Next Generation Talks Xbox 360

[Evil Avatar]

Next Generation Online has posted their opinion on the Xbox 360, The Next Generation Verdict (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1723&Itemid=2), putting emphasis on the Xbox Live service.

All in all, the hardware itself is probably the least impressive part of the package. It’s about as powerful as a fairly high end PC (admittedly at a fraction of the cost), but without Xbox Live and the stellar interfaces that make these services usable and the community vibrant, that power would be underwhelming in application. For Microsoft, platform ownership means more than creating a piece of hardware and supporting it with marketing and first party content. In many ways the platform is really Xbox Live, and the hardware is only the gateway through which you access those services and content.

It’s all of these features working in concert that make the Xbox 360 notable and open your eyes to the possibilities for the future. So far, I’ve found the prospect exciting.

[Serapth]

See... microsoft may not be the worlds greatest inovator ( although they are better at it imho then most people give them credit ), but they are damned good at refinement! Nice to see Xbox 360 getting the kudo's it deserves.

I do find it a bit odd that in one line they refered to it as a high end PC, then in another say the power would be "underwhelming". What the hell did they expect from the next gen if being equivelant to a loaded PC isnt good enough?!?!

[Schnoogs]

I think what they meant is that historically new consoles represent a sizable performance jump over the latest PC and then shortly afterwards PCs catch up and surpass them.

Where as with the 360 its already being outdone by a high end rig with a dual core 64 bit processor and a pair of 7800s in SLI mode.

[bean19]

The thing is the console's SPECS are equivalent to a high-end PC, and the first shipment of games are equivalent to a high-end PC's. Developers have always been able to leverage the fact that they are coding for just one system to create better software than one should expect on such a system.

Look at Final Fantasy X. That runs on a Playstation 2. The Playstation 2's specs:

128-bit Emotion processor at 294 Mhz
32 MB RAM
150 mhz videocard with 4 MB onboard RAM

Now compare that to the X360:

3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 Ghz (that's 3200 mhz x3) - 32 times more processing power than the PS2
512 MB RAM - 16 times more RAM than the PS2
500 Mhz video card with 10 MB onboard RAM - 3 1/3 times more processing power and 2.5 times as much onboard RAM.

There are other improvements too. I'm just mentioning the easily comparable ones. You also get super fast data transfer rates. The longest load time I experienced in NFS:MW was 6 seconds. In Perfect Dark Zero they were longer though - like 15 seconds. Time a PS2 or XBox FPS load screen some time and compare. It still FEELS fast.

Anyway, my point is that console designers get a LOT out of the hardware. They certainly made fantastic games on the PS2 with amazing graphics (for their time). I think that we will see an overall improvement in graphics fidelity for X360 games as time proceeds, and I agree with Serapth that already being comparable to high-end PC graphics is impressive.

Games aren't going to look like Shrek until the next generation. I think we'll start see that the barrier in graphics with this generation will be the fiscal budget more so than the hardware, but we definitely will see more beautiful things before that day comes. I think DoA 4 is going to be the graphical show peice for the system after it releases.

[Reanimated]

How the hell is the 360 comparable to a high end PC?

All I have to do is play CoD on both platforms to see that that statement is pure bullshit. And that's just looking at a largely unoptimized port.

[Serapth]

How the hell is the 360 comparable to a high end PC?

All I have to do is play CoD on both platforms to see that that statement is pure bullshit. And that's just looking at a largely unoptimized port.

Say WHAT?!?!?!

CoD2 must luck fucking amazing on the PC then, because on the XBox 360 I find it simply jaw dropping?!?!

[RMan]

3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 Ghz (that's 3200 mhz x3) - 32 times more processing power than the PS2
Sure, and perhaps in 10 years software will be designed well enough to take advantage of 3 processors to about 75% capacity (and that's actually fairly generous). Multiplying these numbers to produce comparative power isn't how multiprocessor use works out here in the real world.

