Xbox 360

[firstadopter]

Unless someone is really has a lot of time on their hands, the first Xbox 360 pictures are out. What do you guys think? For high resolution shots you can try here. I think it looks kind of bland with its concave and white scheme, Microsoft needs to hire some Apple or Sony designers pronto.

[Nick!]

Well, it certainly doesn't look like the child-crushing behemoth eye-sore that Xbox 1 was, if it's the real deal. But it doesn't inspire anything big in me. On the other hand, neither does the PS2 or the Gamecube, they're merely ends to a means. So if the Xbox 360 is just plain rather than ugly, it's all the better.

That said, I find the PSP was remained SEXY looking even after having it a few weeks. Honestly, if Sony made the Playstation 3 _look_ sexy, I think it would hurt 360 sales on that fact alone.

Requiring us to use wireless controllers (since there are no obvious controller ports there) better mean they provide us a recharging dock for the controllers or something. Buying batteries all the time, no thanks! Of course that also means the controller will be useless when the battery starts growing old. Ugh.

I really wonder how Microsoft's timing will do. Sony could do some serious damage to Microsoft's campaign with Microsoft's cards already on the table. Look how bad Sony FUDed Dreamcast out of the market without a shipping product. Except this time, they might actually be delivering the all-around superior hardware as well.

[firstadopter]

I actually really like the look of my slim-line PS2, but I agree the Xbox 360 looks bland.

Microsoft is going all out getting 3rd party developer support and now with the acquisitions of Rare and Bungie they have a real shot, especially with the financial resources of the evil empire.

I probably won't pick up the 360 at this point, since I doubt there will be any killer apps for it at launch.

Why get it when within a year, you can get the more powerful, probably better looking PS3?

[stupot42]

I have to say I don't think it looks as bland as you two seem to. It looks to me like they've gone for an Apple/minimalist approach, and granted they've not quite pulled it off, but it's by no means as offensive looking as the current X-box. Personally I'm a bit of an X-box fan. I do love mine, but lets be honest there's precious little to choose between the current generation consoles... they generally have their own target audience, but there's no a huge amount of difference between them all.

I'll be waiting to see which one is best and cheapest when they're released in the UK. The prices in dollars generally translates directly into pounds sterling when they're released over here (IE $499 will most likely be £499). It's a bit steep for a console, so I'll probably be giving it a year or so anyway.

One last thing, I can imagine that there are a lot of people who wouldn't mind the 360 in their living room... looks like it would blend fairly nicely into an AV system. I think that's one of MIcrosofts main aims, and if that was their aim, then they've achieved it pretty well.

[Nick!]

I doubt Microsoft wants to blend in... just not be an eye sore. Their previous incarnation was an eye sore. But if you don't stand out, people won't notice you. That's not necessarily a good choice if you're a piece of electronics. How many average people even remember what brands of components they have in their setup, let alone their neighbors? But they do recognize Playstation. Would the iPod have worked as well if it didn't stand out with that almost-patented white?

Personally, the Xbox 360 would not blend into my home theatre setup, because everything I have is black, and I have no intention on switching to silver anytime soon. And for a lot of other people I know, the simple color choice will stand out more than styling it in a fancy way. Maybe that's good enough.

Maybe that green power button will be enough, too. Hard to say. [Is the green power ring part of the "360" marketing? Likely.] Might take seeing one in person to really know if Microsoft nailed it or not. We haven't really seen a final real full-on shot and a sense of scale yet. I can't quite understand the mind of the average consumer since I have my own biases. Biases that make me wonder why sports games even sell

[stupot42]

Maybe we'll have to agree to disagree!

Originally Posted by Nick!

[Is the green power ring part of the "360" marketing? Likely.]

Yep, it is... there's been a website around for a while that you have to login to in order to find out more info about the Xbox... an offical site I believe. The front page of that has had a flash thing on the front with the power ring for ages. I can't find the link now tho... there's so much 360 stuff around now.

Anyone know what I'm taking about?

[TheAngryIntern]

ok, i'll bite.....WTF is the xbox 360?

[stupot42]

It's the new generation X-box apparently.

[joebob2000]

Its going to be all about scale, if it's compact like the ps2/two then it would be a sleek gadget. On the other hand, if its as big as its predecessor, no thanks! Is the thing 15cm or 15" tall? Inquiring minds want to know...

[stupot42]

15" is massive... let's hope for the cm.

[firstadopter]

Thanks to an enterprising camera phone shooter at the Xbox 360 MTV event, Engadget was able to publish some shots of the main console, EyeToy like USB camera peripheral, the game pad, and headset.

From taking a look at these pictures, the peripherals sure aren't that earth shattering. In fact the gamepad looks mighty like the Xbox Controller S one.

[stupot42]

Personally, from those shots I think the whole lot looks pretty damn tacky. I hope Microsoft aren't planning on winning any design awards.

[Nick!]

http://www.activewin.com/xbox/articles/2005/3.shtml

Supposidly a (bad) shot from an Xbox 360 game. Doesn't look like that large of a jump to me, but it IS a bad picture. Diminishing returns, anyone?

