OT: Bad news for next generation video game consoles

[TRI]

Read this article and weep. http://arstechnica.com/articles/pae...360-2.ars?67820. It seems that although next generation console games will have a big graphics upgrade, important things like AI, game control, physics, branch code and the like will suffer greatly. It could be that the CPUs in the PS3 and XBOX 360 may not even be able to process branch code for AI and physics as well as the XBOX 733 MHZ CPU. This is quite a surprise because the next generation may be the first generation where we see no upgrade at all in AI and physics or maybe even a downgrade from what we have now. Imagine playing a game for the XBOX 360 or PS3 with next generation graphics but PS1 or N64 physics and AI. That would be quite a shock yet it is very possible if not likely.

[Inuyasha]

The link didn't work but it sounds like some of the same things I've been reading on other sites. That's why I am taking a long wait and see approach to the new systems. All they may turn out to be are just prettier versions of the Xbox/PS2 games you have now, maybe even worse when it comes to game modes.

[TRI]

The link didn't work but it sounds like some of the same things I've been reading on other sites. That's why I am taking a long wait and see approach to the new systems. All they may turn out to be are just prettier versions of the Xbox/PS2 games you have now, maybe even worse when it comes to game modes.

I agree Why spend money for a down grade? It is also going to be much more expensive to make these pretty next generation graphics. We could see another video game crash similar to that in the 1980s.


Here is the link

http://arstechnica.com/articles/pae...360-2.ars?67820

[bdoughty]

The video game crash in 1983 has absolutely nothing to do with what is happening next gen. The major factor was the economy was in horrible shape and the console (Atari 2600) was having to compete with personal computers that just jumped on the scene (tandy, Commodore, TI, etc). It was also during this crash that Arcade Games were on a rise, so gaming was not dead, just moved to cigarette filled mall spaces where you started to play things in 3D. Lastly the quality of EXISTING GAMES was getting bad..


I present to you



In fact it was a next-gen console (The NES) that brought people out of the video game crash. The next generation will be just as strong, if not stronger then this one.

[sfz_T-car]

I present to you

Been digging in the backyard again, eh?

[DivotMaker]

That would be quite a shock yet it is very possible if not likely.

While I was not able to view the article, the pretense of it is preposterous to me. The new consoles have an incredible advantage in raw CPU and GPU horsepower that the current consoles could not possibly match. I think someone is trying to poo poo on the new consoles to justify gamers upgrading their PC's.

If I am proven wrong, I will be the first to own up to it, but the idea that gameplay elements will suffer at the expense of graphics seem very suspicious to me....

[bdoughty]

Yea the stupid dog stole my bag of Reeses Pieces, broke my telephone into a couple parts and burried them in the back yard. Now everytime I find a piece some FBI agent shows up, steals it and burries it elsewhere.

Ah the memories.

[ScoopBrady]

Yea the stupid dog stole my bag of Reeses Pieces, broke my telephone into a couple parts and burried them in the back yard. Now everytime I find a piece some FBI agent shows up, steals it and burries it elsewhere.

Ah the memories.

Huh?

[HipE]

I think E.T. was the first game I ever beat, I loved it when I was 10 years old. It wasn't until about 15 years later that I found out the whole story about it.

[Dave]

You can beat E.T.?

Worst. Game. Ever.

[HipE]

Yea the stupid dog stole my bag of Reeses Pieces, broke my telephone into a couple parts and burried them in the back yard. Now everytime I find a piece some FBI agent shows up, steals it and burries it elsewhere.

Ah the memories.

Huh?

In the game, you had to find all the pieces to your "phone", so you could put them together and "phone home". You basically walked around and fell into various pits hoping you would find a phone piece in them, then raised your neck up and levitated back up to the main map. However, on the harder levels, there were FBI agents who would chase you, and if they got you, your phone pieces would be taken away and randomly scattered around the map. I of course played on the easiest level where you never had to worry about that, plus I think the locations of all of the phone pieces were mapped out for you somehow. It took me weeks to figure out what do do with my assembled phone though, which was to go back to the starting area and find the marker for where your ship would pick you up.

At least I think that's how the game goes, it has been a long, long time since I last played it.

[bdoughty]

Thanks Hip

Did not want Scoop to think I was loosing it.

[ScoopBrady]

Thanks Hip

Did not want Scoop to think I was loosing it.

I'm still not convinced.

And thanks for the explanation Hip.

