What does the CPU have to do with graphics?
People are confused because x86 CPUs vs custom/exotic console CPUs had different priorities/design goals back then.
As a traditional CPU, Emotion Engine was weaker than an out-of-order x86 core (P6/Pentium II) running at 300 MHz.
As a vector processor (VU0/VU1), Emotion Engine was leaps and bounds above anything else in the PC/x86 realm.
Emotion Engine was the precursor to Cell, which was kind of a proto-APU.
It was the Geforce 1 that was spanking the PS2 back then. I mean I loved my PS2, but my Geforce 1 at the time was in another class.
Correct:
GeForce 256 T&L capabilities were very amazing and this GPU released in 1999 (1 year before the PS2).
PS2 GS was just a rasterizer (akin to Riva TNT/3DFX Voodoo class on PCs) with insane fillrates (courtesy of eDRAM). You had to use EE VUs to do vertex processing, which was a bit more advanced/programmable than fixed-function T&L:
The console equivalent of the grass demo is this (which came later, but is a bit more impressive):
PS3 used Cell SPUs for vertex animation, since RSX only had 8 vertex pipelines.
And there's also this if we're talking about portable consoles:
This grass physics animation system is entirely GPGPU-driven and is even more advanced (you can cut it, burn it etc.)
A few months after the PS2 was released, GeForce 3 came out and it gave us this demo:
The console equivalent of GPU vertex facial animation was this:
Granted, GeForce 7 is way more advanced than GeForce 3, but my point is that it took consoles a while to adopt the programmable GPU shaders model.
PCs also had fur shaders since 2002 (GeForce 4):
PS2 was able to emulate fur shaders in SoTC (2005-2006):
Shadow of the Colossus - the making of in english and with pictures
selmiak.bplaced.net
If I had to make an analogy, I'd say it's like witnessing convergent evolution between mammals and marsupials (exotic species in Australia). In the end, the GPU paradigm shift has won and exotic species have become extinct.
