Console makers square off over ‘nest-generation'

Gamers get hands-on with Microsoft’s "nest-generation" Xbox 360 on game publisher Activision’s E3 stand. Picture / Reuters

LOS ANGELES - They won't be on shop shelves for at least six months but the two devices that will fuel a new wave of spending in the US$10 billion ($14 billion) a year videogame industry are now public property.

And the exciting news is they look good - good enough to sit on view in the lounge, which global giants Microsoft and Sony are battling to control with their "nest-generation" videogame consoles.

Besides playing a swag of advanced games that are in development, the consoles will both play DVDs, CDs, store music and picture files, record live television and connect wirelessly to other computers and portable devices.

And while on the face of it the consoles have similar features, the different approaches by Sony and Microsoft to the future of gaming could determine who reigns supreme in this emerging market.

The huge E3 gaming festival in Los Angeles was used to launch the new consoles on Monday.

Sony chose safe ground to launch its next-generation console - a cavernous soundstage at Sony Pictures, where its other lucrative franchise, blockbuster movies such as Spiderman 2, are put together.

The company talked up its new "Cell" processor, which gives the PS3 35 times more processing punch than its predecessor, and which Sony says has twice as much power as the new Xbox 360.

Sony Computer Entertainment president and chief executive Ken Kutaragi said the new processor and graphics chip would allow movie-quality graphics in games.

"Not only will movement of characters and objects be far more refined and realistic, but landscapes and virtual worlds can also be rendered in real-time - elevating the freedom of graphics expression to levels not experienced in the past," he told an audience of 2000 journalists.

A demonstration of game snippets rendered on the PS3 was impressive - in the Sony title The Getaway, Picadilly Circus comes to life in what seems like amateur video footage.

At the lavish Shrine Auditorium, Microsoft verbalised its ambition - to have a billion consumers using the Xbox 360 for storing, viewing and listening to media, playing games and accessing the internet.

Microsoft executive J. Allard said the Xbox 360 would "push people back into the mainstream".

The 18- to 34-year-old male had been the "backbone of the [gaming industry], but Microsoft will attempt to widen the audience with video-messaging, music downloads, online networking and simple arcade games", he said.

Both Microsoft and Sony talked up the consoles' ability to display high-definition video signals. Microsoft's eccentric chief executive, Steve Ballmer, even appeared in a bizarre Xbox 360 promotional video shouting: "That's HD, baby! HD! HD! HD!"

High-definition gives impressive screen quality and is increasingly becoming the standard for DVDs and broadcast television. With no high-definition broadcasting on the horizon in New Zealand and low penetration of high-definition TV sets, which are required to achieve the better picture quality, the "hi-def" features of the Xbox 360 would have limited appeal.

"These games will also look amazing on standard-definition TVs," Allard said.

The Xbox 360 appears slightly underpowered against the PS3, but what Microsoft lacks in power it may well make up for in usefulness. A software interface on the Xbox 360 will appeal to Windows users, allowing easy viewing of pictures, recorded TV and music files. And a major push is under way to improve the Xbox Live service, which is expected to rack up two million subscribers by the end of next month.

The Xbox 360 will also be able to connect to popular devices such as Apple's iPod and even Sony's PSP.

But in the end it will come down to games availability. The next few months will see intense lobbying by Sony and Microsoft to secure exclusive titles.

There are 160 games in development for the Xbox 360, 25 to 40 of which are expected to be released this year. The PS3 will be launched early next year, missing the important Christmas sales rush. The two consoles seem to support a fairly even spread of games - among them, new versions of popular titles such as Gran Turismo, Kill Zone and Call of Duty, and new titles such as The Godfather and EyeDentify.

Game developers exercised diplomacy by sending heavyweight executives to endorse both consoles. The industry is so competitive that backing one horse is out of the question for the biggest game publishers. Electronic Arts, which has sold 220 million games for PlayStation platforms, is already busy developing its popular Madden, Fight Night and Need For Speed titles for the consoles.

The head of Japanese game developer Square Enix, Yoichi Wada, performed a clever double-act, appearing on stage with Sony executives and then crossing town for more back-slapping and handshakes with Microsoft's game chiefs.

Square Enix will bring its hugely successful Final Fantasy franchise to both consoles, though Sony has a slight edge, debuting with Final Fantasy 12. Xbox 360 will launch with Final Fantasy 11.

The networking features of the new consoles will put pressure on high-speed internet connections as more "bandwidth" is needed for online gaming and networking. Sony touted the PS3 as a "peer-to-peer" file-sharing device that owners could connect to other PS3s via the internet.

Multiplayer gaming remains a strong theme for Xbox and PlayStation, both online via the internet and offline.

Up to seven controllers can be connected to the PS3 via Bluetooth wireless technology. The Xbox 360 can support four controllers.

And both machines feature backward compatibility, meaning they will play existing games.

Pricing for the consoles is yet to be revealed. And a New Zealand launch date is even less easier to pick - probably some time in the second half of next year.

* Peter Griffin attended E3 as a guest of Microsoft.

Play-off

PlayStation 3

IBM PowerPC 3.2GHz processor

Nvidia RSX graphics processor 512MB of memory

Six USB 2.0 ports, three ethernet ports

Detachable hard drive (unspecified size)

Bluetooth controller

DVD player

Blu-ray disk drive

Memory Stick, Compact Flash and SD card slots

WiFi 802.11g/b

Xbox 360

IBM PowerPC 3.2GHz processor

ATI graphics processor, 512MB of memory

High-definition output

WiFi 802.11g/b

20GB detachable hard drive

Wireless controller

Three USB 2.0 ports and ethernet

Progressive-scan DVD player