A Buyer's Guide To the New Gameboxes
Xbox Will Come Out First,
But Sony Touts Its Graphics;
Choosing Mario Over Movies
The big videogame hardware makers -- Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co. -- have weighed in with plans for their next-generation of consoles for the living room. Now the multi-hundred-dollar question for consumers: Does it matter which one they buy?
There is still a lot that is unknown -- including the prices for all three machines -- but Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have said enough to provide a picture of how their consoles compare and contrast. Microsoft and Sony, for instance, hope to lure nongamers to use their machines through a variety of digital-entertainment capabilities, including online links to music and video services. The PlayStation 3 will allow users to videoconference with fellow users over the Internet.
GAME HISTORY
See an interactive timeline of how videogame consoles have fared, starting with the Atari 2600 in 1977.
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Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Kaz Hirai discusses PlayStation 3.
Xbox 360, meanwhile, will connect to music, photo and movie libraries on Windows PCs over home networks. That allows gamers to bring that media into the living room. Nintendo's big selling point, as in the past, will be new, more graphically rich versions of games with beloved Nintendo characters like Mario the plumber and Zelda.
All three companies -- in laying out their plans this week ahead of E3, the game industry's big annual conference -- promised another critical feature for their new consoles that will preserve the big investment many consumers have already made in games: something called "backward compatibility," or the ability to play games developed for previous-generation consoles -- the Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube -- on the new machines.
New Wave: Sony's PlayStation 3 (left) and the XBox 360 from Microsoft (right).
For users who want a taste of the next-generation of gaming as soon as possible, the Xbox 360 has the edge, as it will hit stores in the fall, months ahead of the new consoles from Sony and Nintendo. (Sony says PS3 will be out in spring; Nintendo said only that Revolution will be available next year.) The first to market with new hardware doesn't always win in the game business, though. Sega, for instance, beat Sony to the market years ago with the Dreamcast, but the console was soundly defeated by the PlayStation 2.
Game companies are also counting on portables to boost their business. Nintendo yesterday said it will introduce a miniature version of its hugely popular Game Boy Advance portable game player. The silver Game Boy Micro, with a faceplate replaceable with more-colorful alternatives, will play the full library of titles available for the Game Boy Advance, the company said. It will be "just a hair bigger and about two-thirds the weight of an iPod Mini," Apple's popular music player, said Nintendo Executive Vice President Reggie Fils-Aime.
Nintendo also said it will introduce a service later this year for its most advanced portable game console, the Nintendo DS, that will allow users to connect wirelessly over the Internet to other Nintendo DS users in homes, coffee shops and other locales that have Wi-Fi connections. The service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, will let consumers play against other users of Mario Kart DS, the Tony Hawk skateboarding titles and other games.
A scene from 'Heavenly Sword' by Ninja Theory, coming for PlayStation 3.
The Nintendo moves in the portable market are an effort to stay ahead of Sony, which entered the portable-gaming business this year with its PlayStation Portable device. Unlike Nintendo, Sony has positioned the PSP as a multipurpose entertainment gadget capable of playing movies, music and digital photos. Sony said this week that users of the PSP will be able to use the device to wirelessly play games against users on PlayStation 3 or even to use the PSP as a remote control for the new Sony television console.
Of course, the mission to broaden the types of people who buy videogame consoles is a familiar one. Videogame-industry executives have talked for years about attracting more female gamers and entertainment fans who don't play videogames. But industry sales remain driven by the core gamer -- men, 15 to 34 years old -- and so those consumers will likely determine which consoles sell well.
Here is a rundown of some of the key capabilities in the new consoles for the living room:
Console: Sony's PlayStation 3
Release date: Spring 2006
Success to date: Sony dominates the television-console market with the PlayStation 2.
Sales pitch for new console: Ultra-fast, powerful chips for movie-quality graphics and complex videogame environments.
Sony's PlayStation 3, or PS3, features the powerful Cell chip, developed with International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp., and a next-generation graphics chip built in cooperation with Nvidia Corp. Sony says that the combination of horsepower makes the PS3 35 times as fast as PlayStation 2. In game terms, that means textures, colors, lighting and motion that are more life-like. When a player blows up a gas station in a game, for instance, the PlayStation 3's processors calculate just how the structure will splinter and blow apart, and how the air will be discolored by billowing gas fumes.
