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Now that pre-compilation is pretty much pervasive in any advanced browser development, you DO have "real alternatives" to ES5 (probably what you're referring to if you're mentioning being stuck with it).

CoffeeScript, TypeScript, ES6, Clojure, hell, Scala is available, and you can use Java with stuff like GWT (imo sucks, but Amazon thought it was great for a while).

People keep going back to JavaScript because, aside for a couple of stupid things (a lot of which are fixed with strict mode and ES6 constructs), its actually pretty damn good, and some things that used to be considered hacks or half baked, like prototypical inheritance, are starting to be viewed as superior to the alternative, with good reasons.

But even without that, the reason people will use node on the server, when its not for isomorphic app (which btw, is a REALLY good way to build your app, if you can afford the development overhead and care about your customers), is because the threading model of Node/V8 has very interesting performance and scaling characteristics for I/O heavy applications. It can scale like fucking crazy. http://blog.caustik.com/2012/04/10/node-js-w250k-concurrent-connections

Back in the day I played around with CXBX because I didn't want to buy an XBOX. It was more of a research project, but it proved it could be done. What it actually did was turn XBOX executables into Windows executables, with call redirection. It was a very cool idea but by the time it was working, no one was playing XBOX games anymore.

I would imagine it would be significantly harder with the XB1, but still very possible considering the architecture.

Apparently the project lives on and is pretty compatible with many games, today: http://www.caustik.com/cxbx/

Interesting, I hadn't seen this before.

I've read more than once that the XboxOS was based on Win 2000. I'm sure I can find some examples -

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/The-scoop-on-the-Xbox-360s-embedded-OS/
"The original Xbox ran an OS that had its roots in Windows 2000. Granted, by the time you strip out everything that is not needed in a console like the Xbox and replace some of the parts with stuff specific to that device (like the file system), and add a few pieces, it hardly resembles anything remotely like Windows 2000 at all. But you could say that's where its original roots lie, even if 95 percent of it has been cut or heavily altered."

http://www.xbox365.com/stories/xdkcomplete.shtml
"The kernel is based on Microsoft® Windows® 2000."

Granted, neither of those sources are remotely "official", but this one is interesting -
http://www.caustik.com/cxbx/progress.htm
"The Xbox uses a stripped down and partially modified Windows 2000 Kernel."

That's from a developer of cxbx, an Xbox emulator. Surely he of all people would have figured if the kernel was completely different? Then again, who knows how relevant that is to emulation itself. With people like that making the same claim, it's no wonder the misconception is so common.

So you don't know what the sources are and just claim that they exist and support your argument in spite of the cited Microsoft blog post. You're full of shit.

I bet you believe that Bill Gates never said 640k should be enough for anyone despite the eyewitness accounts, too. Why don't you just go offer to blow Bill so you can get this Microsoft-worship out of your system? Corporations try to change history through press release and misinformation on a regular basis.

I have already found these sources in the past, so the proof is out there for any subscriber who wants to search my posting history. I lose nothing if I do not find it (not really worried about my credibility with the anonymous coward set) and gain nothing if I do, so why bother? You're not that important.

I take the information from the windowsfordevices link more seriously than an official blog post from a Microsoft droid. Or maybe you should listen to the people emulating the Xbox, who ought to know better than you. Or others who have worked in game development. The prototypes were made from disassembled laptops, so it's certain that THEY were running Windows with few modifications. Since when has Microsoft ever taken anything that worked and significantly improved it before release? Usually they significantly crap it up. Remember WolfPack?

Which is more plausible, that Microsoft developed a third operating system while nobody was looking, one capable of implementing the Win32 and Direct3D APIs with such a high level of compatibility that you can write complex games that will compile for both PC with Windows and the original Xbox without any changes, or that they stripped all the unnecessary parts out of their best version of windows at that time and stuck it into the machine, which is after all nothing more than a limited, legacy-free PC with custom BIOS, and then lied about it? Which is more plausible, that they then created a fourth operating system which not only provides some backwards compatibility but also has the same characteristics vis-a-vis development as the original Xbox, or that the 360's operating system is directly based on that of the original Xbox, which (follow along) being based on Windows 2000 is known to have a kernel portable to PowerPC?

