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Want To Playtest An Xbox?
drix writes: "Microsoft is recruiting people to playtest the Xbox!"
Someone over there has got to be reading! Let me have a crack at one guys! (Course, if they don't the conspiracy theorists will know why:
and don't say, "Rob Doesn't Live in Seattle" cuz that's too easy. Course who am I kidding: The Microsoft conspirators are too busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one. I just see it as Microsoft's way of saying, "We're not a monopoly. Promise!" as they attempt to swallow another industry. The system may very well rock).
What are the odds of an ATI employee getting in on this? :)
:(
Probably pretty low.
Dang, gotta live in the Microsoft Regieme (Portland) to do it though. They aint sending out free X-boxes, you have to go there and play.
No man is an island, But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie them together, they make a pretty good raft.
yum, xbox, too bad im in CT. damn it indrema, where is that console???
--
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Seriously this would be very cool though, especially with the Playstation 2 being such a disapointment.
Not that I could make it as a playtester, I didn't even get into the Tribes 2 beta (what were there? 1,000,000 slots?)
The X-box is really gonna kick ass. I'm thinking of commuting to Seattle just to playtest the thing (3000 miles.)
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
come on folks. microsoft is the king of user-acceptance testing. if anyone had any doubt they'd do this, they aught to check their head.
and it's a dang good business decision too. any product should go through this procedure.
http://kered.org
Man, just think how cool that blue screen will look powered by such a high-powered video processor.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
Funny that its in the Millennium Building. I was hoping for the Linux building or something. At least they didnt call it the Me buildings
hehehe (in my best Trinity voice) "Slashdot this..."
:)
I wonder if microsoft.com will be slashdotted...
Feel free to extend the analogy in other directions to include tourist destinations in Idaho, Nevada, California, Wyoming... heh heh heh... after all, they post driving directions on their website, and I'm damned sure people will be willing to drive from those states and probably farther to get their hands on an X-Box.
--- [DrPsycho] Coping with reality since 1975.
-DrPsycho - Coping with reality since 1975
The microsoft conspirators are to busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one.
Are you okay Cmdr Taco? It sounds like you're having a bad day :-)
does this mean the xbox will actually be out soon? and that it's finished? or is this a room where you have controlers that plug into a wall so that you can see what the games would look like on a theoretical "xbox" if it were complete?
I believe sex is highly over rated... unless it involves me
yes. this is for the masses. you, too, can get your very own X-box before M$ ships them in stores.
to get one, simply call gateway, or dell, or one of your favorite x-box manufacturers and ask them for the X-box special. this includes:
a 700Mhz processor
a DVD player
a large hard drive.
nVidia GeForce2
no keyboard or mouse (those are extra)
whabam! you have yourself an x-box.
Bill Gates:"No, really...it's not just a repackaged computer. i fucking SWEAR!!!!"
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Larry Elison is giving out Oracle8i Licenses?
Cool!
um.. I done, you can stop reading...
I am become Troll, destroyer of threads
I would think someone here would want to get their hands on one as early as posslible.
Who will be the first to get an Xbox to run Linux?
It would be nice to see this thing cracked, hacked and repurposed before it ever hits the street.
Get working boys and girls!
Seriously, the Dreamcast is just a novelty compared to Xbox and PS2 from a technical standpoint(though a novelty with some VERY good titles thus far) the Nintendo Gamecube has vaporware written all over it (though if Nintendo actually is making the thing it has potential) and Playstation 2 needs good titles to maintain the hype. In Japan many angry customers are ranting about how incomplete the PS2 is, and unless there is a dramatic turnaround in software quality the same will happen in the US.
Besides, has Microsoft ever had a commercially unsuccessful PC game?
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
Quoth Redmond:
"Be one of the first people to see future Microsoft games and hardware by participating in our Playtest program. Help us build the next generation of games for our new console!
* No experience necessary! "
I mean, really, who out there is going to have experience playtesting an X-Box?
...except maybe anyone with a 700Mhz CPU and a GeForce...
hmmm, ok i see their point.
--
What happens when you outlaw guns
If microsoft gets some kick ass first party games they may have a winner, however, I personally am placing my bets on Nintendo to win the next Console war. If they produce AAA products with their main franchinses there is no way Sony/Microsoft/Sega can compete.
I am not a nintendo loyiest...just a gaming freak. I own a PS2(SSX is the only great game for that console) and a Dreamcast, although they are both great consoles in their own right, none of them have had a phenom title like Zelda/Mario/Golden Eye/Pokeman (laugh, but it sold 3.5++ million copies.)
Good luck to you Microsoft (competition only brings better product), but you are entering a crowded market.
-Angreal
Someone over there has got to be reading! Let me have a crack at one guys! (Course, if they don't the conspiracy theorists will know why: and don't say "Rob Doesn't Live in Seattle" cuz thats to easy. Course who am I kidding: The microsoft conspirators are to busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one. I just see it as Microsoft's way of saying "We're not a monopoly. Promise!" as they attempt to swallow another industry. The system may very well rock).
dear lord taco, lay off the coffee late after 5pm.
