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As the 2 machines have not been shown yet in the U.K, X-Box has'nt even been designed yet!!!!! you cant tell which ones will be better but if you Compare the specifications of the two machines in the cold light of day and on paper the X-Box would appear to have something of an edge over PlayStation2. The X-Box uses hardware that will be more familiar to PC users and will therefore win more oohs and aahs in that fraternity. The combination of a 600+ MHz Pentium III processor with a potent Nvidia graphics chipset should lead for lots of eye candy but it is more difficult to imagine the PlayStation2’s performance without seeing it in action. Unless you’ve actually managed to get your grubby mitts on one from japan or on import for alot of your hard earned cash, hearing that PS2 has an Emotion processor running at 300Mhx doesn’t convey much to the average man in the street where all too often a higher CPU speed is taken to be the simple target to aim for.
Apart from sheer graphical processing grunt, there are other areas in which X-Box would appear to have PS2 at a disadvantage. The memory for a start is twice that of the Sony machine with a hefty 64Mb on board. This means that X-Box will be able to run bigger programs without frequent access to its Hard Disk or DVD. And yes, that Hard Disk is also unique to the X-Box, enabling faster access to games and other software, driver updates and more.
So apples for apples the X-Box would seem to have more firepower, but as has been proven time and time again that is by no means the end of the story. The road to technical nirvana is littered with the carcasses of machines that whilst physically superior to their rivals were let down in other areas. Allowing for this though – and giving the Microsoft console the benefit of the doubt - lets give X-Box four points and PS2 a slightly more modest three.
This is where PlayStation2 comes out its own and promptly kicks X-Box rather unceremoniously into a cocked hat. According to Sony, all but 17 of the titles released for the original PlayStation work on the new machine - and some of those are seeing their graphics improved too. This element of backwards compatibility means that PS2 has a vast array of software already available for it and although PS2-specific software is still a little bit thin on the ground, the million or so gamers who already own the machine are spoilt for choice overall. A quick peek at some of the games already released shows something for everybody – the racing excitement of Ridge Racer 5, the graphics of Evergrace and the eye-popping babes in Dead or Alive 2. Not only these, but there are currently more games under development by the likes of Squaresoft, From Software, Namco and SCE themselves (amongst many others!). Some of these are going to be absolute classics and Polyphony Digital’s PS2 reincarnation of Gran Turismo – GT2000 – must surely be the first of these. Hardened gamers the world over are getting positively moist at the thought of that one!
Unfortunately for Microsoft, however, all that has been seen of the capabilities of X-Box has been a series of graphical demonstrations at the machines’ unveiling. These were pretty enough and obviously took a fair amount of power to run, but they gave no idea of what the X-box could do in the real world. And so far, although some of the bigger games houses have made enthusiastic noises about supporting the Microsoft console, we haven’t seen any games outlines or indeed anything to really make us sit up and take notice.
This makes depressing reading for anyone interested in the X-Box console and whilst time will no doubt improve the situation for Microsoft, its a whopping four points for PlayStation2 and a flaccid one point for X-Box.
Both companies have massive experience in the entertainment and videogames industries, albeit in different areas. Just about everybody from the most technically-minded nerd in the world to some chap sitting freezing his bits off outside an igloo 1,000 miles from the nearest electricity has heard of them. Microsoft's Windows operating system in its various guises powers the vast majority of PC's in the world and although Linux is proving to be a major thorn in Bill Gates' side (and wallet) there is no doubting the all-pervasive power of Microsoft in the world of the PC. In games too, Microsoft has some major accolades under its belt from the all conquering MS Flight Simulator (so accurate they use it to train real airline pilots) to more "mainstream" games such as Midtown Madness and Age of Empires. The success of Microsoft has made Bill Gates the richest man in the world (doesn't it make you sick?) and although the company has recently been found guilty of monopolistic practices it is still in almost as strong a position as ever.
On the consoles front however, Microsoft is at a vast disadvantage. They might know all about PC's and have some classic PC games in their stable, but in the consoles market they have very little experience. In fact, their experience so far has been in providing an operating system for the Sega Dreamcast - Windows CE - and whilst that was no doubt a learning experience for them they still have no actual knowledge of building and then selling their own machine. This - for Microsoft - is uncharted territory and very murky waters indeed.
