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Yet More 360 Details

NubKnacker writes "With the launch of the new Xbox 360 not far away, Chris Satchell, boss of the Microsoft developer group spoke to Eurogamer.net and GamesIndustry.biz. There, he reveal a lot of information about the hardware, the operating system and the new Xbox Live functions. From the article: 'Microsoft also plans to have kiosks available - presumably in game stores and other public locations - where you can download content. Whether this will be to the detachable hard disk itself or a memory card is a detail that wasn't clarified.'"

50 comments

  1. Nintendo Revolution Rumor by poningru · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What I dont understand is why isnt Nintendo releasing any of their revolution tech specs as leaked. The obvious advantage is ofcourse that people will go 'hmm Revolution looks cooler than xbox369 do I want to use this pretty cool console or should I wait till couple of years and get a really kickass console'

    --
    Calm down people, its a religion not an operating system.
    1. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Oh, they will. Except it Nintendo doesn't really use lame "leaks" they go straight for your balls. Sony and MS use all the hype and obfuscation and viral marketing and leaks. Nintendo just walks softly and carries a big stick when they want to.

      TGS is coming up soon, Nintendo will be stealing quite a bit of thunder I'm sure. I also look for them to actually beat the PS3 to market when all is said and done. Nintendo knows that no matter how badly MS wants to break into Japan, they never will. I have many friends in Japan and the actual interest is so low it's akin to their excitement at belly-button lint. Nintendo also knows that even if they do release last that most people will have played the launch titles for their new "uber" systems and be bored and will pick up a Revolution in addition to their 360/PS3... while families and enthusiats will gladly wait it out.

      Nintendo is actually really well positioned in this war. MS and Sony are banking on competing formats of media (of which only one will win), different architectures, and are actually helping to ensure mutually assured destruction. Nintendo actually has to do very little but continue to slowly release information over time to build to a successful creshendo.

      --
      http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    2. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Andy_R · · Score: 1

      Nintendo is trying to sell the DS at the moment, it doesn't want gamers saving up for next-gen consoles, it wants them buying DS games.

      What's the point then in fighting a vapourware war? Sony are flinging enough mud at MS for all but the most hardened fanboys to be undecided about which console to get until they actually see the launch line-ups for PS3 and XB360. Nintendo are probably saving up all the good stuff for a big splash right around the launch of the other 2 consoles.

      --
      A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
    3. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Gogo0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Some speculate that Nintendo will do their big reveal right after MS's opening keynote at TGS this month. The main idea is to let the initial ps3 and xbox2 hype die down and then have the spotlight solely on them at some point in the road.

      If Nintendo does reveal the Rev at TGS, who do you think all the coverage will be on? And since the hardware for the ps3 and xbox2 were revealed at e3, I think Nintendo will debut the Rev with playable games. Then suddenly all the coverage isnt about how three consoles debuted and one was less powerful, its about how Nintendo's Rev games are more fun than a Gears of War video.

    4. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by RoyalBoyle · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Has there ever been a Slashdot article about Xbox360 that doesn't start out with a slew of Nintendo fans claiming how Revolution will be superior???

    5. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by oGMo · · Score: 1
      Except it Nintendo doesn't really use lame "leaks" they go straight for your balls. Sony and MS use all the hype and obfuscation and viral marketing and leaks. Nintendo just walks softly and carries a big stick when they want to.

      I can't think of any Nintendo leaks off the top of my head, but ... don't imply they don't use hype, obfuscation, or "viral marketing". What do you think E3 was? The Revolution so far as we know is: A black box. It has some blue light or something. It will play games. It will play old games. It has some new funkotastic controller.

      How many rumors, how much hype, how much viral marketing has there been just about the controller? That's all the Revolution is at this point: hype. Vapor. Speculation. It reminds me of this comic about another vaporous console.

      Of course, I don't think it will end up vapor: this is Nintendo! But I'm not entirely convinced even Nintendo knows what they're doing, yet.

      --

      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

    6. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 0, Troll

      I'm no Nintendo fanboy but you can not think of any "leaks" because there haven't been any. Anything leaked, truly was leaked, not by "accident."