I think in the end the point is that the increase in processing power simply isn't as big of a deal in this generation as it has been in the past (certainly something I agree with). There are limits to what simple increases in power and fidelity can accomplish in terms of improving an experience or perceived quality. I mean, when’s the last time you bought a new phone because it sounded better?

[torrefaction]

Woosh!

Say WHAT?!?!?!

CoD2 must luck fucking amazing on the PC then, because on the XBox 360 I find it simply jaw dropping?!?!

Notice, that he said and this is a largely unoptimized port. It was ported TO the Xbox 360. This is him saying the framerate and consistency and overall look of on 360 are better than a PC rig at this point in the game, and it's not even tailored for the platform.

[Serapth]

Sure, and perhaps in 10 years software will be designed well enough to take advantage of 3 processors to about 75% capacity (and that's actually fairly generous). Multiplying these numbers to produce comparative power isn't how multiprocessor use works out here in the real world.

I think in the end the point is that the increase in processing power simply isn't as big of a deal in this generation as it has been in the past (certainly something I agree with). There are limits to what simple increases in power and fidelity can accomplish in terms of improving an experience or perceived quality. I mean, when’s the last time you bought a new phone because it sounded better?

Yeah, but thats just as true with PC's now. The MHZ barrier has basically been hit. Both AMD and Intel are solving things by going multicore or multiprocessor from this point on. The same complexity is going to apply to computers going forward.

Also, the phone example wasnt such a good one, as just a few months back I bought a new cell phone because the previous ones sound quality was ass! Im also looking at getting a new cordless for home because the one I have sounds like shit. ( That said, I think its because I have too many things running 2.4 ghz in the house... )

[Serapth]

Woosh!



Notice, that he said and this is a largely unoptimized port. It was ported TO the Xbox 360. This is him saying the framerate and consistency and overall look of on 360 are better than a PC rig at this point in the game, and it's not even tailored for the platform.

Ummm... you sure? I got the impression he saw the XBox version as the port, not the PC version.

Hmmm... guess that could go either way. Reanimated, please verify which version you are thinking is shittier! :) If I recall your a PC guy, so the assumption I made earlier I stand by

EDIT: Just re-read what he wrote, I missed the "just looking at" part.

[EternalGamer]

There are limits to what simple increases in power and fidelity can accomplish in terms of improving an experience or perceived quality. I mean, when’s the last time you bought a new phone because it sounded better?

This brings up a very interesting point. If we are reaching the "end game" of the console wars, that makes the stakes even higher. Eventually we WILL get to a point where people won't really need new hardware anymore. It seems that whatever platform(s) has dominance at that time, gains some major rewards.

Dan

[RMan]

Yeah, but thats just as true with PC's now.
Certainly, it's not unique to consoles. We're seeing the same thing with PCs, but with PCs the tech releases are steady, so we don't see the changes and effects as easily as we do with consoles.
Also, the phone example wasnt such a good one, as just a few months back I bought a new cell phone because the previous ones sound quality was ass!
You're right, I should have specified wired phones, cell phones are especially low quality in some cases.

[RMan]

This brings up a very interesting point. If we are reaching the "end game" of the console wars, that makes the stakes even higher.
Bingo. And now you should see clearly why MS is willing to spend large piles of money to make sure they're on top, and why they released the 360 early. This generation is without a doubt more than just another console cycle, and every major player knows this very well.

[Serapth]

This brings up a very interesting point. If we are reaching the "end game" of the console wars, that makes the stakes even higher. Eventually we WILL get to a point where people won't really need new hardware anymore. It seems that whatever platform(s) has dominance at that time, gains some major rewards.

Dan

Thats why I think Microsoft (and to a lesser degree Nintendo) are heading in the right direction and Sony is going the wrong way. Services will be the next big thing after the hardware gap becomes irrelevant. Listen to the praises being heaped on Live Arcade, and live in general. That, imho, is the future of gaming. If Sony doesnt have a decent infrastructure in place, its going to hurt them soon.