Sony said the horsepower of the PS3 will narrow the noticeable gap between console games and computer-generated imagery in movies. The PlayStation 3 will also support the highest resolution of high-definition video, and can even handle several streams at once. That means a Matrix fanatic could theoretically watch the movie and play the videogame at the same time, all in crystal-clear resolution. Like the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 will also connect to the Internet over high-speed and wireless-network connections, allowing users to play other gamers and download other content.
Console: Microsoft's Xbox 360
Quake 4 in development for Xbox 360
Release date: Fall 2005
Success to date: On its freshman effort in the console business, Microsoft sold roughly 20 million Xboxes, about the same as Nintendo's GameCube, but was still outsold by the PS2 four-to-one.
Sales pitch: Life-like new graphics with strong links to the online world, including services for buying game content and music.
Microsoft is using the broad positioning of the Xbox 360 as one of its key weapons against Sony. The software maker has invested heavily in its subscription service, Xbox Live, which allows Xbox players to meet up online with other Xbox players. The Xbox 360 will ship with a free level of access to Xbox Live designed for Xbox 360 users who may want basic features such as the ability to chat over Xbox Live with other gamers.
With the debut of Xbox 360, games for Xbox Live also will include a "gamer card" that lists stats about the players experience and preferences. The card, in part, is designed to help players of similar levels to more easily find each other online.
The Xbox 360 includes features intended to generate interest among the people now getting their music online and using other digital-entertainment services and gadgets. A 20-gigabyte hard drive will be available with the Xbox 360 so consumers can copy music CDs and other digital content such as photos onto the hard drive of the Xbox. The idea is the Xbox could be used as the living-room hub for everything from movies to music.
The unit also will have ways to connect devices such as cameras and digital-music players that can people could use the Xbox as a filling station of sorts for digital content.
SIDE BY SIDE
Console: PlayStation 3 by Sony Xbox 360 by Microsoft Revolution by Nintendo
Release date: Spring 2006 End of 2005 2006
Selling point: Ultrafast, powerful chips for movie-quality graphics and complex videogame environments. Will also be able to stream and download music and movies. Aims to be a hub for all kinds of digital media -- movies, music and online content as well as games. Emphasis on innovative, networked game play and simpler, cheaper game development rather than power and graphics.
Console: Nintendo Revolution
Release date: 2006
Success to date: For years the leader in portable game consoles with the GameBoy family of products, Nintendo is under increasing pressure in the living room from Sony and Microsoft.
Sales pitch: New versions of tried-and-true games such as Mario or Zelda
Nintendo continues to position itself as the good-guy of the videogames wars, focused more on pleasing the fans of its quirky characters like Mario the plumber and Zelda than on getting caught up in the Sony-Microsoft battle for domination of living-room entertainment. The company showed a prototype of Revolution, about the same size as three stacked DVD cases, that could be available in a range of colors including red and black.
But unlike the Sony and Microsoft consoles, it won't play movies on DVDs unless consumers buy a separate device to attach to Revolution. Nintendo plans to offer a big sop to older gamers by offering 20 years of its videogame library, including titles for long-ago game consoles like the Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo 64, available for downloading onto Revolution from the Internet.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said he is hoping to have the company's popular Smash Brothers videogame available in the machine when it begins selling. He also said Square Enix Co., a big Japanese game publisher, is working on a version of Final Fantasy for the console. Nintendo promise games for Revolution that feature Mario and Zelda.
