War of the New Machines
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By Thomas Jackson
he Xbox 360 is the most powerful video-game console yet. But how does it compare with the mightiest PCs?
Once upon a time, video-game consoles were the fun-loving, slow-witted step-siblings of desktop PCs. They excelled at certain types of games, such as Super Mario Brothers and arcade-style sports and driving simulations. What they lacked in processing power they made up for with user friendliness, or what industry types call "seamless interaction." All you had to do was plug them into the living room set, throw in a cartridge and they just worked. Of course, if a player wanted something more immersive or graphically complex, like a first-person shooter or a real-time strategy game, he'd have to go with a PC's faster processor and higher-resolution screen. As of this month, however, that rule no longer strictly applies. The introduction of Microsoft's Xbox 360 (to be followed in 2006 by next-generation versions of Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Gamecube) has dramatically closed the power gap. With its three 3.2-GHz processors and its ATI graphics card, the 360 packs more oomph than most desktop computers. And the new crop of games designed for it encompass all the genres once dominated by the PC market. There are first-person shooters, massively multiplayer role-playing games, as well as juiced-up versions of the usual driving and sports games. To the untrained eye, the graphics are hard to distinguish from those on a high-end PC.
"No one is looking at the consoles as underpowered anymore," says Michael Gartenberg, a VP at Jupiter Research, the Internet and consumer technology trend forecasting firm. "We're getting things like photorealistic game play and high-definition and surround-sound support. And while people may have a 20-inch monitor connected to their PC," he continues, "it doesn't compare with a 42- or 60-inch high-definition television paired with an Xbox 360."
It kind of makes you wonder: Why bother spending $4,000 or more for a top-of-the-line gaming computer when the Xbox 360 costs $400? Heck, you'll have $3,600 left over for that plasma TV. The PC people must be shaking in their boots.
"Not at all," says Rahul Sood, president and chief technology officer of luxury PC maker Voodoo. "If anything, I'm excited." Brian Joyce, marketing director of a competing company called Alienware, is equally sanguine. "Every time the next generation of console comes out, this question arises. And then a year later the PCs are 180 percent faster. With personal computers, the technology curve is basically a ramp, whereas consoles, because of their nature, are more of a stairway. There will always be periods where one is ahead of the other."
The whole philosophy behind the gaming-PC business is to build computers that push the latest hardware to its graphics-rendering limits. These machines are like America's Cup yachts: If they're not on the verge of breaking, they're not going fast enough.
Most of them tend to be custom jobs. Doing business with Voodoo or Alienware begins with a phone consultation: You tell them what kinds of games you want to play and how much money you're willing to spend, and they'll walk you through the hardware options. Voodoo offers machines with not one but two video cards; the combination is four times faster than the one in the Xbox. Alienware employs the latest Intel and AMD processors and graphics cards from NVIDIA and ATI. Once your choices are ticked off, the sales rep will politely inquire: "How much do you want to overclock it?" In English, that means, "How much extra voltage do you dare to run through your machine's microprocessor before turning it into a silicon frittata?"
Overclocking wouldn't be possible without ingenious cooling systems. Alienware has gold-plated copper tubes filled with a liquid similar to antifreeze snaking through the guts of its ALX units. Voodoo's ARIA media center controls heat by producing less of it, employing a superfast, low-voltage processor originally designed for laptops.
Of course, PCs can do much more than consoles. In addition to its ability to run, say, Age of Empires III at 100 frames per second, the ARIA is a full-blown entertainment server. With Microsoft's Media Center application, it can simultaneously record two high-definition TV programs or "archive" hundreds of DVDs on its hard drive, which can be as large as 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes). The Aria can even link up to the Xbox 360. Microsoft cleverly designed the new console to act as an "extender" to any entertainment PC, ushering pictures, music or movies from the hard drive in the home office to the speakers and screen in the living room.
Which brings us to the closest possible answer to this console vs. PC conundrum. Although some gamers will choose one over the other, most will simply buy both. "Gamers like to play games," says Joyce. Whether they want to immerse themselves in a World War II combat simulation or a championship soccer game, "they'll go to whatever platform is going to give them the best experience." Same as it ever was.
Article submitted by: Webshark
Last Update: 12-01-2005
Category: Off Topic Info
he Xbox 360 is the most powerful video-game console yet. But how does it compare with the mightiest PCs?
