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The X-Box was always going to be the foremost contender for Nintendo-basher of the year. What with Sony quietly slipping away, and Sega finally giving up the ghost, the battlefield has been left clear for the most intense console war that you may ever see. The thing is, Microsoft is not experienced in the console market, and it's already beginning to show. The control pad, as expected, is uninspiring, looking remarkably similar to a Dreamcast pad.
But that was expected, right? The word Microsoft isn't exactly synonymous with innovation - more like borrowing and improving, or to be more accurate, cunningly creating an exclusive mass market. Mr Gates has no idea what Nintendo are up to, and this has forced him to have a dig at Gamecube's specifications. On the X-Box official web-site, you can view the X-box's all-important numbers compared directly to Gamecube and PS2. Here is an example of the statistics for you to look at;
X-box
CPU – 733MHz
Graphics Processor – 250MHz
Total Memory – 64MB
Memory Bandwidth – 6.4GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 125M/sec
PS2
CPU – 294.912MHz
Graphics Processor – 147.465MHz
Total Memory – 32MB
Memory Bandwidth – 3.2GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 66M/sec
Gamecube
CPU – 405 MHz Power PC
Graphics Processor – 202.5MHz
Total Memory – 40MB
Memory Bandwidth – 3.2GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 6-12M/sec
As you can see, it doesn't look good for Nintendo, but it wouldn't if any of it was based on in-game comparisons. Every machine works differently, so the fact that one console has a larger number than the other means nothing. As it happens, the Gamecube's CPU is based on the Power PC architecture, which works in a totally different way to a standard PC CPU. Putting the two numbers next to each other is just plain ignorance. Maybe they think that nobody will notice? In actual fact, one major developer has said, that Gamecube's CPU is easily equivalent to a 733MHz CPU. One down, several other misleading facts to go!
X-box supposedly has 21MB more memory than Gamecube. This is actually true, but Gamecube uses highly advanced texture-compression techniques. It doesn't need all that memory, and if you take into account all that extra space available after compression, Gamecube has tons more virtual memory than X-Box.
The most misleading and downright stupid looking comparison of all is in the polygon performance. What's that? X-Box is 11 times more powerful than Gamecube? Nintendo doesn't stand a chance. On the contrary, Nintendo has learned a valuable lesson - this time round, it's being realistic with its figures. The N64 had some awe-inspiring, polygon-pushing numbers when it was first announced, but it never came close. According to this data, the PS2 can push 66 million polygons per. second. So why is it that Ridge Racer V never goes above three million/sec? The cold light of day is that these figures are only true if there are no effects. Once you have a bunch of light sources, textures, and a decent framerate, that number immediately goes down to under 1/10th! This puts Microsoft's machine at around 12 million/sec. With EA Canada announcing that in benchmark tests (on Gamecube) they were achieving in the region of 15 million/sec with multiple effects and light sources, everything suddenly looks rosy again. 125 million polygons/second indeed!
Ok, so I’ve pretty much proven that technically, the Gamecube can more than hold its own in the coming console wars, but that’s only part of the battle. The console market is now full of huge publishers, whose games will more than likely be of the multi-format variety. So what is to stop Joe Bloggs buying an X-Box instead of a Gamecube? That’s where the exclusive software comes in. Nintendo is without doubt home to some of the most talented designers and programmers in the world. Its two main in-house teams, EAD and HAL Laboratory are responsible for franchises such as Pokémon, Mario, Zelda and Metroid, and that’s only to mention a few. Rest assured, there won’t be a shortage of awesome titles available from Nintendo themselves.
Then there’s the 2nd Parties, the developers in which Nintendo has a financial stake. Due to the financial tie, these developers will develop only for Nintendo’s consoles. At the moment, the list includes Rare, Silicon Knights, Left Field, NSTC and Retro Studios.
