View Full Version : We Got Next - Part One (Xbox)
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 19:07
We Got Next - Part One (Xbox)
GameSpy reveals details on the next Xbox console.
By Raymond M. Padilla | March 8, 2005
For several GameSpy editors, Game Developers Conference (GDC) is one of the best and most enjoyable events held each year. One of the primary reasons for GameSpy's GDC love is that the editors get to interact with some of the best talents in the business. Recently, some of GameSpy's friends in the development community shared a ton of details on Microsoft's next console system. Keep in mind that all of this information is based off of alpha development kits and current projections for the final hardware. Everything is subject to change. In the first part of our Xbox expose, I'll cover the console's hardware components and software goals. Since the final name of the next Xbox hasn't been revealed yet, I'll refer to the system by its codename, Xenon.
The Guts of the Next Box
CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.
GPU - Xenon's GPU is a generation beyond the ATI X800. Its clock speed is 500 MHz and it supports Shader 3.0. Developers are currently working with an alpha 2 GPU. Beta GPU units are expected by May and the final GPU is slated for a summer release. The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease.
System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine.
Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X.
Memory Units - Xenon will use 64 MB to 1,024 MB memory cards. 8 MB is reserved for system use, leaving a 56 MB to 1,016 MB for user data.
Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined.
Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver.
Sound Chip - Xenon does not have an audio chip in the traditional sense. Decompression is handled by hardware, while the rest of the chores are handled by software. DirectSound3D has been dropped in favor of X3DAudio. The former was deemed too inflexible.
Raymond's Reaction - The Xenon is an extremely impressive piece of hardware. It will allow gamers to see things like complex lighting in gameplay, amazing details through high-level shading (impeccable clouds, fur, grass, cloth, water, marble, ground, etc.), incredible textures, and new post effects (increased motion blur, heat distortion, depth of field, light blooms, etc.).
While people have already been correctly speculating about the removable hard drive and the standard DVD media, I was surprised at the inclusion of the camera. I haven't heard a single rumbling about a Xenon camera prior to GDC. The optional hard drive is a bit understandable; the only gamers that care about it will buy it anyway, while casual gamers won't care about the performance and convenience gains a drive offers. The standard DVD isn't too surprising considering that HD-DVD drives will be too expensive for inclusion in a console system in 2005.
We Got Next - Part One (Xbox)
The Software
Microsoft is requiring developers to make all Xenon titles Live enabled. One of the key reasons for this will be revealed in the second part of this story.
Developers are being instructed to plan their games for high-definition. The baseline is 720p at 1280x720 for gameplay and video clips, 16:9 aspect ratio, 5.1 Surround Sound, and anti-aliasing. These features are the current minimum requirement.
All Xenon games can be played using custom soundtracks. Owners can also play their own music directly. Supported formats are MP3 and WMA. Files can be encoded up to 320Kbps CBR or VBR stereo. The system is branded a Music Player Service.
For gameplay movies, Xenon uses Xenon Motion Video (XMV). XMV is based on Windows Media 9 and uses the mandatory codec for HD-DVD. The goal for video is 720p running at 30 frames per second with 5.1 Surround Sound.
Raymond's Reaction - Mandatory Live "awareness" isn't a big surprise. Online is one area where Microsoft is trouncing the competition. Microsoft's progression with online console gaming has progressed wonderfully (see Halo 2) and the future plans are even more interesting. (Again, see part two of this feature tomorrow for more information.)
It's nice to see that Microsoft is being aggressive with HD performance. Having all games run at 720p (potentially) makes for an incredibly engrossing experience -- particularly owners of HDTV sets. Users with standard televisions needn't worry; 16:9 content will be letterboxed to fit within a 4:3 aspect ratio by default. Developers are being instructed to make sure that any critical text will fit into and look good in 4:3.
Stay Tuned!
That's a wrap for part one of our Xenon feature. Be sure to come back tomorrow to learn more about Microsoft's exciting plans for Xbox Live. While the hardware specs and HD plans for Xenon are definitely cool, the new Xbox Live features might impact your gaming experience even more!
http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/microsoft-xbox/594331p1.html
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 19:24
ANYWAY, the article seems pretty, interesting... but it'd be nice if it was OFFICIAL. Really, its nothing more than insider talk, which is what we've been doing all along. I was hoping for something more. Thought the comments for a camera threw me for a loop, but it does make sense... why just chat with live when you can see eachother as well? It's a natural evolution... though, I don't personally like the thought of people being able to see into my home...
One thing that bothers me about the post... the dev kits went from 3 to 2 processors?? That's kinda a BIG change. Won't that 'cause problems for the devs? I mean, the worlds shift left and right, with a change like that... particularly if there's a huge "power" shift in the hardware from that.
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 19:45
Isn't it saying that the kits now have 2, but final ones will have 3?
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 19:58
Hmm... the way I read it, no... at the begining they say the info below is based off the "alpha dev. kits", it then says the alpha 2 kits only have 2 CPUs... so to me I read it as originally 3 in the alpha and then down to 2 in the alpha 2 kits. There's a good chance you're right though, its kinda a matter of how you read it.
The Alpha kits have 2 cores
bustabusta196
03-08-2005, 20:15
They have released Dev. kits with only 2 processors for use.. LATER in the Summer they will release a Dev. Kit with 3 processors as being the final kit. Understand?
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 20:22
Anyone else seem a little...underwhelmed?
I sure do. I thought we were to be "blown away" by this story, at least that's what the Gamespy editor said beforehand.
lets see? Underwhelmed?
What has been now rumored for Xbox2 to have
CPU able to handle 6 threads
All games Live Aware
All games compatible with Custom soundtracks
Wireless controllers
HDD
GPU faster than anything on the market at launch
Web Cam default
Native HD Resolution for games
Development kits in Dev hands for almost 3 years at launch
What does the PS3 have rumored?
Really fast CPU able to handle 9 threads
GPU with nVidia technology
Blu-Ray movie playback
May I ask what underwhelmed you? What just isn't exciting? What is more exciting about the PS3 right now?
PeanutButterMunky
03-08-2005, 21:12
I'm excited about both...VERY excited. I don't see the undewhelming part.
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 21:13
That doesn't mean that these specs don't blow me away.
How does Live affect me? I don't want or have Live, and won't be getting it.
I've yet to have custom soundtracks in any of my Xbox games, so this matters little to me. Could even ruin some games.
Wireless controllers? This should blow me away? Don't use them now, why will I?
HDD? You mean, the external one? Kind of a step back, huh?
That's nice, that's usually the case.
Web cam, doesn't bother me too much. (Most likely in PS3 as well)
Dev kits...that has little to do with these specs.
These specs don't blow me away, simple as that.
I have to call you out on this Chaotic.
You have something agaist MS. This is obvious. Anything that gets said about Xbox2 stinks in your eyes yet Sony and the PS3 are perfect and amazing.
While you may not be excited about any of those features, it is clear that most consumers want them and will be excited about them.
On certain points you made.
You may not have Live, but online is the future. The fact that a lot of people are expecting Sony to make a Live style service for the PS3 speaks to how great it did at advancing online gaming. Anyone who has used Live Aware can attest to how nice of a feature it is. Have this with every game would definately rock.
Did you ever think that the reason you didn't use custom sound tracks was because almost no game makers included it? Having it as an option in all games would definately get it more use. Also, how could it ruin games if it is an option? You just don't use it when you don't want to.
GPU more powerful than current market is not usually the case. The Xbox was the first to do this. The GC and PS3 didn't even meet current market at launch, let alone the PSOne, N64, or any others.
Having the Dev kits out for so long goes a long way toward getting better games on the system. Something you have personally criticized Xbox for.
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 21:36
I have to call you out on this Chaotic.
You have something agaist MS. This is obvious. Anything that gets said about Xbox2 stinks in your eyes yet Sony and the PS3 are perfect and amazing.
I've never said that this sucks, I just said that I'm underwhelmed by these specs. I was not "blown away" like I was told by the editors who wrote this earlier. Sony is not perfect, anyone can see that. Practically nothing has been said about the PS3, so how could I find it amazing? But couldn't the same be said about you? Microsoft and the whole Xbox brand is perfect in your eyes.
While you may not be excited about any of those features, it is clear that most consumers want them and will be excited about them.
That's not clear, that's an assumption.
On certain points you made.
You may not have Live, but online is the future. The fact that a lot of people are expecting Sony to make a Live style service for the PS3 speaks to how great it did at advancing online gaming. Anyone who has used Live Aware can attest to how nice of a feature it is. Have this with every game would definately rock.
Online's the future, fine. But that affects me little. I'm not a fan of online gaming, I most likely won't be. Will I get Sony's PSNetwork? Most likely not, unless I see TFLO on it, or something very drastic. Having Live in each game doesn't rock in my eyes. (I like my single player RPGs)
Did you ever think that the reason you didn't use custom sound tracks was because almost no game makers included it? Having it as an option in all games would definately get it more use. Also, how could it ruin games if it is an option? You just don't use it when you don't want to.
Not really, the reason I don't use them is because there's no need for me to use it. It's even making it seems as if developers are forced to make all games Custom Soundtrack enabled. I'm sorry, I just see the purpose of this in certain games.
GPU more powerful than current market is not usually the case. The Xbox was the first to do this. The GC and PS3 didn't even meet current market at launch, let alone the PSOne, N64, or any others.
If you say so.
Having the Dev kits out for so long goes a long way toward getting better games on the system. Something you have personally criticized Xbox for.
Which still matters little to the specs.
I have to call you out on this Chaotic.
You have something agaist MS. This is obvious. Anything that gets said about Xbox2 stinks in your eyes yet Sony and the PS3 are perfect and amazing. First off you calling anyone out for being bias, is retarded and ironic. He stated nothing that was bias as you state right above or have stated in other threads, he stated facts to why this is not overwelhming to him not just ignorant fanboy talk like x2 or others even in this string.
Now onto the string;
The most impressive thing to me personally is the final detailed inclusion of the 3 proccessors. I agree this is bigger, and better then most anything on production env now or maybe even when x2 is released, but I don't think anyone here is disullisioned themselves that this is better then even 1 cell, let alone multiple cell's.
Live on every game? Guess it depends on what they mean by "Live", if you can actually play other people online, or just uplaod high scores like a majority of x-box online games now. If it is just uploading scores and has no actually gameplay online then I could care less, if every game is playable online then that would be a nice feature.
256MB RAM? Of course this is not impressive. It is by far better then any existing home game console, but is still at best this generation technology. Now I am not saying that this will be sufficent for x2 next generation games, but it by no means blows me away.
DVD Optical Drive? Wow, again not impressive.
Hard Drive Optional? This is a step back for existing technology and x-box.. why would this be impressive? espically since final size of optional hard drive is still not determined.
Camera? That is a cool feature to inforce online and in games, but not impressive I mean PS2 has this feature right now, by no means is it anything new. Still I like that they make it standard and included in all systems, amy make developers actually use it a little more.
Custom sound tracks on all games? I kinda like having game makers with their own music specifically for that game. Hell if I want to listen to something else I can stick on my own headphones or music in background, no need for this on my game console. Again not really impressive to me personally either.
Every game supporting HD? Personally I like this, as I am an HDTV owner. Although I don't think anyone who is looking for an HD next generation console will look at X-Box2... I mean PS3 has the Blu-Ray for a purpose...
wireless controllers? Again nothing new, and actually I don't like the forcing people to use wireless and batteries, I would give them the option but making it the only choice I dont think is way to go.. again nothing new or blowing me away here.
I break down like this;
Impressed:
Processor - better then what I thought X-Box2 would have.
HD game Support
Not Impressed:
RAM
DVD drive
Wireless Controllers - should not be standard= more $
Custom Sound tracks
Hard Drive Optional
More Info:
Live support - need more info into what actually is
Camera - use in games?
For me, I was a little disappointed at how the Gamespy editor advertised this feature. I thought we'd get some hard numbers like polygon count and so forth, instead we were treated to info that's already been bandied about with the exception of a few choice snippets of information. I'm still eagerly anticipating the unveiling of NeXtBox but I was expecting more concrete info. Maybe tomorrow's report will appeal to me more.
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 22:40
Hmmm... everyone is saying three processors... apparently, I'm the one reading it wrong. My bad.
? Also, busta, is that time line info correct?? If so what does this mean for developers? They been building their gaems off of 2 processors... will this throw a wrench into the works?? Or has M$ taken the time to scale the system so adding a third core won't matter?? The jumping around worries me.
-- I just realized this, 'cause I'm slow... but, there's a drop in processor speed, which is a surprise. Heat issues perhaps?
? I was hoping for a little more info on the processor though... saying HL2 will run with ease is just dumb... the X850 runs HL2 at 60FPS on 1600x1200... so that told us nothing. Dumb gamespy.
? What does he mean by not equal to PC RAM?? I doubt a new type has been devloped, so what?? Maybe he means to say system will make use of portal tech and stream, so it doesn't NEED a lot? Perhaps, he's just running off rumors like the rest of us... again, shady.
+ 8MB reserved for system use? Wow, maybe all you're internet setting and all sorts of other things will be saved to the Card?? It'll be useful, if all games are online... fill it out once and end it. Though I wonder how they'd handle it if you brought you're card other to a friends place? I'm sure something's been worked out.
-- As I said the camera bothers me. Big brother M$ is watching.... Muwahahaha... it's not funny... but is the 1.2 megapixels set in stone? A little more would be nicer.
? Audio isn't my forte... can someone tell me how this is any different than standard audio chips??
+ I hope there'll be ways to make use of other audio formats... my OGG, MPC, FLAC, and APE would go to waste.
-- One thing about the... letterboxing on normal TVs... am I the only one a little bothered by this?? Is it so hard to resize it to standard TVs?? Maybe I should just shut up and go buy and HDTV...
With a console developers are able to do a lot more with less ram.
You don't have to compete with other applications or the OS for space on the Ram. You also have complete control what memory addresses you set things into. You can very easily swap textures in and out on the fly, you don't have to load everything well in advance just in case some other process is taking away your ability to access the controller to get data off the disc or HD.
Also, on consoles you can position the data where you want to on the Disc so as to speed up access times, thus reducing further need to load everything into the ram up front.
What does this mean: "Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache."
Does that mean if you buy the hard drive that "technically" your games will run smoother and faster because of the 2gb cache buffer??
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 23:00
Ah! Yes, yes... I keep forgetting about that... you get used to the concept of just living with the what 200MB or so average that XP eats and you forget, that consoles don't have that. However, I've still been hearing from devs that they're looking for 512MB. Granted, they're greedy... aren't we all... but, the call to arms seems to be for 512MB... with 256MB being the bare minimum. Perhaps they're simply too greedy??
EDIT:: That's the theory... HDD can transfer data faster than DVD.... like 10x faster.
EDIT::EDIT:: Siren, thanks for the info... know anythig about audio chips?? As in refernece to my question.
-- One thing about the... letterboxing on normal TVs... am I the only one a little bothered by this?? Is it so hard to resize it to standard TVs?? Maybe I should just shut up and go buy and HDTV...
Yeah I noticed that as well, they are going ot lose alot of people on that alone. Of course I got an HDTV but I know I am not the "average" gamer. I still know people who only ge VHS tapes of movies ifDVD letterbox is onyl avilabel becuase they hate the black lines.
The RAM is not a big issue as Siren Explains, really you should have 256MB RAM just for XP not f you wanna play game on XP you better get ALOT more.. of course that is just Microsoft making operating systems larger then they have to be cause they have monopoly on that... wait... still 256MB RAM on game consoles is by no means anything new or blowing me away.
The 2GB of cache buffer on hard drive will help becuase it is MUCH faster then loading from the media or disk. of course this is with the optional hard drive.
bustabusta196
03-08-2005, 23:10
Although people on here say they arent Bias.. peoples thoughts and comments pretty damn sure seem bias lol. People arent impressed with what Xbox2 is bringing to the table.. is there anything out right now that can compare to it.. if so then there should be no reason to why your not impressed but as for being something not out yet and not even seen.. how can you not be impressed.
Although people on here say they arent Bias.. peoples thoughts and comments pretty damn sure seem bias lol. People arent impressed with what Xbox2 is bringing to the table.. is there anything out right now that can compare to it.. if so then there should be no reason to why your not impressed but as for being something not out yet and not even seen.. how can you not be impressed.
Because I am scared that sony is gonna whoop some M$ a$$. Honestly, I am not impressed with what has been said in this article. However it is only speculation but i believe that it gives us a pretty good idea of what is coming. I have a feeling that i am gonna be buying two console systems in the future.
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 23:15
Ah, no no... its not that I dislike the black lines... its just with the cruddy video quality of a TV and the shrunk size brought about by 16:9... it just looks ugly. I always end up watching "letter box" stuff on my comp, which has a smaller screen, but because of the resolution increase... doesn't look like I'm watching snot. The bars don't bother me... its the deterioration of video quality when you watch letterbox stuff on TV that bothers me.
bustabusta196
03-08-2005, 23:16
how can you be anymore impressed with Sony then with MS.. no one on this site besides siren has seen or even knows whats REALLY going on with next generation systems.. everyone will be like well this site says this.. who cares you cant really make a final judgement until you actually see the systems and what they can do..
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 23:21
busta... how about that info on the timeline you gave for the upgrade in dev kits to 3 processors... is it true? Where'd you hear it?
Also, if we all just waited for final specs to come out, NONE of us would be here.
bustabusta196
03-08-2005, 23:22
My bad sorry about that misleading information.. it was about the GPU that final build of it being released this summer..
But i dont see why they wouldnt upgrade the CPU's the same time the GPU if they are going to release the final build of it.
A few things:
-Well, if the abilities and specs of the Cell are to be believed, and Sony packs in a full-featured, 8 APU(that's what they're called, right?) Cell running at 4.6 ghz, the 3 3ghz cores with the Xenon aren't REALLY all that impressive, as the Cell's architecture is different from that of the processors used in the Xenon.
-Live support in every game?? Sounds cool.
-HD support in every game?? Nice, but not if the games have to letterboxed. I also don't plan on owning an HDTV for a very long time.
-The optional HD thing is LAME. The HD is one of the XBox's best features, and to make it optional is just a waste, IMO
- Needs more RAM, especially with the lack of a standard HD.
-Camera?? Sounds nifty.
-It looks like it won't be backwards compatible. BAD IDEA. If I ever get an X2, I'd want to be able to go out and pick up any XBox games I never got to play.
Overall, it SOUNDS impressive at first, but I think that in the end, the PS3 will really be the more powerful system.
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 23:37
They're called SPEs now... Synergistic Processing Elements... Sony likes to use weird names. ^^
MORE than likely, we won't see the CELL(s) in the PS3 running faster than 4GHZ. Thre's a TINY chance it could be faster, but you shouldn't really bank on it.
!!! I completely forgot about backwards compat.!! The punk gamespy didn't say a thing about that!!! Grrr... I can't believe I didn't think about that!! Again, I raise my fist at gamespy.
mckmas8808
03-08-2005, 23:39
Hey busta Im impressed and I know I not going to buy the Xbox2. I love Sony, but as a well thought man I have to say I'm darn impressed. I always wished that I could have customized soundtracks so that when I play Madden I don't have to listen to that alterative music (not that anything is wrong with it) because I personally don't like it. And someone said I want the devs to put the music in the game that they seem fit. Then I say OK don't load your own music to the game then simple as that. I want to hear hard rap music as I cruise the streets of New York or Paris in GT4 or like I said picking my team in Madden 2005.
Hopefully the PS3 will allow us to have customizable sound tracks straight from our Sony made PSPs. :D
bustabusta196
03-08-2005, 23:47
I dont get how THERE WILL! be customize soundtracks yet an optional HD... where will they be storing the songs.. and i know some cds will take up alot of space so wheres the missing info??
Chaotic_King
03-08-2005, 23:48
Although people on here say they arent Bias.. peoples thoughts and comments pretty damn sure seem bias lol. People arent impressed with what Xbox2 is bringing to the table.. is there anything out right now that can compare to it.. if so then there should be no reason to why your not impressed but as for being something not out yet and not even seen.. how can you not be impressed.
You're not exactly one of the least biased people here.
PeanutButterMunky
03-08-2005, 23:51
He's not impressed because he's not impressed. That's his opinion, and let's just leave it at that. Nothing really sounds too impressive until we see things with our own eyes. And until then, we won't really know how we feel. Let's just stop ragging on each other, and get back to the topic.
muchuukuri
03-08-2005, 23:53
See that's the one problem I have with customizable OSTts... it only works in specific situations. It's great for sports and racing games... but an EXTREMELY limited concept for RPGs and action games (my genres of choice)... I mean would you want to have a solem scene where a character dies accompanied by heavy metal in the background?? I could see it being employed for maybe battles... but as that evolves from going to a new screen (like the old ffs) to not (ff12) it won't really fit in... It's a wonderful idea, and I'm glad its there, but Im not so sure about the mandatory thing. I think some game devs would like to force certain music to be heard, I see this especially for RPGs where creating ambiance and mood through music has become an essential tool.
Honestly the only thing that impresses me is the GPU but like Siren said we can't really be more impressed with the PS3 because we know next nothing about it. The only question that this has given me is that will Nvidias GPU(the one in the PS3) be aleast on par with the ATI GPU in the Xbox? I guess we will have to wait and see but I wouldnt mind hearing The_ones thoughts on this
PS Gamer
03-09-2005, 02:34
GPU faster than anything on the market at launch
actully your alittle wrong on this subject,
The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease.
This means the GPU's that they are putting in the Xenon is faster then anything out right at this point in time.
Now back on topic, I was amazed on was was ampted up from the last update...if this is true we should see some good battles between the Xenon and PS3.
With a console developers are able to do a lot more with less ram.
You don't have to compete with other applications or the OS for space on the Ram. You also have complete control what memory addresses you set things into. You can very easily swap textures in and out on the fly, you don't have to load everything well in advance just in case some other process is taking away your ability to access the controller to get data off the disc or HD.
Also, on consoles you can position the data where you want to on the Disc so as to speed up access times, thus reducing further need to load everything into the ram up front. Yes, very true. However, what kind of RAM? Sure, normal DDR may work, but 256MB still seems a tad bit too less. With this kind of amount, I'm pretty sure most devs won't be too content. I mean, the PS3 is "rumoured" to have at least 256MB of XDR RAM (8x the bandwidth of normal DDR).
I guess we will have to wait and see but I wouldnt mind hearing The_ones thoughts on this What? Why me? Let me clear somethings up: First of all, I'm a modeler, I know next to nothing about system architecture. Sure, I know a thing or two about the basics, but I'm really not the kind of guy you should base your opinion on :lol:.
Well, since I'm here, I wouldn't mind giving my opinion. The GPU doesn't sound impressive since the only "actual" number was the Hertz, and Hertz doesn't mean jack alone. We need other numbers, FLOp/s, Framerates and other benchmarks. Simply saying that it'll handle HF 2 with ease doesn't help either (Heck, any current gen GPU can handle it with "ease", so to speak...)
CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three. So, this have been finalized then? Well, I'm actually surprised at this. However, since they're not dual-cores, I guess it's a possibility then. Previous sources pointed to Dual-Cores, and 3 Dual-cores were definately improbable.
For gameplay movies, Xenon uses Xenon Motion Video (XMV). XMV is based on Windows Media 9 and uses the mandatory codec for HD-DVD. The goal for video is 720p running at 30 frames per second with 5.1 Surround Sound. Most devs are actually aiming to run the game at 30FPS also (not just ingame movies), most devs are saying that you won't see any 60FPS games in the first gen, and some devs have even said that they won't even attempt 60FPS on the next-gen consoles! Sounds pretty crazy to me :roll:.
how can you be anymore impressed with Sony then with MS.. no one on this site besides siren has seen or even knows whats REALLY going on with next generation systems.. everyone will be like well this site says this.. who cares you cant really make a final judgement until you actually see the systems and what they can do..Well, we're impressed going by numbers alone... I mean, 256GFLOp/s on one chip does sound pretty impressive anyway you look at it.
As for the GPU, I favor ATi over nVidia... It's not that I have anything against nVidia, but if history proves anything, ATi have been out doing nVidia for quite some time now... However, the kicker is (or at least the rumours are pointing to) that the CELL and the nVidia GPU should be able to interact, and the CELL is suppose to be able to help the GPU with processes to give it that extra "Umph" it needs to pull past ATi's chip.
PS Gamer
03-09-2005, 03:00
A thing that did stun me though was, that Xenon not using HD-DVD discs....I was completely blown away by this......I mean from what the article said...they will be using Dual Layered DVD Discs....at most can hold up to only 7gbs or 14? This can't be good for games since with the next generation is gonna get alot bigger, as well as the disc space....I predict in the future that Xenon will probably switch over to HD-DVD discs since I think that 7gbs (14 dual layered) isn't enough to hold what they are going to put on these disc....though if they stay with this sony will have the advantage with the blu-ray discs. Another factor to this is that the Xenon's games will probably be cheaper then the PS3's games, meaning that MS could get more for there fanbase.
Chaotic_King
03-09-2005, 03:24
Here is part two:
http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/microsoft-xbox/594355p1.html
Now, I can actually say that this is intruiging.
PS Gamer
03-09-2005, 03:42
I don't know now....this is starting to look more unreal....I don't know though....this is getting kinda wierd with the Friends Managment? can you say wtf did I do last night?
well I want to wait for the official story before I beleive this....just because im now getting alittle unspectical.
muchuukuri
03-09-2005, 04:49
BLAH!! Gamer Cred = Hacker Cred... M$ has NEVER been able to police their software properly and this will not change... I'm giving it a month before hacked cred levels start appearing.
Also, I do think these options are very nice and rather convienent, but in most cases most seem quite pointless. Now, you're saying, bull popsicles!! Prolly, but the truth of the matter is, M$ seems to be only catering to the online user... something I DOUBT I will ever become... I've always been more fond of the Nintendo experience... getting all your friend together in the SAME room and playing together... its a heck of a lot more fun to compete with eachother when you can beat eachother up in the process... ^^
What I'm trying to say is M$ thinks everyone WANTS to go online. This is FAR from the case and it annoys me, but I'm prolly in the minority.
Also, the single identity concept bothers me a bit... I LIKE the annominity the internet affords me... doing this forcefully removes it in a sense. Of course, this is definately MY preference and I'm sure others feel different.
And the online shopping thing? Oh yeah, I can smell the advertisement bombardments coming. That's EXACTLY what I want! Drowning in ads and needing Adaware or Spybot for my console. Hopefully, that won't happen... but has it ever NOT happened? Look around and you'll know the answer.
Yes, I'm cynical, but the internet made me that way, and the way I see it M$ is trying to create a CONSOLE internet. If that happens you can bet you're sweet bippy we'll see the same trappings there that we see here, and that bothers me.
Scary thing is Sony and Nintendo are trying to do the same thing... -_-
Maybe it's inevitable... 'course, I could just not connect. That's prolly what I'll do, too.
Epsilon-Zero
03-09-2005, 05:02
just some food for thought, why do you think microsoft only included 2 processors in the alpha kit?
maybe they couldnt fit 3 processors in the apple G5.
The G5 was issued out so that develoeprs could get a headstart on the games while the real console itself was still in development. This is how MS is getting a jump on the competition.
By issuing out simmilar in architecture PCs they can continue to modify the actual consoles specs almost up until launch day as long as the end product meets or exceeds the alpha kits.
Once the final design is done converting the games to run on it will be relatively easy because the games are already designed to work on a multiprocessor platform and also the way the hardware is designed is that it automaticly disperses the data across multiprocessors.
I think this was also a feature in the XNA tools.
So even after E3 microsoft could add almost anything to their console as long it didnt fall below the initial alpha standard.
They could add the HD as standard but the way i see it there isnt a need to. The harddrive on the Xenon would essentially just be extended memory past what it already has within it. Such uses for it could be for video from the camera and picture storage or just to add an extended library of songs that goes beyond the initial memory size within the Xenon. Having the HardDrive also be used for cache would free up needed memory in the unit for more save files.
Microsofts goal is to take over the living room environment. The added HardDrive feature would be more for a broadrange of activities like microsofts webtv devices they currently make which they make an add-on for the xbox even right now.
So to all thee who are fretting about the news from gamespot of having the HD be an add-on, just be patient and have some faith. 8)
muchuukuri
03-09-2005, 05:12
EpZ, quick point, hardware does NOT magically distribute the data across mulitple processors, this requires very SCARY code to do this.
XNA is said to manage resources for the processors/RAM/cache and so on, BUT its still under development... I honestly question how much use the 1st wave of games will make of the 3rd processor. Hopefull, XNA can just re-optimize the code to run across all three... I question this, but this kind of programming is WAY WAY out of my knowledge base.
EpZ, quick point, hardware does NOT magically distribute the data across mulitple processors, this requires very SCARY code to do this.
XNA is said to manage resources for the processors/RAM/cache and so on, BUT its still under development... Hopefull, XNA can just re-optimize the code to run across all three... I question this, but this kind of programming is WAY WAY out of my knowledge base.
thats why they work for microsoft... :D. if M$ has one thing going for them, its genious programmers!
bustabusta196
03-09-2005, 11:58
BLAH!! Gamer Cred = Hacker Cred... M$ has NEVER been able to police their software properly and this will not change... I'm giving it a month before hacked cred levels start appearing.
Also, I do think these options are very nice and rather convienent, but in most cases most seem quite pointless. Now, you're saying, bull popsicles!! Prolly, but the truth of the matter is, M$ seems to be only catering to the online user... something I DOUBT I will ever become... I've always been more fond of the Nintendo experience... getting all your friend together in the SAME room and playing together... its a heck of a lot more fun to compete with eachother when you can beat eachother up in the process... ^^
What I'm trying to say is M$ thinks everyone WANTS to go online. This is FAR from the case and it annoys me, but I'm prolly in the minority.
Also, the single identity concept bothers me a bit... I LIKE the annominity the internet affords me... doing this forcefully removes it in a sense. Of course, this is definately MY preference and I'm sure others feel different.
And the online shopping thing? Oh yeah, I can smell the advertisement bombardments coming. That's EXACTLY what I want! Drowning in ads and needing Adaware or Spybot for my console. Hopefully, that won't happen... but has it ever NOT happened? Look around and you'll know the answer.
Yes, I'm cynical, but the internet made me that way, and the way I see it M$ is trying to create a CONSOLE internet. If that happens you can bet you're sweet bippy we'll see the same trappings there that we see here, and that bothers me.
Scary thing is Sony and Nintendo are trying to do the same thing... -_-
Maybe it's inevitable... 'course, I could just not connect. That's prolly what I'll do, too.
Lol thats the dumbest idea i heard.. Have you played on LIVE before??? Cause if you have, while downloading you know there isnt advertisments or adware and spyware your talking about.. its all a closed network meaning its only what M$ approves of... you go into a game you go to the D/C bar it pops you back out to this interface where it has the downloads just for that game.. you click that download and bam.. its downloaded. You dont go roaming the internet for the download.
And why wouldnt you want a Single Identity.. This way its more organized and you can keep a friend list and not have to be like "hey dude its me.. you know bustabusta196. oh yeah i changed my GT again."
Although you feel online is probably not the future in your case.. 1.5 million xbox live users and im sure more are making it there future.. so why think about 1 person rather then the rest???
And with the Gamer Cred=Hacker Cred... this could be easily monitered.. Who do you think has controll of all the profiles.. M$.. so im sure if they see something suspicious then they could do something about it, or reset someones stats.
Anyways.. what id like to see done with xbox live is some sort of spectator mode.. Like your playing a game of ESPNNFL2K5 and you can have someone watch and talk too that would be pretty cool for gaming.
PS Gamer
03-09-2005, 13:24
Also, another statement for LIVE is that Not Everyone has Broadband and cannot connect up to XBL. Which would be a big conflict since MS is pushing alot into there XBL. when only 3/10 customers have broadband. This although could hurt xenon...but then again it could help it too.
What? Why me?
Because I happen to respect your opinion and I find all your post's very informative. My favourite GPU maker would be ATI since they are a canadian company(Go Canada). I was just wondering if the Nvidia chip would at least be on par with the xenons ATI chip
Juest my thoughts on part two:
I am an online game player and I love the new features included from start with X-Box2. The player profile idea sounds like it will be done right and I like this idea as well. Reminds me of the new EA profile, but for all games and little more in depth. I love stats, and achievments and tracking that through the years across all games is a cool idea.
So for Part two
Impressed:
Gamer Profile
Online features
Not Impressed:
Nothing
Overall it looks like Microsoft is shooting for what I call the "premier" gamer market. These are people with HD & broadband internet. This is a risk as right now that is a minority of the overall market, maybe HD will be more common in future and maybe broadband will be more avilable to all, but this is a risk. They risk alienating all the other players who do not have wide screen HD TV's or broadband access, but forcing developers to support both these features it will take away from developers time they could of spent on other features or the game itself. Of course I do fall into this catergorie, (I have widescreen HD TV and broadband) so I am positive about that move, I would just not like them to limit their market further.
For all those people thinking Microsoft can put something else then a DVD drive into X-Box2 in the future, that is not realistic at all. It would have to be an expansion or whole new console, which historically just doesn't work. I really think that having Xbox focused on HD and broadband gamers but yet not supporting either HD movie format is kinda dumb, they are going to lose much of their target market just with this feature not supported. Also I don't even really consider the deatures the Hard Drive offers as it is OPTIONAL, and whenever any system makes some hardware optional, its support from devlopers drops significantly.
To me the inclusion of the 3rd proccessor most likley has more to do with the cell then we will ever know, looks like X-Box2 was designed for 2 proccessors and when the got final look at the cell, they got scared and are trying to make the distance between the two alot less. Either way why it is or will be included, it is a benefit that it will be included. I don't know why they would release earlier dev kits without it, but I hope they get it in soon so developers can make use of it.
muchuukuri
03-09-2005, 15:40
Ahem, please read a little more carefully before you respond??
And why wouldnt you want a Single Identity.. This way its more organized and you can keep a friend list and not have to be like "hey dude its me.. you know bustabusta196. oh yeah i changed my GT again."
What did I say? "I LIKE annominity"!! Also,didn't I say that this is "definately MY preference"? I never said others wouldn't like it... I'd just rather it be optional... besides if you wanted a single identity just don't change your name, don't force it on the people by limiting their options.
Although you feel online is probably not the future in your case.. 1.5 million xbox live users and im sure more are making it there future.. so why think about 1 person rather then the rest???
Who said I was thinking about 1 person? And, again, I even said I was in the minority, but if you think about it... There were 5(6?)+ million copies of Halo 2 sold... YET only what? 1.5 million people online?? Even more so is that there's been 20 million Xboxen sold and yet only 1.5 million online. Not everyone is online crazy, and I wish M$ would cater to those people as well.
Gamer Cred can't be monitored by M$, because that would mean the only way to earn any cred would be for you to have to connect online. As such M$ would then have to pull a "big brother" and monitor your game play, which isn't really a optimum solution. More likely the game programmers will simply create interopertabilty between X2 and the game to allow it to record points based off events in the game. As a result, the data will end up being stored on the save card not in cyberspace, and bada-bing-bada-boom... people can hack it. HOWEVER, there is a way around all this... gamer cred can ONLY be recieved from online gaming. Then yeah, what you say can happen, but ONLY then.
As to the ads, do you really think if M$ sets up an AMAZON.com on LIVE they wouldn't make use of it for advertisement? Talk about a perfect market! Companies would be banging down M$'s door to advertise on the site. More over if LIVE monitors all your actions who's to say we won't connect and automatically get a pop up saying
"There are new downloads available at the LIVE download center, would you like to go there?" NO.
Disconnect after gaming and come back for some more... "There are new downloads available at the LIVE download center, would you like to go there?" DID I NOT SAY NO!!?? Grr
As to the adware... you're right, my bad, I didn't realize it was a closed network... so I doubt we'll see any then... maybe way into the future, if it changes or hackers get REALLY good with X2, but you're right, we shouldn't see that.
AND, finally, DOA:U has that option available already, unless you're saying anyone can just come in and watch a game between people, regardless of what it is. Thats a possiblity, though, it might create lag, no? Maybe limit spectator attendance.
EDIT:: Dez makes a good point, while he falls squarely into the positive zone of what M$ is trying to do, I fall squarely into the negative zone. And, I'm already feeling alienated. Every good point Dez, and looking back pretty much the point I was trying to make... though quite clumsily.
Epsilon-Zero
03-09-2005, 18:10
Xbox 2 has always had 3 processors in its design to my knowledge.
