PS3 To Debut BEFORE E3

So Many Megahurtz

Right here bad boy:

http://chud.com/mastercontrol/1476

Yeah, there were basically hints of this last week when it was announced that Xbox 2 would not be unveiled at GDC.

Exciting stuff.

I have a kooky theory... that Microsoft is kind of sitting on their Xbox 2 plans at the moment and are waiting to see what Sony officially announces for PS3. As hellbent as MS appears to be on getting their Next-Gen system out of the gate first, I have to think they have too much ego to watch their system be the weakest kid on the block. So, I am kinda hoping that Sony's announcement will ensure that the Xbox folks understand how much the bar needs to be raised. Not that they can go back to Square One on the next system since they are so far down the road, but you know what I mean...

I'm an unbiased gamer (I own all 3 current consoles), so the more quality systems the better as far as I'm concerned.

I am pretty pumped - heck, I have all three myself, but I want them all to be cool as hell - more competition = we all win with better products, prices, innovation, etc.

Put me in with the, I could care less who wins, crowd. I'm a gamer, and I'll probably end up buying all three consoles again (especially considering PS3 won't come out until a year after XBOX2), just give me something to gawk at.

Things just keep getting better and better every day!

Meanwhile, things are oh so frighteningly silent on the Nintendo front......

Nintendo will likely unveil its plans for "Revolution" (or whatever it will be called) by E3 as well.

If the next Nintendo system ends up with a platformer featuring a Mario character, yet another version of Mario Cart, a Zelda sequel, a Metroid sequel, a Starfox sequel, a party game and no third party support it will be DOA no matter the hardware.

And we all know that this is what's going to happen.

I'm not so sure. There are plenty of Nintendo fanboys who are diehard fans of those franchises you just mentioned.

Personally, I don't get into Nintendo's kiddie stuff... and I have never been a big fan of platform games, which is their staple. But I will likely give their new system a shot, especially if they land another exclusive and worthy game, ala "Resident Evil 4".

That's the problem. Nintendo fanboys are not a large enough base to ensure the viability of the console. Can Nintendo support another system with sales similar to those of the Cube?

I still fail to see how a company can justify making a "Nintendo exclusive" title with the poor performance their platform has.

I like competition, so it's not bad Nintendo is there, but I think for the next gen consoles maybe Nintendo has more opportunities as a software company than a hardware one in this category.

I think the most interesting question in this next round of hardware wars is going to be cross-platform compatibility. From the sounds of things, Sony's machine is FAR more advanced than anyone was expecting, while Nintendo seems more interested in gameplay innovation than technological advances, at least if you listen to their PR . It's not farfetched to imagine the difference between Sony and Nintendo's consoles (or even Sony and Microsoft, maybe) being so great that it's impossible to code games for multiple platforms. Once it becomes too difficult to make a Prince of Persia or Madden that will run just as well on the Xbox as it will on the Playstation, I'd imagine we'll see a ton of publishers and franchises signing exclusivity contracts.

That's all speculation, of course, but you have to pity the developers that will be forced to optimize a game to run on both Sony's monster and Nintendo's inevitable esoteric little Funbox or whatever they'll call it.

Slater, I agree completely. This is also why part of me believes that Microsoft is waiting to hear more details on what Sony has cooked up technologically. While they clearly want to hit the market well ahead of the PS3, the Xbox team at MS has too much pride and ego to watch their hardware be completely overshadowed.

Of the three it is obvious (painfully so, at times) that Nintendo marches to the beat of their own drum.

I predict Nintendo pulling a Sega by 2008

I have to agree that it's very important fo the next Xbox to be the most powerful piece of hardware out there. I understand that the original plan was to present the finished product and announce that you can actually buy it a few months later but Sony is stealing Microsoft's thunder.

By the way do we know anything concrete about the Nextbox's CPU and specs?

Everything's speculation at this point.

