Next-Gen Madden / XBox 360

[scott]

Supposedly the next generation Madden game on the new XBox 360 will be unveiled tomorrow during the first hour of the NFL draft (11am-Noon Central).

The XBox 360 supposedly will be out around October...

Here are some pics from the www.madden2006.com website.

http://images.ea.com/sports/games/06/madden/nextgen/day1.jpg

http://images.ea.com/sports/games/06/madden/nextgen/day2.jpg

http://images.ea.com/sports/games/06/madden/nextgen/day3.jpg

http://images.ea.com/sports/games/06/madden/nextgen/ngday4.jpg

http://images.ea.com/sports/games/06/madden/nextgen/day5screener.jpg

[Duff McCartney]

Is that the way it's supposed to look on the new Xbox deal? God damn those are some sweet graphics.

[scott]

Supposedly, but those may just be some FMV's from the new XBox as opposed to actual gameplay... you'll probably be able to find a vid on the 'net after the commercial comes out tomorrow.

Also, PS3 supposedly by Xmas as well.

[E20]

PS3's cell chip is supposdley 10000X's better than a super computer according to Gamepro Magazine. I heard the earliest for PS3 to hit stores was on late 3Q of 2006.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The new XBOX will be hi-definition capable, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the graphics looked like at all.

[tlongII]

Put away those stupid video games and get your ass outside and play some ball!

[Duff McCartney]

Tlong if anyone knows about playing with balls...it's you.

[Uncle Donnie]

Call me crazy, but those screenshots really don't look all that impressive.

I'm expecting way better than that out of the next-gen. EA has never been one to push the hardware though.

[scott]

The new XBOX will be hi-definition capable, so I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the graphics looked like at all.

The current XBOX is hi-def capable... so I think the hardware enhancements are in the graphics acceleration and processing power rather than the resolution itself.


PS3's cell chip is supposdley 10000X's better than a super computer according to Gamepro Magazine.

Sounds like the kind of hype you want to ignore... if they are talking about current super comupters, than that would be... well, not possible. Maybe it's 10000 times better than a super computer from the 70s...

As for the release date, supposedly PS3 bumped theirs up when Microsoft announced they would be out this fall... expected price between 250 and 300.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'm not talking about hi-def capable output like the Xbox can give you through an adapter now, I'm talking like the games themselves will be rendered and designed in hi-def.

[scott]

Maybe you can help me out with what you mean... hi-def only refers to lines of resolution, and the XBOX is capable of displaying images at up to 720p (as a proxy for the highest current standard).

I think we are talking about the same thing, you are just saying hi-def and I'm talking about graphics accelerators and processing power.

[N.Y. Johnny]

I've been watching the draft and haven't seen a fuckin thing except for those dumbass Coors Lite commercials

[scott]

It was on in the first 5 minutes of the draft... they won't show it again.

I wasn't overly impressed.

[T Park]

when does the XBOX come out

[ALVAREZ6]

The graphics won't be that fucking good on your TV...they always make them look better on websites.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/article/607/607001/the-real-xbox-360-20050422071730404.jpg

Rumored picture. Built in wireless controllers...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Damn.

http://www.easports.com/games/madden06/nextgen.jsp?setID=Madden%20Next%20Gen%20Commercial&resID=hi

[E20]

PS2 owns XBOX.
The only good thing about an XBOX is if you have a modded one you can play any other console game on the XBOX.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Yeah, a console where you have to spend $30 for 8 MB of memory > a console that gives you over 5 GB right out of the box.

whatever. About the only thing PS2 has going for it is getting its hands on the GTA line earlier than XBox, but that's trumped by Xbox having the Halo franchise.

The other stuff I play (particularly the sports games) are common to both.

So given the choice, give me the one that has built in networking and hard drive out of the box, thank you.

[E20]

Yeah but, the only games that X-BOX has to offer are:
Halo and some other no name games that no one has ever heard about besides sports game which the PS2 has as well, PS2 offers much more BETTER video games and now-a-days PS2 memory cards are worth 14 bucks, if you paid for a $30 card then you got ripped off, also for a couple more of 10's you can get a hard drive and a network adapter. and the GTA line has been with Sony since the early days of PS1.

Forgot that X-BOX also has Doom 3 and Splinter Cell series but, then again Doom 3 is much better for the PC and Spinter Cell series is a copy of the Metal Gear series.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

What games do you play that are on PS2 but not on Xbox?

I used $30 because that's what they cost when I was looking at buying an Xbox or PS2 a few years back.