Last of all are the 3rd-Party developers. Microsoft recently released a list of 150 3rd-Party developers who it claimed were developing for its console. Many of these are also developing for Gamecube, Activision, Infogrames, Namco, Acclaim, 3DO, Konami and Capcom to name just a few.
As you can see, there are more than enough quality development studios working on Gamecube software, but whereas Microsoft is actively showing off what its machine can do, Nintendo has slammed Non Disclosure Agreements on everyone so that they can’t say a word until May. Roll on E3!
But that was expected, right? The word Microsoft isn't exactly synonymous with innovation - more like borrowing and improving, or to be more accurate, cunningly creating an exclusive mass market. Mr Gates has no idea what Nintendo are up to, and this has forced him to have a dig at Gamecube's specifications. On the X-Box official web-site, you can view the X-box's all-important numbers compared directly to Gamecube and PS2. Here is an example of the statistics for you to look at;
X-box
CPU – 733MHz
Graphics Processor – 250MHz
Total Memory – 64MB
Memory Bandwidth – 6.4GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 125M/sec
PS2
CPU – 294.912MHz
Graphics Processor – 147.465MHz
Total Memory – 32MB
Memory Bandwidth – 3.2GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 66M/sec
Gamecube
CPU – 405 MHz Power PC
Graphics Processor – 202.5MHz
Total Memory – 40MB
Memory Bandwidth – 3.2GB/sec
Polygon Performance – 6-12M/sec
As you can see, it doesn't look good for Nintendo, but it wouldn't if any of it was based on in-game comparisons. Every machine works differently, so the fact that one console has a larger number than the other means nothing. As it happens, the Gamecube's CPU is based on the Power PC architecture, which works in a totally different way to a standard PC CPU. Putting the two numbers next to each other is just plain ignorance. Maybe they think that nobody will notice? In actual fact, one major developer has said, that Gamecube's CPU is easily equivalent to a 733MHz CPU. One down, several other misleading facts to go!
X-box supposedly has 21MB more memory than Gamecube. This is actually true, but Gamecube uses highly advanced texture-compression techniques. It doesn't need all that memory, and if you take into account all that extra space available after compression, Gamecube has tons more virtual memory than X-Box.
The most misleading and downright stupid looking comparison of all is in the polygon performance. What's that? X-Box is 11 times more powerful than Gamecube? Nintendo doesn't stand a chance. On the contrary, Nintendo has learned a valuable lesson - this time round, it's being realistic with its figures. The N64 had some awe-inspiring, polygon-pushing numbers when it was first announced, but it never came close. According to this data, the PS2 can push 66 million polygons per. second. So why is it that Ridge Racer V never goes above three million/sec? The cold light of day is that these figures are only true if there are no effects. Once you have a bunch of light sources, textures, and a decent framerate, that number immediately goes down to under 1/10th! This puts Microsoft's machine at around 12 million/sec. With EA Canada announcing that in benchmark tests (on Gamecube) they were achieving in the region of 15 million/sec with multiple effects and light sources, everything suddenly looks rosy again. 125 million polygons/second indeed!
Ok, so I’ve pretty much proven that technically, the Gamecube can more than hold its own in the coming console wars, but that’s only part of the battle. The console market is now full of huge publishers, whose games will more than likely be of the multi-format variety. So what is to stop Joe Bloggs buying an X-Box instead of a Gamecube? That’s where the exclusive software comes in. Nintendo is without doubt home to some of the most talented designers and programmers in the world. Its two main in-house teams, EAD and HAL Laboratory are responsible for franchises such as Pokémon, Mario, Zelda and Metroid, and that’s only to mention a few. Rest assured, there won’t be a shortage of awesome titles available from Nintendo themselves.
Then there’s the 2nd Parties, the developers in which Nintendo has a financial stake. Due to the financial tie, these developers will develop only for Nintendo’s consoles. At the moment, the list includes Rare, Silicon Knights, Left Field, NSTC and Retro Studios.
