now they announce a little later, but with a product that looks like an nerd's wet dream.
It's a nice example of what happens when you have high quality engineers being thrown at a problem instead of big huge piles of money.
I love how people argue over which system is "better". Who cares?
Yes, I fully expect that the graphics and sound will be awesome. That's FANTASTIC. Yay for pushing the boundries - but lets not kid ourselves here. This is going to be about two giant corporations pulling every dirty trick in the book to try to destroy one another. Personally, I'm slightly more interested in supporting Sony as they actually innovate every once in a while and make some attempt at building standards.
I will say this, though - I'm infinitely thankful that it's Microsoft & Sony doing this than Nintendo for a simple reason; they don't "own" the games. Nintendo has pretty much tied their own rope with their first party crap.
Nintendo simply can not compete with Sony & Microsoft. Either company could buy Nintendo in CASH right now - Microsoft could do so without their shareholders even batting an eye. You're talking about companies that can call a quarter with only $15 billion in sales "underperforming". Both organizations have a history firmly rooted in dumping. They will try to undercut one another into oblivion. Now, Microsoft has a fiscal advantage here, of course. They're hoping for a big payoff when it comes to software licensing and the like further down the road. Sony has a distinct advantage in their relationships with the hardware manufacturers (namely in that they're actually using hardware that they developed / co-developed, while microsoft is using entirely third party parts). Personally, I'm more interested to see how this alters the PC market. Both nVidia and ATI are going to have a lot riding on their respective relationships. IBM is now dipping their whick into both candles (and, indeed, burning from both ends). AMD and Intel have been shut out of the game. We shall see.
Everybody said the same thing when they first got a look at the PSX controllers, too. It was crazy... the traditional D-pad was replaced by four buttons! How absurd!
Sony kept the same controller around for two console generations so you know they're not the type of company to come out with a new design just because there is a new console. They probably did hundreds of hours of user testing.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
I also like Xbox controller (non s-type) for the same reason. You are not alone.
From what I've read, the PS3 will have 256MB of RAM, while the XBox360 will have 512MB. Obviously they are different arches so there's no apples to apples comparison, but does anyone have any idea if the lower memory will effect much? I know my older AMD 2100 with a gig of memory could compile faster than a friends 2600 with a half gig, but as far as everyday tasks and in this case gaming, I have no points of reference. My guess is that there won't be a bottleneck at the RAM, but what about the speed of the RAM? Any ideas?
At this point I am just excited to be able to buy bluetooth controlers. I assume that they will be normal bluetooth and compatible with PCs. Maybe this will spur the development of bluetooth devices the way the original iMac made USB ubiquitous.
Lasers Controlled Games!
I hope they either provide a way to connect old PS2 controllers
If you look at the people giving demonstrations during the sony press conference, they all use the playstation 2 dualshock controller. This would lead me to believe the ps3 will support some kind of backwards compatiblity for them.
Oh, a lesson in history from Mr. I'm my own grandpa.
Wow! Even though I have been quite down on this round of consoles, the PS3 is bringing the goods to game developers to do some amazing things very easily. Robust physics engines, video features for days, and excellent throughput will make game development easy and offer new features never seen before.
Unlike the XBOX 360 which is already getting bad looks from developers, that aren't on the MS payroll. With the extra development time on XBOX 360 the titles and screens shown so far do little to impress and bring nothing new except "bloom" effect. PD:Zero looks like any PC title, Kameo looks like a second gen PS2 title... then you see GT on PS3 and pick up your jaw as well as almost everything else shown - Fight Night, Unreal, the explosion, etc.
However, as I feared nothing new or fresh at all shown to garner some speculation and buzz (c'mon FFVI?!?, let it go already). No new title like Pikmin for GC that had people talking and interested before launch, I really hope the PS3 can pull out some innovation and not stagnate on Unreal, fight night, GT, tekken, etc... they are starting to get a little long in the tooth now after 10+ years. It is still Nintendo's fight to win at this point. XBOX is running a bit flat, PS3 has shown rehashed(albeit very pretty) titles, Nintendo can step in with one or two totally new and innovative titles and steal the show. Let the games begin!
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Looking at the console one word comes to mind: "sleek".
Unfortunately, the thing looks like something that came out of a time machine from the Jetsons. Or out of the Area 51 labs.
Controller looks like a boomerang. Oh well, I think you're allowed to have a cruddy controller on your third console. We all got used to the N64 controller didn't we?
Speaking of controllers, since all 3 new consoles are using wireless controllers, I don't see why it's a bullet point for everyone's feature list.
I'd love to know why it supports 7 controllers, and not 8. 8 makes a lot more sense (team games), 7 just seems lame. 2 tv outputs... it's a giant DS!
Insert Sig Here
...will it run Linux? Seriously, that makes one heck of a server, if it's sold below 500. And managing Apache with that controller! I just can't wait.
I don't know about boomerang... looks more like a banana to me.
It's pretty sad when I can look at an Xbox 360 Controller and say it looks better than this one.
I won't finally judge it until I actually hold one, but I dont understand why Sony would screw up a good controller design for what looks more like an asethethic change rather than a functional one, unless they had to make it bigger to hold the wireless circuity.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
I assume you mean this goes for any gaming system and/or game right? Halo/Doom3 is nothing more than a FPS with prettier explosions. The XBox2 is nothing more than a typical game system with more horsepower, right?
I'm glad to see you understand.
Don't get me wrong - I've been a computer/video/arcade gamer for 30 years now (they didn't exist for the first part of my life). I currently own two PS2s, a PC, a Linux server, a couple of Powerbooks, a GBA-SP and a PSP. (I'll omit the list of all the machines I used to own.)
I rarely play games on any of them now - I had high hopes for the PSP, but I've discovered I'm having more fun writing software to hack it than I am playing the actual games.
Clear, Dark Skies
You are aware that when you buy a PS3, you don't need to throw your old console into the trash, right?
You can call the current controller whatever you want, but "Perfection" is not what comes to my mind.
I hate that thing. It is too small, I tend to cramp easily.
Sure, if you're a short Japaense person with tiny hands or a kid they're great, but the original XBox controller must be one of the most comfortable ones I have ever have had in my hand.
I really really wish that Microsoft would not have listened to all the fanbois who complained about the controller (heck, they usually don't listen to their customers, why this time when they get something right for a change?"
So we'll see. Right now the PS3 looks almost better (spec wise) than the 360... Guess it'll be the games and the controller that make the decision for me.
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
I know it looks wacky, but I'm willing to give it a chance because it may correct my biggest problem with the PS1/2 controller. I found the handles of the PS1/2 controller were too short and instead of supporting the controller with my hand, I was using my index fingers - which would get rather tired after hours of play. Either way if it sucks I'm sure there will be the "old style" controllers out from 3rd party developers in no time.
My blender at home is white as well... But it was there BEFORE iPod... so Apple is making all their products look like a blender !!!
pfff... yeah.. they REALLY look like an iPod... now go and buy some glasses...
Okay, so we have two consumers, Alucard and Bonfiglio. They both want to buy a console, but Alucard wants an XBox and Bonfiglio wants a PS2.
Suddenly, there are announcements of the new XBox 360 and PS3. But they each can only afford one console right now!
If Bonfiglio purchases a PS2 and in the future a PS3-only game comes out that he wants enough to buy a PS3 for, his PS2 is now basically worthless. His job at the bowling alley doesn't pay him that much, so he's more likely to wait for the PS3 to come out, since that will include all of the PS2 goodness he wanted.
Alucard, on the other hand, might still go ahead and get an XBox now and hope that his job at the abbatoir down the road pays him enough so that he can get an XBox 360 in the future, 'cause he wants to play Halo and the 360 won't satisfy his Halo jones.
The XBox is, for all intents and purposes, a separate console line from the XBox 360. Nobody would go out and buy both a Playstation and a Playstation 2. But it's possible that someone would go out and buy both an XBox and an XBox 360, just like people would sometimes have an NES, SNES, N64, and GameCube.
Granted, this is probably only logic that applies to the sorts of obsessive gamers who have eight or nine consoles hooked up to their TV, and the advantage from this would also probably be eaten up by the disadvantage of releasing another console that has to start out on day 1 with about five games like they did with the XBox (versus the PS2's few made-specifically-for-PS2 games plus their huge PS1 library)
--AC
I know this is going to sound like typical Linux-fanboyism, but these next gen consoles sound like cheap hardware for a Linux box. The relatively small form factor, array of features, and powerful hardware seem like the perfect fit for a very powerful Mac Mini-esque Linux desktop computer. I may just hold off on getting one of these new tiny/quiet PCs for now.
