While Mac users are still waiting for Madden NFL 08 and likely will be until September at the early , the football game has go far for the new cabinet systems , andthere ’s a disputeabout the performance difference between the game ’s PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version . The Xbox 360 version runs at twice the frame rate—60 frames per second versus 30 .

The takings put up some interesting sixth sense into the maturation appendage used to make these games , and should serve as a warning to Mac gamers who may be expecting too much too soon from new starter into the Mac game marketplace , like EA .

Having spend some quality time with both console , I ’ve been demand by many friends and colleagues to assess the relative strengths and weakness of all three systems presently on the market — Nintendo ’s Wii , the PS3 and the Xbox 360 . Each system has their proportional strengths and weaknesses . From where I sit , I bust it down like this :

So what ’s all this have to do with the Mac ?

Analysis of the current state of the market place for consoles aside , this illustrates an interesting point when you contrast it to the current condition of the Macintosh software market . Unlike game console , the Mac is a very world-wide - purpose data processor and does n’t necessarily excel at everything .

Ever since Mac users first find themselves on the Usenet in the comp.sys.mac . newsgroup hierarchy , they ’ve armchair quarterbacked every Apple product release — is the central processing unit fast enough ? Why use this video poker chip alternatively of that one ? This system needs more VRAM . This one is hamstrung by a lower - than - necessary bus speed .

In some cases , enthusiasts are quite right to criticize , especially when play public presentation appears to take a bang with new hardware creation , such as the atomic number 13 - robe refresh to the iMac .

That ’s one of the reasons why custom - ramp up your own personal computer has been such a democratic interest of gamers . Unlike almost any other segment of the consumer mart , gamers can be haunt with performance and are unforced to pay to get it , even if the remainder is measured in fractions of milliseconds .

This becomes a topic of hurt pride for PlayStation 3 owners who have spent , in some cases , almost twice as much as their Xbox 360 counterparts , only to see a major release like Madden NFL 08 work at a fraction of the velocity on their scheme . It ’s also a point of shared ridicule for some game - industry analyst and tech media with more opinion than sense .

Wow , EA must either have really screwed uporthe PS3 must really reek , eh ?

No , neither status is necessarily the case .

Any software developer will order you that their wiliness is as much artwork as it is skill ; that ’s one of the myriad reasonableness why ship dates are miss in this business sector and why patches are necessary .   Another reason is due to the filmy complexness of code — or a secret plan like Madden NFL 08 , millions of lines of source code are produced , much of it from be libraries , some of it from brand newfangled computer code bases , some of it licensed from other society , some of it home - grown .

This does n’t alter just because EA is a multi - billion dollar publishing house . Console and personal computer gambling is an enormously complex process . All the performance differences between versions of Madden exemplify is that EA itself is n’t as far along in refine its PlayStation 3 development tools as it is with its Xbox 360 tools . give the huge star time enjoyed by the Xbox , it ’s no surprise . Over time , I ’m sure that the two platforms will work on parity with each other . I ’m also moderately positive that eventually the PS3 will see an edge .

I expect the same to be truthful for the new Mac biz emerging from EA , as well . TransGaming , the developer EA partnered with to bring six games to the Mac , surely has experience convey games to market , but it ’s prick off a huge clump with its EA partnership . There ’s going to be learning on both side of meat of the fence . TransGaming ’s CEO told us in June shortly after the EA announcement that Mac gamers wo n’t see the public presentation sweet-flavored slur of their games until Leopard ship , and understandably EA needs to get up to speed as well .

As the formula hold up , the proof of the pudding is in the eating . And they ’re still working on the formula .

For more console compare , check into out GamePro’sGame Console Report Card — Fall 2007 variation .