I just looked at the new X Box.. its the most powerful system ever made console wise..

Though noticeably smaller than its squat black predecessor, the console houses three 3.2-gigahertz I.B.M. microprocessors that could qualify it as the most powerful home computer on the market.

Indeed, unlike the original Xbox, the new console can act as a home entertainment hub, streaming pictures, music and video from digital cameras, portable music players and computers that run Microsoft Windows XP.

I think now..with in 5 years.. computing gaming will be all a thing of the past.... There is no way that our computers can match that.. I mean... top of the line computers have.. One.... 3 ghz + processor.. servers have two... but three!! The graphics must be so stunning.. I mean.. really.... Gosh.. Lol

Computer gaming won't die because of the hardware of an XBox 2. It will die because of the associated production costs of creating games for computers, and the low profits from them. If you haven't noticed, computer gaming has been dying for a long while now. Sure we got HL2 and Doom3 as major titles, but sales for console games has generated a lot more profit for the companies creating them.

"People! Take to the streets and scream, 'BE REASONABLE!!!'"

To Intel and AMD's processors, PS3's Cell cpu and X-360 presents a completely different kind of competition to what has gone before. The speed difference is so great that nothing short of a complete overhaul of the x86 architecture will be able to bring it even close performance wise. Changes are not unheard of in x86 land but neither Intel or AMD appear to be planning a change even nearly radical enough to catch up. That said Intel recently gained access to many of Nvidia's patents and are talking about having dozens of cores per chip so who knows what Santa Clara are brewing. PS3's Cell CPU and the X360 may be vastly more powerful than existing x86 processors but history has shown the PC's ability to overcome even vastly better systems. Being faster alone is not enough to topple the PC.

The Commodore Amiga (equivalent to todays X-Box 360) was light years ahead of its time and way more powerful then any Computer, and guess what happen to it, it was phased out. The PC will prevail no matter how you look at it.

abit is7 i856pe
Prescott 2.8ghz @ 4004Mhz 286x14
FSB @ 1144Mhz
512x2 in dual config @ 430mhz
9800 se unlocked & clocked @ 444mhz/800mhz

The declining sales numbers for PC games does not necessarily imply heavy losses, you figure those numbers only represent in store purchases and that's it.

If you factor in the profit from downloaded content and susbscriptions which is growing exponentially due to the ever increasing broadband popularity the abysmal picture being painted is not really 100% accurate.

Do not type anything in this space.

Computer games will never die. People say that when SNES came out and for every console. Computers get better just as they do. And not one console yet has made it more enjoyable than playing the game on computer for me.

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Asus P4P800S mb
P4 2.4Ghz (800Mhz)
1Gb DDR3200 Ram
Asus Geforce FX 5600 128mb

For me, the problem with consoles is that there's no chance of modding games, which is half the fun. I couldn't imagine paying the rediculous console game prices and not being able to change stuff.

Consoles always seem to be bought for kids or by people with little understanding of computers.

I hate joypad controllers too. Nasty things that give you crooked thumbs!

AMD Athlon XP2200+
Aero7 lite
1GB Crucial pc2700
Abit NF7-s V2.0
80GB Seagate SATA
120GB Seagate SATA
Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb
Benq FP767-12 17" 12ms
SB Audigy 2 ZS

Unless XBox installs a GeForce 6800 Ultra in there system, Im postive PC Gaming will be around for a long long time. I don't care how GREAT XBOX Graphics look..... It looks terrible compared to your average PC with a good Graphics card. Also many 30yrs and over people are serious gamers but they won't be buying XBOXES to replace their computers believe me.

~Thomas

Actually there is little evidence to support the death of PC gaming. I actually read an article not long ago that the industry is growing and changing and that comsumers won't just buy any game, the developers actually have to make an effort.

It's game PUBLISHERS that have their days numbered. It is becoming increasingly cost effective and popular for developers to sell games directly, a la STEAM.

Whatever the XBOX 2's spec, it will be beaten by a PC spec within a month. That's the nature of consoles, you can't upgrade.

If anything, consoles will be left on the wayside as PC Gaming becomes more accessible. Look at the difference between how easy it was to install and run a game 10 years ago compared to now?

I also beleive in an effort to stop piracy, and make games playing easier on the PC they are developing a new kind of disk drive so the games will run off the disks and nothing wil be installed on the hard disk.

The times they are a changing ;-)

AMD Athlon 1.8GHz
512MB RAM
120GB HDD
GeForce 4 w/ 128MB RAM
DVD/RW
ABIT 1.49 Mo/Bo
Beleive it or not, runs HL2 like a dream!

alright I gota bring up a few points marky brought up.

"Whatever the XBOX 2's spec, it will be beaten by a PC spec within a month. That's the nature of consoles, you can't upgrade."

Are you saying that in one month well have PC's with three 3.2GHZ proccesors in them?

