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."
PS2 = 6.2 Gigaflops? (Score:3, Interesting)
How bout COMBINING the console and the PC (Score:3, Interesting)
So for instance you could run your console game within a window on your PC (or full screen). Or take advantage of the PC's network interface or mouse/keyboard.
Terrible Fluff (Score:5, Interesting)
In a flip-flop of sorts, Microsoft recruited ATI Technologies to come up with the graphics processor for its next-generation X-Box. (ATI supplied the graphics for the PS2, while Nvidia provided the graphics for the original X-Box.)
Wait..Didnt you just say ATI supplied the chip for Gamecube?
It also mentions that the ps2 does antialiasing on the gpu. Now I may be mistaken- sure it *CAN* but no one actually does this for performance reasons. Its much more efficient to use a VMU or other hardware tricks to perform something like anti-aliasing on the PS2.
Take this article for what it is- mindless fluff about nothing in particular except the present and future of videogaming - *yawn*
Wake me when the PS3 arrives.
Not that interesting. (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm sorry but I stopped reading the article there.
And I stopped reading your post here : ) And someone else stopped reading my post here.
Stop trolling! The site focusses allot on devices and I think they are right to. I think the future of gaming may well be wireless handhelds but for the moment I think that's still off in the distance. I think if they did a piece on the future of the home computer in the next 5 years it would have been more interesting. I'm hoping for architectures to be more diverse as we move away from i386 and dual core Intel/AMD to the Cell architecture and others.
All well and good, BUT (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, the DS supports pseudo surround sound as showcased by Mario DS. Before that, a company called Q-sound made it possible to have pseudo surround via the same phase shifting techniques. And there is no guarantee that ANY of the things mentioned get used somewhere down the line (The machines themselves being subject to constant changes in architecture).
Re:When oh when (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I was always taught... (Score:5, Interesting)
No publisher will now take a risk on innovative games, unless they're self-funded (like Lionhead Studios) or made in developing countries(the Codemasters approach).
Re:When oh when (Score:2, Interesting)
It's quite possible that something like the powerglove could bring us to a new level of UI, but you need some amazing game to help bring it mainstream. You need a Halo or a Myst or something along those lines. A game that makes the new hardware seem like a necessity, not a hardware requirement to play or a marketing ploy.
And before any MS/Halo bashing begins, I only mentioned it because I know people who bought their XBox solely because Halo was part of the XBox push in the beginning. People saw buying the hardware as means to playing the game, not a financial burden.
I think consoles are an outdated paradigm... (Score:2, Interesting)
The thing is, when you buy a console, you're pretty sure that, in a couple of years, it's going to be obsolete. The manufacturers know it too so they sell the consoles at a loss hoping to "make money on the blades" as it were.
So, why not just sell a gaming OS along with a standardized gaming computer specification? That way, you draw in all the hard-core gaming computer cutomizers out there and there some assurance that you can keep your machine up to date. Not only that, but third party guys can "get into it" as well thus helping to insure that your game platform becomes ubiquitous.
What are we really talking about here? We need to access more than one gaming controller (4 seems to be the current standard) and the latest and greatest video/audio hardware, memory, processors, etc.
Seems to me that if you approach it this way you can make money on the "razors" as well as the "blades".
Just my thoughts anyways....
Future of Gaming? (Score:2, Interesting)
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't that how cartridge-based systems have worked since the year dot? I certainly remember Nintendo making a fuss about ugrade chips in the first Starfox game, and that came out as far back as the mid-90s...
Games Machines of the Future, eh?