Slashdot Mirror
Michael Abrash On The Xbox
Jacek Fedorynski writes: "There's an interview with Michael Abrash on Daily Radar. Michael is an ex-id Software programmer now at Microsoft working on the Xbox, which is the subject of the interview." Covers a lot of stuff including NVidia, HDTV, Lens Flares, and how the X-Box might run quake.
I was going to mod you up as interesting, but I thought I'd reply instead :) sorry
A big difference between an XBox and a PC in a game console style molded plastic shell is the software. When writing a game for the XBox you only have to write for one computer, and more importantly, optimize for one computer. XBox games can count on the XBox having a specific chipset, they can undercut DX8 and talk to it direct if they want (actually I don't know if it's worth/possible to undercut DX8, but it might be). Even if everthing must be done through DX8 on an XBox it'll still smoke a PC game running on the same hardware because DX8 will have 101 features bolted onto it to take advantage of the XBox hardware - features that you just can't count on a bog standard PC having, and hense features you can't make integral to your PC game engine.
I think that's the difference, developing games on a PC is a nightmare. The X-Box will give all the benifits of the PC platform while releaving some of the nightmare.
And perhaps I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound to me like they have any of that disgustingly cute/popular Anime shit being developed for their system. They're dead. Only older geeks crave Western games, and last time I counted, there were too few X-Geners to warrent a market in anything.
Despite the fact that I hate the look, feel, and general psychology of their games, the Japanese know how to make them better than anybody on the planet. Their video game production infrastructure is like our Hollywood. It makes ours game industry look small fry; like we make games about rubber monsters trashing Tokyo.
So from their 150 companies, (all rushing to meet a deadline, and most of them inspired primarily by cash rather than an honest burning desire to develop original game ideas,) d'you think we should be prepared for a landslide of more dull FPS's, ET cartridges and bad knock offs of stuff that was cool two years ago?
I think so. But that's just me.
-Fantastic Lad
Corporate money buys the body, but rots the soul.
Microsoft claims to have all of these game makers drooling over the XBox to make games, but have ANY of them posted a press release yet confirming what MS is saying? If so, I haven't seen one. If Microsoft is seriously making a gaming console, they should have a working prototype somewhere! Any idiot in a marketing department with one drop of common sense would have had big Bill up on stage with that prototype even if it could only run test patterns with various polygons and texture shading just to show off the sheer speed of the system compared to whatever else is available. They need to get consumers drooling over this thing so much that they're willing to put off buying any other console just to be the first person on their street with an XBox. Right now they're just blowing smoke with numbers and a few pictures that could have easily been drawn in Photoshop for all I know. There is still absolutely NO SOLID PROOF that this thing exists.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Yes, most of the top video game companies are on the record committing to XBox games, and many of their top programmers have made extremely favorable comments about the XBox, especially as regards its power and ease of programmability (in sharp contrast to the PS2). Obviously they all have development kits and have for months. Furthermore, Bill did indeed show off a prototype, on stage, with several extremely impressive real-time demos, several months ago. You may have read about it at Slashdot.
Of course, this prototype and the XDK's don't represent the true power of the XBox, because the most important component, the nVidia's new custom graphics chip, isn't finished yet. But that's a strength of the XBox, not a liability; because the graphics chip will be just a variant of nVidia's two-generations-from-now NV25 core, you can bet that it will not only be done on time (nVidia has never missed a release date) and damned fast.
And in any case, this is some of the most ridiculous, uninformed FUD I've ever heard of; how this managed to get moderated up is beyond me.
I for one am glad to hear that Microsoft has taken my advice in only releasing wholesome Christian games for the "x" box. I will be buying an x box for Bob IV this Christmas, along with the hit games "Bible Blaster" "The Road to Jericho" "Spot the Homosexual" and "Chapter and Verse". Finally there is an electronic game console that we can be proud to accept into our family. Thank you, Microsoft.
Sincerely,
Bob Jones III