A lot of noise has been made about the graphics capabilities of the Playstation 3, the XBox 360, and the Revolution. Sony stunned much of the E3 crowd with eye candy showing off Killzone PS3, Fight Night 3, Motor Storm, and more. A quick overview of the demos lead many people thinking that the PS3 is all about amazing graphics.

ATI recently spoke up saying that the XBox 360 will have the same graphics capabilities, if not better than the PS3. This is an impressive feat. Surely Microsoft has the killer console if they have a slight edge in graphics. Right?

I really don't think so.

The PS3 will have amazing processing power under the hood. The Cell processor will be able to calculate at 2.0 TFLOPS compared to the XBox 360s 1 TFLOP. Who cares. This isn't going to effect the graphics, so who cares? Right? That's exactly what Microsoft is hoping people will be thinking and saying.

Sony has made a very deliberate move towards real time calculations, and that is why the extra processing oooomph was a Sony priority. When fully realized (and tweaked by game developers), this will make for a FAR more immersing gaming experience than can be offered on the XBox 360.

"Other companies may have HD [high definition] graphics, but the internals are the same," explains Sony Computer Entertainment chief Ken Kutaragi. "For the most part, they don't do calculations. For the most part, they don't do physics -- they just add movement through motion capture. Even if you can't tell the difference with a quick glance at the visuals, this difference is something that can be immediately understood."

Let's take an E3 demo, and take it a bit further to get the idea. Sony showed a gas station blowing up in real time with real physics and all calculations happening on the fly. Scraps of debris and materials fly in a realistic manner. Now say you move the explosion source a bit to the back. Different explosion with different paths of debris in the air. This is no longer a generic explosion like in games past. Players in future PS3 games can expect to get injured by varying degrees based on what actually hits you in an explosion. Games no longer are as predictable. Some of this has been introduced into games, but not nearly to the extent that Sony has envisioned.

A game like Tekken could have injuries to a player that effects their attack moves depending on how badly they are hurt and WHERE. They might not be able to pull off a move because their knee can no longer take the weight. You could have moves failing to varying degrees because of an injury and the severity of it.

There is also the whole can of worms to open with AI (Artificial Intelligence). Double the processing power means smarter enemies, and more of them with different strategies. The Cell will be able to handle far more complex AI routines. The XBox 360 may be able to display the same amount of soldiers on screen at once beautifully, but they will be bit more dumb, and a bit more predictable.

Again, that's not to say that the things mentioned here have not been introduced before in games. But Sony is planning to blow the doors off, and can do so with the Cell processor. They have changed their focus from graphics to immersion and variability.

Creating these real time varying game play experiences will take time though for PS3 developers. It's never really been done before, at least not to this extent. Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima has stated in a recent interview with Boom Town that he is not sure if developers will be able to live up to Sony's expectations on PlayStation 3. At least not initially.

Expect to not see much of a difference in first generation games for both systems. It will be more noticeable once the PS3 developers start learning how to take advantage of the Cell's awesome processing power. Look to see some games emerging in year 2 and 3 of the PS3 cycle before you start seeing a more serious performance leap in gaming experiences in favor of Sony's powerhouse Playstation 3.

Let ATI and Microsoft brag all they want about unified shaders and a graphics advantage. They are missing the boat on what most gamers want. Not JUST prettier graphics, but a more immersing, fun, gaming experience. Once again, Microsoft thinks they can just copy what someone is doing, and make it bigger or faster without any of their own innovation (Follow the history of Windows). Luckily companies like Sony look to lead and try new things. And we the gamers should be grateful for that.

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