Consoles are becoming more powerful and games take less and less time to be completed. There should be a new Moore law behind. Epic (Amiga): months were needed. Xwing or Wing Commander, : weeks were needed. DOOM 1: days and days...I even had difficulties to complete the free shareware version. HALO 2: completed in 6 hours I guess with these new consoles we will have just one hour of fun for twice the current price. Olivier
Which, if we remember the lessons of Osborne, could blow up in their face. They announced the successors to the Osborne 1 way too early--people stopped buying Osborne 1s because they wanted to wait for the "just around the corner" Osborne 2. They eventually got the Osborne 2 out the door, but by then, the company had pretty much run out of money.
Was that before or after Ozzy bit the head off a bat and got heavily into drugs?
With management like that, no wonder they went down the tubes...
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
And, of course, as soon as I hit 'submit', there's a Slashdot story saying that the XBox 360 *will* be backwards compatible. So, ignore everything I've said in this thread. :)
Is the one that makes it possible to mod the games and create your own games on the system. Now when I say this I don't mean directly on the console of course but on our own computers. It would extend the life of the system and the games on the system, plus we get to have arguebly even more fun than playing the same games over and over. A win for everyone.
-- Tyler >+++++++[-]++++.---------.+.++++.++.
Yeah, that controller looks downright awkward. What are we supposed to do, use it like a divining rod? Looks like all your digits are going to be used to hold it.
Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
You mean how it wasn't contoured for hands, but just rounded off two cones on either side? Where is the support, the feeling that it fits the contours of your hand? Both Nintendo and MS realized the left analog stick should be up near the triggers because it's uncomfortable to put two fingers up on the triggers while stretching the thumb down to the stick.
It helps that the PS2 face buttons X/O etc. are all analog, based on how hard you push them. I've been an avid Gran Turismo guy in the past and I was able to easily modulate the throttle and brakes to the degree that I wanted with the PS2's Dual-Shock controller. In driving games that didn't support the analog nature of the PS2 buttons, I found it much harder.
I've had an XBox for a few months now, and just got a copy of Forza Motorsport and although I find the triggers very useable with an automatic gearbox setting, if I switch to manual shifting I have a very hard time smoothly braking with my left trigger finger and keeping the car in a straight line at the same time with the same hand. In the PS2 scenario I have one hand adjusting the brake and one hand adjusting the steering and it's much easier for me.
Forza can switch to a Gran Turismo-style layout, but I don't find the face buttons nearly as sensitive to pressure as the dual-shock, so I've had to adapt to the triggers.
Just my 2 pence. Your mileage may of course vary.
It's a Unix system - I know this.
We always agitate for it, but it does have its downside. Selective pressure on the human thumb joints, for example. The evolutionary consequences of PS controllers are underappreciated in the peer reviewed literature.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
This thing looks big, bigger than Xbox 1 or 360. And I mean size, not market. MSN has a picture of Ken Kutaragi holding the PS3.
o s/050516/050516_playstation_hmed.hsmall.jpg
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Phot
What happened to that fluff about the Xbox's biggest problem in Japan was that it's too big?
Was size the real issue or was it simply unpatriotic to buy American?
PS: the controller looks terrible. I hope it's a lot more ergonomic than it looks.
Sig for hire.
I paged through a few of the sites. Looks like typical vaporware to me. While Microsoft showed what looked like real circuit boards, they really didn't show any games or even demos running on it. Meanwhile, Sony has a bunch of slides and the external casing of their new console... but we see no circuit board and the demos they showed could have been pre-rendered or could have been running on an extremely highend workstation.
Since when has it become the norm to bluff what you have?
I heard each controller comes with a utility belt, a 300-lb. zipline and gas pellets.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
sigh...
You're right - it doesn't resemble an iPod. Read damn my post. Yet, relative to its previous incarnation, it is much more interesting and creative. I'm not saying its god's gift to designers, just that it shows a more interesting and relaxed design from a rigid black box.
Does it copy the Dell? Maybe, but better that than another squat black box.
-dave
http://millionnumbers.com/ - own the number of your dreams
Beyond the obvious reason of "behold the latest in Way Too Many Polygons(TM)" there are purposes to having processing power and multiple cores. The most significant of these is the AI that runs most of your games enemies, allies and miscellaneous creatures. Because of the nature of AI, it can be as large of a drag on a CPU as graphics. But with the more obvious and aestetic graphics, AI has been sidelined in order to maintain the frames per second standard we come to expect. With the exception of the enemies faced in Halo 2, AI has not been that impressive in most of the action games of our time. Even in games such as Ninja Gaiden and Metroid Prime (including Echoes), the AI is barely even that. After a very short time, I found that my enemy's actions were extremely predictable (if still hard to deal with). While this worked very well for these games, perhaps we will really be able to see incredible AI in the coming generation, despite its being promised to us back in the days of the Dreamcast.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
While I agree that the new controller looks silly, the PSX and PS2 controller were far from perfection. My main beef was with the D-pad, which was externally separated into 4 chicklets. Something like the SNES's D-pad would have been much better. I am sure other people have other problems with the controllers, but if the Dualshock 2 had a SNES-like D-pad, it would be a hell of allot better... near perfect IMO.
And if you look at the new one, it's really not very different at all from the existing ones.
The only thing that really seems to have changed are the 'arms' or whatever.
I don't think judgement can be passed on the controller until it's been tried in person.
No Comment.
I don't own a ps2, I never had the money to be able to afford it before I left college. Now I find myself with tons of money, but no ps2, and an unwillingness to fork out 150 bucks for a system that's about to be obsolete.
A backwards compatible ps3 would, on the other hand, be absolutely perfect for me.
Besides, the original xbox had hardly any good games as it was, why would I buy into an xbox2 which has even fewer?
From the AnandTech article:
"Unlike previous Playstation consoles, the PS3 will ship with full network support built in. Sony also mentioned that the console would support encrypted P2P transfers between consoles."
But as we all know, P2P is illegal. Whats going on? Have the MPAA been.. lying to us?
-Copyright law #69:Whenever Mickey Mouse is about to enter the public domain,copyrights get extended by 25 years.
The original PS2 controller isn't bad, but far away from perfection. The analog stick of the PS2 is really the worst of all consoles, since its just so damn stupidly placed. In the times of the PS1 that might have been necessary since most games used the digital controlls, but today most game use the analog stick for controlling and then having it in such a thumb-over-stretching position is extremly annoying. Both XBox and the Gamecube controller do it right and position the analog stick at a place where it is easily reached.
The '>' shaped start button, the seperated direction pad buttons, the hard to memorize and communicate Square, Cross, Circel, Triangle naming and the lack of 'real' analog trigger (ie. one that you have a feel for how much you have pressed them) are other, but less critical faults of the PS2 controller.
So far none of the controllers on the market gets really everything right, Gamecube lacks buttons, XBox one is quite 'fat' since for some reason they placed two memory card slots in it, but for a game which needs the analogstick I prefer both of them a lot over the thumb-stretcher which we call PS2 conroller.
You guys should check out the gamespot.com E3 coverage. You can use bugmenot.com to login for free and take a look at the Sony Press Conference. Also it is a windows media stream, sorry *NIX guys. The stream is about 1 hour 50 mins long. It shows all the new games and tons of presentations. Lot of stuff about capturing new markets but the PS3 console looks amazing.
:)
.... teenager oriented that the PS3 is for bigboys, and the lil'boys. Sony was cool and professional while the Xbox 360 was like in your face kind of advertisement. End result xbox360 looks good PS3 looks kickass, kungfu punch, matrix lobby scene better. Also the PSP using 802.11 can become an auxillary input into the PS3 ( huh, why what do they want us to buy everything that Sony has to offer or what?? ). :) . And it is backward compatiable with PS, PS2 etc. ...
http://www.gamespot.com/e3/e3live.html
The Cell processor is IBM's jewel, it might be the single killer against the x86 market. Not to mention that the Cell processor in PS3 is revision 3 while the one in the xbox is revision 2. The new cell processor is gonna knock the socks of all you folks.