Sony is a different beast however, a vast electronics company that makes everything from the ubiquitous Sony Walkman to TV's, digital phones, professional video equipment, laptop computers and of course the PlayStation and now PlayStation 2. They are without a doubt the console gurus! In the five years since its launch, the original PlayStation has sold some seventy million units and become the most popular games console in the world by a long way. It is virtually an icon of 1990's entertainment with a vast array of software across all genres including racing games, space shoot-em-ups, RPG's, beat-em-ups and more. Its popularity is such that despite the age of the hardware and the rise of the PC and Internet it continues to sell in vast numbers, gaining more and more fans every day. The only threats to the PlayStation's total dominance of home gaming so far have been the Nintendo64 and more recently the Sega Dreamcast. The N64 proved popular but was let down by having a cartridge-based storage system and although there are some very good games for the machine it's popularity has faded of late. Sega's Dreamcast whilst again a good machine is also lacking in the software department and can mainly be credited with bringing Internet access to the console-owning games fan. Now Sony have PlayStation2 and what a great machine it is... so it's goodbye to N64 and Dreamcast in the popularity race, But overall i think that the X-box will come out best, p.c's have been being made for years and now they are so powerful that no console could be beaten by it, but then a year later another console is reeleased, all this fuss will be made again over somthing that peole have been waiting for months or years for....
Apart from sheer graphical processing grunt, there are other areas in which X-Box would appear to have PS2 at a disadvantage. The memory for a start is twice that of the Sony machine with a hefty 64Mb on board. This means that X-Box will be able to run bigger programs without frequent access to its Hard Disk or DVD. And yes, that Hard Disk is also unique to the X-Box, enabling faster access to games and other software, driver updates and more.
So apples for apples the X-Box would seem to have more firepower, but as has been proven time and time again that is by no means the end of the story. The road to technical nirvana is littered with the carcasses of machines that whilst physically superior to their rivals were let down in other areas. Allowing for this though – and giving the Microsoft console the benefit of the doubt - lets give X-Box four points and PS2 a slightly more modest three.
This is where PlayStation2 comes out its own and promptly kicks X-Box rather unceremoniously into a cocked hat. According to Sony, all but 17 of the titles released for the original PlayStation work on the new machine - and some of those are seeing their graphics improved too. This element of backwards compatibility means that PS2 has a vast array of software already available for it and although PS2-specific software is still a little bit thin on the ground, the million or so gamers who already own the machine are spoilt for choice overall. A quick peek at some of the games already released shows something for everybody – the racing excitement of Ridge Racer 5, the graphics of Evergrace and the eye-popping babes in Dead or Alive 2. Not only these, but there are currently more games under development by the likes of Squaresoft, From Software, Namco and SCE themselves (amongst many others!). Some of these are going to be absolute classics and Polyphony Digital’s PS2 reincarnation of Gran Turismo – GT2000 – must surely be the first of these. Hardened gamers the world over are getting positively moist at the thought of that one!
Unfortunately for Microsoft, however, all that has been seen of the capabilities of X-Box has been a series of graphical demonstrations at the machines’ unveiling. These were pretty enough and obviously took a fair amount of power to run, but they gave no idea of what the X-box could do in the real world. And so far, although some of the bigger games houses have made enthusiastic noises about supporting the Microsoft console, we haven’t seen any games outlines or indeed anything to really make us sit up and take notice.
This makes depressing reading for anyone interested in the X-Box console and whilst time will no doubt improve the situation for Microsoft, its a whopping four points for PlayStation2 and a flaccid one point for X-Box.
Both companies have massive experience in the entertainment and videogames industries, albeit in different areas. Just about everybody from the most technically-minded nerd in the world to some chap sitting freezing his bits off outside an igloo 1,000 miles from the nearest electricity has heard of them. Microsoft's Windows operating system in its various guises powers the vast majority of PC's in the world and although Linux is proving to be a major thorn in Bill Gates' side (and wallet) there is no doubting the all-pervasive power of Microsoft in the world of the PC. In games too, Microsoft has some major accolades under its belt from the all conquering MS Flight Simulator (so accurate they use it to train real airline pilots) to more "mainstream" games such as Midtown Madness and Age of Empires. The success of Microsoft has made Bill Gates the richest man in the world (doesn't it make you sick?) and although the company has recently been found guilty of monopolistic practices it is still in almost as strong a position as ever.
