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By Luke Morris
By Luke Morris
With the holiday seasons coming up this may be your chance to get that one big item on your wish list, one of the new gaming systems perhaps? Well, the only one coming out in time for the holidays is the Xbox 360, but is it worth buying or should you hold out for either the PS3 or the Nintendo Revolution?
Here are the known stats and info on the next gen systems, to help you make the decision.
Play Station 3
Hardware: The PS3 clocks in with a 3.2GHz processor (with a 512KB L2 cache), a total of 512MB RAM, and a 500MHz graphics processor. While the PS3 only has one 3.2GHz processor, compared to the 360’s three, the float point is much higher translating into better physics. The PS3 will be utilizing Blue-Ray disc format, which can hold an impressive six times the amount of data that a DVD can.
Controller: The controller has all the same functional buttons as the Play Station 2; now it’s just been warped to resemble a boomerang. The controllers will have Bluetooth (up to seven controllers) and will be able to be hardwired via USB.
Online: The Play Station 3 will feature an Ethernet port, and will have Wi-Fi (enabling a connection with the Play Station Portable). No word yet on online play.
Backward Compatibility: The PS3 will be completely backwards compatible with PS and PS2 games.
Price: The price has not yet been released, but suspicions are $400 on the low end.
Release date: The release has been projected by Sony for March.
Xbox 360
Hardware: The Xbox 360 is a powerhouse featuring three 3.2GHz processors. It also features 512MB of RAM and a 500MHz graphics processor. Enough to get any gamer’s hard drive running; speaking of which a 20 GB is an option.
Controller: The Xbox 360 controller isn’t too innovative; it’s quite a bit the same as the original Xbox, but who’s saying that’s a bad thing? The new controller will be wireless with a range of up to 50 feet.
Online: The original ground breaking Xbox live will be back, and improved with the 360, and will have new features to make the online gaming experience and excellent one.
Backward Compatibility: The 360 will only be backwards compatible with certain Xbox games.
Nintendo Revolution
Hardware: Not much is being offered at this time as far as technical specifics for the Revolution, but it’s nice to know that Nintendo will enable the Revolution to play DVD, something it missed with the Game Cube. However, the Revolution will be the only one of the next gen systems that isn’t configured to High Definition setup.
Controller: The Revolution’s controller completely defies the standard for the past 20 years of gaming. The controller is held in one hand like a TV remote, and is motion sensitive, letting the user interact with the game by movements of the controller itself. It also will have an analog attachment (via cable) which will be held in the other hand. The controller will use Bluetooth technology.
Online: The Revolution will feature an optional wireless router. There aren’t too many details on this yet, but it looks very promising. Backward Compatibility: In the area of backward compatibility, the Revolution truly shines. The system supports Game Cube controllers and games on the Revolutions hardware, and users will be able to play the games from the Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the original Nintendo Entertainment System through a virtual platform. Gamers will be able to download the games (for a fee most likely) and run them on their Revolution.
Price: There’s no word out yet on the price.
Release date: There has been no announcement about a release date yet.
So if you can wait it out, you might want to save for one of the other new consoles.
But if the Xbox 360 still sounds like the best bet then now’s the time to put it on reserve or your holiday wish list, because it’s hitting store shelves later this month.