Trust me
Another thing is that 7 controllers that run Blue Tooth, I don't get it either. But the main thing is that games will be more and more interactive. But the Final Fantasy games out there look amazing but beyond that the Gran Turismo games are also kick ass (please cars flip over...please ) But the Tekken for PS3 was an amazing intro. You could see Jin's muscles and sweat and then the heat rising from his body and with the punch you could see sweat fly from his fists. There was another game a FPS that was amazing where marines come in through the sky and fight on the ground urban warfare style. I don't know how much of it are rendered movies and how much is real time work but the Unreal PS3 engine was amazing, it really was the explosions with the rockets and the smoke. But beyond that they had the CEO of EA come in ( yeah I know he didn't pay overtime ) and brought in Fight Night, that was great with the facial expressions of the boxers at every punch I just can imagine Rockstar Games' new GTA will definately be something. And also there are tons of new API's in the Nvidia GFX processor subsystem that have tons of stuff, like transparency and skin diffusion, water refraction. Amazing stuff. Xbox to be cool had to come on MTV, Sony being classy just went to E3 and showed who's who what there lil box can do. But over all whole press conference was kick ass, marketing venture yes. But the xbox360 on MTV was so
But the dual HD output is great, and it also takes VGA
But the estiemated price of the PS3 is $250 for just the gaming rig and $500 for the works. But definately they will sell there console for a loss.And make money on the games. Looking at the way the PSP sold I wouldn't be suprised it would sell for US$300.
Also our beloved Hedijo Kojima of MGS showed up, may the Lord Bless his soul, yes there is going to be a MGS for the PS3.
The xbox 360 has major major competiton. Cell technology puts them on the same playing field including the Nintendo Revolution. What makes them different are the games they have to offer. Even with life like reality in the end it is the simple thrill of Pong and Pacman and Mario Bros. that makes us want to play more and more games.
Frag away, Drive away, Super Combo away and what ever Final Fantasy does
The Xbox360 just got dreamcasted!
Lets recap, current generation:
- PS2: Best 3rd party support, most games.
- Xbox: Most powerful, online play.
- GC: Best first party games.
Factoring out online play since they will all have it, the next generation will be something like:
- PS3: Best 3rd party support, most games, most powerfull.
- Nintendo: Best first party games, unique UI(maybe).
- Xbox360: ????
...would be "my hot, lesbian, identical twin sister".
I wonder when it will be used in a lesbian porn flick as a replacement double dildo. (or vibrator rumble pack pending).
Beating up people in little rooms, if you do it for a good reason you do it for a bad one.
Maybe you don't agree, but listen up fanboyz: That wasn't a troll, that was opinion.
Can't tell the difference? Maybe you should head back to JK until you can learn to play nice.
No Comment.
Any bets on whether or not the USB ports will be useful this time around?
I've got a hunk of cement here that's about the same dimensions as that. Does that mean that MS stole their design from my hunk of cement? Those bastards!
I'm sorry, but I've seen that comparison between the XBox 360 and the Optiplex a few times now, and other than the fact that they are both computing devices and are similarly dimensioned rectangles, I don't see it. Pretty lame comparison if you ask me.
No Comment.
I know what you're talking about ... I went through several cheap wireless controllers that drove me insane. Then I picked up the Logitech. Slightly more expensive but a beautiful controller, feels better than the standard controllers, and is completely lag-free (in my opinion, anyway, ymmv). Smart power-saving too; the crappier ones had a switch, but this one just powers itself off automatically after 5 minutes of idle time, and wakes up when the first button is punched. I have kids so that little detail is more important than you might think. :-)
:-)
Speaking of which, it's time for me to buy a new one. It lasted a good year under heavy use, but I abused it badly beating god mode in God of War. Between the button-mashing and the tension in my hands (oh shit, I can't get hit or I'll die AGAIN) the L1 button finally started sticking a little from overuse. Still, I'm quite happy with the investment.
I'd be amazed if the PS3 required Bluetooth controllers with no alternatives... I hope they will allow corded controllers if you really want them. For spectrum collisions if nothing else (it'd suck to be unable to play a game just because a neighbor is using their 802.11-enabled microwave while on their 2.4GHz phone).
If not, well, at least you can take solace in the fact that the games will be DESIGNED for wireless controllers and thus better able to handle whatever lag may result.
.. but it would make one hell of a printserver, rendering PDFs faster than you could ever dream of refilling those pesky little ink-cartridges :)
send + more == money?
You are aware that when you buy a PS3, you don't need to throw your old console into the trash, right?
Well, the clutter of devices is never really a good idea in your living room (or the room where you keep your main TV-set). For a certain period of time, my PSX cohabitated with my Dreamcast and I don't have good memories of that period. Besides, consoles die - my old PSX is now in need of laser replacement that probably will never come, anyway, as it is beyond any economical justification so one way or another it will find its way to the trash.
I've seen people say the controller is wireless, but in this picture I see four usb ports where controller ports would normally be. This leads me to believe that the new controllers will be usb2.0. It could be for peripherals, but that's an awkward way of laying them out (rather than vertically stacking two ports at a time). If it is for controllers, does that mean there'll be PC support for them?
Its all fun and games until someone loses an eye... then its just fun.
Maybe if you are playing PS1 games. Try playing a two-player game of Burnout 3 using a PS2 dualshock and a PS1 dualshock.
"the hard to memorize and communicate Square, Cross, Circel, Triangle naming"
Yeah I found those completely unfamiliar, hard to draw, obscure shapes really hard to remember as well. For the first two minutes.
Hard to communicate? "Press square."
I think people have differently scaled hands, some find PS2 controllers fine, others prefer XBox controllers. To diss a console based on the fact that they chose an alternate hand-scale for their design suggests that either you are a freak, or they aren't aiming at you. Maybe why XBox controller is big (US) and PS2 is smaller (Asia). I guess us Euros sitting in the middle have it lucky (assuming we have median scaled hands).
I'll shut up now.
Cool, the PS3 supports 1080p... the obvious irony being that only Bill Gates can afford an HDTV display device that can handle 1080p.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
I thought consumer product designers had gotten over their cover-every-thing-with-a-useless-door binge in the 90's. Sony only has to look so far as the original US NES to see a poor door implementation (later fixed in the gen II NES) IBM had a stupid penchant for covering its floppy and CD drives in the PS-1 and the abominable S-systems. I've seen inumerable stereo systems with doors covering most if not all of their useful buttons.
Why do the designers pull this crap? You have to futz with the stupid door when you could just have some simple slots to put your media or peripherals into. The PS3 looks like crap with the door open or if you hacked it off. The product can be just as aesthetically pleasing without having to obsess over hiding functional elements of the design. Form should always follow function in a case such as this.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Really, we won't know for a year or two after release. Take a look at the history of most consoles-- the recent PS2 games are far superior to the first couple of years' releases. The graphics are quite solid (at 60 fps), fluid, and gameplay takes advantage of that.
I've never been impressed with the PC-quality of the XBox. Halo was fun, but that was all about gameplay; the graphics weren't really that impressive. I've always thought the XBox graphics sucked.
That is, until I saw Jade Empire. I'm finally convinced the XBox graphics are superior to the PS2. But it took *years* for a game to come out to really take advantage of the machine.
I expect the same to be true of this next generation. This is Microsoft's first true game machine (the XBox was hardly anything more than a PC in an ugly box). It seems they may have gotten it right, though. The specs are impressive.
I'd say the PS3 and XBox are fairly-well matched. Now it's up to the game designers, and the ease of creating games for each platform, and how much each company bribes game companies to make exclusive games. Cross-platform games generally don't take full advantage of the hardware.
I've heard the PS2 is kind of a pain to target, while the XBox is so shielded with MS's OS that programmers can't get directly at the hardware. Don't know if that's true; it's just what I've read various places. But, it sounds like both sides have their problems, and both sides have their advantages.
Me, I just can't wait for some of these games. This is going to be a fan-fucking-tastic couple of years for gamers, and *we* are ultimately the winners.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I'd say the PS3 and XBox are fairly-well matched.
Uhm... that is, the PS3 and the XBox 360 are fairly well matched.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
It provides an entry for people who are not PS1 or PS2 owners. I never owned a PS1, but have several PS1 games for my PS2. There are just a lot of fun games from the past that probably will never get remade, too.
The text on the PS3 looks like the Spiderman font. ORIGINAL Sony...
Technical specs could theoretically have made the difference for Dreamcast -- if one or the other had just conspicuously kicked the competitor's butt -- but for Joe buyer it comes down to "There are two cool new systems, and they're both about the same in coolness. Which one has [fill in game franchise]?" XBox has tried for the 'monopoly on cool games' thing already. So has Nintendo with its younger niche. Neither one's going to take out Sony on that ground.
