The Next Gen Console Topic

Post by **melancholy** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:44 pm

Since I was tired of jumping from one topic to the next reading people's opinions on the new consoles, I decided to make a consolidated console topic. So, post your thoughts and comparisons about the next three big consoles (along with the GBAMicro if you wish) in here.

Post by **|darc|** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:45 pm

Perhaps the others should be locked or something.

LyingWake · Post by **LyingWake** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:52 pm

I'm going to buy the Nintendo Revolution when it comes out.

butters · Post by **butters** » Tue May 17, 2005 11:56 pm

What about those of us with 0 interest in one console, minimal interest in another, and a huge amount of interest in the 3rd. Why would we want to read (or skip) stuff about consoles we aren't interested in when we can have a thread to ooh and ahh about the one we like?

Post by **melancholy** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:03 am

Butters wrote:What about those of us with 0 interest in one console, minimal interest in another, and a huge amount of interest in the 3rd. Why would we want to read (or skip) stuff about consoles we aren't interested in when we can have a thread to ooh and ahh about the one we like?

I kinda made this one for comparison. Ya know, to discuss the pluses and minuses of the three consoles as E3 goes on. I like the other topics for talking about the consoles exclusively, but it's hard to compare to other consoles inside of them, because then information has to be reposted in all three topics. So this is more for people who are interested in all three (like me) and wants to compare them.

butters · Post by **butters** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:04 am

I was actually referring to |darc| wanting to lock the others. I probably should have jabbed the quote button.

Post by **melancholy** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:05 am

Butters wrote:I was actually referring to |darc| wanting to lock the others. I probably should have jabbed the quote button.

Ah, nevermind...

Anyway, here's my +/- assessment of the three consoles:

Nintendo Revolution
+Nice looking design, one of the stronger ones
+Compatability for practically every single Ninendo console game ever made
+Finally showing strong online support with it's partnership with Gamespy
+Looks to be the cheapest console, possibly costing hundreds less than it's competitors
+Possibly the easiest to develop for
+Super strong first party support
+It's offering it's consoles in color!

-Possible restrictions on what older console games will be allowed on it. The conference said they could be downloaded to it, but that would mean Nintendo would regulate what would be downloaded and when (meaning they may never offer all their first party games), not to mention copyrights of the majority of titles (meaning that you might never see Goldeneye or the majority of classic Rare games on the Revolution).
-Still no shots of the controller, which stirred more interest than the console itself
-Rumored to be severly underpowered compared to the other two consoles, which will hurt it's sales against the graphic-hungry public

Playstation 3
+Rumored to be the most powerful console of the three
+Full backwards compatability with PS2
+Still seems to be the strongest in third party support

-Quite possibly the ugliest console in exsistance (even worse than the wood paneled Atari)
-Everything about the controller. Everything.
-Sounds to be a developer's nightmare
-Haven't heard much about online support yet
-Console is offered in shades, but no colors

Xbox 360
+IMO, the best looking system of the three
+Will be the first out the gates hitting shelves this holiday season
+Strongest online support ever
+Offers a hard drive (dunno yet if it will be included or seperate)
+Chance for some strong multimedia options (MP3 player, video player, etc...)
+Interchangable faceplates offer at least some chance for color

-Very Xbox Live oriented, and although the arguement has been beaten to death, it truely is similar to a PC in function, which doesn't bode well with consoles
-The controller could be worse (Sony proves this), but it's still not that great
-Limited backwards compatability. IMO, Microsoft should just give it up rather than offer only select games to work on the new system. Seems it will offer more headaches than usefulness
-Poised to be the most expensive of the three

Post by **|darc|** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:07 am

Butters wrote:What about those of us with 0 interest in one console, minimal interest in another, and a huge amount of interest in the 3rd. Why would we want to read (or skip) stuff about consoles we aren't interested in when we can have a thread to ooh and ahh about the one we like?

I disagree with a consolidated topic, but that's what I thought melancholy was trying to do.

ian · Post by **ian** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:08 am

i am looking at the xbox or revolution

revolution will play gc games

but xbox looks so damn whats the word........ cool (not design)

Skater_dusto · Post by **Skater_dusto** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:20 am

I'm interested in them but not going to buy any until the prices are drastically dropped. I've still got tons of games on the ps2 and xbox that I haven't played yet so it'll be a while..