On the consoles front however, Microsoft is at a vast disadvantage. They might know all about PC's and have some classic PC games in their stable, but in the consoles market they have very little experience. In fact, their experience so far has been in providing an operating system for the Sega Dreamcast - Windows CE - and whilst that was no doubt a learning experience for them they still have no actual knowledge of building and then selling their own machine. This - for Microsoft - is uncharted territory and very murky waters indeed.
Sony is a different beast however, a vast electronics company that makes everything from the ubiquitous Sony Walkman to TV's, digital phones, professional video equipment, laptop computers and of course the PlayStation and now PlayStation 2. They are without a doubt the console gurus! In the five years since its launch, the original PlayStation has sold some seventy million units and become the most popular games console in the world by a long way. It is virtually an icon of 1990's entertainment with a vast array of software across all genres including racing games, space shoot-em-ups, RPG's, beat-em-ups and more. Its popularity is such that despite the age of the hardware and the rise of the PC and Internet it continues to sell in vast numbers, gaining more and more fans every day. The only threats to the PlayStation's total dominance of home gaming so far have been the Nintendo64 and more recently the Sega Dreamcast. The N64 proved popular but was let down by having a cartridge-based storage system and although there are some very good games for the machine it's popularity has faded of late. Sega's Dreamcast whilst again a good machine is also lacking in the software department and can mainly be credited with bringing Internet access to the console-owning games fan. Now Sony have PlayStation2 and what a great machine it is... so it's goodbye to N64 and Dreamcast in the popularity race, But overall i think that the X-box will come out best, p.c's have been being made for years and now they are so powerful that no console could be beaten by it, but then a year later another console is reeleased, all this fuss will be made again over somthing that peole have been waiting for months or years for....
As the 2 machines have not been shown yet in the U.K, X-Box has'nt even been designed yet!!!!! you cant tell which ones will be better but if you Compare the specifications of the two machines in the cold light of day and on paper the X-Box would appear to have something of an edge over PlayStation2. The X-Box uses hardware that will be more familiar to PC users and will therefore win more oohs and aahs in that fraternity. The combination of a 600+ MHz Pentium III processor with a potent Nvidia graphics chipset should lead for lots of eye candy but it is more difficult to imagine the PlayStation2’s performance without seeing it in action. Unless you’ve actually managed to get your grubby mitts on one from japan or on import for alot of your hard earned cash, hearing that PS2 has an Emotion processor running at 300Mhx doesn’t convey much to the average man in the street where all too often a higher CPU speed is taken to be the simple target to aim for.
Apart from sheer graphical processing grunt, there are other areas in which X-Box would appear to have PS2 at a disadvantage. The memory for a start is twice that of the Sony machine with a hefty 64Mb on board. This means that X-Box will be able to run bigger programs without frequent access to its Hard Disk or DVD. And yes, that Hard Disk is also unique to the X-Box, enabling faster access to games and other software, driver updates and more.
So apples for apples the X-Box would seem to have more firepower, but as has been proven time and time again that is by no means the end of the story. The road to technical nirvana is littered with the carcasses of machines that whilst physically superior to their rivals were let down in other areas. Allowing for this though – and giving the Microsoft console the benefit of the doubt - lets give X-Box four points and PS2 a slightly more modest three.
This is where PlayStation2 comes out its own and promptly kicks X-Box rather unceremoniously into a cocked hat. According to Sony, all but 17 of the titles released for the original PlayStation work on the new machine - and some of those are seeing their graphics improved too. This element of backwards compatibility means that PS2 has a vast array of software already available for it and although PS2-specific software is still a little bit thin on the ground, the million or so gamers who already own the machine are spoilt for choice overall. A quick peek at some of the games already released shows something for everybody – the racing excitement of Ridge Racer 5, the graphics of Evergrace and the eye-popping babes in Dead or Alive 2. Not only these, but there are currently more games under development by the likes of Squaresoft, From Software, Namco and SCE themselves (amongst many others!). Some of these are going to be absolute classics and Polyphony Digital’s PS2 reincarnation of Gran Turismo – GT2000 – must surely be the first of these. Hardened gamers the world over are getting positively moist at the thought of that one!
Unfortunately for Microsoft, however, all that has been seen of the capabilities of X-Box has been a series of graphical demonstrations at the machines’ unveiling. These were pretty enough and obviously took a fair amount of power to run, but they gave no idea of what the X-box could do in the real world. And so far, although some of the bigger games houses have made enthusiastic noises about supporting the Microsoft console, we haven’t seen any games outlines or indeed anything to really make us sit up and take notice.