Microsoft has enough trouble keeping one Win32-compatible operating system going, they don't have the ability to maintain two entirely separate and yet compatible operating systems.

DeSmuME
Dolphin - GC & Wii.
Cxbx - xbox emulator that doesn't quite work yet.

Sources inside Microsoft said again and again that both Xboxes in fact did run ports of Windows. You can find numerous supporting sources (who outside Microsoft would know better than people writing an Xbox emulator?) for this claim. Sorry, but I simply do not believe your reference.

It is even less likely that Microsoft wrote the operating system for the 360 from scratch. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, odds are it evolved from a duck - though it is not certain, it is the way to bet. Windows 2000 ran on the PowerPC until SP3 and was designed for portability - at least, it was redesigned for portability when they ported from the N-Ten to the x86. This is why they were able to port it to both DEC Alpha and IBM PowerPC in such a relatively short time. The Alpha port was the more commercially successful of the two since the Alpha was the more capable processor, and you could pay just as much for a PPC machine that would run NT with zero benefit, but the PPC port was probably the more capable of the two in another way - since it ran on standards-based PowerPC systems, it would run on a broader range of hardware including systems from IBM and Motorola.

PowerPC support alone is not sufficient reason for my prejudice, however; that lies in Windows NT's multiprocessor support. Anyone who has followed operating system history to any significant degree knows that multiprocessing has always been one of the most complex features to support. SMP has certainly been one of the most contentious issues in *BSD-land for just this reason. The idea that Microsoft just tossed off a new operating system with multiprocessor support which provides the Win32 APIs and is stable enough for a games console is not an impossible one, but it does seem highly unlikely to be true given Microsoft's track record, which is poor to say the least.

In summary, though Windows NT tends to have a lower penalty for thread creation than Unix and thus has some inherent advantages when it comes to multiprocessing and therefore even indicates that some people who work for or who have worked for Microsoft have some idea of what they are doing, I would not expect Microsoft to be capable of writing any operating system capable of providing a sizable portion of the Win32 (even though it is much less capable than Windows 2000, either operating system is a significant piece of software) from scratch at this point. If they were capable of doing this, they would certainly already have done so in order to replace Windows NT, which is long past the "showing its age" phase. Vista in particular is a mishmash of just about every computing model Microsoft has ever used. By far, the most logical explanation is that the Xbox operating system is based on Windows 2000, and so is the Xbox 360 operating system, but Microsoft's gaming business model is dependent on convincing people that they are not being sold a PC, and so they must deny any similarity unto their graves.

Put another way, YHBT by Microsoft.

my PC is not a game console, though. this made emulation on the Xbox that much more appealing, because I could just sit in front of my television and play, terrible controllers notwithstanding.

the Wii classic controller is like a dream, which means games just plain feel better when using it. and the Wii is faster than the original Xbox, which means that things like MAME will work with Killer Instinct and Mortal Kombat now without slowdown and flicker.

I purchased my xbox used on eBay back in 2006. it came with nothing but a controller, and power/video cables. this machine was to be used for XBox Media Center. most of the time, it's used for watching DVD's and media streamed from the network. (with much more freedom than the xbox 360 allows, I might add). often times, I find myself playing Super Mario War, or one of the other homebrew games people have developed for the system. Occasionally, I fire up an emulator and play one of my favorite games from a better era. if I'm really bored, I'll start looking through the countless scripts and toys people have made for XBMC, and I spend a while tweaking things.

I admit, I downloaded an iso of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the Xbox. it was also the only Xbox game that has ever been in the system since i purchased it.

my wii will be arriving in the next few days. I plan on installing the homebrew channel and helping to scratch the media center itch the wii homebrew scene will eventually get. sure, I'll be able to pirate games. but I really don't want to. I have enough money to buy them, so there's no need to pirate. I just want something I can put in my living room to replace the xbox.

