These Consoles used the Hardware much more efficient than the PC did for obvious reasons,, so I guess the slower components are not that big problem, even today. Still impressive what they can pull out of the Consoles and Handhelds today, even if it seems not that effective anymore than it was in the past (Donkey Kong Country and so on)
Maybe, but if we're talking Microsoft/Sony's 7th generation consoles the lack of Out of Order bits plus the memory limitations lead to inferior performance verse x86 processors of the relevant vintage using effectively the same GPU. A good example of this is an x86 tri-core with Radeon X1900 running Crysis at 1440x900 with respectable settings, while the XBox 360 and PS3 struggle mightily with managing 1280x720 with a much less computationally intensive feature configuration. Both platforms were also noted for having been cost inefficient verse computer hardware in terms of real costs.
For me the point of consoles to a large extent is embodied with things like the Nintendo Wii. By the nature of not needing to be computers you can design quirky hardware and control systems to handle different types of gaming instead of being forced to design around a keyboard/mouse.
I'm not against consoles, but I do take issue with current tendencies from what looks like may actually have been an intentional propaganda campaign to try to destroy Nintendo so Sony/Microsoft wouldn't get pinched like they're about to.
-I don't appreciate people advocating the movement towards having less control over your computer, or insisting on being pointlessly inflammatory towards "The Man."
-I don't appreciate people for who a gamepad is the proverbial hammer of the proverbial carpenter in possession of a single tool. I have Saitek's take on the Dual Shock gamepad attached to my computer and it's excellent for 3D environment platform games. I used a Gravis Gamepad back in the day which was excellent for platformers. That doesn't make them the end all and be all from gaming control input.
-I don't appreciate the related incessant whining about motion control and why things shouldn't just stagnate around stagnant gamepad designs.
-I grew with access to Commodore, Atari, and Nintendo systems. Maybe I've just biased because that but as far as I've seen Nintendo is the only console company actually trying to drive console development instead of just taking the same old controller setup and just throwing newer hardware at it, and at best responding to what other people are doing like Sony and Microsoft are as far as I can see.
-I really don't appreciate that people going with Sony/Microsoft that seem to have some odd notion they're somehow the one's pulling a fast one based on real verse effective cost, also seem bent of insulting every other platform. Whether it's whining that computers are simply too complicated to operate, particularly with those eviiil drivers you might actually have to update or taking pot shots at Nintendo the tone doesn't change. They're "special" and everyone else "sucks." The Macintosh fans have been spewing much the same for over a decade now while also advocating how they're just on the brink of enslaving everyone else to their way of doing things.
I find it questionable that it's 3D accelerators on PCs that have driven 3D gaming... it was arcade gaming that really pushed it, which then translated to the first home consoles with 3D like 3DO/Jaguar then PS1/Saturn. Sure, accelerator cards started coming out around this time too but they didn't really catch on until after the consoles were popular. GPU hardware quickly surpassing home consoles is a fairly recent phenomenon, and it takes even longer for the two to really be in the same price league.. and even then consoles still have the advantage of not having to work through thickly abstracted 3D APIs.
The [Direct]XBox doesn't have to work through Microsoft's "Thickly abstracted " 3D API? That customized version of OpenGL the PS3 uses isn't a "Thickly abstracted " 3D API? Really?
Wing Commander 3 came out in 1994, requiring a 486 and a "graphics accelerator" while representing one of the stronger movements in early 3D. Note the Pentium showed up in 1993, and that not only was S3 founded in 1989, and had "graphical accelerators" out in 1991 even if they weren't really considered "3D accelerators" until 1998. The Playstation 1 came out the same year and would get the game in 1996. The Sega Saturn never got Wing Commander, but also came out in 1994 as a 32-bit system. The 3DO came out in 1993 and utterly flopped.
From there we move on to Quake 1 and Quake 2, which represent the most influential 3D games and engines before the introduction of programmable shaders. The
PS1's port of Quake 2 incidentally was noteworthy for not being up to the level of contemporary computers as "3D accelerators" instead of "graphical accelerators" came online and the OpenGL API took hold. So I'm not see how you're defending it drove things at that step along the way. The standard for programable shaders was basically set by IdTech4, and HDR lighting effects and physics by Half Life 2's Source and the less talked about CryEngine 1 so I'm going to tend to question the level of console involvement in the the development of the current generation of 3D that can fake lifelike reasonably well.
This isn't helped by the fact the PS1's star game was in many respects Final Fantasy VII, which needless to say wasn't exactly what you'd call super advanced over Wing Commander in its 3D efforts.