Also, I seem to recall a quote from Nintendo a while back where they said the Rev isnt going to be as powerful spec wise as the 360 and PS3. The quote went on to say something to the effect of, whats the point of having all this extra unused power if in the end, the end user cant see a difference.

With the power of the 360 today, and its untapped potential as developers get to know it better, frankly on a tech front how much better can the PS3 really be? The 360 is pushing the limits of the display tech ( HDTV ) as it is today, and having a higher FPS isnt near as important on a console as a pc. I really hope sony isnt trying to win this game on the tech grounds alone as I think when the PS3 comes out, even if its vastly more powerful then the XBox, I dont think most people will be able to tell the difference. Hell, look at all the people claiming the 360 stuff can be done on current gen xbox hardware. If they believe that, what are they going to believe when the PS3 comes out and its launch lineup are compared to the 360?

[zorper]

I really hope sony isnt trying to win this game on the tech grounds alone as I think when the PS3 comes out...

Higher power hardware or not, Sony's advantage is it's order of magnitude lead in the current generation. I'm Xbox and Live all the way, but I'm still not convinced that online is what is going to sell consoles and games. What is Live now, 2 million? That's great, but it's still just a drop. Sony is going to leverage it's biggest library of franchises and give people a new console to make sure they can play the new versions on thier HDTVs.

[Speed_D]

I think in the end the point is that the increase in processing power simply isn't as big of a deal in this generation as it has been in the past (certainly something I agree with). There are limits to what simple increases in power and fidelity can accomplish in terms of improving an experience or perceived quality.
Depends on what you're looking for in a game. If you are talking about eye candy - well, sure there are limits, but the power is definitely welcome because people will finally be able to play games at a good framerate in full resolution HD.

But I think the real advantage of a parallel processing setup will show when it is applied towards better gameplay. Physics engines have improved dramatically in the past couple years. AI will also benefit from the extra processing power. I think in a year or so, you'll see games showing this stuff off a lot more. Especially ones with large numbers of independent units.

I'm guessing a year because most current games, esp. regarding AI, use schemes that don't readily lend themselves to parallel processing.

[RMan]

Higher power hardware or not, Sony's advantage is it's order of magnitude lead in the current generation.
Well, it's lead is no greater than the SNES had over it's competition before the N64, and they lost the lead quite decisively in one generation. Sony is actually in a very similar situation to what Nintendo was in, trying to muscle it's way into gamer’s and developer’s hearts purely by the power of it’s technology, rather than the more practical concerns. It’s quite possible that the lack of good online support (this is more for the marketplace features than the multiplayer stuff) will be as limiting a factor for many developers as the cartridge was for the N64. When I was at the E3 before the N64 launch the overwhelming opinion of the group I was with was that the N64 would dominate, and even I gave it a 50% chance. In the end, people seem to overlook the practical features that are generally more important than these technical specs and pretty pictures.

[bean19]

Serapth - I tend to agree with your technical point. However, Sony's strategy has mostly been delivering a ton of games, and a very large portion of "must-have" games. They'll still do this, and they'll still be major players. The only thing I can see really removing them from primacy (given that they have Resident Evil 5, and the next MGS locked in) is a price point completely outside the realm of most consumers.

I predict they'll sell a single basic unit SKU for $400 and stay in the lead, but give ground to Microsoft as Microsoft's $400 unit will deliver more stuff, and Microsoft will have a very competitive software library throughout the first year of Sony's release (at which time they will start to slowly stretch ahead as they simply have a ton of 3rd party support).

Nintendo will remain in third place, but they'll make money on everything they do and will remain a profitable innovator that makes few games, but many of them exceptional.

For Microsoft to gain primacy and not merely to be an extremely competitive runner-up, they'll need to start spending money NOW on getting major 3rd party developers with games that are system sellers. How many fence-sitters would purchase an X360 if they were guaranteed exclusives for Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest IX, and God of War 2? They have to give the people who can only afford one high dollar system a reason to buy THEIR product instead of the one that will have exclusive Metal Gear or Resident Evil. Right now, the only upcoming game I know of that will sell consoles is Halo 3. . . and possibly Gears of War (to a smaller degree since it is a new property), and BOTH of those are shooters. They already have an extremely strong shooter with Perfect Dark, so they are pretty much penetrating a market they are already tapping well.

