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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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I would have to agree with that title...
i got 2 words.....nintendo lover!!!
as 4 microsofts pad...i think its the best yet, imho its the 1st decent pad u can use 4 FPS...
and as for your software compression bit, any decent programmer can write code to enable this on any console...
as 4 microsofts pad...i think its the best yet, imho its the 1st decent pad u can use 4 FPS...
and as for your software compression bit, any decent programmer can write code to enable this on any console...
i got 2 words.....nintendo lover!!!
as 4 microsofts pad...i think its the best yet, imho its the 1st decent pad u can use 4 FPS...
and as for your texture compression bit, any decent programmer can write code to enable this on any console...
as 4 microsofts pad...i think its the best yet, imho its the 1st decent pad u can use 4 FPS...
and as for your texture compression bit, any decent programmer can write code to enable this on any console...
Hmmm, well it's a shame that there is only one FPS on the X-Box: Halo. It's good that it's one of - if not THE - best FPS ever, but I really want to see more action games coming out in the very near future.
I've seen loads of preview lists, screenshots, but nothing on my local [insert game store]'s shelves.
Humph.
I've seen loads of preview lists, screenshots, but nothing on my local [insert game store]'s shelves.
Humph.
who cares? just play the games and argue about those instead, after all they are what make a console.
Silent85 wrote:
> He may be but come on how far has the world progressed since he first
> devised windows Dont get me wrong other people could of done but he
Silent, I hate to spoil the party, but Windows was taken from Apple, which in turn, came from Xerox.
It certainly wasn't a Microsoft innovation.
> He may be but come on how far has the world progressed since he first
> devised windows Dont get me wrong other people could of done but he
Silent, I hate to spoil the party, but Windows was taken from Apple, which in turn, came from Xerox.
It certainly wasn't a Microsoft innovation.
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