[bdoughty]

Thanks Hip

Did not want Scoop to think I was loosing it.

I'm still not convinced.

And thanks for the explanation Hip.

[vader29]

Nice to see that others here have played E.T. before. I remember playing the heck out of that game back in the days, always falling into the pits when running from the FBI guy. Ahhhhhh memories...

[sfz_T-car]

A beautifully executed threadjack

[bdoughty]

A beautifully executed threadjack

A welcome one as the original subject was more "landfill worthy" then all those copies of ET that were burried in the New Mexico desert.

[mobiggins]

Based on who posted the topic, I thought the "Bad news for next generation game consoles" would be that that the the events of the Apocalypse would be upon us by the time the 360 came out, and the world would for sure be swallowed in fire just in time to coincide with the PS3 launch, putting Sony at quite the disadvantage, not to mention Nintendo, who were probably screwed anyway and would welcome the hellfire burning the Earth.

[b_assassin]

Fixed link: http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/ ... x360-2.ars

Interesting tidbit:

Rumors and some game developer comments (on the record and off the record) have Xenon's performance on branch-intensive game control, AI, and physics code as ranging from mediocre to downright bad. Xenon will be a streaming media monster, but the parts of the game engine that have to do with making the game fun to play (and not just pretty to look at) are probably going to suffer.

Given the level of technical detail this author uses in the article, I would tend to believe that they know what they are talking about. But since I'm not a computer scientist, they could be making it all up, and I wouldn't have a clue

[bdoughty]

Based on who posted the topic, I thought the "Bad news for next generation game consoles" would be that that the the events of the Apocalypse would be upon us by the time the 360 came out, and the world would for sure be swallowed in fire just in time to coincide with the PS3 launch, putting Sony at quite the disadvantage, not to mention Nintendo, who were probably screwed anyway and would welcome the hellfire burning the Earth.

At least his linking skills have prevented me from reading the article.

One more try

h..p:/.w.ww.a......a.co./copy/paste...correctly..leaving..out..the....dots/i.d.x.h.t.l

[bdoughty]

Given the level of technical detail this author uses in the article, I would tend to believe that they know what they are talking about. But since I'm not a computer scientist, they could be making it all up, and I wouldn't have a clue

Yea he throws out doozies like this in his conclusion

In sum, the Xenon will certainly make the Xbox 360 a 3D graphics powerhouse. Though history suggests that the Xbox 360's games will probably never attain the level of graphical realism promised by Microsoft's pre-launch hype and portrayed in the pre-rendered "game demos" that were shown off at E3, gamers can nonetheless expect a significant advance in levels of graphical realism and visual immersiveness.

We are not worthy of your superior intelligence.

[wco81]

The guy knows computer architecture. But maybe he doesn't foresee all the implications of a hardware design. IIRC, he wrote the detailed analysis of the EE, GS and VU design of the PS2 which was widely discussed at the time. He does play games too.

But in the discussions at Ars and other sites, developers have pointed out that while they haven't had access to multicore processors in consoles, there is the potential to change AI and physics code to take advantage of the new hardware, by parallelizing current AI and physics algorithms.

Whether they will, or be allowed to by the suits, is an open question. In particular, the difference in the way the CPUs are arranged may make ports which take full advantage of the X360s's triple core or the Cell's SPEs, difficult, especially in the first year or two.

There's always hope in middleware like the Novodex physics API, which will make it easier for them to incorporate advanced physics sonner rather than later.

But in one respect, while every serious gamer will say gameplay is the most important thing, graphics are what sell games on a massive basis. So Hannibal is probably correct in saying that these consoles are optimized for graphics more than they are for other aspects of games. It'll be easier to produce great graphics than great AI or physics but it won't be impossible to produce the latter.

[Sudz]

the indiana jopnes game sucked ass too..

tetse flies!

[WillHunting]

the indiana jopnes game sucked ass too..

tetse flies!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!

I loved that Indiana Jones game (2600). Dual joystick action (well, okay, the 2nd joystick is just used to switch item in your inventory), but that game is HARD, and creative. It took me a long time to finish it, in fact, I took me many months even with a walkthrough!

Great game, trying to get that Parachute into the right Mesa hole is one hell of a challenge.

[TRI]

The next generation consoles will suffer from the dumb blonde syndrome. The games will look great like a beautiful blonde but the AI and physics will be subpar compared to current generation console games. Beautiful and dumb.