H
Hollywood-GPU
Nintendo Revolution (graphics by ATI) is still currently less powerful
in compute performance (CPU) and rendering performance (GPU) than
either Xbox360 or Playstation3, according to both Nintendo and 3rd
party developers.
quote:
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It doesn't really matter, though, because Too Human as Silicon Knights
envisions it would not be possible on Revolution, both because
Nintendo's console doesn't have the graphical horsepower of Xbox 360
and (more importantly) because Nintendo would be unwilling to fund such
an epic trilogy. For these reasons alone, I'm thrilled it's on
Microsoft's system and not Nintendo's.
Quote:
As to your first question, I'm sure that Revolution will be plenty
powerful, but I don't think we're going to see a repeat of Nintendo's
ultra conservative presentation of the GameCube specs. There are
significant differences between the systems, remember. GCN was
positioned to be the "developer's platform" that could yield big
graphic results with less effort. We knew from the very beginning that
the console was going to be technically savvy, if you recall, and even
proclaimed early on that it would be better suited than PlayStation 2
in most respects. In contrast, we are hearing early on that Revolution
will not be as powerful as Xbox 360, which in turn makes it technically
underpowered compared to PlayStation 3. We know this because both
Nintendo and third parties have told us so.
As you said, it might be possible to deliver a console as powerful as
360 in a smaller package if Nintendo launched it 12 months later. But I
don't think the company is even concerned with matching Microsoft's
horsepower. Revolution is all about this new controller. The system
will undoubtedly be far more advanced than GameCube, which should
satisfy less discerning audiences, but the Big N's focus with the
machine is not horsepower, but a new way to play. And on top of that, a
console that is attractively priced to immediately hit the mainstream
market.
Second question. I don't agree with J Allard's assessment that a
freehand-style pointer would be unable to accommodate racing games. I
actually think it would work quite well, as gamers could simply turn
the thing left or right to turn, and push forward or pull backward to
accelerate and decelerate. It's an interesting alternative, anyway, to
the formulaic setup of today's racers. But let's assume for a second
that he's right and that Nintendo's controller makes racers and sports
games completely unplayable. It's still not a problem because
Revolution owners can simply use the conventional controller shell to
play those games, at which point they get both motion sensor
functionality and traditional controls.
Question three. I honestly think the answer is because Nintendo has not
yet decided on the final name of Revolution. Once it has, I'm sure it
won't be long before we all know it.
Final question. I'm always disappointed when Nintendo sacrifices
technology in order to deliver a game console at a cheaper price. Not
only did this strategy not benefit GameCube, but in hindsight I would
say it actually hurt the system because it helped snowball the
perception that GCN was less equipped than its competitors. If you've
read the mailbag for any amount of time, you undoubtedly know I bitch
regularly about Revolution's lack of high-definition support, and yadda
yadda yadda, so on and etc. But I have to admit that with Revolution
Nintendo has the chance to target a more mainstream audience than it
ever has before -- perhaps, even, than any videogame company has
before. Bearing that in mind, I can for this console understand why it
might want to introduce some cost-cutting measures in order to hit a
mainstream price point.
__________________________________________________
in compute performance (CPU) and rendering performance (GPU) than
either Xbox360 or Playstation3, according to both Nintendo and 3rd
party developers.
quote:
_________________________________________________________
It doesn't really matter, though, because Too Human as Silicon Knights
envisions it would not be possible on Revolution, both because
Nintendo's console doesn't have the graphical horsepower of Xbox 360
and (more importantly) because Nintendo would be unwilling to fund such
an epic trilogy. For these reasons alone, I'm thrilled it's on
Microsoft's system and not Nintendo's.
Quote:
As to your first question, I'm sure that Revolution will be plenty
powerful, but I don't think we're going to see a repeat of Nintendo's
ultra conservative presentation of the GameCube specs. There are
significant differences between the systems, remember. GCN was
positioned to be the "developer's platform" that could yield big
graphic results with less effort. We knew from the very beginning that
the console was going to be technically savvy, if you recall, and even
proclaimed early on that it would be better suited than PlayStation 2
in most respects. In contrast, we are hearing early on that Revolution
will not be as powerful as Xbox 360, which in turn makes it technically
underpowered compared to PlayStation 3. We know this because both
Nintendo and third parties have told us so.
As you said, it might be possible to deliver a console as powerful as
360 in a smaller package if Nintendo launched it 12 months later. But I
don't think the company is even concerned with matching Microsoft's
horsepower. Revolution is all about this new controller. The system
will undoubtedly be far more advanced than GameCube, which should
satisfy less discerning audiences, but the Big N's focus with the
machine is not horsepower, but a new way to play. And on top of that, a
console that is attractively priced to immediately hit the mainstream
market.
Second question. I don't agree with J Allard's assessment that a
freehand-style pointer would be unable to accommodate racing games. I
actually think it would work quite well, as gamers could simply turn
the thing left or right to turn, and push forward or pull backward to
accelerate and decelerate. It's an interesting alternative, anyway, to
the formulaic setup of today's racers. But let's assume for a second
that he's right and that Nintendo's controller makes racers and sports
games completely unplayable. It's still not a problem because
Revolution owners can simply use the conventional controller shell to
play those games, at which point they get both motion sensor
functionality and traditional controls.
Question three. I honestly think the answer is because Nintendo has not
yet decided on the final name of Revolution. Once it has, I'm sure it
won't be long before we all know it.
Final question. I'm always disappointed when Nintendo sacrifices
technology in order to deliver a game console at a cheaper price. Not
only did this strategy not benefit GameCube, but in hindsight I would
say it actually hurt the system because it helped snowball the
perception that GCN was less equipped than its competitors. If you've
read the mailbag for any amount of time, you undoubtedly know I bitch
regularly about Revolution's lack of high-definition support, and yadda
yadda yadda, so on and etc. But I have to admit that with Revolution
Nintendo has the chance to target a more mainstream audience than it
ever has before -- perhaps, even, than any videogame company has
before. Bearing that in mind, I can for this console understand why it
might want to introduce some cost-cutting measures in order to hit a
mainstream price point.
__________________________________________________