Carl, since these consoles are in development for YEARS and the development kits went out to publishers last year, I'd assume that regardless of what the PS3 does on the technology-front, it's way too late for Microsoft to make any significant changes to their hardware's architecture. And I'd imagine there are some very stressed Microsoft engineers having to explain this fact to the brass right now.

It will be amazing if Microsoft ends up revealing a system that's just as impressive or more than the PS3.

This seems like a game of poker so far.

And since we're speculating, I really see Microsoft going with an HD-DVD drive after all. It's one way to convince people to buy both its system and the PS3, in order to have both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players.

Oh, I know that... which is why I said earlier that they are well too far down the road. There is nothing they can do to change their CPU and GPU architecture at this point, but I have to think other things (like RAM, for one... which is critical in consoles) could easily be amped up if need be.

They could also decide, "Screw it... let's throw a [XXX] GB harddrive in every machine" knowing that would be a huge selling point (and would also help the developers in ensuring the games run much smoother).

Also, it's odd that we've been hearing strong rumors about Xbox 2's chipsets for months yet we haven't heard much of a peep about what they have planned for the DVD-ROM portion of the console (will it be HD-DVD? Blu-Ray? Something else? What speed will it run at?)

Lots of unanswered questions remain.

In any case, this is an exciting time!

Unless you're a wallet.

Hehe... true.

There aren't enough technophiles out there who are going to buy an XBox and a PS3 just because they have competing video technologies.

Frankly, the next MS system is going to have to out perform PS3, not just match it, if it's really going to succeed. Technological powess is the ONLY thing the X Box has over the PS2, and once that's taken away, they go the way of Nintendo and rely on a couple exclusive games to sell their system with.

True, but it all depends on the software, i.e. movies. If some movies are released only on HD-DVD and some others only on Blu-Ray, getting the consoles will be the cheapest way to have players for both technologies.

I think that whatever happens Nintendo will still be around for a while and there is no doubt in my mind that whenever the next round of consoles make their way into our homes that Nintndo's will be the least expensive, which will again be a good selling point for them. I'm 27 right now and I still love Nintendo's stuff but it will most likely be skewed younger than the Sony and Microsoft efforts, to be more "family friendly" or whatever, so that mixed with the lower price, relative ease of use, and the perpetual supply of young 'uns out there makes me think Nintendo will be just fine. It's almost as if they're not even TRYING to compete (which may be a bad thing). I think the portable market will always be hot for them too. What parent in their right mind is gonna put an expenive multimedia device like the PSP into the hands of a grade schooler when there are less expensive, more kid friendly options out there? I'm sure whatever future handhelds Nintendo has in mind will fit into the ame basic design.

Plus, I think the Nintendo IPs carry a lot of weight. Pokemon alone could probably keep then afloat for a while (in theory at least).

How long are we actually going to have two competing formats? And really, as long as there are two formats, people will stick with DVD until it all gets sorted out.

Um, isn't that a bit harsh. I think Nintendo is still selling well in Japan (its in America that the problems begin). Also I don't know how much turmoil Nintendo is with their people. Sega on the other hand had problems with their managers (The man running the Dreamcast PR in America was fired the day before its release).

Oh and its not important for the XBox to be the most powerful piece of hardware. Its important for the XBox to start making software that makes me want to buy the game (it has Halo and...) The XBox now is the most powerful hardware but its being beaten by Sony with ease (I'm not certain how XBox and Sony are doing in America but internationally Sony is killing the compition)

DVD raped me and stole all my money so there's no way in hell I'm starting over again... Someday I'll be that old guy talking about how cool his 8 tracks or betamax are, only mine will be dvds, and if I'm REALLY lucky I'll be missing a few teeth so I'll wistle as I ramble on about them.

I think both Halo and Xbox Live will keep the Xbox afloat, at least for a while. Same way that Nintendo's lower price point (I'm assuming) and kid-friendly franchises make it a nice alternative for parents who don't want to drop five hundred bucks on a video game system. It's a bit early to start announcing doom and gloom for any of the Big Three, especially without concrete system specs, price points or launch titles announced.

