A PlayStation In Deep Blue, Or Vice Versa? 189
Tebubaga writes: "The BBC is reporting that IBM has won the contract to produce the next generation of micro-processors for Sony's Playstation 3 game console due sometime in 2004. Sony, IBM and Toshiba are joining toether to create a 'supercomputer on a chip' which sounds like the PS3 will be much more than just another games console. Quote, 'The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue super-computer, operate at low power and access the broadband internet at ultra-high speeds". Bet it still won't do my laundry though...'
More powerful than (Score:2)
'The result will be consumer devices that are more powerful than IBM's Deep Blue super-computer
Holy shit. Kasparov will be PISSED.
PPC based??? (Score:1)
great.... (Score:2)
Re:What's the point? (Score:1)
Re:What's the point? (Score:1)
If only so that I can kill him over and over.
aztek: the ultimate man
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
There's a big difference between making out a leaf and seeing detail. Just like you can see a bird that is very far away, but you'll need binoculars to identify the species.
Re:"The CPUs are fast enough now" (Score:2)
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:2)
Pre-crash there was Atari, Mattel, Coleco, Mangavox/Phillips, Milton Bradley/GCE, Bally, a few others, and some in Japan. Not quite "hundreds" like the guy said, but more than today.
Actually I would love this box (Score:1)
Put I find the fact that a child game console being more powerfull and expensive workstation rather troubling.
As desktop users, what are we paying for?
Do we need the old expensive and lagacy circuitry in todays motherboards for simple or even complex single user apps?
Sure a server needs the extra i/o but why do we need our so called micro mainframes?
I prefer a ps/3 or xbox then a pc. If Microsoft ported ms office and allowed usb monitors and usb mice and keyboard connectivity, I would switch.
Also if IBM ported Linux to the ps/3 and if Staroffice and java is supported I would happily switch. I can't think of one thing that a pc could do that a game console can't. The microsoft xbox does appeal to me if I can run Linux and Windows apps and Linux may be ported to it. The television resolution is a problem for now but I believe there is a potential market for users who can't afford a comptuer to check the interent run a word processor app and with built in networking it may be possible to even send a print que to a networking printer ( assuming Linux and lpr is ported ).
My only concern is the hardware is proprietary. The xbox might be better for now.
Guys, just remember the early 1980's when the min and mainframe guys snobbed at the pc even though the pc was almost as fast.
I believe were in a similiar situation today where the pc is the mini and the game consoler is the so called toy that us IT pro's are snobbing at. Even Stallman laughed at hte pc when it first came out. Lets welcome the console era and port linux to it. I think its time to leave the pc hardware into the server and workstation era and welcome super fast consoles.
Re:Kasparov won't be happy... (Score:1)
"Deep Blue defeated then world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a high-profile battle pitting man against machine in 1997."
Re:Wait a sec... (Score:1)
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
Pre-rendered movies can't even do that. Real-time isn't anywhere close.
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The fine and subtle art of self-FUD. (Score:3)
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Re:Indrema? (Score:2)
Indrema games won't run on any non-Indrema hardware.
Indrema will sell the console at a loss and make money by taking a cut from every game sold.
Indrema's Linux distribution is full of copy protection/DRM stuff.
Re:What Sony want (Score:1)
The normal advice on hi-fi forums on magazine is: Don't buy a DVD Player if you are mainly interested to listen CD's, pecause the ADC converterters are of lower quality, the video circuits could generate hum on audio outputs, and normally a DVD player is more difficult to use. For loudspeakers and power amolifier, remember that you have six (eight? ten?) channel instead of two, so for the same quality you have to pay three four times more than a regular stereo amplifier'
Anyway 'real audiophiles' don't care if the CD player is built ina 19" aluminum rack or in a iron case painted ing gray, or in a wooden case. The CD player has to play well.
One wonders what happened to PS2 (Score:1)
I still can't buy a PS2 from any of my local retailers, but at this point, I don't even want one. I'm sure some of the games are pretty good, but lately all my console money has been going to Dreamcast, and it's a dying console. Gamecube and Xbox will be out later this year, which is just another reason to take a pass on PS2. Final Fantasy will be the only reason I might even consider it.
What Sony want is control... (Score:1)
What's more disturbing, the FIPS or turnaround? (Score:2)
The thought that a PS3, a consumer level box, will have more processing ability than the highest of high end rigs today, is shocking.
