Has this generation gaming reached its limits? That's a question that is asked a lot and is answered by a bland "The xbox 360 is, but Ps3 is just scratching the suface." I would like to answer the question correctly in this short blog.

Both systems, as we know, are extraodinary pieces of machinary. And in terms of power we can agree that the Ps3 is moderately more powerful than the X-box 360, 33 percent to be exact. Both systems can produce a huge amount of polygons on the screen at once. So when I plainly say the 360 can produce 500 million triangles per frame and the Ps3 can caugh up about 400 million, I have made no contribution to the limits of the systems. Which leads us to the question:

how much is a polygon?

Well, an easy way to answer this is with some figures, but since game deveopers like to keep technical info like this strictly confidential it's hard to come across polycounts. Well Rick Stirling, a character artist, has revealed how much polygons can do.

for character models:

(numbers are rounded)

With 10 thousand polygons you get a wretch from gears of war. Add 5 thousand more and you get a Marcus. Subtract 4 thousand from that and you get a boomer. Add about 2 thousand to the boomer and you'll get Wayne from lost planet:extreme condition (at 13000 polygons). Divide Wayne in half and add 400 polygons and you'll get a Link from Twilight Princess. 10 Links with 21 thousand polygons gets you a car from PGR 3 (that includes the interiors). A third of a PGR3 car gets you Drake from uncharted 1 (at 30000). 5 Drakes gets you the main dragon (and his rider) from lair.

For entire scenes:

The backgrounds of super mario sunshine on gamecube was 60,000 polygons (2 Drakes), while the background of lost planet equals 500 thousand polygons (peak polycount clocking in at 3 million polygons). The backgrounds for Virtual fighter 5 have a range of 100 thousand polygons to 300 thousnad polygons. Lastly a 256 sq. km. sceen of lair contains 134 million polygons.

So, to bring this short blog to a conclusion the limits of the consoles has not yet neared. Graphics can get much better than what you currently see on the screen. This is why the life span of the 360 and Ps3 are 10+ years. sequels to games you thought couldn't get any better can get better, and have no fear for the system you have bought is a powerful one. one that will last for years to come.

Other figures:

GTA San Andreas, PS2, 2004
Characters - 2,000 polygons
NPCs - 1,200 polygons

Halflife 2, PC, 2004
Alyx Vance - 8300 polygons
Barney - 5900 polygons
Combine Soldier - 4700 polygons
Headcrab - 1700 polygons
SMG - 2850 polygons (with arms)
Pistol - 2270 polygons (with arms)

Halo, Xbox, 2001
Masterchief - 2,000 polygons

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater,PS2, 2005
Snake - 4,000 polygons

Resident Evil 4, Gamecube, 2005
Leon - 10,000 polygons

Jak & Daxter, PS2, 2001
Jak - 4000 polygons


Lost planet, X360/PC, 2007
VS robot - 30-40K polygons
Peak number of polygons per frame - ~ 3 million

Dead Rising, X360, 2006
Peak number of polygons per frame - ~ 4 million

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, GC, 2002
Link - 2800 polygons

Super Mario Sunshine, GC, 2002
Mario - 1500 polygons

Dead or Alive series, Xbox, 2001-2004
Character - ~10k

Vitua Fighter 5, Arcade/PS3/X360, 2006
Character - ~40k with diffuse, specular and normal maps

Medal of Honour: Allied Assault, PC, 2002
Character - 4100 polygons

Project Gotham Racing 3, X360, 2005
Cars - 80K-100K polygons (interior + exterior), damages add between 10K and 20K more polygons per car

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, PS3, 2007
Cars - 200K polygons (probably interior + exterior)

Midnight Club, Xbox360/PS3, 2007
Cars - 100K polygons

Gran Turismo 3, PS2, 2001
Cars - ~2K-4K polygons

Gran Turismo 4, PS2, 2004
Cars - ~2k-5K polygons

P.S. The 360 can put more polygons on the screen but the Ps3 can stream more textures faster on to them due to its CPU. (making them look better)

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