Inside the Games Machines of the Future 180
UtahSaint writes "Electronic design, the guys who nicely opened up the
iPod a couple of weeks back take a look into the future of gaming - covering everything from the PC to the Gizmondo to
the upcoming Xbox 2 and Playstation 3 next-generation units. If you want to get more of an understanding as to where we're heading, this is
not a bad place to
start."
Reading the article, it seems inaccurate (Score:1, Informative)
The PS2 lost the Firewire port in an update. The PS2 'mini' has an ethernet port. The XBox still has a hard drive. The XBox processor doesn't give it 6.4GB/s, that is the chipset by having a dual-channel DDR controller.
Wow (Score:5, Informative)
Best one has to be their claim that Nokia systems run on "Sybian". No. They run on "Symbian". Sybian is something VERY different, as you'll find if you do a google search for it...
Re:PS2 = 6.2 Gigaflops? (Score:3, Informative)
Factual Errors Abound... (Score:3, Informative)
"Microsoft has since removed that drive to lower system costs." huh yeah that xbox I bought a few months back doesn't have a HD? I'm pretty darn sure it does...
"ATI supplied the graphics for the PS2, while Nvidia provided the graphics for the original X-Box." Huh when did Ati build a graphics chip for Sony? I'm pretty sure that should be nintendo...
Their are more, but the slashdotting has begun and I can't seem to get back to the second page... But really their were dozens of errors in this thing...
So...
Move along, nothing to see here...
Same post with line breaks : / (Score:3, Informative)
"With CPUs running at several gigahertz plus a high-performance video card or two, PC gaming is now just as lifelike as its console-based competition."
This might have read better if the author had declared that such a PC will give a good idea of the power of next-gen consoles (in particular running tech such as the unreleasd Unreal 3.0).
"When it first appeared in 1996, the Nintendo 64 console took a technological leap to a MIPS R4300 64-bit microprocessor running at about 93 MHz. A custom coprocessor chip that handled the graphics and audio could deliver 2 million colors, 150k polygons/s, and 64 channels of audio."
The custom (graphics) "coprocessor" delivered 64 channels of audio? That's news to me. By the way, I seem to remember a few N64 games featuring 24 bit color (although it was rare... in more ways than one).
"...Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's X-Box, and Nintendo's GameCube. They use multihundred-megahertz 32- or 64-bit microprocessors..."
Followed later by: "Just four years later, the Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) thrilled the gaming community with almost cinematic graphics based on a 128-bit custom processor called the Emotion Engine."
Oh look, the PS2's CPU went from 64 to 128 bits (as if this matters).
"The internal geometry engine performs antialiasing..."
*chuckles*
"The Sony system was one of the first consoles to include a DVD/CD optical drive..."
Nope, it was THE first. When in doubt, use "about". If you're too lazy to look up the correct information anyway.
"Nintendo countered the PS2 with the GameCube in 2001. Based on a customized PowerPC CPU dubbed "Gekko" and a graphics engine developed jointly with ATI Technologies [insert useless specs here]"
Gekko was developed by ArtX which was acquired by ATi just before GameCube was released (but long after development of the chip was completed). The acquisition eventually leveled the playing field in PC graphics when the ArtX team went on to design the lauded Radeon 9700 and ATi's subsequent GPU's.
"...initial versions included an 8-Gbyte hard drive to improve startup time. Microsoft has since removed that drive to lower system costs."
Microsoft has removed the harddrive from the original XBox to cut system costs? That's news to me.
"(ATI supplied the graphics for the PS2, while Nvidia provided the graphics for the original X-Box.)"
Wrong again. ATi did not supply the graphics for the PS2.
"But the big question is whether Microsoft will leverage IBM's technology for the Cell processor, or the CPU or CPUs will take more standard approaches."
Jesus H. Christ. Microsoft does not have access to the Cell processor. That will be a Sony exclusive for the next-gen console wars. Any idiot can see that.
"Though budget-priced, with costs ranging from $60 to $180, they pack a tremendous amount of technology."
The PSP will cost 250 in the states. This guy is clearly using the Japanese sale price of the PSP.
"The original Game Boy and Game Boy Advance are based around a single 32-bit ARM7 CPU with 128 kbytes of embedded memory and 24 kbytes of off-chip RAM."
Wow, the original Game Boy, released in 1989, uses a 32 bit ARM7? I'm not into the cell phone market, so there's no telling how much of that information was false.
See, this is why I don't get my information from "professional" journalists.
WARNING -mod me up. (Score:3, Informative)
1.is full of errors.
2.does not talk about the next gen cosoles.
3.is poorly written, researched and generally a waste of time.
Anyone who even remotely follows gaming will spot the errors on the first pass, there's a ton of them. They guy has absolutely no fucking clue what he is writing about.
Does Taco read the articles he approves? If he did and still thought it was good, HE MUST BE A REAL DUMBASS. Really. Pathetic.
Way to waste people's time slashdot. I'm outta here. Oh how the mighty have fallen.