The Next Generation of Consoles

Okay, this is the way I see it people. The X-box 360 is already dead, nobody cares about paying £300+ for the console and then £50 on largely the same games they already have except with slightly better graphics.

Playstation 3 will do better due to the existing fan base and the fact it will be backwards compatible. The fact that it will have the best graphics out of the next three will also entice a few 13 year olds obsessed with polygon count over gameplay.

The Revolution will be the winner this round, easily getting market share due to it’s expected low price tag (supposed to be sub £200) and many developers will want to develop for it as it is said to be close to programming for the GameCube and the dev kits are extremely cheap 2,000US Dollars compared to 20,000 for the PS2. With the success of the DS it has shown that a large portion of the mainstream DO want something new. Most developers even in the current generation are struggling to keep their head above water, next generation the only way they will be able to make money will be on Revolution games.

If the Revolution does fail I think the games market will probably crash. Nobody I’ve talked to including people who ACTUALLY liked the Xbox (due to Halo) seem to have any interest whatsoever in paying premium prices for the same old rubbish with slightly better graphics. In fact most of them including me are buying fewer and fewer games of the current generation as we don’t want to be spending current generation prices for the same old rubbish.

What do you think?

I don't see it crashing simply cos people love playing games, even on older consoles.

You mean SNES and the like?

Have you actually played any 360 games? I agree that a few are just slightly enhanced current generation, but there are already a number of stand out games - Kameo, Call of Duty 2, Fight Night Round 3, with Burnout Revenge (coming out tomorrow) and Oblivion due to turn some heads too.

I love my Xbox 360, and stuff is only going to get better - it's only been out a few months! It took many years for the PS2 to get games like Gran Turismo 4, or GTA San Andreas.

No I can't claim to have played every 360 game but I have played Call of Duty 2, and I played it on a PC for less before that so I don't see it as much of a massive reason to buy the 360 especially when it's another game that is best played with a mouse not a pad, just like most of the Xbox games before it.

Anyway my point is not that a single person would not buy a 360, simply that the vast majority are already getting tired with the same limits and gameplay placed on them by using essentially the same control pad.

I agree COD2 is better with keyboard & mouse, but the 360 version blows away 99% of other FPS games out there and actually plays well with the pad (I completed the game, so am not basing this on a 10 minute go).

I am also tired of the limits a control pad puts upon you, and await the Revolution with much interest (in honesty, if the 360 and Revolution had come out at the same time, I would have probably bought the latter!). It's a shame that Nintendo consoles are sometimes viewed as "kiddie" consoles, when some of the games have amongst the most innovative and best gameplay I've ever experienced.

The point I was taking issue with was the "360 is already dead" comment, which is nonsense. The PS3 might end up outselling it, but the 360 here to stay (until Microsoft's next console).

I think the whole £49.99 for a game thing won't last too much longer. Development for 360 is going to become easier over time, Microsoft are putting a lot of energies into their XNA solution, the sole aim of which is to create an environment best suited for developers.

Sony ballsed up with the devkit for PS2, it was one of the least supported and hardest to figure out piece of hardware there has ever been. It has taken many years for developers to build up a code library that makes best use of PS2 hardware.

I also have high hopes for Revolution. The big N have always had the most fun games. You've just got to look at the Mario and Yoshi platformers. Yoshi's Island still remains as one of my faviourite games. Not just great graphics (and they really were great) but the gameplay... you just know they spent weeks honing the gameplay. Something dredfully lacking in most modern games.

What was the last PC game you played that gave you a real measure of your acheivement and progress? High-scores seem to be a relic of the past. Collecting all the stars/eggs/coins/red wibbly things also doesn't feature.

Ty Tazmanian Tiger is still the best platformer available for Xbox. The sequel sucked, appearing to be a victim of its predecessor's success. The reason it sucked was that it was almost totally 'open-ended', a feature that some games actually list as a good thing. Quite how that works I will never know. A game isn't fun unless you have a solid measure of your achievement throughout.

