ATI talks Rev graphics chip
It's not based on PC technology.
As those who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Revolution may know, technology giant ATI is currently hard at work developing the graphics chip that will power the new machine - and now they've gone on record to tell us a little bit more about it.
In a recent interview with RevolutionReport.com, ATI's John Swiminer confirmed that the Revolution chip, currently titled Hollywood, will not be based on current or forthcoming PC architecture - but he didn't say whether it is instead based on Flipper, the chip used in the GameCube.
"Hollywood is a specific design and is in no way reflective of PC technology. Even when the Flipper chips came out, people were asking that question: "Is this a spin-off of something done on the PC?", and the answer is no," Swiminer stated.
"It is designed the same as the Flipper was - from the ground up for a specific console. [It's a] totally different sort of architecture from what you might find on the PC. Certainly, there are some underlying values - you know, how you get graphics on the screen - that's there. It's not, for example, like we took a PC design and said 'oh, you know what? If we tweak this and test this, it will work in a console'."
The question still remains as to just how powerful the Revolution will be - and Swiminer didn't shed any more light on the issue, reiterating only that the focus of the design and the manufacturing of the Revolution is centred around gameplay and innovation rather than technical prowess and flash graphical functionality.
"ATI is focused, as is Nintendo, in making Revolution a great, gaming entertainment platform. I know that a lot of journalists are very focused on specs. The key thing to keep in mind is that Nintendo, with ATI's help, is trying to create a game console where you don't have to look at specs," Swiminer said.
"From a broader perspective, we share in Nintendo's position that this console will be devoted to the general gamer. When you have a game developer developing for this, the goal is to ensure that they don't have to worry about the complexity that is required to develop the games by making them 'jump through hoops.'"
"That was one of the benefits of working on the GameCube; developers were saying that it is quite easy to develop for and there are not a lot of complexities so they could produce titles easily," Swiminer continued.
"That being said, we want consumers to look at the game, play the game and be involved in it. We are doing our very best to make this Nintendo gaming experience the very best it can be."
When questioned on the completion and availability of Revolution's Hollywood graphics chip, Swiminer simply stated: "I know that Nintendo has committed to 2006 availability. Certainly, game developers need some time to start developing games for it. I can't say anything more than that."
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Comments (65) Latest comment 6 years ago
Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!
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but yeah, this is pretty old.
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but some of us don't go around every news site everyday. This is the first time I've read of this so as far as I'm concered better old news than no news.
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/is a little tired of lack of information
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"...where you don't have to look at the specs"
I don't get it... if your eyesight is weak, how are you supposed to do without specs?
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/slap
"I'm sure I read this about a week ago on C&VG's website"
/another slap
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I've got no problems in admiting when I was wrong.
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/runs away crying
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I *do* remember a time when everyone presumed the cube was going to be less powerful than the ps2, just because it was going to be smaller and cheaper, and because nintendo had said power wasnt a major issue to them.
Kinda like how things are now. But then I look to the gamecube and compare against ps2...
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Let's not forget (if I'm actually right on this) that people prefer Pepsi Cola on a blind pepsi challenge, but when they can see the label, they prefer Coca Cola. Marketing is an extremely powerful force...
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What the feck has that got to do with the price of turnips?
All I said was everyone presumed the GC was going to be underpowered when it came out (due to price, size and nintendo playing down the specs), and (when comparing it against the other two) it most certainly wasnt.
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But in terms of actual muscle. Very much the wee man of last gen.
Which is my point, on paper it LOOKS less powerful, in practice (especially in comparision to the ps2) it's more than capable.
No doubt me saying this will upset some ps2 fans or something though.
Regardless of which, my point being that the cube pretty much proved you dont need all those fancy pointless figures to actually have stunning looking games, and as such I *still* dont have any doubts that the revolution wont be as equally impressive in practice (regardless of how technically powerful, or not, on paper).
If me saying this upsets anyone, then i appologise..
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Yeah, but pc graphics cards have two major drawbacks:
1. They have to be compatible with previous graphics cards (regardless of whether technology has moved on).
Therefor they wont be as optimised as a graphics card would be if you didnt care about backwards compat, etc.
2. They have to work in a pc (which isnt exactly designed to play games), for example the memory layout on the pc is horrid for games (which is one thing microsoft improved upon with the xbox afaik)
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Anyway, is PS2 supposed to be more powerful than Gamecube? That doesn't sound right to me. I'm no expert, but didn't Resident Evil 4 suffer ever so slightly on the PS-2? Correct me if I'm wrong...
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As i pointed out. On paper is VERY different to in reality.
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aye. Seems like we're going around in circles agreeing with each other here!
But the fact that all three companies are lying to varying degrees is what causes the trouble...
Which is my point of why i have more respect for nintnendo this time around, as they're keeping mum about all that, and not spouting the crap.
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The only thing I will say for Nintendo is that at least they seem to be using innovation to achieve their goal of maximising long-term profit. Sony and Microsoft are happy to duke it out technologically. Why? Because Nintendo didn't think they could beat Sony and/or Microsoft by going toe to toe, and have instead chosen a more imaginative path.