Unless XBox really has a feature that sets it out -- amazing advantage in networking -- it and Nintendo will probably still be on the edges. (Personally I'll probably still get coerced into buying Nintendo's next system unless it's completely marginalized or my kids turn the teen corner in a big way. They're 11 now, and still way into those franchises. The quality of the real name games -- Zelda, the Mario stuff -- is consistently very high, and I kind of prefer a more innocent tone myself anyway.)
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
Sorry to say and I agree I am a cubehead .... ....
....
...
......
.... and fit your AV cabinet/rack ....
...... ....
....
....
.....
.... maybe even 4x2 why waste fingers ?
but I am sick of all these rounded down components
I loved the playstation 2 because it somewhat fitted onto my dvd player and my amplifyer/tuner
and then came the XBOX, with all that kinky shape... so it was impossible to stash an other component onti it (or dvd-s, controllers or whatever)
and now that
I am sorry, but I think these things (these are audio-video components at the end) are practical, when having a nice, simple box shape
I feel the same with computers, and never bought a rounded or non-flat-top computer case
i like my zyxel cable modem because it is a box and fits into/onto whereever and provides a space to put an other on top, or an other device
I see that consumers like all these design roun-shape crap, but if you are into something you will end-up a with a bunch of devices, and round things on top of each other just do not work
LET'S KEEP thing that BELONG into the BOX in the BOX
returning to PS3 : that controller looks interesting
I would still put at least 2x3 shoulder buttons on a controller
yeye mod me i am a cubehead
Has anyone noticed how the concave shape of the 360 appears to be a perfect match for the convex shape of the PS3?
Now the question is: Can you stack these two without the generated heat setting something ablaze?
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
*sigh*
you don't need a cell cpu to produce any kind of WMD. See the people of '44 in Los Alamos and now the guys in N-Korea.
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
It would appear that putting perfection in the microwave is also a bad idea.
Can someone explain to me the reason for 3 ethernet ports?
It looks like they finally got a clue! It appears from the picture that it uses a standard Computer power cable. Sweet, you know how many extras I have in the box in my basement!!
The war of specifications is really about marketing hype and gaining attention for the first round of games producers and buyers. Once the product is released, then the nature and availability of titles, the playability and all the other issues will become relevant, and one feature or another (e.g. bluetooth controllers) will pale away.
So it's great to speculate, and conjecture, but once we're into a couple of months beyond the product release, then we'll know the real story.
I will be very surprised if the actual game will look like the video, what with the Grand Canyon, motion blur, focus depth, lighting effects, forests made of realistic trees, pit stops with tons of guys running around and everything: it does look a bit too good as well and quite possibly prerendered/composited...
-- the cake is a lie
Take a look at the Final Fantasy VII tech demo at the bottom of this page, shown during the press conference at E3. I cried at first, then got strangely aroused.
Now I'm gonna board a plane, go down to E3, and then put the Square-Enix chairman into a figure-four lock until he agrees to devote all resources necessary to have FFVII redone in time for the launch of the PS3.
Oh geez.
Remember back in the day, the debates we would all have in our neighborhood backyards as kids, about how certain consoles had more bits and therefore were better?
Looks like *flops are the new bits.
Linux? The PS2 has a Linux distro that works, and allows development of apps without the $5-figure devkit. Sure, it's crippled: $200 for the proprietary bootloader (bundled with HD & LAN), green-sync monitor required, illegal to distribute apps on physical media... but we can run our own Linux apps on relatively fast (historically speaking) HW, subsidized by millions of gameplayers to be supercheap. Will Sony open the PS3 to Linux even further, eg. opening the bootloader (thereby allowing distro choice)? Or was Linux just a fad in time for PS2, and they've already drowned that precocious baby in the bathtub?
--
make install -not war
"Trying to tweak perfection = bad idea."
Perfection? Am I the only one that keeps hitting the stupid R3 and L3 buttons by accident?
It drives me nuts that every time I make a hard turn in GTA *HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK*.
"Derp de derp."
...the specs kind of confirm something I'd thought before most of the details were announced:
:(
The Xbox 360 and PS3 are quite similar in philosophy to their immediate predecessors, in terms of development philosophy at least.
Xbox was more conventional, by modeling itself after a PC for the most part, developers had a good grounding in how to take immediate advantage of the platform. Look at early games such as DOA3 and Halo, which still stack up fairly well today. The latest Xbox games haven't really pushed the Xbox a huge amount further (and have in some cases failed when trying to, yes Halo 2 I'm looking at you!).
PS2 on the other hand started off fairly tamely, because of its off-kilter architecture. Early games were fairly iffy, especially on the graphics side, but with the performance waiting to be unlocked as the console's life cycle has progressed - just look at San Andreas compared to the original GTA3. It creaks a bit, but the world is over 3 times larger, and has a load more stuff in it.
I reckon the same is going to be true now - Xbox performance stats look like being tamer than PS3, but more workable for early adopters, and easier to get to grips with. PS3, without a good set of early libs from Sony (which they aren't known for) or a nice early version of Renderware or other middleware, is going to be a developer headache. But the power it has waiting to be unlocked should better Xbox 360's best.
My biggest question is, will Xbox's early start this time around help it get a foothold before PS3's eventual ascendance? Time will tell. But frankly, I want both - hopefully quality games will appear on both platforms!
PS - I don't care about Revolution, unless there's a sequel to Super Monkey Ball for it. I'm not a Mario/Zelda/Metroid fan, Nintendo means nothing to me...
Game dev and music blog
Don't you see, guys, the boomerang shape is a BAD THING. The second you get angry at a game and throw your controller in frustration, it'll come right back at you! I don't know about you guys, but that's definitely not a feature I want in my game consoles.
According to the specs sheet, they are using Bluetooth 2.0+EDR which fixes the refresh rate problem, amongst other things.
Read more
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
The reason the "traditional" d-pad was replaced is because Nintendo owns the patent on the crosspad design. Haven't you ever noticed that *all* non-Nintendo controllers that employ a cross-axis mechanism use either buttons or a circular pad?
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i =2417&p=3
As far as I understood it - PS3 WILL have a hdd.
1080P, so that's 1080 lines right? Right now on my desktop I'm doing 1280x1024 for all the games I play. So this would be just a hair above that, non?
I've got a 6600 GT, which is able to keep that 1280x1024 filled with data, no problem. So if the card on the PS3 is equivalent to an SLI linked pair of 6800's, it's got more than enough power to pull that off with insane levels of detail.
It seems to me that the XBox is an evolutionary step, taking the XBox, making it a better performing system, and including the obvious enhancements. The PS3 seems to be trying to set the ground work for the next level. Sony is thinking way beyond being the next generation game platform and media hub here.
While XBox can play on HD, what formats does it support? It's just a DVD player, non? The PS3 does Blu-ray, and that will allow it to play high definition movies. Of all the features on the PS3, this is the key piece of the pizzle. Now you may be thinking, nobody has high def movies, but Sony knows that too. Why have a format war over the next high def format when Sony can pre-empt that by having millions of PS3's that already do blu-ray? Expect Sony to begin releasing a lot of their films on Blu Ray when PS3 launches.
This is the first time I've seen Sony really take advantage of all their pieces. I mean Blu Ray has no obvious benefits over HDDVD, but if I've already got a PS3, it has a huge benefit. No matter what people think of the 360, the PS3 will sell millions of units, and that will give Sony it's foot hold. From there, they make money on:
1) Selling games
2) Royalties on the Blue Ray format
3) Selling everybody their favorite movies all over again in high definition
4) Selling TV's that take advantage of all of these capabilities
Very very smart, IMHO. Microsoft has a serious problem here because they can only make up their hardware losses on game licensing. Sony has a lot of channels they can use and it actually will create markets for them that do no currently exist. Microsoft will just sell more games but otherwise be doing the same thing they have done.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
I've got bad news for your extra power cords. The PS3 will ship (sadly for you, I know) with a power cord.
So it looks like you will STILL have extra cables in a box in your basement.
Coding with assembly is like playing with Legos. Coding an application in assembly is like building a car with Legos.
Get the steering wheel / pedal thing from Logitech. I got the 'Driving Pro' version or whatever. Pretty neat.
Of course, it is a HUGE learning curve. It is a lot harder to spin a steering wheel 180 degrees (or more with GT4) than it is to twitch your left thumb 1/2 inch to the left/right.
Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
I don't think you're intended to have fingers on all four shoulder buttons. I think you're meant to have your index fingers up there switching around, generally.