One thing that will maintain sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 will be small to medium sized downloadable games. I personally can't wait to get my fingers on Gravity Wars 2, which will cost me the equivalent of less than £5. Xbox Live Arcade is potentially a goldmine for small (and not so small) developers. Microsoft have made it unbelievably easy to download these games and the very concept of purchasing has changed from "I'm spending £9.99" to "It's only 600 points" which is a massive psychological barrier being smashed into bits.

I'm sure Sony will have their equivalent (it would be suicide not to) and I would guess that they will also make it far easier for the one-man-band developer to distribute his game this way.

Think of an extension of the Xbox 360 gamercard. What if other Live users can see your gamercard and also select "see this player's homemade games". Games created in a small linux-style environment with a D3D API. What if you could charge 100 points for downloading your game?

It's these emerging technologies that will ensure that none of the new generation die. I believe that they will thrive on it. Nevermind your giga-flops and mege-vertices-per-second. You could have provided the same platform but with SNES style capability and people would flock to create content for it.

Something to back my assertion that the 360 isn't dead:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2207229.stm

"In third place was the new boxing title, Fight Night Round 3, with the Xbox 360 version outselling the PlayStation 2 one by two to one."

Sorry, when I said that it was dead, I meant it was dead as a serious contender to be the leading console in terms of sales this next round. That may seem like I'm jumping the gun as the others have yet to be released but I get a strong feeling of apathy from the vast majority of people towards the 360 but hot anticipation of the Revolution.

Microsoft will keep going with the consoles no matter what because it's their strategy and while nobody challenges them in the PC OS market they can waste as much money as they please on the Xbox as they will never loose money overall.

Makepool - no problem. I guess I misunderstood.

vinylpusher - an excellent post, especially regarding the "points" system. I have already bought 4 games this way, and my wife and I just completed "Mutant Storm Reloaded", a fantastic little shooter - simple but addictive.

Another cool thing about the 360 is the "Achievement" system. Kind of a pat on the back for doing well in games, and you can also show off your Gamerscore online - if you are that way inclined. :)

Just found this link, which is kind of exactly what we're talking about:

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10478/Analyst-PS3-Delay-Will-Have-Limited-Longterm-Impact/

Shows projected sales for the 3 next gen consoles.

I'm sorry but I just don't buy those figures, nothing I can do to prove otherwise though, not for about two or more years.

Thanks Avon.

The acheivements thing is a really good incentive to play games. I had a seriously intense couple of days because I just had to get all platinums on PGR3. Not just because I was personally motivated to do so, but because it looks pretty cool on my gamercard :)

Whether this adds enjoyment to the actual game itself is not clear, but the satisfaction gained from another 100 points on your gamercard is without compare. It is almost as if it extends the game beyond the bounds of what may be on the DVD. The game becomes gaining acheivements instead of finishing a level, or beating 1,000,000, or winning a multiplayer match.

The major idea of having a gamercard, in the eyes of developers (and Microsoft) is of course that the only way to have a really high score is to buy lots of games. Retail games will only let you gain about 1000 points maximum. The Live Arcade games might only award half that. If you start to get really competative about your gamercard, you could easily find yourself going without food in order to buy a new game!

Personally, I just like comparing my acheivements to other peoples, especially on PGR3 because I love it :)

Personally I'm hoping the Revolution wins out - but I'm not counting on it. Trying to figure out what console is going to sell best is like trying to figure out if the stock market will rise or fall on good economic news (should be up, but I've been really surprised).

As for why on the revolution.

1 - One disk lets any number of local consoles play a multiplayer game. (big big item for me since I network play with my kids and friends)

2 - The controller scheme (if it works well enough)

This is excellent, and one of the great things about a Nintendo DS - most games let you play wireless multiplayer with only one cartridge, although some "lock" some content unless you each have a copy (like Mario Kart and Meteos).

I think 360 has as good a chance at winning this time around as anyone. Just because EA developed 2/3 of the 360 launch titles, and most of the most exciting ones were put back to spring summer 06 doesn't mean 360 sucks.

Most people who love the PS3 love it because they want the same old crappy franchise games like Final Fantasy, MGS, and what have you.

Personaly I thik DS games are rubbish and largely based off of gimmicks, the only good ones being ripped off of the N64. Revolution may end up with the same kinds of games as the DS.

