I, like any true gamer, am getting severely and re he hearly annoyed with all this gibberish about which version of a game is superior. i don't play games because other people thought a series of games were popular, actually quite the contrary dear reader, when i 1st got into gaming i was about 7, gaming was still quite the geeky hobby back in 1989 and all the cool kids would be outside playing, not that this actually bothered me being absorbed into a static little game world.

Now as things have progressed into the mainstream, I fear this once geeky hobby has descended from how it used to be valued, Sure i'm all for accessibility and all that malarkey, and i'm glad to see these technologies advance into something truely great as it helps to remove more obstacles, but now that the tables have now turned and a lot of these cool kids from back then and mostly now are inside a lot more playing games, and it's these people who i feel are starting all these un-necessary console conflicts about which version of a game is better because..."It has this and the other version doesn't" or some other bone headed reason.

Back when systems weren't as powerful there were obvious differences(Just look at arcade to home computer/console conversions of games as an example and you'll see better drawn sprites, better sound hardware, music etc), but now we've reached a pinnicle of advancement in technology which truely blurs the graphical differences between the consoles mostly to those with an untrained eye, as it seems those differences are just so minor it somehow seems to warrant an arguement (Loading speed, Clipping, Install Screens, Sounds, Downloadable Content, Exclusive Content etc etc and so forth)
Now it seems that instead of people saying "you know what?....i personally like Super Happy Fun Game, and it's cool if you don't like this game, but let me enjoy what i like about this game" you have idiots saying things like "That is such a bad game, you oughta play super pwnage team game, it's way better" or "dude, they're playing that sucky game, what a bunch of losers"
or as Foamy(illwillpress) once pointed out "because you've not unlocked a certain achivement, it makes you a lesser person" These don't actually mean anything, they're virtual.

I'd personally love to see these newer and younger gamers try retro games on other systems and complain about the low resolution visuals i grew up playing on and am very comfortable with, are so restrictive, Restrictive?....who're you kidding?
I used to think it was technology which was restrictive but it actually boils down to your imagination when playing, also the cover art on a game box would really spark the imagination for gamers years ago, i could be wrong, but if a young gamer saw for example Metroid on the NES and compared it to the cover art, they wouldn't feel compelled to play because it doesn't reflect what the game actually is in terms of the visuals on screen. (in a similar fashion how books would absorb you into another entity as your read word for word)

IMO, True gamer is someone who enjoys and appreciates gaming regardless of how a game is compared to another game, if you enjoy 1 game and not another a billion others like, that doesn't make that game better or worse just means you don't like that game same thing vice versa, it's all opinion based, and the companies and people who make these games and gadgets for your enjoyment, they don't really care as long as they sell a copy of their product to you.

Hi all.

I've been planning for a long time now to get a new multi core system and have had my eyes on the developing AM3 system, which i can honestly say has been well worth it, i ended up buying an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition CPU(3.2Ghz) an ASUS M4A78T-E Motherboard and 2GB of DDR3-1333 memory and compared to my previous system of: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ (939)(San Diego), ECS Nforce3-A939 Motherboard and 2Gb DDR400 memory i've seen a massive performance difference, well....except for the somewhat weedy onboard GPU compared to my Geforce 7 7600GT AGP, the ATI Radeon HD3300 pales in comparison to my previous card, but for now it'll do especially as it can do around 50FPS on Doom 3 in 1024x768.
I will be looking forward to upgrading to the Geforce GTX 275 i have my eyes on, and a new sound card.(Sound Blaster X-fi (PCI-E)
Ok some might be saying thats prolly not as good as the i7 processors but TBH i personally say i beg to differ if some of the online benchmarks are anything to go by.
For gaming, this CPU is a strong contender for the i7 920, well i'm not suprised seeing as the Phenom II 955 is still isn't fully optimized and like i said, gives the i7 a run for the money and the price point.

Both of these machines are technical power houses right?

Well, why do people (especially those who don't know a lot about computers and their architectures) continue to say the same thing over and over again "The PS3 is so difficult to program for, it'll take years to tap into all that power and the 360 has been out a year longer than the PS3 it's already reached 100% hardware usage"?

I personally don't think many of these games have been programmed for Multiple core usage yet, as for starters, most PC games now can still run well on a single core.
Programmers are STILL finding Multiple core CPUs difficult to program for even though MS for example give Game developers an easier ride for programming "Apparently"

No, i think they've reached the limit with 1 single core CPU of the PS3 and 360, especially if they want to lighten the load on a processor Multi core programming would help, i know that much.
As for the PS3 and 360, i think there's a lot more untapped power in both consoles.
and all these people need to stop saying such crap like 360 has 100% power tapped.

I don't know why people are taking their consoles way too seriously...but why are people getting far too uptight about their consoles flopping...or other platforms flopping?
It seems today that all you ever hear people talking about is 1 console beating the other console over the head with their own bloated back catalogue of games and how AAAAAAA* a title is.

WHO CARES

When i play games, i just want to play them without hearing some idiots going on about how great or how crap the game i'm playing is. i feel the same way with consoles, as long as i can play games on them, whats the big deal?

Well, i've come to the conclusion it's peer pressure and MAJOR insecurities.

Games were about fun the last time i checked....and thats what they're supposed to be about...FUN/ESCAPISM!!
NOT ABOUT constant non sensicle critiqing!!...as this is purely someone's opinion.

(Also, i personally don't get too excited about game sequels now as previous experience has left a sour taste in my mouth)

i can assure you when i was growing up through the 80s and 90s, no one really cared about super powerful graphics abilities as we didn't have access to the hardware we have now. i can personally understand why nintendo with all of their consoles adopted the ideals of Gunpei yokoi, ie: they made affordable experiences with easily accessible technologies.

Another thing which i find annoying, is how 1 console breaks down, bricks...RRODs, gets hot.
Sure consoles break down, but thats electronics for you...you can't garantee EVERYTHING you know.

You know something, after seeing shots of Street Trace NYC on the 360, and realising they're getting that LoD within 150mb,
I'm coming more to the conclusion Developers are just really really lazy when it comes to compression.
I mean, so far the games i've seen haven't been photo realistic, but they've not looked any worse than say 5 years ago, thinking of the game American McGee's Alice, and if they're planning to squeeze Quake Arena into 150mb....which was originally about 5-600 mb, then.....i now question how compressed, games on the PS3 are, i mean some games are supposed to be like 22Gb.

Use good compression and you will prolly squash games right down to 8-10Gb which would fit onto a DVD9, which leads me to another point.....the lack of compression in these games leads me to think these developers have very little knowledge of a console if they don't compress, and isn't the idea to literally squeeze every ounce of horse power out of these machines?