I hope MS changes it to maybe a green screen so then your about to beat the game and suddenly. Poof! It BSoD's on you. heh That will be the battle cry of the X-Box. Now I'm waiting for someone to make Linux for X-Box :)
Question: "Besides, has Microsoft ever had a commercially unsuccessful PC game?" Answer: Yes. Allegience(sp?). It sold less than 20,000 copies (not good, even for a PC game). Being a Microsoft product does not ensure success.
As I live in Seattle I figured I would just see if it would work. Oddly enough the "submit" button does not work in Netscape for Linux. Perhaps Mozilla? ;-)
that will be a reward for the team who is the first to port Linux to the X-Box.
:-)
I was thinking when that PS2 Hard Drive comes out couldn't they make a linux distro for the PS2! The only challenges would be the USB and firewire get that working and I think that would rule.
...and a crack at the x-box. Good thing I have that Seattle mailing address handy for anyone who wants to actually apply. Could I just give everyone who wants to apply my Seattle # and mailing address?
im packin my bags for Seattle.
While Allgiance was a commercial failure, it was a critical success. So let's say every game Microsoft released did well either critically OR commercially. A console lauded by critics is a lot harder to overlook than a single game (especially one in such a niche genre like space flight sims).
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
I would trust MS more than I would trust Sony.
Mixed feelings on that.
The sort of people who buy consoles, like consoles because they work. They traditionally do not crash, or give problems. X-Box is perhaps going to be hampered in the console market because everyone knows Microsoft stuff crashes. Looks like it will be running PC games generally speaking, too - and all the PC gamers I _personally_ know would actually be the sort who want to play them on their computer, not a console attached to a TV.
--
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!
I work for Charter Communications, a child company of MS because Paul Allen owns it, and we have seen the Xbox in action and it rocks. We will be deploying game servers throughout our cable infrastructure (which is very large) designed to work with GameSpy and the Xbox. The Xbox is a good thing. I have always liked MS's hardware such as the new Intellemouse with no moving parts.
If their future depends on it it does.....
Microsofts future is at stake here. IMHO
I believe that is why they are dumping $500,000 into just the marketing of the XBox. They had to save the desktop from Netscape so they MADE Internet Exploder successful by preloading it.
The XBox will be marketed to the scale of Windoz 95 because they have to succeed. OS/2 was the reason for the expensive PR from 1993-1995 and PS2 is the reason for the half a billion dollar PR for XBox.
IMHO
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
As well as having a good, mature gaming library, the X-Box will also have one of the best graphics processors ever designed. ;)
which means we'll get alpha-blended bsod's
i wish i was but oh well
How is it that when people say Microsoft, everyone points out that Microsoft stuff crashes. I've never seen a Dreamcast BSoD before yet it bears the Powered by Windows CE logo. You bastards! You've polluted everyone's minds with the Linux Hype Machine!
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Microsoft has even MORE experience than Sony and even MORE money.
As the Atari Jaguar would tell us: Do the Math.
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
I dunno... That well may be a tie, there.
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
You would think the largest software company in the world could have come up with a better graphic.. Can anyone read that map? How am I supposed to aim the missles?
(ShadowDrgn): hey skull, are you going to sign up to 'playtest the xbox'? heh heh
:-)
(Skull): heh
(ShadowDrgn): http://www.microsoft.com/playtest/
(Skull): i didnt even know they had it
(ShadowDrgn): you have to live in the seattle area to do it
(Skull): fuck that, i already work too much
Even M$ employees don't want to waste their time with this crap
Uhhh yeah and since they are a company designed to make money, maybe they should just give the X-Box away what do you think?
Even the design of the site with bright colors and flashy catchphrases (* Get FREE stuff!) If they were really looking for quality testers they would probably take a much more lowkey approach (probably contacting previous testers before making an announcement like this).
As good as Microsoft is at software development, they are even better at promotion.
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
Actually, it isn't enough anti-MS bias. They look to be getting off of the Monopoly (tm) charge with a slap on the wrist. Even if they are broken in half, so what. That just gives them two monopolies. They need to be broken into about 20 pieces.
Now if you had said that there was no good reason to say the X-Box software would BSOD, that would be a different matter. One advantage of a totally new platform is that they don't need to maintain 8-bit and 16-bit compatibility, so they may well do a good job, or at least they have a pretty good chance. But it's nearly impossible to be too biased against MS.
Caution: Now approaching the (technological) singularity.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
oh no...
oh god no...
i.... could.... make ... a beowulf cluster out... of them....
and mean it....
tagline
... hi bingo
Hglahf nhraf hlaf... Are there any games where you get to kill all living humans, swallow a bunch of blue whales, rule the universe and put your tentacles in all kinds of places fo this X-box? I also wonder if there are any specialiced hand controls for "people" with just one "finger" on each "hand"...
Iä! The hideous Tentacle Master has spoken! Obey or be destroyed!
Only Microsoft would be silly enough to save a map with lines and text as a blurry jpg.