Last of all are the 3rd-Party developers. Microsoft recently released a list of 150 3rd-Party developers who it claimed were developing for its console. Many of these are also developing for Gamecube, Activision, Infogrames, Namco, Acclaim, 3DO, Konami and Capcom to name just a few.
As you can see, there are more than enough quality development studios working on Gamecube software, but whereas Microsoft is actively showing off what its machine can do, Nintendo has slammed Non Disclosure Agreements on everyone so that they can’t say a word until May. Roll on E3!
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the game cube is better than the xbox
The Untouchables wrote:
> Bandit wrote:
> as an xbox owner who will also shortly become a cube owner as well,
> i
> can certainly say the xbox has many EXELLANT
> games..HALO/PGR/DOA3/GUN
> VALKYRIE/JET SET RADIO/MAX PAYNE/WRECKLESS/RALLISPORT
> CHALLENGE/ODDWORLD/BURNOUT/ and it has some crackers on the horrizon
> QUANTUM REDSHIFT/MM3/CRIMSON SKIES/SPLASHDOWN/MOTO GP/CRAZY TAXI
> 3/SPY
> HUNTER/ not to mention the whispers about HALO 2 and poss MGS2. BUT
> like EVERY console it's also got it's NAIL'S...ARTIC THUNDER/TEST
> DRIVE OFF ROAD/OBI-WAN/DARK SUMMIT/FUZION FRENZY to name a few.
> p.s and as far as i know there are NO FISHING GAMES ON THE XBOX(the
> untouchables)
>
> ???????What the HELL is that supposed to mean??????????
this is in refrence to your post saying the xbox had crap boring games,and was full of sport/fishing games you made on the other page,what's wrong you so high on your own hot air you can not remember what you said?
oh and while i'm here,here's some more a list games 4 you:
ENCLAVE/CM3/THE THING/UNREAL CHAMPIONSHIP/BATTLE ENGINE AQUILA/IRONSTORM/HOTD3/with many more being ONLINE by the end of the year/early 2003.
> Bandit wrote:
> as an xbox owner who will also shortly become a cube owner as well,
> i
> can certainly say the xbox has many EXELLANT
> games..HALO/PGR/DOA3/GUN
> VALKYRIE/JET SET RADIO/MAX PAYNE/WRECKLESS/RALLISPORT
> CHALLENGE/ODDWORLD/BURNOUT/ and it has some crackers on the horrizon
> QUANTUM REDSHIFT/MM3/CRIMSON SKIES/SPLASHDOWN/MOTO GP/CRAZY TAXI
> 3/SPY
> HUNTER/ not to mention the whispers about HALO 2 and poss MGS2. BUT
> like EVERY console it's also got it's NAIL'S...ARTIC THUNDER/TEST
> DRIVE OFF ROAD/OBI-WAN/DARK SUMMIT/FUZION FRENZY to name a few.
> p.s and as far as i know there are NO FISHING GAMES ON THE XBOX(the
> untouchables)
>
> ???????What the HELL is that supposed to mean??????????
this is in refrence to your post saying the xbox had crap boring games,and was full of sport/fishing games you made on the other page,what's wrong you so high on your own hot air you can not remember what you said?
oh and while i'm here,here's some more a list games 4 you:
ENCLAVE/CM3/THE THING/UNREAL CHAMPIONSHIP/BATTLE ENGINE AQUILA/IRONSTORM/HOTD3/with many more being ONLINE by the end of the year/early 2003.
Indian-DudeY2K wrote:
> Then there’s the 2nd Parties, the developers in which Nintendo has a
> financial stake. Due to the financial tie, these developers will
> develop only for Nintendo’s consoles. At the moment, the list
> includes
> Rare, Silicon Knights, Left Field, NSTC and Retro Studios.
> Last of all are the 3rd-Party developers. Microsoft recently
> released
> a list of 150 3rd-Party developers who it claimed were developing
> for
> its console. Many of these are also developing for Gamecube,
> Activision, Infogrames, Namco, Acclaim, 3DO, Konami and Capcom to
> name
> just a few.
