A couple of general impressions about the hardware also come through as I spit games in and out of this thing. First, I am surprised that load times for some of these games remain so long even with a faster CD-ROM. Maybe it's the complexity of the models and textures being loaded in the larger available memory. Perhaps it's just the programmers learning how to load more efficiently. But in games like Madden and Unreal, those loads create some serious finger-tapping wait times.

The difficulty of programming for this console may also be to blame for a number of amateurish and abrupt transitions in some titles. In both Unreal and Eternal Ring, for instance, gameplay and even the soundtrack can be cut off roughly for a new load from the disk. Sound can cut off and blast on unexpectedly between these sequences, suggesting a lack of polish to a number of these launch titles. So far, the absence of these burps and annoyances among the EA titles like Madden, SSX and Swing Away Golf demonstrate that some of the programmers for the console may have been rushing to market or struggling with unfamiliar hardware.