MS has shown time and again that it is quite capable of putting out products that rock, kill off the market, and then work the monopoly. Case in point: Windows
Windows 3.0 was a real rocker that gave PC users access to vast amounts of memory, and was considerably better than other dos guis at the time. By the time Windows 3.11 was out, they were getting us to swallow botter pills [MS networking, IE, WebTV, ...].
Windows NT certification gets killed off as the next version gets released.
What's stopping them rolling out XBOX OS's and cutting off driver and program support to the previous versions. What's stopping them comingling assorted code as a stunt to take over markets *in other areas*.
Picture this: XBOX gets merged into Windows X. Windows X has some new toy that MS is trying to kill off the market for, and contends tant this toy "is an integral part of OS". But some legal mind points out that XBOXen run without it, and so it gets added into the XOS v 2.0, whether or not XBOXen need the toy.
Think about it?
OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
I think that what Diakatana is about.
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
Everything we've heard so far about the X-box seems to indicate that it's going to be an ordinary console with everything that that entails in terms of tight control over software, severe manufacturer-imposed constraints on products, and ridiculously high licensing costs.
:-)
I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark on the basis of Microsoft's acknowledged ability to create markets for its products, and suggest that in practice the X-box will become the exact opposite of a conventional console as described in the paragraph above. Instead, it will become an entirely open platform, in practice.
Why do I think that this may be so? For a number of reasons:-
First, the console market is already fairly highly subscribed if not totally saturated, so the X-box will have to be pretty special to make a large proportion of gamers reach into their pockets again. All the other popular consoles are closed platforms. A way of becoming "pretty special" is ready and waiting. [The still-to-be-launched Indrema is doing something similar, albeit with a certification hurdle imposed, but hopefully this will not be a substantive barrier.]
Second, it just so happens that virtually all the big players in the console arena either have or will be bringing out new mega-powerful systems within the same time frame, so high technology alone may not be enough, especially since Microsoft is a latecomer to this market. A novel angle may be required to make headway.
Third, Microsoft knows full well that the popularity of Windows stems very largely from the massive buzz that was created by several years worth of unimpeded free-for-all copying of both the O/S and its applications. The official face of Microsoft may protest about "piracy", but unofficially they must know that in reality unconstrained access is an extremely powerful popularizing mechanism, vastly cheaper yet more effective than advertising.
These three things all point in the same direction: Microsoft will either make the platform fully open, or it will create an easy and inexpensive method for all and sundry to write and install games on the X-box, or it will turn a very blind eye to the cracking systems which will appear 2 microseconds after the machine hits the streets. Nothing is gained by restricting what can run on a platform (all the talk of controlling for "quality" is unadulterated rubbish --- people like to decide for themselves, thank you very much), but everything is gained by having thousands of products run on a console rather than merely hundreds.
We'll see.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
Oh my...what a witty retort... Come back when you graduate from junior high school.
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
Nerds tend to read about me and play RPGs based on my mythos. I don't, however, have any of them as friends, since I eat everyone I encounter. Nerds doesn't taste very well though. Either too skinny or too fat, and I don't really appreciate male virginity.
Iä! The hideous Tentacle Master has spoken! Obey or be destroyed!
"Play UNRELEASED PC and Xbox games!"
I get the Xbox games, but what about the PC games? PC games won't run on it, will they? Or are they going to take really sweet games that are set for the PC (Like Halo) and instead put them on the XBox?
It got a respectable 7.5 from gamespot, so it wasn't attrocious.
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
A large group of people who are appalled at the thought of being given free, state-of-the-art
Microsoft hardware in hopes that their help will make it better
are also...
A large group of people who are thrilled at the thought of being given free, state-of-the-art
Linux software in hopes that their help will make it better
The most interesting questions from my point of view were 1) What is the most important part of game design and 2) Who is the 'director' equivalent in a game.
We were having dinner at four separate tables, so we got four different groups of people answering the questions; but the answers were completely uniform. 1) The most important part of a game is the 'game-play', the way that the button presses influence the way the game works. Next is visuals, last is 'story'. 2) The 'director', as it were, are the game testers; the people who sit there and play the game all day, every day, as it is developed; to determine how it works and feels. We were quite surprised, and asked the question a few different ways; but the answer was always the same.
Now, Microsoft is not writing the games (are they?) but are building the boxes, so testers would have a different role there. Still, it's a very important one.
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
I think Microsoft might be able to actually pull it off, though.
... hell, a very *scary* way. They really are like the Borg in some respects. One step at a time, relentless. Anyways, MS captured the software market only a wee bit at a time. They're not even there yet. All they've got is a iron grip on desktop software, and a good foot in the door on medium-sized servers. But they keep expanding. Windows CE on one end, NT+IA64 on the other.
Whether you're talking about Sun or Apple or what have you, they all tried to take on everything at once. Hardware, software, connectivity.
Microsoft, however, has done things in a very methodical
I don't know where it started, but they keep getting a bigger piece of the pie. Then they start on their neighbor's pie. One step at a time.
Damnit, they're fucking scary.
Dave
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
That's an Xbox screenshot, I'll have you know!