Exactly. I'm seriously doubting the backwords compatability for Xbox 360. Not only is it going to have to emulate an x86 (which is damn hard, try running VirtualPC on a Mac) it needs to dynamically recompile the Nvidia GeForce 3 assembly back to DirectX. Caustik managed to get that working fairly well for his XBox emulator - but mind you it's still x86-x86, so all he had to do was hook the XBox's BIOS.

There are also cpu-upgrade hacks (story/links) HERE

... and why do I curse them?
Cuz now I either need to wait for a working X-Box emulator - or need to buy or rent an actual X-Box to play the game ^^;

You might be surprised. See "High Level Function Interception".

Way much trouble to hire these guys.
Brainwashing (mainly with money) some guys who just got out the university is easier and faster.

Look at this guy:
http://www.caustik.com/
Worked for ms helping them develop the .NET platform/framework and now coding an open source xbox emulator for windows.

So it should be doable.

Sure its a very small percentage of people that will use the backward compatibility cuz we will all want to be playing the xbox2 version of all the games that we play today. that being said what's the big deal of spending a few 100k on programming an emulator in the context of a 100s of millions dollar system launch? You could have guaranteed compatibility with a few of the top xbox games at first(ie halo 2), If people are doing this sort of thing forfun I am sure you could get something done for a relatively small cost relative to the consoles launch.

The XBMC dev's only create the source, they don't release binaries to the public, which would be illegal. Until the OpenXDK project comes of age and allows the release of binaries not compiled with the MS XDK, it will have to be released by the "usual people" in the "usual places". The OpenXDK project has a long way to go before this can happen. It can compile some less complex things as of now (some modchip dev's have released very simple legal xbe's), but XBMC is far too complex for it.

Also, just a little tidbit of info for those who care: as of April 7, 2004, CXBX can play Turok Evolution on the PC in full speed and quality. Check out the screenshots if you don't believe me. Definitely a notable feat...

The latest version is not linked on the downloads page.

Not sure if they would sue the author. He is after all, a former MS employee. From his resume:
Microsoft Corporation - Software Design Engineer (Redmond, WA 08/01-11/01)

Developed components for next generation Microsoft Project product. Primarily C# (.NET) design and implementation involving client-server communication and graphical representation of centralized server database.

He also works at DivX and VIA currently, it would seem. I think atleast for now, he is safe from lawsuits. Once the program plays every XBox title straight from your DVD rom, might be a different story ;)

No, it's not up to date but it's better than nothing.

Just use one of the other Xbox emulators. One will probably be good enough by the time the Xbox Next comes out ;^)

Actually... Xbox uses a modified executable file format, and uses calls to custom routines in their modified win2k kernel in the executables. So it's harder to run them than you'd think. Though some work is being done in this area...

Xbox games will be up and playing on PCs within 5 months.

Xbox "emulator"

I have been considering the XBOX for just such a thing. You can get one for around $150 US.

The XboxMediaPlayer for the Xbox allows you to use a modded Xbox to play DivX, XVID, (S)VCD (MPEG-1/2), MP3 & other supported video/audio formats via your TV so it can used as a multimedia jukebox. It also supports network streaming via XStream.

Plus there is a MAME, NES, PSX, Atari 2600, c64 emulators ... than run on it.

There are a few coming to fruition.

One converts exe's to run on the XBOX. And another is a non MS compiler. So soon we will have all these apps available with out having to have a $25 mod chip for the XBox.

I'm going to get two of these. One to replace my dead DVD player with the media player.

The other for the ultimate MAME / emu. arcade machine I'm going to build.

Perfect solution for this application.

Inexpensive, TV out, small form factors, sound, 4 usb ports, remote controlable, good graphics and networkable. I can't make a PC this cheap!

