21st May 2003, 11:56 AM
You seem to misunderstand the system's ability to save resources (not space on the disk) via only drawing what is determined as visible. Actually, that's an ability the N64 had, so the idea that of these new systems only the GCN also has that ability is somewhat odd. It might be the case, but wow would that be a terrible design flaw if the others weren't capable of it. The disk space isn't saved at all doing this. The models still have to be all there on the disks. Not all angles of a model have to be stored, just the model. Determining what that looks like from every angle is the machine's job. If something is NEVER visible from one angle, that side tends to be unmodelled (as no clipping codes can attest to). Perhaps I misunderstood you though.
Oh, I wasn't referring to the actual sound quality on-system. I was referring to how XBox can output true 5.1 surround sound, whereas the GCN has to use Dolby Digital 2, which is apparently a bit inferior (to be honest I'm no audiophile, so I likely wouldn't be able to tell a difference, so that doesn't matter to me, and there's also that I have a mono speaker for all my sound output anyway :D). For that matter, when I was talking about visuals, I wasn't really mentioning any special effects in game. I was talking about the higher HDTV display modes that the XBox supports. It has support for outing higher FPS Progressive Scan, and I think higher resolution, than the GCN, but not by much. Both of them totally outclass the PS2 though (except PS2 can also do true 5.1 sound).
I'm afraid someone lied to you about Soul Calibur, unless they are changing it for the US release (the bastards). Every system has a single unique character. Link for GCN, some Tekken guy for PS2 that uses bracelets, and Spawn the guy with scabs that never heal for XBox. One new character a fuss is made over for some reason is Necrid, but he's on all versions just like the rest. Aside from that it seems they all have the same levels, modes, and so on, and the differences are none up until you use the controller. Apparently the PS2 is the best to use, followed by GCN, then XBox, in average opinion anyway. Had XBox got more exclusive stuff than any other version, I would certainly have chosen that one. That doesn't seem to be the case, so I just picked the one with my fave exclusive character, that being GCN version with Link. I think after this they should release an updated arcade version with all exclusive characters in it, so we could see them all pitted against each other.
Oh, I wasn't referring to the actual sound quality on-system. I was referring to how XBox can output true 5.1 surround sound, whereas the GCN has to use Dolby Digital 2, which is apparently a bit inferior (to be honest I'm no audiophile, so I likely wouldn't be able to tell a difference, so that doesn't matter to me, and there's also that I have a mono speaker for all my sound output anyway :D). For that matter, when I was talking about visuals, I wasn't really mentioning any special effects in game. I was talking about the higher HDTV display modes that the XBox supports. It has support for outing higher FPS Progressive Scan, and I think higher resolution, than the GCN, but not by much. Both of them totally outclass the PS2 though (except PS2 can also do true 5.1 sound).
I'm afraid someone lied to you about Soul Calibur, unless they are changing it for the US release (the bastards). Every system has a single unique character. Link for GCN, some Tekken guy for PS2 that uses bracelets, and Spawn the guy with scabs that never heal for XBox. One new character a fuss is made over for some reason is Necrid, but he's on all versions just like the rest. Aside from that it seems they all have the same levels, modes, and so on, and the differences are none up until you use the controller. Apparently the PS2 is the best to use, followed by GCN, then XBox, in average opinion anyway. Had XBox got more exclusive stuff than any other version, I would certainly have chosen that one. That doesn't seem to be the case, so I just picked the one with my fave exclusive character, that being GCN version with Link. I think after this they should release an updated arcade version with all exclusive characters in it, so we could see them all pitted against each other.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)