So are there cabling add-ons that are required to drive HD gaming? The way I read this passage, the only thing 360 supports "out of the box" is NTSC.
360 comes with component cables designed for HD, out of the box. 360 Core only comes with NTSC-capable composite; you have to pay extra for HD output. S-Video & VGA cables are also available for both.
At least this time all the cables support optical Dolby 5.1 out.
You may be right, but the success of a console depends on far more than launch day. They need sustained sales for years to catch up to Sony, let alone take the lead as they aim.
They've stressed more than once they're aiming for 100%, and since they've got no laurels to rest on yet, they're more likely to give it their best shot. If they say they'll do all of them & they only do half, people are going to hold it against them, no question.
Right now, backwards compatibility is a weak spot for them, and they know it (ironic, as the success of Windows is built primarily on backwards compatibility). If they can turn it around & deliver better compatibility than Sony, you can bet they'll want to do that. They have the will & they have the money. They're in it for the long term, so they have to show their commitment at every turn.
Xbox.com: What criteria do you use in choosing which Xbox games will be backward compatible on Xbox 360? How far back into the Xbox game library are you going to go?
Todd: When we say Xbox library, we mean the entire Xbox library. This ranges all the way from our launch in 2001 up to games that haven't even shipped yet.
If they can do 241 games in a few months, including writing the emulator, I don't imagine the rest will take that long. In the meantime, you'll just have to be content with running your Xbox games on your Xbox, tough as that is.
...to a completely different architecture, of every single Xbox game, with all the associated debugging, testing etc - and that's assuming they can get ahold of the source code to the third party
games too (yeah, like studios are going to hand over their IP lifeblood, to Microsoft at that).
Look, the problem is they can't meet demand no matter what they do. They haven't been able to make enough, and you're going to see some stores selling out no matter what.
So, they could a) dump them all on the first day, tough luck for the people who missed out, no idea when the next shipment will arrive (PS2-style), and so when people find out this is what's going to happen the rush will be on as you describe, or b) they supply what they can while ensuring that they can continue to make regular shipments, so that those who miss out on day one can be assured their machine will be arriving as scheduled in 3 weeks, just in time for Christmas. Less of a panicked rush, more of a controlled release.
If you get past Gizmodo's take & read TFTAs that they link to, you'll see MS chose option b), not a) as you imply. It's ludicrous to assume they don't care how many are sold because they're trying to make the most PR out of their limited stock. You can be sure that if they had enough for everyone, they'd sell them all.
If you read the rest of my links, you'll see it's not the "encoder" or "decoder" that's patented, or the ISO source (which is copyrighted but open for use), it's the technologies & techniques required to implement MP3-compatible algorithms. A quote from here:
Lame does not contain any of the Fraunhofer Institute code, the lame source code is fully GPL. However, personal and commercial use of compiled versions of LAME (or any other mp3 encoder) requires a patent license in some countries.
Not all countries support software patents, and in those countries, LAME is free for use. Of course, it commonly gets used even in the US & Germany too, and although Fraunhofer isn't likely to sue an individual over it, it's far more likely that they'd go after a large, cashed-up business that incorporated it into one of their high-investment products.
Basically, although software patents are controversial, MS has no need to take the risk. They'd be more likely to just pay Fraunhofer the licence fee (as they have for the mp3 codec included with Windows), but they have a perfectly good standard that they own themselves (which was developed in response to the patent), and it makes much more sense to use this in a closed platform like Xbox.
This explains why Microsoft would need to pay royalties. Even LAME is not exempt (at least in Germany & the USA) - the whole reason for its original name ("LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder") is to help avoid the patent issues around mp3 encoding.
If you're talking about simply loading mp3 files onto the iPod from an Xbox 360 without a PC, that would be easy enough, as you say (I was talking more about buying music from iTMS without a PC).
However, the Xbox 360 itself likely doesn't/can't generate mp3 files (since MS wouldn't be paying for the licence to Fraunhofer I bet). As with the first Xbox, all CDs are ripped to WMA files - which don't play on an iPod...
You could of course rip with a PC or download with a PC, but then you wouldn't need the Xbox 360 for anything except convenient playback, and we know it already does that.
...so long as the console hardware is subsidised. Only when/if MS can sell the Xbox 360 for a profit, without requiring further game/peripheral sales, will they consider any other significant use for it.
You'll note that Linux for the PS2 came in the form of a fairly expensive HDD peripheral - I'd bet the profit from that more than made up for any remaining losses on the PS2 itself.