"I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." -- Warren Zevon
I dunno, that stormtrooper armor didn't seem to repel blaster fire very well, wasn't garbage-compactor-monster proof, and certainly didn't help their aim much :) The storm troopers versus the rebels always seemed like the British "redcoats" versus the American colonists to me - just having the cool uniforms doesn't help you fight much better.
Boba Fett did have some cool stuff, although IIRC it wasn't exactly Imperial general issue...
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
But it's nearly impossible to be too biased against MS
Ahhh, I see you're a reasonable man. Taking this idea to its logical conclusion, nearly the whole of humanity should do nearly everything in its power to wipe nearly every trace of MS, its employees, and its products off the face of the earth.
Useful.
It's a cool concept but it's not based around Microsofts main objective. Are they palnning a business shift. Will they spread them selves over many areas and not really maintain the stability of one? (all mishaps to date aside) I thought that as a company that has generally ruined it's reputation, or shall I say, put a dent in it's status in the course of the last year, would have more interest in making up for lost respect. Aren't there isues to be dealt with in terms of the future of the compasny and it's ability to stay in the OS market? Not that I think they could even re-write the book for a better out come, but they could damn sure try. Instead they are targeting a narrow segment of the population in order to establish itself as a magical mystical being in the eyes of kids who are too young to understand what kind of mess Microsoft has piled up around itself.
.
microsoft is getting into hardware...(Actually I like there mice...)
So MS is becoming Apple
hmm. I wonder if sony would consider selling computers with linux instead of paying MS for each machine they sell...
I had Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 1 lock up from Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 1.
/. will shit itself.
The application, iexplore.exe, generated an application error The error occurred on 01/02/2001 @ 17:01:21.237 The exception generated was c0000005 at address 01977298 ()
Obviously I can't put the hex info in here, as
As wacky as this might sound, the XBox might turn out to be a great opportunity for Linux gaming. Since all XBoxes will contain the same hardware, it's a cinch to put together a bootable Linux CD that has everything pre-configured for the known devices in the box. Load that puppy up with NVidia (or whatever) drivers, the sound drivers for whatever audio is in there, and lots of pre-configured settings, and you've got a Linux-based skeleton upon which games could be written.
... geek heaven!
Since I'm not a gamer, I have other ideas. If I didn't strongly object to giving $$$ to the evil empire, I'd pick one of these things up, load Linux on it, and use it as a home multimedia terminal connected both to my LAN and to the television and stereo. View web pages on the TV, play MP3's off the server, pick up streaming audio, control the lights in the house via X-10
And just think -- with XFree86 running on it, it'd be a real X-Box!
--
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
regional discrimination....
god damn mofo we never get anything in australia.
Q:What do you get when you buy an X-Box in a Three Pack? A: An XXX-Box ;-)
This marginally stupid comment provided free of charge by PowerPenguin
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Perversely greped and groped by PowerPenguin
I can remember 2 honorary mentions of Microsoft in The Simpsons.
Homer starts up his internet company (without even having a computer) and Bill Gates and his lawyers buy him out so he can't become successful.
Bart and Lisa's school gets run by a corporation based on market research for toys. Lisa makes an insightful comment on the exploitation of the market or something to that effect, and Bart replies "You mean like Microsoft?"
Please post more!
[...] and PS2 is the reason for the half a billion dollar PR [...]
Either you're missing s few zeros above, or you meant "million" here. I'm guessing it's "million." :)
-Legion
I do not know of a commercially available PC that has a Unified Memory Architecture. That's right, the video ram and system ram are the same thing on X-Box (200 Mhz DDR is the number that sticks in my mind). This effectively removes much of the bottleneck between the cpu and the gpu. Your favorite PC will also require many more layers of software for the same gameplay as the X-Box. The end result is that the X-Box goes faster on cheaper components.
-- the computer doesn't want any beer, no matter how much you think it does. NEVER, EVER feed your computer beer.
Atari followed the "let anybody build a game" philosophy, and got some serious trash games. Far more than what is available on today's systems. Having a gatekeeper seems to have worked well on modern (post-Atari 2600) consoles.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Hmm,
;)
first I was surprised to read the news.
Then I thought it would be nice to have this box for porting Linux to it.
Would be the best present for the birthday of the Xbox, an already running linux on a NV20-like chip
Too bad that the beta box is only available near Seattle. Maybe they want to exclude some big regions of reengeneering.
Anyway, I would never buy this "Intel PC" with a Windows 2000 where only one process (but with multiple threads) can run (in RING0!!).
GOOD HACKING, SEATTLE LUCKIES
Iä! Shub Niggurath! Heh..I didn't know we had HP Lovecraft as a Slashdot reader. That dark and forbidden tome....known to some as the Necronomicon, written by the Mad Arab. I have read it I tell you! I love Lovecraft...his stories are the absolute best, and they get you so involved with the rest of the material that he talks about. I've wasted many hours hunting down weird authors and books just to figure out what he's talking about somedays.