This makes depressing reading for anyone interested in the X-Box console and whilst time will no doubt improve the situation for Microsoft, its a whopping four points for PlayStation2 and a flaccid one point for X-Box.
Both companies have massive experience in the entertainment and videogames industries, albeit in different areas. Just about everybody from the most technically-minded nerd in the world to some chap sitting freezing his bits off outside an igloo 1,000 miles from the nearest electricity has heard of them. Microsoft's Windows operating system in its various guises powers the vast majority of PC's in the world and although Linux is proving to be a major thorn in Bill Gates' side (and wallet) there is no doubting the all-pervasive power of Microsoft in the world of the PC. In games too, Microsoft has some major accolades under its belt from the all conquering MS Flight Simulator (so accurate they use it to train real airline pilots) to more "mainstream" games such as Midtown Madness and Age of Empires. The success of Microsoft has made Bill Gates the richest man in the world (doesn't it make you sick?) and although the company has recently been found guilty of monopolistic practices it is still in almost as strong a position as ever.
On the consoles front however, Microsoft is at a vast disadvantage. They might know all about PC's and have some classic PC games in their stable, but in the consoles market they have very little experience. In fact, their experience so far has been in providing an operating system for the Sega Dreamcast - Windows CE - and whilst that was no doubt a learning experience for them they still have no actual knowledge of building and then selling their own machine. This - for Microsoft - is uncharted territory and very murky waters indeed.
Sony is a different beast however, a vast electronics company that makes everything from the ubiquitous Sony Walkman to TV's, digital phones, professional video equipment, laptop computers and of course the PlayStation and now PlayStation 2. They are without a doubt the console gurus! In the five years since its launch, the original PlayStation has sold some seventy million units and become the most popular games console in the world by a long way. It is virtually an icon of 1990's entertainment with a vast array of software across all genres including racing games, space shoot-em-ups, RPG's, beat-em-ups and more. Its popularity is such that despite the age of the hardware and the rise of the PC and Internet it continues to sell in vast numbers, gaining more and more fans every day. The only threats to the PlayStation's total dominance of home gaming so far have been the Nintendo64 and more recently the Sega Dreamcast. The N64 proved popular but was let down by having a cartridge-based storage system and although there are some very good games for the machine it's popularity has faded of late. Sega's Dreamcast whilst again a good machine is also lacking in the software department and can mainly be credited with bringing Internet access to the console-owning games fan. Now Sony have PlayStation2 and what a great machine it is... so it's goodbye to N64 and Dreamcast in the popularity race, But overall i think that the X-box will come out best, p.c's have been being made for years and now they are so powerful that no console could be beaten by it, but then a year later another console is reeleased, all this fuss will be made again over somthing that peole have been waiting for months or years for....
Apart from sheer graphical processing grunt, there are other areas in which X-Box would appear to have PS2 at a disadvantage. The memory for a start is twice that of the Sony machine with a hefty 64Mb on board. This means that X-Box will be able to run bigger programs without frequent access to its Hard Disk or DVD. And yes, that Hard Disk is also unique to the X-Box, enabling faster access to games and other software, driver updates and more.
So apples for apples the X-Box would seem to have more firepower, but as has been proven time and time again that is by no means the end of the story. The road to technical nirvana is littered with the carcasses of machines that whilst physically superior to their rivals were let down in other areas. Allowing for this though – and giving the Microsoft console the benefit of the doubt - lets give X-Box four points and PS2 a slightly more modest three.
This is where PlayStation2 comes out its own and promptly kicks X-Box rather unceremoniously into a cocked hat. According to Sony, all but 17 of the titles released for the original PlayStation work on the new machine - and some of those are seeing their graphics improved too. This element of backwards compatibility means that PS2 has a vast array of software already available for it and although PS2-specific software is still a little bit thin on the ground, the million or so gamers who already own the machine are spoilt for choice overall. A quick peek at some of the games already released shows something for everybody – the racing excitement of Ridge Racer 5, the graphics of Evergrace and the eye-popping babes in Dead or Alive 2. Not only these, but there are currently more games under development by the likes of Squaresoft, From Software, Namco and SCE themselves (amongst many others!). Some of these are going to be absolute classics and Polyphony Digital’s PS2 reincarnation of Gran Turismo – GT2000 – must surely be the first of these. Hardened gamers the world over are getting positively moist at the thought of that one!