Kako · Post by **Kako** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:31 am

I fear the dreamcast scene will soon be forgotten once the new consoles arrive. Sure, they're might be some life in it now, but thats cause people still hold on to it as they wish the DC was still alive in competition with the big 3. I really hate to say this, but I think that once the new systems come out, people will focus their talents on those. It would be like a programmer working on the playstation today, when you would have other, BETTER options to work on.

I would love to see the DC used as the perfect emulation console down the road though, emulating all that came before it, including hopefully, N64, Saturn, and PS with acceptable results. I can always wish, cant I.

Disheveled DrFreeze · Post by **Disheveled DrFreeze** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:28 am

nah, i dont see the DC as this generation anymore

it sort of falls between the n64/psx and current generations, and i have no illusion that it could still be in competition, it has some great games, but if you look at the hardware it wouldnt be able to keep up anymore

and the DC scene will stay alive, the people here are still dedicated to it, else they would have left already, it is already years ago sega gave up on the DC, and we are still here, despite xbox gamecube and ps2

as for the new consoles, i like the REV, but im not sure if ill buy one, and i would really like some more info on the rev

as for the ps3, all those minusses mel listed are pretty much crippling, why would anyone play with an ungodly horrible controller? or devellop for a coders nightmare?

CupNoodle · Post by **CupNoodle** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:38 am

has anybody thought about whats gonna happen to their old ps2's, xboxs, and gamecubes...seeing as how all of the next gens are backwards compatible. Pawn shops are gonna be overflowing. We could always ship out old consoles to third world countries and call it "new". I think that would make them happy. Sorry if thes post got a little weird towards the end. one word...tequila.

By The Way

Turbo Duo R

Playstation 3

Disheveled DrFreeze · Post by **Disheveled DrFreeze** » Wed May 18, 2005 1:41 am

lol, cool idea, but the problem is they would need TV's too in those countries, then again, well all be needing HDTV's anyway for optimal gaming....

i think ill hold on to mine, inever got rid of any console

gamedudex2 · Post by **gamedudex2** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:08 am

i'm gonna go hdtv when i can get a good lcd or plasma with a native res of 1080p 60fps at 60 inches -80 inches at a reasonable price they will start goign down a lot next eyar , i will wait til 2007 holiday

Post by **melancholy** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:11 am

-Orbo- wrote:has anybody thought about whats gonna happen to their old ps2's, xboxs, and gamecubes...seeing as how all of the next gens are backwards compatible.

Mine will continue to sit on the shelf, exactly like the consoles before them. I typically do not unhook consoles from my TV (I currently have 10 hooked up simultaneously, 12 if you count the Sega CD and 32X seperate).

greay · Post by **greay** » Wed May 18, 2005 2:56 am

Melan: you think the the xbox 360 is the best-looking out of the 3? I'm surprised. I will grant that design is largely a matter of opinion, but I really think that it's by far the ugliest. Nintendo's offering, I'd say, is the only one I think has a really great design. PS3 is merely alright.

I think they're all strong enough that it comes down to these 3 primary things for each:

Nintendo: it's Nintendo. I think their own games will be enough to carry the console (i.e, Zelda).
Sony: 3rd-party support. They're going to have a lot of great games.
Microsoft: XBox Live. They have a great thing with this, and I don't think the other 2 are going to touch them in this regard.

To be honest, I'm far more impressed with what I've seen for the PS3 so far, and that'll most likely be the first one I get, whenever I can afford a new console. I really want to get Nintendo's console when it comes out, though, because I don't currently own a Gamecube (sadly), and I figure at this point I may as well wait.

The XBox 360, I'm sure will be a great console, but it really hasn't managed to get me excited about it yet. (maybe it's because I didn't watch the MTV special

)

politoe · Post by **politoe** » Wed May 18, 2005 3:03 am

i'm looking to see what the Rev has to offer (most interested in this.) I haven't pretty much liked the PS2 at all anymore except for a few selected games that keep me to it which would be a atlus games, since square sucks now (so that just shows my interest on that new easy bake oven of theirs.) Xbox360 seems like another great console, but it seems that every game will have to be played online to enjoy it to its fullest potential. i'm just hoping that this time around that Nintendo can get more 3rd party support. As for Sony, to me it looks like the begining of downhill from here.

Cid Highwind · Post by **Cid Highwind** » Wed May 18, 2005 4:25 am

Melancholy, with all respect but you need to get your facts straight, the PS3 is very easy to develop for, which I read on gamespot in an interview with someone from Epic.

