GW Special

Game Console War

Consoles are, these days, becoming a state of mind. Between Atari and todays Sony and Nintendo products, we can see we have come a long ways.

In the next ten years the videogame market will have an increasingly larger competition with new products and companies entering the market. With more companies and home computer systems in the game-world, some companies will drop and others will strive. But the big question is who? when? what? and why?

Nintendo 64

¤ CPU:	64 BIT
¤ GPU:	62.5 MHz
¤ RAM:	4 MB
¤ Price:	$99

GW Talk:
- The N64 hardware is seemingly maxed out, and the cartridge format looking less and less desirable to publishers everyday. We're expecting the N64 software market to dry up by the end of 2000.

GW rating: 5/10

Playstation

¤ CPU:	32 BIT
¤ GPU:	n/a
¤ RAM:	2 MB
¤ Price:	$99

GW Talk:
- Considering the huge installed base, the lower price, and massive software library, playstation will ride out 2000 like a great baseball player on the verge of retirement. Sony would have you believe that playstation hardware will still be of merit. But considering the kind of support Playstation will begin to get next year, that is not going to be the case. Expect Playstation to take the place NES did when Genesis arrived.

GW rating: 7/10

Dreamcast

¤ CPU:	200 MHz
¤ GPU:	Videologic Graphics Chip
¤ RAM:	16 MB
¤ Price:	$199

GW Talk:
- Coming off a highly successful launch, the word is out on Dreamcast. Although Sony and Nintendo will be pouring it on with huge holiday campaigns, it will be hard for both companies to shout down the impressive look of the new system. Sega's timing with the holiday season couldn't have been better planned.

GW rating: 8/10

¤ CPU:	Up to: Gigatrix (1000 MHz)
¤ GPU:	Up to: 64 MB Videocard
¤ RAM:	Average: 64 MB
¤ Price:	$1,800 to $2,000 for a game-ready system

GW Talk:
- PC continues tobe an amazing platform for a game development, and it remains the only place you can play multiplayer online games(for now, anyways). The price of entry is high, but well worth it considering what is available, and what is coming next.

GW rating: 9.5/10

Microsoft X-Box

¤ CPU:	500 MHz
¤ GPU:	Uncomfirmed
¤ RAM:	8 GB
¤ Price:	Unconfirmed

GW Talk:
- Bill Gates didn't become king of the computer world by chance, and while the company's game division has taken it's lumps, the fact is this: when microsoft enters the market, it doesn't aim for second place!

GW rating: n/a

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