Mr. Moore's laws have been accelerated..
Are they still talking USD 300 price? If so, this is the first step in the post-PC "designer box" era when each desired set of actions is made to require a distinct, discrete, 'copy-proofed' system.
I just hope the Linux port for PS3 gets out faster than the PS2 port did
Ruling The World, One Moron At A Time(tm)
"As Kosher As A Bacon-Cheeseburger"(tmp)
Can not, Will not (Score:1)
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Re:But that time (Score:1)
Clock speed ain't everything,... (Score:2)
Apple uses PowerPC chips that are more RISCy than Intel chips. They have a shorter pipeline, which basically allows a higher average ITR after you factor in branch mispredicts. That is why an Apple box can do a respectable job of keeping up with a (long pipeline) Intel machine clocked at twice the rate. MIPS, not clock speed, matters.
The real reason Apple machines aren't the choice of gamers is that Apple puts modest (OK, but not screaming high-end) video-cards in their systems.
That and Apple's unwillingness to open their code to game developers.
Deep Blue wasn't that fast. (Score:1)
Andrew
Microprocessors != surfing bandwidth (Score:3)
Come on, even if I stick a pentium IV, or one of these vaporware chips and connect to the internet via a modem, it's not going to be faster than a 486.
If I connect via a cable connection shared with 200 other people who download stuff all day at the same time, it's not going to be faster than a 486.
If I connect via whatever connection you want, and the proverbial backhoe operator cuts some fibers causing massive lag spikes everywhere, it's not going to be faster than a 486, and it has the potential to be slower than a carrying pigeon if you happen to be on the wrong side of the cut hop.
Re:Microprocessors != surfing bandwidth (Score:1)
Software modems, on the other hand, might benefit from an increase in processor speed. But it depends how fast the original processor was as to whether an increase is important.
Re:Ahh, the power of marketing. (Score:3)
Backwards Compatability? (Score:1)
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Re:"The CPUs are fast enough now" (Score:1)
It lies within a lack of sufficient bandwidth as well, when 56K is woefully insufficient for those who aren't able to sanely justify moving within servicable areas for *DSL or cable modem service... In other words, for many it involves plunking down $1,000+ just to be in a more convenient area for broadband service... When you're talking those numbers, you may as well ask them to install a T3 in the middle of nowhere to offset the costs...
I'm using a PIII 750 (in actuality a marginally overclocked PIII 733, which at last check, around $130 on PriceWatch) which is NOT that high an expendature, compared to the price they're gouging on P4's... In which case, get a Thunderbird 1Ghz+... But irregardless, it works fine for MPEG 2 AND 4 en/decoding in software(though on decoding, still some minor flaws in timing exist)...
As for Sorenson, that's the only damnned Apple approved codec that makes ANYTHING on a PC look inferior to their precious Macs... In fact, one could say that it was so bloody processor intensive on a x86 deliberately, just so Apple could maintain their 'A 500 Mhz G3 is faster than a 1 Ghz Pentium III' claim...
Just look at the Lord of the Rings Sorenson preview in Quicktime on anything less than a 500 Mhz processor, and you'll know what I mean...
However, for non entertainment value, what is there? I don't program, so therefore compile times matter none to little... And on the open market, to the average couch potato Joe Public, that means nothing at all...
Re:PPC based??? (Score:1)
WRONG!
IBM still makes all the G3 processors used in the iBooks and iMacs. Motorola hasn't liscensed the Altivec stuff to IBM yet.. I'll be surprised if IBM isn't building G4's shortly..
Linux?? (Score:3)
When can we have linux on this?
Re:A "supercomputer" PS3 hmmmm (Score:1)
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Re:What Sony want (Score:3)
What they want, is to get you to buy one, period. Then, if you want the features that a 'real' DVD player has (progressive component outputs, better remote control, HDCD compatibility etc.) they will steer you towards one of their 'specialized' players.
The same can be said about hi-fi systems: while the drive pick up mechanics are pretty much the same in your cdrom vs in a dedicated cd unit that goes in an hi-fi, all of the other electronics is very different (converters, preamplifiers etc.) since the objective of your cheap playstation is to play games, while the objective of a (sometimes twice as) expensive cd drive, is to provide the most faithful possible music reproduction.
