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Xbox 2 Architecture Documented, Almost 2004-Launched?
An anonymous reader writes "Over at Xbit Labs, they seem to have new information on the Xbox 2 hardware specs, evidently originating from China, although the date and veracity of the document can't be confirmed. Noteworthy is the inclusion of (3) 3.5GHz CPUs [some say a 3-core CPU?], only 10 MB of dedicated graphics memory, and the undecided comments on whether the hard drive is 'built in'. The high speed bus to the GPU and the small amount of video memory point directly at Microsoft's upcoming DirectX Next, which will supposedly feature virtual graphics memory." Elsewhere, Gamaroo writes "Gamesindustry.biz is reporting that Microsoft originally wanted to release Xbox 2 for Christmas 2004. However, the new system has since slipped from schedule, but the piece claims Microsoft hopes to release the new console in mid-2005, to get ' a full year's head-start on Sony's PS3, and possibly even more'."
THe headstart means nothing without a completely killer app. The dreamcast beat sony by a year and it was twelves months of people saying "I'll wait and see what sony comes out with" not because they couldn't afford more than one system over the year, but because there was no killer that every one had to have (Halo, MGS, Zelda, etc).
The dreamcast's US launch went way better than expected - $110M in the first 3 days, retail.
"While one week's sales do not make a system a success, Dreamcast is off to an excellent start,"
- Ed Roth, president of NPD Leisure Activities
September, 1999
And software sales (or piracy for that matter) were not why the dreamcast failed - Sega would not have dropped it to go exclusively into the software biz if that were the case. Nope, Dreamcast failed for one simple reason - Sega launched it while the company was in debt. No console can be sustained without massive cash reserves, not in a market where multinational corporations are competing. Sony and Microsoft can afford to sell their consoles at a loss. So can Nintendo, to a lesser degree. Sega, post-Saturn, could not.
Xbox 2 will do just fine, because Microsoft is backing it. Microsoft is not Sega. That is the crucial difference.