      I'm not sure you understand what viral marketing campaigns are, MS's ILOVEBEES or Origen are two examples. Nintendo has never ran a viral marketing campaign so far, and I don't think they ever will, it's not their style.

      Witholding information about an unfinished product is not hype. Sure it generates interest, but that would be like the zen form of hype. "The hype is not to hype." They've basically stated the TRUTH from day 1. But people are so not used to this approach they have to read more into everything.

      Nintendo said that the controller will be innovative and easy to use and fun, they said it will be simple to duplicate by their competitors, they said it isn't finished yet. All truth.

      They said it will download old games. There were rumors that they would be free, Nintendo objected, but then said that they will be free in some instances like with a game purchase or as a marketing tool. Truth.

      They said the system will be about 2x as powerful as current systems in tha face of others claims of 10x+ power. That took balls and again it was the truth, not just for them but for everyone. The next gen systems will be about 2x as powerful. Just as is the normal case. Truth.

      I mean a lot of spin and arguments have come out about all of this but the majority of it comes from US, not them. They actually have been about as truthful as any game company before a launch, even themselves. I can only think that they are pretty sure of themselves and their product, they really haven't turned up the marketing-speak as of yet. And we'll see at TGS if they do or if they keep on with their current approach.

      --
      http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    7. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rohlfinator · · Score: 1
      "I'm not sure you understand what viral marketing campaigns are, MS's ILOVEBEES or Origen are two examples. Nintendo has never ran a viral marketing campaign so far, and I don't think they ever will, it's not their style."


      Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark both had sites similar to ILoveBees, although not nearly as publicized. Nintendo recently ran a viral campaign for Metroid Prime 2, with some fake military manufacturer trying to make morph ball-type armor. And leading up to the DS launch, several non-Nintendo websites had replaced every instance of the letters "ds" with the Nintendo DS logo, which was most certainly Nintendo's doing.
    8. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 1

      Man, I truly am not aware of these instances... if your correct, I stand corrected. I've worked in this industry (but mainly for PS2 titles) and like to think not too much slips by me, but I could be wrong. Heh, there's a first time for everything ;)

      --
      http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
    9. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      And what are the two competing formats of media? I'm guessing you are basing some of your points on very old (and incorrect) news.

      Sony is going with a next-gen format: BlueRay

      Microsoft is sticking with current DVD tech. They are calling it DVD 9.

      It doesn't seem like much of a battle when one of the players is using the exact same format they used in their previous console. Now, I wish that MS was using HD-DVD. But they aren't starting that way.

      There are belly-button fetish sites on the web, and some are based in Japan. So I'm not sure how excited/not-excited your friends actually are.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    10. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      With higher prices, and more a years of time since the launch of the last generation I expect more than double power in the new systems.

      Not 10x the power, but 3-6x the power sounds reasonable to me.

      10x does not sound unreasonable for the PS3 vs the PS2 though.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    11. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you think the Leaning Tower of Pisa looks cool, then yeah, I guess Revolution is cool. Meanwhile, if you opt for the Revolution you'll be settling for a system with inferior specs and childish games. So what your point again?

    12. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by cornface · · Score: 1

      If Nintendo does reveal the Rev at TGS, who do you think all the coverage will be on?

      It won't last. For whatever reason all the gaming magazines and stores hate Nintendo with the same amount of fervor that they love the Xbox.

    13. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rohlfinator · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they were very under-the-radar for the most part, so I don't blame you for missing them. The only reason I remember is because a few guys on some forums I visit got interested in the MP2 one, which led to some discussion on the others.

      It was nowhere near the level of ILoveBees. Really, the only people who knew about it were already plenty hyped for the game, so it had little or no effect. Here's a little piece about the campaign, which is about all the press it ever got.

    14. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Nintendo knows that no matter how badly MS wants to break into Japan, they never will. I have many friends in Japan and the actual interest is so low it's akin to their excitement at belly-button lint.

      Well, seeing as the Japanese are largely xenophobic and close-minded, this doesn't come as a surprise.
    15. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They said the system will be about 2x as powerful as current systems in tha face of others claims of 10x+ power. That took balls and again it was the truth, not just for them but for everyone. The next gen systems will be about 2x as powerful. Just as is the normal case. Truth.