新一代游戏机购买指南
三大视频游戏机巨头微软(Microsoft Corp.)、索尼(Sony Corp.)、任天堂(Nintendo Co.)均宣布了推出下一代家用视频游戏机的计划。消费者想知道的是这些售价数百美元的产品都有哪些区别？
现阶段仍有很多不确定因素，例如，三家厂商都没有透露游戏机的售价，但索尼、微软和任天堂均把自己的产品与其他两家的产品进行了充分的比较和区别。例如，为了吸引那些不是游戏玩家的消费者能够购买它们的产品，微软和索尼把希望寄托在通过互联网获取音乐及视频服务等一系列娱乐功能上面。索尼的PlayStation 3甚至还提供了通过互联网举行视频会议的功能。
而微软的Xbox 360通过家庭网络可以和Windows个人电脑中的音乐、图片及电影库建立联系，这就使得游戏机成为控制起居室各种娱乐设备的中枢。正如过去一样，任天堂游戏机最大的卖点在于它可以运行色彩更为丰富、由一些畅销游戏演变而来的新游戏。
本周，三大巨头都赶在E3这个电子游戏行业的盛会召开之前宣布了新一代游戏机的上市计划。它们不约而同地都提到了新一代游戏机的另一个重要功能──“向下兼容”，即为前几代游戏机开发的游戏也能在新一代游戏机上面运行。这样一来，许多游戏玩家的大笔投资就不会因为新游戏机的到来而无用武之地了。
对于那些希望尽早接触到新一代游戏机的消费者来说，Xbox 360的优势在于它比索尼和任天堂的产品要早上市几个月。索尼表示，PS3将于明年春季上市；任天堂说得更加含糊，只是说Revolution将于明年上市。但在游戏行业，最先上市的产品却并不一定是最后的赢家。以世嘉公司(Sega)为例，该公司的Dreamcast游戏机比索尼的PlayStation 2游戏机早上市了好几年的时间，但结果却是被后者打得惨败。
以下便是三家公司新一代家用游戏机一些主要功能的概述：
游戏机名称：PlayStation 3
上市日期：2006年春季
迄今取得的成就：索尼凭藉PlayStation 2把持著电视游戏机市场的霸主地位
卖点：运行速度超快、功能强大的晶片，能够产生像电影一样的画质，适合复杂的视频游戏环境。
PS3配有称为“Cell”的强大晶片，这款晶片是由索尼与国际商业机器公司(IBM)和东芝(Toshiba Corp.)联合开发的；此外，它还配有与Nvidia Corp.合作开发的新一代图形晶片。索尼表示，这两款功能强大的晶片组合起来使得PS3的运行速度达到PlayStation 2的35倍。就游戏而言，这意味著纹理、色彩、亮度及动作更加生动逼真。例如，玩家在游戏中炸毁加油站的时候，PS3的处理器可以计算出建筑被肢解的过程，以及团团烟雾如何使天空变色。
索尼表示，PS3的强大功能将缩小视频游戏与电脑特技图像之间的鸿沟。同时，PS3还支持高清晰电视的最高分辨率，甚至可以同时处理多个数据流。从理论上说，这意味著游戏玩家可以在高清晰图像的条件下同时观看电影和玩游戏。与Xbox 360一样，PS3也支持通过高速无线网连接到国际互联网，允许用户可以和其他玩家对战或者下载其他内容。
游戏机名称：Xbox 360
上市日期：2005年秋季
迄今取得的成就：首次进军游戏机行业，微软Xbox游戏机的销量就达到了近2,000万台，与任天堂的GameCube不相上下，但仅是索尼PS2销量的四分之一。
卖点：生动逼真的画质，以及与互联网的紧密联系。例如，可以通过互联网获得购买游戏、音乐等服务。
微软把用途广泛的Xbox 360视为与索尼相抗衡的利器之一。微软不惜重金投资于收费服务Xbox Live。开通该服务的用户可以通过互联网与其他Xbox玩家进行互动。Xbox 360将把Xbox Live中的一些基本服务免费向用户开放，例如允许用户通过Xbox Live进行聊天。
伴随著Xbox 360的首次露面，Xbox Live服务提供的游戏将包括一张“玩家卡”，上面记录著玩家的经验和偏好，这为水平相近的玩家在互联网上找到对方提供了便利。
Xbox 360的一些功能还旨在吸引那些目前只是在网上听音乐或者使用其他数码娱乐服务或设备的消费者。Xbox 360的硬盘容量高达20G，因此用户可以把音乐CD或者像片等数码内容存放到Xbox 360里面。微软的想法是把Xbox开发成能够实现看电影、听音乐等一系列功能的核心枢纽。
Xbox 360还可以实现与数码照相机、数码音乐播放器等设备的连接。可以这样说，Xbox就像是一个装满各种数码内容的宝库。
游戏机名称：Revolution
上市日期：2006年
迄今取得的成就：多年来一直把持著便携式视频游戏机老大的地位，但在家用游戏机领域正面临著索尼和微软越来越咄咄逼人的攻势。
卖点：超级玛丽(Mario)等一些长久不衰的畅销游戏的新版本
在视频游戏机大战中，任天堂继续扮演著中规中距的角色。它把侧重点放在了继续取悦于那些游戏老玩家上面。与微软和索尼不同的是，任天堂并没有成为家庭娱乐核心角色的野心。Revolution的颜色有好几种，其中包括红色和黑色。
但Revolution不及索尼和微软游戏机的地方是它不能播放DVD影片，除非用户额外购买一套外接设备。任天堂还准备向老玩家提供一个不小的实惠──允许他们通过互联网从其游戏库中下载游戏并在Revolution中运行。
