Next generation gaming only weeks away

The next generation of console gaming is almost here.\nNext month, Sony and Nintendo will release their newest consoles and, with them, a slew of new games and innovative control schemes.\nThe other major console manufacturer, Microsoft, released its own console, the Xbox 360, last November. Microsoft sold nearly 5 million Xbox 360s as of June 30, according to a Microsoft quarterly earnings report. The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is banking on its one-year head start to sell 10 million Xbox 360s by the end of 2006.\nThough it will be several years until the winner of this console war is decided, Sony's PlayStation 3 easily wins in pure horsepower with its cutting edge 3.2 GHz cell processor.\nThe system also comes with a HDMI port, which allows for "true" high-definition 1080p graphics. \nThough Nintendo and Microsoft are sticking with the standard DVD drive for their systems -- Microsoft will release an HD-DVD add-on in the coming months for movie playback -- the PS3 comes standard with a Blu-ray disc drive. \nSingle-layer Blu-ray discs are capable of holding 25 gigs of data, while dual-layer discs can hold up to 50 gigs. What that means for gamers is that programmers can create games with more textures in high definition, allowing for potentially breathtaking scenery.\nThe PS3 will also be backward-compatible with games for Playstaion 2 and the original Playstation.\nAll that new technology, however, will come at a higher cost. The premium PS3 package, set for release Nov. 17 in North America, includes a 60-gig upgradable hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi -- and will retail for $599.\nThe basic package, which costs $499, cuts the upgradable hard drive's size to 20 gigs and leaves out the Wi-Fi support.\nIn the past, game consoles have been sold for much higher prices soon after launch on Web auction sites such as eBay. And Sony recently cut North American launch shipments to 400,000 units, so PS3s could be going for well over $1,000 this holiday.\nMeanwhile, Nintendo is banking on an innovative controller design to sell its relatively underpowered system.\nSpeaking to the Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine in August, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario and Zelda franchises, admitted that Nintendo's new Wii is technically only a slight step up from the company's current system, the GameCube.\n"We'll be upgrading the development tools, but GameCube code can be used for the most part as is," Miyamoto told the magazine. "In that sense, I believe that it would be good to remake GameCube games for Wii and that some titles would become better with the change to the Wii remote controller."\nThe selling point of the Wii, which will also be backward-compatible with all GameCube games, is its controller -- the "Wiimote." Rather than a traditional gamepad, which has been the standard for more than a decade, it's shaped like a TV remote and can be moved through the air to perform actions on screen, such as slicing a sword or aiming a gun.\nSony announced a similar function in its "Sixaxis" wireless controller several months after Nintendo first showed off the Wiimote.\nThe Wii is set for release Nov. 19 with a suggested retail price of $249.\nSenior Alton Clark, the campus representative for Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game publisher, has seen demonstrations of both the PS3 and Wii. He says the PS3's sports games look great so far and most of the gamers he talks to at EA events seem to be most interested in that system. \nBut he doesn't think people should count out Nintendo just yet.\n"When the Wii drops, it might pick up in sales because it's so cheap," he said. "It might take over, or at least force the PS3 to drop in price"