Unfortunately for Microsoft, however, all that has been seen of the capabilities of X-Box has been a series of graphical demonstrations at the machines’ unveiling. These were pretty enough and obviously took a fair amount of power to run, but they gave no idea of what the X-box could do in the real world. And so far, although some of the bigger games houses have made enthusiastic noises about supporting the Microsoft console, we haven’t seen any games outlines or indeed anything to really make us sit up and take notice.
This makes depressing reading for anyone interested in the X-Box console and whilst time will no doubt improve the situation for Microsoft, its a whopping four points for PlayStation2 and a flaccid one point for X-Box.
Both companies have massive experience in the entertainment and videogames industries, albeit in different areas. Just about everybody from the most technically-minded nerd in the world to some chap sitting freezing his bits off outside an igloo 1,000 miles from the nearest electricity has heard of them. Microsoft's Windows operating system in its various guises powers the vast majority of PC's in the world and although Linux is proving to be a major thorn in Bill Gates' side (and wallet) there is no doubting the all-pervasive power of Microsoft in the world of the PC. In games too, Microsoft has some major accolades under its belt from the all conquering MS Flight Simulator (so accurate they use it to train real airline pilots) to more "mainstream" games such as Midtown Madness and Age of Empires. The success of Microsoft has made Bill Gates the richest man in the world (doesn't it make you sick?) and although the company has recently been found guilty of monopolistic practices it is still in almost as strong a position as ever.
On the consoles front however, Microsoft is at a vast disadvantage. They might know all about PC's and have some classic PC games in their stable, but in the consoles market they have very little experience. In fact, their experience so far has been in providing an operating system for the Sega Dreamcast - Windows CE - and whilst that was no doubt a learning experience for them they still have no actual knowledge of building and then selling their own machine. This - for Microsoft - is uncharted territory and very murky waters indeed.
Sony is a different beast however, a vast electronics company that makes everything from the ubiquitous Sony Walkman to TV's, digital phones, professional video equipment, laptop computers and of course the PlayStation and now PlayStation 2. They are without a doubt the console gurus! In the five years since its launch, the original PlayStation has sold some seventy million units and become the most popular games console in the world by a long way. It is virtually an icon of 1990's entertainment with a vast array of software across all genres including racing games, space shoot-em-ups, RPG's, beat-em-ups and more. Its popularity is such that despite the age of the hardware and the rise of the PC and Internet it continues to sell in vast numbers, gaining more and more fans every day. The only threats to the PlayStation's total dominance of home gaming so far have been the Nintendo64 and more recently the Sega Dreamcast. The N64 proved popular but was let down by having a cartridge-based storage system and although there are some very good games for the machine it's popularity has faded of late. Sega's Dreamcast whilst again a good machine is also lacking in the software department and can mainly be credited with bringing Internet access to the console-owning games fan. Now Sony have PlayStation2 and what a great machine it is... so it's goodbye to N64 and Dreamcast in the popularity race, But overall i think that the X-box will come out best, p.c's have been being made for years and now they are so powerful that no console could be beaten by it, but then a year later another console is reeleased, all this fuss will be made again over somthing that peole have been waiting for months or years for....
Microsoft need to make it clear exactly what audience they are targeting. The whole idea of a console is that you can simply stick in a game, and it's guarenteed to work first time. The talk of a hard-drive for the X-box with driver updates makes this impossible, as games would require certain driver updates to run. Also, if a game had to be loaded on to the hard drive to be played, can you imagine only being able to have a certain number of games on the hard drive at once, so the benefit improved loading time is lost because you have to reinstall the game on to the X-box every time you want to use it.
As a final note, true, a 300mhz Emotion Engine doesn't make too much sense to your average Joe on the street, but neither does a nVidia advanced graphics chipset, and frankly, as long as it does the job, who cares?
As a final note, true, a 300mhz Emotion Engine doesn't make too much sense to your average Joe on the street, but neither does a nVidia advanced graphics chipset, and frankly, as long as it does the job, who cares?
I think that consoles are just as good as p.cs they both have their opposites, p.cs games have to be installed but when they are they have amazing grafics, but loading times, consoles graphics are fine for the day in age we are in and there is no loading tmes.so i wonder if the X-box will be a mix of the 2, Great graphics, no loading times.