Also remember that the 'specialized' CD player will have a good remote control, and a nice led display that tells you a lot of information without having to turn on the tv all the time...
All of this talk of 'digital convergence' is IMHO marketing doublespeak, since if they really wanted things to converge, the form factor of a console would much more closely resemble the form factor of a 'standard' dvd/cd/hi-fi component, with a nice, big, illuminated programmable LCD display at the front, that can display relevant information (track number, cd-text, whatever). Let's also not forget a really nice remote control, maybe similar to a palm device, so the 'keys' can be reprogrammed on the fly.
Obviously, if they did indeed create such a component, they would be shooting themselves in the foot, since they wouldn't be taken seriously by the audiophiles (my CD player plays games? bleurgh) by the gamers (what's with this big square console, the Xbox looks nicer and it's way smaller) and by the average user (1500$ for this thing? I don't need all this stuff, I just want to play games/play dvds/play CDs).
My 2c, 'specialized' units will not die for a long time coming, not really because of technical reasons (even if, like I said, nobody has yet tried to produce a *real* universal player) but mostly because a specialized unit, obviously, will be better and cheaper at what it does, and because the designer will be able to target its visual appearance to its target market (that's why you'll never see wood panelings in a console and transparent orange plastic in a high-end stereo equipment
Sony... more hype than microsoft! (Score:3)
Re:use for teraflop gaming (Score:3)
Most games now-a-days rely on repetition and call it "skill." True, zerg-rushing a terran base is simple enough, but a real skill would be one of the zerg that are in the rush. Ever see how many of your little ones die in the attack and you win anyway? Wouldn't be much fun if you were amoung the first to die.
I like Rainbow six type games where, when you die, that's it. None of this die, respawn and try again bullshit. I want consequences. I want a game that if I fuck up I'm starting all over with nothing.
I'd love a game where AI characters come looking for you if you kill their boss... but not this shit of "all the AI guys rush in" once you do it. I want the bad guys to have lives. I love hitman for the way it plays so realistically with the AI characters but I hate the way they have set patterns. I might like it better if they told the character to start at point A and, however way they feel, get to point B. Then I have to get them but I don't know exactly where they are - makes it more of a challenge. Makes it more interesting.
What are you looking at?
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Aside USB & Firewire (Score:1)
PS2 has both USB and firewire, although support for either is 'application dependant'. Basically the hardware is there, the appication just has to load a library and drivers to use the devices. Fortunately USB devices are pretty standardised these days. I would assume the situation with firewire is the same...
Goody! (Score:2)
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| aim: | bagel is back |
| icq: | 158450 |
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:1)
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Re:Linux?? (Score:2)
Re:Linux?? (Score:1)
Possible conflict of interest? (Score:1)
Since they've done work on the Gekko processor, and now they've landed a deal for the Playstation3, which is essentially a competitor for Gekko.
Now the question is.. what (if any) steps will IBM make to make sure there is no conflict of interest?
After all, anyone familiar with Nintendo will know that Nintendo is pretty anal about NDA's for just about everything related to their hardware in an attempt to prevent their competitors from stealing ideas and technology. Yet if IBM were to use their past experiences to work on the PS3 chip, wouldn't that be unfair competition against Nintendo?
Yes, yes, I realize that some of you may point out that the GC will come out this year or next year, while the PS3 isn't likely to see the light of day for another 4-5 years... but can you really be sure about that? And what about the Gekko2? Who's going to work on that?
Kasparov won't be happy... (Score:5)
But that time (Score:1)
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If you believe that press release... (Score:2)
IBM, Motorola, and AMD have teamed up to develop a new advanced network chip architecture code-named Mollusc. This new chip is designed to "suck" all of the information from the internet and "retain all the juicy bits", like it's bivalve namesake.
The partners plan to invest $800 trillion clams in the project and have recruited the talents of many scum-sucking bottom-feeders who have recently been laid off in Silicon Valley.
The chip is slated for many home users who want all the *extremely* useful information on the internet available at home without really wanting it.
2004? (Score:1)
Oh.. You mean like SDRAM? (Score:1)
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Re:Ahh, the power of marketing. (Score:1)
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:1)
Re:IBM has a finger in every pie... (Score:1)
I think you answered your own question.