Thinkin' Lincoln - a web comic of presidential proportions
Ya, but when I move again and lose the cord, which I will because that's what I do, I will at least have extra:)
They played the waiting game, they wanted the XBOX to push out the stops, then as of today, noone can remember what an xbox is.
So quote a legend:
"I think it moved"
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
I see it now
"The PS3, like the Xbox 360, will feature a removable 2.5" HDD. No word on size."
That was Anand's commentary, not something that appeared in the photographs. The official specs tho say this "Storage HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1" and the way it read to me was that, like the original PS2, there is a slot for a hard drive but not neccesarily one that is built in.
Read more...
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
No kidding?
I am deathly afraid of being pissed at a game, throwing the controller, only to have it turn around and put out my eye...
http://brandonbloom.name
Not to mention the patented Bat Shark Repellant.
Not strictly true. Whilst only Bill Gates can afford a *television* that can handle 1080p, there are several (comparatively) affordable LCD monitors on the market that can (the bigger Apple Cinema Displays, the BenQ FP231W, for instance -- I have one of the latter myself *g*)
:)
Hopefully it will be possible to use an HDMI-to-DVI adapter to plug the PS3 into one of those and get the full 1080p resolution
Since it is supposed to be - quoting TFA - "backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation" - it will be obviously possible. Backwards compatibility was the key factor for me to chose PS2 instead of XBox
What would the original Xbox be backwards compatible to? I'm sure there are lots of comments here about modding the Xbox already, but I'm quite happy that my Xbox is "backwards compatible" with perfect emulation of all 16-bit and earlier generation consoles/arcade games.
--falz
Xbox360 vs. PS3
praise
1. Both have wireless controllers. About time.
2. Xbox360 looks a LOT better than Xbox. And smaller, thank GOD!
3. Moms will have a better chance to remember Xbox360 is not the same as 'gamebox' or 'Xcube'. Or is Nintendo Revolution actually Gamecube 1080?!?
4. PS3 have dual screen capability, hopefully for easy multiplayer. (why else?)
5. Both include hard drive capability.
6. built in WIFI.
7. sounds like you can plug cell phone headsets into the xbox controller, that's cool if true.
gripes
1. No built in eye toy for ps3?
2. No one has exceeded the design of the psx in my mind.
3. Xbox has no Blu ray? I smell a mid-cycle upgrade.
4. No built-in Itunes?
5. What happened to networking different Cell-based systems? They didn't mention if I could buy 2 PS3's for 3 times the power. I thought this was the nice thing about the Cell design.
6. Can we get a new remote for the PS3's DVD functions?
7. Can't we just do away with special videogame memory cards? Don't we all have memory from our digital cameras?
What, no Kryptonite? I'm shocked!
The new stick is basically the dual shock 2 that's wireless and redesigned to scream "this is the new generation" to anyone who sees it. Unless there are some additional features we haven't heard about.
Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
Quick search made me come up with this press release. Right now a 52" DLP 720p/1080i television from toshiba runs about 3500$CAN, altough I've seen them as low as 3200$CAN. By april of next year I'd wager you'd be able to pick up a 52" 1080p DLP for less then 4000$CAN (roughly 3200$US).
Not exactly cheap, but you probably won't have to sell one of your kids to get one if you want it. Right now I'm using a 26" 720p/1080i CRT from toshiba, should be good enough to enjoy the new system at first, especially since I've read that most games probably will run at 720p instead of 1080p (I'd assume for the first generation at least).
No, it doesn't seem like enough, but remember the PS2 only has 1/14th the RAM the PS3 will. Some amazing things can be donw with FAST ram and compact, well written code.
A Call For A New Slashdot Moderation Level!
If you read carefully you'll see it's using a much faster version of the Bluetooth standard (2.0 or som such) also with a faster refresh rate.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
When will Microsoft come up with an original naming convention?
Are they destined to rip off the names of competing products for the rest of eternity?
Sony currently have a product which is currently at version 2. They either release a new product called 3 or drop the numbering convention completely, so they release the Playstation 3.
Along comes Microsoft with a product that doesn't rely on a numerical versioning system, the Xbox, and what do they come up with next - Xbox 3 (with a 60 added on to make it seem like even more than 3).
The same thing happened with Apple, they had OS 7, 8, 9, and the instead of 10 they went with X.
What does Microsoft do?
Windows 95, 98, 2000 and then - erm - X (with a P added to make it even more than X).
What's next?
I don't know about you guys, but I'm tremendously excited about Playstation 4.
At Home I watch DVD in 1080p straight from my computer on a 10' front projection screen (yes it is upconverted). Then I click a dial to watch HDTV off of my cablebox which comes out Component and goes through a component to VGA adapter.
The point is the Playstation 3 might be the appliance that truly ushers in HDTV as most everyone has VGA monitors that can be used as an entry level HDTV system, and unlike the crappy rear projection stuff you see at BestBuy and Wal-Mart these will work at 1080p not just 1080i or 720p.
Letter To Iran
Any idea's what the cost is most likely going to be around for this blazing system? Seems great, but I'm not about to fork over $1,000 for a gaming system.
That's it, I know where I'm putting my money. Hell, I'm going to buy stock in Sony. I just hope the tactile-haptic interface is easy to jizzmop.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Personaly I like the groove on Logitech's D-pads (at least the one on my Wingman Precision much more than the Nintendo cross design.
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
"after a couple hours of intense gameplay, my hands ache from trying to squeeze something so small." I understand this a common complaint on /.
[UID-HeinzIntel]
Didnt see it posted... Can you imagine a beowulf cluster running on these?
Has anyone found or set-up torrents for the PS3 E3 Press Conference video?
While we know there is marketing hype involved, at least one demo was shown to be real-time. From the Gamespot article :
Why is it hard to believe that Sony, working on this project for the past 3 years or more, might just be able to best Microsoft's 18-month project? It should not be. While the specs might be a tad inflated, it's probably safe to say that the PS3 is a more graphically and computationally capable machine than the Xbox 360. What that means for market share remains to be seen.
Both MS and Sony are going to be pulling out all the stops. Nintendo is likely to step up to the plate as well. You know what? Competition is good.
You don't play specs, you play games. And I'm not sure why you think the PS3 GPU is so much better than the 360's. Care to enumerate?
Generic Racing Game:
Graphics...
X-Box:360 - 6 stunning cars on a track.
PS3 - 12 stunning cars on a track.
AI...
X-Box:360 - 6 cars fighting it out for their share of 3 PowerPCs.
PS3 - 12 cars each running their AI on a separate sub processor that's optimized specifically for that task.
Flight Sim:
X-Box:360 - 10-15 planes filling the skies.
PS3 - 20-30 planes filling the skies making for truly chaotic dogfights.
Space Sim:
X-Box:360 - The original cut of StarWars with maybe six X-Wings and six Tie Fighters shown at any one time.
PS3 - Return Of The Jedi with waves of them coming in.
Shooter:
X-Box:360 - A platoon of enemy troops charging your squad.
PS3 - Two enemy platoons trying to flank your allied squad while you try and find a way to out flank them.
If I'm playing a WWII game, I want occasional set piece massive battles not constant squad action because the system can't handle making that number of troops look good. If I'm playing a world war two flight sim, I want to defend a thousand bomber formation not be one of two planes guarding a six plane flight of B-17s. If I'm playing a racing game, I want all the other cars of a big race, with constant jockeying for position, not an arbitrary six needed to keep the framerate decent.
I could go on. The point is, we play games, not specs. But double the amount of processing power means developers have the ability to put double the amount of content on screen at any one time (assuming they don't simply increase detail on existing numbers). Double the amount of adversaries etc. makes for much better, more realistic games.
So, directly, I don't care that much about the tech specs. I care about the games. But the tech specs give the developers far more freedom to make the games I want to play.
As for proof of that power differential: I could argue about how [only when well coded] massively parallel simple processors can blow the crap out of only a couple of very powerful, highly generic processors. You build a processor that can do hundreds of different complex multimedia tasks - great - but half that silicon isn't getting used for any given specific instruction whereas it's all getting used in massively parallel simpler units and, because they're simpler, they can be optimized to cycle faster.
Regardless of theory though, there's a far simpler solution - take a look at the demos. The X-Box:360 demos look good. Great even. They're definitely an incremental improvement over the current generation. The PS3 demos, however, look like something a movie studio rendered. It's like the difference between companies doing better and better stop motion animation and what Weta did with huge numbers of troops in Lord Of The Rings. That is why I'm tending to believe the PS3 claims. They may just be tech demos, not real games. But what tech demos they are.
