m0dus said:
I disagree, considering how WELL the dreamcast can STILL hold up against the PS2 in terms of resolution, visual IQ (oh supersampling, how I miss you), and superior texture quality, I'd say it's hardware kicks the ever-living-shit out of the PS2's in all the areas it counts . . . except, you know, sales
. The DC was a masterpiece of elegant design.
Yeah, yeah, not teh funny, but it feels appropriate.
Yes, I am a Sega Nazi.
Wow, you couldn't be MORE wrong...
The only area where DC stood above PS2 was image quality and textures, but that doesn't really hold true these days.
The DC hardware subscribed to the old PC ideal of "detail via textures". It was beyond any PC at the time, of course, but it still relied heavily on the usage of flat textures to make up for lack of geometric detail.
Initially, the DC could hang with the PS2 due to textures and IQ, but PS2 has more than caught up in the texture department and is starting to offer 480p on more and more titles these days (usually the most impressive looking titles as well). Image quality and texture abilities were really the ONLY areas where DC stood ahead of PS2. They are far from the most important aspects.
Oh, and VERY few DC games used any sort of anti-aliasing. Multi-sampling was supported, of course, but it was still expensive and most games avoided using it. I used a VGA box throughout the DC's life, and I own no game which supports multi-sampling.
PS2 had a very rocky start, but it still managed to step up to the plate with much higher polygon counts, better lighting abilities and tons of effects that had never been seen before in games (the famous post processing effects found in many PS2 games were unheard of prior to the PS2). Also, from a percentage standpoint, there are more 3D 60 fps titles on PS2 than any other console in history. The PS2 WAS the first console to really show me how important lots of geometry could be. For example, while the game was poor, The Bouncer was displaying visuals that really looked very similar to the CG found in games such as FF8...while running at 60 fps. Within the first year of owning the PS2, I witnessed a number of games with visuals that really did stand well beyond anything the DC had ever seen. I would say that the PS2 and XBOX/GC are much closer in terms of overall potential than the DC and PS2 are.
That comic is pretty funny too, considering that the PS2 DOESN'T have heat issues. The XBOX and DC (especially DC) have these issues, though. My DC becomes VERY warm after a few hours.
Bah, you've made me post something negative in a DC thread.