Fighting the mainstream media...

[nmaster64]

F**k NC State's paper and it's lack of gaming journalists trying to write about next-gen consoles without knowing what the hell their talking about!

My school's paper, the Technician, recently put out a story comparing the next-gen system, or 2 of 'em anyway. Not only did they completely ignore the existence of the Wii, but the story on the other two systems was BS as well.

Story link here.

Highlights include:

• "The Xbox has a hard drive which makes it faster, and the controller is a lot more user-friendly [than the PS2's]."
• Having seven simultaneous processors means that an astronomical number of floating point operations per second can be performed -- precisely 216 billion. Combine this with a custom made GPU for the PS3 and it creates a staggering total system performance of 2 Teraflops. ($100 says they don't have a clue what that means -Nmaster)
• "Blu-ray technology is going to be huge for PS3 because that is the industry changing!"
• The premium, fully loaded version of the Xbox 360 costs $399 as compared to $600 for a similar PS3. (Oh yeah, let's be totally casual about the price, because that's not a big deal, right? -Nmaster)

I wrote in, and look what hit today's paper:

The next thing for Nintendo
I couldn't help but notice in the other day's Technician column on next-gen gaming machines that one was left absent. It's quite disturbing to see just how different groups of people perceive the industry. People on the outside look at video games and just see PS2, Xbox, GTA, Halo and the like. These are all very mainstream these days, but it's the people on the inside, the informed gamers who know what's really going on.
The E3 gaming expo this year was huge and huge for one gaming company in particular: Nintendo. While so many people just write off the makers of the ill-fated GameCube, it seems this next-gen is all about them. Within gaming circles, almost everyone is excited about the prospect of the Nintendo Wii, the game console thats controller actually lets you play out your in-game moves. Playing a shooter? It's a gun! Sword-fighting? Slash it like a sword! The system even let's you go back and download tons of old NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis games! You can go back and buy all those classics like Mario and Sonic!
While the Wii isn't up to the technical specs of it's competitors, this innovation has peaked more than the majority of gamers' interest. And considering the price is about a third of the $600 PS3, it's just not fair to write off Nintendo yet. Hopefully, news of this awesome system will hit the more mainstream soon.

David C. Campbell
Sophomore, Computer Science

Update: Got a scan of the my piece from the paper!

[ShadowMarth]

Nice article. I'm suprised they let it in. Our school news paper never mentions video games, although this year they don't have a journalism club because it's by submission.

[nmaster64]

I wish my paper wouldn't talk about video games (albeit, it's a very rare occurance). I mean, when one of your main sources talks about how the Xbox has a more user-friendly controller...ughhhh...thats just f'in wrong dude...

Oh, here was my original comment on their article I tried to post on their website. Surprise, surprise, they wouldn't approve it.

Having been a video game journalist for many years now, this story is a strong disappointment. I would hope The Technician would bring a non-biased, well-informed feature of information to the table, but that is certainly not what is written here.

My biggest concern is the complete lack of even mentioning the 3rd competitor in the next-gen console race, the Nintendo Wii. While it's true Nintendo suffered from lackluster sales in the past generation, it's hardly fair to write them off, especially when they are currently poised to completely capture the market back. The Wii (previously known as the "Revolution") has generated a hype and buzz unlike no other, and set records at this year's E3 Expo for wait times in lines to play with the innovative system.

On top of trying to erase the existence of a strong competitor, the article features several misleading lines and a lot of information is missing. One very misleading thing is the specs chart in the paper-edition. It's not stated that these are specifically for the higher-end, higher-priced versions of the systems, and on top of that there are several inaccuracies within the specs as well.

The other extremely disappointing factor here is the complete lack of listing the negatives of system features. Proper journalism must list both sides of an issue, the good and the bad. However, as this article is written, it's more an advertisment than an article.

Consider the paragraph: "Having seven simultaneous processors means that an astronomical number of floating point operations per second can be performed -- precisely 216 billion...

Ask any worthwhile programmer just what it means to have "seven simultaneous processors", and he'll probably give you a look of horror thinking about the mess writing code for that would be. As it stands now, nobody really knows how to program for that, and as I've confirmed talking with some programmers a bit more experienced than me, it'll be years before you see anything substanial come of this.

Plus, with all this boost in technology, you also have to consider the rising costs. Not only does the PS3 carry a $600 price tag, but games are going up as well. Development costs for games are rising rapidly as people demand more realistic graphics and gameplay. It's getting overwhelming for some companies, and many just can't afford it. It's getting to where only big publishers like EA can fund a large games project.

The talk of Blu-ray also concerns me. The article glorifies this new piece of technology while ignoring all the impending downsides. Most importantly, the article neglects to mention the big competitor format, HD-DVD, which will come to the Xbox 360 later this year as a USB drive. Debates have been waging for months now over which format will become the next standard, and sides are divided.

What's this mean for consumers? It means your about the be caught in the middle of a format war, and situation in which the customer always loses. Content, like movies, will be divided between formats, and if one ever wins those stuck with the other now have a very expensive paperweight. It's similar to Betamax vs. VHS many years ago.

Also, it's important to remember that these amazing HD graphics the article speaks on are only avaialable on High-Def Televisions. Are the really a lot of NC State students with huge HDTV's in their dorm? I would doubt that.

Don't forget to do the math on just what these things cost. The article mentions this but doesn't ever focus on just how ridiculous $600 for a console is. Of course, after tax and a game your well over $700 in reality...

I could go on and on, but I suppose at this point I'm rambling so I'll cut it short. This article is quite a disappointment. It's of my strong opinion that articles such as this should only be written by those qualified, and the writers involved in this feature were obviously not informed gamers. I would hope in the future articles on this subject at least contact someone of a qualified background, and, no, Mr. Wyman there is not a good source.