I think he throws the controllers at people and they come back to his hand if he misses.
chuk
I just watched the pre-E3 Sony Press Event (insider.ign.com) and at 44:19 into the video Masa Chatani is introduced and 47:50 he states that "[Playstation 3] there is also a built in wireless network interface that allows connection to Wi-Fi devices, including Playstation Portable. This allows PSP to become a remote controller, as well as remote screen. Whether you are in the next room, or on the other side of the world. From any remote location, PSP can have access to PS3 to play the local playing game, which runs from the PS3 out of your home. The always on, always connected nature of the PS3 means that your secure media can be accessed remotley at anytime over broadband or wireless networks."
I for one might actually like this new Banana/Boomerang controler. One thing I have noticed is that the current controller arms end a quite a bit short for me so instead of resting my hands on it when playing I have to sort of hold my hands apart, which can get tiring. Or I can rest my elbows on whatever I am on, whether armrests or bed etc. and have the circulation reduced to my hands, making them go numb within 10 minutes. Nothing kills control like not being able to actually feel the controller in your hand.
The other really annoying thing is the screw holes on the underside that leave indentations on my hand and give a weird itching sensation when playing for a long time.
I'm looking forward to trying this new controller.
if they actually showed someone playing the system instead of questionably enhanced eye candy. The only undoubtedly real time thing i saw were the glasses with water. The XBox unvailing may have been a let down, but at least they showed some actual gameplay.
Top 10 Reasons To Procrastinate
10.
Just because that both Microsoft and Sony have released the specs doesnt mean those specs will stay the same. Looking at microsoft in the past they might delay the 360 and improve it to be more powerful than the ps3, and delay launch until after the ps3 so sony cant do a thing about it
I'm wondering if the design will still be tweaked a bit, because the "PLAYSTATION 3" font across the top reminds me "SPIDER-MAN 2". It just looks... unorigional. I want to know how many jaws are dragging around the MS office today. ;-)
I think the consoles really need to make and support something equivalent to a mouse or trackball for FPS games. I still go back to my PC for FPS.
While I do disagree with the statement that "too much technology kills the game" I still think that that true innovation in gaming relative to the size of the industry is almost at an all time low. Your examples fail to convince me otherwise:
* IMHO perfection of "cel shading" adds nothing important to gameplay at all. While it is a technical innovation, Zelda Windwaker provides nothing of note in terms of actual gameplay innovation.
* Halo 2 is more of the same--I see not innovation here at all, just refinement/evolution of the same ideas we've been playing with since Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, Half-Life, Halo I etc etc
* The PSP didn't demonstrate the effective melding of game console and movie player--The PS2 and XBox did that before. The PSP just made it portable. It's not even a new idea--playing music, video and games on a portable device was happening on PocketPC Windows devices long before PSP came out. The PS just made it better.
* WoW isn't anything extra special. What about games like Everquest? Or even The Sims Online? There are a lot of MMORPG style games that appeal to the masses. And as far as re-defining video games as "art" I'd have to say Myst was more of a pioneer. I also remember thinking there was quite an "artistic" componenet to much earlier RPGs--maybe "Alternate Reality" for the Atari computers?
* GTA3 the FIRST truly mass market game? you have a really short memory. I'd say Pong was the first. If you mean "mass market" as in how movies are promoted with music, food, clothing, TV series etc etc licensing empires, that would be Pac Man (There was clothing, TV shows, lunch pails, McDonalds happy-meal yous and so on). If that isn't massive enough then Super Mario Brothers was even more massively marketed. In any case, how mass marketed a game is doesn't indicate how innovative it is. GTA3 is ZERO innovation--it is the THIRD IN A SERIES OF SIMILAR GAMES. Even the original brings together ideas seen in several older games.
Yes they might all be good games and they definitely have great graphics. Of course they wouldn't be the same without the same level of graphics. I'd argue however that truly great games would be just as enjoyable to play with PS1 level graphics--the extra bells and whistles just make it hold the attention of passive spectators more. As for Space Invaders, I still do play it from time to time through emulation or one of the many Java/Flash/etc copycats.
I agree that modern technology can help artists with inspiring ideas. Katamari Damarcy is a good example of a cool new game, but there is nothing visually in that game that you couldn't push a PS1 to do well enough to support the gameplay.
I think that even today if you took a PS1 and added more memory and an ethernet port it is possible to make really fun, addictive and successful games. Unfortunately though, I'd have to say that the "originality-to-fluff" ratio is not only NOT the best it's ever been--it is probably the LOWEST it's been since the pre-NES industry crash.
I mostly agree on the Gamecube pad. The analogue stick is in a good position, and the buttons are simply brilliant. Big primary button (accept), a small secondary button (cancel), and X, and Y buttons are in the direction of the corresponding axis. Z is not as good but it is in the direction of its axis as well. Also the triggers are nice. But the d-pad on the Gamecube controller is awful, it is way too small and imprecise.
I like the Playstation's d-pad. Also, I've never had any problems with the position of Dualshock's analogue sticks.
At least I have never noticed anything...
The look of the PS3 reminds me of a silver TTI Turbo Duo... which was an NEC Turbografx-16 with a built-in CD drive and upgrade card.
While it's a great marketing move by MSFT, it personally makes me suspect that the game won't live up to its hype for the third time around. Games are notorious for missing release dates, especially the big titles (Halo 2, Final Fantasys, especially on the PC with Half Life 2, any Blizzard game, etc.). These next generation games are also suppose to have some of the biggest production values ever with an increasing development cycle ("justifying" the supposed $10 increase in game prices). It just seems that the game would be rushed or left a bit lackluster.
Too small for good HD. I may not upgrade my existing DVDs, but I'll certainly be looking for titles in Blu-Ray in the future.
Of course, that's assuming that Sony actually comes up with a decent player to go with the drive. The DVD player in the PS2 was horrible!
These new things don't even have blast processing...
I'm getting a definite sense of deja vu, remembering how Sega rushed out the somewhat less-powerful Dreamcast in hopes of getting a headstart on the market before the PS2 arrived. It didn't work. And now Sega is a third party developer of PS2 games.
Of course, Sega was a real loss. Once one of the most creative game development houses, their games have been pretty lackluster since they went 3rd party.
Would anybody really miss Microsoft? I suppose I'd miss Bungie....
Of course, one big difference between Microsoft and Sega: Microsoft can afford to lose two generations in a row and still stay in the game.
Is it just me, or does that new controller look just like a new cylon raider from battlestar galactica ?
The controller has a slight resemblance to the Apple Bandai's failed PiPPiN console.
Bandai Pippin Image Archive
Chicken fried butter sticks? Do
People who are trying to decide which console to buy.
Nintendo simply can not compete with Sony & Microsoft.
I will speculate that Nintendo is gunning for a market that Sony and Microsoft are both passing over, namely the younger market. There are people who ( for whatever reason, I'm not one of them ) really, really, really like those Nintendo-proprietary games. You won't see Mario, Super Smash Bros, etc on any other system. The 'secret weapon' they're talking about today is the ability to download, store on flash ROM, and play 'classic games', like N64 games and such. They're putting out a system that can play *any* Nintendo game ever. Which even I think could be fun. On a system that looks as graphically capable as the Xbox 360, if not the PS3, so it *can* play more immersive, modern games. Frankly, in this market, Nintendo can be a somewhat-distant 3rd and still make plenty of money for their investors. They're the 'second console' of choice.
Personally, I'm more interested to see how this alters the PC market.
It *will* be interesting to see what this does to the PC market. It will also be interesting to see if the PS3 gives Sony any advantage in the HD-DVD/BD format wars scheduled for uh... next spring, when both the PS3 and HD-DVD players are set for launch. IMHO, Sony is quite possibly more interested in Blu-ray than battling the Xbox, not that Microsoft isn't a factor in all of this... it's just one front in a larger war. The true winner does look to be IBM. Here's hoping they can keep up with demand and not end up looking silly. They sure didn't come up with G5s at high clockrates as quickly ( or in quantities ) that they had promised Steve Jobs... it'll be interesting to see if they can keep up with the new demands Sony, Microsoft _and_ Nintendo will be placing on them! I'm also excited to think of the extra processor R&D that's happened because of all of this, and how it'll be available to Power-based systems in the near future.
My final take is that all of this competition is good. I'm actually glad MS has decided to enter this market- they need to spend all that cash somehow, and Sony needed the competition. It's fun to watch the fanboys flame each other, too...
