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XBox 360 - A new media distribution platform
While there was a little buzz last week about the emerging next-generation XBox, to be called XBox 360, much of it focused on the industrial design and basic facts like wireless controllers and that there will be an edition with a hard-drive and one without, etc.
What was not talked about broadly was the much more important details on how the XBox is going to help transform digital media distribution on the Internet.* While many have lauded the mini-mac as a potential consumer-friendly, possibly living-room friendly device that could also help distribute media, the XBox 360 is smack aimed at this and will rock the consumer world with it's features, functions and price.
Some things to keep in mind about this new consumer set-top box from Microsoft (yes, the XBox is more or less a consumer set-top and entertainment box at this stage than a 'gaming console'):
- It's a powerful HD-capable DVD player
- It's a networked Internet media device that can download and render secure audio and video content from PCs and the Internet (read: it's an alternate path to the TV instead of your cable or satellite box)
- It's a networked PVR, when used as a Media Center Extender (a native feature, some have suggested)
- It's an unbelievable gaming platform
- It's going to be inexpensive
- It's NOT a PC or even attempting to be a PC
We're paying close attention here, as this device will likely be a high-volume set-top box to target Internet media applications against in 2006.
http://radio.weblogs.com/0113297/2005/02/26.html#a296
Here's some info about Jeremy Allaire:
http://www.generalcatalyst.com/team/allaire.html
So what? these are all opinions, only slightly more valid than than ANYONE elses, if more valid at all.
mckmas8808
02-28-2005, 17:32
To be honest it doesn't sound too bad. :|
muchuukuri
02-28-2005, 20:48
Umm... what?
X2 said:
- It's a powerful HD-capable DVD player
- It's a networked Internet media device that can download and render secure audio and video content from PCs and the Internet (read: it's an alternate path to the TV instead of your cable or satellite box)
- It's a networked PVR, when used as a Media Center Extender (a native feature, some have suggested)
- It's an unbelievable gaming platform
- It's going to be inexpensive
- It's NOT a PC or even attempting to be a PC
1) It's more than likely gonna be a DVD player, NOT an HD-DVD player... HD on a DVD isn't HD it's Fuax-HD, because you use different compressions algorithms like WMV9, which trick the human eye as well as compress... its not the same, sorry. High Definition isn't bigger resolution.. its about more information at the same resolution... to put it one way think about lossy vs nonlossy audio... HD is trying to be more Non-lossy.
2) The secure thing, might be a problem... check the link below... kinda scary the way things are now-a-days... after a point, prgammings gonna be about lawyers not programmers... -_-
3) The scoop is that there's no HDD on board, and any attachable HDD that isn't the size of a house doesn't go past 40Gigs...think ipod... maybe this is enough for PVR... since I'm not a officienado, so I can't say, but seems small
4) Probably
5) Umm.... based on what? If you think 300 is cheap then, well, yeah... personally, I think 20 bucks is expensive... but I'm dog poor... PITY ME!!!! ^^ Anyway, that's sheer speculation.
6) Yep, this time around it'll be a gaming station... but isn't be less of a PC a negative in the media-center world??? Or am I naive, here? Again, not my forte.
http://www.rethinkresearch.biz/free_page_view.asp?crypt=%B3%9C%C2%97%8B%80%86%AF% BC%C2%88%97owo%8F
3) The scoop is that there's no HDD on board, and any attachable HDD that isn't the size of a house doesn't go past 40Gigs...think ipod... maybe this is enough for PVR... since I'm not a officienado, so I can't say, but seems small
Memory specialist M-Systems this week released a 90GB hard drive based not on spindles, platters and mobile read/write heads but solid-state Flash memory.
The announcement comes a week after the company's CEO, Dov Moran, claimed that Microsoft - an M-Systems customer - has dropped the hard drive from the Xbox 2 spec.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/05/microsoft_takes_hard_drive_out/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/11/msystems_ships_40k_90gb_flash/
Yeah, what said there could not be said about regular X-Box, or Playstation 2?
muchuukuri
03-01-2005, 16:07
X2, you do realize that the 90GB hard drive costs 40,000 dollars right? And a 4GB costs 2,000 dollars... Assuming that 20 gigs is enough.... that places the HDD, using the cheaper one as a model... 20/4 = 5... 2,000x5... 10,000 dollars... ... ... ... ... k...
hey, maybe 40gig the ipod thing is enough, better then the alternative... like I said I'm not an expert.
Maybe they'll use the technology to make a SMALL data dump to stream media to make up for the slower speeds of DVDs... I talked about this somewhere else, but I can't remember... but to use it as a HDD is just nuts.
Hold up...
Finally, dear lord, its impossible to find old posts in forums...
http://www.ps3forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=939
But you also have to understand. It's not in the pricing, but in the agreement that MS and M-System have. MS might not have to pay &40k. It's other ways around it. Think business. It's all what's on the paper.
muchuukuri
03-02-2005, 20:31
You're kidding, right??
X2, you need to think like a buisness man as well...
Even if M$ strikes a brilliant deal they're going to lose HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of dollars on the HDD ALONE, not to mention whatever else they might on the X2.
What if M-systems gives M$ the HDDs? Oh yeah, they WANNA lose THOUSANDS on their stuff.
