Slashdot Mirror
Yet More 360 Details
NubKnacker writes "With the launch of the new Xbox 360 not far away, Chris Satchell, boss of the Microsoft developer group spoke to Eurogamer.net and GamesIndustry.biz. There, he reveal a lot of information about the hardware, the operating system and the new Xbox Live functions. From the article: 'Microsoft also plans to have kiosks available - presumably in game stores and other public locations - where you can download content. Whether this will be to the detachable hard disk itself or a memory card is a detail that wasn't clarified.'"
Oh, they will. Except it Nintendo doesn't really use lame "leaks" they go straight for your balls. Sony and MS use all the hype and obfuscation and viral marketing and leaks. Nintendo just walks softly and carries a big stick when they want to.
TGS is coming up soon, Nintendo will be stealing quite a bit of thunder I'm sure. I also look for them to actually beat the PS3 to market when all is said and done. Nintendo knows that no matter how badly MS wants to break into Japan, they never will. I have many friends in Japan and the actual interest is so low it's akin to their excitement at belly-button lint. Nintendo also knows that even if they do release last that most people will have played the launch titles for their new "uber" systems and be bored and will pick up a Revolution in addition to their 360/PS3... while families and enthusiats will gladly wait it out.
Nintendo is actually really well positioned in this war. MS and Sony are banking on competing formats of media (of which only one will win), different architectures, and are actually helping to ensure mutually assured destruction. Nintendo actually has to do very little but continue to slowly release information over time to build to a successful creshendo.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Some speculate that Nintendo will do their big reveal right after MS's opening keynote at TGS this month. The main idea is to let the initial ps3 and xbox2 hype die down and then have the spotlight solely on them at some point in the road.
If Nintendo does reveal the Rev at TGS, who do you think all the coverage will be on? And since the hardware for the ps3 and xbox2 were revealed at e3, I think Nintendo will debut the Rev with playable games. Then suddenly all the coverage isnt about how three consoles debuted and one was less powerful, its about how Nintendo's Rev games are more fun than a Gears of War video.
Has there ever been a Slashdot article about Xbox360 that doesn't start out with a slew of Nintendo fans claiming how Revolution will be superior???
They said the system will be about 2x as powerful as current systems in tha face of others claims of 10x+ power. That took balls and again it was the truth, not just for them but for everyone. The next gen systems will be about 2x as powerful. Just as is the normal case. Truth.
Huh? I can't think of a console example where this was actually true. The SNES was certainly more than twice as powerful as the NES, the N64 was far more than twice as powerful as the SNES, and the Gamecube was more significantly powerful than the N64. The same is true with Sega's various systems, Sony's systems, and by all accounts and visual media so far MS' systems. You can see this both in raw hardware console stats and/or actual game performance. Sequels are the best way to confirm this behavior - look at something like Mario Kart DD, which runs at more than double the framerate of MK64 with considerably more complicated and complex graphics. Assuming we can trust Bizarre Creations (and I think we can), one simple bridge in a specific PGR3 course has more polygons than an entire course had in PGR2 - it is also running at least double the framerate, a much higher resolution, with significantly higher texture quality, more special effects, and a ridiculously more complex lighting model. Sure, there are always underperforming games for every console, but those aren't the examples you use to determine how much stronger the hardware actually is. Can you list any actual major counterexamples?
It's even just a simple Moore's Law type of evolution. If new consoles come out every 4+ years they are simply going to be more than twice as powerful as their predecessor unless the manufacturer really screwed up somehow (or potentially went really cheap, which is what seems like the possible scenario with the Revolution).
An easy example is the PS2. As you know, the PS2 has 40 or so megs of RAM inside of it. The PS1 had a little more than 4 megs of total RAM. The CPU saw a similar boost, going from 34 to 295 mhz (while also being able to do more per mhz). That's just how hardware evolution over that kind of time period works. Sure, you generally won't get the 10X factor that the specs suggest for actual games (though you do occasionally get more), but that's the truth of all hardware spec comparisons. There's simply no way the PS2 is only 2 or even 3 times more powerful than the PS1 - even crappy Simple 2000 games manage to demonstrate this fact.
Witholding information about an unfinished product is not hype. Sure it generates interest, but that would be like the zen form of hype. "The hype is not to hype." They've basically stated the TRUTH from day 1. But people are so not used to this approach they have to read more into everything.
How is constantly bitching in public that gaming is getting stagnant ("oh, except for us, we care about INNOVATION!") and then naming your mystery console "Revolution" not hype? Teasing people with that kind of name for years while only giving small amounts of info out is completely and utterly a form of hype.
It's great that you obviously love Nintendo and that love makes you happy, but try and keep some basis in reality for the rest of us.
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon