Quote :

"During the annual meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, Bill Gates mentioned that the software menu of Xbox 360 would be similar to Microsoft’s Media Center version of Windows, which is meant to be located in the living room next to your TV and home speaker system. Video game players want to be able to chat with their buddies, know when others are present online, and will want to access their music and photos on their consoles in an interface already familiar to them, Gates said. Gates didn’t really discuss the consoles features and always referred to the next system as Xenon instead of its “presumed” name, Xbox 360. He wouldn’t even comment on it. "

this should be interesting.
if it can output dvi, i'm gonna be very happy.

what's the point of gaming consoles anyways now? they're all just pc's, but pc's have better graphics.

5/3/2005 2:17:56 AM

controllers and portability

5/3/2005 2:20:49 AM

hey they got this thing out for xbox's called xbox media center, i dunno if you have heard of it

5/3/2005 2:24:46 AM

i've heard of people hooking up xbox controllers to computers

portability-true.

if the next xbox is a media center pc, i'm sure it'll be even easier to play the games on a true computer. looking forward to that.

^ i just looked into that - pretty cool. so then they better up the ante because i guess it's already been done now.

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 2:26 AM. Reason : .]

5/3/2005 2:24:50 AM

consoles have the couch advantage
way better than a desk and a chair

5/3/2005 2:26:19 AM

lol
i have mine hooked up to my lcd using s-video

desk and chair is just as comfy if you've got the right chair

5/3/2005 2:27:11 AM

xbox games with 720p support look pretty amazing, all 4 of them


svideo no wonder you are bitching about image quality, consult my sync on green for the win thread

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 2:27 AM. Reason : d]

5/3/2005 2:27:28 AM

link plz?

yeah, s-vid bites. i don't really see much difference from rca, but since i don't have anything hi-tech enough to use component, it's the best i can do. maybe i'll take a loan out and buy a projector with component haha

5/3/2005 2:30:29 AM

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=314718

5/3/2005 2:31:04 AM

omgbwn?

5/3/2005 2:32:45 AM

fear MDF projector

5/3/2005 2:34:32 AM

Quote :

"dFshadow: if the next xbox is a media center pc, i'm sure it'll be even easier to play the games on a true computer. looking forward to that. "

Ha! The next Xbox is going to be using PPC processors (3 of them at 3Ghz each), and is going to have an architecture more different than a regular computer, compared to the current Xbox.

5/3/2005 2:35:39 AM

oh no, we got a crazed fanboy

5/3/2005 2:37:52 AM

Quote :

"is going to have an architecture more different than a regular computer, compared to the current Xbox."

yeah, I've heard the architecture more resembles that of a traditional game console in some ways (proprietary technologies made to order by IBM) and somewhere near the realm of supercomputer (power pc cell technology!)

5/3/2005 2:40:07 AM

I heard it's going to be debuted on MTV. What day would that be?

5/3/2005 2:41:36 AM

May 12th is the MTV thing.

Also, the Xbox2 is not using Cell, but it is using the PPE of Cell.

Cell, for those who don't know, has 1 PPE, which is a full PPC processor that can do things all processors can do, and working under it, there are 8 SPEs (at the same clock as the PPE) than do floating point stuff really fast, and integer stuff kinda fast, but don't have all the control logic a full processor has.

5/3/2005 2:49:34 AM

in english bitte?

5/3/2005 2:52:08 AM

Xbox2 doesn't use Cell, but is still going to be pretty freaking fast.

5/3/2005 2:54:16 AM

ah, is it ps3 that's just using cell? I know they're both IBM chips PPC chips, thought they were both cell too. ah well

5/3/2005 2:56:22 AM

Yeah, the PS3 is using Cell (it's made by IBM, Toshiba, and Sony). Nintendo is also using a PPC chip in their next console, but supposedly it's not Cell and it's not the Cell PPE, but Nintendo hasn't confirmed yet. They will be releasing more info at E3 (sometime this month, not sure of the date though).

The PS3 is also using Rambus interconnects that are also a crapload faster than the busses on computers today.

5/3/2005 3:02:38 AM

yeah game cube already uses a IBM Gekko processor PPC. I still have one of the t-shirts from when my dad worked on it. ah well, guess nintendo's not trying to even pretend to compete in terms of horse power this time.

5/3/2005 3:19:16 AM

The Gecko is a slightly modified G3 (PPC 750, the processor that Apple use to use in its computers).

But, Nintendo says that their next console is still going to be competitive as far as power to the PS3/Xbox2. The PPE is a high-clocked processor, but it's only in-order execution, and it has some other limitations that make modern processors (P4, Athlon64, PPC970) easily keep up with it for a lot of things (all those processor have fairly extensive out-of-order execution capabilities which is a good thing) at less clock speed. Where the Cell really shines, apart from floating point, is that it achieves its performance at lower power (and heat) usage, and easier-to-produce designs than other processors, but it requires extensive optimization to perform really well, and is more prone to stalling on badly optimized code.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050502-4872.html

This brief article about the Cell sums it up, kinda. You can see the Cell has potential, but no one can really say how good it is until it is released, and people start using it.

5/3/2005 3:31:19 AM

isn't the nintendo chip supposed to be basically a modified g5?

5/3/2005 3:43:32 AM

I haven't heard anything about it.

5/3/2005 3:52:25 AM

eh the only reason I could see it not being a G5 is because they can run pretty hot.

5/3/2005 4:06:03 AM

worst hoax images evAr

5/3/2005 6:11:07 AM

Quote :

"Video game players want to be able to chat with their buddies, know when others are present online, and will want to access their music and photos on their consoles in an interface already familiar to them"

I don't appreciate Bill Gates telling me what I want. If I want to do all this stuff I will log onto my PC. This is supposed to be a console. It sounds to me like he is just making a PC with extremely high gaming capabilities.

5/3/2005 7:28:19 AM

^^ haha, it's like a bitch-colored alarm clock

i don't know if that made sense or not, but i just finished an exam and now it's time for sleep (but not really, cause i don't get to sleep this week)

5/3/2005 9:15:09 AM

it would be even more badass if they had a keyboard and mouse adapter for the new xbox

i know i can shoot a billion times better using the mouse.

5/3/2005 1:31:32 PM

Wraith, I think his statements are geared towards Xbox live and expanding that service so that eventually console gaming online will rival PC gaming online.

5/3/2005 6:09:14 PM

M$ has a tendency to make things needlessly complicated. I don't think they are bold enough to really screw up the Xbox2's console appeal, but I think they can make it more complicated than it has to be.

Supposedly, ALL Xbox2 games have to be live enabled, partially because MS plans to offer game content on a pay-as-you-go basis (kinda like iTMS music downloading). If this kind of think permeates in the games too much, it will turn people off to the Xbox2. Or, if games start to require broadband connections, that would cause some trouble, because a lot of gamers don't have broadband, don't have a wireless router, or would somehow screw up the configuration.

All of this is just speculation based on rumors, so no one know for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me for MS to do something like that.

[Edited on May 3, 2005 at 6:28 PM. Reason : 2]

5/3/2005 6:28:24 PM

as long as they don't pay bethesda to make oblivion an x-box2 exclusive, I think I'll just wait for ps3 to come out before deciding on a next gen console.

5/3/2005 6:47:32 PM

Quote :

"New Xbox Has a 2005 Release Date (Xbox) At a recent convention, Microsoft's front man revealed the plans to release Microsoft's console this year. According to a report on Gamesindustry.biz, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has confirmed that the next Xbox will be released this year. The announcement was made at a business writers convention, where Gates told the Society of American Business Writers and Editors that the console will be shipping this year. The subject was brought up when Gates was speaking about HD displays where he said that this was "the year of high definition" due to the next Xbox shipping this year. Gates also touched on the multimedia capabilities offered by the latest Xbox, codenamed "Xenon," comparing it to Microsoft's Media Center PC software. "If you used that menu, when you use the Xenon, you'll see a menu a lot like that, that lets you get photos, TV, Music and all those different things," Gates said. It's still vague whether or not the new Xbox will offer the functionality as basic features to all versions of the new console. This is the first time that any Microsoft representative has acknowledged plans to ship the new Xbox by the end of the year. "

5/4/2005 6:09:20 AM

Nintendo is going in the right direction here.

A simple console, with solid games.

5/4/2005 7:23:29 AM

Quote :

" what's the point of gaming consoles anyways now? they're all just pc's, but pc's have better graphics."

because computers have to dedicate resources to running system processes. an xbox has very little background shit

5/4/2005 7:40:13 AM

well if they could make the graphics on the xbox come out looking as crisp as an ati card or nvidia card for the pc outputting on dvi, then i would get rid of my desktop and just keep my laptop and xbox.

i don't think quinn's component and projector setup could match pc graphics either - can it?

5/4/2005 7:50:16 AM

i hope you mean to say that his projector is far behind

5/4/2005 10:07:06 AM

according to n-sider.com, Nintendo's been considering two possible system configurations:

Quote :

" System 1: * 2.7 Ghz PowerPC G5 Processor * 512 Megs total Ram (128 for video, 64 for sound) * 600 Mhz graphics chip System 2: * Dual 1.8 Ghz IBM G5 PowerPC processors * 256 Megs DDR Main memory (64 dedicated to sound, using a 7.1 sound system at 196 Khz) * 128 Megs GDDR3 Video memory * 500 Mhz graphics chip (ATI developed, 16 Pixel Pipe, 220 Million transistors) Shared Information: * Built in 15 Gigabyte harddrive * Blue-laser disk technology * Potential DVD playback * Case design philosophy more like the N64, less like the GameCube "

http://www.n-sider.com/articleview.php?articleid=296

Interesting analysis if you scroll down the article.

I've read elsewhere that it'll probably be backwards-compatible, which would be awesome.

5/4/2005 11:37:47 AM

the xbox cost more than my projector. SC2 at 720p looks beautiful. Come over sometime and check it out if you wanna decide for yourself.

5/4/2005 11:40:02 AM

i think some people forget that the hardware in the xbox (the first one) is a beefed up geforce 3. thats a card that is two generations old. sure, the games that come out today for pc are capable of having better graphics than the best xbox game, but how much money are you spending to keep up with them?

i like buying the xbox (or ps2 or gamecube) for $149 (or whatever it cost when you bought it) and buying a game for $50 as opposed to buying a computer, buying a few games then having to buy a new graphics card, possibly a new motherboard (mine is only 4x AGP ), just to play the newest game.

then again, i'm not that big on pc games that aren't also on a console. at least not anymore. and until super smash bros. melee is on pc, the gamecube will be a cherished posession.

5/4/2005 9:58:38 PM

Quote :

"i like buying the xbox (or ps2 or gamecube) for $149 (or whatever it cost when you bought it) and buying a game for $50 as opposed to buying a computer, buying a few games then having to buy a new graphics card, possibly a new motherboard (mine is only 4x AGP ), just to play the newest game."

Interesting, i've had the same 1000 dollar desktop for over 2 years and I can still play the newest games.

5/5/2005 12:55:25 PM

^ your math is screwed up

$1000 > ($149 + $50)

5/5/2005 1:15:34 PM

i needed a computer for school anyways... and the price for an x-box two years ago was not 149. the price of the cheapest computer with a flat screen availible at the time plus the cost of an xbox at the time was greater than what I paid for my computer, and it still plays the newest games.

Using the slickdeal coupon codes and dell deals at the time, my computer (without upgrading ram and graphics but with free dvd burner upgrade and 100 dollar flatpanel) would have been $899. X-box at the time ran 179.99 and so my system I was going to get anyways PLUS an x-box would have been over 1000 bucks easily. Being realistic and adding in x-box live it would have been closer to 1130 bucks. Using the $50 promotional upgrades to get 1 gig of ram and a radeon 9800 pro, my computer became a decent gaming machine. Sure this system ran for 1600 full retail price, but only idiots pay full retail for computers.

Anyways, my math sounds fine.

[Edited on May 5, 2005 at 1:58 PM. Reason : ]

5/5/2005 1:45:03 PM

only idiots pay full retail for computers anything

5/5/2005 2:27:45 PM

paying full retail for nothing requires one to be scotish.

5/5/2005 3:00:50 PM

nothing to see here

[Edited on May 5, 2005 at 9:08 PM. Reason : d]

5/5/2005 9:08:21 PM

I'm not a big console fan but damned if games don't look hot when they take up an entire wall.

5/5/2005 11:41:58 PM

bitch colored alarm clock it is....?

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000490042605/



[Edited on May 8, 2005 at 11:29 PM. Reason : ]

5/8/2005 11:28:04 PM

^ 404'ed

5/9/2005 1:25:58 AM

I think the Xbox2 will look very similar to that, but that image looks faked to me.

5/9/2005 1:41:05 AM