long rant about PS2
Posted By: bodolza	Date: 3/25/00 7:19 a.m.
In Response To: Re: so what's the deal (Bob Dole) > Actually, I'm just trying to find reasons not like the PS2. This is a rant. It is not intended to be well thought out. I just want to say a bunch of stuff. Forgive me, but I hate the PSX. I bought an N64 by "accident" (it was actually sort of a gift). At the time I wanted a PSX. Then I finally got one. What a waste of money... The problem stems from the fact that I also had a 3DO, and I thought the PSX was going to be head and tails better than the 3DO. Boy was I wrong! Two things really suck about the PSX: the sound chip and the CD-ROM. I can put a CD in the 3DO and a CD in the PSX, have them hooked up to the same TV, and the 3DO sounds *much* better. Sound really drives the game; I think in a cost-cutting measure Sony just axed sound quality. Then there's the CD-ROM. With SSF2T on the 3DO (the reason why I bought the thing), you could be playing the actual game in about 1 minute from the time you powered it on. SSF2T on the PSX took about 4-5 minutes before you started playing (not to mention how long it took from fight to fight; in comparison the 3DO felt like it was cartridge based). And the sound sucked, although they seem to have gotten Q-sound right on the PSX. Granted, the PSX version clearly wasn't as optimised, but still, the 3DO was FAST, and released several years before the PSX. Sony had a sales strategy with the PSX that worked, and it didn't rely on the PSX's quality. As such, I didn't expect much from the PS2. I liked my N64. It had a couple problems though, (a) you can't pirate games (almost everyone I know who owns a PSX just bought it for that reason), (b) cartridges are expensive, and (c) the thing is very hard to program for. Nintendo learned their lesson regarding (b) and especially (c). Off hand, the PS2 seems to be an N64 with an insanely high polycount, and a couple of vector units (which should be very cool in the future). But besides, that, we hear stuff that the PS2 is difficult to program for (limited to 1 MB of texture in RAM, with the rest having to stream of the CD, plus the fact you have to chew out your polycount if you want anti-aliasing. I'm sure there's more). OK, I'm not going to dwell on the PS2 "faults" more as I would need to do more reading, but... To me it seems that the PS2 is just another product driven by Sony marketing team. They knew they would get great sales based on the popularity of the PSX, and by slapping audio CD and DVD capability they could get the rest of Sony's businesses involved too. So make a system that looks great on paper, can make more than good enough graphics in reality (the PSX was barely good enough and it did great), and it will sell. I'm not buying it. I expect the Dolphin to be a solid evolution over the N64, not just a higher polycount and more features (yes, the PS2 is more than that, but I still expect it to be more). Besides, Sony can't design a controller :) For what it's worth, I really have to wonder if the new stuff ATI showed off (which is supposed to be shipping in Q2 to OEMs) is really ArtX's stuff. That would explain it's WOW factor and the fact that it's almost ready to ship. A PC would have a hard time trying to take advantage of all of its features, but an optimised console could easily. > About not trusting the X-Box because of Microsoft... I think that's a poor > reason. That's like many of the Nintendo/Sony zealots that refused to get > a Dreamcast simply because it was made by Sega. Nah, it's a good reason. Remember all the stuff that Win95 was supposed to ship with? MS does this with EVERY product. Why wouldn't they be doing it now? Sure X-Box will be a capable system when it does exist, but it only exists on paper right now. And like someone else said, I don't trust their intentions. As for the DreamCast, yup, I didn't buy it because it was Sega. Also because it ran Windows CE (I have a Palm; it would be a serious conflict of intrest). I may hae considered buying one if it had some good games (say, SF3. The M2 was supposed to have it... heck I'd buy a PS2 if it gets it), but then along comes news of the PS2 and Dolphin. I don't really have a reason to buy the DreamCast. I do want to play Soul Calibur though. It reminds me of a balanced version of Samurai Showdown. > Let's not forget that when > the X-box comes out, there will most likely not be a large first-party > game base. Eh. I've found that most PC games aren't worth playing (Bungie excluded, of course). Their greatest asset is that you can play multiplayer, and RPGs. As far as solo games go, traditional console games rock. I'd think a PC would still be better to play PC games. But yes, this fact can't be ignored. I have to wonder what the Dolphin will ship with. Hopefully SF3 :) I've been waiting way too long for that game. OT, but here's a bit of history on SF3 and consoles. Capcom said they'd make SF3 for the N64. Nintendo was happy. Then they said they'd make it exclusively for the 3DO M2 (which could definitely handle it better than the N64, it was DVD-based. SF3 has a LOT of animation). Nintendo got mad, and said Capcom would never develop for Nintendo again (this is all before the N64 was released). Then Capcom's making games for the PSX, with all their fighting games going there. Nintendo pretty much shot itself in the foot. Recently, Nintendo's made up with Capcom *and* Namco (I'm an old fan of their arcade games), so I have a little bit of extra hope for the Dolphin. This is long. I just woke up. I can't do much more than type and blink right now.

so what's the deal	pi	3/23/00 11:36 a.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Harry	3/23/00 12:12 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Bob Dole	3/23/00 3:55 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Mxy	3/23/00 6:34 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Bob Dole	3/23/00 7:27 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Nijhazer	3/23/00 7:58 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Jade Tseng	3/23/00 9:33 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Loren Petrich	3/23/00 10:36 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Nijhazer	3/24/00 10:26 a.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Bob Dole	3/24/00 9:16 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Mxy	3/24/00 9:33 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Morgan	3/24/00 10:46 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Loren Petrich	3/25/00 1:41 a.m.
long rant about PS2	bodolza	3/25/00 7:19 a.m.
Re: long rant about PS2	CodeToad	4/6/00 8:27 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Nijhazer	3/25/00 12:21 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Bob Dole	3/25/00 12:55 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Nijhazer	3/25/00 2:24 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Mxy	3/25/00 6:08 p.m.
The Bouncer info	Nijhazer	3/25/00 11:42 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Morgan	3/23/00 10:05 p.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Mxy	3/24/00 1:28 a.m.
Re: so what's the deal	Pico	3/23/00 3:59 p.m.