You could use iTunes to load up your iPod, and not own a "proper" PC or Apple computer.
I think not. For one, no-one's mentioned anything about PS3 or Xbox 360 running iTunes or becoming iTMS-compatible, nor about Xbox Live Marketplace selling music or other media, and two, Xbox 360 (and almost certainly PS3) cannot play iTMS-encrypted FairPlay AAC files, only unprotected AAC.
I would imagine that, if iTMS explicitly allows you to burn your purchased tracks to CD, there's probably something in the site's legal notes that you have permission from the copyright holder to make that particular copy, which would be fine. It's certainly implied, IMHO.
This is presuming that the forthcoming Australian version of iTMS actually does grant you that right...
This will probably mark the first moment any iPod user in Australia can stop breaking the law.
Last I checked, it is still illegal here to make a copy of the music on a CD you own, for any reason at all - personal uses of any type included, even for an MP3 player. We have no fair-use provision in our copyright laws, nor (AFAIK) are we getting any as a result of the Free Trade deal with the USA (though copyright terms are being drastically lengthened to match the US). We own the media, but have no "license to the music".
There are already a few online music stores in Australia, but to my knowledge they only sell songs in WMA format, not much good for iPod owners. iTMS will be the first useful site.
I can imagine that all of our iPods would be desperately looking forward to playing something other than crappy bootlegged highschool bands, home-recorded birdsong & the occasional scroungings from Creative Commons.
I can say that quite often movies etc are *extremely* behind
Often, yes, but not always. Serenity and Wallace & Gromit both opened here in Oz some days earlier than Nth America. Not that this makes up for the many movies that are months later. Perhaps digital distribution will make this easier, spurred on by the desire to reduce the wholesale piracy that inevitably results from this distribution gap.
So an Aussie could probably import a bunch of DVD's and selling them whilst the show is still in theatres.
Nothing so shocking about that. Should be the norm rather than the exception IMHO; that's what consumer choice is about. And as mentioned above, DVD region encoding is largely a non-issue here these days. However, burning a copy of a DVD, even included with the original, would be right out, under Australian copyright laws.
What made you think that was a movie of the controller in action?
That was a movie of a bunch of actors swinging around the controllers in suggestive ways. There were no games running during the making of that video - there are no games for it yet, just tech demos, and even those don't match what the actors were implying - no "drumming" or "cooking" games yet.
What you're seeing is the director's impression of what games will be like. It's the Killzone video all over again.
Wait until you've tried it for yourself, with the games you want to play. It might be awesome, it might suck, and that will depend very much on both the type of game, and the player.
Yeah, but would you be happy with only 20 MB of data each month?
That'd be gone in about 10.5 minutes. Another 5 minutes later, and your speed would be reduced back to that of dialup. Oh, and they charge you 10c/MB beyond that too.
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360 comes with component cables designed for HD, out of the box. 360 Core only comes with NTSC-capable composite; you have to pay extra for HD output. S-Video & VGA cables are also available for both.
At least this time all the cables support optical Dolby 5.1 out.
They've stressed more than once they're aiming for 100%, and since they've got no laurels to rest on yet, they're more likely to give it their best shot. If they say they'll do all of them & they only do half, people are going to hold it against them, no question.
Right now, backwards compatibility is a weak spot for them, and they know it (ironic, as the success of Windows is built primarily on backwards compatibility). If they can turn it around & deliver better compatibility than Sony, you can bet they'll want to do that. They have the will & they have the money. They're in it for the long term, so they have to show their commitment at every turn.
Xbox.com: What criteria do you use in choosing which Xbox games will be backward compatible on Xbox 360? How far back into the Xbox game library are you going to go?
Todd: When we say Xbox library, we mean the entire Xbox library. This ranges all the way from our launch in 2001 up to games that haven't even shipped yet.
If they can do 241 games in a few months, including writing the emulator, I don't imagine the rest will take that long. In the meantime, you'll just have to be content with running your Xbox games on your Xbox, tough as that is.
It's a lot smarter for them to write an emulator.
They sound cute. Where do I get them, Japan?
Including the US?
So, they could a) dump them all on the first day, tough luck for the people who missed out, no idea when the next shipment will arrive (PS2-style), and so when people find out this is what's going to happen the rush will be on as you describe, or b) they supply what they can while ensuring that they can continue to make regular shipments, so that those who miss out on day one can be assured their machine will be arriving as scheduled in 3 weeks, just in time for Christmas. Less of a panicked rush, more of a controlled release.