PS3 will be roughly the equivalent to the 360 as far as next gen goes. So it will all come down to the games. Overall if you ignore the 5 big games that come out for PS2 on a regular basis. I think 360 has the better spread of decent games, particularly for western markets.

And to be honest, I couldn't give a monkey about the Japanese market which is the one the 360 will lose. Most Japanese games are boring sequels that have been going on for decades.

The PC is by far the best next gen system out there.

Actually, that's a very valid point. My first reaction was "you what?" and then I thought about the DS games I enjoyed the most - all revamped N64 titles.

XBox 360 already dead? You gotta be kidding right?
It's the only next gen console out, and it's selling out everywhere.

There are other xbox 360 models on the horizon as well.
There's a full media center one planned and one with mouse and keyboard. That's from MS's roadmap.

By the time the PS3 comes out, it will have first wave titles, xbox 360 will be on their 2nd wave of titles, PS3's developers just received their dev kits last week.. good luck with that!

Plus, as you probably read by now, the PS3 is due out November 06 in Japan so don't expect it in the US or Can/EU anytime before 2007.
And with a price tag of $850'ish Sony price so $500.00 consumer price, it's gonna be a big chuck on money to pay for a gaming console.

I think the revolution is in a great position, their hardware is not as powerful as the other two but they have the titles that attracts alot of kids.
I'm intrigued by their choice of a physx engine instead of more gnenral purpose cores.. I bet it's gonna pay off.

@agrees with evac
>>And to be honest, I couldn't give a monkey about the Japanese market which is the one the 360 will lose.
>>Most Japanese games are boring sequels that have been going on for decades.
>>The PC is by far the best next gen system out there.

my 2 cents.

Here in the UK, the release of the X-Box 360 came and went pretty quietly.
As an example, The PSP being released made it only day time news. But the X-Box 360, it came and went without as much as a wimper.

It's almost like it's still in development, I've seen it in action in a computer sore with FIFA. Nice gfx, shame about the seletion of games. I bet it's gonna be like the Dreamcast and PS2. Nobody buys Dreamcast as they're waiting for PS2. now it's X-Box 360 and PS3.

They are now aiming for a tri-release in Japan, USA and Europe at the same time (November 2006). It's mentioned in the PS3 thread.


lol

You can't really expect 360 to make a big dent in the UK games chart when hardly any systems are avaliable there. It must be doing pretty well considering that it is responsible for 60% of fight night 3 purchases, 3rd place in this weeks UK charts.

It also has 2nd position this week with Ghost Recon Advanced warfighter.

Only 1st place FIFA streets that is out for PS2/Xb/GC/PSP/DS beat the 360 to 1st place.

360 selling out? Every shop in the UK has a stock now, by that I mean I could easily find one or ten in a shop here in Lincoln and could also easily find one at home in Nottinghamshire too so they're definatley not sold out. I, however, don't know a single person who has bought one so demand can't be as high as somebody claimed above.

To be fair, the key word is "now". There were sold out everywhere for several weeks. Even when I managed to get one (mid January) most shops had sold out and the shop I bought it from (GAME) were sold out again the next day!

That's because they made about ten, you can't say the 360 is a run away smash because it sold out when they only supplied so few units. Now more have come through there is no real demand, as I say nobody seems to have one despite them being available to buy.

I can't argue against fantasy figures...

If they made such low numbers of the 360, how come Fight Night Round 3 is outselling the PS2 version two to one?

It's pretty clear you are not a 360 fan, so I guess I'll leave my comments at that. Most informed people will reach their own decision as to the popularity of the console.

My point as you well know is they made very few, so selling out can't be touted as the masses wanting their 360's. As for Fight Night Round 3 selling higher than the PS2 you can put that down to the people that do have a 360 buying what limited games there are due to lack of selection and the fact that the PS2 sales of Fight Night Round 3 will be relatively low seeing as boxing is hardly that popular is it? Where on the yearly charts will Fight Night Round 3 be? Nowhere.

You think that people are buying Fight Night for the 360 because they have limited choice?

