May 16th, 3pm PST: PS3 Launches. May 16th, 6pm PST: Xbox2 Launches

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Asher
What's not cool is how much of a pain it will be to develop with, and how the theoretical specs are insanely impractical in the real world.

Isn't that totally irrelevant to its success?

Both consoles will have breathtaking graphics.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
Isn't that totally irrelevant to its success?

Both consoles will have breathtaking graphics.

Not necessarily -- if both consoles have both versions of the game for the same price, and one looks and sounds better than the other, you can bet that it has an advantage.

That's one reason third-party sales are much better on Xbox than Gamecube, for instance.

Further, ease of development translates to reduced development cost. That translates into reduced develoment time and increased quantity of titles, which is absolutely a key component to a console's success.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
Who cares, in the end you'll have to buy both anyway...

Why?

[Drake Tungsten]

British sources have confirmed that the next generation Xbox is indeed called Xbox 360

Ugh...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, that's an utterly pansy name. I thought MS was going for the cool market. Now with the white box, calling it '360', and having a 'concave' shape, they seem to be following Apple in the style department.

[Drake Tungsten]

they seem to be following Apple in the style department.

God forbid...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Apple's style wasn't exactly the demographic market they were going for with XBox 1. The 'bad' teens (in quotes for the purpose) are suspicious of things that are white - expect for their own skins.

[Drake Tungsten]

If that's your point, then they aren't emulating Apple at all. Apple is extremely good at creating styles that appeal to its customers.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I'm just talking simply about the stylistic part, not how apt it is to appeal to customers.

After all, if a company like Hot Topic (Fez's favorite) decided to sell Apple style white computers. They'd emulate the style of Apple, but not the attentative to customer's preference.

[Drake Tungsten]

Fair enough.

[Nostromo]

I'm not expecting much. The Xbox wasn't exactly a masterpiece of industrial design .

[ixnay]

I just hope the third-generation Xbox is called the "Xbox 1080 kickflip-to-McTwist"

[Atahualpa]

Originally posted by Asher

Not necessarily -- if both consoles have both versions of the game for the same price, and one looks and sounds better than the other, you can bet that it has an advantage.

That's one reason third-party sales are much better on Xbox than Gamecube, for instance.

Further, ease of development translates to reduced development cost. That translates into reduced develoment time and increased quantity of titles, which is absolutely a key component to a console's success.

¡Anda ya! First you have to prove that development for XBOX is really easier and cheaper and then you can forget about it, because the influence that you describe is so neglible. Companies will write games for the console that people buy and if they get more support from MS or Sony, but not if it's easier to develop for it. That's because you're developer, you like to have it that way, but it's not and it has never been. Technical superiority also is no guarantee for anything.

The difference in graphics will probably be neglible as well, as the chips are made by the two biggest graphics manufactures (ATI for the XBOX, nVidia for the PS3). Both know how to do their work equally well.

[Asher]

I don't have to prove Xbox development is easier than PS2, every developer interviewed has said so.

PS2 is notoriously difficult and expensive to program for, and PS3 is not going to be any better.

At the time it was the only "real" console for the mass market so it got all the games. Now MS is a real competitor with more momentum and an earlier launch date with deeper pockets, and coupled with easier development it's not a good combo for Sony...

As for graphics (NV vs ATI) -- it looks like it's not that simple. From what it seems, Nvidia is providing the raster functions while "Cell" will provide the "vertex/pixel" shaders, which is the most important part of a graphics chip in terms of capabilities.

[Asher]

Ladies and gentlemen, the Xbox 360.

They weren't kidding when they said it was to be smaller.