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Who would of thought it, eh? It's been going around industry circles for weeks, but finally the fact has leaked that the next generation console war may begin as early as Q4 2005 - and not just in America. Apparently Microsoft UK are planning a winter launch extravanganza for the Xbox 2 only weeks after the US launch.
However, some are criticising the move and claim it's forcing this generation of consoles to end too quickly, and that the current crop have plenty left to achieve. Saying this, the Xbox first party schedule has seemingly 'dried up' and, along with shortages of the console, one wonders why they are trying to push Xenon so hard for 05'.
I've adapted this from [URL]http://gamesindustry.biz/[/URL], which has the whole article.
I wonder whether this will force the other 'big 2' into an early 06 launch, if not Q4 05?
However, some are criticising the move and claim it's forcing this generation of consoles to end too quickly, and that the current crop have plenty left to achieve. Saying this, the Xbox first party schedule has seemingly 'dried up' and, along with shortages of the console, one wonders why they are trying to push Xenon so hard for 05'.
I've adapted this from [URL]http://gamesindustry.biz/[/URL], which has the whole article.
I wonder whether this will force the other 'big 2' into an early 06 launch, if not Q4 05?
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Gameplay > Graphics
To be honest I am all for it. The Xbox has had very few decent excelusives for quite sometime now.
As pointed out, no doubt EA and the likes will produce games for the Xbox still so those who can't afford/want to wait won't suffer massively.
Also rumoured is that as opposed to 480p HDTV support as standard on Xbox there is talk of it being 720p which only around 15 Xbox games currently support. That way with a bit of luck more will then start supporting 1080i HDTV as opposed to only 4 games in the current Xbox collection that currently support this.
Sounds picky but running Enter the Matrix in 1080i (or a DVD for that matter) is middle/top-top end PC resolution and the difference is massive. The more that support it, the more the gap between PC gaming and console gaming from a technical perspective will close.
Good news as far as I am concerned.
As pointed out, no doubt EA and the likes will produce games for the Xbox still so those who can't afford/want to wait won't suffer massively.
Also rumoured is that as opposed to 480p HDTV support as standard on Xbox there is talk of it being 720p which only around 15 Xbox games currently support. That way with a bit of luck more will then start supporting 1080i HDTV as opposed to only 4 games in the current Xbox collection that currently support this.
Sounds picky but running Enter the Matrix in 1080i (or a DVD for that matter) is middle/top-top end PC resolution and the difference is massive. The more that support it, the more the gap between PC gaming and console gaming from a technical perspective will close.
Good news as far as I am concerned.
I'm in two minds over whether or not this is good or bad.
It's bad because the current consoles do have life left in them. Some of the best games ever came out very late in a console's life, like PD and Conker on the N64. The longer the Xbox (or Gamecube or PS2 for that matter) stick around, the better the games are going to get in a presentation sense, as companies learn and develop tricks to get the most out of the hardware. I have my Xbox et al, lots of accessories, lots of games and am generally fairly happy with video games right now. Would prettier pictures be worth the upheaval?
But it is good, because they could take graphics and AI to considerably dizzier heights with better hardware. I mean the Xbox is effectively a 4 year old PC. Some really nice stuff is done on it considering its limitations, but considering the Xbox 2/Next/Xenon is going to have three dual core PowerPC procssors, along with the successor to the ATI Radeon X800 XT core, we're looking at probably three times the computational power of Ali's PC. Imagine scoring 100,000 on 3D Mark 01. That's the sort of power we're talking about. In the way the huge jump in power from SNES to N64 made Mario in 3D a reality, this huge jump can take gaming to new levels.
But still, I'm undecided. I guess really, from where I'm standing, the question is how much better will Project Gotham Racing 3 be?
It's bad because the current consoles do have life left in them. Some of the best games ever came out very late in a console's life, like PD and Conker on the N64. The longer the Xbox (or Gamecube or PS2 for that matter) stick around, the better the games are going to get in a presentation sense, as companies learn and develop tricks to get the most out of the hardware. I have my Xbox et al, lots of accessories, lots of games and am generally fairly happy with video games right now. Would prettier pictures be worth the upheaval?
But it is good, because they could take graphics and AI to considerably dizzier heights with better hardware. I mean the Xbox is effectively a 4 year old PC. Some really nice stuff is done on it considering its limitations, but considering the Xbox 2/Next/Xenon is going to have three dual core PowerPC procssors, along with the successor to the ATI Radeon X800 XT core, we're looking at probably three times the computational power of Ali's PC. Imagine scoring 100,000 on 3D Mark 01. That's the sort of power we're talking about. In the way the huge jump in power from SNES to N64 made Mario in 3D a reality, this huge jump can take gaming to new levels.
But still, I'm undecided. I guess really, from where I'm standing, the question is how much better will Project Gotham Racing 3 be?
phuzzy wrote:
> However, some are criticising the move and claim it's forcing this
> generation of consoles to end too quickly, and that the current crop
> have plenty left to achieve.
Lies. The current generation have about 4 games between them which might be good to come out.
I'll get one after a year or so. Or a PS3. Whichever's better.
> However, some are criticising the move and claim it's forcing this
> generation of consoles to end too quickly, and that the current crop
> have plenty left to achieve.
Lies. The current generation have about 4 games between them which might be good to come out.
I'll get one after a year or so. Or a PS3. Whichever's better.
Or get it for christmas. :D
Everyone should wait until the January sales if it's coming out in November.
Yeah, I could only justify a big price tag with either PD or Oblivion being launch titles.
It will probably begin life at about 500 quid. Then within a few months drop to 150-200 quid ish.
Apparently EA's releases will be on both Xbox and Xbox 2 at launch.
It does seem a little silly to be launching it so soon - and Tiltawhirl's right, the price will inevitably drop quite dramatically after a month or two.
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