I think Microsoft will be okay in the next-gen of gaming if they meet two parameters:

1) As Slater pointed out, none of the 3 companies can afford to have their console so far behind the others technologically that it would be near impossible for large publishers to develop multi-platform games. Then again, imagine the poetic irony if companies like EA dumbed down their graphics to meet Xbox 2 standards so their games can port to all platforms, while owners of the more powerful console (in this hypothetical scenario, PS3) get screwed.

2) Having the developers of must-own games (Bungie, BioWare, etc) on your team ensures some kind of diehard following. The HALO games alone were responsible for much of the sales of the current Xbox system.

Plus, there is Xbox Live.

This is 100% correct. We're in total "wait and see" mode right now. It may be several years before the next generation of home theater technology gets sorted out. Hell, we may even skip a generation... there is another disc-based HD format on the horizen (HVD) that looks to be technologically superior to both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray.

Agreed.

I'm assuming (perhaps falsely) that Sony is going to have an answer to XBox Live in the new system. I have no doubt that Halo will sell systems, just as Mario and Zelda still sell systems for Nintendo. Things will significantly drop off, however.

Oh, I am sure Sony will have some Online gaming element built in to the PS3. It would be foolish otherwise. But Xbox Live has been such a huge success and has such a huge headstart and large subscriber base. Also, when it comes to the technology behind networking and communications software (not to mention the ability to allow your console to communicate directly with your PC) there is no doubt that Microsoft has the edge over Sony in any online capacity.

However, online gaming is but one of many elements at work here. I'd say that, overall, Sony has the clear and decided advantage heading into the next-gen battle because of their established base. But, like Slater, I still think it's far too early to start proclaiming winners and losers here, especially since all of this is speculative.

Of course it's too early to pick a winner, as MS may pull something out of their ass that makes the PS3 look like TurboGrafix16. And if it wants to avoid becoming Nintendo, they'll have to.

Hey now! What did the TurboGrafx ever do to you?
heh heh...

My guess is that whatever happens Sony will still be number one in sales etc. Sure, they could fall down a peg, but I don't really see it happening, regardles of whether on not the other guys have more poweful systems or if they get the jump on the competition. Like I said earlier, I don't really think Nintendo is really even trying to be number one and if Microsoft focusses more on delivering a quality product with awesome support than on trying to be number one I think everything will work out well for everyone.

I don't think Sony can put out a service equal to Xbox Live and even if they do detractors will just say they're a victim of a copycat syndrome, but the words won't be as nice.

Exactly. If anything, this generation proved that a console's horsepower only has to be within shouting distance of the competition. PS2 is noticeably inferior to Xbox and Gamecube but it didn't matter. PS3 will win the next round because the Playstation brand name is synonymous with "a jillion units sold"; that it will likely have the most powerful hardware is mostly academic. MS and Nintendo will need to come up with some truly revolutionary software (no I am not shilling for Nintendo) to up-end the status quo.

This isn't going to happen. Nintendo's been making money, they have tons in the bank. They aren't dumb enough to sell a console at a huge loss. I think the most they ever lost on the GC was around $3 a unit. Sega was bleeding money from the Saturn onward, after the relative failure of stuff like the Nomad and the 32x.

You don't have to be number 1 to make money and stay in business. Look at Apple.

There's been some interesting talk about Nintendo's next gen console, as far as graphical power is concerned. They filed a patent a few weeks back that essentially sounded like, to my not-that-geeky eyes, it would allow extremely detailed 3D environments with far less powerful hardware, through some new rendering technique that's been developed. If they can produce comparable graphics on cheap hardware, then they could market the 'Revolution' from launch as a viable second console. They know the Gamecube took off at $99. It would also make third party support a non-issue. Alternately, this would make it cheap to include whatever the revolutionary aspect of the revolution is, or a hard drive, or gyroscope controllers, or other craziness.

