Next-Generation Consoles

Brenden Schubert & Nathaniel WilliamsWith a Special talk by John F. Rhoads on Video Game Ethics

Sega Dreamcast

Sega Dreamcast

• Billed by Microsoft as:

The Windows CE Game Machine for the New Millennium

• Released September 9, 1999

• Hitachi SH4 RISC CPU– 200MHz at 360 MIPS/1.4FLOPS

• Memory: 16MB main,

8MB video, 2MB sound

Dreamcast Graphics

• NEC PowerVR Second Generation– 3 million polygons/second peak rendering rate– Perspective-Correct Texture Mapping– Point, Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic Mip-

map filtering– Gouraud shading– Z-buffering– Colored light sourcing

Dreamcast Graphics

• NEC PowerVR Second Generation– Full scene anti-aliasing

– Hardware-based Fog

– Bump mapping

– 16.77 million colors

– Hardware-based texture compression

– Super sampling

– Shadow and Light volumes

Movie Time !

(ctaxi5.mov)

Sony Playstation 2

Playstation 2 Stats

•300 MHz 128 bit RISC “Emotion Engine” chip (from Toshiba)•32 MB Rambus memory•Standard DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible)

Playstation 2 Graphics

• 150 MHz clock• 4 MB video memory• 75 Million Polygons Per Second is absolute max

• 20 Million per second with 48 pixel quads, Z-buffering, alpha blending, and MIP mapping

Playstation 2 Graphics

• MIP-mapping

• Bi-linear filtering

• Surface/Edge Anti-aliasing

• Texture-correction

• 32 bit Z-buffering

Playstation 2 Special Features

• Plays DVDs right out of the box

• USB, PCMCIA, and “I-Link” I/O ports for modem and other peripherals

• Backwards compatibility with Playstation 1 games

• Hard Drive available in 2001

Movie time…

Video Game Ethics

Why are Ethics Important?

• Standard of Human Worth

• Need a common Standard to Gauge Excellence

• Commonly ignored

• Video Game Ethics Vs Video Game Links

What are Video Game Ethics?

• A set of general rules used to determine whether or not a game has been “won.”

Examples

• Game Genie• Playing for other

people• Using FAQ’s• Warping• Konami Code• Turbo Controllers

Perfect Example

• Bushido Blade

Want to know more?

• www.people.virginia.edu/~jmr6u/gamethic.html

Nintendo Gamecube

Game Cube Stats

• Powered by IBM PowerPC "Gekko“ (405mhz)• 24MB system memory• Proprietary DVD format

(sorry guys – difficult to copy)• Modem and

Ethernet Capabilities

Game Cube Graphics

• Graphics chip “Flipper” 202.5mhz– 2MB framebuffer– 1MB texture cache– 24 bit color– 24 bit z-buffer

• Image Processing Functions: – Fog– Subpixel anti-aliasing– HW light x8– Alpha blending– Virtual texture design

Game Cube Graphics

• More Image Processing Functions– Multi-texture mapping– Bump/environment mapping– MIP-mapping, bilinear filtering, real-time

texture decompression (S3TC), etc.– Real-time decompression of display list– HW motion compensation capability(If you care about sources: http://cube.ign.com/news/23962.html)

Game Cube Graphics

Actual display capability: 6 million to 12 million polygons per second (display capability assuming

actual game with complexity model, texture, etc.)

Movie Time !

Don’t be so surprised Link, it’s not a big deal.

(gamecube.mov)

Microsoft X-Box

X-Box Stats

•733 MHz Intel Pentium III•64 MB memory•Standard DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible)•8 GB hard disk

X-Box Graphics• 300 MHz custom chip developed by Microsoft and nVIDIA• 300 Million polygons per second (very small polygons, no

lighting or effects)

• 100+ Million polygons per second (with shading and texturing)

X-Box Graphics

• DirectX API• Nvidia's per pixel

shading • Compressed Textures• 4 simultaneous

textures• Full screen anti-

aliasing

X-Box Features• USB Modem will be a future upgrade• Full DVD Movie Playback• 100 MBps ethernet enabled• Windows 2000 kernel!

Movie time!

A Dark-horse Contender?

Hardware vs. Price

Dreamcast Gamecube Playstation2 X-Box

200 MHz Hitachi SH4

405 MHz IBM Gekko

300 MHz Toshiba Emotion Engine

733 MHz Intel Pentium III

100 MHz NEC PowerVR

203 MHz ArtX Flipper

147 MHz Sony GS

300 MHz

Nvidia

16 MB 24 MB 32 MB 64 MB

$199 $150-200 about $400 $300 range

That’s the end.