Scenario:

Customer: Ok, I've got £50, what's new on the 360?
Store clerk: Umm... only Fight Night Round 3.
Customer: Aww, I hate boxing games, but if that's the only NEW one then I guess I'll buy it.
Store clerk: Kerching!

Not likely.

I do actually.

I think the Revolution control style will flop. Yes its innovative, but remember 2 things
1) change frightens people. "Clever things make people feel stupid, and unexpected things make them feel scared" - Fry from Futurama
2) People don't want to wave their arms about to play a video game. IToy is a classic example, its fun for about 3 minutes and then it gets tiresome. You'll lose WAY too much accuracy with a 'pointer/gun' style device over a thumbstick or a mouse. I've heard that you'll be able to wield the controller as if it were a sword - fine in theory, but go get your TV remote and see how long you can wave it about in mid air before your arms get tired, or you get thoroughly bored. Couple that with the fact that the virtual sword wont always do what you intended (yes that's speculation, but how many of these kinds of devices have been 100% accurate. Remember the 'gesture' mode in Black&White, and that was done with a very accurate mouse)

Don't get me wrong, I like innovation, but I can't see it catching on. Then again, I swore that the Spice Girls would be a one hit wonder so what do I know ;)

Actually the fight night series is the best and most innovative fighting series to come out for quite some time. And it looks 60% better on 360 too. The control system is brilliant, and I'm not a gamer that likes your usual button mashing fiasco. using the right controller to throw punches in an intuitive way is what makes the game head and shoulders above the competition.

And normaly, I'm the first to put down EA. But fight night is REALLY good.

I used to think that people would never accept the change but the DS has made me think again, I think people do want a change.

Lightgun games have done relatively well on consoles and they require you to keep you're arms up, at first you get tired, then you get used to it.

I think the Revolution controller will be fantastic for a few good games, but also spawn a deluge of silly childish games bult around a few gameplay gimmicks.

I also think the system will be cheap enough, and interesting enough to sell well, even to people that don't like nintendo, (like me :)

I might have to try this Fight Night if it's that good then, I still however don't buy the fact that the 360 is being taken up with any enthusiasm, at least in Britain.

Any new console needs time to settle in. I got an original XBox quite early and if you look at the games then compared to the games now (still talking about the ORIGINAL XBox) there is at least 8x improvement all round. Go play Spy Hunter (Xbox launch title), and then compare it to Burnout Revenge. The 360 has barely had the surface scratched, because developers haven't had time to push it yet. XBox will never fold because it ha MS money behind it.
Plus they pretty much own the online market. Sony have a LONG way to go to catch up with Live.

I got the xbox at launch too, and appart from 3 good launch titles and amped I had to wait almost 8 months for anything good to come out.

Same with xbox live, only it took almost a year before many games supported it.

In the past year there have been some amazing games, Doom 3 was great on Xbox and blew my PC away till I upgraded. Ran well even with 6 enemies on screen at once, and the lighting was better as they turned up the ambience in the shadows.

But forger Doom 3, Jade empire, KOTOR, Splinter Cell 3, HL2 and Far Cry instincts all play really well on Xbox and look almost as good bar the resolution.

I actually think that HALO is pretty weak, but made for a good launch title back in 2001.

There are plenty of games coming out for 360 in the next few months that look to be quite stunning.

PS3 is supposed to be about on par with 360 in the graphics front, at least with these first gen titles, it will be a couple of years till we see which system is really the best, and by then it will be the games that count, not the hardware.

I think this next gen will have a fairly even playing field to start with, assuming that sony make good use of the extra time before launch and have a good SDK for developers to play with.

Heh, I still have loads of life in the GameCube with stuff like Resident Evil 4 and the PS2. I just buy used games off ebay for < £10 and it's great. These consoles are at a wicked peak now so I just really have no need for a shiny new one. Well, if I had money to burn I get one tho' ;-)

Stop knocking the 360 ... it's the best system to come along for a long time. If not for great 'AAA' titles like Fight Night ... then for the cheap Arcade games that are just a blast to play. It's a great system, stop hating on it.