If I had J. Allard's ear, you know, if I was a parrot and he was sailing the high seas or whatever it is pirates do, then I'd tell him to plunder Squenix. Make sweet, sweet love not just to Hinorobu Sakaguchi, but to Nobuo Uematsu, et al. Also, I'd ask him to fire Akira Toriyama and burn all of his art before sucking up to Yuji Horii.

The thing about winning the Japanese market is not so much that you want to win the Japanese marketplace, but that you want to win the Japanese 3rd party developers.

[EternalGamer]

How many fence-sitters would purchase an X360 if they were guaranteed exclusives for Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest IX, and God of War 2?

well, as for that last one on your list, my guess is that would be enough for EVERYBODY to buy a 360 since it would technically have to involve Microsoft buying out Sony.

Dan

[bean19]

well, as for that last one on your list, my guess is that would be enough for EVERYBODY to buy a 360 since it would technically have to involve Microsoft buying out Sony.

Just an example to make my point.

[Vandenh]

>What the hell did they expect from the next gen if being equivelant to a loaded PC isnt good enough?!?!

Just blame the Sony hype machine... people actually expect PS3 to time travel.

>The thing about winning the Japanese market is not so much that you want to win the Japanese marketplace, but that you want to win the Japanese 3rd party developers.

Of course... how much does Japan still matter? Europa is going to be the largest market and the US is also much bigger. Maybe we are seeing the end of the Japanese console dominance?

[Captain Awesome]

I'll next-gen all over your mom's face!

[swiftdraw]

I dunno, I kind of like Nintendo's strategy of being a second console. They're pricing it so that middle income household could afford a PS3/360 and a Revolution. If they can put out enough good games and have decent online support, I think the Big N is well in contention for a 2nd and possible first. Then again, people could bypass it completely like they did with the Gamecube and Nintendo will go the way of Sega. Right now I'm looking at a 360 and Revolution combo. 360's Live Arcade and support network impress me more than anything Sony has shown, which to be fair isn't a lot.By the time I've the money the PS3 will be out and I can pass judgement then.

[RMan]

Depends on what you're looking for in a game.
What you say is true, and without a doubt, more power is better, but I was speaking of how worthwhile the increase in power is and how much it can improve your experience (and ultimately how that translates into consumer demand). Clearly gameplay has the possibility of being better on the newer systems, and will be better, but in reality that’s more a product of more advancing software than the hardware. It’s going to be increasingly difficult to convince people to buy new hardware if the hardware is advancing at an increasingly slower rate (which it almost assuredly will) and the advantages of that power increase has less and less effect on the player (which it assuredly does). So after the next generation, the natural point at which a new system should be released will be around the 8 to 10 year mark, IMO (of course, like this generation, MS or Sony can certainly push their system at the unnatural time), and even then they’ll have to do some real tap-dancing to sell the systems purely on power alone (which they won’t, they’ll both be doing some variation on the Rev. controller, I’m sure).

[Serapth]

bean19, I tend to agree with you, with a few exceptions. I really dont think Sony has that much of an edge for Exclusives anymore. Squenix is being oftly quite about which machine they are targeting ( which leads me to believe they are taking a wait and see approach to how good the 360 goes ). However, with Rare actually delivering good games again, with Bungie, Bungie2(the group that made Stubbs, forget their name) Bioware, Team Ninja, Mistwalker, etc... MS has done a pretty damned good job of getting a nice exlusive library going. Frankly, they addressed every area in the PS2 conflict where they were lacking. Forza is a direct answer to GT4 ( and imho, better ), Mistwalker is the source for JRPGs, Rare and Bungie 2 are doing the platforming thing ( counters to games like Jak 3 ). Plus I believe NIppon Ichi is signed up to do a few exclusive RPGs which if true is an empressive feat. About the only thing I see them lacking is party games ( alah, DDR and some of the more obscure Japanese titles ), but frankly I think that can easily be solved with Live Arcade.