I have an even better idea.. why not make a special x-box version of GNU/Linux thats much less bloated than the general i386 GNU/Linux.. make it easy for game developers to develop games for it using OpenGL AND BYPASS MICROSOFT'S LICENSING SCHEME. Since the game can ALSO run on the general i386 GNU/Linux (thru same API calls in the source), up-and-coming Game Development studios can take advantage of this and get their start (assuming it takes off). Just my opinion though, I could very well be wrong.
They've already blown megabucks getting the chipset designed, pushing developer kits out the door, and they need a system to throw all their game characters at. And with their alternative hard-to-crack DVDish GODs (Gamecube Optical Disks) it'd seem kinda wasteful to dump their fourth-generation console in favor of a wintel box.
Heck, Nintendo even released the Virtual Boy once upon a time, now *THAT* had vapor written all over it...!
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
Moderators, check your brain! This was one of the trutfullest posts on Slashdot (besides being funny, too) in a long ime. Taco's post was really torn! I actually had some problems understanding which part is his (Taco's) text, and which was the original poster's.
Sigged!
Actually, the largest private employers in the Greater Seattle Area are as follows:
1 Boeing 197,000
2 Costco Wholesale 70,000
3 Nordstrom's 47,000
4 Weyerhaeuser 44,800
5 Starbucks 37,000
6 Microsoft 31,396
I don't have statistics for public (government) employment, but some of the major Government employeers are as follows (not ranked):
Federal Government, Department of Defense (major facilities include Fort Lewis, McCord Air Force Base, Bangor Naval Base (Balistic Missile Submarine Base), Everett Naval Base (Carrier and Surface Warefare Base), Bremerton Shipyards (major ship construction and maintainance facility) and the Widbey Island Naval Air Station (home of the EA-6B Electron Warefare squadron)).
University of Washington
State of Washington
City of Seattle
Democracy is dead. All kneel to the Commander In Thief.
Copying of windows had precisely no effect on anything. Having Windows come with everything is what made Windows big - that, and running DOS accounting software.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
There is an argument made in today's (er, tuesday, 02 Jan 01) Suck.com that monopolies are the only way to provide certain services, i.e., the railroad needed a guy like J. Pierpoint Morgan to build a transcontinental line. Almost like a Gaia hypothesis for capitalists. I am pretty sure it wasn't called out in the article (a good read, highly recommended), but it made me think of M$ and how they dominated the computer industry. I actually am changing my thoughts on their role in the industry and beginning to Try to percieve them as a necessary Evil. Just to see if it makes sense. But companies like Standard Oil, Ford (in the beginning), and the TVA (well, maybe not such commoditized utilities as electricity and the phone) peak, see their day, and must move on.
.NET...
To stay OT, and wrap this up:
The whole 'digital convergence' movement may require high-level integration of the sort that Gates once adopted for the Windows environment. But unless we include gaming, movies, and all other entertainment as part of the core of that convergence (which I think would be a mistake), then Bill Gates is barking up the wrong tree, and ignoring the critical parts of digital convergence movement (net appliances? wireless? something we haven't thought of yet?) while playing games and gobbling up the
But we need a new J.P. Morgan or perhaps none at all... Gates can afford to be wrong a hundred times and muscle in to a hundred different niche markets, but the guy who succeeds Bill as hated capitalist/monopolist won't be playing games. MSFT was trading at 44 last time I checked, and there aren't any rumors coming from the DoJ.
SDMI: Finally! Music that won't rip or burn! Brought to you by the fine folks at RIAA.
I'd like to get my hands on one of these.... never fear, I hate the Evil Empire(tm) as much as anyone else... I just want to turn it into a cheap Linux router.... ;) Why let perfectly good (?!) hardware go to waste playing some cheap M$ game?
Just to clear up some things about playtesting for Microsoft like the requirement of living in the seattle "area" and the free stuff. Pretty much you just have to live with-in driving distance of Seattle. My brother and I play tested Crimson Skies for them and you just have to make an appointment with them once they've called you to set it up then drive up there to play the stuff. Its not like a Beta test where they send out the CDs, you go in so they can poke and prod you while you play the game. As for the Free stuff you get to pick an item off of a list. When we went it was all computer games. Hope that clears up any misconceptions.
Im willing to bet you will have to type in a key to play it, and it will ask for you to register when you turn it on. As for the modem in it, it will have an icon where you can register for MSN, and it will come with IE 5.5 embeded into it where you can't get rid of it without crashing the console. It will come with a registry. Every game you play, it will make an entry into it. The more games you play the slower it gets, and you will have to wipe it out and reinstall.
M$ stock dropped in 1/2 since last year. If you are a MCSE, you will be broke.
That wont work in the console world. Consoles are sold as loss leader products (meaning, they actually sell them at a loss) and the money is made back with software licensing fees to developers. Companies cannot let their consoles become an open system because then they have no source of income. The only way you can develop on a console is if you pay the fees.
