Xbox 360 graphics, PS3

Xbox 360 Graphics

Where things get more interesting, and more predictable, is between the graphics architectures. The ATI chip in the Xbox 360 is, as ATI admits itself, smaller in terms of transistor count than the upcoming NVIDIA G70. ATI claims, however, that the solution is more elegant. More details are available in Brandon's interview with Bob Feldstein, ATI's VP of engineering. Another major point in the Xbox's favor is the 10MB of embedded DRAM on the ATI chip. 4MB of eDRAM on the PS2 was enough for it to compete with the Xbox's GeForce3/4 hybrid which shared the 64MB of system RAM the Xbox had. The eDRAM on the Xbox 360 is capable of 256GB/s throughput, compared with the 38.4GB the PS2 had.

Our talks with several developers who have PC and Xbox 360 versions of games resulted in a clear nod in favor of the Xbox 360's graphics over the GeForce 6800 Ultra. This is another clear indication that both consoles will be using truly next-generation graphics, rather than merely next-generation relative to the old consoles. The PS3 will likely have a faster graphics core, but the features should be similar.

Ultimately, we expect Xbox 360 to be competitive against the PS3 at least as well as the PS2 competes with the Xbox. Perhaps fortunately for Microsoft, a lot more is in the hands of developers now than before. To bring out the most from these systems is going to take a massive investment in programming development and especially artwork. Whatever power advantages the PS3 will have over the Xbox 360, may take long to show. That is how expensive and difficult game development is getting - even top-tier games may not be worth the extra effort of making them look decisively better on Sony's system. Cell, if it actually lives up to the hype, might complicate matters, but we all know how well the "Emotion Engine" turned out.

PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3, at this moment, is at best a crude development kit. Developers are very likely programming for simulated hardware or development boxes that are not full-speed and perhaps not even full-featured. Sony's solution, in the absence of any actual product? Sony was desperate enough to steal attention from Microsoft to show CGI of what games might look like on the PlayStation 3.

There is nothing worth talking about. Sony showed up to E3 with pre-rendered videos and blew smoke up everyone's ass. It would be laughably pathetic if not for their excellent marketing team, which had a sizeable portion of the media and most of the public convinced that this was the real deal. It's a truly amazing feat of public relations and marketing, but we'd take it all with a pinch of salt.