Like i said MS gave out apple G5s as an alpha kit because it used dual processors and used a simmilar architecture, to get a head start on making Xbox2 games until the final dev kit was ready.
Its very hard and takes alot of time to develop hardware with more than one cpu onboard plus other new technologies that are untested together. Its much easier to take an exhisting simmilar system and issue it out to devs, meanwhile your hard at work on the new original system.
If they hadnt done this then we wouldnt see xbox 2 until sometime late next year and that would be way too late according to MS first out the door strategy.
What? Why me?
Because I happen to respect your opinion and I find all your post's very informative. My favourite GPU maker would be ATI since they are a canadian company(Go Canada). I was just wondering if the Nvidia chip would at least be on par with the xenons ATI chip Thanks for the compliment there bloodywar. I feel accepted now :lol:.
Everyone is drooling all over multiplayer (and rightfully so, I suppose), I, on the other hand, am not. Well, that's also partly because of the fact that I don't care what kind of online play the consoles will have (Heck, I'm happy with my PS2 online, I don't see anything wrong with it :roll:). On top of that, paying for online play simply isn't my thing... If I really wanted to play online, FOR FREE, I'd go on my PC or PS2.
I dont get how THERE WILL! be customize soundtracks yet an optional HD... where will they be storing the songs.. and i know some cds will take up alot of space so wheres the missing info??
I think what he meant was streaming music off the web. Although i find this a little unlikely, but since you'll be listenin to music from a server somewhere, so your custom soundtracks won't be your own. Thats just what im guessing. Though thinking about it, i kinda doubt it.
All I will say is wait for E3. You will love what they have done.
IF it is wireless communicating with a windows desktop within range, then it could take songs off your computer and play them using media player...
Course your computer hsa to be wireless ready to understand it, but it would still be cool to have the connection
Chaotic_King
03-09-2005, 23:37
All I will say is wait for E3. You will love what they have done.
I'll be too busy to really "love" what Microsoft has done.
bustabusta196
03-09-2005, 23:37
What? Why me?
Because I happen to respect your opinion and I find all your post's very informative. My favourite GPU maker would be ATI since they are a canadian company(Go Canada). I was just wondering if the Nvidia chip would at least be on par with the xenons ATI chip Thanks for the compliment there bloodywar. I feel accepted now :lol:.
Everyone is drooling all over multiplayer (and rightfully so, I suppose), I, on the other hand, am not. Well, that's also partly because of the fact that I don't care what kind of online play the consoles will have (Heck, I'm happy with my PS2 online, I don't see anything wrong with it :roll:). On top of that, paying for online play simply isn't my thing... If I really wanted to play online, FOR FREE, I'd go on my PC or PS2.
If you think PS3 online will be free.. think again.. lol
I would bet that they will have a free online service and a pay service for the PS3.
Sony is stuck in a boat now. They promised their devs and consumers a free service, to back away now would put egg on their face.
But, they also realize the advantages MS has shown through a pay service.
I expect that most of the games will be on Pay service only, but some will remain free with reduced functionality.
I know that PS3 online will most likely be pay. So? I was simply saying that I'm not very impressed by any type of online gimmick.
Online really isn't a gimmick though.
In some parts of the world (Korea in particular) more people play online games than offline. There are whole business built around supporting people who play the games.
Just because you may not like online does not mean that this isn't where we are going.
Also, don't confuse having a game play online with it able to access stuff online. What if you could get extra content for use in offline on your system from online? What about being able to see what games your friends are playing even while you are playing offline? How about being able to chat with them while you are in a single player game?
bustabusta196
03-09-2005, 23:51
That would be really sweet to be playing something like Fable and be able to pop a voice chat up in the middle of the game and be like sup bud.. wanna kick some A55 on halo2?
You can kinda do that with Xbox right now (and Fable I believe is Live Aware).
The limitation right now is that you can send a voice mail, not chat in real time.
Don't know if they will change this for Xbox2, but it would be the natural evolution.
bustabusta196
03-09-2005, 23:56
Are they going to release like a XBL 3.0 when Xenon releases so Xbox users will be uptodate.. or will they be limited and Xenon have 3.0... if thats not to much of a reveiling question for you?
I honestly don't know. Last I heard they were done with Xbox development kits a few months back.
One thing that probably means is that games won't be able to take advantage of any of the new features of Live that will come with Xbox2, but that doesn't mean they couldn't put an update to the base live service that could enhance some things on the original.
PS Gamer
03-09-2005, 23:59
My thoughts on Online for the PS3, they should add it since if you havn't seen PS2 was blown outta the water by the Xbox's Live Online Program. The only thing that made the PS2 online kinda intriguing is because they could allow 56ker to hook up and it was free. I now think they should make it a "P2P" (Pay to Play) Since if we push alittle money into the PS3 through online, more good will come from our money. A Famous Person once said,
"Give in to the company and they will grow, but to not give in the company will fail"
In some parts of the world (Korea in particular) more people play online games than offline. There are whole business built around supporting people who play the games.
No kiddin'! 3/4 of their population have broadband in Korean :shock:!
Just because you may not like online does not mean that this isn't where we are going.
True enough, we are definately going in the direction of online gaming. I don't know, but I simply don't feel like jumping on the PAY online boat just yet... I mean, I DO play online, and any idoit could tell you that the experience online is much better. I'm simply too stingy when it comes to money to actually PAY to play online :P.
i Found this at
http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=32806
I didn't want to have to go here, but you made me do it. Herein lies a compiled list of all the rumored and "confirmed" Xbox Next (Xenon) games. Updates or clarification from anyone would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to correct me if I've erred and feel free to provide short write-ups for the games I've just listed.
Confirmed(?) Xbox Next Titles So Far:
Black
Developed by Criterion - Published by Electronic Arts. Black is being touted as a revolutionary first-person shooter that makes you feel as close to the power of your weapon as possible. It's being described as some as doing to the FPS genre what the Burnout series has done to the racing genre. The game has alread earned high praise from the media who were lucky enough to see an early build at E3 '05.
Perfect Dark 0
Developed by Rare - Published by Microsoft. The original Perfect Dark on the N64 was one of the most highly-acclaimed FPS shooters of all time and this prequel has been one of the most heavily sought-after games in recent memory. Rare hasn't quite been the same as the Rare of old in recent years, but they can redeem themselve with a blockbuster release of PDO, which has been *heavily* hinted at by many Microsoft officials in the know. Story: A secret war has begun - between shadowy corporations bent on world domination. Joanna Dark and her father Jack are caught up in the fight for the future of the planet. A routine bounty hunting mission rips open a global conspiracy that will change Joanna's destiny - forever.
Halo 3
Developed by Bungie - Published by Microsoft. Whether it's touted as Halo 2.5 or Halo 3 (or both) another installment in the highly popular Halo franchise is guaranteed to be released early on in XBN's lifecycle because it's easily A) One of the most anticipated sequels of all time B) a lock to sell millions of units and console C) the one franchise that signle-handidly helped Microsoft compete with Sony and Nintendo. The story has purposely been left unresolved and many lofty features the Bungie team hoped to include in Halo 2 were left out.
Dead or Alive 4
Developed by Team Ninja - Published by Tecmo. The heads of Team Ninja and Tecmo have both expressed great admiration for Microsoft's upcoming next-gen console and have hinted at strong support. DOA4 has been confirmed by Itagaki himself and will feature the best graphics ever seen in a fighting game, online play, and (likely) new characters and moves. Where DOA Ultimate was essentially an online update to DOA3, DOA4 will be a completely new game in the popular franchise.
