An unbiased side by side comparison of 360 and PS3

Zeylon

Junior Member
May 28, 2005
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CPU

The PS3 boasts 1 3.2 Ghz core with 7 SPEs (essentially 7 miniprocessors). The PS3?s miniprocessors/SPEs that are capable of working simultaneously allows it to crunch numbers faster, do more floating point calculations and launch multiple copies of the same application, such as run multiple streams of music or media at the same time. This has countless applications for databases and will be applied to great use in IBM's upcoming servers. Unfortunately, the SPEs are of little benefit for games as games have little need for crunching numbers or running multiple streams of the same application. The limited need for these functions in games is a task best left up to GPUs which are capable of processing these at much higher speeds. Having some limited experience making games, programming a game to utilize 7 microprocessors is far more trouble than it?s worth. Splitting code 7 ways, even if there is ever a need to do so, isn't easy. Epic stated that the Unreal demo it showcased at E3 didn?t use any of the 7 SPEs and yet still managed to produce stunning visuals. This will probably be the trend for the vast majority if not all games. But in terms of raw computing power, the Cell is the most powerful consumer processor out there. The only question is how this power translates to games.

The 360 boasts 3 PowerPC cores each running at 3.2 Ghz. While this allows it to crunch numbers at rates that easily trump any current PC and most Server processors, it still can?t measure up to the raw power of the PS3?s CPU. Fortunately, this is essentially inconsequential as far as games are concerned. In some ways, the 360s CPU is more well rounded in it's capabilities. If I was programming games for the system, I would be quite excited to work with such a setup because unlike the PS3's SPEs which are only 32 bit as opposed to the main processors 64 bit architectures, the load can be spread symetrically over the xbox 360 cpu far easier than sony cpu. Thus 3 powerful parallel cores imply that one 3.2 Ghz core could be used exclusively to process and render physics, complex lighting, weather and glare effects and such, one 3.2 Ghz core could be dedicated to AI, allowing a large number of characters in any environment to all operate as distinct individuals, and the third 3.2 Ghz core could be used for all other processing needs. That is the ideal set up as any game programmer could tell you and it seems that Microsoft got their input when designing the processor. This is also reflected in the Microsoft XNA development kits released for developers. The XNA kits make programming games easier than it has ever been which is a crucial step in reducing development costs for the next generation. I would expect that Sony is working on a similar software development kit for the cell if it wishes to make development on the new piece of technology relatively inexpensive.

GPU

Sony originally planned for the PS3 to pack 3 Cell processors which were to be used to do the function of both the CPU and GPU. Unfortunately, as stated by Anandtech, Sony had to scrap that plan due to limitations of the Cell?s graphical capabilities and sought Nvidea to develop a graphics card. Fortunately though, they were able to secure the next generation Nvidea graphics card, expected to be the most powerful graphics card on the PC market when it is released for PCs early 2006. It should more than adequately meet the graphical needs of pretty much any next generation title.

Microsoft has been working with ATI to build a very powerful GPU specifically customized for the Xbox 360 for the past four years. It seems the work has paid off. The new ATI graphics card, in addition to being two generations ahead of any GPU out on the market today according to Anandtech, boasts unified and interchangable pixel and vertex shaders that will expected to great simplify programming. The card also boasts 10 MBs of embedded dram directly onto the GPU, a feature not expected to be found on any PC GPU for several generations and is likely to greatly enhance its performance.

Resolution

The PS3 boasts that it supports and is capable of rendering games at 1080p resolution. Unfortunately, that statement doesn?t actually mean anything. Virtually any and every machine is capable of rendering games at 1080p provided that the game is simple enough. I'm surprised that Microsoft hasn't already come out and stated that their console can render games at 1080p, 1200p, or pretty much any other resolution as well, as is already known by anyone with a technical background.

