Although Microsoft are touting their XBox360 as the next generation in gaming with HD capabilities, it’s actually only partly true.
Firstly, the console only supports regular DVD disks, and not either of the soon to be arriving next generation BluRay or HD-DVD formats. Secondly, the highest resolution it can output is 1080i. Thats ‘interlaced’ not progressive scan. Yes thats far more lines of resolution than standard TV output (480i), but the real holy grail of HD TV is 1080p. Progressive. Not interlaced.
The PS3 will hit the shelves sometime this year with both next generation DVD format, BluRay, capable of storing 50GB in dual layer format (compared to 8GB on a dual layer DVD), and true 1080p progressive HD TV output.
Couple that with the monstrous GPU processor, plus 7 cores on the Cell processor, and we’re in for something truely special.
Microsoft may have got to the market first, but what they’ve delivered really is XBox 1.5, not the next generation. I expect Microsoft will be introducing HD-DVD external drives in the near future, and possibly an upgrade of 1080p in a second release of the console, but next generation? Almost. PS3 will be the next generation, and if Sony deliver what they are promising, they will Leave the XBox 360 behind in their dust.