Sigs are awesome huh?
why only seattle and puget sound? what kind of package security are they shipping these things in? they must be pretty worried about the postal workers discovring what they are and hijacking a unit for themselves? strange. but i would imagine Microsoft is going through great lengths to make sure these arrive at the selected testers houses without fail. which is more than we can say about some of their products. but if this game system is good, i don't have any problems picking one up, providing it's affordable and a good value for the dollar. if they end up doing this well, then power to the x-box! but i still don't really like windows. hehe
-sig? who said anything about a sig?!
I don't think that the X-Box will be powered by a NVidia GeForce2 but by a "special" (UMA memory: shared between CPU and videocard) version of their future NV20.
The NV20 will be the fist chip to implement fully in hardware the DirectX8 spec..
And as for the 700 MHz processor, remember that it is a PIII in the X-Box, so games will be optimised for the PIII..
I believe that as the X-Box is a "fixed target", there is a possibility that games will be much more optimised for this configuration than for all the other configurations..
Will this cause some troubles with AMD CPUs or not?
It's difficult to say..
OTOH I thinks that Athlon Thunderbirds are (in most benchmarks) more powerfull than PIII at the same clock, it will help alleviate the "optimised for PIII problem"..
Except for the EULA of course, barring you from using any other but Microsoft software.
That depends on whether they sell the X-box or just loan it out under a license. If the latter then you could be right, but if the former then the hardware is yours and you can do what the heck you like with it.
Of course, the previous point will be highly debated by lawyers what with DVDs and DeCSS and the DMCA and all that, but everyone will ignore such restrictions utterly because any possible law in this area would be unenforceable. Somehow I don't think that taxpayers around the world would be too happy if their police forces start dedicating their resources to raiding a million console users.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
http://www.planetgeforce.com/ The guys have pics of the actual Xbox itself! Looks like they snagged it from some gaming magazine. All I can say is WOW!
Hey, is the item before this just a coicendence? A giant monolith appears in seattle and now they are testing xbox in the same area? What kind of weird alien happenings are going on... hmmm.... I think this needs to be further investigated.
_joshua_
The dreamcast has a processor (Hitachi SH4) that is capable of 1.4 billion floating point ops per second (1.4GFLOPS). A cluster of, say, 6 dreamcasts ($150 x 6 = $900) could be used as a personal supercomputer. A linux port to dreamcast would make this much easier to accomplish, since the stadard library and toolchain already exists.
If I understand teh X-Box correctly, it's state-of-the-art PC hardware sold at a loss by a Monopoly which intends to make money from licensing?
cool.
hack time! forget the I-opener! This puppy has real potential!
Don't blame me - I voted for Howard Dean. http://dean2004.blogspot.com
I dont know whats so special about this I've already got X on my box.
And thus Microsoft will be relegated to what it's software has always done best... allow for gaming. (and there was much rejoicing)
It doesn't work in NS 6 on Windows either.
Non-MS zealots need not apply.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I have to disagree with CmdrTaco on this one. Not that Xbox is evil or anything like that. But since when has Microsoft ever rolled out version 1 of something that didn't suck. Their MO is to get it out, sucky as it may be and gradually fix it. This is usually even true with products they buy from others to sell as their own. Then usually somewhere around version 3-5 the product is mature and stable enough that it's actually pretty good. I don't expect them to change their process this late in the game.
Vote Quimby.
Best Tuner.. Well.. All I can say is their driver sucks. I have to delete it befor every reboot or all I can get is the "composite" input. It has some sort of "PCI" conflict.. (why it works when I re-install the driver, I don't know)...
UPS Sucks
I think this X-Box is just going to encourage the type of weak, hype-filled game that seems to be becoming the standard. Sure graphics are important, but it shouldn't take precedence over gameplay, which it almost always does. And really, the PS2 is more than good enough. As developers become better at working its magic, those games will kick. There's no need for a fancier console. What WORSE company to be trying to lead the gaming realm than Microsoft? This console will herald in scores of over-advertised, unimaginative games. I realize Microsoft won't be making most of the games (what have they ever actually created, really,) but the aura that surrounds this thing will be so tainted.
Just as an aside, one of the best, most innovative, least appreciated games of all time:
Privateer.
Ever heard of a good opensource game? Freeciv? LOL.
What about TOD? or Hampsterdeath? or Tux Racer? Or any of the many cross-platform Allegro games? Or the entire GNOME Entertainment collection? I forgive you for not having looked hard enough.
Tetris on drugs, NES music, and GNOME vs. KDE Bingo.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I wonder if will be release a X-Office 2000-BOX, so I can make .docs with a joystick!
gcc -o sig sig.c sig.c:4: #error NO SIG FOUND make: *** [sig] error 1
Sure, you could spend hours hacking around yourself to get Win98 working, but I doubt you're an example the average projected X-Box user. The nice thing about running Linux games on the X-Box would be that it wouldn't have to be hacked by users; *game publishers* could do it, putting a stripped-down, drivers-installed Linux distro on the CD configured to boot directly to the video game on the same CD. You can't do that with Win98, not without per-CD licensing fees swallowing your revenues.
The subject line is a joke that mirrors many of the posts under this story. The sad thing is that many of these neanderthals are SERIOUS.
