Playstation3!

[JoyMonkey]

I just found this news on http://www.PS2-Scene.org

Which one do you think is legit?

Edit: And I checked my calender. It's not April 1st.

[Hoagie_one]

the first one looks more probable

[cholin]

GHETTO STYLE!  LOVING THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!!!!!!

Last time I heard was from www.howstuffworks.com I THINK...don't know the looks, lots of fake pics coming out.

[ChadTower]

I love the Clapper on the first one.

[tommy]

Im waiting for the new nintendo to come out , we will see who has the best system this year. P2who

[Redseven80]

Ive heard the ps3 will have more muscle than the xbox, thats good because for a while i thought xbox would kill every one off, then microsoft would put up there prices

[cholin]

Xbox: http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/nextbox1.htm

As for the PS3, I saw a link somewhere, but I forget where.  It told the video cards, processors, all that crap.  They're going to be very good systems.

[ChadTower]

I see no  controller ports.

[JoyMonkey]

I see no  controller ports.

Yeah, the PS3 and XBox2/Xenon are rumoured to use wireless controllers as standard. I'm thinking there'll probably be an adapter to use wired/legacy controllers. No rumours of any brain-wave controlled consoles yet, unfortunately 

Edit: After reading more about this on gameindustry.biz, the rendering above is 99% positively a fake, but Sony have said that they will officially reveal the PS3 sometime before this years E3.

[ChadTower]

Wireless only == much higher cost.

[JoyMonkey]

Wireless only == much higher cost.

Not necessarily. I bought my wireless controllers a couple of years ago for $60 each, now a good 2.4ghz controller and receiver will set you back $30; not much more than the retail price of a dual-shock2.

Who uses wired controllers anymore anyway? If wireless standard adds $15 to the overall cost of the console then it's well worth it.

[ChadTower]

I use wired controllers.  They don't get lost because the kids walk out of the room with them.  Plus, they haven't come out with a truly useful wireless N64 controller yet, nor one for the 2600 or Saturn.

[JoyMonkey]

I use wired controllers.  They don't get lost because the kids walk out of the room with them.  Plus, they haven't come out with a truly useful wireless N64 controller yet, nor one for the 2600 or Saturn.

Not sure if they're considered useful but...

[shmokes]

Yeah....I don't think they add too much to the cost and all three companies are forced into it by the knowledge that at least one of them will do it.  Considering that a wireless controller can be had for $25 and it includes a receiver, and if you make it standard you only have to put a single receiver inside the console, I think the cost increase is negligible.  Hopefully they'll figure a way to have a rumble motor that doesn't sap the batteries too fast, though.

[ChadTower]

Not sure if they're considered useful but...

I have them... you try playing a game holding onto that thing.

[cholin]

Xbox: http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/nextbox1.htm

As for the PS3, I saw a link somewhere, but I forget where.  It told the video cards, processors, all that crap.  They're going to be very good systems.

Aha, found the PS3 thing. http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/ps-three.htm

[Scott84]

I hope the PSP software is easily compatible with the PS3 so you can play those games on a nice big tv!

[ChadTower]

Why?  They're probably going to be mostly ps2 ports.

[dave 1945]

Looks like a projector

but give me a SNES any day, retro all the way!

[cholin]

Ill tell you what, if that picture is fake, someone has some real talent.  Check out the reflections on the system and compare them to the smaller ones, looks like a huge hall.

[Zakk]

Wonder if that one site is right...New Xbox will have IBM chips and ATI video?

[cholin]

Ahh come on, everyone's got their own opinions of ATI and nVidia...I personally like ATI (I own a Radeon x600).  They are in very close competition and ATI has a driver that runs all of their stuff too (Catalyst) so that wasnt really too fair now was it

For the record: LONG LIVE ATI

[Zakk]

Heh, I used to be an ATI nut about a decade ago (hey they are Canadian!), but I got tired of all the driver swapping, so I switched to the 3dfx and whatnot, up to my first TNT card.