Well, I wound up getting the regular old XBox back around President's Day, which was about 3 weeks ago. The old XBox probably still has some advantages over the 360, not much, but at least the regular console still has life in it left. I would've hoped that it would've been as successful as the PS2, but then again, I may be feeding Bill Gates again, which none of us needs to do at this point. At least with an XBox, I hear that it's easy for homebrew games to be ported into it, because the original XBox is similar to a PC-style architecture. Whether or not this is true, I could probably try putting a game from VC++ into there.

its not true since the D3D on the PC is totay different than xbox. So your pretty limited with what you can do in 3D homebrew on the Xbox without a proper XDK.

Apparently it's actually easier to develop a PC game and port to 360 than it is to the old Xbox.

From other sources, I was told that the regular XBox was on the Intel structure, whereas the X360 was on a Macintosh-type structure, which would be more difficult.

On top of that, if anything, porting a game into an Atari 2600 would probably be your cup of tea...

I was just going by discussions with one of the engine programmers at Garage Games that works on the TSE engine.

I don't agree - the Playstation 3 has now been delayed significantly because of problems with its DVD discs and until Nintendo convince people that it doesn't just produce games for kids it will fail again like it's last console.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openxdk/

Up above tells you where to find a development kit for XBox, should be interesting to see how this one works. You may need to convert a Blitz game to C++ in order to use this SDK. Not too sure if this would work on the 360, tho.

I don't think the openXDK supports 3D at all. I did a quick look in the forum, and one of the newest posts suggested that no one has been able to access the GPU.



so it doesn't look all that promising.

Only thing I worry about the Rev's controller is a lack of tactile feedback from what we've been shown, as much as I'd love a Fight Night for the Rev featuring dual-controller support (one for left hand, one for right), wouldn't feel right if you couldn't feel the punches you're throwing against the opponent....but who knows, we'll just have to wait and see what developers do with the thing when it comes out for whatever product they're producing.

Anyhow, I honestly see the 360 doing much better in the PS3 in this round, reason being, the price-cost......I seriously doubt the PS3 will sell for less then $400 as a "standard" package with no bells or whistles (like 360's core system), that'll turn off alot of people (myself included), next-gen is just getting too expensive for some consumers that still live in their ma's basement playing games day on & day off waiting for the next paycheck to pickup the latest game...


About the Rev, we'll likely see a repeat of the DS, @#!*loads of gimmicky games for the first few months after its release, then a couple real gems coming out shortly there-after that warrent the system worth getting.

[EDIT] And apparently the PS3 may-or-may not come with an HD pre-installed, and from the way their officials are speaking, the thing will be mandatory for games, now wouldn't it suck if it was purchased seperately....plunk down $400 for a PS3, then another $100 for a barely modified PC-harddrive..., I stopped liking Sony after they dropped HDD support on the slim-line PS2 just because it wasn't supported by many developers.
(even though one of those devs was the behemoth known as Square-Enix)

:sigh: I guess the best thing to do is to trade my XBox for a PS2, get a Net Yaroze, and do some games through that. I only wish that Microsoft would've made it that easy...

The fact is X-Box is just really popular in America, not really anywhere else.

In UK Supermarkets like ASDA and Tescos they barely have anything to do with X-Box, mostly, PS2, PSP and Gameboy advance stuff.
Ok, I know they're supermarket stores, but you know. I don't go into computer stores anymore, there's no point and town centres are quiet these days. I just order stuff online. X-Box isn't around that much in the UK.

And when I was in Japan last year, the X-Box selection in any shop was tiny, and I mean TINY! (10 games selection max)
Almost like it's a novelty console for enthusiasts. Without proper full hearted X-Box support outside of America it will never ever be better or more popular than Sony's consoles.

And online gaming with consoles is pretty much dead in the UK, it never took off, like me people just use PCs for online gaming. And it's usually for free too. SO you can forget about X-Box online.

on the X360 launch in Europe: There were around 250k consoles for the whole European area. Not to mention that we have 3 times the inhabitants of USA ... so it was quite a joke what they did here. They really forced the "sell out" to have at least 2 news entries instead just one.

On the other side, I would have been able to buy several premium and abount 50 core X360 on launch day, as there were not that many people interested in it. The core was only sold out for 1 week or so, premium was back in stock mid january.


