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The Xbox 360 Motherboard Exposed

Posted by Zonk on from the off-the-back-of-a-truck dept.

MaxConsole writes "The Xbox hacking group smartXX has managed to unofficially get their hands on three Xbox 360 development kits. As if this wasn't enough, they have completely dissected the inner workings of the Xbox 360 dev kits, showing exactly how the Xbox 360 will work revealing all the details on the various hardware components."

4 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Wow! by Chokai · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And the reason we didn't photoshop out all the serial numbers on the pictures is what? To make it as easy as possible for MS to potentially backtrack how you got your hardware and eliminate your source or possibly cost them thier job/contract? Smart.

    1. Re:Wow! by Chokai · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Um hello. You need to block out more than that. Most remaining numbers are part#s but there are several that are likely unique identifiers for the part. Anything not easily identified as a general part # needs to be removed. Notably the SIS chip for example.

      Microsoft if they are smart (and they are) for quality purposes is going to know the serial num/batch number whatever of every part that goes into that box. It helps them quickly identify bad batches which saves them money. It's all in the name of quality but it has wonderful secondary uses. :-) Now that said I will admit here is a chance they aren't doing this for the pre-production boxes yet though.

    2. Re:Wow! by chrysrobyn · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Um hello. You need to block out more than that. Most remaining numbers are part#s but there are several that are likely unique identifiers for the part. Anything not easily identified as a general part # needs to be removed.

      Agreed. It is easy to imagine a database that tracks all the serial numbers together. Query against just one of those and you have the rest. Once you have the box's serial number, look up who got the machine and assess the need to punish the developer for violating the NDA.

      I'd bet these machines were not cheap to Microsoft. Hardware before launch is exceptionally valuable, certainly more valuable than the cost to develop simply because your factories aren't up to speed yet. One developer, as pictured, decided to take Microsoft's investment offline, away from game development and take some pictures. Maybe it's a 2 hour expedition that's to be done "off-hours" by employees on personal time so no project was impacted, but more likely the effects will last into development time-- it took longer than expected or something broke. Either way, it's an unnecessary pile of risks that tells Microsoft how much they value the machine and the NDA they signed.

  2. Re:Maybe I'm Cynical by forkazoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or, maybe the motherboard design isn't finalised. They want the mod chip community to start taking notes, and coming up with prototype designs now, so that when the real-box comes out, they will have wasted lots of money and effort only to be able to mod the dev kits.