Eurogamer: Xbox 360 vs. PS3 Face-Off: Round Five

predator - 753 days 11 hours ago

ive looked, read what eurogmer say and i think it was 6- 2 to the 360, but they did say it was hardly anything inbetween them, ps3 development is getting better.

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titntin - 753 days 11 hours ago

I do understand your point of view, and even approve of it as too many threads are hijacked by fanboy flamewars.

But this is a good and informative article, well written , and suprisingly unbiased.

Its of no suprise that the PS3 versions of many games suffer as they are often quickly ported from the 360/PC version. What is heartening for that platform, is that its becoming increasingly obvious that if you spend a little more effort, some decent parity can be achieved without having to rewrite your engine for Cell. Sega Rally, dirt and Harry Potter all show this is the case....

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unwind_protect - 753 days 10 hours ago

It's an article written by professionals who try to thouroughly compare PS3/xbox versions of multiplatform games. Links to articles like this should definitely be approved, read and discussed. I like reading them, although I'm a PS3 owner and most of them so far are not favorable of PS3. What I hate is seeing people discuss obscure fanboy blogs comparing pictures of 100x50 size, taken from 10 meters away from an SDTV set with a crappy camera. Or blog articles that are 1 year old. These should never get approved and discussed... :)

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rushbd - 753 days 9 hours ago

3rd party devs are really improving with PS3. very good comparison indeed. although 360 takes the win this time, the difference is barely seeable. Expect them to disappear ( or yet crossed ) within 2-3 months.

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BadTaste - 753 days 10 hours ago

The rest looked identical though.

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Daurelus17 - 753 days 3 hours ago

not exactly..look at the potc pic again.. the 1st pic with jack in town look at the sign its something small. but im glad to see things have improved for the ps3

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Daurelus17 - 753 days 3 hours ago

not exactly..look at the potc pic again.. the 1st pic with jack in town look at the sign its something small. but im glad to see things have improved for the ps3

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AngryTypingGuy - 753 days 6 hours ago

With insightful comments like that, I can't see why you still only have one bubble. That was called sarcasm by the way, since you aren't very intelligent.

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sticky doja - 753 days 10 hours ago

I'm taking your bubble for that sensless comment.

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Jen5en - 753 days 10 hours ago

I disagreed due to you stressing that Xbox 360 versions ALWAYS look better. I think this all comes down to many other factors like developement resources, experience etc. Take a look at CoD4, and you'll see that both versions are completely identical.

By saying that every multiplatform game will always be better on X360, you are automatically taking sides, and can thus be percieved as a simple fanboy out to get attention.

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The WildAttorney - 753 days 10 hours ago

In light of DarkSniper's comments, the following bears repeating (mind you, this is not my own commentary below)

The Playstation 3 can only display 275,000,000 polygons per second, compared to the 500,000,000 polygons per second of the Xbox 360.

That is the reason why games like John Madden Football 2008, NCAA Football 2008, All-Pro Football 2008, and many other games from EA Sports, 2K Sports, and so many others all run at 60 frames per second on the Xbox 360, but only 30 frames per second on the Playstation 3.

Gamespot specifically said in the review of those sports games: “The Xbox 360 versions run smoothly at 60 frames per second at 1080p resolution, while the Playstation 3 versions struggle to run at 30 frames per second at 720p resolution.”

It isn’t just sports games with that problem. Look at all the Tony Hawk Skating games, Tom Clancy Splinter Cell: Double Agent, and F.E.A.R. They have frame rates that drop below 20 frames per second on the PS3 and go into slow motion it is so bad…even though the Xbox 360 versions have very smooth framerates.

Oblivion is NOW BETTER on the Xbox 360!!!

When Oblivion was released a year later on the PS3, it used a new shader design…that had NOTHING to do with hardware technology; it was just something put into the new version of the game as a software program. The download was released for the Xbox 360 later on, but the PS3 fanboys always pointed out, “But when you compare the actual discs, the PS3 one has some advantages (although the Xbox 360 version also has advantages, and was ALWAYS rated higher).

Oblivion: Game of the Year Edition is now available for the Xbox 360, and when you now compare Oblivion on the Xbox 360 to Oblivion on the PS3, there is NO DOUBT that the Xbox 360 version is significantly better; that is why it is rated higher!

The Playstation 3 version of Oblivon is a perfect example that what this man is saying about the Hard Drive of the PS3 being used to help out with memory limitations is NOT true. Consider the FACT that the Playstation 3 version of Oblivion does NOT allow the entire world to exist in the game at the same time, like the Xbox 360 version does. This is because of the Memory Bandwidth hardware bottleneck of the Playstation 3.

Also, when it comes to RAM, the Xbox 360 certainly DOES have fundamental advantages over the Playstation 3!