      Huh? I can't think of a console example where this was actually true. The SNES was certainly more than twice as powerful as the NES, the N64 was far more than twice as powerful as the SNES, and the Gamecube was more significantly powerful than the N64. The same is true with Sega's various systems, Sony's systems, and by all accounts and visual media so far MS' systems. You can see this both in raw hardware console stats and/or actual game performance. Sequels are the best way to confirm this behavior - look at something like Mario Kart DD, which runs at more than double the framerate of MK64 with considerably more complicated and complex graphics. Assuming we can trust Bizarre Creations (and I think we can), one simple bridge in a specific PGR3 course has more polygons than an entire course had in PGR2 - it is also running at least double the framerate, a much higher resolution, with significantly higher texture quality, more special effects, and a ridiculously more complex lighting model. Sure, there are always underperforming games for every console, but those aren't the examples you use to determine how much stronger the hardware actually is. Can you list any actual major counterexamples?

      It's even just a simple Moore's Law type of evolution. If new consoles come out every 4+ years they are simply going to be more than twice as powerful as their predecessor unless the manufacturer really screwed up somehow (or potentially went really cheap, which is what seems like the possible scenario with the Revolution).

      An easy example is the PS2. As you know, the PS2 has 40 or so megs of RAM inside of it. The PS1 had a little more than 4 megs of total RAM. The CPU saw a similar boost, going from 34 to 295 mhz (while also being able to do more per mhz). That's just how hardware evolution over that kind of time period works. Sure, you generally won't get the 10X factor that the specs suggest for actual games (though you do occasionally get more), but that's the truth of all hardware spec comparisons. There's simply no way the PS2 is only 2 or even 3 times more powerful than the PS1 - even crappy Simple 2000 games manage to demonstrate this fact.

      Witholding information about an unfinished product is not hype. Sure it generates interest, but that would be like the zen form of hype. "The hype is not to hype." They've basically stated the TRUTH from day 1. But people are so not used to this approach they have to read more into everything.

      How is constantly bitching in public that gaming is getting stagnant ("oh, except for us, we care about INNOVATION!") and then naming your mystery console "Revolution" not hype? Teasing people with that kind of name for years while only giving small amounts of info out is completely and utterly a form of hype.

      It's great that you obviously love Nintendo and that love makes you happy, but try and keep some basis in reality for the rest of us.

      --
      There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
    16. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and don't forget the latest viral marketing for the launch of Metroid Prime 2.

    17. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's funny that you say this when:
      a) The final specs haven't been announced yet, and
      b) No games have been announced yet.

      So what's your point again?

    18. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is no simple way to measure the increased level of performance of graphics hardware over the past 5 years. The fact is that going from the N64 to Gamecube you could make a claim like 'The Gamecube is 10 times as powerful' and could back it up with meaningful statistics; that is the Gamecube could produce 10 times as many polygons per frame while still maintaining texturing and lighting effects that are appropriate for current games.

      When you look at the improvement of Real-Time graphics over the past 5 or so years the emphasis has been less on producing more polygons and more on producing better lighting and texturing effects. The vast majority of graphicaly superior PC games do not produce much more than twice as many polygons per frame as the Gamecube currently does, although they have dramatically better texturing and lighting effects. I suspect that if any of the consoles produce 2-4 times as many polygons per frame as the Gamecube does, at 60 frames per second, while maintaning high quality pixel and vertex shaders, and having 8XAA and 8XAF on the games will be far more beautiful than anyone can really comprehend.

      Now, on a side note, I must say that we're hitting a point where technical improvement is not the important feature in producing graphically impressive games. The important factor is artistic beauty of the game art itself. As an example compare World of Warcraft to Everquest 2. In practically every way Everquest 2 was a more technically impressive game but the superior Artistic style of World of Warcraft makes it the prettier game. I personally argue that Half-Life 2 was a better looking game than Doom 3 not because HL2 was technically better (although it was) but more because it was a far more varied and less stale environment. Honestly, the 'Dreamcast' of this generation will still have some amazingly good looking games and doesn't need to be as powerful as the 'XBox/Gamecube' of this generation.

