Friday, April 28, 2006

Why Wii?

Yes folks the big N has chosen the name for its forthcoming console release. The important questions is why is it called Wii. I will go on record and say this is a stupid name. Maybe its because I'm not Japanese. Oh well. I'm still kinda hoping this is a last minute April Fools joke. Not likely but there is hope.

Matt

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Game Console Update

Nintendo Revolution:

If rumors are to be believed, and thats the bulk of what we have for it, the processor will clock in the range of original xbox, but considering that its a powerpc instead of xbox's PIII, it probably will be much more powerful. That said unless they really want to really reduce the amount of heat produced then I think that spec is a little low. That might be what they meant when they said it would be quiet. The problem with that this 2006, its common place to buy a consumer grade computer with a ppc in it that clocks at least 1.8 Ghz. If I were to speculate it, there is no reason for it not to be in 1.5 Ghz range, well except the whole heat / noise issue. This info supposedly came from developers of the games for the system. I'm pretty sure they don't have the final release dev kits so I bet they got an overclocked Gamecube to let them get started. That said thats just my opinion, the big N is known to never sell a console for a loss. A common practice of their competitors, which is probably why they are the only dedicated console maker.

The thing that does worry me though is supposedly that it will only have 88mb total of ram. Ok I know it is a dedicated machine so it has a whole lot less overhead than a standard PC but seriously they should be able to squeeze in at least 256 meg without breaking the bank. This is the part I honestly believe will make or brake the system. Either way this is only unconfirmed speculation. We probably won't know anything official until E3 next month.

Ok I was wrong about the game library being free but will be available and from what they are saying its going be pretty affordable. Oh I have to play with the controller before I make judgment on it.

So where does that put the Big N, well guaranteed to be the least powerful system but also the cheapest. If they can do what they did for DS (minus the lull of games right after release)then they might be a contender for maybe #2 if one maker tanks. Considering Nintendo's pension for profitability of their product they can sit pretty well in third and still be one of the most profitable of the group. A good example is the fact that in most markets(except Japan) the xbox was second best selling system by a fair margin, but the xbox division only turned a profit in 2004, hardly offsetting the several billion it has lost its last generation system. Lord knows how much they will go into the hole on this one. Oh anybody see how the xbox 360 is being outsold by the gameboy sp in Japan.

Oh supposedly it will be out in November

Sony Playstation 3:

I hope that it truly lives up to the hype for their sake. The specs are pretty impressive and should be a little bit above the xbox 360. Of course it looking like they are going to be the most expensive. Metal Gear Solid 4 More info at E3.

Microsoft Xbox 360

Ok this is the only of the next gen consoles that has been out. Depending on who you ask it was either a failure or overwhelming success. Impressive graphics, presuming you can find something programmed to take advantage of all the horsepower. I don't have one and probably won't have one until it drops significantly in price, should be around the time they release the replacement of that console. Given the rate the original xbox is priced, that probably won't be a couple after that anyway. That of course is presuming that all of them don't implode before then. From most reports it has serious heat and stability issues. A slew of returns (especially from the early adopters), and reports of constant crashes have plagued the system. There is supposed to be a new processor to coming to the newly manufactured units that supposed to fix these issues (at least the heat issues). So if you bought one already then your out of luck. As far as the heat issue goes its not too surprising considering you are cramming into the small as possible a 3Ghz+ processor and other components running their respective high frequency. The stability issue has been mostly blamed on the game maker's software. Am I the only one who finds the irony in that? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the heat issues.

Monday, April 24, 2006

I'm back.... Again

Ok if anyone is actually happen to grace this blog again I have to apologize about the lack of posting as of late. My life has been in a little upheaval as of late. Ok to update you on something most of you could care less about and if you do care you probably already know. I'm getting married. Yes even the most hardcore nerds can find love. Well I'm not that hardcore of a nerd. Anyway I have missing doing this. Not that I believe anyone really reads this but it lets me expound upon my love for technology. Ok now that we have made up, lets get to things nerdy.