Pics showing front view of Xbox 360
All gamers are awaiting the release of the Xbox 360
and the PS3. This article takes an in depth look at how the two systems
compare.
Graphics:
Everyone has seen an Xbox and a PS2 in action and we
are all waiting to see which of the two next generation consoles for the
two systems will have the edge when it comes to graphics. We have all
seen the screenshots of the games on the two systems but what about
actual gameplay graphics. Despite the hot debate, when you look at the
numbers the two systems use a different but equally effective method of
delivering graphics processing power. The XBOX uses a custom ATI
processor with 48 graphics pipelines and the PS2 has a custom NVIDA
graphics processor with an estimated 24 pipelines. The numbers are
misleading because the PS2 piplines are more powerful than the XBOX
pipelines. In the end the two different graphics processors will deliver
about the same amount of power, we can expect to see impressive results
from both sides.
Games:
Both systems have several franchise titles such as Halo2 for the XBOX
and Gran Tourismo for the PS2 that you will see in the next generation
systems, but what other games can you expect to see. If you are a fan of
genres such as role playing that are dominated by Japanese and other
foreign developers such as Square, you should look forward to the PS3.
There is no indication that the XBOX 360 is going to gain much more
support from foreign developers and buyers than the original XBOX. An
article on GameSpot.com reports that only two percent of Japanese gamers
are interested in buying an XBOX 360, with sixty percent looking forward
to the PS3 and eight percent to the Nintendo Revolution. Overall you can
expect to see more games on the PS3 than the XBOX 360, reflecting the
selection for the current generation systems. Only time will which
console will have the quality of games which all of us are been
expecting
Media Type:
Will the media storage type be a factor in the quality of the games?
Since PS3 is owned by Sony and BLUray is Sony’s next high definition
storage medium, the PS3 games will be stored on the BLUray discs which
hold approximately 54 gigs. The Xbox 360 games will be stored on Double
Layer DVDs which store 9 gigs. Obviously the BLUray discs can store a
lot more data, but at the current stage of game development, any game
developed will fit just as well on the 9 gig DVDs, so this is not a
major factor but one that may come into play later on.
Processing Power:
How do the two systems compare when looking at brute processing
power? The PS3 uses a Cell processor with a PowerPC-based core with
seven synergistic processing units while the Xbox comes with a Custom
IBM PowerPC CPU with three dual-threaded cores that can handle six total
threads at a time. An important comparison to look at is the number of
dot product calculations per second the systems can perform. The reason
this number is important is because it is used extensively during
gameplay in 3d math to calculate various things such as vector lengths,
projections, transformations, and more. Both systems are clocked at 3.2
Ghz. The PS3 can handle 51-billion dot product operations per second and
the Xbox can handle 33.6. There is a debate over which system has more
brute processing power and these numbers can be confusing to the average
person, but overall it seems that the PS3 has an edge over the Xbox when
it comes to overall processing power.
Media Type:
Since PS3 is owned by Sony and BLUray is Sony’s next high definition
storage medium, the PS3 games will be stored on the BLUray discs which
hold approximately 54 gigs. The Xbox 360 games will be stored on Double
Layer DVDs which store 9 gigs. Obviously the BLUray discs can store a
lot more data, but at the current stage of game development, any game
developed will fit just as well on the 9 gig DVDs, so this is not a
major factor but one that may come into play later on.
Games:
When considering games, you have to look at the XBOX and the PS2. The
XBOX is very popular in the US and has a few great franchise games such
as Halo, but the PS2 has an international reach and several popular game
franchises such as Gran Tourismo that the XBOX has yet to beat. The XBOX
360 will need to appeal to foreign game developers and consumers to
compete with the PS3. Only time will which console will have the quality
of games which all of us are been expecting
Controllers:
The controllers on the two systems retain the basic shape from the
original systems with some modifications. The PS3 controller has the
most dramatic change; it has a streamline shape that looks more like a
stealth airplane than a game controller. The XBOX controller is
basically the same shape as the previous system with a different color
scheme. From the pictures released, it seems the XBOX controller will be
more comfortable and natural to use. The PS3 controller looks like it
would just slip out of your hand but we will not know how the
controllers feel during actual gameplay until we get our hands on them.
Tony James is an author and webmaster. He currently runs the website
Freeware Games.net
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