Geezer

I was reading a comparison between all three yesterday, and basically it said that the PS3 was way ahead of the 360 interms of power and potential, and that when (not if - remember the majority of the customer base and are not particularly tech savvy) the sales increase and the next gen of games which are programmed for the PS3 instead of being ports, MS may be forced into bringing out their next gen early, once again, to counter it.

I am no Sony fanboy, I'll play whatever, in fact I prefer PCs, but I think that is going to prove pretty accurate.

Geezer

PeteBrant

Dunk and Iain reading this

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Maybe this will be the case but from what i've read the 360 is easier to develop for currently so games tend to come out for this first and then are ported to the 360 after. It was the opposite with the PS2 and the Xbox. In the end they cater for the lowest common denominator for maximum sales. You'll only see the real differences (If there is a noticeable one) on the system exclusive titles IMHO

Iain Young

Lol

I've read countless articles (from developers etc), which claim that the two consoles are nearly identical in terms of power. In some areas the 360 is more powerful, in others the ps3 wins.

Personally, I don't care. I just want decent games, and on that score the 360 is way ahead at the moment (and for at least the mid-term future looking at the PS3 release schedules)...

PeteBrant

To be honest you are going to see far fewer exclusives in this generation. It does not make financial sense to limit your audience when games are costing an absolute fortune to produce. And you wont have the massively one sided affar as you had with PS2 in the last gen. Companies will require huge exclusivity deals to convince them not to go multi platform. You find it will only be the first party devcos that stay single format.

In this respect there will be little difference between PS3 and 360 - Especially if 360 receives improved Japanese third party support

ex-webby

And the PS3 vs 360 war rages on.....

Which console is the one to go for at the moment?
IMHO the 360 based on variety of SW.

Which console has the best graphics?
Who knows, but I havent seen anything on the PS3 that couldnt be done on the 360 yet. This is way too close to call on graphics capabilities, regardless of what "facts" either side of the fence tell you.... you can only go on games that are available now.

Which console SHOULD sell more?
The PS3, because of market awareness and brand loyalty

Who will win this round of Next-Gen consoles?
I would put my money on Sony (you have to accept facts and logic), BUT I expect the 360 to be right up's it's chuff. So the next round of consoles will certainly be very interesting. Anyone that underestimates Microsoft is some what niave, regardless on your personal thoughts of the company.

BTW.... I have all three new offerings, so don't even contemplate calling me a fanboy of any specific make.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Console fanboy!!!!

I think you're bang on though.

x360 the one to have at the moment; the Ps3 has little out for it that's particularly exciting at present and the price will, no doubt, drop over the coming months. I don't see Sony matching Xbox live for a while!!

Best graphics. Completely redundant. Both are very powerful and it is highly doubtful either will produce a demonstrable superiority in this respect.

Sony has a very loyal following (deservedly after the Ps1 and 2) and this will no-doubt pay dividens, especially in Japan where they've been a little more resistant to the Xbox. However, the way the launch of the PS3 has been handled will have dented Sony's reputation, especially in Europe.

Anyone who underestimates Bill Gates is a fool. The Xbox was never going to be allowed to be anything other than a BIG success, which it is, and hats off to Microsoft for the job they've done.

I'll get the 360. I Love my old Xbox!!

Ns04

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

GT HD does look better than most things i've seen on the 360 but the one level i've played is boring and uninvolving

The PS3 is a fine bit of kit and i'm glad I bought it but whilst on it last night I was thinking about playing on xbox live instead

ex-webby

The HD demo is just the same GT4 PS2 graphic engine in 1080p mode is it not? You need a pair of new glasses mate if you think that stands up to the term "Next Gen".

spectrum48k

There's pro's and conns. Microsoft have brought a lot of positive things to the party with Xbox360. The "live" service, the superior dev environment, etc. Competition is healthy in my book. It helps prevent complacency and stops the consumer being tied to one company. The irony is lost either, considering we're talking about Microsoft

What you're citing above, is one of the many things wrong with the games industry - an industry where developers don't seem to last 5 minutes. Time and time again, there's misplaced value put on eye-candy and graphics engines - and the "specialist programmers" needed to create them. (Edited: refer to the webmaster's post above for proof)

If you ask me, developers shouldn't be trying to re-invent the wheel each time (and going bust doing so), but rely more on middleware tools (akin to what Pixar and ILM are to the film industry). This allows the truly creative people to get on with making great games - not sitting around waiting for the latest in-house tools to be re-written.

And I sincerely hope the likes of EdCase and companies of that elk can have a positive impact on the whole financial model too. In-game advertising is a small price to pay, if it breaks this over-reliance on publisher funds and promotes independance.

[/rant over]

sammyh

iTrader: (1)

It may look good to you because you are a freak of nature and view things from an altitude thats greater than most normal people

Swen6

From reports they are not doing as expected in Japan, i'm sure someone will be able to quote them.