    19. Re:Nintendo Revolution Rumor by rAiNsT0rm · · Score: 0, Troll

      You can say what you will, and BTW you've been on my "foe" list for some time, but if you follow my posts I am not on Nintendo's side for any other reason besides they are the only console maker to try something NEW in this next round. I applaud that.

      I have been a member of the Sony only media. However you want to try to paint me as a Nintendo fanboy. Whatever man, give it a rest.

      If you see innovation in the 360 or PS3, you are kidding yourself.

      Also FYI most console releases are about 2x as powerful as their predecessor overall. And the truth is that the PS1's IO processor was 33.8688MHz the PS2's: 36.864MHz! Want me to keep going? I can blow your claims out of the water on every console you listed. I spent 2 years working directly with the PS1 and PS2 hardware... so take your shit elsewhere. You're not going to stump me, and you can try all you want but at some point you need to give it a rest and move on. If you don;t like what I say, then don't read it.

      I look at things objectively, fairly, and critically. I've been in this bsiness long enough to not fall into the pitfalls that most fans do. I am excited for the Revolution. I'd be just as excited if it were a Sony or Ms creation that was attempting to usher in fun, gameplay, and substance over glitz, hype and flash.

      The Revolution is pretty damn revolutionary in todays age of games, to deny this is idiocy.

      --
      http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
  2. Controls by AsiNisiMasa · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You can specify, for example, that you prefer to invert the right analogue stick camera control and this will then be picked up on in any game you play.

    Well that's certainly a plus. I always worry when a new game comes out wheter or not I'll be able to use the controls that I'm used to. It seems like a silly thing to worry about, but my worst fears came true when they took jumpy out of Halo 2. What were they thinking? These settings should encourage more of an industry (or at least, console) standard, I think.

    On another note, with the XBox 360 so much like a PC and cross platform gaming planned, how long is it before there's a serious problem regarding the use of mouse versus a controller? Even if the cross platform games don't bring up too much of a problem (perhaps they're MMORPGs), but what are the chances somebody gets a mouse working on their console? That would give them quite an advantage in something like an FPS.

    --
    Help a student gain some exp. http://www.halovariants.com/touchup/index.php
    1. Re:Controls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I'm sure that Xbox 360 games will accidentally support a mouse controller and someone who thinks to connect it will pwn everyone.

      You do realize that it's incredibly easy to NOT support the mouse in an FPS, right? Like, easier than it is to support it. Then no amount of tinkering will give you mouse support because it's simply IMPOSSIBLE to turn faster than the game allows.

      Think before you post.

  3. ENOUGH ALREADY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Damnit, Zonk, you've been posting about one story per day about the damned 360 for the last TWO WEEKS!

    ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! GIVE IT A REST!

    Wait until the dammned thing LAUNCHES before you post 'yet more' stories on it. PLEASE!

    1. Re:ENOUGH ALREADY! by Patrik_AKA_RedX · · Score: 2, Funny

      Zonk works for Nintendo. By the time the Xbox launches, everyone on /. will be so tired of it, they wouldn't dream of buying an Xbox but wait for the Revolution instead. It's all part of the Grand Plan.

    2. Re:ENOUGH ALREADY! by rohlfinator · · Score: 1

      This is the [i]games[/i] channel. There's not a whole lot of videogame news right now. The next big upcoming gaming event is the launch of the Xbox 360 (unless you're more excited about the Game Boy Micro, I guess).

      Expect to see plenty of news about the 360, at least until it launches, when the attention may be turned to the PS3 or Revolution.

    3. Re:ENOUGH ALREADY! by rohlfinator · · Score: 1

      ... that's games... darn HTML.

  4. Ring o' light by timmahtron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "The "ring of light" around the power button highlights which wireless controller is being used, highlighting player one's activity in the top-left quadrant. When the console is laid on its side, it senses this and starts using the top-left quadrant as you see it with the console laid flat. What's more, the ring of light motif is spread throughout the Xbox 360 interface, so you can see which player pulled up the "Guide" page as you're watching a film or playing a game and, in the words of Satchell, "slap him"." That last little part cracked me up. Find out whodunit and administer the whopping. My current Xbox is modded and no Xbox Live for me, but I did have it prior to getting the chip. I might hold off and just use the regular old box for a while. The new Live features look pretty impressive.