The "sell numbers" mentioned above are a dream of MS at best ... already the hype of NDS (its sold out in japan since dec although half a million are produced each month) shows, that the next Nintendo console with its conept will most likely do better than the last 2 consoles and perhaps even better than their not-competitors.
And as Nintendo mentioned: They are not playing with Sony and MS, they do not even target the same market, the only tangent it.

People keep mentioning that some people dismiss anything Nintendo does as for children. I personally think that must be a US thing, I've never heard anybody state their choice not to buy a DS was due to it being a child's piece of hardware.

I've been tempted to purchase an XBOX-360 but I'm holding out for the PS3 - simply because it will have the greatest quantity of Japanese RPGs. I bought an XBOX before and, other than Jade Empire (which is utterly awesome), I've been very disappointed with the RPGs released for the format. Still, I'm the kind of guy who will buy a console for a specific game, so I may well end up getting an XBOX 360 when Jade Empire 2 is released.

Every time I read about the Revolution, I find out about another cool new feature.

I am seriously leaning towards this machine as my top pick.
Kiddie games be damned.

>What do you think?

That you're not in a position to say whether or not the Xbox 360 is dead. You claim this, but where is your support? The vast amount of players certainly doesn't help your argument.

And how can you say the Playstation 3 will do better when we have no way to prove this until it's been out for at least a few months?

And the Revolution? Please. We barely have any information on it and yet you already call it the winner?

If you're going to state opinion as fact I'd advise you provide some backup for when your argument comes under fire. That being said, your argument is invalid by structure alone.

That's nice that the Revolution's SDK is going to be more affordable than any other next-gen console, too. At least with that, Nintendo may try encouraging some homebrew game titles in the mix, but that may be uncertain. With this day in age of people wanting to get into making console games of their own (because some of the console games these days hardly have a personality at all, and think they can do better, hint-hint). Well, I, for one, would like to try getting into making some homebrew games that I will actually use on the console. If only PS3 would have a Net Yaroze version of the console like the original PSX did, then I'd be floored. Unfortunately, for the original Net Yaroze, I wasn't about to spend 3/4 of $1000 to buy it. Then again, PS2 was backwards compatible to PS1 games, but not too sure if it worked with Net Yaroze versions of PS1, tho. We'll have to watch and see what PS3 allows for. That's a shame that Sony's not selling their PS2 Linux here in the USA, tho. Did the government ban it here, did I miss something from Joe Lieberman or G.W. again?

they sold the PS2 with linux in the UK to get around some kind of tax duty that the UK government put on consoles, which were classed as electronic entertainment instead of computers. Adding a programable language made it fit in the class of computing and saved Sony a lot of money.

just looked it up:

Sony adds Basic to PlayStation to sidestep EC import tax

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/11/07/sony_adds_basic_to_playstation/

EU rejects Sony PS2-is-PC claim

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/02/eu_rejects_sony_ps2ispc_claim/

Let me draw your attention to the beginning of my post, I've put the key bit in capitals for you.

Probably the same reason why Sony did the Net Yaroze for the original PSX, even tho the Net Yaroze was about 3 times as much to buy it. I wasn't about to spend $750 for something that I could find a cheaper solution for other consoles at the time. Even if the PS2 Linux was available here in the US, it probably wouldn't be even better priced than the Yaroze, I doubt it, anyway.

The Net Yaroze was pretty expensive when it was first released - I think I paid about £550 for mine. However, the price did tumble pretty sharply. I think it ended up costing about £200 or £300 - can't really remember.

Some more interesting information:



http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/10490/Ghost-Recon-Advanced-Warfighter-Sets-Sales-Record/

To be safe on the budget, it's probably best to await the launch of the Revolution, and the SDK for the Revolution (not too expensive for either one, or at least compared to the other two consoles (360 and PS3)). Please the Revolution's quality may be about the same as the other two. Nintendo's probably gonna be the underdog this round, and I feel that they deserve all the support they can get.