If they manage to get Squeenix to release FFXII as a 360 exclusive, god I feel bad for Sony. Yet, even if they dont, and Mistwalker and N.Ichi come through, that might be just as effective. I also wouldnt be massively shocked to discover that True Fantasy wasnt axed. That would be a rather effective coop.

Lastly, if Sony releases at a price point any higher then 400$, without atleast packing in a few games, I think its effectively game over. I predict that at the point Sony releases, there will be a 100$ price drop on the 360, or possibly the announcement of HD support. MS has alot of cards to play. Hell, they could take #1 by simply burning cash. If the same day Sony announces they are releasing at say a 399$ price point, MS cuts their price to 199$ for the premium bundle... whats going to happen?

Sony did it in the past to Sega ( PS vs Saturn ), pricepoint can be wielded as a pretty spectacular weapon. Especially if Nintendo also comes in at a 199 - 299$ price point. Suddenly sony is going to be faced with eatting alot of costs per unit, or losing a huge amount of market share.

[Serapth]

well, as for that last one on your list, my guess is that would be enough for EVERYBODY to buy a 360 since it would technically have to involve Microsoft buying out Sony.

Dan

Funny thing is, if it would pass SEC regulations, I bet MS would have bought out Sony instead of burning money on the XBox. Sony is big, but MS is MUCH MUCH BIGGER.

(BTW, to anyone that wants to dispute that fact, a few years back Money described what MS's cash reserves were like. They have 4x more cash than ANY other company, and apparantly *with cash* could buy every single airline in the united states... twice. And this was before 9/11 when airline stocks tanked.)

[Serapth]

Hmmm... now that the 360 is out, shouldnt Next Generation magazine be changing its name to current generation? ;)

[bean19]

Serapth - Yes and no. They will sell SOME units with the Hinorobu J-RPGs and the Rare and Bungie games AFTER people play them at someone else's house, but how many people that aren't game fanatics like ourselves know the names of game companies? Not many, and of those, most of them are Blizzard fans. ;)

The point being that while the sequelization of mediocre or good, but not great games is seeing a negative response from consumers, the sequelization of killer-apps sales systems. X360 will have a very competitive library, but they simply don't have any killer-apps with established market penetration upcoming besides Halo.

They'll have market impact with the top-notch exclusives they have lined up, but big name titles sale systems. My friend who works at a gamestore has told me that they sell a Gamecube with every other copy of Zelda, and that nearly every Xbox was bought along with a purchase of Halo (back in the first year of the system).

Sony has killer apps, and that will help them immensely. I agree with you (or rather you agree with me since I said it first - HAH!) that the deciding factor will be Sony's price point for the PS3, and you are definitely right that Microsoft has a lot of tools at their disposal to acheive greater market share. They'll definitely gain ground. . . but primacy? That's really up to which company is willing to buy it.

[Serapth]

bean19 - Again yes and no! :) Halo was a killer app that obviously didnt exist the previous generation. So its obviously possible to create Killer Apps during a products lifecycle. Established franchises are definatly a boon, but thats it. Who is to say that Mistwalker doesnt end up creating a killer app. Also, I am trying to decide if KOTOR could be considered a killer app or not. I know that game solds thousands of systems, and know personally a handful of people that bought an XBox simply because of that game.

Also, from the sounds of this board, Oblivion could be a killer app, even if it is available on the PC too. The number of people saying "I want a 360, but Im in no hurry because TES:O was delay" is frankly staggering. And thats from the hardcore crowd. If advertised properly, that game could bring a number of non gamers into the fold, and effectly be a killer app aswell.

From a Sony perspective, with the PS2 I can only see a few killer apps to be honest. FFXII/DQ, GTA3+ and GT3. Those are the games for that system, that in my mind, sold systems. Games like Jak3 and stuff, are nice exclusive games, but I dont see people running out to buy a PS3 for a game like that.