If you get past Gizmodo's take & read TFTAs that they link to, you'll see MS chose option b), not a) as you imply. It's ludicrous to assume they don't care how many are sold because they're trying to make the most PR out of their limited stock. You can be sure that if they had enough for everyone, they'd sell them all.
... it is scratched.
Lame does not contain any of the Fraunhofer Institute code, the lame source code is fully GPL. However, personal and commercial use of compiled versions of LAME (or any other mp3 encoder) requires a patent license in some countries.
Not all countries support software patents, and in those countries, LAME is free for use. Of course, it commonly gets used even in the US & Germany too, and although Fraunhofer isn't likely to sue an individual over it, it's far more likely that they'd go after a large, cashed-up business that incorporated it into one of their high-investment products.
Basically, although software patents are controversial, MS has no need to take the risk. They'd be more likely to just pay Fraunhofer the licence fee (as they have for the mp3 codec included with Windows), but they have a perfectly good standard that they own themselves (which was developed in response to the patent), and it makes much more sense to use this in a closed platform like Xbox.
This explains why Microsoft would need to pay royalties. Even LAME is not exempt (at least in Germany & the USA) - the whole reason for its original name ("LAME Ain't an Mp3 Encoder") is to help avoid the patent issues around mp3 encoding.
However, the Xbox 360 itself likely doesn't/can't generate mp3 files (since MS wouldn't be paying for the licence to Fraunhofer I bet). As with the first Xbox, all CDs are ripped to WMA files - which don't play on an iPod...
You could of course rip with a PC or download with a PC, but then you wouldn't need the Xbox 360 for anything except convenient playback, and we know it already does that.
You'll note that Linux for the PS2 came in the form of a fairly expensive HDD peripheral - I'd bet the profit from that more than made up for any remaining losses on the PS2 itself.
I think not. For one, no-one's mentioned anything about PS3 or Xbox 360 running iTunes or becoming iTMS-compatible, nor about Xbox Live Marketplace selling music or other media, and two, Xbox 360 (and almost certainly PS3) cannot play iTMS-encrypted FairPlay AAC files, only unprotected AAC.
Not gonna happen, I'm afraid.
This is presuming that the forthcoming Australian version of iTMS actually does grant you that right...
Last I checked, it is still illegal here to make a copy of the music on a CD you own, for any reason at all - personal uses of any type included, even for an MP3 player. We have no fair-use provision in our copyright laws, nor (AFAIK) are we getting any as a result of the Free Trade deal with the USA (though copyright terms are being drastically lengthened to match the US). We own the media, but have no "license to the music".
There are already a few online music stores in Australia, but to my knowledge they only sell songs in WMA format, not much good for iPod owners. iTMS will be the first useful site.
I can imagine that all of our iPods would be desperately looking forward to playing something other than crappy bootlegged highschool bands, home-recorded birdsong & the occasional scroungings from Creative Commons.
Oh wait sorry, wrong franchise.
I'm sure one could draw a historical parallel between lead poisoning & bad hashes, if one were less lazy than I.
Often, yes, but not always. Serenity and Wallace & Gromit both opened here in Oz some days earlier than Nth America. Not that this makes up for the many movies that are months later. Perhaps digital distribution will make this easier, spurred on by the desire to reduce the wholesale piracy that inevitably results from this distribution gap.
So an Aussie could probably import a bunch of DVD's and selling them whilst the show is still in theatres.
Nothing so shocking about that. Should be the norm rather than the exception IMHO; that's what consumer choice is about. And as mentioned above, DVD region encoding is largely a non-issue here these days. However, burning a copy of a DVD, even included with the original, would be right out, under Australian copyright laws.
I'm skeptical of your claim.
If it's a hoax, it's fooled a lot of people.
That was a movie of a bunch of actors swinging around the controllers in suggestive ways. There were no games running during the making of that video - there are no games for it yet, just tech demos, and even those don't match what the actors were implying - no "drumming" or "cooking" games yet.
What you're seeing is the director's impression of what games will be like. It's the Killzone video all over again.
Wait until you've tried it for yourself, with the games you want to play. It might be awesome, it might suck, and that will depend very much on both the type of game, and the player.
That'd be gone in about 10.5 minutes. Another 5 minutes later, and your speed would be reduced back to that of dialup. Oh, and they charge you 10c/MB beyond that too.
Presuming the modems at each end are as efficient as DSL & use similar packet sizes, there's little reason to expect different latencies.
I'd still like to see corroboration, though.
...without the G5 AltiVec enhancements or any instruction reordering, or any of the things that make a G5 cool.