And regarding sale figures, in Edge mag theres an article saying American sales figures are not accurate, for example, it's claimed just over two million sales for the Wii, Nintendo shipped 3.19million consoles....And yes they're sold out, so were in the stats with the missing million, Nintendo claimed they were going to ship 4m, but missed that target and were honest with the 3.19m figure.

ex-webby

You seriously need to clean your lens Sam!!! If you think I think it looks good, when I liken it to hi-res PS2 graphics, you need to bash your head against a brick wall!

Edcase

Webbie, are you serious? That's like saying 'oh, bluray is just like hi-res DVD' or Toy Story is just a hi-res cartoon.

The reality is there is not a polygon to be seen, either on the cars or the environments, the lighting and shader effects are fantastic (you can even see individual blades of grass), the texture blending between the different surfaces is flawless, the spectators are all fully modelled, lit and textured and animated, some nice lighting effects like adjusting to the light and dark when entering and exiting the tunnel, a fully modelled driver in the car, rock solid framerate and infinite draw distance (no pop-up) and none of the slow down you used to get from the smoke from your tyres.

Personally I think it's one of the most graphically impressive things I've seen. GoW was nice but I actually felt in some circumstances there was *too much* texture detail, it felt like a tech demo rather than actually adding to the visuals. Sometimes less is more.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

I dunno. In Gears of War when the rain is poring down and running of the rocks I just stood and watched it for ages then went to the rocks to see the water cascading down them totally amazed me! then the next bit was the water running out of the gutters with me stood under it loved that!

InvisibleMan

im curious to know who EdCase works for & what he does if his "in the business" even though he's only just testing out the ps3?

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

His own co and in game advertising I believe but I'm sure he'll confirm if I'm talking **** or not

Edcase

Don't get me wrong, it is magnificent. I especially liked the bit inside that large greenhouse with all the twisted trees. The Unreal engine has come a long way, I remember using it to prototype a next generation version of Speedball about 5 or 6 years ago and it was let's say 'hit and miss'.

Iain Young

But blu-ray is just hi-res dvd, and toy story was just a hi-res cartoon

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Bet you ate plenty of 'Ice Cream' while testing it yeah

Edcase

Iain Young

5 or 6 years is a long time in this business though. Judging by the number of people licensing the engine, I guess they've got those bugs ironed out.

Speaking of speedball, have you seen that the team creating the new version of Speedball2 have just hired Mike Montgomery. Good that they've got one of the original devs on board

Edcase

:

Shhh, everyone will just hate me even more now!

IM, I used to be a developer for about a decade before it became almost impossible to get a new title funded from a publisher. What we were planning for Speedball was even now pretty advanced and none of the publishers would take the risk. I became disillusioned, started talking to some brands about getting involved, Red Bull were blown away with the idea and asked me to consult for them, I set up Hive, did some pretty creative integration with the likes of Team 17 and Rebellion, and then co-founded IGA Worldwide and the rest as they say is history. We are working across the board with every major publisher from EA down, on titles 2+ years out, across all platforms.

But that is very different to actually owning and spending quality time with a retail SKU and local service.

Edcase

ex-webby

Ed,

As I am sure you will agree...... Next Gen graphics are far more than ramping up the resolution. Did you ever see GT4 (import version) running in 1080i mode on the PS2? If you have then you will realise that the HD Concept demo really is not THAT spectacular from that. Yeah its progression, but nothing THAT special. This is from a machine that is supposed to be so much more powerful than the 360, which is leagues ahead of a PS2. See what I am getting at?

Yes the cars look nice, the scenary looks nice...... but it is certainly not what I had been believed to expect from what was being marketed as far superior hardware to the 360 (and I am running this and displaying in pure 1080p). It was later said it was just the previous PS2 version up-scaled, with the odd graphic addition.

Some may say "well it was only a demo and you lucky you got that". Ok.... but for a new machine you don't release a demo that is show casing a new platform and a new episode of a title, that is not showing what the hardware can really do..... that is a marketing nightmare! So what gives..... or what can be the excuse this time? My view is that all the inhouse software is using what can be used at present (in the hardware) to the best of peoples ability, obviously this will get better with time but so will the 360's titles.

You have to take the facts as they are.... we have all been told the PS3 is far superior to the 360. Games have been in development for this platform for well over 18months and to be frank, I havent seen anything on the PS3 that has not already been done on the 360.

If you build the hype about your hardware, you best bloody make sure it delivers from day 1, especially when you have a competitor that started 12 months previous and has delivered and continues to deliver.

This is not a "bash the PS3" but is just trying to quantify why the GT HD Concept demo in my eyes was such a let down. If people keep hyping this machine up, it makes these things look even worse in my opinion.

DanPhillips

We've only just started

YouTube - Playstation Edge

Cheers

Dan

Iain Young

Looks pretty, but I'd be more impressed if they were actually interacting with the environment

DanPhillips

Next demo ?

You'll have to wait for the game demos.

Point is the tech to do that is being released for all developers to use.

If only 3dMark ran on all the game consoles.

Cheers

Dan

ex-webby

Don't even go there mate!!! Since chipsets were being optimised for that benchmark routine, it proved nothing in real terms..... i.e. for us the consumer!

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

You'd think the webmaster would be able to use the quote function