The irony is that any Microsoft produced book on code design, code quality testing, management, etc., absolutely FLY off the shelves. I've had Linux anti-MS zealots recomment MS Press books that basically document the internal work activities at Microsoft. Doesn't anyone see the absurdity of this paradox? Any of you people who talk about the "notoriously bad code quality" of Microsoft code please ensure that you get rid of all of those MSPress books that line your bookshelves.
Of course the reality is that Microsoft is a benchmark for code quality in the industry, with some of the lowest failure rates per line of code in the field. Do I wish they did a better job? Absolutely! Most of us would love if the failure rate was 0.0%. I would love if Windows could run on any mixture of a virtually infinite combination of hardware with drivers of astronomically varying quality levels and auto-magically fix code problems in third party applications. I would love if they made their code immune to the meanderings of poorly written third party applications (i.e. DLL hell though it is largely immune to it as of Windows 2000). However we must dream on.
As far as anecdotal evidence there are always reams of people yapping about how they define the standards because on their system Windows 2000 BSODs once a day, and NT 4...it BSODs before you even start it up. Then again there are many people like myself that have run 2000 without a single BSOD...ever (have single applications failed? Absolutely...but never taking down the system). I manage heavily used NT4 SP6a systems that run several months on end perfectly until finally being rebooted to enact a new security fix.
Bah. I don't even know why I'm going down this path. The reality is that Microsoft produces code that is better than average in the industry. With a solid, target platform and minimal services running on the system (i.e. it's pretty damn easy for a PS2 to be stable when the game is _ALL_ that's running on the machine...the propensity for failure is geometrically proportional to the complexity of the system) I have no doubt whatsoever that the system will be rock solid. Of course the day a game by Basement Publications crashes it'll somehow be considered MS' fault.
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"Rock over London... Rock on Chicago..." -Wesley Willis
It's very easy to support VBScript, in windows all you do is make IActiveScriptSite object, and create an IActiveScript object from the vbscript.dll. if you can support any script language, then you should be able to support VBScript no problem.
Also Microsoft has been known to license VBScript, the now defunked Chili!Soft licensed it so they could port ASP to *nix. Everyone says Microsoft policy is to "Embrace and Extend" this is true, but sometimes the extensions are worth while, I find VBScript a much easier language then JavaScript. the MS DOM makes a lot more sense then the Netscape DOM, people should support what Microsoft has done, even if the WC3 has gotten around to it.
-Jon
btw: i'm not trolling, I believe this
this is my sig.
A stray application should never, never never have priviledge to take a machine down, period. If the system does go down, then it is weakness in the OS (unless harware locks up of its own volition). Let me ask you somehting. Have you ever _looked_ at MS code? And I'm not talking about he Hello World! type stuff that you'll get in books. I mean real, production code. I know I haven't and I doubt you have unless you work for them, in which case, your meal-ticket slant nullifies your arguments in the first place. Given that we can't see the code, all we have to go on is how well it performs. Windows Operating systems are easily lockable. If you never have, then keep feeding the unicorns that live in your arse along with your head. I can crash W2k in under one minute AS A REGULAR USER. Try running anything that requires directx, and Microsoft-deemed "deprecated directx calls". It will hang instantly, that is if you can even manage to beg your hardware manufacturer into releasing stable drivers for win2k. Microsoft created their own ratsnest when they decided that the operating system should provide everything for everybody instead of clean, tightly controlled access to hardware, and the ability to say no if an application or driver tries to do something stupid. Blaming the application developer for crashing an operating system when their app goes astray is classic schoolyard psychology. It doesn't wash. the responsibility lies with the OS.
is that you have to live in the Seattle area to test the x-box
A stray application should never, never never have priviledge to take a machine down, period.
No, it shouldn't. Who doesn't agree with that? However if that "stray application" interacts with a system `feature' in a way that exploits a flaw that exists in system code then it can take the system down JUST LIKE IT CAN IN ANY MAINSTREAM OPERATING SYSTEM. A lot of the video driver runs in ring 0 in NT & 2000, just like the drivers do in Linux, and if an application twiddles the bits just right yes it can bring the system down, though it's the system bringing the system down, not an application. Your moronic perspective that this simply shouldn't be possible is absurd (i.e. you're saying that all system calls have to be 100% stable under any situation and condition which is ridiculously naive) and the only OS that should satisfy you is QNX. I certainly hope you're not a Linux fan because an errant driver called can certainly take the system down. As far as me blaming third party applications I did in two ways:
As far as your claim that "Microsoft created their own ratsnest when they decided that the operating system should provide everything for everybody instead of clean". Let me give you a little piece of advice : You don't have to run DirectX games on your [mother's] server system(s). Oh, what's that? You're running your machine as a game machine? What's that : You're using shit video drivers from a crap vendor? Oh.... okay. Well gosh in that case yes Microsoft should march right over to your hardware vendor and give them a stern talking to! This is unacceptable! DAMN THAT MICROSOFT!