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivian
Developed and Published by Bethesda. The sequel to one of the best-selling Xbox RPG's will yet again release early in the life of Microsoft's console. The developer promises an open-ended RPG with great depth and upgraded visuals, AI, and an even grander game world.
Ninja Gaiden 2
Developed by Team Ninja - Published by Tecmo. Ninja Gaiden for Xbox was one of the greatest action games of all time, sporting razor-sharp graphics, unbelievable combat, and great gameplay. The sequel will likely see the light of day towards the middle of XBN's lifecycle. Expect a whole new adventure for our hero, Ryu, with new weapons, new environments, updated graphics, and more online competitions. Many of the compaints of the first (difficulty and camera) will likely be addressed in this much-anticipated sequel.
Madden NFL Football 2006
Developed by Tiburon - Published by Electronic Arts. This upcoming version of Madden Football will be the only game that included actual licensed NFL teams, stadiums, and players. Say what you want about EA, but you have to admit that Madden series has evolved into an extremely high-quality product, with accurate graphics, gameplay and tons (and I mean tons) of modes. It's time for the Madden series to receive an engine overhaul for the next-generation of systems, so expect this XBN version to be as close to lifelike as you've ever seen in a sports game. Online play will be awesome as well.
The Godfather
Developed and Published by Electronic Arts. You play as an original member of the Corleone family in this GTA-styled game based on the popular Godfather movie franchise and your goal is to successfully complete missions to rise in the ranks of power in the your mob family. EA wants to one up the GTA series with better graphics and a "create your own adventure" type of story where your actions and decisions result in a unique story centered around you. Will this be the first true GTA-killer? Did I just say that? I'm such an ass.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Developed by EA Canada - Published by Electronic Arts. Anyone who's seen the early test renders of what a next-gen Need for Speed may look like can attest to the fact that this return to its roots can end up playing and looking awesome! The emphasis this time around will be on police chases like in Hot Pursuit because running from the police is cool nowadays, right? But don't think it'll end there. Expect multiple game modes, including old-school racing and a robust online mode.
Battlefield: Modern Combat
Developed by Digital Illusions - Published by Electronic Arts. The original uber-online World War II game, Battlefield 1942, was supposed to be released on Xbox, but never saw the light of day for whatever reason, unfortunately. To make up for it, Electronic Arts has scheduled a next-generation console release of a new version of Battlefield for XBN. Expect this game to feature tight graphics and center around the online experience (huge battles, clans, etc.). Don't expect controls or gameplay to be highly complicated because this franchise is surprisingly easy to learn, but difficult to master.
Fable 2
Developed by Big Blue Box - Published by Microsoft. Haven't had your fill of sequels yet? Good, 'cause here's another. Sure, Fable didn't live up to its hype--didn't deliver on its graphics, open-endedness, or much of anything else, but what it did do was create a fun little RPG that sold well enough (over 1 million!) to warrant work on a sequel. Eventhough this game took forever to come out, Big Blue Box still had features that were left out, and they will likely try to fit some of those things into the next iteration; whenever it comes out.
Burnout 4
Developed by Criterion - Published by Electronic Arts. What else can be said about a franchise that has improved with each iteration? The most recent, Burnout 3, was easily one of the best games of 2004, although sales were lackluster. With tons of cars, modes, and hours of fun to have, Burnout 3 proved its worth and Criterion proved its skill. Burnout 4 will raise the bar of super fast-paced street racing even higher.
Project Gotham Racing 3
Developed by Bizzare Creations - Published by Microsoft. Not much has been said about this new version of Project Gotham Racing, but hints have been all over the place, and all the signs point to a next-gen online-enabled PGR at launch. While PGR2's sales left much to be desired, its quality is unquestioned. It integrated online play and features like few games before it. The second-best selling Xbox launch title will have a sequel on XBN that will wow just as much as the first did on the Xbox.
Gears of War
Developed by Epic. What's being described as a third-person action game where you will be able to ride creatures and shoot stuff is yet another Unreal 3 engine-based game from Epic Games. You know it's going to look mindblowing. The question remains: How will it play and what will differentiate it from the rest of the 3rd-person action pack?
Code Chronus
Developed by Team Ninja - Published by Tecmo. Code Cronus will focus on the relationship between Kasumi and Ayane. It begins at early childhood and moves on throughout the course of their lives. It will be an Action-Adventure game for Xenon. (credit: Das Scotter)
More:
True Crime 2: Streets of Hong Kong
Dark Sector (from Digital Extremes)
Avalon (vehicular combat)
Heavenly Sword (think Dynasty Warriors)
Marvel vs. EA
FIFA Soccer 2006
NBA Live 2006
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2006
SSX 4
Urbz 2
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
James Bond: From Russia with Love
FIFA Street 2
Half-life 2
DOA: Volleyball 2
Shadowrun RPG (MMORPG?)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Quake 4
Tony Hawk's Underground 3
Ultimate Spider-Man
Call of Duty 2
Retribution FPS
Kameo
Sabreman Stampede
Condemned (Sega - Horror)
Mistwalker RPG #1
Mistwalker RPG #2
Probables:
B.C.
Sega Football 2K6
Killer Instinct
Conker 2
Rallisport Next
Citizen Zero MMORPG
New Banjo
New Crimson Skies
New Top Spin
New Amped
New Links Golf
Brute Force 2
Amusement Vision Game
True Fantasy Live Online
Soul Calibur III
Panzer Dragoon Next
Vanguard
Black
Developed by Criterion - Published by Electronic Arts. Black is being touted as a revolutionary first-person shooter that makes you feel as close to the power of your weapon as possible. It's being described as some as doing to the FPS genre what the Burnout series has done to the racing genre. The game has alread earned high praise from the media who were lucky enough to see an early build at E3 '05.
AFIAK, this is coming to PS2 (Uses the same engine as Killzone). Perhaps it will be ported to XBox 2? I'm not sure...
The Godfather
Developed and Published by Electronic Arts. You play as an original member of the Corleone family in this GTA-styled game based on the popular Godfather movie franchise and your goal is to successfully complete missions to rise in the ranks of power in the your mob family. EA wants to one up the GTA series with better graphics and a "create your own adventure" type of story where your actions and decisions result in a unique story centered around you. Will this be the first true GTA-killer? Did I just say that? I'm such an ass.
Officially confirmed to be on XBox and PS2 (PC also? Can't remember).
Battlefield: Modern Combat
Developed by Digital Illusions - Published by Electronic Arts. The original uber-online World War II game, Battlefield 1942, was supposed to be released on Xbox, but never saw the light of day for whatever reason, unfortunately. To make up for it, Electronic Arts has scheduled a next-generation console release of a new version of Battlefield for XBN. Expect this game to feature tight graphics and center around the online experience (huge battles, clans, etc.). Don't expect controls or gameplay to be highly complicated because this franchise is surprisingly easy to learn, but difficult to master.
Once again, officially confirmed to be on PS2 and XBox.
Epsilon-Zero
03-12-2005, 06:41
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/595/595535p1.html
IGNs list of specs is now somewhat different.
Hard Drive: Xenon's hard drive is optional. It's not built in like the current Xbox. A total of 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined. The Hard Drive will be 2.5" form factor and sold separately. Microsoft's current plan is to require you to buy the hard drive to enable backward compatibility with current Xbox games. This way, Microsoft recovers the cost of its hard drive, plus it is most likely to give buyers of the HD Xbox Live subscriptions.