>
>
> actually left field arent 2nd party any more , they have announced
> that they will now be 3rd party from now on , reason : nobody knows
> ;-( (it was in CUBE)
>
> do you mind if i print out a copy of this , so that i can show all my
> ps2/xbox loving mates the facts , they wont beleive me but hey , who
> cares.
I only recently heard about Left Field Studos becoming 3rd party.
And no I dont mind if you print out my post.
> Then there’s the 2nd Parties, the developers in which Nintendo has a
> financial stake. Due to the financial tie, these developers will
> develop only for Nintendo’s consoles. At the moment, the list
> includes
> Rare, Silicon Knights, Left Field, NSTC and Retro Studios.
> Last of all are the 3rd-Party developers. Microsoft recently
> released
> a list of 150 3rd-Party developers who it claimed were developing
> for
> its console. Many of these are also developing for Gamecube,
> Activision, Infogrames, Namco, Acclaim, 3DO, Konami and Capcom to
> name
> just a few.
>
>
> actually left field arent 2nd party any more , they have announced
> that they will now be 3rd party from now on , reason : nobody knows
> ;-( (it was in CUBE)
>
> do you mind if i print out a copy of this , so that i can show all my
> ps2/xbox loving mates the facts , they wont beleive me but hey , who
> cares.
I only recently heard about Left Field Studos becoming 3rd party.
And no I dont mind if you print out my post.
The Untouchables wrote:
> Very well written....You have just killed away all my worries about
> GAMECUBE. I definetly gonna get one now...
Your welcome and thank you that's exactly what I was trying to do.
> Very well written....You have just killed away all my worries about
> GAMECUBE. I definetly gonna get one now...
Your welcome and thank you that's exactly what I was trying to do.
Bonus wrote:
> Right, that post had all the technical info you could need, but the
> person writing the thing doesn't understand about hardware at all.
>
> You cannot directly compare the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 by the numbers
> that the manufacturers spurt out of their big mouths. The technical
> aspects and figure quoted are misleading and designed to attract
> people who don;t actually know what they mean. If you want to look at
> console performance comparisons, you need to find benchmark results.
> It is very easy to find the figures that would give a direct
> comparison of the consoles, so I'll have a hunt around and find them
> for you.
That's what I was trying to say you t**.
I was saying that it's difficult to compare different hardware. I was meerly trying to tell you why.
> Right, that post had all the technical info you could need, but the
> person writing the thing doesn't understand about hardware at all.
>
> You cannot directly compare the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 by the numbers
> that the manufacturers spurt out of their big mouths. The technical
> aspects and figure quoted are misleading and designed to attract
> people who don;t actually know what they mean. If you want to look at
> console performance comparisons, you need to find benchmark results.
> It is very easy to find the figures that would give a direct
> comparison of the consoles, so I'll have a hunt around and find them
> for you.
That's what I was trying to say you t**.
I was saying that it's difficult to compare different hardware. I was meerly trying to tell you why.
ghoul wrote:
> why is every one so intent on comparing and/or dissing other
> consoles
> i will be buying a gamecube simply because i have allways loved nintys
> games but all three next-gen consoles are the buisness if we are all
> honest.
> i think that in the end it's just a matter of personal choice
> people will buy what they like regardless of what any-one says
I wasn't dissing other consoles I was just showing that the numbers are not necessarily telling you the truth.
> why is every one so intent on comparing and/or dissing other
> consoles
> i will be buying a gamecube simply because i have allways loved nintys
> games but all three next-gen consoles are the buisness if we are all
> honest.
> i think that in the end it's just a matter of personal choice
> people will buy what they like regardless of what any-one says
I wasn't dissing other consoles I was just showing that the numbers are not necessarily telling you the truth.
All the mags say its great, but all you guys say its lame!
dont get burnout cyclone! its proper rubbish!
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