By Jim Drewes - May 23, 2005

Hardware Analysis

Now that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have all officially announced their next-gen consoles and the E3 hype is starting to subside, we can take a more in-depth look at what to expect from the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Revolution consoles.  More importantly, we can compare the information we’ve been given on the big three and offer an initial comparative analysis of the platforms.  Finally, we’ll bring some insights and opinions about this future gaming market, and provide predictions as to how the console wars will play out with the next-gen consoles.

 
Microsoft was obviously the first of the manufacturers to formally announce the arrival of their upcoming videogame console, and thus is the first subject to undergo scrutiny.  Undoubtedly all of the consoles will have far superior performance than the current line of machines and the Xbox 360 is no exception.  Boasting three symmetrical 3.2Ghz cores and a full 512MB of 700Mhz system memory, the Xbox 360 already puts desktop computers to shame.  Of course, comparing any of the consoles to a PC is unfair due to the fact that the processing horsepower of a console doesn’t need to be wasted on running an advanced operating system or multiple software products at once.  In addition to the powerhouse processor, the system has a 20GB hard drive, 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM drive, and Wi-Fi capability up to 802.11g. 

 
However, unless you understand what symmetrical 3.2Ghz cores are capable of, or the significance of 512MB of memory, most of these specifications don’t make any sense to the average gamer.  Trying to map the specs directly to the PC world doesn’t work either because of the different nature of a PC versus a gaming console.  Here is a more impressive number however: 500 million.  This is the number of polygons the Xbox 360 can generate per second.  Put in perspective, the original Toy Story movie required 5-8 million polygons per frame.  Even at 60 frames per second, the computational requirement is at most 480 million polygons per second.  Does this mean the Xbox 360 can generate Toy Story quality games on the fly?  Of course not, there are a multitude of aspects that are required to create graphics of that caliber, and it would be unfair to Pixar to claim that the Xbox 360 can operate on that level.  It does however illustrate the true capabilities of the Xbox 360 and the other competing next-gen consoles.  Perhaps we are only one more generation away from photorealistic gaming on the fly.

 
Sony’s Playstation 3 was the next console to be announced, and the console certainly didn’t fail to impress.  Weighing in with a 3.2Ghz processor, the Playstation 3 aims to be competitive with the Xbox 360.  The PS3 doubles the Xbox 360’s processing power capability of 1 teraflop by a factor of two, claiming a full 2 teraflops.  PS3 will also offer a hard drive, dual-layer DVD-ROM, and 802.11g wireless support.  Judging by the system specs and the fact that it has two 1080p HDTV outputs, the Playstation 3 should provide similar, if not better, graphics quality as what is produced by the Xbox 360’s graphics chip and single 1080i HD output.

 
Much like the Gamecube, the Nintendo Revolution isn’t the most powerful of the upcoming gaming systems.  Instead, Nintendo seems to be relying on several exclusive game series and a strong handheld market.  Details on the hardware specs of the Nintendo Revolution are a bit harder to come by as compared to the X360 and the PS3.  Even on Nintendo’s own website there isn’t much reference to actual hardware details.  Presumably this is because the details either aren’t that impressive, or the final specs haven’t yet been worked out.  Either way, it’s a pretty fair bet that Zelda, Metroid, and Mario fans will still need to play their favorite titles on a slightly technologically inferior system.

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1: Hardware Analysis 2: Hardware Impressions and Title Support 3: Marketing and Final Thoughts