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:2)
Have you seen Indrema [indrema.com]? Check out their Developer Network [indrema.com] (looks like it's got much more interesting information than the main site). The L600 is due this year apparently so I'd expect more about this in the upcoming months.
It has been mentioned on SlashDot [slashdot.org] a bit before too of course.
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Re:"The CPUs are fast enough now" (Score:2)
Re:What Sony want (Score:1)
Re:What's the point? (Score:3)
individual strands of hair for all 1000 people?
No. But you should be able to see large-scale effects -- highlights, flowing in the wind, etc. Try looking at someone sitting 10 feet away -- their hair has a ridiculous amount of visible detail at that distance. Current systems can't come within a tiny fraction of this in real-time.
My point being that human perception, and not raw processing horsepower, is quickly becoming the limiting factor in video graphics presentations.
Ridiculous. Current resolutions are far below what the eye can see. Anti-aliasing can keep this from being overly apparent on large-scale features, but it cannot counter the fact that details that you would be able to easily see with your eye are far too small to render.
When computers can render the loops in my carpet halfway across my room and make the ant struggling across those loops visible and recognizeable at proper scale, come back and we'll talk.
because the human eye can only distinguish the difference in the nearest few trees.
Perhaps you just need to get your eyes checked. When I stand in a forest, I can make out individual leaves and branches on trees two hundred feet away with ease.
And then there's the macroscopic effects. A tree half a mile away doesn't need to have each leaf rendered -- but it needs to _look_ like it does. So you either need to have some higher-level model of what trees look from a distance, or simulate each leaf anyway.
In the event that we do reach the limits of perception (probably inevitable, but certainly not near!), then anyone with a modicum of imagination can think of tons of things to do with the extra horsepower. More accurate simulation springs immediately to mind. Sure, your tree are accurate to the leaf, but do they wave properly in the wind? What about the hair?
East Fishkill? (Score:1)
What has prompted IBM to build there?
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:1)
...except Nintendo.
They make money (and continue to make money) on the actual consoles, even with the Gamecube being a miniscule $150-200.
As an aside...where are the PS2s? How long has it been since launch? I can't even see the glorified DVD player in stores yet.
Re:What's the point? (Score:1)
75 GFLOPS of shadow producing goodness.
Re:Linux?? (Score:2)
Re:2004? (Score:1)
Re:PPC based??? (Score:1)
Supercomputer on a chip my ass... (Score:2)
Same thing goes for the 486, and the Pentium.
The crap they spew never seems to change.
Re:Supercomputer on a chip my ass... (Score:2)
I can remember my first 386 computer. That memory still goes "ohmygod". At the time, it was unbelievable what you could make these do, on your desktop. I'd never seen such compile speeds for my Pascal (yeah, it was a long time ago :0) ), the speed at which it ran my numerical code with the FP unit was amazing. I thought I'd never fill that 20M hard drive.
The crap they spew never seems to change.
Moore's law is where it's at, kid.
LinuxPPC on the PS3.. hmm... (Score:2)
This is assuming that the PS3 would use PCI and perferrably Open Firmware... unlikey, I think.
My obligitory comment: "If they want a 'supercomputer on a chip,' talk to Apple marketing..."
Haaz: Co-founder, LinuxPPC Inc., making Linux for PowerPC since 1996.
Apple (Score:2)
On the other hand, Apple can't corner the hardcore gamer's market because they are clocked at half an Athlon or Intel CPU.
The really ironic part is that the XBox will be using a variation of the GeForce3 on a Celeron-like processor, at CPU speeds no faster than, say, a G4 tower with a GeForce3 today... so it *still* may be possible that Apple isn't nearly as bad off as everything thinks. Then there's the other box, the GameCube... which uses a 403MHz G3 with some fancy ArtX/ATI chipset... which will still probably be comparable to the GeForce3 and a 600MHz G4.
All that really is waiting is the games, not the hardware.
Geek dating! [bunnyhop.com]
Re:Sony... more hype than microsoft! (Score:2)
Re:"The CPUs are fast enough now" (Score:2)
Bah! (Score:2)
The challenge of losing... (Score:2)
Anyhoo, I wanted to write a short note about gameplay. You don't want a game that people can't win - eventually players will become fustrated and give up. Its pointless to have a game that's impossible to defeat because while people like a challenge, people also like victory. You don't make it too easy on one hand, but you don't put them up against something that is completly impossible.