Technically speaking, that's what I'm thinking. The hardware
is slightly less powerful than the other's, but the disply
resolution won't be as high (And that always makes a big
difference in performance)

This means the Revo will probably be able to pull off all the
same visual tricks, but at a lower display resolution (And
I've always considered screen resolution overrated
anyway)

screen resoluton is overarted if you don't have HDTV, which is about 80% of people :)

there is an official VGA adaptor though. Those sales figures for ghost recon are pretty crazy. Supposed to be a proper next gen title though :) and a lot of fun to boot.

It's kind of disappointing if it's true that the Revolution will not be high definition seeing as I don't subscribe to either the view that graphics are ALL important and equally don't subscribe to the view that gameplay is all important. Clearly both things combine to make a game's experience. That said I can stand the Revolution not being HD if they make as many new interesting unique games with the controller as I think they will.

makepool, your post is highly biased. just because your best friend wants to get the revolution doesn't mean everyone will. it's highly likely that most people will buy a ps3 when it comes out because sony has proven to release games that aren't glitchy or kiddy crap.

Yeah some of my posts are biased towards what I think will happen but then that's kinda the point of this topic, people saying which console they think will do best and why. Isn't your own post biased when you say

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see Nintendo in the same fight as Microsoft and Sony. I'm not sure why this is - I just see Nintendo coming from a different angle, somehow.

It's like Microsoft and Sony scraping in the playground while Nintendo is quietly handing out flyers to the watching crowd.

Strange analogy. But I agree completely.

Nintendo's not after the same things the other two are.
They come from a different angle and they see things
differently.

Nintendo's taking real risks now. They could go either way
with this business model. They might lose it all or they might
turn the industry around.

Who knows.

I know I'll do my part. I'm buying a Revo, regardless.

I think the revolution has gotten everyones interest enough, if the controler lives up to the hype and the price is low enough. I think it will do well as a backup system.

Well, let's go about it this way, no offense being comparing console systems to politics, but here it goes:

Democrats = PlayStation 3
Republicans = XBox 360
Independents = Revolution

That's how I see it going...

From what I've read, he rev does support progressive scan (which is 480p I think?) along with wide-screen, but it's up to the developers to implement them into said product, as was the same case with the GameCube. So at least HD users aint in vain though as long as dev's do add the support for it.



They got the money, and apparently they've been getting bored of the usual "better graphics, same gameplay" path that the gaming systems have taken, Nintendo will really have to advertise the system extremely well for it to sell to non-Nintendophilles in North American imo.

Yeah, sorry about that. I blame the alcohol. :)

I imagine that the 360 isnt solely aimed at gamers.... For years Microsoft have been pushing 'Technology in the home', this I mean by streaming content throughout the house!

Fair do's, a PC with MCE can do this at the moment, but there are still people that find PC's are only used by 'square-eyed geeks', I mean, I work on the building sites, and when I mention I do programming they stare at me as if I've just farted on their nan!

It's only been recently that PC's have become more mainstream, simply because of piracy... People will pay hundreds of pounds for equipment to copy the latest DVD from blockbuster, then they learn about P2P and they are away!

Then they realise that it's a tedious task with a 4x DVD writer, and abandon the idea of making their fortune with a PC, up steps the kids, and they want to play COD2!!!

Moving over to consoles... People HAVE been playing them since the NES, people like a kick about on FIFA before/after they go to the pub. Dads everywhere like to show their young'uns how to rally drive (even though its the other way round :) ).

The winner of this next-gen battle will be the one that can enhance not only gamers tastes, but also the taste of people that would actually like to download music etc, and not be sterotyped because of it!

Dabz

:)

P.S. I didnt actually realise I care'd so much! :D

Here's a Sony DRM rant for you. Which gives you a idea of what they are all about. Kind of funny that its the Blue Ray protection software thats responsible for PS3 being late.

On another note, apparently 360's DVD drive firmware is a hackable debug version, and enabled a backdoor to running backup disks!!!.

Anyway, Sony's recent track record....