"I also beleive in an effort to stop piracy, and make games playing easier on the PC they are developing a new kind of disk drive so the games will run off the disks and nothing wil be installed on the hard disk."

well if this happens I can guarntee you that within perhaps 5 months of this release a game disc burner drive will be release and all you have to do is burn the ISO files to the disk.

I still have a firm belief that neither console or PC games will be dying out soon. The audiences they appeal to are still drasticly different enough to keep some people buying PC games and some people buying console games(even if heaps games are just ports)

Hi Nathan,

Just thought I'd reply! :-)

"Are you saying that in one month well have PC's with three 3.2GHZ proccesors in them?"

We already do, they are called servers! Although we tend not to use them for gaming, there is a reason for this:

There are no games which demand it. Do you honestly beleive that the XBOX 2 will release games which take full advantage of the hardware it has? The cost factor alone in getting a games developer to design a game specifically to use the hardware onboard would be totally uneconomical! I have a feeling that the '3 processor console' is more of a gimick and a fail safe to stop slow down for any future titles that they may want to port FROM the PC to the Xbox 2.

AMD Athlon 1.8GHz
512MB RAM
120GB HDD SATA
12GB HDD IDE
GeForce 4 Ti4600 w/ 128MB RAM
Pioneer DVD/RW
SB Live! 5.1
ABIT NF-7S Mo/Bo

Most of what I hear about the consoles performance is all hearsay, but now that official stuff has been released, I am acctualy kind of worried, I pay a lot for my PC, and I will constently upgrade it with the best technology that is currently avalible. Cost realy dosent matter much to me, I am 17 and I have a job, subsequently most of that money gets poured into my computer wich is pushing 3,000 bucks, more if you count the stuff that I have put into it that I have replaced now.

From what I can tell, the ps3 GPU is a 6800 ultra with a realy fast processer, it is about 800 mhz compared to the 500 mhz in mine. But in a few months, Nvidia is releasing a new card, that will take advantage of both the higher clock speeds, and the 512 mb ddr4 ram that the latest one has today. This pushes way past what the PS3 has, gpu wise. As for the new xbox, ATI has fallen down a deep pit and is still sliding down further. Its what happens when you get jaded and let the competition surpass you and then still think that your on top dispite the bold facts. I personaly hope ATI makes a come back, I was a diehard fan of them, but I buy only the best. Anyways, ATI's new gpu is an advanced version of the x850 xt pl, which is allready sinking due to the 512 mb version of the x800, and inevitalbly and ati sli will come out and then you have a gig of video ram for your eyes not to regester. The xbox 360 was a little hasty in securing its hardware contractors. Sony is the real deal here, ram is still crap, but consoles do ok without much ram for some reason, will hurt though when you cant have lots of bodies or shell casings on the ground, or large maps, but not much.

For the dude who was talking about the 3 pentium 4 64 bit cpu's in the xbox 360, Clockspeed is total at 3 ghz, it isnt an addition thing like ram is, also, clock speed isnt what matters in games, and what matters is archetexture, which intel is terrible at. my amd fx-55 has a 1.5meg cache, this is vers the .5 in the xbox 360 and the ps3. But where my CPU isnt, is in cell processing, which I know little about, but it is intruiging. AMD is working on some new additions to its 64bit 939 socket series, I guess time will tell on what is what. My guess, and this is slightly educated since bethseda has to have some sort of mosnter they they are working with to run the developing for OBLIVION, which as far as I can tell will be the most CPU intesive game for the 05/06 range. I truly hope that PC cpu's b-tch slap the new consoles, but I dont know enough about cell processors, either way, consoles have caught up to PC's in all they ways they needed to so we dont have to deal with retarded console ports, now games will show all they can, and take full advantage of the PC's up to this point, superior hardware.

One thing that stands out is that the PS3, the real contender, is released in june of 06, by then who knows what will have taken to PC's, its allmost undoubtable that the new consoles will be a fair ways behind PC's by then.

My main reason for posting is cause in my everly expensive obsesion with video games, I try and have the best hardware possible in my machine, currently after I get new ram (my old is PC2700 and bottle necking my system to run like it cost me 500 bucks), but after that, I am getting the latest video card, and if i have the money for it, Ill buy 2 pci's and get an sli deck, so this is going to take me about 2 or 3 months, then I will replace my CPU, but now I am worried that there wont be a real top of the line CPU for some time now, ofcourse its all hearsay from people on forums beeming about the xbox 2 or ps3, but its enough to make me start thinking about what I need to do to stay on top, as you all know, FEAR is coming out, and I want to get a lot of this done by then, but I dont realy know were to go anymore if the amd's and intels are dorment. I guess I could get a dule or tipple core board but that is a lot of money I would like to avoid spending if I dont have to.

Also, this terafloping buisness has me a little mixed up, tera flops usualy about 10 in thease super computers, come from thousands of cpu's all hooked up, millions of dollars for each computer, tens of millions. The new consoles cant come out for more than 300, otherwise children, and comunity collage white trash couldent afford it? Puzzling, any clarification would be great, I will even transplant the ps3 components into my PC if I have to, but I would rather not? thanks