RIYADH, 24 May 2005 — After the three main gaming console manufacturers, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, gave glimpses of their new consoles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles this year many gaming fans are speculating on which next generation console will reign supreme in the gaming world.
Microsoft revealed its new XBOX 360, which looks to be as bulky in size as the old XBOX. Sony has taken the curtains off its new sleek looking console, the PS3, and Nintendo is talking about its next generation console called RevolutiON. Both Sony and Microsoft have released the specifications of their new consoles. Nintendo’s specs are due to be released at the end of 2005.
Sony’s PS3 seems to be more promising than the other consoles since it has the most advanced technologies implemented within it. Some of the technologies in the new PS3 haven’t been used yet, such as its ability to read blue-ray disks which are DVDs but have a higher storage capacity, almost double your average DVD.
The PS3 also has the most powerful processor in the gaming market (3.2GHz) and a graphics card designed by NVIDIA (256MB RAM), plus support for Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) and up to seven wireless Bluetooth controllers. It also has slots for Memory stick, SD and Compact Flash cards.
On the other hand the XBOX 360 will have an IBM powered CPU, a graphics card designed by ATI (512MB RAM) and a 20GB built-in Hard Disk. It will have support for up to four wireless controllers, Video Chat Camera Support and four USB ports.
Some titles are already confirmed for the launch of the XBOX such as: Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Kameo: Elements of Power. Although all of these consoles specs seem to be promisingly powerful the prices on each of them will rise at least by 30 percent over the current console prices. Video Game prices will also rise to $60-80.
Projected release dates for these next generation consoles are as follows: XBOX 360 — November 2005; PS3 — May 2006; RevolutiON — 2006.
“Who will win this war?” you might ask. I guess we all have to wait and see.
