Almost five years ago, Microsoft joined entertainment giants
Sony and Nintendo in a so-called “console war” that
pitted its Xbox against Sony’s PlayStation 2 and
Nintendo’s GameCube.
Now, the three companies are at it again.
Large crowds gathered in Los Angeles last week to witness the
latest round of the console war, which kicked off at the annual
Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Increased competition between these companies has been bringing
down the prices of both games and consoles, and technology
improvements continue to deliver even richer gaming
experiences.
All three entertainment giants promise to significantly advance
the frontiers of electronic gaming to new levels of realism and
gamer immersion.
The first console to hit the market will be Microsoft’s
Xbox 360, which has a release slated for November. Powered by three
3.2 GHz processors ““ faster than those used in most personal
computers today ““ the Xbox 360 will have the ability to
render games in high-definition formats, Microsoft officials
said.
“The Xbox 360 is by far Microsoft’s most ambitious
product to date,” said George Geis, associate dean of the
UCLA Anderson School’s Executive MBA program.
Next to market will be Sony’s PlayStation 3 in the spring
of 2006. This upgrade from the current PlayStation 2 centers around
a new processor called the “Cell.”
A combination of higher memory capacity and powerful processing
ability should enrich the quality of PS3 games. Character movements
will be more refined and realistic, and landscapes and settings
will be more detailed, Sony officials said.
All PS3 games will display cinema-quality images in high
resolution, Sony officials said.
Nintendo, the last of the three gaming leaders to release its
new console into the fray, is a video-gaming pioneer. It began
manufacturing the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, nine years
before the first Sony PlayStation in 1994 and 16 years before
Microsoft began shipping the Xbox in 2001.
Nintendo has not yet provided specifics about the features of
its new console, code-named the “Revolution,” but it
has hinted at some possibilities. The new system might have
voice-recognition capabilities.
In releasing its new console later than its competitors,
Nintendo seems to be banking on consumer familiarity and the
classic status of its products in return for increased capability,
industry analysts have said.
There is a significant difference between Microsoft and
Nintendo’s philosophies, with Sony falling somewhere in
between.
Microsoft is trying to centralize all aspects of home
entertainment in one device. The same concept inspired its Windows
Media Center Edition, a computer program that integrates many forms
of multimedia.
“It’s a battle for the home,” Geis said.
On the other hand, Nintendo is putting its focus squarely on the
games.
With features including possible access to all of
Nintendo’s previous games, the “Revolution” will
likely be much more about the gaming experience itself rather than
integrating all forms of digital media.
This leaves Sony, whose current PlayStation 2 attempts to be
good at both, not excelling at either.
“They have to decide if they want to compete on the level
of the Xbox, or take a more Nintendo path,” said Jane
Pinckard, editor of GamePro magazine. “They’re really
caught in between … They haven’t been able to really
position themselves in the broader electronics marketplace as
Microsoft has.”
All three companies make most of their profits from game sales,
rather than console sales. Additionally, all three are vying to get
the top games on their own consoles, Geis said.
With reports from Bruin wire services.