Once upon a time, video-game consoles were the fun-loving, slow-witted step-siblings of desktop PCs. They excelled at certain types of games, such as Super Mario Brothers and arcade-style sports and driving simulations. What they lacked in processing power they made up for with user friendliness, or what industry types call "seamless interaction." All you had to do was plug them into the living room set, throw in a cartridge and they just worked. Of course, if a player wanted something more immersive or graphically complex, like a first-person shooter or a real-time strategy game, he'd have to go with a PC's faster processor and higher-resolution screen. As of this month, however, that rule no longer strictly applies. The introduction of Microsoft's Xbox 360 (to be followed in 2006 by next-generation versions of Sony's PlayStation and Nintendo's Gamecube) has dramatically closed the power gap. With its three 3.2-GHz processors and its ATI graphics card, the 360 packs more oomph than most desktop computers. And the new crop of games designed for it encompass all the genres once dominated by the PC market. There are first-person shooters, massively multiplayer role-playing games, as well as juiced-up versions of the usual driving and sports games. To the untrained eye, the graphics are hard to distinguish from those on a high-end PC.
"No one is looking at the consoles as underpowered anymore," says Michael Gartenberg, a VP at Jupiter Research, the Internet and consumer technology trend forecasting firm. "We're getting things like photorealistic game play and high-definition and surround-sound support. And while people may have a 20-inch monitor connected to their PC," he continues, "it doesn't compare with a 42- or 60-inch high-definition television paired with an Xbox 360."
It kind of makes you wonder: Why bother spending $4,000 or more for a top-of-the-line gaming computer when the Xbox 360 costs $400? Heck, you'll have $3,600 left over for that plasma TV. The PC people must be shaking in their boots.
"Not at all," says Rahul Sood, president and chief technology officer of luxury PC maker Voodoo. "If anything, I'm excited." Brian Joyce, marketing director of a competing company called Alienware, is equally sanguine. "Every time the next generation of console comes out, this question arises. And then a year later the PCs are 180 percent faster. With personal computers, the technology curve is basically a ramp, whereas consoles, because of their nature, are more of a stairway. There will always be periods where one is ahead of the other."
The whole philosophy behind the gaming-PC business is to build computers that push the latest hardware to its graphics-rendering limits. These machines are like America's Cup yachts: If they're not on the verge of breaking, they're not going fast enough.
Most of them tend to be custom jobs. Doing business with Voodoo or Alienware begins with a phone consultation: You tell them what kinds of games you want to play and how much money you're willing to spend, and they'll walk you through the hardware options. Voodoo offers machines with not one but two video cards; the combination is four times faster than the one in the Xbox. Alienware employs the latest Intel and AMD processors and graphics cards from NVIDIA and ATI. Once your choices are ticked off, the sales rep will politely inquire: "How much do you want to overclock it?" In English, that means, "How much extra voltage do you dare to run through your machine's microprocessor before turning it into a silicon frittata?"
Overclocking wouldn't be possible without ingenious cooling systems. Alienware has gold-plated copper tubes filled with a liquid similar to antifreeze snaking through the guts of its ALX units. Voodoo's ARIA media center controls heat by producing less of it, employing a superfast, low-voltage processor originally designed for laptops.
Of course, PCs can do much more than consoles. In addition to its ability to run, say, Age of Empires III at 100 frames per second, the ARIA is a full-blown entertainment server. With Microsoft's Media Center application, it can simultaneously record two high-definition TV programs or "archive" hundreds of DVDs on its hard drive, which can be as large as 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes). The Aria can even link up to the Xbox 360. Microsoft cleverly designed the new console to act as an "extender" to any entertainment PC, ushering pictures, music or movies from the hard drive in the home office to the speakers and screen in the living room.
Which brings us to the closest possible answer to this console vs. PC conundrum. Although some gamers will choose one over the other, most will simply buy both. "Gamers like to play games," says Joyce. Whether they want to immerse themselves in a World War II combat simulation or a championship soccer game, "they'll go to whatever platform is going to give them the best experience." Same as it ever was.
Article submitted by: Webshark
Last Update: 12-01-2005
Category: Off Topic Info
Current rating: 5.36 by 73 users
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