For example, the CPU of the PS3 can NEVER access more than 256MB of RAM at any point. The Xbox 360 CPU is free to access up to 512MB of RAM if there was a need. With the PS3, there are plenty of times when the CPU needs more than 256MB of RAM, and the Video-RAM of the PS3 is actually using less than 256MB of RAM, which means that if the PS3 had a Unified RAM environment–like the Xbox 360’s–then that unused Video-RAM could help the CPU, like it does on the Xbox 360. OBVIOUSLY, the Xbox 360 RAM design is much more flexible; it helps developers in ways that they enjoy working with.

Plus, it’s important to remember that the original design of the Playstation 3 called for the used of TWO Cell CPU processors–each with two Threads that could Send signals to the SPE subprocessors.

However, when Sony saw the design of the Xbox 360, and they saw how much better the Xbox 360 was, then Sony was forced to redesign the Playstation 3 very quickly in a way that hurt the PS3 system. This is nearly identical to what happened with Sega and the Saturn. Sega saw how much better the original PS1 was, and they were forced to quickly redesign the Saturn in a way that used parallel processing that was difficult to work with and was more expensive. This is EXACTLY what happened with the Playstation 3.

The original design of the PS3 was not even supposed to used a GPU, because it was going to have two of the Cell CPU processors. But when Sony saw the revolutionary ATI GPU in the Xbox 360 that was Custom designed for the Xbox 360, and was 1.5 years ahead of its time (since the PC didn’t see similar Unified Shader technology until January 30, 2007), then Sony was forced to removed one of the Cell CPUs in the PS3, and instead add a Nvidia GPU. But there was NOT time to custom design the GPU, so Sony was forced to included a four-year old generic GPU in the PS3. That is why people often point out the vast superiority of the Xbox 360 GPU.

Now that the PS3 only has one 3.2Ghz Cell CPU, it means that the PS3 has only two Threads capable of Sending signals to the six SPE sub-processors running parallel. Each of those six SPE processors is capable of Receiving a Threaded signal; however, the PS3 CPU is only capable of Sending two Threaded signals. This is where the hardware “bottleneck” of the PS3 reveals itself. Programmers often say that the PS3 has two arms (CPU Threads) that are trying to juggle six balls (SPE sub-processors). Obviously, that is NOT possible, and that is why the Playstation 3 hardware is such a BIG disappointment.

With the Xbox 360, Microsoft used a much newer and better form of technology. PCs often brag about their “dual-core” CPU design. The Xbox 360 actually takes that to the next level and used a “tri-core” CPU design, with each CPU using the most developer-favored videogame processor available–the PowerPC.

The Xbox 360 is literally the exact opposite when compared to the Playstation 3 in terms of hardware design and efficiency. The Xbox 360 has three 3.2Ghz CPUs, each with two Threads capable of Sending instructions. But the Xbox 360 doesn’t the outdated parallel processing environment of the PS3. There are no “sub-processors” to worry about with the Xbox 360. The signals can be focused on CPU and GPU commands. This literally means the Xbox 360 has six arms (CPU Threads) that are being asked to juggle only two balls (GPU and CPU functions).

THAT is why the developers absolutely LOVE the Xbox 360 and can design games so much more efficiently for the Xbox 360.

THAT is why games are released so much earlier for the Xbox 360.

THAT is why the overwhelming majority of Xbox 360 games offer better graphic and online performance on the Xbox 360.

THAT is NOT going to change!

It may be easier to port a PS3 game to the Xbox 360 than it is to port an Xbox 360 to the PS3 (since the Xbox 360 is more powerful in terms of videogame performance–500,000,000 polygons for the Xbox 360 is more than the 275,000,000 for the PS3), but the Xbox 360 will continue to be the Lead Platform this generation for two reasons:

(1) Because the Xbox 360 is so much easier for developers to develop games for and experiment with new types of gameplay.

(2) Because the Xbox 360 has sold over Eight-Million more systems than the Playstation 3, and that lead continues grow by hundreds of thousands of systems each month, in terms of Worldwide Sales.

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P4KY B - 753 days 10 hours ago

Be careful some of the 360 fans won't realise you are joking. (like The WildAttorney with his copy and paste response)

I'll give you a bubble.

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Jen5en - 753 days 10 hours ago

@Dark Sniper and The WildAttorney

You two are the sad, yet funny, examples of how low human life can sink.

Although The WildAttorney ultimately takes the "Most-Girlfriend-Needing- Individual" -award of the year with his new bible, prophetizing why the Xbox 360 will lead us to the promised land.

Congratulations!

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andy001 - 753 days 10 hours ago

I have seen this same information a number of times lately. It has no references and came from a comment posted here; http://www.product-reviews....