I wouldn't confuse this with them being nice happy people though. They want your money, and they'll get it!!! Even if they have to innovate. And I'll tell you what, if that new controller isn't everything they promised, this financial battle-plan is going to leave them crawling off the battlefield mortally wounded...
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They are good! They're being used in PS3/360 of course. It's just that by sticking with the same chip architecture (Flipper), Rev-devs can re-use the same tools and designs, producing games a lot more cheaply and quickly than they would on a new architecture with new tools etc.
Recent revisions of Porsche 911s have proved that an old design can prove better than new designs. I'm sure 'Flipper2' will do the same.
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I think you need to do your research a bit more.
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Yeah, they'll look bad compared to 360/PS3 - that's a given. But Nintendo are a gaming company first and foremost not a technology company.
I don't care that that a machine can stream audio or video and output to High Def. I don't care about HD-DVD, I don't care about Blu-ray, I don't even care about red-ray.
I don't care that a machine has a bus bandwidth of a million teraflops and throughput of 16 billion Ghz. I JUST DONT CARE!!.
Look at the SNES's CPU and compare it with the Gen/Megadrive. The latter had a much more powerful CPU but did it make SNES games any less fun?
What I do care about is a new way to play games, new experiences, new interactivity and new game genres that arise from it.
FWIW, I've recently gone hands-on with a 40" high def LCD TV and I really can't see what all the fuss is about.
As long as Rev can do Enhanced Definition (EDTV) ie 640x480p or 852x480p widescreen (which Nintendo has indicated that it will) I'll be more than happy.
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Yet you assume the Rev's games will look bad compared to the competition. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. 2 to 3 times as powerful as the Cube? We have yet to hear any info on how we should interpret that. For now, all Xbox360 games ALSO look to be about 2 to 3 times what the Cube can do. Especially if you compare it to stuff like Metroid Prime, Soul Calibur 2 or the Rogue Squadron games (while RS3 wasn't very good, you can't deny it looked unbelievable in places. Especially those forest levels...). And in fact, a few 360 games look WORSE than those Cube games mentioned, but I guess that's the developer's fault.
Which brings up another point which I'm sure you've heard before. The upper limit for visual quality is fast becoming the developer rather than the hardware. Another reason why I'm convinced the Rev will look virtually identical to both its competitors.
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I think you need to look at what was being asked a bit more.
And by who.
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Perhaps I didn't explain that very well. When I said "they'll look bad compared to 360/PS3" what I meant was that to someone who is not technically minded the Rev tech specs will look bad by virtue of raw figures alone. ie 360's 3x 3.2Ghz cores compared with Rev's 900 Mhz CPU will look 'bad' to an ordinary member of the public. Please bear in mind that I've made that 900Mhz figure up just for the sake of argument - it's not yet confirmed.
There isn't really anything you raise in your point(s) that I could disagree with. I really don't think there'll be much diff between Rev and 360 games conveyed through a Component Video output.
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Just as the DS was when the PSP was announced.
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Only just got back on, busy afternoon, so I'm a bit late.
The slaps are people making "this is old news" comments. They are fast becoming the next "so better than Halo" comment (which I know was a joke, but it was shit one and got overused badly).
ElephantMonkey summed up my thoughts precisely, so I just stuck to childish insults
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Just as the DS was when the PSP was announced.
Except the graphical difference between PSP and DS is still noticable (in 3D games anyway, 2D not really), thus providing more fanboy food. I don't think it will be that way with the next gen of home consoles.
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Between the PS3 and Xbox 360 perhaps. But without HD support, less than 1/5th of the main RAM of the others, a significantly slower CPU and GPU (according to devs) the difference between the Rev and the other two, especially when we get further into the generation, will be night and day on a HD TV. That is if the information we've been given is correct.
But then graphics were never the point of the Revolution, now, were they?
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I hope someone can post them old specs to clarify on this, I would appreciate.
Anyway, the point is, the SNES beat the Genesis with graphics, which means that Nintendo had and used a hardware advantage back then, and would be doing the same now if it was possible. Thankfully, they are now forced to cativate consumers differently.
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SeesThroughAll: the Genesis had literally three times the processing power that the SNES did. These days, it would not have looked good on them. But they still held their own with some special hardware functions and good game development overall.
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I'll grant ya, when Gears of War comes out the difference will surely be clear, but right now a 4th or 5th year Old-Gen console game is looking respectable (if inferior) to the 1st year Next-Gen titles.
And bottom line: If the games are all gonna be 70EURO, and the consoles are gonna be as expensive as they are, and many of us (am I right on that?) will be playing on non-HD televisions, you have to ask the question: "How much better should it be???"
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I don't know about other people, but even when I played PGR3 on a SD TV for the first time I was blown away. It destroyed any game I've seen on any other console many times over, in terms of graphics. It made GT4's "crowds" looks pathetic, it made Forza's cars look like tonka toys and PGR2's environments look just rubbish. When I finally played it on my HDTV it looked even more phenominal, I'll never look back.