What Sony has not announced is whether game developers will be forced to support 720p, 1080i, 1080p or any other resolution. While this is good news for game developers since they will be able to cut costs by not implementing these features if they wish to do so, it also means that only a few titles may support HDTV resolutions. If I'm not mistaken, they seem to have hinted that all games will support atleast 5.1 surround sound, and if so, this is a good first step towards establishing more standards. What everyone can be certain of is that virtually no game will be rendered to support 1080p resolution, atleast not for several years. Currently, the only television sets that support this resolution all sell for upwards of $6000. In short, virtually no one owns 1080p televisions and they won?t for a very long time. Based on my experience, I can tell you that it?s simply not worth the additional development time, cost and effort that programming games to support 1080p requistes. In addition, rendering games in 1080p will cause the game to take a performance hit meaning that games that take advantage of 1080p would have to be programmed to not utilize all of the system?s processing power.

The 360 boasts that every game will fully support 1080i, 720p, custom soundtrack, 5.1, 16:9 widescreen and Xbox Live. This is certainly a good thing for HDTV owners. I?m not sure how happy game developers will be with this requirement though. Programming support for these features may increase development time and costs. Hence why virtually no games on the first Xbox supported 720p or 1080i resolution last generation though the Xbox was powerful enough to render complex games at these resolution and Microsoft went to great lengths to try and get developers to do so. Fortunately, Microsoft has promised that XNA will make implementing these features into all games far easier than it has ever been before. I do think that Sony would be wise to mandate similar standards for it's games if it can come out with something similar to XNA.

Additional Features

The PS3 boast a number of additional features, mainly slots for virtually every type of memory card produced, support for dual HD screens, 7 controllers, and the capability to play bluray movies. I?m not sure what the point of the multiple integrated memory card readers is other than adding expense. Since so few PCs have built in memory card readers, virtually everyone that has memory cards also own USB adapters for those memory cards. The support for dual HD screens and 7 controllers will be useful to those gamers that can have two HDTVs side by side but seems to have limited practical use for most gamers. The dual HD output is likely an artifact of the fact that the Nvidea GPU is essentially identical to the one that will be released for PCs in 2006.

The Bluray player is an excellent feature. But I?m not sure it warrants the additional cost to the console. Bluray uses a different laser than standard dvds. This means that to be able to read both, the PS3 will have to have dual lasers integrated into the machine. Panasonic plans to reveal such a dual DVD and Bluray player sometime in 2006 and has stated that it will cost no less than $299. The fact is, Bluray is still a very new and very expensive technology. It hasn?t even been finalized as the official HD format and may well lose to HDDVD since HDDVD has far more support among movie publishers due to its lower cost and Sony's negotiations with Toshiba to get more support for Blu Ray have just fallen thru over the past week. Regardless, even if Bluray wins the format wars, Bluray movies aren?t expected to start being released until late 2007 or early 2008 by which time dedicated Bluray players will likely hit the market at much lower prices than the additional cost that this feature is adding to the PS3. And these dedicated players will likely boast superior functionality as well. I can?t help but think this is only being done because Sony wants Bluray to win the HD format wars. Otherwise, it would have been wiser of Sony to release the initial PS3 model without Bluray support for 150-200 dollars cheaper and then release a second version compatible with Bluray movies, once the technology becomes confirmed the standard, becomes cheaper, and is perfected. I don't think bluray will be cheap. Remember, unlike the PS2, which could make due with just one laser, the PS3 has to have two seperate lasers. Panasonic already stated that it was very expensive to do. But then again, Sony is a multibillion dollar company so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

On a good note, the PS3 boasts a built in wireless adapter where the wireless adapter is an accessory that has to be bought seperately for the 360. Microsoft should consider doing likewise, and possibly supporting eight controllers as well. In addition, the PS3 boasts ultrafast Gigabit ethernet ports. It remains to be seen why Sony has opted to included them as for all practical purposes, they offer no advantages over the standard Ethernet ports found on the 360 as well as all current PCs. Nevertheless, both these inclusions were very thoughtful of Sony.

