Videogames: the generation of the Xbox Wii60

Videogames are an area of business where there is always a dispute about which system is best. This generation there are three competitors: The Nintendo Wii, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Sony Playstation 3. In terms of hardware sales, the Xbox 360 is ranked #1 in North America--the largest market in the world. The Nintendo Wii is ranked #1 overall in the world, mainly due to the fact that the Japanese consumers don't purchase videogame hardware unless it is made from a Japanese company.

In terms of software and accessory sales, there is no doubt that the Xbox 360 is the most successful system in the history of videogaming. If you add up the amount of revenue generated with Xbox 360 software and accessory sales, it adds up to more than the combined amount of revenue generated by the Wii and the Playstation 3.

This generation has been called "The Xbox Wii60," or the "Wii60," because the two dominant systems are the Xbox 360 and the Wii. The Xbox 360 and the Wii are not considered direct competitors, because they target different markets. Nintendo targets younger gamers, senior citizens, and females. For the first time ever, multitudes of females and older gamers are interested in gaming, thanks to the Wii. The library of the Wii does not include as many games as the Xbox 360, and its games are not rated as highly; however, the Wii is popular because it sells for less money and is actually used as an exercise device.

The two systems that are direct competitors are the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. The Xbox 360 is considered the undisputed champion, and this is a battle that has been over for some time. Obviously, Sony does not want to concede defeat; however, the fact of the matter is the Xbox 360 library is much larger and filled with games that are rated much higher.

The Xbox 360 is the only system available this generation that truly has all of the bases covered for software. Microsoft has made sure that the Xbox 360 has plenty of high-quality games available in every genre. Xbox 360 receives more third-party support than any other system this generation. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Playstation 3.

For example, the Playstation 3 has been available for over 1.5 years, yet it still does not have any games available in the Real-Time Strategy genre. Third-party Real-Time Strategy games such as Command & Conquer 3, Battle for Midearth 2, and Universe at War are released for the Xbox 360 and the PC, but not for the Playstation 3.

The reason for this is because the Xbox 360 and PC have programming environments that are very easy for developers to work with and very inexpensive to program for. The Playstation 3 is considered the most expensive system of all time to develop software for because of the fact that Sony was forced to redesign the Playstation 3 very quickly after seeing the hardware superiority of the Xbox 360 at the Electronic Entertainment Show in 2005.

Originally, the Playstation 3 was supposed to include two 3.2 Ghz IBM "Cell" CPU processors, but no GPU. But Sony was forced to redesign the Playstation 3 after they saw Microsoft's Xbox 360, which includes three 3.2Ghz IBM PowerPC CPU processors and a custom ATI GPU based on new technology that PC graphic cards didn't have access to until 2007. This is nearly identical to what happened to Sega in 1994 when they saw the original Playstation and were forced to quickly redesign the Sega Saturn.

After Sony redesigned the Playstation 3 the final version of the system was much more expensive than originally expected, much more difficult to program, and it still did not offer performance as good as the Xbox 360. Sony knew that they would need to include a GPU in the design of the PS3. The final version of the Playstation 3 included an outdated GPU from Nvidia; it was based on four-year old technology. The addition of a GPU forced Sony to remove one of the two 3.2 Ghz CPUs, which caused the Playstation 3 to be very difficult to develop for.

The reson for the programming difficulty is because each Cell CPU had two Threads to Send programming instructions to the six SPE sub-processors. A total of four Threads would have been fine, but two Threads is simply not enough. Trying to effectively optimize programming code for the Playstation 3 is like trying to juggle six balls (six SPE sub-processors) with only two hands (CPU Threads). It simply isn't possible, which is why Playstation 3 games often have unsteady framerates and are inferior to Xbox 360 games.

The Xbox 360 is designed in a way that is considered very developer friendly. Legendary programmer John Carmack claims that the Xbox 360 is the best programming environment ever. The Xbox 360 has three 3.2 Ghz PowerPC CPUs. Each CPU has two Threads dedicated to controlling the multi-core CPU responsibilities and the responsibilities of the GPU. This means that the Xbox 360 has six arms (CPU Threads) to juggle two balls (CPU and GPU functions). This is the reason why the Xbox 360 offers performance that is significantly more consistant than the Playstation 3.

Xbox 360 has the Playstation 3 beated in terms of Polygons due to the fact that the GPU of the Xbox 360 is so much more advanced. The Xbox 360 GPU is based on new Unified Shader technology, while the PS3 is still using outdated Non-Unified Shader technology. As a result the lighting and shading are superior on the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 can display 500,000,000 polygons per second, compared to only 250,000,000 - 275,000,000 for the Playstation 3.

Xbox 360 also has far more efficient RAM. Both systems have 512MB of RAM, but the Xbox 360 uses Unified RAM technology that allows the CPU and/or GPU to use as much RAM as they need. For example, if the GPU was only using 12MB of RAM, the CPU would be able to have access to 500MB of RAM. This means that RAM is never wasted with the Xbox 360.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said with the Playstation 3. The PS3 has Non-Unified RAM that is divided to support either the CPU or the GPU. The 256MB of Video RAM can potentially access RAM from the 256 CPU RAM; however, the CPU can never use more than 256MB of RAM, even if the Video RAM is not being used by the GPU. This is a terrible waste of RAM.

What's worse for the Playstation 3 is that the PS3 Operating System is very inefficient. Sony's Operating System for the Playstation 3 uses 96MB of RAM. This leaves only 416MB of RAM for the system to work with. Microsoft has done a much better job with the efficiently of the Xbox 360 Operating system, which uses only 32MB of RAM, leaving developers with 480MB of RAM to work with.

Also, the Xbox 360 has an additional 10MB of eDRAM, which is something that no console or PC has ever had access to for games. The eDRAM technology is something that won't be used for PC software until the next generation of DirectX technology is available with Windows Vista. In fact, the technology will not truly become standard until the successor to Windows Vista is released. This is an example of how far ahead of its time the Xbox 360 technology is.

Recently, GameSpot had a graphics comparison of third-party games released for both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3. For the third year in a row (2006, 07, 08) the Xbox 360 has defeated the Playstation 3. Games are either "noticeably" or "significantly" better on the Xbox 360.

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The Business Administration was formed by Michael Zoran in May of 2008. Our goal will be to discuss areas of business that have controversial issues. Anyone who believes they have what it takes to contribute valuable ideas, thoughts, or opinions is welcomed to comment in a professional way. I look forward to writing, posting useful information, and communicating with all of you.

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