When you're looking at hasty ports of current gen games with current gen engines and playing on a SD TV I can understand why people would say there isn't much of a difference. However if you look at proper next gen games like PGR3 or GoW they blow away anything the current console could ever do technically, and at a much higher resolution. On a HD TV even the same game (like PGR3) looks a lot better than on a SD TV. The lack of HD alone would mean the Rev games will look a lot worse, never mind the much lower specs.
As we get further into the lifespan of the consoles devs will get to grips with multi-threading and the other nuances that they currently are having trouble with and really start to push the 360/PS3. Compare MGS3 to Ridge Racer 5 on the PS2, if anything there will be more of a difference this generation with the mutli-core consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3. The sheer amount of processing power and RAM are things the Rev will not be able to keep up with as time goes by. The Xbox didn't even have twice the RAM of the PS2 but look at the difference that made. The Xbox 360 has 5 times the RAM of the revolution.
But I can't understand the people here that are trying to convince themselves that somehow, magically, the Rev will be able to compete with the 360 and PS3 graphically. If you want graphics buy a PS3 or 360, not a Revolution. If you want innovative, amazing Nintendo games buy a Revolution.
"Who cares how much ammunition the fanboys have. Buy the system that you think has the best GAMES, not the best specifications, or the largest number on the clock speed, or the fanciest looking box... Fuck the fanboys!"
Exactly. The Revolution will have great and innovative games, what more do people want?
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Revolution games will not look as pretty as 360 or PS3, (although let's wait and see what the games look like), but I don't think that they'll look appreciably worse. The fact that it won't be in high-definition and it may have some help from displacement maps will help, but ultimately, the games will not be as pretty.
So is that it? Will next-generation games just look pretty? That's the most fucking depressing thing about Sony and Microsoft's vision of the next generation. It's just a prettier version of this generation, that will play HD DVDs... Big swingin' micky!!!
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and you know that as a fact how?
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LOL! The same internet which told us there was going to be a DS redesign on monday?
We dont know ANYTHING for a FACT about the graphical capabilites until we SEE for ourselves.
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Of course you give me REZ off the Dreamcast and PGR3, and I'll say that REZ looked better every time. Beauty's in the eye of the beholder and all of that...
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GAH!
1) We dont know technically what the revolution is capable of yet
2) As I pointed out earlier. Even if on paper it appears less capable than the others, as the gamecube proved, it could still have better looking games.
3) Again, as the cube proved. Just because it's cheaper/smaller (and doesnt support hd) DOESNT necessarily mean crapper.
I'm not a fanboy here with wishful thinking. I'm just pissed off with people touting rumour they've heard on the internet as fact. The problem is, if you keep spouting this stuff over and over again, people start to believe it as fact. When the machine comes out, even if it's graphics piss all over the other two, people wont be able to see it, and will still believe it's less capable (how many non-hardcore people still believe the ps2 to be more powerful than the xbox?).
Fact is, most people cant really tell the difference between graphical quality in games nowadays anyhow. I've lost track of how many of my "mainstream" gamer mates who think that the ps2 is more powerful than the xbox. Or who cant spot the graphical difference between the xb and 360.
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They went on record not long after being quoted on that as saying that was a misquote.
"although the graphics would be comparable"
How does that make the graphics worse then?
And how me pointing out people are touting rumour as fact as being wrong is fanboyism is beyound me. I dont personally know how good it's going to look or not look. The graphics may amaze me, or they may be shit. I dont know. Nor does anyone else. Which is the point i keep bringing up every time people start spouting this crap about "oh, it MUST be less powerful". WE DONT KNOW!
At this point people normally jump in and say "well it's cheaper and smaller so it's BOUND to be less powerful.. So to save them the trouble, look at the cube.
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If in the future what you said actually did have a grain of truth in it, you can reward yourself with a six figure payrise... (think Sony, MS and tbh most other executives), and if you are proved to be a liar you can tell that "changes in the industry moved the strategic goalposts to a new quasi-aggressive era in the field of [insert what your business does here] resulting in an actioned market plan" and reward yourself with a six figure payrise because you were "able to capitalise on the new changes to ensure you remained a leading member of the [insert utter bollocks here] quango by swifting re-adjusting the fundamental [more buzzwords]"
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which respected developers? Got any names? And got any links to them saying exactly that?
"just like we've seen last generation in PS2/Xbox.
So you're saying 3rd party support for the cube is weak because the graphics are poor in comparision to the ps2? Then I'll have some of what you are smoking!!
"To be honest, i think the Revolution like the NGC will bomb"
The NGC turned in a bigger profit than the other 2 this gen? If you could explain to me how that is "bombing" then i'll be impressed.
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I admit that I am something of a Nintendo fan (but not fanboy I hope), because I like the way they focus on games, and for my money have produced more top-quality games than the competition combined. But I call 'em like I see 'em, and unfortunately for anyone who cares, the Revolution is unlikely to outdo the competition grapohically, I'd lay money on it.
But do I care?
Not in the least!!!
Their games will be better.
End of story...
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