However if that "stray application" interacts with a system `feature' in a way that exploits a flaw that exists in system code then it can take the system down JUST LIKE IT CAN IN ANY MAINSTREAM OPERATING SYSTEM
Well, aren't we the master of the obvious. This is entirely the point, but thank you for re-iterating mine. A good example would be....let's say..... a virus? Doesn't seem to matter whether you're running as administrator or not, does it?
Your moronic perspective that this simply shouldn't be possible is absurd...
We're getting defensive now, and you're starting to get hot under the collar, I can see you typing frantically. This is too easy.
There are a lot of numbnuts dumbfucks that don't understand the difference between a system failure and an application failure. My point was that if a game APP fails on the X-Box there will be countless drones clamoring over how unstable the X-Box is. On Windows 2000 in some configurations Explorer.exe crashes on occasion.
The knowledgable user restarts Explorer.exe. The dumbfuck runs to Slashdot to yabber over how their machine "BSOD"d.
You have just defeated yourself. The fact remains that Windows BSODs, period. A hard crash on a blue screen is exactly that. Don't mistake a hard crash for an application failure. Let's see you simply restart explorer.exe when you can't even make use of the keyboard. Many apps have been known to substantially degrade the OS' stability by replacing system DLLs will custom DLLs, old versions, etc. This is the reality of a mainstream system where development tools are easily accessible. This has been fixed in Windows 2000.
Oh? Please enlighten us. Really, I'd like to hear it. It is the reality of a poor design.
Let me give you a little piece of advice : You don't have to run DirectX games on your [mother's] server system(s). Oh, what's that? You're running your machine as a game machine?
The topic is gaming, and the xbox, moron. This is a discussion about gaming. What was that statement even meant to say? What does my mother have to do with this? I think you're going insane.
Nvidia, 3dfx, ATI... these are the cards I'm talking about, not some whiz-bang job.
You end your post by trying to belittle me because I'm talking about running games on one of my boxes, as if that makes someone less credible. This is a discussion about gaming. You just spoke volumes, thanks.
I believe that is why they are dumping $500,000,000 [....]
Good eye.
Lob
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
You have a good point here. Keep in mind, all the developers that have taken a look at the XBox code base have had nothing but good things to say about writing games for it. Compare that to the PS2, which has been described as being a "nightmare" to code for, and that's the nicest description I've heard.
I've been called a "Fucking Dick" by better people than you.
I think it's kind of funny that while reading the Ergo2000 thread, I glanced over at my Win2000 Server (which had been running an install operation), and found that it had made a nice pretty bluescreen, just for me. Back onto the topic for a moment, someone please help me out with this. What the hell is the X-Box? Talk about an identity crisis. I understand Microsoft's intent to muscle into the console arena with this monster system, and obviously they can afford to do that. To me, it seems like an overbloated, inefficient mess. If you look at a normal console, like a PS2 or Dreamcast, that entire system is built for a very custom purpose. Does anyone else find it absurd that Microsoft is essentially taking an almost full-fledged modern desktop system and dumbing it down to the level of a console? Sure, it'll be a great deal... but, did any engineering go into this thing, aside from the backward type? What's with all these random asian girl stock photos in the banner ads on slashdot?
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
Where?
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
=)
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
Actually, that is incorrect. In the Windows <=3.11 days, Microsoft publically admitted that approximately 50% of their market penetration was due to piracy, and therefore largely responsible for their initial success. Once Windows 3.x had established a market, then and only then, did it begin to be included with everything.
I distinctly remember the days when you bought a computer that didn't have an OS on it.
ToiletDuk
Protector of the Wastes
the principle, amigo.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Sorry, my OS isn't opensource. I use Solaris 8.
Ive never used Linux in my life.
M$ stock dropped in 1/2 since last year. If you are a MCSE, you will be broke.
The solution to that problem is to brand games 'X-Box Approved' (and trademark that) so that the public can tell which ones are MS certified. The rest just say something that isn't a trademarked phrase, such as 'Works with an MS(r) X-Box(tm)'. Much the same as replacement windshield wipers saying 'Works with Ford(r) F150(tm) and etc...'
The reason that MS wants to license games has sweet fuck nothing to do with quality, it's because they sell the console at a loss and want to make up for it with the game sales. And since they don't write the games, they want a piece of the games that other people make.
There's nothing (legally) that they can do to stop someone from sitting down and writing a game for the X-Box. In fact, reverse-engineering any piracy prevention measures to make your game work with them is about the only use allowed for under the DMCA (which would only hit US game companies anyways.) I'm sure MS would lie, cheat, and steal, throwing fake lawsuits at anyone who tried this, but then that's their tactic with everything.
I know my son would want to test it out. If MS follows its own pattern, the first XBox will be horrible ... after a few versions it will destroy the compitition ... Borg Unite
It's not fair, just because I'm not from CA, does not mean I should be penalized. They should send prototypes to testers nation wide. Not every gamer lives in the Puget/Seattle area.
You stupid bastard, you don't have no arms left. It's just a flesh wound.
A 7.5 on gamespot is like 2/1000 on the gamers scale. If it doesn't atleast get an 8, its junk.
You stupid bastard, you don't have no arms left. It's just a flesh wound.