Controllers: The new controllers will be around the same size as the current S-controllers. Microsoft has eschewed the dual triggers for shoulder buttons, and the design is said to be a mixture between the current S-controllers and the current PS2 controllers. They will not feature slots for memory cards, which, we're told, are on the console itself. The system supports 64 megabyte memory cards. There are three controller slots, two controllers on front of the system, plus one USB on the back. Controllers have 2.5mm jacks for headset use.
3 controler slots? WTF
OK maybe the two slots on the front are for wired controlers for backwards compatibility. Then there are 2xwireless receivers inside and the USB on the back is for a wireless dongle to do 4xwireless controlers.
venomman
03-12-2005, 07:00
There is ZERO proof that X2 has wireless controllers, its all rumors right now.
Epsilon-Zero
03-12-2005, 07:46
There is ZERO proof that X2 has wireless controllers, its all rumors right now.
umm.. you didnt see the GDC video presentation did you? It was right there in it. :roll:
If you want to know more of what has been confirmed go here:
http://www.ps3forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1474
Chaotic_King
03-13-2005, 00:31
Could this be the Xbox 2?:
http://www.weblogsinc.com/common/images/7281865774352732.jpg?0.9831157631745029
Nah, looks like some Apple hardware. And remember what Siren said? It's "smooth and curvy". Not XBox 2.
3 Controllers sound VERY perculiar... I think it's simply a false rumour :roll:.
Chaotic_King
03-13-2005, 02:19
Nevermind, it's a prototype. Ugly as heck though.
Epsilon-Zero
03-13-2005, 03:30
prototypes never are very appealing. its not until the final stages that they polish them up.
Chaotic_King
03-13-2005, 03:41
The Xbox prototype was more appealing than the Xbox is. (Well, a lot of things are more appealing than the Xbox's design)
Epsilon-Zero
03-13-2005, 03:54
its not bad once you paint it :wink:
PeanutButterMunky
03-13-2005, 04:48
There is ZERO proof that X2 has wireless controllers, its all rumors right now.
umm.. you didnt see the GDC video presentation did you? It was right there in it. :roll:
If you want to know more of what has been confirmed go here:
http://www.ps3forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=1474
This is why it's good to be up-to-date on things. ;)
tomdom69
03-14-2005, 12:27
Here's my 2 cents. I read on one site.... i don't remember where that the high definition will work like this.
the games will be made at 16:9 but nothing critical will be outside of the 4:3 square in the center of the 16:9 game.
so if you have a 4:3 display, you will just miss out on extra view. kind of like how when you watch a dvd of a movie. you get only the center of the full picutre.
as far as the removable HDD..........
this idea is growing on me more, and more. if it includes backwards compatability, thats great..... if it includes a year of xbox live, even better.
but one thing that i realised is that....... we don't know if the X2 will be backwards compatable, because of the hardware differences between the xbox and the xbox 2.
anyway with the harddrive being removable, if the X3 is backward compatable, which i have no reason to believe it won't be.
you could just take your HDD off of your X2 and put it on your X3, so you would have all of your game saves, downloaded content, songs, and possibly video footage. for all of your X2 games on your X3.
as far as controllers, i would think the prt on the back is for the camera.
i would think you could have as many wireless controllers as you want.
possibly even 5........... 5 on 5 player basketball games over live.
the games will be made at 16:9 but nothing critical will be outside of the 4:3 square in the center of the 16:9 game.
Actually, I believe they said that you can play the games at 4:3 ratio.
muchuukuri
03-14-2005, 22:34
Really? I heard the games will just be shrunk to fit in 4:3... think letterbox. As for just cutting off the video, that's BAD. Ever play DMC2? What was one of the worst problems in the game? All too often the enemies were OFF the screen and you couldn't really fight them properly. Besides, if there was nothing significant in the "extra" areas of the video, what would be the point of having the 16:9.
Letterbox? You sure? I "think" I heard that you can switch the mode (Kinda like Jak & Daxter, you could play the game at 4:3 ratio or 16:9 ratio).
If it really had to use a letterbox, that would really suck (Sure, it's "acceptable" for movies, but it'll just be a distraction for gaming. Not to mention how much it'll detract from the gaming experience).
Letterbox doesn't bother me. I would rather have letterbox than 4:3.
Then again you really should get an HDTV come christmas time, they are now pretty affordable.
Letterbox doesn't bother me. I would rather have letterbox than 4:3.
Then again you really should get an HDTV come christmas time, they are now pretty affordable. For movies, yes. Trust me, you do NOT want letterbox for games. It really detracts from the gaming experience. I'm pretty sure Microsoft realizes this.
muchuukuri
03-17-2005, 04:56
I saw a thread where Siren said that it does adjust... seems like I'm wrong on this one guys. MY bad.
As to letterbox vs 4:3... I say NO... a lot of stuff literally becomes illegable... if you play RPGs that have a lot of text... you'll prolly go blind. -_-
HDTVs are still several hundred dollars... hows that cheap?? Besides, why buy a new one when your old TV already works? Then again, I don't have the money to buy one... and if I did I'd prolly blow it on games and dvds. -_-
It's funny, though, since M$ mentioned the whole HD era thing... the Xbox forums have been a buzz with people talking about which HDTVs to buy and stuff. It's amazing how videogames can push merchandise.
I agree with you GS Kid. If you're going to call yourself a gamer I would think it would be prudent to purchase all systems in order to truly enjoy gaming. As you say, why limit yourself? Xbox is home to a good many titles that aren't available on any other system as well as Gamecube. To me, it seems that Playstation 2 is more of a single player's system as evidenced by its lack of four controller ports and lack of games that support multiplayer.
I've been hearing rumours though that suggest either Square Enix or Rockstar will shift alliances next gen so maybe those kinds of situations will be enough to get people on the Xbox bandwagon.
Squre Enix? yeh keep dreaming and Rockstar Games is a multi format publisher and developer. So Tell they guys who ever told you them rumors to go and well you knowe the rest.
Reason why i pick over PS2 to Xbox and Gamecube you say? well because i like the games on the PS2 more. back in the day i would have said Sega today but Sony converted me since the dreamcast. (its abit like religion isnt it lol)
I had to delete 5 posts out of this thread just now, why
BECAUSE PEOPLE DIDN'T READ THE FORUM RULES
No go, take 30 minutes and read them.
No fanboy name calling or referances. No attempts to start flame wars. No acting like a mod (we can handle it, really)
heerokenshin
10-18-2006, 21:01
Oblivion "exclusive" content---isn't
When Elder Scrolls was announced as a PS3 launch title, there was talk of exclusive content for the PS3 version. This exclusive content included a new faction with its own storyline. However, this content will in fact be released for both the PC and XBox 360.
This new content, entitled the "Knights of Nine," will be available for download off of Xbox Live on Nov. 21st. There is no word yet as to price. As for the PC counterpart, they will be getting an expansion pack with all of the other downloadable content so far released. This includes Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard's Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrune's Razor, and Spell Tomes.
This PS3 launch title may not have "exclusive" new content, but it will have the "Knights of Nine" on the disc, saving you Xbox Live download fees, or the cost of buying a PC expansion pack. Be sure to check Oblivion out in Nov.
dude....this is old old old news...just update the original article
Plus I think Cera already covered that in her article about the interview with Oblivion CEO
I learned about that just yesterday. It's not old news, considering the stuff we've got in the que for being published.
ps3 Wanna be
10-19-2006, 22:47
A number of grammatical edits.
Also, try not to abbreviate months in future.
But a good article on the whole.
Live