Oh you guys... knock yourselves out with the sales figures.

Again, popularity does not best make. We all know what happened with VHS or WIndows or Sony PS2 for that matter.

I find it far more interesting to see if PS3 emerges as the technically and games-wise most capable machine or if it does not. Seeing it live 10 years (which it may very well do) interests me far less. Just a subjective, personal perspective of course.

Personally I think too long console generations is a problem for serious console gamers and unnecessarily pushes people to playing PC games. No, I don't want to buy a new console every year, but 3-4 years between console generations might be good.

Lets face it. If you have been staying true to your circa 2001 PS2 in Europe, still waiting for PS3 and playing serious games (obviously things like Guitar Hero don't suffer), they are looking QUITE aged by now. Sometimes smaller steps more often isn't that bad.

But by all means, stick to PS3 for a decade Sony, I can then buy that Xbox 720 in a few years time and enjoy the next-next-gen while Kutaragi still promises Cell to beat it any day now...

(Seriously, I'm still keeping an open mind on the PS3. If it beats the 360 some day, I may very well buy one.)

Last edited by jtsiren on 09-Jan-2007 at 09:06 PM.

@BrianK

Quote:

Also in the US wasn't the Apple G5 techincally a supercomputer at that time?

The G4 was classified as such IIRC.

Quote:

"Sony is showing here new PlayStation software titles including Fomula One Championship Edition, MLB 07, MotorStorm (1080p/60fps), Lair, Heavenly Sword and Gran Turismo HD (downloadable), all for the PS3; Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, KillZone and SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo, all for the PSP." http://www.twice.com/article/CA6405091.html Sure it's possible, but first I will wait for more reports.

Confirmed!!!

http://www.gamespot.com/pages/video_player/popup.php?pid=928393&sid=6163833

@jtsiren

Quote:

Personally I think too long console generations is a problem for serious console gamers and unnecessarily pushes people to playing PC games. No, I don't want to buy a new console every year, but 3-4 years between console generations might be good.

Sony already has plans for a future PS4. But a cheap slim version of the PS3 like they did with the PSOne and slim PS2, may have lots of potential next to a new PS4 product.

Interesting, didn't know Motorstorm was going to be 1080p60.

Oddly enough seen a 46 inch 1080 screen today (at a mere £1800), it was so dammed hires you could see jaggies on the cartoon it was playing, and worse, you could see jpeg artefacts even on non moving things.

The screen was so good it made the content look bad!

There was also a 100 inch 1080 projection TV, a bit excessive though...

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@BrianK

It looks like I do need to spell it out for you. It could be that I'm not capable of good communication, but I have the feeling the problem is on your side.

Again, you still haven't spelled out the issue of sitting 3' from your TV. It could be that I can't read, but honestly, in your last response you completely ignore it.

And do you really think I am going to respond seriously on your Pong remark? We are talking XBOX 360 and PS3 here. Sure there would be ways to play Pong on those, but what's the point?

And again, you phrase, "highly doubtful" and "drastically better". I never said drastically better. Why is it so hard for you to admit?

Please, next time, give me an answer as if you are a grown up.

@Trezzer

Quote:

I don't think Sony are either. They know very well that they will have to upgrade it before then to keep up with their competition. It's just yet another lie from Sony really. Just wait and see.

You should know very well that up till now Sony has been able to keep two Playstation lines alive at the same time. A 10 year lifespan for the PS3 doesn't mean that PS4 won't be released within this time window.

Perhaps Sony has broken many promises, but this one doesn't seem so unlikely. PS1 had a 10 year lifespan, PS2 is close to 7 years and still has very strong sales figures, so it looks very likely it will have a 10 year lifespan, so why shouldn't the PS3 get a 10 year lifespan? Potentially Sony has a big market that might be tempted to upgrade to a PS3 in the coming 10 years.

@minator

The Demo and the Japanese release so far has been 720p, I knew a far more polished version existed but 1080p/60FPS I wasn't expecting as they also added an impressive online multi-player, additional content and options.

This is highly impressive as at 720p the game was already demanding a lot of power, unlike any racing game we have ever seen before. Probably Gran Turismo 5 is going to beat the power needed, but unlike that this is going to be a launch title.

In other news Killzone for the PS3 may be released during the second half of this year, going head-to-head with the release of Halo 3 for the XBox 360.

Good news for the Japanese, new Gundam Musou game from Koei sheduled for 1 March.

Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 11:02 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 07:36 AM.

@jiyong

Quote:

You should know very well that up till now Sony has been able to keep two Playstation lines alive at the same time. A 10 year lifespan for the PS3 doesn't mean that PS4 won't be released within this time window.

Of course not. PS1 came out in 1994, PS2 in circa 2000 and PS3 in 2006. That is a consistent sixish years between launches (for Europe add about one year to each date, but the six year difference still remains pretty consistent). There is nothing to suggest that this wouldn't be the case with PS4 as well, if such comes.

OTOH, Xbox came out in 2001 and Xbox 360 in 2005, circa four years apart. Now, if Microsoft would follow it up with a console in late 2009, that could be a few years before PS4 and upgrade again quite soon after the release of PS4. Of course we don't know if Microsoft has such musings, but it is possible that the pace will hasten.