Another feature of the the PS3 that I am very eagerly looking forward to is the Eyetoy 2 camera. This technology will allow for a level of immersion in games not possible before, a level of immersion that may rival Revolution's rumored gyroscopic true force feedback controls patented by Novint, ideal for aiming in FPSs and such. For greater immersion, I'm hoping that all of the next generation systems incorporate gyroscopic controllers at some point. Microsoft has announced a camera similar to the Eyetoy, possibly integrated into a future revision of their console itself, but has remained tight lipped about the specifics. They would be wise to follow through on this feature. If you are not excited about the possibilities, watch what Ramgen has been able to do with similar technology right here... http://sonix.sdv.fr:8080/ramgen/arte/tracks/20040603/immersion.rm


Sony also came out and stated that the PS3 is not a gaming machine. I'm taking that to imply that the PS3 will in addition to playing great games, features additional functions such as web browsing, instant messaging, word processing, Tivo like functionality, and possibly the voice recognition technology originally used to great effect in Xbox's Rainbow Six 3. It would be wise for Microsoft to do so in kind.

Similarly, Sony has announced that they will start hosting clips of Sony's movies and such on their servers, that can be viewed through the PSP. Though Sony also talked about other features such as GPS and cell phone type functionality for the PSP, and has yet to reveal any information on any of these features, if Sony does intend to incorporate these features, it would be wise of Sony to extend this feature into the PS3, as it would be wise of Microsoft to incorporate some it's patented Tivo technology into the Xbox 360.

The 360 boasts a built in detachable 20 GB HDD that developers will thus be able to take advantage of for every game. This will likely make memory cards obsolete. Developers will be able to continue to make games such as Blinx that neccesitate a HDD to function, something that wouldn't be possible if the HDD was an additional accessory that had to be bought seperately. This is why I think Sony may opt to include such a HDD with each PS3 instead of spending this money on including various memory card readers.

The 360 also boasts a robust online experience with many features and great support. In a slick move, Microsoft has announced that all of these features and all Live games will be free for all 360 owners on weekends. Sony has announced that it too will have an online service but it has yet to release any details on it. It is important to note that Microsoft invested several billion dollars and several years into getting it?s Live service up and running. Sony, being more than 60 billion dollars in debt currently, likely can?t afford to make such a costly investment for sometime. And even if it opts to implement such a service, it will likely be a few years before they will be able to get it up and running giving the 360 an edge among online players. It would be wise for Sony to announce their online strategy, one that incorporates the various features found on Xbox Live, and start working on their network soon if it plans to have it be up and running within the next two years.

Games

Sony has had more games released for it?s systems than any other company in history. It will have no trouble attracting third party developers and anyone that questions that has no idea what they're talking about, enough said. There is no question that Sony will get tons of third party support, even if they were to release a toaster and market it as a console. They built a very nice console and given their brand name, I don't why you think anything more needs to be said to prove that the PS3 will have many great third party exclusives including the extremely popular of MGS and Devil May Cry franchises. Expect Microsoft to try and get an exclusivity deal on these third party franchises as they have done with so many other popular franchises in the past.


The first Xbox stumbled for the two years of it?s life due to a lack of quality exclusive content. No doubt, a part of the reason was that Microsoft was so new to the gaming market that few thought it would last. But the past generation, the Xbox franchise has proven itself with a hardware to software sales ratio almost twice that of the Playstation 2, so this shouldn?t be a problem for the 360. In additon Microsoft seems to have learned from that mistake by recruiting a huge number of developers to produce quality exclusive titles of all genres for the 360. The past two years, the Xbox saw a huge number of quality exclusive titles that sold very well and sold a great deal of consoles, actually surpassing the PS2?s day to day hardware sales in 2004. In addition, Microsoft seems willing to do just about anything to get every developer to make exclusive titles for the 360 including paying 50 million dollars to Squaresoft in exchange for full support of the 360, getting Silicon Knight?s long awaited Too Human series made exclusively for the 360, recruiting three of Japan?s most renowned developers (the creator of Resident Evil, the creator of Final Fantasy, and the developer behind Lumines) to produce games exclusively for the console, and finally getting Perfect Dark Zero underway. So the 360 will likely be as successful as Sony in the number of AAA franchises brought over to the system. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft spends some of it's hefty budget to try and get Capcom's Devil May Cry and Resident Evil or Konomi's Metal Gear Solid franchise over to their camp, just as they have done with Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden and so many other popular Japanese developers.