Also this might clear some things up

:

Originally Posted by Epic's Mark Reign

n 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 three or four 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 six 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 Unreal 1. 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.

Source: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/615/615178p1.html

To show off the PlayStation 3's graphical brawn, Sony showed several game demos, including an Unreal 3 engine show-off of what appeared to be Unreal Tournament 2007. In what must come as a relief to developers, Epic Games' Tim Sweeney was on hand to vouch for the PS3, saying it was "easy to program for" and that Epic had received its first PS3 hardware two months ago. He proved the tech demo was real-time by showing it again and by manipulating the camera and zooming in.

Souce: http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/16 ... 24681.html

My expectations of the next round:

PS3: IF it will be as powerful as they make it seem at this moment, I think it's going to be the winner since a lot of ppl that now have a PS2 will go for PS3 instead of Xbox or at least have both. With it's strong 3rd party support I don't think Xbox360 will be able to rival it in terms of quantity of games. Another perhaps decisive factor could be Sony's better position in the Japanese market when compared to M$'s.

About the controllers: Someone give me a different view angle than the one head on!!! I want to know how the shoulder buttons are located and how it's supposed to be comfortable. Also someone please put it next to a Dual Shock controller so I can see how large it is in comparison...
Again Backward Compatibility is very nice. I do hope they can do something about the PSX graphics. The least they can do is add 640x480 resolution, and AA. Even the Dreamcast can do that

Xbox360: Seems like a nice console to me, but it didn't impress me yet, like the PS3 has. At this moment I feel like it's a bit 'overshadowed' and they need to pull off a lot of tricks to keep up with PS3 and to make sure consumers will buy the 360 instead of keeping their money in the pockets for PS3 (hhhmmm, when did that happen before

) Once again, it's going to be very hard for them to convert Sony fans.
The limited Backwards compatibility is nice, but there aren't any Xbox games I'm interested in in the first place

Revolution: IMHO nintendo should be more open about it and reveal more of it's possibilties. For now all we know is that it focuses on new ways of gaming, and that it's only 2 or 3 times as powerful as the Cube. Definately not enough to make ppl drool in anticipation when compared to the knowledge and videos we have of the other 2 powerhouses. This doesn't mean I'm not interested, in fact the one I'm curious about the most is the Revolution

Being able to play ALL nintendo games ever released seems like a great feature. Even though I'm pretty sure I won't need the NES support because of good ol' Scherzo here

Snes support would be very welcome, and N64 might have some nice games as well to kill time

And I still want to play RE4 and Tales of Symphonia.
Judging from it's specs it could be a bit cheaper than the other 2. (rumor says ~$200,- ) and if it reaches the same price the Cube has now I might get one since I still need a DVD player anyway.

zero · Post by **zero** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:28 am

Xbox360: Seems like a nice console to me, but it didn't impress me yet, like the PS3 has.

I said it before, and ill say it again, the ps2 tech demo's that where showing impressed me very much too, but then i seen all the games that where coming out, and noticed i got gought up in a bunch of hype that wasn't real, its already been said that only 2 of the 7 or so demos showing where running in real time so sony is already lying.

As for the 2 demos that where showing in real time, Unreal ut2k7 can be done on xbox360 easy, just go look at gears of war, that imo is a lot more impressive then ut2k7, where 2k7 only has 2 people fighting on stage Gears of war has lots.

DOA 4, watch the high res video and be impressed, also look at pgr3, all of them games are running in real time, and will be ready for launch, and also id highly think that the only 2 games that where in real time on the ps3 will also be coming to the 360 looking just as good. so imo the ps3 is the least impressive to me, since all they are doing is showing tech demos thats not in real time and are like "all them are real time on ps3", not "All them are not real time on ps3, but maybe in a few years we will get there".

With it's strong 3rd party support I don't think Xbox360 will be able to rival it in terms of quantity of games.

Really?, have you even seen how many devers have signed on to develope for the 360?, cos by the looks of things you have not, plus 25 games ready for launch, and its got almost a years head start on th ps3, by the time the ps3 comes out xbox 360 will have close to 500 games.

instead of keeping their money in the pockets for PS3 (hhhmmm, when did that happen before Rolling Eyes )

Lots of people thought when the psp was going to launch it was going to be the end of nintendo in the handheld market, since legions of sony fans would go buy it, and the ds would be left for dead, let me ask you what handheld is outselling the psp by 2-1?, the ds thats what.

And MS has a lot more money then sega did, they can stick it out.