Monday, July 6, 2009

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Console War heats up




The console war has been fierce between Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. and that's not about to change. with new additions in technology the fight between these 3 giants are about to heat up
Since The release of the new generation of consoles you have had 3 major contenders. Microsoft's Xbox 360, PlayStation's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii.

Overall Nintendo's Wii is in the lead however lets look at what got it there and see how this might change. Microsoft and Sony lead the console market when it comes to graphics however Nintendo Wii has came back into the market offering a whole new type of play style. The branded name didn't hurt the console either. Nintendo's Name was big before the Wii was ever introduced however it had faded some what since its glory days. With Microsoft's Xbox and PlayStation's PS2 going at in in the previous generation they became the better known game makers of its time. Coming into this generation of consoles Nintendo could have easily suffered the same fate that the Sega Dreamcast did when it tried to come back and compete with Microsoft and Sony. The fact is the market place just does not have room for 3 different companies offering a similar type of expensive console. Nintendo learned from the mistakes of Sega and choose not to compete directly with Microsoft and Sony but to offer something completely different and new. They did just that and they did it at a great price. The Nintendo Wii is famous for its interactive play style and the Wii remote has become famous overnight. Microsoft and Sony have been trying to play catch up every since.

Microsoft and Sony has now responded. Many gamers have wanted a system that has the interactive game play like the Wii does but that also incorporates the high end graphics as found in the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. That is now becoming a reality. A game console is becoming more then just graphics. graphics look great with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and will surely look even better in the next generation of consoles. It is time for technology to find newer and better ways to experience a fun filled environment.
Sony has chosen to incorporate the same type of system the Wii has on the PlayStation 3 while adding some improvement's of there own. The PlayStation motion controller is a hand held wand that acts like a Nintendo Wii remote. This is designed to work with the PS Eye. The PS Eye is a PlayStation 3 camera that is already a available for purchase. The high resolution image processing technology within the PS Eye, the wands light source as well as the player's body can be tracked with millimetre precision. That means gamers will have a truly accurate motion experience.
Microsoft has taken this type of technology even further by getting rid of the controller completely. This new technology named project Natal is is capable of full body motion tracking, voice and tone recognition, colour and shape sensing and object scanning. The system is located in a box that will hook up to your current Xbox 360. it has 2 high tech cameras and a high tech mic that allows the system to track everyone of your movements, determine how far away from the screen you are, the depth of an object, the ability to understand your voice and separate different voices by there tone. You will even be able to scan images into the system and be able to view yourself on screen wearing different outfits. This system will be used to control all aspects of the console and the Xbox live experience. The system will ship with the game Milo and Kate where you will be able to interact with an A.I. on a level that appears he understands you. you can even scan in pictures to him that he will recognize. There will be plenty of games that use this new system including big AAA titles. There will also be some games that will maintain the use of the controller but incorporate parts of the new system.
The Nintendo Wii has revealed the motion plus for there Wii remote design. It is virtually the same thing as the current Wii remote but is more accurate then the current version.
We see how Nintendo revolutionized the market and took a commanding lead on the competition with its motion technology however it will be hard for it to maintain this with the competition improving on these designs and incorporating them into a system with much better graphics. You have to take into effect that the next gen of consoles wont be out until 2012 or later. allowing plenty of time for the race to tighten. When the next generation consoles come out It will be hard for Nintendo to compete on the same scale it has with the Wii unless some vast improvement's are made that will once again topple Microsoft or Sony.


shows off the new Wii motion plus

shows off PlayStations motion controller


shows off xbox 360s Project Natal


shows off the A.I. milo. made posible by Project Natal. This is some very futuristic stuff.