Anyone who cares to read through the comments on that post will see how biased and ill-informed it is. Here is a post showing tests between the Cell and the G80 which shows a significant performance benefit for the Cell;

http://gametomorrow.com/blo...

Here is one comment from the thread which again, is unreferenced, and is worth exactly the same as your source

[begin quote]
1) The XBox 360 design is bottlenecked. The GPU and CPU have to share one bus to the RAM. The PS3 has one bus to faster low latency XDR RAM and a seperate bus to the GDDR3 RAM. Roughly twice the bandwidth.

> PS3 can NEVER access more than 256MB of RAM at any point

2) It can both the CPU and GPU have access to both types of RAM.

> TWO Cell CPU processors–each with two Threads that could Send signals to the SPE subprocessors.

3) The PPE allows for 2 hardware threads and as many software thread the software developer wants, each SPE allow for 1 hardware thread and as many software threads the developer wants to create.

> Programmers often say that the PS3 has two arms (CPU Threads) that are trying to juggle six balls (SPE sub-processors). Obviously, that is NOT possible, and that is why the Playstation 3 hardware is such a BIG disappointment.

4)IBM tests already showed the SPEs can reach near 100% perfomance levels. So there’s no bottleneck.

> Each of those six SPE processors is capable of Receiving a Threaded signal

5)7 SPEs, one is currently used exclusively by the OS.

Just some things I wanted to point out to render the article useless and clueless. [end quote]

As you can see, the information you have posted is more than likely wrong, has no credible sources, and not even your own work.

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kn - 753 days 10 hours ago

We need to know that the person that is pulling the images isn't "tweaking" the pictures or selecting specific images for the benefit of or to the detriment of the other... It would be cool, though, to run a poll and see what comes up...

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judd - 753 days 10 hours ago

Bubbles for you

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Guardian0fPeace - 753 days 10 hours ago

Neither side is 100% made up of perfect little angels. I don't know where he got that info, I do remember reading something similiar before, but I do take it with a grain of salt, but wikipedia certainly ain't the Holy Bible either, anyone can submit their own stuff to it, that's why fewer and fewer teachers are allowing students to use it as a source for their research papers.

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Whoooop - 753 days 9 hours ago

I think we need to increase the amount of slaps to 15 a day...

at least for you.

haha a 360 fanboy talking crap... priceless

nap time... :)

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gerrard - 753 days 8 hours ago

You say ports are better on x360 eh?

Well I'm going to dispel those facts.

1. On the majority of games so far the x360 was the lead platform (not a port) and was ported onto Ps3 making the games look worse because those lazy devs couldn't be bothered to work on the Ps3's different architecture to make their games work properly.

2. If you look at Infinity Wards effort on COD4 (with the best graphics on any console so far) not only did the Ps3 manage match the x360 efforts but surpass it (if only slightly) because of the dedication they gave to the Ps3 architecture, so in future expect more like this to happen when developers get better tools and learn more about the Ps3.

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karlostomy - 753 days 8 hours ago

gerrard.

you are right. COD4 has proven that the PS3 is capable of nearly equal 360 performance albeit with *slightly* jaggier textures. ( http://www.n4g.com/NewsCom-...

But at what cost?
Is it up to the developers to put in EXTRA effort to get the SAME result for the PS3?

Developers might not be so happy about all that...
PS3 = More effort, same result, less sales, less profit.
Brought to you by Sony.

If I was a developer i'd.... oh wait... you know the answer already.
---------------------------
edit at below:

Meh! Of course 360 fans lap it up. FOr them it's a WIN-WIN.
Better games = more sales = more dev support = better games = more sales.....

It really is a good thing.

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jackdoe - 753 days 6 hours ago

However, 360 fanboys like you are lapping it up. Lose lose either way.

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The WildAttorney - 753 days 8 hours ago

Did you even read the article? Most of the games look and play better on the Xbox 360. Sony fanboys are living in their own private Idaho.

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Martini - 753 days 7 hours ago

Arguing with fanboys is like banging your head against a wall, like i said draw a circle and PS fanboy will look at it and proclaim it's a square :)

This is Living = private Idaho welcomes you! hahaha

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Martini - 753 days 7 hours ago

You just owned yourself kiddo it's One CPU with 7 SPE - at leats get your facts straight.
Back to private Idaho with you!

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The WildAttorney - 753 days 8 hours ago

Your post is so full of lies. There is only 1 CPU in the PS3, not 8. Just about every impartial engineer has stated that the Xbox 360 graphics card is superior to the PS3 card. The Xbox 360 has almost as many titles that are natively 1080p as the PS3. Keep spouting Sony lies. It's so laughable.

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BLACKJACK VII - 752 days 23 hours ago

LMAO !!!

WildAttorney, bubbles 4 u. If I ever need litigation, I'm callin' you !

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