But yah, the system is pretty meh looking, but you don't really stare at it while playing so it's kind of moot. I wonder how the Japanese will take it?

[firstadopter]

According to GamingHorizon's sources, they believe these are the real deal specs for the Xbox 360. They are similar in nature to the spec leaks we seem before and seem accurate to me.

Specifications:

* Support for DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 cd, JPEG photo CD
* All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
* Customizable face plates to change appearance
* 3 USB 2.0 ports
* Support for 4 wireless controllers
* Detachable 20GB drive
* Wi-Fi ready

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU

* 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
* 2 hardware threads per core
* 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
* 1 MB L2 cache

CPU Game Math Performance

* 9 billion dots per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor

* 500 MNz
* 10 MB embedded DRAM
* 48-way parallel floating-point shader pipelines
* unified shader architecture

Memory

* 512 MB GDDR3 RAM
* 700 MNz DDR

Memory Bandwidth

* 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
* 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
* 21.6 GB/s front side bus

Audio

* Multi channel surround sound output
* Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
* 320 independent decompression channels
* 32 bit processing
* 256+ audio channels

The funny thing is it costs $2000+ to get a Mac dual 2.5ghz PowerPC system these days. Xbox 360 will have 3 3.2 ghz PowerPC cores for a few hundred bucks. You have to love the money losing magic of next generation console launches.

The 512MB of memory is pretty sweet for a console as is 3 USB 2.0 standard ports. Peripheral expansion possibilities galore.

[firstadopter]

GamingHorizon has another scoop on Xbox Live details for Xbox 360. I like how there is going to be a subset of features free without subscriptions, meanwhile letting users who want the premium stuff to pay for it.

2 Types Of Xbox Live:

* Xbox Live Silver (no subscription required)
* Xbox Live Gold (subscription benefits)

Features For Gold Service:

* * = Also For Silver
* # = Also for Offline

* Seamless transition to Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360
* Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply) *
* Free Xbox Live weekends *
* Multiplayer online gameplay
* Avatar for gamer profile * #
* Motto for gamer profile * #
* Personalized look for Xbox System Guide * #
* Offline achievements * #
* Online achievements *
* Access to other players' Gamer cards via Live *
* Cumulative gamer score * #
* Location/language profile * #
* Reputation *
* Enhanced matchmaking using above
* Skill level matchmaking
* Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
* Recent players list *
* Free and premium download game content *
* Free and premium downloadable movies, music, tv *
* Downloadable demos/trailers *
* Micro transactions *
* Custom playlist in every game * #
* Play music from portable devices * #
* View images from digital camera * #
* Stream media from Windows XP * #
* Interactive screen savers * #
* Track info for CDs * #
* Communication with voice, video or text *

[Nick!]

Originally Posted by Rendition

Xbox 360 will have 3 3.2 ghz PowerPC cores for a few hundred bucks. You have to love the money losing magic of next generation console launches.

To be fair, multiple cores isn't quite the same as multiprocessor, and these chips are not close to full G5s. Much cheaper.

One of the rumblings I read out of the GDC was how the Xbox/PS3 processors are weaker per mhz than our current chips are! (One key problem is they lack out-of-order execution, apparently, which saves cost but rapes performance). They're just countering this effect with more cores since extra cores in this design is cheap cheap cheap. But this is hearsay and I really have no idea what I'm talking about So please don't hurt me.

The real leap is in a better GPU, and having more system memory. GPUs have been clobbering CPUs in gains lately, as we all know.

I guess that PPU (Physics processing unit) isn't in there after all?

Yah, it's good they finally snapped out of it and used normal USB. Will we be able to use the USB ports for a wired controller if our batteries are dead, I wonder? Seems like Ive seen a picture of a possible USB adapter (to connect to a Windows box?).

That said, cant wait to see XBMC 360

[firstadopter]

I didn't have high expectations for the 30 minute infomercial shown tonight. However MTV and Microsoft underwelmed even that with a horrible montage of useless fodder. Xbox 360 going to huge! Man, Xbox 360 going to revolutionize gaming! Please someone cut my wrist. All I wanted to see were some extended gameplay movies. Instead we got some no-name gamers playing Perfect Dark Zero with more time spent on them cursing each other off than showing the game, two dorks modding an Xbox 1, the Killers? playing a psychedelic song on stage, a girl walking up on a stage trying to be "all that" unveiling the box, and most of the game clips from pre-rendered cut scenes.

I know hard-core gamers is not the core demographic of the show, but even mainstream gamers would of love to see some extended game-play scenes. In terms of the box, the biggest thing I got out of the show was the removable different color face plates for the Xbox 360. Gee whiz.

[Nick!]

Yah, lorde, that was horrible. Typical MTV though. 2 minutes of content, if you're lucky, every 30 minutes. I had to search through the guide to even figure out what channel MTV was...

Everything they showed (so little of it) was rather unimpressive... Microsoft's big problem here is perception. Xbox was last out of this generation, and Xbox 360 is first in of the next generation over such a short period of time that the Xbox 360 launch games look like good Xbox games. Where's the beef? (PS2 -> PS3 is going to look HUGE, especially since its likely to be able to kick it up a notch from what Xbox 360 is doing).