BLeh. I suppose all this processing power will give us the next best thing in orgasmic graphic reality. Woop. Someone should hit these people on the head and tell them that I want to play a game that is fun once and a while too. You know, pong is really fun and it doesn't need much more than a C64 to run either... in fact, a C64 would be too much power for Pong...
Give me Tradewars 2002 over Quake 3 anyday. Give me LORD over Diablo. Give me fun or give me something else.
Ignore this post if you think I'm an idoit. I am.
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Re:Microprocessors != surfing bandwidth (Score:2)
;)
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Re:What's the point? (Score:3)
-Vercingetorix
Where'd you get that from? (Score:2)
You almost make this sound like it's a good thing.
How so? Did you read a different post?
There's a distinct difference between parental controls, which seems to be what you're talking about, and content control, which is things like CSS, SDMI and the recent hard disk protection mechanisms. I'd agree that voluntary parental control mechanisms are a good thing, whilst the other is distinctly a bad thing.
You seem somewhat confused I'm afraid :)
Re:all very well, but.... (Score:4)
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"The CPUs are fast enough now" (Score:2)
Anyway, it really anoys me when the crowd of admitted techno-geeks can't see uses for more CPU power. They're out there, and when the designers have the CPU power, it will get used. The PS2 games will improve, and the story will repeat again with the PS3 -- at a level an order of magnitude (or more) higher in CPU power, and somewhat higher in gameplay (I hope).
Re:What's the point? (Score:3)
4000x3000x32x30=11.5Gb/s of bandwidth.
There isn't an architecture on the planet (save -maybe- Crays) that has that kind of bandwidth. Even the on-die interconnect between the processor cores of the POWER4 is only like 6.4Gb/s, a little more than half, and the POWER4 isn't even out yet.
Take a look at the DOOM3 screenshots. That's not photo-realistic. The technology doesn't even exist to make photo-realistic pictures on the fly. Even the Final Fantasy movie, while extremely realistic, is still fairly obviously CG. Consider that Toy Story 2 took, I believe, 2 weeks on 168 processors worth of Sun servers to do the final render, I think it's safe to say that there are many years yet to go before a game console is capable of real-time photo-realistic rendering at over 30fps, much less the 60-70fps that the human eye can differentiate between.
Indrema? (Score:2)
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:3)
Why is this such a common myth? (or are you basing this on some numbers?) The only numbers I've seen is that Nintendo is raking it it in with the GB/GBA, and soon the gamecube (which looks like a kick ass system).
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then by 2040.... (Score:2)
Dammit!!
Moore's law is garbage, let's just get that straight. Moore noticed a trend and somehow got his name attached to it and it was mistakenly called a 'law'.
You little calculations have no bearing on how hard the chip designers at IBM work, or what advances occur in the next 4 years.
By your 'logic' chips will be 2^26 times faster in 2040.... i sincerely doubt that Moore had any formal training in physic, but i also doubt that he thought people would started spout off his 'Law' like it was gospel...
sorry. hit a major nerve. maybe i should take that medication regularly...
Re:Sony... more hype than microsoft! (Score:2)
I realize the post was trying to be funny, but the root of this posting was just some obscure press release on IBM's corporate site.
It's not like they are running TV ads for this thing...And I'm fairly sure they really are working on this stuff...And, lastly, their timetable for completion seems reasonable at this time.
The definition of 'vaporware' has gotten way too lax -- especially here on Slashdot.
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:2)
Bingo Foo
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Re:Bah! (Score:2)
http://www.adcritic.com/content/sony-playstatio
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Re:Linux?? (Score:2)
>When can we have linux on this?
Here is the obligatory /. answer:
About 3 months after you can have BSD on it
IBM has a finger in every pie (Score:5)
It just goes to show that whoever strikes gold, it's the fellows selling the picks and shovels who really make a bundle. No one is sure which of the big console players will dominate the market in five years, but whoever it is, IBM will be selling their processors. That's a winning strategy by anyone's standard.
What Sony want (Score:4)
The P3 will certainly be more than just a games console. They've said before that their aim is to replace specialised units like DVD players and hi-fi systems with a central unit which does all of these jobs - the Playstation 2 makes a start at this, but by the time the P3 is rolled out people will be used to the idea of a central controlling device.