They need to make it just like the existing PS2 controllers, except with a litttttle bit bigger grips to it, like the xbox. Frankly a white controller makes no sense either. In any case, I'm SURE either sony will re-design this new controller to suit the demands of us users, OR a 3rd party will manufacture a controller that looks like the current ones we know and love.
by braking the button apart (visually) they somehow avoided it.
The Dream Cast was the first console released after the patent expired, and the first non-Nintendo console to use a D-Pad
can't find the patant because the site is acting all funny.
I woluld also Disclaim this may all be hearsay and rumor with no truth.
Anyway these guyse are more reputable then me at least.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
"Gamecube lacks buttons"... actually, it doesnt.
/\, O, X Buttons
Xbox Controller
Two Analog
One D-Pad
A, B, X, Y Buttons
2 Shoulders
Sel, Start, Blk, White
PS2 Controller
Two Analog
One D-Pad
[],
4 Shoulders
Sel, Start
GC Controller
Two Analog (cstick included)
One D-Pad
A, B, X, Y Buttons
3 Shoulders
Start
Two whole buttons lacking, otherwise, these are all the same... For the style of Gamecube games, this is more than enough. (though i dont like the grip on them, i like my bear, the xbox original)
If the software library is weak, it doesn't matter how powerful the console itself is (N64 anyone?). In my case, I'm most interested in RPGs. The PS2 had more of them than the Xbox, so I got a PS2, even though the Xbox was more powerful. Now, with Square going to the Xbox 360, it's possible that there will be more RPGs for the 360 than the PS3. In that case, I'll go with the 360, no matter how much more powerful the PS3 is.
"Do I dare disturb the universe?"
6 stunning cars vs. 12 stunning cars? Platoons vs. Armies? Really? Are you comparing real world games or figments of your imagination?
Vision Gran Turismo: Four cars in the actual pits, two in the pit lanes, two more on the track, and that's just those in view. Plus a significantly more crowded and realistic looking pit area than GT4.
Warhawks: Very large numbers of planes flying in complex formations, etc.
Killzone: Dozens of troops running around a battlefield.
Heavenly Sword: Many hundreds of opponents in one set piece.
MotorStorm: Roughly a dozen vehicles from cars to bikes to quads.
I'd be referencing genuine tech demos. Perhaps not final games but nonetheless examples of what the hardware is basically capable of.
The important part to remember is that a lot of non affiliated experts have observed that shifting from traditional programming methodologies to the massively parallel but simpler structure of the Cell involves a serious paradigm shift. So there are two likely observations we can make about demos made after the tech's only been in developers' hands for maybe six months:
1) Tech demos usually involve features that have to get dropped to keep a non-linear game running well.
2) Even though initial releases are unlikely to quite match the levels of the demos (though Sony did show a far larger sampling of far more impressive looking demos than Microsoft for whom point 1 also holds true), the PS3 has the most potential to increase in quality even further as developers gain experience working to the new paradigm.
Are you comparing real world games or figments of your imagination?
I guess that answers the question about real world demos (there are no games for any next gen system, nor can their be until Microsoft releases around Christmas). So, no, I didn't base my opinions on figments of my imagination. Research, rather than say "bitching about things you've evidently not even seen the commonly available demos for" seems a much better way to go.
All I care about is will they port XBox Media Centre to it, though I might consider Sony's offerings as a media hub if they are decent. Chances are that it'll be DRM laiden and format limited though, and I'll be sticking with some sort of home-rolled solution.
* Halo 2, which perfected playing online with an incredibly strong interface.
Has no one played any PC games? Seriously, this concept that was "perfected" by Halo 2, we've had that and better on the PC for *years*. Much, much better.
Bluetooth is more about the handshaking between devices to hook up. Once the controller is hooked to the console it wil luse a custom, and I'm sure really efficient, protocol - I don't think there's any more overhead than with any other wireless communications device would have.
The nice thing about using a standard is that it's probably been hammerd on a lot to make it as efficient as possible which you might not get with a custom protocol.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The article states:
Epic's Mark Rein On Playstation 3 E3 Footage 11:02 am - Andrew Burnes - Consoles: PS3 (5 comments)
Epic's Mark Rein dropped by our forums to clear up all the hoohah regarding the Playstation 3 footage from yesterday's unveiling:
In addition to the Sony demos being shown by Phil Harrison, the EPIC AND EA PRESENTATIONS WERE THE ONLY THIRD PARTY PORTIONS ACTUALLY RUNNING ON THE PS3 IN REAL-TIME. But most of those movies, which I probably watched 3 or 4 during rehearsals for the event, look very achievable and some were probably rendered on the actual box but in non-real-time. When a system is year away, heck even with a system is 6 months away, it is reasonable to expect the power of the dev kits would still only be a fraction of the power of the final system.
I know we'll certainly be able to achieve much more on the final box than we were able to show in our demo after working with the early dev kit for only ~2 months. As Tim mentioned our demo only really showed off the power of RSX and then still we're talk about an RSX that's nowhere near as fast as the final one will be. When we get home from E3 we'll also start diving seriously into the power of the cell processor. This is a very powerful system!
Sony's cell demos were extremely cool and inspiring but are totally achievable, and over time even surpassable, by third developers like us because, as Tim Sweeney said, the development environment is made up of parts we're already intimately familiar with: OpenGL, NVIDIA graphics, Linux, and PowerPC. Think about Epic's experience, for example. We rock on NVIDIA hardware. We have been doing OpenGL since Unreal1. We regularly ship our games on Linux and we've won several Macintosh Game of the Year awards including a special World-Wide Design Award directly from Apple for UT2004. We're going to be able to kick serious ass on PS3, and so are a lot of our licensees and other 3rd party developers, in a way that wasn't remotely possible on past consoles.
I should add that we're in a similar position for XBOX360. It's also made up of parts we're intimately familiar with.
My point is that developers are going to be able to get SO MUCH MORE power out of these consoles than they ever could in the past and so much closer to the raw power of the components.
The next generation is just going to be AMAZING!!! Next gen games will be a huge leap forward over current gen.
Can you tell I'm excited?
Thanks a bunch for the comments Mark, always appreciated.
Holy moly. I just erased a huge rebuttal to what you just said after reading the good news. Last time I checked back in November (when Samsung's original 61" 1080p DLP was officially overdue), Samsung said that it was jacking up the price on its offerings from $6500 to $9000. How we're seeing price ranges from that company from $4500-$7000 for 1080p DLPs. We might actually see relief.
I was going to mention the price increase and couple it with the fact that all the LCoS sets including Sony's new SXRD are going to be going for >$10000, but this is good news. You might be right. It'd be nice to get a 1080p screen with some decent black levels as opposed to my current Sharp AQUOS set.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Will future revisions use all 8 SPE's?
I only saw a small blurb about the shared processing power ability of the cell/PS3 when used in stacks. What happened to that?
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
"Sony also confirmed that the machine will be backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation."
Think about it. As opposed to the toss-all-your-games-out and buy-the-port approach of MSFT, they will all work for the PS3 if they work for the PS1 or PS2.
OK, I'm sold. Think I'll finally buy a PS2 cheap and ignore the MSFT hype.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
In addition they mentioned a 'Marketplace', and although they didn't describe it in too much detail they did mention that users would be able to create in-game content and sell it to other users. Microsoft will most likely be taking a cut of those sales.
*A side note, they mentioned that users would be able to stream audio and video "...from their Media Center computers." Does this mean that users cannot directly load content from say, a disc with pictures, onto their Xbox 360?
i think MSFT is in a world of hurt now that Sony announced it's new PS3.
... the shared music, the video your friend downloaded from Canada - land of the free and home of music without IP restrictions ... and what that will mean to you.
;-)
Think of how much disk storage 6 USBs mean
Yowza!
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Backwards compatibility was the key factor for me to chose PS2 instead of XBox - I just would miss Syphon Filter and my kids would miss Crash Bandicoot games too much to scrap all our old collection of our favorite games.
While I'm a big fan of backwards compatibility I've never understood this "make-or-break" attitude. Is step 1 on the installation instructions for a new console "Smash previous hardware to bits with hammer."??
One question though, when can I buy a P.C based on this technology. Fuck this console garbage.
"A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'" - DNA
Apple does the same thing with their "switch" campaign. Why "switch?" Why not "use both for a few months and see how you feel about it." It's not like your Windows PC will vaporize if you have a Mac, and it's not like your Xbox 360 will cause your PS3 to explode into flames.