I don't think the target buying audience for consoles these days is going to be impressed just because Elijah Wood said so.

Law of diminishing returns, indeed.

[firstadopter]

Ok a marketing video is making the rounds on the net and it isn't half bad. Definitely made for the gamer crowd, not the brain-dead MTV "that is cool! uh uh" crowd. Not anything really earth-shattering in the video, but it does have nicer quotes from the creators in the Xbox division and more shots of the console user interface. The Xbox360.com website is also up with nice 360 views of the console and the controller.

[desertcoyote]

It might look plain, but they are definitely talking about the ability to change the "look" of the Xbox itself. On the marketing video, it shows some guy take it apart and put it back together and it did look VERY easy. I bet we see TONS of replacement "skins" from Microsoft and plenty of thrid party groups as well.

As for the wireless controllers, I probably won't use them that much. I'd be afraid they would mess with the phones or the wireless network. Speaking of wireless networks, it's already wi-fi ready. Great!

It looks like the Xbox 360 isn't just a gaming console, but a whole entertainment center piece. I hope those HD games rock on my new LCD.

[firstadopter]

Mtv.com has posted some exclusive trailers for Xbox 360 games. They force you to watch a lame Starburst or Comverse commercial before you get to see a few seconds of gameplay. EA in its infinite wisdom decided to show pre-rendered cut scenes in their trailers. Bastards. However there are some good gameplay segments from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, Call of Duty 2, and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 3. Oh I almost forgot, Microsoft and MTV decided to one up EA and require Internet Explorer to run the videos. We're surrounded by morons.

[arogan]

Still no word on backward compatibility.
I want to see what this removable HD looks like. Does it play mp3's?
I watched the mtv special (what a waste of time) and the 5 min marketing video . Ghost Recon 3 did look nice for the 3 seconds you get to see of it

[firstadopter]

Nvidia said on their earnings conference call yesterday that it was stopping Xbox 1 graphic chip shipments in the current quarter (ending August 1st) as Microsoft focuses on the Xbox 360, which uses ATI graphics technology.

This fans the flames that the Xbox 360 may NOT be backwards compatible as Microsoft would have to pay Nvidia for Xbox 1 graphics chip hardware. I guess it is possible they can emulate it using software, but that method is a lot more difficult.

It also looks like the current Xbox 1 will be put out to pasture when the Xbox 360 is released. Unlike traditional console cycles, Microsoft isn't able to bring down the cost of the first Xbox due to bad contract negotiation. Instead of paying a royalty based on the price of the console and semiconductor cost reductions, Nvidia was able to lock in a fixed price for the chips. Maybe that is why the creator of the Xbox now works for the near bankrupt Infinium Labs, creator of the Phantom console. So Phantom, that is hasn't been released yet.

[firstadopter]

Microsoft is trying to feebly strike back with their very own press conference. New details include:

-Square Enix support with Final Fantasy XI port

-limited backwards compatibility for handful of top selling Xbox 1 games through software emulation (Why even bother? pathetic)

-Electronic Arts full backing

-160 titles in development

-expects 25-40 titles in the first 90 days after launch

[desertcoyote]

Well it seems that the Xbox 360 will support XP Media Center 2005. Which means you can get High Definition movies and tv from your pc to your Xbox. This is what I was waiting for.

In all truth I know i'll end up buying all three consoles though.

[TheAngryIntern]

Originally Posted by desertcoyote

....In all truth I know i'll end up buying all three consoles though.

I'm right there with you buddy!! I've got all three current systems, which pretty much just collect dust since i play my PC mostly. But since i'm a technophile, i will be buying all three new ones as well. The PS3 is especially nice since it is backwards compatible. I hope M$ is smart and makes the 360 back-compat as well.

[firstadopter]

What do you do when your main competitor kicks your butt at E3? Well the Microsoft point man for the Xbox 360, Mr. Allard, starts to say graphics and sound don't matter any more like a politician who just lost a key nationally televised debate spinning lies in the media spin room. That things are getting "good enough." He makes me want to puke. And by the way, he bashes Sony for being "misleading" with its tech demos and says there is no way Sony will make a Spring launch. Someone a little defensive?


I kind of put the 'does it look better?' secondarily. Not because it's not important, not because I don't think we're not going to have a system to do it, but because we're almost good enough. You know, years ago when we were making Xbox, there was this debate. People talk about the Blu-Ray DVD thing [now, but] they would come in and they would say 'what are you doing about SACD and DVD Audio?' Higher fidelity audio, dadadada. I'm like 'I couldn't tell the difference between vinyl and CD!' It's more convenient, which is nice, and I can play it in my car and I don't have to screw up tapes, but I can't hear the difference, do I need better audio in my life?

[firstadopter]

J Allard, the Microsoft Vice President in charge of Xbox, told TheStreet.com that the Xbox 360 will launch around the price of $300. He would not give an exact release date, but it's widely perceived in the industry the launch will be right around Thanksgiving. They plan to launch in all three major world markets (Japan, Europe, and USA), which is unprecedented for a console launch.