  5. Re:Hard to find something to ridicule here, but... by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 1

    Ow!
    Just got stabbed by the blades!

    I think real blades would hurt less!

    Yah, that's the best I can do.

  6. Kiosks by TEMM · · Score: 1

    Wont the Kiosks be great once someone figures how to load viruses onto them from whatever media is used to transfer content from kiosk to xbox. XBox Kiosk virus with a Xbox 360 virus payload.

  7. 360 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Am I the only one who read it as the number of details of something is 360?

  8. It's all about timing... by RUFFyamahaRYDER · · Score: 1

    Nintendo is playing it smart. They haven't released much info because they are waiting for MS and Sony to give out all their information about their systems. Right before MS releases its 360 I'm sure Nintendo will pull a couple rabbits out of it's hat and try to make people think, "Wow, that Nintendo is pretty cool... Maybe I should wait...?"

    If MS has already showed everything it has to offer they can't counter with anything new to make gamers want to buy the system now rather than wait to check out what Nintendo has to offer.

  9. Various thoughts by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Interesting
    On the issue of cooling - Satchell said he thought the system had three fans (he said he wasn't sure but thought it was three, so we'd open to correction on that one), and we couldn't hear them at all as he spoke. When you play a DVD, it powers down to just one fan. It's "a lot" better than the "wind tunnel" alpha kits, he said.

    I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that the Xbox 360 used water cooling. Given that they're using some varient of a PowerPC chip, of which the latest versions run to hot to make it into a laptop, and have the clock speed cranked up as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using a water cooling system. Can anyone verify this?

    DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control, unlike Xbox 1.

    I'm guessing that this is the reason for the increased price in the controllers. According to the price lists on the major sites, wireless controllers were $50, and wired were $40. I'm guessing that price hike is mostly due to royalty fees necessary to include DVD functionality since MS doesn't hold the patent. That's why the Xbox couldn't play DVDs out of the box. It looks like they've given the controllers the necessary functionality to play DVDs as well, driving up the cost slightly. I'm wondering if it wouldn't have just been better to build the technology into the console though? Maybe I'm off the mark on this one and MS is just raising prices to make more money.

    iPods are detected by default, as are PSPs, and by our watch it took about 2 or 3 seconds for the Xbox 360 to notice they were there. With an iPod plugged in you can play music direct through the Dashboard software, with visualisations, or you can play a slideshow of photographs.

    That's a pretty nice feature, although you can just plug an iPod directly into a TV for a slideshow. I don't know if running through the Xbox 360 to a HD TV will result in better visuals or not though. I'm also interested in what interaction the Xbox 360 will be able to have with the PSP beyond what is listed.

    Xbox Live will allow you to play in various Zones - there will be causal, pro, family, and underground (where "anything goes") and perhaps more - and these will allow you to go for whatever kind of experience you like.

    I'm pretty big on this feature. I just got Xbox Live a short while ago so I could play with my friends online. I've noticed there are a lot of assholes on Live and would like to avoid them if possible. The current Halo 2 scene on there is generally not something for young children. It is funny to hear someone yell, "I'm going to skull rape your mother!" to someone and blast them with a shotgun, but it's probably not something I'd want any of my children to hear or repeat.

    The wireless networking adapter plugs into the USB 2.0 port on the back of the console and is "like a small pack of cigarettes" in terms of size.

    I'd like to know if third party wireless network adapters will be able to work. Right now I've got my Xbox on the wireless network in my apartment. I could probably just use the current setup and run a cord from ethernet jack to the wireless adapter, but it can get a little laggy at times, especially with the poor internet service. But at $99, the adapter from MS seems a little expensive.

    You can plug in a keyboard but this is for text input only - including in massively-multiplayer games. You can't use it to play games and that was a design choice.

    Probably a good choice. If you could get a mouse and keyboard to play an FPS, you'd probably have an edge over gamers using controllers. Point and click sniping is a lot easier than manipulating analog sticks in my opinion. It might be nice to give people the option of playing with a keyboard and mouse though. This would open up the console to more traditional PC games like RTS and other FPS games. Just don't allow keyboard//mouse users to play against controller users.