[cholin]

Ahh so you've had bad experiences.  For me, my old computer (the one I used until 4 months ago) had an ATI RAGE II and it was horrible, along with the rest of my 1996-based system.  I decided to buy a new one and had done TONS of research with benchmarks and the lot.  I eventually settled on an ATI x600 Pro beacuse of value and quality.  It was the one card that was right in between both.  The benchmarks weren't the best, but saving 100 dollars sure was.  I figure, losing a frame/sec isnt gonna KILL me, especially because my resolution is lower anyways.  Ive never had a problem with this card.  You gotta remember though, now theres one set of drivers, catalyst 5.1 I THINK, something like it anyways.  Very good card IMO.  Sorry to hear about your little incident

[GGKoul]

Why?  They're probably going to be mostly ps2 ports.

Unlike Nintendo who rip off their loyal buyers by forcing them to upgrade every time... the PS3 will be backwards compatible and allow you to play PS1/PS2.  Plus they will continue to release games for all 3 formats. 

[SOAPboy]

I use wired controllers.

[Grasshopper]

What they ought to do is provide wireless controllers with a detachable power cable in case the batteries run out, or you need extra power for rumble etc. Then you'd get the best of both worlds.

[DaveJ-UK]

Why?  They're probably going to be mostly ps2 ports.

Unlike Nintendo who rip off their loyal buyers by forcing them to upgrade every time... the PS3 will be backwards compatible and allow you to play PS1/PS2.  Plus they will continue to release games for all 3 formats. 

I'm sure Nintendo don't make their consoles not backwards compatible to rip off their customers! If you have an original Playstation, you still have to buy a PS2 to play PS2 games, just as you had to buy a Game Cube to play GC games if you only had an N64.

And since the PS2 uses the same media format as its predecessor, it didn't add any significant cost. Imagine how hideous a console that supported NES / SNES / N64 / GC games would be? It would either have a whole ton of different slots which would be awkward, look horrible and liable to breaking down, or you would have to swap adapters round each time you wanted to play a different format game.

How often do you play PS1 games on your PS2 anyway? I don't think I ever have...

What they ought to do is provide wireless controllers with a detachable power cable in case the batteries run out, or you need extra power for rumble etc. Then you'd get the best of both worlds.

I'm not sure how well this would work, but you could have some kind of docking station to recharge the controllers like the Logitech MX series mice do. If it was well designed and the station was perhaps built into the front of the console it could work really well.

Ahh come on, everyone's got their own opinions of ATI and nVidia...I personally like ATI (I own a Radeon x600).  They are in very close competition and ATI has a driver that runs all of their stuff too (Catalyst) so that wasnt really too fair now was it

I had a Voodoo Banshee, 2 x Voodoo2 (Q2 @ 1024x768!), Voodoo 3 3000. Then I went for the GeForce series right up to the FX 5200. This is one of the biggest pieces of crap I'd ever wasted my hard earned cash on and i would have taken it back if I hadn't bought it 6,000 miles away in the US. I then bought a 9800 Pro and just got my hands on an X800 XT PE because it seemed the best PCI-Express solution.

Both companies are so close in terms of quality, price and features, you could almost flip a coin. Same goes for Intel and AMD these days but that's an entirely different debate.

[Zakk]

Ahh so you've had bad experiences.

[skid_68]

How often do you play PS1 games on your PS2 anyway? I don't think I ever have...

I do all the time, I played twisted metal last night with a friend. Just bought Fighting force, and sled storm also. Yeah the graphics suck compared to ps2, but its about the gameplay a lot for me.(but I still love sweet graphics)

[shmokes]

Why are we having a PC graphics card debate regarding the graphics chip in a cosole?  It's apples and oranges.  PC games have to be made to work with thousands of different combinations of hardware.  When coding a game for a console the developers no EXACTLY what hardware every single customer will have because each person's console is EXACTLY the same.  In the console world there are no issues of, "Damn, I need X version of the driver to run this game, but my box currently has Y version installed."  And even in the PC world neither Nvidia or ATI has a significantly better rep then the other.  It's just like the age-old hard drive debate: "I'll never buy a Western Digital; I've had two fail on me and my Maxtor has been running fine for years."  ...  "WHAT??? Maxtors are horrible.  Seagate is the only way to go!!!"

I've had problems with Nvidia and ATI cards.  Often times it has to do with an incompatibility with another piece of hardware in your computer.  Maybe your U.S. Robotics modem refuses to play nicely with your Nvidia card, while my 3Com modem refuses to work with my ATI card.  The fact is that both Nvidia and ATI make excellent graphics cards and either company is perfectly capable of delivering an excellent graphics solution for any of the next-gen consoles. 