I'm trying to dig up a link to the patent.

Which reminds me, while that subject's up, I'd like to offer up my yearly moment of silence for the Dreamcast. A superior system with great games at an affordable price. Buried by a glitchy little bastard-system because of a free DVD player.

Sigh.

Oh Dreamcast, we hardly knew ye...

I'l join in on that moment, Crow. I love my Dreamcast.

let us unite and urinate on all other dreamcast successors....

or not.

Damn, they weren't kidding when they classified CELL as a microprocessor:



I bet the physical size of PS3 is no bigger than the new slimmed-down version of the PS2.

May 18 through 20th? Well screw me sideways, I move the 22nd. Crap.

But if those things are really strong it could be as big as a refridgerator to house all the fans to keep it cool enough tp prevent a meltdown. Industrial strength fans... pump up the volume on the home theater or you won't be able to hear the game!

Now I'm just being silly. Can't wait to see what they'll all really look like though, and wondering what kind of start up screens they'll have.

Nintendo needs to seriously send many of their staple characters to the back seat, because let's face it, Mario and Zelda games are licenses to print money. Pokemon, etc. So why not devote more resources to new characters and ideas instead of Mario Party 9, and all sorts of different colored versions of Pokemon.

They really need to innovate but also make the case for innovation. They've really gotta sell themselves I think.

Yeah, won't this thing run hotter than the sun? I'd be great if it was that small (I got one of the new PS2 Slimlines and haven't had any of these overheating problems I've heard of), but Sony is notorious for releasing glitchy products in the first batch.

I think you just said it yourself: "Mario and Zelda games are licenses to print money". Especially if they keep up the quality. I've heard from quite a few people that the Gamecube is worth it, because even though it doesn't have the third-party support, every first-party game has knocked it out of the park. As long as they crank out great Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games, they really don't need anything else to stay afloat. It won't put them on top of the game again, but it's enough to stay in business making money.

One thing I hope Sony adds is a built-in four controller configuration. I own both a PS2 and a GC, and I've bought a couple of games (Monopoly party, Worms 3D) for the GC simply because I can have 4 players and don't have to buy a multi-tap.

Thats been Nintendo's problem since PS came out. When the PS came out it sold at a loss but decided they make it up in software sales (a risky move ended up working bigtime). That sort of why I don't understand people who are like "man its going to be $600" or "I'm going to have to sell my car", Sony sells cheaper than cost, that the basic mission statement. Sony basicly decided right away to undercut Nintendo and any compition. They sell the devolopers kits cheap. Recently with Mircosoft they have been caught at their own game (not that it really hurt them or anything).

As far as predictions:

1) Sony - been successful so far due not to better hardware but better software

2) Nintendo - even if it doesn't do well in North America it will sell in Japan, and they still have the GB

3) Mircosoft - they have to start selling international, right now I have to say its incridbly disappointing that XBox has in the end sold poorly. It doesn't need another killer game (Halo) it need 10-15 ok games to add to its library that allow people to feel like the XBox would be worth the purchase.

Given the choice between one killer game and 10-15 ok ones, I'll take the one killer.

Then again, I own a Gamecube....I'm used to it.

But speaking of the GC....I think part of why XBox hasn't really gone over as well overseas is the status of XBox being an adult hardcore gamer's system....just like an R-rating slices a film's audience in half, the amount of mature titles on the system cuts out the not-so-hungry-for-mayhem crowd,, i.e. casual gamers, and parents trying not to corrupt their kids. PS2 is more balanced in that department, Gamecube was born and bred to reach everybody....overseas, the more esoteric E-rated titles fly a lot better than they do here (hence why those Japanese dating sims never see the light of day here).....What they really need is a killer app that nobody of any age will have any issues with owning.

A big part of me wishes Oddworld was it....but unfortunately, not the case. Nevertheless, if Microsoft *really* feels the need to start selling international, i think that might be a key....

Anyone know if the next gen will be backwards compatable?