    Likewise, the System blade allows greater control over family settings. Micros

    1. Re:Various thoughts by hollismb · · Score: 1

      I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that the Xbox 360 used water cooling. Given that they're using some varient of a PowerPC chip, of which the latest versions run to hot to make it into a laptop, and have the clock speed cranked up as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using a water cooling system. Can anyone verify this?

      I've read about water cooling too, but early OurColony.net images had two fans on a motherboard, and it's been said a few times that both chips and fans would power up and down based on what the console is doing. Playing a game? Three dual core chips and two/three fans. Watching a movie? One chip, one fan. So, I can't answer that one too well.

      DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control, unlike Xbox 1.

      I'm guessing that this is the reason for the increased price in the controllers. According to the price lists on the major sites, wireless controllers were $50, and wired were $40. I'm guessing that price hike is mostly due to royalty fees necessary to include DVD functionality since MS doesn't hold the patent. That's why the Xbox couldn't play DVDs out of the box. It looks like they've given the controllers the necessary functionality to play DVDs as well, driving up the cost slightly. I'm wondering if it wouldn't have just been better to build the technology into the console though? Maybe I'm off the mark on this one and MS is just raising prices to make more money.

      They're raising prices to make more money, I think. The reason you had to buy the remote for DVD playback on the first Xbox is that the cost of paying royalties was included in the remote cost and not the cost of the Xbox. Back then Microsoft wasn't a member of the DVD Consortium (or whatever it's called), but now they are, so they can include DVD playback for free.

      I'd like to know if third party wireless network adapters will be able to work. Right now I've got my Xbox on the wireless network in my apartment. I could probably just use the current setup and run a cord from ethernet jack to the wireless adapter, but it can get a little laggy at times, especially with the poor internet service. But at $99, the adapter from MS seems a little expensive.

      As far as the existing ethernet devices go, yes, you can use them just fine and that's been confirmed. Don't know about USB devices. My guess is probably not.

    2. Re:Various thoughts by Keeper · · Score: 3, Informative

      I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that the Xbox 360 used water cooling. Given that they're using some varient of a PowerPC chip, of which the latest versions run to hot to make it into a laptop, and have the clock speed cranked up as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they were using a water cooling system. Can anyone verify this?

      It uses heat pipes. It is liquid cooling in the sense that fluid transfers the heat to a different location. The pipes trasfer the heat to fins in the back of the unit (where the air is cooler, and you have better airflow).

      I'm guessing that this is the reason for the increased price in the controllers.

      Nope. You don't have to pay a license fee based on the number of remotes you have ... With the Xbox1, you paid it with the dvd remote (which is why that stupid thing was so expensive). With the Xbox360, you pay for it when you buy the unit.

      I don't know if running through the Xbox 360 to a HD TV will result in better visuals or not though

      Yes, it will.

      Right now I've got my Xbox on the wireless network in my apartment. I could probably just use the current setup and run a cord from ethernet jack to the wireless adapter, but it can get a little laggy at times, especially with the poor internet service. But at $99, the adapter from MS seems a little expensive.

      Having a built-in wireless device isn't going to make your connection any less laggy. The $99 adapter is an 802.11a/b/g device, which is one of the reasons why it is expensive. I'd personally stick with the ethernet->wap solution.

      I'd like to see a system similar to a PC where each user signs on and has certain permission levels

      That's essentially what they're describing.

  10. Enough! by kernelfoobar · · Score: 0, Troll

    Enough of this Xbox360 shit, I'm tired of hearing about it, please stop posting fucking xbox 'articles'.

    --
    Here we go again!
    1. Re:Enough! by merdark · · Score: 1

      You can ignore it. I'm tired of hearing Linux diatrib. I ignore that.

    2. Re:Enough! by Palshife · · Score: 1

      Wow, you're DEFINITELY reading the wrong site.