As a gamer, I would probably prefer both Sony and Microsoft to follow a 3-4 year rule rather than a 5-6 year rule. That would keep the console generations fresher without looking like crap compared to then-current PC in their later life.

(And no, obviously technology doesn't make for good games, but then if it didn't matter at all we'd all be playing with our 8-bit Ataris and having a blast.)

Last edited by jtsiren on 10-Jan-2007 at 08:38 AM.

In the interview, Gates said that he feels that Sony will never pull ahead in the graphics game because the 360 tech will always be "a year ahead in development time."

Luckily Bill Gates has very often been wrong regarding his predictions.
"Halo 3 will come out when the PS3 comes out!" Bill Gates

Microsoft also claimed to sell 10 Million XBox 360 units before the PS3 would be launched, they also sated 1080p/60 FPS wouldn't be possible...

IMO like always both PR/marketing should be taken with a grain of salt, however personally looking back through history with regard to Microsoft more so.

New Afrika screenshots:

http://ps3.vggen.com/image.php?game=1785&image=ps3/afrika/afrika1.jpg
http://ps3.vggen.com/image.php?game=1785&image=ps3/afrika/afrika2.jpg
http://ps3.vggen.com/image.php?game=1785&image=ps3/afrika/afrika3.jpg
http://ps3.vggen.com/image.php?game=1785&image=ps3/afrika/afrika4.jpg
http://ps3.vggen.com/image.php?game=1785&image=ps3/afrika/afrika5.jpg

Formula One preview:
http://www.ugo.com/ugo/html/article/?id=16434§ionId=2

"It also sure doesn't hurt that the game takes full advantage of the PS3's powerful hardware. The car and tracks look fantastic and it all runs at a smooth frame rate, even in the preview build. The only thing tripping you up when you find yourself caught in the middle of a pack of your fellow racers will be your own driving ineptitude. Even the weather effects will make you sit up and say "Wow." It's impressive enough to catch that realistic glare of the sun off of the asphalt on a typical race day, but it's even more drool-inducing when you're squinting your eyes through the blinding spray of the cars in front of you on a heavy rain day."

"All told, things seem to be shaping up very well for Formula One Championship Edition. The technical execution of the game is going to be tough to beat (though Gran Turismo HD Concept and others will certainly try)"

@MikeB

Quote:

Microsoft also claimed to sell 10 Million XBox 360 units before the PS3 would be launched, they also sated 1080p/60 FPS wouldn't be possible...

Sony has their fair share of misleading and simply false announcements, do you really want to go there? As for that 10 million, it isn't like they failed by a huge margin considering how much they did ship.

I also don't think 1080p/60 has mostly been claimed impossible by Microsoft (clearly doing something at 1080p/60 is easily possible by either console), I remember them mostly saying that the cost of 1080p is huge compared to rewards. Again this uninspiring talk of the sweet spot, but still.

I would imagine more 1080p Xbox 360 content coming out because of competition though. Whether or not this will make for better or visually more pleasing games, it is hard to tell - at 720p these either of these consoles can certainly pump out more complex graphics than they can at 1080p (somewhat ironically the overhead of producing a higher resolution image inherently means it is always possible to get "more details" at a "less detailed" resolution...).

If PS3 in the future does consistently beat Xbox 360 in 1080p quality and content, well, then that does tell us something. We are certainly all, well most of us, anxiously waiting for that to happen since it did not really happen at launch.

I do hope 1080p gets good games on either console, more resolution would be nice. I just hope it won't be at too a high cost concerning the content of the graphics, just upping the resolution and compromising complexity wouldn'nt be nice.

It is basically like a PC game. How high do you set the resolution and how much do you perhaps tone down complexity settings (say, how far is the horizon) for the game... except this time the hardware is constant and thus you can't just get a new graphics card for that extra punch.

Edit: Those Afrika screenshots look real nice! I would certainly love to try a game like that, wonder what it is all about. Notably, though, the screenshots are 720p.

Last edited by jtsiren on 10-Jan-2007 at 09:01 AM.

@jtsiren

Quote:

Notably, though, the screenshots are 720p

Sadly 1080p screenshots are hard to find other than lower res pictures of TVs displaying games at 1080p (along with statements the graphics are more detailed than running them on a 720p dsiplay), this even regarding already released 1080p games, so this provides us with no clues...

I guess for creating 1080p user screenshots you need to connect the PS3 to a capable PC.

Some exceptions:

GT-HD:
http://www.webjunkies.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/gt-hd.jpg

Lair:
http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/761/761161/img_4008271.html

Mostly we see user PS3 TV shots like these:
Motorstorm 720p on 1080p TV
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j179/phillyshave/ps3.jpg
Sony Store 1080p
http://xs410.xs.to/xs410/06492/DSC00003_1.JPG
Ridge Raver 7 1080p
http://static.flickr.com/100/310742532_59453e5f55.jpg

Other than judging RR7 looks better than RR6, such photos tells us little with reagrd to the whole 720p vs 1080p argument and we have to take the user's word for it, that the game is indeed more detailed when displayed on a 1080p set vs a 720p set.

Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 10:59 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 10:58 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 10:55 AM.

@MikeB

Quote:

In the interview, Gates said that he feels that Sony will never pull ahead in the graphics game because the 360 tech will always be "a year ahead in development time."

Initially, PS3 was designed with just CELL processors in mind…

_________________
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@MikeB

Quote:

Other than judging RR7 looks better than RR6, such photos tells us little with reagrd to the whole 720p vs 1080p argument and we have to take the user's word for it, that the game is indeed more detailed when displayed on a 1080p set vs a 720p set.

The real question in my mind about the plausibility of 1080p on the current console generation doesn't come from whether or not the game renders in which HD resolution, but where it can deliver the best combination of resolution and detail, as in complexity, in graphics. 1080p will be worth it when it can be combined with a great level of graphical complexity as well. This is interesting to see.

(I didn't think the GT-HD screenshot looked good at all, btw!)

@Hammer

The RSX greatly simplifies the porting of existing games, I think by adding this they made the right decision.

I greatly dislike Microsoft marketing approaches like these:

Sony President Kaz Hirai's comments yesterday, when he said"no other next generation entertainment system pushes the envelope on advanced technology like PS3", Microsoft's Peter Moore and Chris Satchell have hit back with a scathing attack on Sony.

Chris Sathell, the general manager of Microsoft's game development group, teamed up with Moore to deliver a second round of comments that are sure to inflame the war on words between the two giants when he said, "If I wanted to make my online service better, and I wanted to give [Sony] a little piece of advice, it would be to copy Xbox Live a little more closely."

"My honest opinion is that it's pretty much a disaster. They keep saying that they have a free service. Well, if they don't have anything, of course it's free. And you know what: what's free about $600?"

Why does it seem everyone and his dog seem to pretend the $499 version doesn't even exist? For me the multiple advantages provided by Blu-Ray is well worth the extra $100 compared a premium XBox 360. OK most people seem to buy the 60GB/Wi-Fi version as for them the addtional features is well worth the additional cost, but still...

IMO Microsoft should get their marketing act together and focuss on their own products instead of attacking others like this, their XBox 360 launch and other product delays have been far from perfect and Sony has shipped and sold more PS3 units than Microsoft did during its launch period, this while also selling and supporting huge amounts of PS2s and PSPs.

Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 11:37 AM.

@jtsiren

Quote:

(I didn't think the GT-HD screenshot looked good at all, btw!)

Well, that one was from May 2006. The game has improved a lot since then. I just used it so to differentiate between the countless demo screenshots I posted earlier already.

@MikeB

Quote:

IMO Microsoft should get their marketing act together and focuss on their own products instead of attacking others like this,

So Sony starts with a claim that diminishes competition and only Microsoft's rebuttal gets your anger?

Personally I don't think either are saints, because lets face it, they aren't - both Sony and Microsoft have some huge blunders under their belt, there is a reason people hate Sony so much just like why people hate Microsoft.

I don't buy into corporate fandom (except for Apple where I'm clearly a true fanboy and proud of it...), I just want the best console. The results will show that, not the he said she said debate, nor the sales figures.

@jtsiren

Quote:

So Sony starts with a claim that diminishes competition and only Microsoft's rebuttal gets your anger?

One thing is certain regarding any marketing campaign or advertising. All companies claim to be offering superior products, services or whatever. All of them claim to be leading companies, even down to the very insignificant.

So claiming your products to be superior in comparison to the competition is the standard. But to outright attack other competing companies, products and services is not, although it does happen sometimes as Microsoft demonstrates here.

Do you get my point? Why not just state: "The XBox 360 is better than all competitors."?

Last edited by MikeB on 10-Jan-2007 at 11:51 AM.

@MikeB

Quote:

So claiming your products to be superior in comparison to the competition is the standard. But to outright attack other competing companies, products and services is not, although it does happen sometimes as Microsoft demonstrates here.

So attacking is okay when you are sneaky and subtle about it, but not okay when you are open about it?

But since you ignored my point about Sony doing similar things, just an example:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/19/sony-claims-xbox-360-requires-hd-dvd-etc-thus-costs-700/

Sony even compares PS3 to Xbox 360 Core which is clearly misleading in the same sense as you chastized (rightly so) Microsoft for doing.

They all do it to varying degrees. We could also dig up the examples why many people hate Sony so. As we could for Microsoft. It doesn't change the outcome of what is really best.

I could give Sony credit in this regard if they truly were the white dove of the consumer electronics market, but recent (and past) publicity have given them a reputation not really unlike that of Microsoft's.

As far as respect goes, I guess Nintendo would get most of mine of the three.

@jtsiren

The article you linked to made one false assumption on Wi-Fi, the PS3 Core does not have one built-in so to be on par the user isn't required to add one (this would cost $100 for the XBox 360 if the premium packages would be compared, not $50). They were listing a wireless controller instead.

You may dislike the wording "required" and rightly so. Even to be on par the user isn't required to have a HD-DVD drive. In any account it's even misleading, as the HD-DVD drive is a single speed version and cannot be used for gaming, so you are not on par anyhow.