[Rafer]

If I had J. Allard's ear, you know, if I was a parrot and he was sailing the high seas or whatever it is pirates do, then I'd tell him to plunder Squenix. Make sweet, sweet love not just to Hinorobu Sakaguchi, but to Nobuo Uematsu, et al.

Look up Mistwalker, Allard's way ahead of you.

However, with Rare actually delivering good games again, with Bungie, Bungie2(the group that made Stubbs, forget their name) Bioware, Team Ninja, Mistwalker, etc... MS has done a pretty damned good job of getting a nice exlusive library going. Frankly, they addressed every area in the PS2 conflict where they were lacking.

Yeah they seem to have most of the bases covered. Heck with Bioware, Mistwalker, Lionhead's Fable 2 and Elder Scrolls they have the RPG genre more than covered. The only place I think they're particularly lacking is weird "art" games, no guys like Hideo Kojima or Fumito Ueda. Microsoft should have held onto Tim Schafer and indulged him even if his games weren't selling... I guess Tetsuya Mizuguchi is the only really quirky guy they have.

[Serapth]

Look up Mistwalker, Allard's way ahead of you.



Yeah they seem to have most of the bases covered. Heck with Bioware, Mistwalker, Lionhead's Fable 2 and Elder Scrolls they have the RPG genre more than covered. The only place I think they're particularly lacking is weird "art" games, no guys like Hideo Kojima or Fumito Ueda. Microsoft should have held onto Tim Schafer and indulged him even if his games weren't selling... I guess Tetsuya Mizuguchi is the only really quirky guy they have.

Oh I think you will see tonnes of quirk on the 360 but I will come from Live Arcade. Alot of the Quirk games out there are actually perfect for Live Arcade. Games like Katamary (sp?) and Viewtiful Joe are absolutely perfect for Live distro. They are addictive, easy to sell as upgrades and fairly small. Even looking at whats currently on live, you can see seeds of it already. People can afford to take risks and dev games with smaller budgets ( and smaller payoffs ). One other thing to consider, look at the number of players on the Geometry Wars leaderboard already. There are thousands and the console already launched. I think saying the GW could sell 100,000 copies in the first year is being fairly conservative. Granted, thats only 1/2 million $, but how much effort do you think Bizarre put in to creating it? Maybe two devs work full time for say 3 months? Thats a pretty sweet ROI.

[Achilles]

Sony has killer apps, and that will help them immensely. I agree with you (or rather you agree with me since I said it first - HAH!) that the deciding factor will be Sony's price point for the PS3, and you are definitely right that Microsoft has a lot of tools at their disposal to acheive greater market share. They'll definitely gain ground. . . but primacy? That's really up to which company is willing to buy it.Well of the two you listed a couple posts ago, only MGS is exclusive. Resident Evil is actually multiplatform with the platform the screenshots are from being the 360. I think Sony has fewer announced exclusives next generation than people give them credit for. And as far as killer apps go: If MGS is a killer app than half the games released for the 360 at launch were as well. MGS3 sold less than half a million in the US and did about that well in Japan.

Fight Night is another one it was a big deal for the PS3 at last E3, but it'll ship on the 360 in spring whether or not the PS3 is out.

[Achilles]

Granted, thats only 1/2 million $, but how much effort do you think Bizarre put in to creating it? Maybe two devs work full time for say 3 months? Thats a pretty sweet ROI.Given what kind of art it has my guess would be one coder working for no more than 2 months. Live Arcade is really the second tier that Nintendo is talking about for the revolution; games that can be made by a team of 4 in 3 months, except on Live everyone has access to them, the developers don't have to pay for fabrication (which is a huge weight off of small developers and allows them to self publish) and they cost $5. Bizarre ideas will also get more play because there's a demo available for every game, so people don't have to be scared of blowing the money on a game they won't like, which is a huge concern with quirky games.