Bloody hell, I didn't know about that one. :/

So, it's agreed: Sony, pony. :P

Yeah, Sony's PSP is getting back at your iPods, and Creative Zens, and what have you, too. I've had a Portable Media Center from Creative for almost a year now, and it seems to have like what the PSP has (even tho it can't play games, obviously). Then again, the Creative Zen PMC was $500, and the PSP was about half that. However, if you build up a PSP Movie Library and a game library, it may about break even in the price category after a while. So the PMC with the 20 GB HDD would probably win out in that department. About turning a PSP or a DS into a Portable Media Center, that's something else to consider. If you have a TV Tuner/PVR installed on your PC, and you wanted to make a portable recording of a TV show, then you would have to put it into a code that the PSP can play it back with. Not too sure what filenames the PSP reads off of those cards, anyway. It can probably do MP3s, but for movies and/or TV shows, that's something to think about.

Phony.

Sony ................ Boney
(from a movie I saw the other night)

On that note: The ancient 'BattleBugs' game had some interesting 'name brand' stuff around your playing field:

Nintendo = No entiendo
GameBoy = Lame Toy

A guy at college made a film called Sticky business, and rebranded sony products as NOSY. Something to do with the sony font meant that you didn't really notice at once. Was pretty cool.

I think 'pony' is better, as in the @#!*ney rhyming slang: Pony & Trap = Crap. :P

Believe it or not, I remember using a brand of monitors called "Pony" at high school back in the 90s. That was something, and it had to be a Sony Trinitron knockoff, I felt it. It's funny to know that.

However, back on topic, to me, there's three next-gen consoles, however, amongst all three of them, there's not one that will have the same power as a pure gaming desktop PC, we all know that. However, when it comes to the highest end of games made for the game consoles as well as the PC, then what do you think would win out? An X360? A PS3? A Revolution? Windows Vista? That's something to consider, and there's too many different formats to look into.

>Sony ................ Boney
>(from a movie I saw the other night)

Crazy people, amusing little film where it is found that the people in the mental health wards are saner then normal people.

Back on target - I'm hoping that the Revolution controller scheme works, I would play FPS games on the consoles just to get away from the compatibility problems of the PC but I can't stand using current videogame controllers.

Well, I believe that the PS2 has a keyboard-based joystick to solve the problems of the FPS games that are played on that (I believe that's what the PS2 keyboard was meant for). Not too sure if they did this for the XBox, tho. It would be nice to see the keyboards make a comeback for the game consoles for those who think a controller is too hard for a complex game. It's almost like the old Commodore 64 or Atari VCS days with those. Bah, who am I kidding? Let controllers eat hay with FPS games, I hope that there's Saitek Eclipse keyboard support for some of these next-gen consoles.

About FPS games, I've heard that the Revo setup allows for
more intuitive and accurate control than a keyboard and
mouse!

Do you guys buy that? I can see it being possible, but a
console better for FPS than a PC? That would be awful!

My PS2 collects dust. With a PC, I wouldnt consider buying any more consoles ever...

even for kids, a PC's functionality for education and doing their homework means as far as Im concerned... consoles can die out and I wouldnt notice.

But that's my very own personal opinion, and I gotta admit, that when visiting friends, I still enjoy having a quick 2-player contest on some classics as Gran Tourismo or Mortal Kombat ;)

My console is better. :)

I don't think the revo controller will be as accurate as a mouse. A mouse is still 2D and supports your wrist. So your working in 2D with your primary hand, and doing simple direction movements with your other hand.

With the revolution controler, you won't have the support and tilting and pointing the controler allthough intuitive will be clumsier and less accurate without a lot more practice. This also leaves you with a gamepad that you have to hold in your weakest hand without and real support, and therefor less accuracy.

I do think it could be cool in certain slower paced games. Or ones that rely on general movements without precision. Only time will tell though.

The true next generation of video games will be digital mentally sensual reality. ;)

I'm tired of using a mouse, I'm tired of looking at a screen, I'm tired of using a keyboard. I want to be there, even if I'm just a cube. I want to FEEL a cube. :D

(Am I a hardcore gamer or what?)

Everyone saying that NRev controller would not be as intuitive etc definitely has never touched metroid prime hunters on NDS. although this is a touchscreen only it will show you that it is far more intuitive than pointing around with a stupid mouse (doing 2D for 3D results).

Mice should have been replaced years ago by gloves but for some strange reason they weren't ... still do not understand why thought ... gloves are only that expensive because all throw out 100$ for high end gaming mice than for more gloves and other innovative pc hardware.