      --
      Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
    3. Re:Enough! by kernelfoobar · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      You don't agree with me, fine, but modding me a troll? How was my comment a troll? I was expressing that fact that I was tired of hearing about the damn Xbox360, look at the slashdot articles from August:
      • Xbox 360 Details and NYC Store On August 31st, 2005 with 47 comments
      • New Xbox Live Pricing Revealed On August 30th, 2005 with 72 comments
      • Japanese Devs Talk 360 Development On August 30th, 2005 with 65 comments
      • The Xbox 360 Motherboard Exposed On August 28th, 2005 with 30 comments
      • The 360's Towering Pricetag Explored On August 25th, 2005 with 224 comments
      • XBox 360 Bundles Top $700 On August 24th, 2005 with 150 comments
      • Xbox 360 - What You Get For Your Money On August 22nd, 2005 with 108 comments
      • J Allard Interviewed On August 22nd, 2005 with 233 comments
      • Xbox 360 - What You Get For Your Money On August 22nd, 2005 with 108 comments
      • Xbox360 Pricing, 2 Models at Launch On August 17th, 2005 with 621 comments
      • 20 Reasons Why The 360 Might Fail in Japan On August 16th, 2005 with 120 comments
      • Xbox 360 Launch to Face Several Hurdles On August 16th, 2005 with 428 comments
      • The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox On August 12th, 2005 with 284 comments
      • An Original Xbox Designer Talks 360 On August 11th, 2005 with 71 comments
      • MS Seeks Entrance Fee to XBox Accessory Market On August 10th, 2005 with 385 comments
      • Analyst Says Two 360 Versions At Launch On August 10th, 2005 with 81 comments
      • Behind the Xbox Boot Code On August 8th, 2005 with 52 comments
      • Xbox As An Indie Movie Studio On August 7th, 2005 with 114 comments
      • What Xbox Games Will Be Backwards Compatible? On August 5th, 2005 with 164 comments
      • Sony May Delay PS3 Until 2007 On August 4th, 2005 with 457 comments
      • Xbox 360 for $300 On August 3rd, 2005 with 723 comments
      • Half-Life 3 on the XBox 360? On August 2nd, 2005 with 88 comments
      ENOUGH WITH THAT XBOX SHIT ALREADY!
      I'm sure there other more newsworthy game related stuff out there.
      --
      Here we go again!
    4. Re:Enough! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you disable display of the Games stories in your profile then? The first conosle of this generation to come out is huge gaming news. If you aren't interested then Games stories don't belong on your front page anyway.

    5. Re:Enough! by MBraynard · · Score: 1

      Further, I think it's possible to filter out Xbox stories. Since I plan to buy the console, I do appreciate the news here.

  11. Re:The Dreamcast 360 Can't Do Physics by mconeone · · Score: 1

    This is not a confirmed story by the maker of the chips. Once it is confirmed by a reputable source, then I would criticize /. for not reporting it.

  12. Re:Hard to find something to ridicule here, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The pages of the Xbox 360 user interface are called "blades".

    Wow! That's edgy!

  13. The tenth or so bulliten. by Leveler+of+Nations · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    f you yank

    Now how on earth did that typo slip by an editor at eurogamer.net in London?

    --
    Ughnnnnerrrrahhhhh.
  14. Re:The Dreamcast 360 Can't Do Physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah it's funny how slashdot posts the fake story about the 7800 being faster than RSX (and then fails to post the corrected article) but when there's a story that reveals a flaw in the 360 it is nowhere to be found.

    Like you said, it seems like MS is spending $$$ here...

  15. No viral marketing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about that stupid "touching is good" garbage when they released the DS? Nintendo does retarded marketing, too, they just don't exaggerate everything like Sony and MS.

    On the whole, though, you guys are right. Nintendo doesn't say anything and nerds on the Internet make up all sorts of hype for them.

  16. Re:The Dreamcast 360 Can't Do Physics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You do reliaze that the quotation in question is from a company that had tried to get Microsoft to license their physics engine, was rejected, and was then brought on board by Sony, right?

  17. Re:Hard to find something to ridicule here, but... by MilenCent · · Score: 1

    While ordinarily I'm not one to question a moderation, I'm finding it difficult to see how my post is redundant when I was one of the first respondants here, and no one had mentioned the "blades" thingy before me to my memory....

    It's no big deal really, just odd.