In summary, both systems are extremely powerful, pack a number of unique advantages, and will have a number of great games. They are both posed to do very well to do the next generation and I doubt anyone will regret buying either one.

Yes, I criticize certain aspects of both the PS3, and the 360 based on my albeit somewhat limited knowledge of coding and of the format wars and explained my reasons out throughly. I also praised both, for a number of things as well. I don't know how you can say this was in any way shape or form, biased. I just wrote based on my knowledge of coding, and on my knowledge of the format wars.

Please I strongly encourage that you quote and use this, where ever a fanboy war is going on to put a stop to it.

I also would love it if you guys posted this on other gaming sites' forums
 

platinumike

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2004
2,114
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none of that crap will matter, all that matters, is who has the good games, and who has madden/gta.
 

NewSc2

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2002
3,325
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well he never says that the opinions are his... he even asks us to copy and paste this in other forums (like it was our own conclusion ;))

well come to atot
 

Qwest

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
3,169
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Originally posted by: Amol
I was kinda worried when I saw the black guy avatar and "Posts: 1"

hahah, i was looking for the free ipod as well somewhere in there.
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
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Originally posted by: Mo0o
Fantastic. We definitely dont have enough 360/PS3 threads.
QFT. We need a forum for the kiddies to post about the latest fads & fashions. The rest of us could avoid it like the plague itself (P&N) and we'd all be better off.
 

Mo0o

Lifer
Jul 31, 2001
24,227
3
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Originally posted by: Gurck
Originally posted by: Mo0o
Fantastic. We definitely dont have enough 360/PS3 threads.
Seriously, we need a forum for the kiddies to post about the latest fads & fashions. The rest of us could avoid it like the plague itself (P&N) and we'd all be better off.

Offtopic.com had an good idea with the Initiation forum where newbs had to post before being allowed in to the other parts of the site. Maybe we can do something like this for ATOT
 

Sphexi

Diamond Member
Feb 22, 2005
7,280
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Originally posted by: Gurck
Originally posted by: Mo0o
Fantastic. We definitely dont have enough 360/PS3 threads.
QFT. We need a forum for the kiddies to post about the latest fads & fashions. The rest of us could avoid it like the plague itself (P&N) and we'd all be better off.

I heard that nipple rings are going to be hot this summer.


Discuss.
 

Zeylon

Junior Member
May 28, 2005
2
0
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actually, i was the original author of this. but this isn't the only place I posted it.

sorry about the spelling mistakes but I don't see how that's relevent.

also, what about this post don't you think is unbiased?
 

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
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Originally posted by: Zeylon
actually, i was the original author of this. but this isn't the only place I posted it.

sorry about the spelling mistakes but I don't see how that's relevent.

also, what about this post don't you think is unbiased?

It's not the bias that we have issue with.

It's the fact that you cannot have a side by side comparision since that is physically implausible at the moment because Xbox 360 hasn't even gone further than alpha kits and ps3 peopel are still circle kerkign themselves all over the media.


Then again, we can criticize your use of bias or lack thereof. Mos if not al of the information you psoted comes from the flagrant advertising that has plagued the net sicne these two were announced at E3.

You are buying into their hype by being so critical at such an early juncture in the development process and can't even see it.