BTW, as I'm sure any of you who own a Gamecube are aware, its graphical abilities are superior to the PS2.  It's also a perfectly stable console.  It also has a big fat ATI logo right on the system.  Guess who makes the Gamecube graphics chips...

[cholin]

Well, unless they release it with Halo 3 

Oh, there will be Halo 3!  Another Halo fan eh!  Thats a pretty sweet game.  Either way, the graphics cards in consoles ARE even more different than the driver issues.  Correct, there will be no drivers (although Im sure someone will hack the card somehow) but the cards themselves arent just like a Geforce4 or a Radeon x800, whereas they're specially made for that system.  One *possible* problem with XBOX is that they will require all there games to be online capable, and some companies would rather just make a game for the PS3 instead.  Think about it, sure, these companies can make every game capable, but it will cost twice as much because once you have the game done, you need servers, syncronization, all that crap...think of the programmers

[skid_68]

It's just like the age-old hard drive debate: "I'll never buy a Western Digital; I've had two fail on me and my Maxtor has been running fine for years."

[paigeoliver]

The reason that they are still releasing PS1 versions of games is the reasons consoles suck these days. When the developer has to keep porting to an underpowered system (that was outdated 10 years ago when it came out) in mind while developing a game, then that game is going to be lowest common denominator.

Imagine if in the 90s that they were still releasing Atari 2600 versions of all the latest multi-console titles. Street Fighter 2 for the 2600. Sonic the Hedgehog for the 2600. Stunt Race FX for the 2600.

Releasing Playstation versions of games made today is equally rediculous.

[ChadTower]

The reason that they are still releasing PS1 versions of games is the reasons consoles suck these days. When the developer has to keep porting to an underpowered system (that was outdated 10 years ago when it came out) in mind while developing a game, then that game is going to be lowest common denominator.

Imagine if in the 90s that they were still releasing Atari 2600 versions of all the latest multi-console titles. Street Fighter 2 for the 2600. Sonic the Hedgehog for the 2600. Stunt Race FX for the 2600.

Releasing Playstation versions of games made today is equally rediculous.

This is based on a LOT of mistaken assumptions.  They don't release lower powered versions of new games... they release new games for the PS1 that aren't related to new PS2 games.  They don't make games with older systems in mind.

[GGKoul]

1st) I have around 50 PS1 games and I play them all the time on my PS2.

2nd) Developers don't release games just for the PS1 anymore.  They release them for the PS2 and then look at what others systems they can port them game too.  Similar to releasing the game for PS1, PC or Xbox.

[shmokes]

Paige.....i think your judgement is being biased by an irrational hatred for all things console 

To speak of lowest common denominator as a problem afflicting consoles in a PC vs. Console debate is strange and comical.  Console game developers are NOT the ones that have to deal with a lowest common denominator.  They have to deal with a single common denominator and it is both the lowest AND the highest.

PC devolopers on the other hand have to make sure that their games will play on what the majority of people who would buy their games have.  They can't release a game that will ONLY play on the few computers that have a $500 videocard.

That is why the original Tomb Raider ran silky smoth on the PS1, which had a 32 Mjz processor and 8 MB of RAM, yet required a minimum of a 256 Mhz processor computer and 64 MB of ram AND a 3D Videocard.  And it was completely unplayable if your computer only met those minimum specs.

And yeah....there's no Prince of Persia or Madden 2005 or Splinter Cell or GTA for PS1.  Companies simply are not doing what you suggest.  Period.  None of them (none of them worth mentioning at least).

[Stingray]

Who uses wired controllers anymore anyway?

I do. My game room is small enough that the cords reach anywhere I want to sit in the room.

-S

[CPickler]

PS3 Is going to to use Blu-Ray Discs.  PS2 and PS1 discs are not Blu-Ray.  It is my understanding (which could be wrong)  That Cds, DVDs, etc. will not play in Blu-Ray Drives.

[JoyMonkey]

PS3 Is going to to use Blu-Ray Discs.  PS2 and PS1 discs are not Blu-Ray.  It is my understanding (which could be wrong)  That Cds, DVDs, etc. will not play in Blu-Ray Drives.

From a 2 year old CNet article:

Sony's new device records and plays back Blu-ray discs, but can also play back DVD, DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD and CD-RW discs. However, the recorder won't be able to read DVD-RAM or DVD+RW discs.