Since MS looses $$ on the hardware, let them subsidize your media system!

I have been considering the XBOX for just such a thing. You can get one for around $150 US. XboxMediaPlayer The XboxMediaPlayer for the Xbox allows you to use a modded Xbox to play DivX, XVID, (S)VCD (MPEG-1/2), MP3 & other supported video/audio formats via your TV so it can used as a multimedia jukebox. It also supports network streaming via XStream. Plus a simple clean looking interface navigatible via remote control. Plus there are XBox a MAME, NES, PSX, Atari 2600, c64 emulators ... There are a few projects coming to fruition. One converts exe's to run on the XBOX. And another is a non MS compiler. So soon we will have all these apps available with out having to have a $25 mod chip for the XBox. I'm going to get two of these. One to replace my dead DVD player with the media player. The other for the ultimate MAME / emu. arcade machine I'm going to build. Perfect solution for this application. CHEAP, TV out, good graphics and networkable. Plus you can play XBOX games on it too!

If they were using ffmpeg why didn't their old code support all the codecs ffmpeg does?

Come one didn't it ever occur to you that maybe they were using a pirated version of the xbox sdk?

That would be a good reason to loose the original project too and it would fit a lot more with the facts. Now that this exists, they would want to get rid of any proof that their project ever violated MS' copyrights.

I'm not saying that this is the only way it could have gone down. But think about it for a minute, doesn't it make a little more sense?

I can't speak for sure about before, but I know that at least now XBMP is being written with CXBE, the first legal Xbox development kit.

On it's way.

Frodo
Handy
GBA-X apparently does not have a web page as far as I can tell. Some screenshots are available here, though.

And, my personal favorite...

Final Burn

Also, CXBX looks like a pretty interesting. It's attempting to run Xbox software on a compatible PC. From the page:

"the process of converting an xbox executable (.xbe) to a windows "portable executable" (PE, [.exe]) has been a success. despite rumors floating around, .xbe -> .exe converstion is entirely possible, and is already being done. the problem is that a lot of work is necessary to fullfill the environmental expectations of an xbox executable. most importantly, kernel exports and certain hardware are expected, and must be emulated. the kernel emulation will be done by wrapping around existing win32 api. this is explained in the progress section."

To see if this xbox "emulator" is really viable.

OK, emulator is maybe the wrong word, I guess it's really an implimentation of the xbox libs (XTLs) under win32; ala what WINE is for Linux and the Win 16/32 enviroment.

The author did mention that he intends to make cxbx open source in the future. OK, there's the info, is it viable?

How hard is it to create an emulator for the XBox? Unlike the other major new next generation consoles I think the XBox will probably be the easiest to emulate. The architecture and operating system of the XBox so much resemble a Windows PC that it may be possible to simply convert XBox games to Windows. That is, replacing the system calls of XBox applications (the games) with substitutes when emulating it. This may seem hard and impossible to do (converting executables to work on other, but similar operating systems for similar architectures), but in fact it has already been done before: Project Odin allows Windows applications such as Quake 3 or Starcraft for example, to be run on IBM's OS/2 Warp.

• MAME-X What do you mean, 70+ games for the XBox? Try over 3000! This is a port of MAME for the XBox which allows you to play tons of arcade classics on the XBox.
• GNUboy Yes! The all time favorite handheld is here! This is the Xbox port of the Gameboy emulator.
• Handy The Atari Lynx emulator has been ported to the box... If I could only fit it in my pocket...
• Stella The known atari 2600 emulator has come to the xbox!
• Daedalus The N64 emulator is progressing well on the Xbox too!
• Snes9X That's right... SNES on the xbox!!! snes9x..only 12-x years late!
• GBA-X GBA on the Xbox...
• X-Nes NES on the xbox.
• SMSPlus Master System/Game Gear emulator.
• FCEU-NES NES emulator. known for accurate emulation of offensive language

Hope this helps. Enjoy emulating on your box!