[Pumped'Up]

The 360 h/w is impressive simply only for the next 6 months. That's ok, based on Microsoft's track record, we'll se the 720 in 2 years.

[Serapth]

The 360 h/w is impressive simply only for the next 6 months. That's ok, based on Microsoft's track record, we'll se the 720 in 2 years.

Just in time to launch with the PS3 :)

[SuperMonkeyFighter2]

Well of the two you listed a couple posts ago, only MGS is exclusive. Resident Evil is actually multiplatform with the platform the screenshots are from being the 360. I think Sony has fewer announced exclusives next generation than people give them credit for. And as far as killer apps go: If MGS is a killer app than half the games released for the 360 at launch were as well. MGS3 sold less than half a million in the US and did about that well in Japan.

Fight Night is another one it was a big deal for the PS3 at last E3, but it'll ship on the 360 in spring whether or not the PS3 is out.

Finally! Someone who speaks the truth! :) The MGS exclusive is NOT that big of a deal. Anyone who follows the #'s knows this ... A big deal would be a GTA announcement from Sony. GTA SA sold 7 Million copies on the PS2 in the US alone. That is a system seller. Games like Halo are also system sellers.
I think folks need to realize the difference between a good game, and a game that sells consoles.

[Ozymandias]

Woosh!



Notice, that he said and this is a largely unoptimized port. It was ported TO the Xbox 360. This is him saying the framerate and consistency and overall look of on 360 are better than a PC rig at this point in the game, and it's not even tailored for the platform.


Actually, the 360 was the lead development platform for COD2, although both were developed in parallel. PC version came out a tich before the 360 version due to the certification process and aiming to hit the release date, but technically the PC version was the port. Can't remember where I saw that, but I did read it a few times.

[Stormeh]

Actually, the 360 was the lead development platform for COD2, although both were developed in parallel. PC version came out a tich before the 360 version due to the certification process and aiming to hit the release date, but technically the PC version was the port. Can't remember where I saw that, but I did read it a few times.

I also read this. Either way, the game looks stunning on both platforms. If I had to pick though, I'd say it looks slightly better on my 50" Samsung DLP. :D

[eatme]

The video card on this machine is absolutely fantastic. 6800 Pros are well inferior.

So... no, Next Gen. :)

[xDrZaiusx]

"It’s about as powerful as a fairly high end PC"

The writer of the article obviouslt has no idea about the mechanics of a gaming machine. or a "high end" PC for that matter.

This isnt even a fanboy-iloveXbox-thing either, its common fucking knowledge.

There shoud be some sort of standard an article has to meet before it gets posted or something...

[Roc Ingersol]

There's plenty of room for more horsepower to improve games.
It just won't all be shifted towards graphics.

Procedurally generated content, physics, ai.

[bean19]

"It’s about as powerful as a fairly high end PC"

The writer of the article obviouslt has no idea about the mechanics of a gaming machine. or a "high end" PC for that matter.

Actually, that is purely accurate. CoD 2 is a good example of a port that looks as good or better on the X360 than it would look on a 3 Ghz PC with one $500 card.

Maybe you are describing a fairly high-end PC as one that has SLI and 2 super-expensive video cards? I wouldn't know. I can't afford such a rig and neither can any of my real-life friends. However, my friend who has ONE 7800 can run Doom 3 at max settings and get a consistent 40 FPS with dips that never cause slowdown but might (like during an explosion) go as low as 20 FPS. He plays at one setting below maximum and never dips below 30 FPS.

I can't tell the difference between the graphics quality in the two settings unless he gets near a wire mesh fence in Half-Life 2.

Anyway, my point is that I wish I had the $350 (make that more like $1000 since I'd need a new motherboard and a Gig of RAM due to not having a modern slot) so that I could get one of these cards as the difference shows, but I think that if you put an X360 with a VGA adapter (so that games could obtain higher resolutions than are possible even on HD TVs) you would have to have an insanely smoking fast machine AND a next generation game like F.E.A.R. to notice any difference with the naked eye.

To put it simply, the hardware is already outstripping the games.