And let's face it - the P3 is likely to sell well solely on it's strength as a games machine and Sony's marketing muscle.
Of course there is a lot of risk with this - a central controlling device means that it's far easier to incorporate more effective content control mechanisms - you only need to include them with one device rather than every device in the house. And people are likely to choose convenience over freedom as they so often do.
Unfortunately it's only rarely that people reject convenience, and Sony will undoubtedly have another huge hit with the P3. If they can manage to produce any of course :)
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:2)
Ugh. Ask any Amiga user how many years that retarded hardware advancement.
Hardware abstraction is your friend, even if you're a game.
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Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:2)
Yo, get off the crack:
Top 10 Publishers of 2000 (software only)
Rank / Publisher / Units / Dollars
Source: http://www.dailyradar.com/news/game_news_6632.htm
EA isn't even close, and this doesn't count their hardware sales, which must be ridiculous since the GBC still sells thousands of units per week.
What's the point? (Score:2)
Modern GPU's can do photo-realistic rendering at over 30 fps, and anything more than that is going to be completely wasted. Most consumers aren't going to be serving enterprise class DB's or cracking crypto, and today's generation of GPU's is all we'll ever need for video gaming. I'd like to see more R&D effort focused on improving playability of games, rather than fancy, yet unnecessary hardware.
Re:What Sony want (Score:2)
Never? Ever? Howabout allready. Ever seen the vintage Atari 2600, aka Atari VCS? It had wood paneling. It was my first console. It was one of the first consoles (at least one of the first that could play games that didn't come with it!).
I'll be on the lookout for transparent orange plastic stereo, but I'll note there is allready a lot of transparent plastic in high-end audio, and sometimes some disgustingly colored neon lights. Actually I don't mind the color so much as them being lights. Doesn't anyone else listen to music and try to sleep at the same time?
Re:Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:5)
While there were a decent number of consoles in the 70's back when the games "industry" was only a small step away from the concurrent hobbyist PC market (or at least it seems that way to me, who wasn't around at the time much less following the video game market), the late 70's/early 80's were essentially monopolized by Atari, especially the 2600. ColecoVision and Intellivision were around as well (I think they were competing against a later Atari, perhaps the 7600?), but Atari had a large, long run as the controlling power in console games. That they had a monopoly is unquestionable.
Especially because when they tanked, the entire industry tanked with them. Indeed, the console market collapse of...1983 or so?...had many writing off the console market for good. And it would have stayed that way too, were it not for giant monopoly #2, the NES.
The NES came out in late 1985 at a time when no one in their right mind was thinking of bringing out a video game console. Its only competition, the SMS, didn't even go on sale until 1988 I believe. In any case, it wasn't a competition at all; the NES sold something like 80 million units in the US, more than any other console ever. Pretty much every household with children had one. The 16-bit generation (SNES and Genesis) barely sold half that *combined*. Meanwhile, the Master system sold like 6 or 8 million of the things, mainly to people who already had Nintendos. That was a monopoly, plain and simple. Nothing like that is likely to occur in the video game market again, for the simple reason that the situation that led to it (i.e. only one company actually believed the console market was big business) will likely never occur again.
Ever since then, there has always been at least 2 large competitors for each generation of hardware. The Genesis and SNES were roughly evenly matched in sales. The PS1 eventually won a decisive victory over the N64 and Saturn, but by the time that was brutally clear, Dreamcast was already around; in other words, while the PS1 was a spectacular success, it never held the sort of monopoly position that the NES did for something like 5 years (until Genesis).
The PS2 has beaten the DC (mainly on the basis of hype, which in an industry where cross-platform compatibility is unimaginable, is just as powerful and dangerous as FUD in the computer industry), but will still suffer competition from it until XBox and GameCube arrive. While I don't think Indreema has a chance in hell, the open source idea is powerful enough that an open console might actually make it a few years from now. (As has been pointed out, the fact that consoles are a loss leader which the parent company tries to make up by licensing games presents a large problem to this business model, though...)
