Console Specs

Courtesy of Nintendo

Courtesy of Sega

So you're reading articles, drooling over news and getting ready to buy your brand new console. The Gamecube looks like a bomb at only 12 million polygons/second but the PS2 can do 75 million. That's a lot of graphics. Hmm...

STOP!

We aren't actually getting what they say we're getting. Polygons are the things you see bouncing around on your screen, characters are made up of hundreds of them, backgrounds use less but are still made of polygons. The Gamecube says it'll crank out six to 12 million polygons per second while the PS2 is talking about 75 million per second. Whoa, I guess the Gamecube is gonna suck, right? Nope.

The 75 million polygons per second that the Playstation is bragging about is never gonna happen. That's how many it can crank out if it's doing NOTHING else. As soon as you actually turn on a game it'll drop way down. Ditto for the Xbox. It claims 125 million polygons per second, and I don't doubt it, but not while it's playing a game. The Gamecube is telling it like it is - it can handle six to 12 million polygons per second while you're playing your fave game.

What's up with giving us bogus numbers like that? It's like a skateboard that'll last for 100 years, unless you actually ride it. I'm not saying that the Xbox isn't gonna rip it up, or that the Playstation 2 isn't one hot mama. But Nintendo is giving us the real deal on the Gamecube, why can't Big Bill and Sony?

Stick around, Kidzworld is gonna be having a Console War over the next couple of weeks. Which one has what it takes to be the machine for you?