September 18, 2005

• Well, the Tokyo Game Show
  is going on, and the next-gen console wars between Microsoft's xbox360,
  Sony's PlayStation3, and Nintendo's Revolution is in full swing.

  The first to action is Nintendo's Revolution controller,
  which has gotten a huge mix of people's opinions about it. 
  Gamer's mostly hate the concept, but developers seems to love it. Me
  personally I think the Rev controller is pretty darn cool. I think that
  just like
  how the DS touch screen sparked some creativity from developers, this
  controller will do the same for the Revolution. That's a good thing for
  games evolving as far as I'm concerned.  But at the current time,
  with lack of any further announcements in regards to games and support,
  the Revolution is still not considered in "the running" against the
  other two consoles.

  Next up is Microsoft's showing of xbox360 games.
  With better development kits out there, the 360 games have definitely
  shown improvements over the E3 builds. Not only that, but more than
  anything, it showed that Microsoft is very serious about their
  commitment in gaining more support from Japan.

  Then we got Sony's showing of PlayStation3 games.
  Once again the current industry leader flexes it's muscles and
  demonstrates that the PS3 is the favored console to win the next war.
  One of it's biggest ammunition comes from the trailer of Metal Gear Solid 4 : Guns of the Patriot.
  This is the one that really got the online community in a frenzy (and
  stole that thunder from Nintendo's Rev controller) because it was an
  impressive trailer for the game, done with "real-time" graphics
  (compared to Killzone). That "real-time" aspect part is where people
  got confused though. What
  people have to realize is that while the graphics for MGS4 looks
  outstanding, it's still pre-scripted. This allows them to tweak
  whatever they can to make a particular cinematic shot look better than
  it would have, compared to if you were actually controlling the
  motion. With
  that said, I think the actual game play graphics (with HUD, 3rd angle
  view, etc...) will look extremely close or just like that trailer they
  showed. And with THAT said, I don't see why the 360 couldn't produce
  the same graphics that MGS4 or next-gen Killzone are showing.
  Seriously.

  Pictures aren't really the best way to compare the
  next-gen graphicaly capabilities (since it doesn't account effects,
  particle shots, etc...) but take a look at the current difference
  between MGS4 (pic 1, 2) and Gears of War (pic 1, 2). Now, if we go by real-time cinematic trailers of the two, we have these to go by : MGS4 real-time pre-scripted trailer (mirror) vs GoW real-time pre-scripted trailer (mirror). The difference is there in graphical quality and in cinematic camera direction, but honestly not that much.

  Then besides Gears of Wars, another upcoming next-gen game (for PC,
  xbox360, PS3) with the same "style" of graphical realism is that Wardevil game that also has a video demo of it's game engine. Notice
  that the graphics for that are pretty impressive already, and honestly
  in the same league as MGS4 or GoW. This just proves that the gap
  between the PS3's power and the 360 isn't as big as it was for the xbox
  and PS2. While the xbox had exclusive games (Riddick) that the PS2
  supposedly cannot do, it doesn't look like it'll be the same situation
  with the PS3 and the 360. Ofcourse, even with the power difference
  between the PS2 and the xbox, the PS2 was still able to produce "xbox
  quality" graphics (God of War), which just proves that talented
  developers should be able to tap into more power from the 360 to meet
  any graphical prowess that the PS3 is suppose to have over it.
   
  This next-gen console war will
  seriously be more about game exclusives than fanboys boasting hardware
  specs. So choose the games you WANT to play, and THEN choose the
  console it's going to.

  A post about the Tokyo Game Show wouldn't be complete without some pictures of....
  booth babes and cosplayers!

  • 4:10 am
  • 1 Comment