At this point, it is certain that the PS2 will face serious competition for sales from at least 2 other consoles at every step of its life. (Now: DC, N64 and PS1; 2002 and later: XBox and GameCube.) It is by *no* means clear that PS2 will be the eventual winner, either; in my view, MS has taken all the tactics that made the PS1 such a surprise success (good developer relations, easy to program, just concentrate on games) while Sony has strangely decided to try to emulate the tremendous failures of the Sega Saturn (launch with low volumes and bad games, put theoretical performance above ease of programming, overhype) and crap like the CDi and 3D0 (be the digital-convergance-set-top-information-highway-b
I could be wrong (Score:2)
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Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
The Downside (Score:3)
Gosh, it's not enough that Apple tells me my page layout machine out-supercomputes supercomputers (hope the SETI people appreciate my largess, because I sure don't need supercomputing power). Now my gaming system needs to have more CPU power than my laptop.
Of course, there are some downsides:
Me:Inserts DOA5 game
PS3:Your request to see jiggling has been denied. I'm busy defeating Kasparov again.
Me:Up, up, down, down...
PS3:I'm sorry, I can't do that, Doctor.
New test needed? (Score:4)
Call it, I don't know, Turingv2.0
Basically, have someone look at a scene thats unfolding in realtime on a monitor in front of them, and decide if its real footage, or a computer generated scene
I wouldn't buy one of these (Score:2)
I wan't a computer that I can beat at chess
I still haven't upgraded from my Vic 20
Re:More power? (Score:2)
I wish they'd invest more in getting good developers and designers working on titles for their existing consoles instead of focusing so strongly on the hardware aspect. You'd think they learned from the Playstation, where its success was based on the immense selection of games available. N64 came short because you had less than 60 games available 2 years after it was released, and that's why it's not nearly as popular as the technologically inferior PSX.
People don't care much about shiny graphics and thundering sound if they can't find games to fit their tastes. For a PC component manufacturer like NVidia, they can focus on releasing wad-blowing hardware because there are thousands of software houses that will take care of the software, but for a console like the PS2, developers need to go through Sony to get their games licensed and pay royalties and whatnot, which severely limits the amount of people available to work on games. You won't see a bunch of teens writing a killer PS2 game because they just don't have the money and business clout to deal with SCEA's business model.
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
Please tell me where this is happening.
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No conflict of interest (Score:2)
Here in Australia, IBM GSA looks after both Telstra and Optus (the two major telecommunications companies). They have no conflict of interest because they physically and logically isolate each business unit. In situations like these, IBM doesn't get to use their past technical experience to assist the development of a competitor. What the client benefits from is IBM's accumulated experience in handling technical projects of this complexity/magnitude.
use for teraflop gaming (Score:3)
Wouldn't this be cool for strategy/simulation games? AI wouldn't do as much for me in a frag fest, but this would be cool if I could upgrade my old 486-era Civil War strategy game to this and face off with Robert E. Lee.
Re:Microprocessors != surfing bandwidth (Score:3)
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
and once the limits of perception are reached (and probably before they're reached, honestly), perception will just improve
So maybe you can render enough polys to make something on a monitor look like a photograph, but can you compute enough video, sound, and AI, to make something thats as real as "the matrix" when you are bypassing your eyes altogether for sensory input ? Think of the staggering computation required to put you in a beleivable 3d world by stimulating the brain directly.
Wait a sec... (Score:3)
To quote from ibm, (http://www.research.ibm.com/actc/RS_6000/Topic_P
"[the] P2SC design has reached its peak operating frequency at 160MHz" and (http://www.research.ibm.com/deepblue/meet/html/d
Assuming pefect smp deep blue theirfore runs at 4.8 Ghz.
5.25 is greater than 4.8. 5.25 is projected by Moore's law for 2004, so this is no big shakes.
By 2004 we should see top of the line desktops just as powefull.
Re:What Sony want (Score:2)
Otherwise, they risk the possibility that 75% of the time the machines are in use, they won't be generating money for the manufacturer. (with a slightly lower percentage in Sony's case)
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Sony are a bunch of tarts! (Score:3)
Are consoles heading towards monopoly? (Score:5)
I would like to see an Open Source console, one which can be cloned, much like the IBM PC could be cloned. This would lead to a vital market. It does not so much matter bout the software side of things - a games console does not really need an OS, the games can hit the metal.
If one company created an open architecture and promoted it, before long there would be hundreds of clone makers and a real movement in the industry.
We must break the hegemony of the sealed, synthetic box.
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Re:Sony... more hype than microsoft! (Score:2)
As for hype, we all love the hype engine. Everybody dreams of the next big thing. It's what keeps the computer industry going.
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