Next-Generation Gaming
Industry experts analyze Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3,
and Nintendo's Revolution.
Cathy Lu, Digital World
Thursday, June 16, 2005
When it comes to video games, I'm old-school. I still remember fondly
the one-hour car trips to my aunt and uncle's house in Princeton, New
Jersey, and what was waiting for me and my sister at the end of those
long drives: an Atari 2600 system. After getting all the niceties out
of the way ("Yep, I'm fine. School's fine. Still doing well in
math."), we would head straight for the TV and play Space Invaders,
Frogger, Pac-Man, and Pitfall until they'd yank us away for dinner.
I'd still take Ms. Pac-Man over one of the new high-tech games any
day. But wishing for video games to be the way they were more than 20
years ago is as useless as hoping Dexy's Midnight Runners is going to
make a comeback. It ain't happening.
So technology marches on. And last month, at the annual Electronic
Entertainment Expo trade show in Los Angeles, the video game industry
took a giant step forward with the announcement of three
next-generation consoles. Most hardcore gamers already have the specs
memorized, but if you don't, you'll want to read our coverage of
Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, and Nintendo's Revolution.
Of course, the Big Three's announcements at E3 have sparked many
questions, including the inevitable: Which system will win the latest
console war?
For a little prophesizing, I turned to three experts who attended the
show: PC World Senior Associate Editor Grace Aquino, G4 TV's Director
of Games Editorial Tom Russo, and a producer with an independent game
developer who preferred to stay anonymous due to his relationships
with companies developing all three platforms (let's call him
"Dig-Doug").
Sony: The Early Favorite
According to our experts, the early buzz goes to Sony for its amazing
tech demo of what the PlayStation 3 is expected to do. Not only did
Sony impress audiences with support for 1080-progressive
high-definition televisions and Blu-ray Discs, but it also showed
amazing graphics and impressive processing power. Its 3.2-GHz Cell
processor gives the system about 2 teraflops of performance--twice
what Microsoft is claiming the Xbox 360 will do. "Just seeing the
specs of the PS3 was amazing," says Dig-Doug. "All the
subprocessors--that's just a huge deal--you're going to be able to do
so much."
"I was pretty impressed with the graphics on the PS3," adds Aquino,
who also cautions, "that was a tech demo and not the actual unit, so
it's a bit early to tell whether it's going to deliver."
"In terms of a traditional, purely powerful game-playing device," says
Russo, "Sony had its ducks a little more in a row in terms of what
they're doing and where they're going in a game console."
Microsoft and Nintendo: Too Soon to Tell
While Sony wowed, the other two companies came off a little less
sparkling. Nintendo didn't reveal much about its system, merely
announcing a few specs and showing a nonfunctioning mockup. According
to Dig-Doug, while Microsoft did demo impressive games, they "didn't
seem light years ahead of what you can do now." In fact, he says, "I
was surprised that Microsoft didn't have more to show, especially with
the system releasing in about four months. I was really expecting to
be stunned, but I was actually underwhelmed."
But there may be several reasons for that, says Russo. First, he
points out that programmers may not have had their developer kits long
enough to show off the power of the Xbox 360 hardware--and in fact,
programmers were working with alpha, not beta, kits at the time. Also,
he says that the original Xbox is still a powerful system, with
good-looking games. "I don't think you're going to see the quantum
leap between stuff that's already out this year and stuff that's going
to come out this fall," he continues.
While the Xbox 360's graphics underwhelmed some people, its growing
online capabilities impressed many others. Expanding upon its Xbox
Live service, Microsoft will be offering a number of new features such
as 802.11a, -b, and -g wireless compatibility; a marketplace for
downloading new levels and content; and for those willing to pay for
Gold memberships, video chat and a spectator mode that lets you watch
other people play.
The new features may even offer the possibility of big-money online
tournaments, says Dig-Doug. For example, Microsoft, which controls
Xbox Live, could hold a racing tournament in which 250,000
participants pay, say, $10 each to enter, and the winner receives a
million dollars. It's also conceivable that competitive drivers could
solicit sponsorships from real-world companies, or those good at
customizing cars could sell their designs to other drivers. "That's a
really compelling prospect," says Dig-Doug.
Fewer details are known about Nintendo's Revolution, but the most
talked-about feature is its backwards compatibility--you'll be able to
play games from as far back as the NES era (that's going back to the
mid 80s!). But don't start pulling out your old cartridges just yet.
The system will be able to play GameCube and Revolution discs, but
you'll have to access Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, and NES titles via
download. Whether you'll have to pay for those downloads is unknown.
Plus, there's Nintendo's traditional ace in the hole: innovative
titles that you won't find on any other system. "Nintendo's strength
is its ability to innovate and bring classic franchises [like Mario
and Zelda] up to date," says Russo. "They are second to none at that."
Competition Benefits Gamers
While Nintendo and Sony have promised their systems in 2006, Microsoft
is hoping that its fall 2005 release date will give it a leg up. "I
think Microsoft was hoping that coming out first would be a key
competitive advantage," says Dig-Doug, "but Sony was able to skew a
lot of that thunder. Still, Microsoft is much further ahead in terms
of development, and it definitely has the potential to capture
mindshare early, especially by delivering solid games in that launch
window."
But in the end, no one will hazard a guess as to which system will
come out on top. "Technically, the PS3's numbers are higher," says
Aquino. "But I think they're doing that to try to one-up Xbox and make
people wait. It's between the two, but I don't want to pull the
trigger before I get playable boxes."
"I think it's early days," says Russo. "It always comes down to the
company with the best gaming software." Third-party support is also
crucial, and Russo says that Microsoft has done a good job of
improving its partner roster, especially in Japan. Want proof?
Microsoft has teamed up with Square/Enix to bring the super-popular
Final Fantasy franchise to Xbox 360.
Ultimately, though, the real winners will be gamers. You can expect
next-gen titles to have detailed worlds, realistic physics, and more
human-looking characters than ever before. "Everything will look a lot
more realistic," says Russo.
"Right now, you can make a game that looks really pretty, but there's
a limit to how many people you can get on screen," says Dig-Doug. "But
in the next generation, those limits will be gone. You'll be able to
get hundreds of people on screen at once, all at high polygon counts
and high-resolution textures."
Textures, schmectures. As far as I'm concerned, Tetris and Pac-Man are
still the two best games ever made. And no amount of polygons is going
to change that. But it's okay. I understand that times change. And
hey, Dexy's Midnight Runners could still make a comeback.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121186,tk,dn061605X,00.asp
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"A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty."
-- Author Unknown
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