I'm sorry, but Doom 3 with a good home theater system (which I have) absolutely fucking rocks. The first time I had some friends over from work to play it on my system it gave everyone the chills.

All I play is first person shooters (and Halo2 and Doom 3 are far and away the best, with a few of the Tom Clancy games close behind) and sports games (NCAA 2005, NBA Live, NBA Street, Madden, etc.). Xbox has everything the PS2 has there, with better graphics and faster load times to boot.

Again, all the PS2 has about it (I'm not talking about those weird ass fantasy role player mystical type games, I don't know and don't care) that MS doesn't for the Xbox is the release of the GTA titles, which IMO have decayed in quality since GTA3.

Seems like a no brainer to me.

[E20]

I've played Doom 3 for the box and controls are harsh and can't be utilized like they can for the comp, frankly FPS on console games suck theres no mouse and it sucks using the right analog stick to move and the left to turn around and Halo2 gets boring pretty fast because what you basically do is shoot things, the only fun thing about Halo for me was the multiplayer and if I wanted to play a FPS I would play one on the comp where they have much more better FPS titles (and controls). It looks like Microsoft should turn the X-BOX into a computer instead of a console. There seems no difference in the graphics I haven't seen one company make a game with such high quality graphics that the PS2 couldn't handle them (except Doom 3). Most gamers play the other genres besides Sports so that's where the PS2 comes in offering a more variety of good games but, if you're looking for just sports by then all means you should buy the X-BOX.

[T Park]

eh?

[IcemanCometh]

So there are two kinds of code in a game basically. There's gameplay code and engine code. Engine code, like graphics and physics, takes really giant data structures of homogenous data. I mean, it's all the same, like a lot of vertices are all a big matrix, or whatever, but usually floating point data structures these days. And you have a single small, relatively small hour that grinds away on that. This code is like, wow, it has a lot of math in it, it has to be optimized for super scalar crap. It's just not actually that hard to write. It's pretty well defined what this code does.

The second kind of code we have is AI and gameplay code. Lots of little exceptions. Even if you're doing a simulation-y kind of game, there's tons of tunable parameters, [it's got a lot of interactions], it's a mess. I mean, this code--you look at the gameplay code in the game, and it's crap. Compared to like, an elegant physics simulator or whatever. But this is a code that actually makes the game feel different. This is the kind of code we want to be easy to write and so we can do more experimental stuff. Here is the terrifying realization about the next generation of consoles.

Gameplay code will get slower and harder to write on the next generation of consoles. Why is this? Here's our technical slide. Modern CPUs, like the Intel Pentium 4, use what's called 'out of order' execution. Basically, out of order execution is there to make really crappy code run fast.


The Xenon and the cell are both in order chips. What does this mean? The reason they did this, is it's cheaper for them to do this. They can drop a lot of core--you know--one out of order core is about the size of three to four in order cores. So, they can make a lot of in order cores and drop them on a chip, and keep the power down, and sell it for cheap--what does this do to our code?

Well, it makes--it's totally fine for grinding like, symmetric algorithms out of floating point numbers, but for lots of 'if' statements in directions, it totally sucks. How do we quantify 'totally sucks?' "Rumors" which happen to be from people who are actually working on these chips, is that straight line gameplay code runs at 1/3 to 1/10 the speed at the same clock rate on an in order core as an out of order core.

This means that your new fancy 2 plus gigahertz CPU, and its Xenon, is going to run code as slow or slower than the 733 megahertz CPU in the Xbox 1. The PS3 will be even worse.

This of course will not affect PC's as they will still be out of order chips. Basically consoles suck.

[E20]

But for some reason the video game industry shines somehowe :rolleyes

[SuBZer0]

I've played Doom 3 for the box and controls are harsh and can't be utilized like they can for the comp, frankly FPS on console games suck theres no mouse and it sucks using the right analog stick to move and the left to turn around That's why you buy a damn Nintendo DS - it has a touchscreen so you use a stylus to aim and it's even more intuitive than a mouse. However, it is a handheld so the graphics aren't nearly as good, but they aren't too shabby. The consoles and the PSP don't have true FPS controls at all - we just adapted to them

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

The controls for Doom 3 are the same as for Halo and Halo2. *shrugs*

The problem with computer gaming is you have to buy all new shit every two years because of the technology changes involved. To play games like Doom3 that are out today you need a $400 video card.

Fuck that.

[T Park]

agree.

BTW, when is XBOX 360 supposedly comin out.

This fall? This winter?

[scott]

agree.

BTW, when is XBOX 360 supposedly comin out.

This fall? This winter?

Answered in the first post of this thread.

[E20]

Now it's just money.