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ATI Talks Revolution Graphics

Via 1up, an interview at the site Revolution Report talking with ATI about the power of the Revolution's graphics. From the article: "What I can say is that ATI is focused, as is Nintendo, in making [Revolution] a great, gaming entertainment platform. I know that a lot of journalists are very focused on specs. It's the big thing; as a geek, I look for that too. The key thing to keep in mind is that Nintendo, with ATI's help, is trying to create a game console where you don't have to look at [specs]."

11 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Re:don't have to look at [specs] by Planesdragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, it's like when you buy a cell phone, a toaster, or a lawn mower. Most of us don't care about the phone's processor speed or memory, just how well it handles calls and for how long. Most of us don't care about the wattage of the toaster, just that it makes toast. Most of us don't care about the horsepower of a lawnmower, just that it cuts grass.

    Or to go back to cars--we don't care about horsepower, we care about performance.

  2. Don't play console games much, eh? by Strell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Generally when you put a game into a console, it works without needing to worry about power, specs, and other nonsense. That's the beauty of them.

    Don't worry, a lot of first timers get confused.

    --
    I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
  3. Re:don't have to look at [specs] by AuMatar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can't give you a single performance number on my car. Or any other car, for that matter. I know it has no trouble driving at 60-70, when I test drove it (road testing since got it to 100 briefly, over that I don't feel safe even trying). I knew it had enough acceleration that I felt I could hit the gas to avoid something. I have no idea what the top speed actually is, I have no idea what the acceleration actually is. I have no idea how many horses and what torque the engine puts out. It puts out enough, thats all I care about.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  4. Um, ATI, that's worrisome by hambonewilkins · · Score: 4, Insightful
    When a company whose entire business is based on specs (look at our mhz compared to NVidia!) and upping those specs every couple months, it is a bit disingenous to say "specs aren't important" just because you a) don't have them or b) don't want to release them because they are worse than PS3/Xbox360.

    Something similar happened a couple years back (IIRC) when AMD was losing the MHz battle and stated that MHz isn't everything. Well, sure, it isn't. But your whole argument this entire time has been that it is. So, when you shift your argument only when your losing... probably means the argument isn't all that good.

    --

    God Bless America. Why? Did it sneeze?
    1. Re:Um, ATI, that's worrisome by sigloiv · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Something similar happened a couple years back (IIRC) when AMD was losing the MHz battle and stated that MHz isn't everything. Well, sure, it isn't. But your whole argument this entire time has been that it is. So, when you shift your argument only when your losing... probably means the argument isn't all that good.

      There's just one porblem with your analogy: the AMD processors with less Mhz actually did run faster than the higher Mhz Intels. So, technically, Mhz didn't matter. AMD just had one period of time when their processors were faster than Intel's processors with higher clock speeds (IIRC, AMD was the first one to release a desktop x86 processor at 1Ghz).

      --
      Software is like sex. It's better when it's free. -Linus Torvalds
  5. Re:don't have to look at [specs] by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Horsepower is a rating of engine performance. You need to know at minimum three things about a car to know what its power performance (as opposed to handling performance) is going to be like; weight, peak horsepower, and peak torque. Optimally you would also have gear ratios, and full hp and torque curves. An extremely significant percentage of auto buyers do want to know MANY statistics, including horsepower, torque, mileage city and freeway, and interior space.

    Personally, I want to know the wattage of my toaster, and all my other appliances, so I can decide what gets plugged in where. I admit this is a pretty unusual desire, though.

    You are 100% wrong about the horsepower rating of a lawnmower. People do want to know this, which is why every single lawnmower at sears has a horsepower rating on it. They don't want to know the displacement, because that's largely irrelevant - so not ALL specs are critical, but some certainly are.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Re:don't have to look at [specs] by PeelBoy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No the thing that matters most is fun. If you're buying a car for horsepower you probably want a car that is fast and fun to drive. Well guess what? Horse power isn't the only thing that makes a car. What about suspension? How heavy/thick/nice the steering wheel is? How great the tranny shifts? There is a LOT MORE to a car than just horsepower.

    Let's use the Honda S2K as an example. It doesn't have a huge engine or a shit ton of horsepower but it's probably one of the most fun cars to drive.. Sounds a lot like Nintendo to me.

    Now lets look at a drag car. It is fast. Real fast. It goes really fast in a strait line. It's fun, but uhhh.. Yeah.. All it does is go in a strait line.

    I don't fucking care of the Revolution has the power of the SNES if they can make games that are FUN who fucking cares? I mean nice graphics are great. I love cod2, but if power and graphics are all that matters how come the DS is such a better buy than the PSP?

    It's the game that counts not the car.. or system.. or whatever. I'd rather have a sweet car with a hot chick in the passanger seat than a bad ass car with an ugly dude in the passanger seat.

  7. And because of your apathy towards your vehicle... by Corngood · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...you probably don't consider driving a rewarding experience. You aren't alone, I imagine the majority of people consider their vehicle a utility which simply gets them from A to B. On the other hand, I don't think the many people consider a game console to be a utility which simply consumes spare time in a safe and cost effective manner.

  8. Except that by Strell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nintendo has never, ever said that games were about power. They've always said they are about gameplay, pure, simple, and only. There's never been any reason for them to say anything else, they never have, and they never will.

    The funny thing about this is that Nintendo says "we need to focus on gameplay," people tell them to piss off and say it's an effort to avoid the power argument, and then, later on, when everyone else comes back and says "well it's not about the power, it's about the gameplay," everyone applauds that as a geniune show of clarity and insight.

    Whatever.

    --
    I'm not scared of anonymous cowards.
  9. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just as a question, how many flops does it take to generate a good videogame?
    How many polygon's make a model which is attractive?

    The point is that Numbers are meaningless now, it is the creativity and talent of the game developers that matters. World of Warcraft isn't nearly as technically as impressive as Everquest 2 but it sold better because it played a lot better and looked a lot better (because Blizzard had a better art team); and no game on the Nintendo DS looks as good as Quake 4 or Doom 3 but the Nintendo DS has several games that are far more unique and interesting.

    What we do know is that the Nintendo Revolution will be more powerful than the Gamecube, on a standard TV will have graphics which will look as good as anything the XBox 360 and PS3 will have, and will be really easy to develop for.

  10. Re:Um by justchris · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Yeah, pretty words, but what Nintendo is saying now is the same thing they've always said. They're just saying it a different way so people will look at them differntly.

    In the n64 years, when Nintendo said, "We make games for everyone!" people decided this meant their games were kiddy, and no mature person would play them.

    Now, with the Revolution, Nintendo is saying, "We make games for everyone! See, we're focusing on casual gamers." Basically trying to justify their existing philosophy by pointing out they never said they were targetting children, people just interpreted it that way.

    Want proof that Nintendo isn't ignoring hardcore gamers? What's the first thing Nintendo execs and spokespeople like to point out when someone asks them about the Revolution controller? "It'll be great for First Person Shooters!" Uh...yeah...okay. And, of course, casual gamers much prefer their FPS's to Bejeweled. I know when I give my mom a choice between Tetris and Metroid Prime, she goes for the Metroid everytime.

    It's all a big show, with lights and flashes to confuse people. Nintendo isn't trying to change their philosophy, their philosophy is just fine. They have people from age 5 to age 85 playing their games. All this talk is just to change their image.

    And since their image has been the primary reason for the failure of the GCN, it's a very good strategy on their part. Their games are still as good as always.

    --
    just some guy