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Next gen consoles make their debut

BY NIYAZ PIRANI

Daily Titan Assistant Editor

Nintendo Revolution

What’s Hot: Nintendo’s fi fth home-based console will be approximately the size of three DVD cases stacked together. The Revolution has been working with IBM and ATI with the graphics and soundcard. The system will feature up to four wireless controllers and will be backward compatible with Nintendo Gamecube software and hardware. The system will feature internal Wi-Fi capabilities and it’s been rumored that the Revolution will sync up to the Internet for downloadable NES, SNES and Nintendo 64 games.

What’s Not: Little has surfaced about the quality of the games and less is known about a release date. The Revolution is technologically only four to fi ve times more powerful than it’s predecessor so Nintendo may be fi ghting a losing battle in the home console market come 2006.

XBOX 360:

What’s Hot: The 360 packs a punch by running three symmetric 3.2 GHz processors. It’s also the only new system to give users more than just a gaming experience, plus it comes out this year, whereas the others drop in 2006.

The system will feature a basic (which translates to free) XBOX Live service as well as an Instant Messaging support system.

The system will connect to the XBOX marketplace where users will be able to download things into the 20 GB removable hard drive. CD’s can also be ripped onto the hard drive to be listened to during gameplay.

Plus, that controller that used to be the size of a brick, it’s shrunken down a bit. What’s Not: The day after Microsoft revealed the XBOX 360 at a pre-E3 MTV spectacle, Sony introduced the PS3, which they claim runs twice as fast as the 360.

Playstation 3:

What’s Hot: With the power of the Cell, a chip that pumps out 3.2 GHz of power for PS3, developers will fi - nally get to push their games to the limit (fi nally a full scale Grand Theft Auto World will be realized).

The system features up to seven Bluetooth wireless controllers that recharge with a USB cable that gets plugged into the console. Also, the system will use standard memory cards, such as Compact Flash or Memory Stick, and is the only system to employ Blue Ray (50 to 100 GB) DVD discs.

What’s Not: Who knows how much the system will cost when it hits shelves in the spring of 2006? Plus, it’s still up in the air as to whether developers will be able to harness the full potential of the Cell. And does anybody remember the fi rst shipment of the PS2? Hopefully Sony can work out all of the bugs before they send out the system.