Hype

A very interesting article (for computer geeks like me anyway) came up at slashdot today. It basically took an in depth look at the abilities of the upcoming PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles (the Revolution was not included due to the complete lack of information availible). Via a host of developers, the following discovery (and a complete "Duh!" for most gamer geeks) was made concerning the systems.

The processing power of the PS3 and Xbox 360 is about the same between the two, and only two to three times as good as the last generation.

To be fair, that's still a big improvement. To be more fair, the potential for doing better than a mere three times is also there, but will take until later in the generation to be a reality. To summarize the article a bit, the processors could have been much better than they are, if it were not for a score of bottlenecks mucking things up. It's mostly a matter of dealing with that score of bottlenecks and design flaws that hinder effective usage of the complex processors. By the time the PS4 and Xbox 720 are being hyped, we'll see some truly beautiful games.

The real point of my mentioning this was that previously, I was concerned by Nintendo's statement that the Revolution would be two to five times as powerful as the GameCube. Now, I'm not concerned at all. It seems entirely possible and even likely that Nintendo's Revolution will actually have better graphics capabilities than its competitors. Given that Nintendo is emphasizing ease of development and developers' complaints about the difficulty in programming for the multiprocessors of the PS4 and Xbox 360, it might do very well.

There are a lot of ifs, buts and other speculations running around still, and even as things become clearer and even unto the very moment the last of the next generation consoles is released (and even after) the leader of the next generation will not be certain. While I'll admit I'm putting my money on Nintendo, the winner I want to see emerge victorious is none other than the gamer.

I think I can safely predict a one hundred percent market share for gamers.