Comment of the year
And the two others are Syberia and Enter the Matrix.
Strikes me as really really odd selection to support 1080i...
But the hardware is definately capable; Syberia looks spectacular in 1080i.
Comment of the year
While I'm a big fan of backwards compatibility I've never understood this "make-or-break" attitude. Is step 1 on the installation instructions for a new console "Smash previous hardware to bits with hammer."??
You mean you're not aware of Sony's new DRM scheme?
I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
They probably did hundreds of hours of user testing.
Well, I'll be the first one to defend the new controller and indorse a "let's wait and see" attitude, but that's not really a very good arguement for it. After all, fairly recently, companies have given us abobinations such as the Dream Cast controller, the original X-Box monstrosity, and, as much shit as I'm probably going to get for saying this, I thought the N64 controller was simply AWEFUL. I'm sure all those controllers had hundreds, if not thousands of hours of user testing on them as well.
Still, when I first looked at the controller, I was skeptical, but I started thinking about it's ergonomics. It's basically the same as the PSX/2 controller, though it continues the handles down the sides so your hand completely grips them, instead of the wings sticking into your palms (sometimes causing discomfort). The other thing is, even though there was a comment that "you're not supposed to use all four shoulder buttons at the same time", this should not an insentive for controller designers to make that an impracticality. All the shots of this controller are top view, so it's impossible to be sure where the L2/R2 buttons are, but from the bevelling of the controller, I'd be willing to guess that they've been shifted to a more downward facing angle, making it much more practical to push them in with the middle fingers, while maintaining a grip on the L1/R1 buttons with the index finger. We won't know for sure until we actually hold one in our hands, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until then.
Furthermore, just because they say it's "backwards compatable" doesn't mean the controller will be. I'm fairly certain that even though the molding and design is the same, the Dualshock 1 controllers are incompatable with the PS2, and vice-versa. There is also no mention of PS1/2 controller sockets on the PS3, so don't expect to be able to use your Dualshock 2, unless they release a wireless version specifically designed for the PS3. I do half-expect that they'll release a wireless "Dualshock 3" (if they're not calling the boomerang that).
On an amusing note, you might still be able to use the dualshock 2 controllers with the PS3... if you hook them up to PC designed USB converter!
- EricMultiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
you think a 300-lb test line is gonna be enough for the ps3 crowd?
-dk
Dream with the feathers of angels stuffed beneath your head.
1080i = 60 fields per second, 540 lines per field.
1080p = 30 frames per second, 1080 lines per frame.
Both are the exact same resolution and exact same framerate.
Also, I predict a lot of people will be buying new TVs to play these console games, so a lot of TV buying decisions will be based on the capabilities of these next-gen consoles.
Lastly, it'd be another feature to show off in their PS3 vs XBOX360 marketing.
Are there really that many people lookign forward to another Perfect Dark? I really didn't like the original much. I far preferred Goldeneye, I couldn't even finish Perfect Dark.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I don't know about anyone else, but as a long time gamer and owner of the current generation of consoles, I find both the PS3 and Xbox360 completely uninteresting.
Its time for someone to challenge our fundamenetal notions of what video games are about. I certainly hope that Nintendo are able to do this with the Revolution.
Graphics aren't really interesting anymore. I want a new gameplay experience. Fast forward the future.
"Microsoft has a serious problem here because they can only make up their hardware losses on game licensing."
Except they are trying to link it to Media Center PC's, and they don't have to sell many of those to make the same money back that SONY makes on their stuff.
Thanks for not slamming me. Nice UID btw, so close to 32768, that's gotta be worth something.
I wonder where the SED sets will fit into this, a 1080p SED would be nice if they deliver the promises at an affordable price.
Sure it will. Its in the EULA. You did read read it
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
Since it is supposed to be - quoting TFA - "backward compatible all the way to the original PlayStation" - it will be obviously possible.
Not necessarily. Backward compatibility could simply mean that the new controllers will work with your old games.
North Korea is trying to get their hands on PS3s for their ICBM program.
Everybody said the same thing when they first got a look at the PSX controllers, too. It was crazy... the traditional D-pad was replaced by four buttons! How absurd!
That was my first reaction. And after several years of playing with those controllers, I can say with confidence that my first reaction was absolutely correct.
The new controller still has all the problems of the PS1 dual shock. The damned 4-button D-pad, the fact that the D-pad is still in the prime thumb control position, with the A-stick awkwardly placed too far to the inside, even though most games today mainly use the left A-stick.
The boomerang shape is nothing new--it has been used by 3rd party controllers, none of which were terribly successful (which probably tells us something). Looks cool, though. My guess is that they said, "It's basically the same as the old one, so we don't need to bother with user testing."
Presumably, they kept the two triggers on each side, which were the best thing about the PS controller. Your thumb really isn't that good for hitting buttons. I'd love to see a controller design with 4 triggers on the right side and only a joystick on that side on top.
### Two whole buttons lacking, otherwise, these are all the same...
You forgot the pressable analog-sticks, which PS2 and XBox have, while Gamecube doesn't, which makes a total of 4 buttons less then PS2 or XBox, which is quite significant. It of course doesn't really matter for a standard Nintendo game, since those games are specifically fit for the controller. But for third party games is extremly annoying, since they are specifically designed with more buttons in mind and end up getting ported to the Gamecube rather purely. You end up with joy like being required to press "Start+A" or the like for standard functions or the Z-Button gets abused for in-game actions, which it is really not suited for.
One can live with it, but quite a few third party games suffer quite a bit from poor controlls.
### cram as many buttons as possible onto the pad, and the fact that as a result of this, the damn thing is huge.
The reason why the XBox controller is so damn huge is even simpler, its not the number of buttons, after all it has the same as the PS2, its simply the two memory card ports. I really don't understand why they put them there, I mean the XBox already has a harddisk, so one slot would have been more then enough and even that would have been much better placed on the console, not on the controller. Those memcard ports are really by far the biggest fault of the controller, beside from that its exactly a pretty nice one.
But the question remains: Will it run Linux? ;-)
I already own a PS2 with 32 games. I will most likely buy a PS3 when they come out. Even if Xbox has better hardware, I find the selection of quality games for playstation much better. I won't even consider buying an Xbox 360. Specs are nice, quality games are better.
PS. Whats with the all the white/apple/ipod copying going on lately? Both xbox360 and PS3 have the white cases.. And PowerPC chips? A little apple envy going on?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
$3,200. Yeah not exactly cheap. I definately would be better off selling one of the kids in order to afford it though. The daycare costs alone would cover it.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Apparently IBM had a demo of a cell powered blade at E3. Article: http://gear.ign.com/articles/615/615521p1.html/.
The blades have two cell processors a piece, making the system more than just a PS3 that runs Linux.
7 bluetooth controllers? Why 7? not 8?
0 4
"No...not six, I said seven. No one's coming up with six. Who works out in six minutes. You won't even get your heart going, not even a mouse on a wheel. Sevens the key number here. Think about it. Seven doors. Seven-Eleven. Seven. Seven little chipmunks twirling on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' of gorgonzola when it's clearly bree time baby. Step into my office...cuz you're fuckin' fired!"
http://www.moviequotes.com/fullquote.cgi?qnum=381
Captain N, meet Captain P. Which game master will prevail? Will Captain M crash the party? Will there be a new Captain X to replace the current Cpt M?
Stay tuned...same bat-time, saaaammme bat-channel.
Life is not for the lazy.
Well, it sure gives them a reason to replace those C64s that have been doing missile guidance so far...
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
PS3 will have two HDTV outputs. This will no doubt lead to a VR solution, either by Sony or by someone else.
Stop the brainwash
Can the design and look of a new video games console make or break its market success? Regardless of which new console gamers appear to champion based on specs and features, in the looks department opinions differ greatly. Which company has succeeded in "nailing the Zeitgeist" with the design of their new console? This poll accepts votes, comparing the look of Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Revolution. Last time I looked, the results indicate that the PS3 design is best received.
Did anyone else notice the three ethernet ports on the back of the PS3? Is there any speculation as to what the heck we'd want or need 3 network connections for?
It would be great if someone would make a fake x-box live network. The live capabilities are great, I just don't like being tied to Microsoft, or paying large fees to them even though I'm already paying my own bandwidth charges. I know, they pay for the server side stuff, but most gaming should be peer-to-peer.
Only on /. could an AC accuse a clown of having a "dead inner child".
Yup, no children here.
Clear, Dark Skies
I found this on fark a few days ago ....
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050516/sfm178.html?.v= 2