Next Generation Games Consoles - Separating Fact From Fiction
|
Over the next 18 months the 3 giants of the Games Console world will be battling it out in stores and homes across Europe, America and Asia for the title of the world greatest Games Console. The stakes are high in this multi billion dollar business, not just for the console sales but for the games sales that go along side it. Since the launch announcements of all 3 consoles in May at the E3 conference in LA. The 3 combatants have been vying for the millions of column inches that have been written about the Next Generation Consoles. Each Press release has been hotly followed by another press release from a rival company so much so that extracting the facts from all the hype has been nearly impossible. At the launch press conferences Microsoft boasted that the Xbox 360 could do 9-billion-dot-product-operations per second. Sony then came out and said that the PS3 could do 51-billion-dot-product-operations per second however Sony had combined the CPU and GPU performance numbers whilst Microsoft only reported its CPU performance number. When the consumer is up against this sort of publicity blizzard it is best not to believe a thing until you can check the facts for yourself.
So what do we know?
Well for the Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3 we have lots of lists of hardware and specifications which actually don't mean very much in isolation. The main thing that need concern us are the processor speeds and they are both stated as being 3.2 GHz The only time that the hardware will mean anything is when we get to run them side by side and then if experience is anything to go by the difference in real life performance won't be noticeable and will just be used by the press departments to battle it out.
Despite all the press releases and information that has been spewing out of the headquarters of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo we actually know very few facts.We know that in all likelihood the Xbox 360 will be on the shelves in time for Christmas, Amazon are currently taking pre-delivery orders and are quoting a release date of November 28th. The prices have been set at $299 for the Core System and $399 for the Xbox 360, the difference being that the Core system doesn't have the external hard drive required to save games and download new content or the headset required to play online on Xbox Live! Why 2 prices? and why a version that hasn't got everything included? This looks very much like a product of the marketing department trying to get a product at the historically important sub $300 level more than anything and this may backfire on them in the long run.
Next to hit the Shelves will be Sony's Playstation 3 supposedly in spring next year once again we have very few facts to go on, Sony are continually releasing press releases and mentioning in public that the price will be high and the figure of $500 has been mentioned but many industry experts suspect that this is a ploy so that when they release it at $300 or $350 it will look like a bargain. The final console to hit the shelves will be the Nintendo Revolution some time late in 2006 and 2007. Since the "launch" at E3 this year very little has been said about it by Nintendo. It seems at this time the "Launch" was just a way to deflect some of the publicity away from Microsoft and Sony.One fact is certain, If Microsoft do get the Xbox 360 onto the shelves before Christmas it will be this year's biggest selling Christmas gift. So until you get your hands on one of the consoles?.Question everything!
Mark Thompson ran an IT consultancy in London for many years. He now live in Spain and runs an number of websites including NextGen Consoles and World of the Weird
|
|
|
The Game Tester
It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard. Wouldn't it be easier if you had a job in the videogames business? Th...(related: Games)
Halo 2 Multiplayer Tips For Beginners And Advanced Players
Here are some general tips from an advanced player for all of you who are looking for an edge in this game...(related: Games)
Sapphire Tipped Uavs For Midair Collisions To Defeat Enemy Uav Swarm Threats
Defeating enemy UAV Swarms will be a challenge for our Net-Centric Blue Force Team. When our enemy launches 1000 UAVs at our forces in the battlespace, will we be able to shoot them all down? The answer is most likely no. Even if we match each incoming UAV with a rocket intercept response or use a new technology THEL response to focus it's beam individually to take out each UAV, will we achieve our goal? Is the kill ratio an acceptable answer? In other wo...(related: Games)
Theories Behind Magic Trinkets In Video Game And Virtual Reality
In Gaming we deal between Simulation, Augmented Reality, Fantasy and Virtual Reality. The best fantasy has some reality basis behind it. Trun your mind on for a second and let me explain.Having studied the ancient art and cultures and myths of ancient civilizations we know that many groups of our ancestors and other genetic chains of members of our species often associated charms, trinkets and tools as sacred and possessing powers. Think of all the mythology out there with Brass Necklaces, Gold, Copper Artifacts and plates laced with metallic substances. Even gold plating and famous story of the singing of The Excalibur. Now then areas where meteorites hit the Earth and we know every 10,000 or more years we have a big strike and every 100...(related: Games)
Free Pocket Pc Casino Game
Casino Gambling Wherever You LikeAre you absolutely crazy about pocket pc gaming? One of the very best things about pocket pc casino games is that nearly all of them are free games. There is a free pocket pc casino game everywhere you look on the Internet. The downloads are simple, and the sites support a variety of devices, so no matter what kind of palm pilot, pda or ipaq you have, you can gamble your time and money away whenever you want to.Freeware si...(related: Games)
Guns Dont Kill People - Videogames Do!
"Ban these evil games", "Videogame violence cor...(related: Games)
Rpg: Table And Computer
It's not a secret that table RPG games are not so popular as they used to be. However a certain number of amateurs are still fond of them. What is so particular about a pasteboard box or a book with rules? It seems that all the advantages have their " younger computer brothers&qu...(related: Games)
Why We Play Games, Part 2
Last week we started to get into the motivation of the gamer. We discussed challenge and its ugly stepsister competition, two of the most common motivators. Today, we look at two more on the way to forming an overall model for what moves us.Perhaps less common than the first two motiva...(related: Games)
Sega Dreamcasts Cause Of Death?
What ever happened to that game console we used to call the Sega Dreamcast? Why did it suddenly disappear after 2 years of production? Was the government involved in brainwashing our minds like in George Orwell's 1984? All these questions will be answered as I investigate the Dreamcast's devastating decline.IntroductionIn the beginning it was good. Sega released a solid piece of hardware called the Dreamcast that was easy to develop games for and kicked the competition's rear ends in terms of graphics and sound. It entered the market with a strong start, selling quite well upon its release. Although the Dreamcast lacked 3rd party support, Sega's games were aplenty and the very best in quality. Sega seemed to be heading in the right direction, but two years later the company abruptly discontinued...(related: Games)
site-map - Copyright © 2006 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved.
| Games