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Leaked X-Box 2 Specs Include PPC CPU
Jutebox150 writes "According to the MercuryNews.com, the specifications for Microsoft's successor to the Xbox were revealed. The specs for the next Xbox, at least according to this report, are as follows: Three IBM-designed 64-bit microprocessors, the same chips now used in Apple Computer's high-end G5 PowerMac. This will give the new Xbox 'more computing power than most personal computers.' A graphics chip designed by ATI Technologies that will clock in with speeds faster than the upcoming R400. But what I found most surprising is there are no talks about an internal hard drive, rather suggesting that the next Xbox will instead rely on flash memory, and, depending on hardware cost, backwards compatibility could be out of the question."
Um, if they did this wouldn't you just have a PC in a fancy box?
If they can put enough flash memory on that, then why can't it replace a hard drive? Or external hard drive could be used (USB 2.0), lowering the cost but still providing an option for playing old games and using more features(downloading stuff).
The hard drive was central to many of the Xbox's coolest and most unique features. Content downloads, soundtracks, large levels cached to HD to cut load times, large save files for games such as KotOR, etc.... Without the hard drive and Live, the Xbox would have been just another game console.
This is one case where Microsoft did a good job with v1 of the product. I'd hate to see a backward move like this for v2.
The gem from the article:
The details suggest Microsoft is far more concerned about keeping the cost of its Xbox Next console low than it is with including dazzling technological features or driving its rivals out of the business, according to a variety of industry sources.
The Xbox outperforms the PS2 on graphics every day. Yet, I prefer the PS2 (mostly because once you are done playing HALO, whats next?!)
So performance is not enough. Nintendo's strategy was to underprice the behemoths, and they are still hanging on.
So if MSFT can sell a console cheaper than the PS3, AND!! get a bunch of games developed,
they will continue on into the future as a major player in the home console market.
(just my 2 cents)
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I bet they move the HD to external via USB 2.0 or something. It may be useful but its not useful enough to justify forcing people to buy it. They would be able to keep the cost down a little more without the HD. Those that want it can just go buy it for a premium price.
Yes, but a PC that consumers actually know how to use - the problem with PC's today, IMHO, is that 90% of the users dont know how to use it - and then we end up with a shitload of machines ill configured, that spams the rest of us.
;))
Furthermore the devs gets ONE platform to test on - This leads to less testing time needed, which ultimately SHOULD lead to cheaper games(or the cost saving would be used somewhere else - the directors pockets!
I totally don't understand not putting a hard drive in the system.
We know that the xbox is just a pc, no matter how much the vendor wants us to believe otherwise. What better way to make it more of a closed system than to use flash RAM instead of the hd for temporary storage. What better way to have more rights management built into the thing than to make the data that much harder to access
That is a monster step backwards.
I agree, but from the m$ perspetive, it is probably viewed as a major step forward. If they can obfuscate the internal operations of the system, it will make it that much harder to hack and mod.
What are they thinking?
This is where you will go today
Seriously though, it will probably come to pass that you only purchase a license to use this thing, and not the hardware itself. They are obligated to protect the content which of course, belongs to someone else... The end of the open PC has been written about before, and perhaps this is how m$ would like to do that?
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
I just hope they make a controller that a kid can hold this time. And a box with a flat top, so you can stack other units (VCR's, PS2's, etc), unlike that stupid dome they have at the moment.
The xbox was alright, but it really suffered from stupid visual and useability design decisions...
Well, first of all, it's heavy. Why do you think they've got disconnect joints in their controller cables? It's also full of moving parts and not reliable. At least when a slotted flash card goes bad, you can always get another one. And then there's the cost issue. Hard drives have a certain minimum cost regardless of their capacity.
I totally don't understand not putting a hard drive in the system.
How about just going all the way and making the controller ports be USB from the very start? I don't see why we need a new custom controller port on every new generation of console. (Sony gets a bye on this for keeping the original Playstation controller and memory port plugs.)
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
This does not ring in as being bullshit to anyone?
I would have blinked if they said it has ONE CPU similar to the one in the G5, but three?
Come on.
... HOWEVER, I see a combination of advantage and disadvantage. On the one hand this will require starting from scratch; I'm sure GNU/Linux can be customized to run with flash memory, or from optical media like Knoppix, but it will take time. On the other hand, Microsoft's security attention will be drawn away from the legacy model. This means that the old XBox is up for grabs, and we can expect minimal future security blockades. Old XBoxen will be VERY big sellers among Linux enthusiasts, possibly selling secondhand for as much as they sold as new, if not more.
But regarding backaward compatibility, I wouldn't worry about it. Remember that Microsoft bought Connectix, the maker of Virtual PC, and has been looking into technologies for running virtual machines. This may be related to those efforts, and running i386 game code on a PowerPC 970 might be doable with the right emulation built into the OS.
What really surprises me is that Windows code is well-organized enough that Microsoft thinks they can port it to another platform at all.
too often, hardware/software is seriously crippled because of backwards compatibility.
Home game consoles have never really be backward compatible. PS2 is the first real back-ward compatible that I know of (though someone will end up telling me differently).
I couldn't play my Nintendo games on a Nintendo 64 out-of-the-box, and I surely can't play them on a GameCube. There is no precident for backwards compatibility in the gaming market, IMO, so it shouldn't be a concern for Microsoft.
Besides, most gamers I know have more than one game system, so it is no big deal if they have yet another one.
You've never used one of these PPC970 chips then, if you are claiming reduced performance. PPC is a fundamentally different architecture, and one that typically yeilds both less heat and greater performance.
So, do yourself a favor and walk into your nearest Apple store and check out a great computer with a great processor. While your at it, give the OS a chance to. You might find something better than your biases previously allowed.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
Bob
The problem with console add-ons is that (relatively) no-one buys them. the historical adoption rates for add-ons is abyssmal.
Developers can't assume the functionality of the add-ons exists, so they generally don't waste coding time to support the ~5% of their users who might have one.
and if most games don't support the functionality, then what's the point of the device at all? why pay $100 for an external HD if only 1 in 40 games supports custom soundtracks/content download?
Add-ons only move when a particular game has so rabid a fanbase that they can financially survive requiring the add-on to play.
E.g. Phatasy Star Online's keyboard for various consoles, FFXI/PS2 HD, etc.
If the neXtBox doesn't ship with a HD, I doubt MS will release an external device unless a particular developer is going to require it.
Perhaps if backwards-compatibility was supported only by purchasing the external HD they could move the units by themselves, but newer games almost certainly wouldn't support it as much as current games do. And that would likely arouse much contempt from the playerbase. Particularly seeing as how the XBox itself will likely cost only $100 when the neXtBox hits.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"