Next Gen Console Power - What's Your Impression ?

[Yoshimax]

It seems we're entering a new era on NTSC - Demarcation lines appear to be getting drawn between those who are sick of the Sony bull****-bandwagon and those who are starting to think PS3 is going to float their boat.

Point of this thread was to ascertain what peoples perceptions are of the "grunt" each console is packing - Do you believe PS3 has a lot more power than 360 ? Do you believe 360 is more programmer friendly meaning the hardware has more potential than PS3 to deliver great things ?

I have my own opinions formed partly on my own and partly from conversations with my brother in law who works in the industry and has had a PS3 (and 360 obviously) devkit for quite a while.

I'll keep my opinions for now and post them further down the line - Let's hear it.......

[SuperDanX]

Id say overhyped as per. Just sold my x360 as i wasnt massivly impressed, early days though i admit.

[eastyy]

apart from oblivion and perhaps fight night 3

Nothing has really screamed next generation to me yet

I always thing with so called next gen games its just the same games with a nicer coat of paint.

[Yoshimax]

I think this generation we'll be seeing physics move to the forefront - It's been on the cards for a while with companies like HavoK and Phys-X and the now availability of "physics cards" for PC's.

Don't underestimate the power of these consoles though - it's huge - May not look it at present but I don't think it'll be long till we're seeing true jaw-on-floor stuff.

[sj33]

Nothing really between the PS3 and 360 graphically. The PS3 might be technically faster in some ways, but not to a degree that matters.

I mean, in past generations, the differences between the rivals technically was wider... Snes was noticably more powerful than MD, N64 was against the PS1, XBox was against the PS2... this generation the difference isn't even worth talking about.

I do think there's more potential for growth in this generation than people give credit for. Dead Rising could not be done on previous consoles.

[Jei]

I'm keeping my 360 but i'm not gonna bother buying any other of the next-gen consoles for a good few years.

First time ever for me but i've got so many great titles i've still yet to play on current formats and after walking into Gamestation last week and buying 8 AAA titles on ps2 and xbox for ?40 it made me wonder what there is to gain from having to have the latest games....nothing really.

I'm gonna save my money this time around, with it all being new untested hardware (ie blueray etc) i'm sceptical of being a test puppy like the 360's been.

Maybe i'm just growing old but absolutely none of it's exciting me this time around.

[Mad Gear]

There's very little in it really (360/PS3). Obviously Sony will put some tech spec type spin together to show their awesomeness. It'll be another year before we see anything that i'll at least get a semi over let alone a full on pant stretcher (hopefully Halo 3).

[eastyy]

I think the next big thing would be material properties which would go well with the physics and more open game play

Physics cards i think are a ripoff and not worth buying at all

[babs]

It's all a lot of testicles really.

Until I have a lot of spare cash, I (and most of the general public) will be playing on an SD set. That kinda renders the whole 'extra power' thing dead for me (at least for a year or two), as everything will be output at relatively low resolution.

We all saw how well the 'underpowered' cube managed last time around (RE4?), so for me giving the developers what amounts to a suped-up cube and familiar architecture suggests that some of the best looking stuff on SD could just as easily be on Wii.

At the lower resolutions there is very little in the way of reasons why a Wii port of a popular game (e.g. the stuff that generally makes up 8 of the top 10 games in any one week) can't look just as good as a PS3 or 360 version, especially because as I mention before, devcos already have years of experience on very similar architecture. At the potentially cheaper pricepoint for Wii software, with games possibly looking exactly the same across the board, Nintendo could make a killing.

I'm personally hoping that after this generation, companies will just not bother falling over each other trying to top the others gigaflops and triangles per second etc. The only thing that will tell us how well Sony & MS (and the respective developers) use their grunt and programming suites will be the games we're playing in 3 or 4 years time.

[eastyy]

Actually i was hoping the WII was nowhere near as powerful as a x360 and ps3

Really because i thought there was a lot of cross consoles games which i dont mind but it does not sell a system

hopefully if the cross console games are not as easy then it might encourage more system exclusives

[babs]

Unlikely, it's the mass market stuff which shifts the consoles, and if they aren't shifting then developers are less likely to want to develop on it, as their potential return is that much smaller.

[PeteJ]

From what I saw at TGS I'd say the PS3 is looking more powerful than the 360, but it is coming a year later so that is to be expected. That said, I find the 360 is so well designed in terms of functionality (online) that it doesn't bother me.

As always, it is about the games. 360 and PS3 will both have exclusive must-have games, and I want to be there for both.

Physics have come an awful long way in the past 12 months, on the 360 you just have to play games like Full Auto and Saints Row to see how impressive it (well, Havok) is now.

AI and physics are always thrown about buzz-words these days, but not many developers mention animation, which imo is still stuck in the past. White Knight Story looks like it is going the right way, and it made such a difference looking at the trailer.

[MikeRox]

I'll be keen to see games that take full advantage of the Xbox 360 hardware. Stuff like Project Gotham 3 looks absolutely amazing, but doesn't it only use 1 of the 3 processing cores?I think the stuff in early 2007 will start to show the 360s true potential coming through, and I dont think it'll be as far off the PS3 as people think.

[Matt]

I agree with Pete. The PS3 games look graphically better than the 360's, but then the pad could undermine all that.

I really like the 360 experience, I play it most days of the week and is currently my main console (have a PSP and arcade cab as well, that's it). In fact, the last year I've had probably one of my best gaming years ever, there's been some nice diverse stuff out on the 360 and playing with my mates is always enjoyable.

[Ouenben]

Well graphics don't stand out that much for me, I don't think they're that much a leap from last gen with the likes of Resident evil 4 and Halo 2 and other great looking games.

the thing I noticed more on 360 was how many enemies and stuff were on screen. IE hundreds on Dead Rising