Be realistic, if the numbers are like that... M$ will just default to the standard HDD, even if it does mean bigger clunkier, no business man in their right mind would make use of the tech. in the common market
It's nice to hope, but it simply isn't feasible X2, you have to think a little deeper than just saying hey they might have an agreement... what would that agreement do? They're still gonna have to pay, in one form or another. There isn't some magical way around it.
X2, don't be a stubborn fanboy. Think of it THIS way: You are the CEO of the firm M-Systems, it costs you 1K to fabricate one of those 20GB flash memory drives, and you sell it for 10K. Do you, in your RIGHT mind, want to reduce the price to less than 100 JUST so that Microsoft can capatilize on it and gain an upper hand in the console war -- a market that you have no interest in whatsoever -- Hmm?
- It's NOT a PC or even attempting to be a PC
Of course not, it's attempting to be a Mac clone :lol:... Hey, Mac Mini, Hmm... Xbox Mini... Hey, pretty catchy! :lol:
PS Gamer
03-03-2005, 00:08
umm, this info isn't official so there is no point in this thread....Noone right now knows what the Next Box is going to be called....and im pretty sure that MS is only going with one design, and that design has NO harddrive, they have said in a news article that they would be using Flash hardware...
- PS Gamer
Dude, relax
This forum as a whole is all speculation right now.
You cannot say that they won't ship 50 different designs if they wanted to. No one can (well I could but won't)
As for your other comments everywhere about no backward compatibility. Not saying they will or won't, but anyone who knows software knows that it is possible. The hardest part would be the CPU's architecture, if anything the GPU in the Xbox only makes it easier as it is very architecturally not unique.
bustabusta196
03-03-2005, 02:41
would be great if it was B/C cause then i could trade in my xbox's for money and keep the games. and people dont say oh who cares about B/C no ones gonna play old games on a new system.. if its a game like Doom 3, Halo2, or a game that has yet to be released on the next generation system.. like ESPN NFL 2K5 seeing that EA bought the rights to it.. ill probably hold on to this game a lil longer until so actually good comes from EA.
Epsilon-Zero
03-03-2005, 02:57
If emulating the xbox hardware is possible, microsoft will find the way. Xbox emulators for PC currently exhist but are very buggy and have to be designed almost individualy for each game. Microsoft has all the advantages to making an emulator work. They know the xbox hardware inside and out. They dont have to guess and work a game backwards to make it emulate.
If will be considered a failure on microsofts part if they cant develop an emulator to be backwards compatible.
As an xbox owner do i really care? Im not sure yet. Ive kept every console i have ever owned so if i cant play my xbox games on the xbox 2 i guess my xbox will sit along side the xbox 2 in my living room. But if it is backwards compatible i will probably trade in my old xbox towards an xbox 2. :|
muchuukuri
03-04-2005, 01:35
I'm a little confused about this... Sire, EpZ... help me out here.. I've been told by several others, I believe The_One even, though I don't wanna put words in his mouth, that the GPU and CPU in videogame system are actually very closely tied... so I imagine that GPU emulation IS an issue for X2, yeah?? Or perhap, not to knock, but the XBox is very much PC like, so perhaps the two are more seperated? Granted, GPUs are a HECK of a lot more similar than CPU archititecture, but NVidia and ATi DEFINATELY have their differences. Basically, I'm just wondering if the GPU really does need emulation or not?
Ohh it would definately need some layer of emulation. The question is (and I honestly don't know) how much would it take to impliment backwards compat? Is it possible with the difference in speed?
Normally good emulation takes about 3 - 10x speed.
If emulating the xbox hardware is possible, microsoft will find the way. Xbox emulators for PC currently exhist but are very buggy and have to be designed almost individualy for each game. Microsoft has all the advantages to making an emulator work. They know the xbox hardware inside and out. They dont have to guess and work a game backwards to make it emulate.
I'd say Connectix's Virtual PC would be a closer emulation of X86 architecture on a PPC processor.
Normally good emulation takes about 3 - 10x speed.
Isn't that for the CPU emulation alone? I'd say GPU would probably take an extra junk of Processing power to emulate... I wonder how PS3 is doing backward compatibility this time around (Since for PS2 to PS1 backward compatibility, the PS2 used a PS1 chip). They probably have the raw power for direction emulation, but I'm not so sure...
PS Gamer
03-04-2005, 20:13
Its not the architecture that they are worring about....its the suit that NVIDA could file on them....thats where the whole backwards compatibilty problems are....I don't remember where I saw that but thats what the article said.
Its not the architecture that they are worring about....its the suit that NVIDA could file on them....thats where the whole backwards compatibilty problems are....I don't remember where I saw that but thats what the article said. Hehe. That's where most people go wrong, actually. You see, emulating nVidia's XBox chip would be completely software, so we wouldn't step on any of their hardware patents, thus avoiding half the hole already. Now, of course, there are going to be issues with the software, but I'm not sure in this area, so I'll keep my mouth shut :P.
RPGDreamer
10-08-2006, 07:24
Good news for Sony, for recent polls in Japan are showing a rise in interest for the PLAYSTATION 3 console. According to a report released by ITmedia, the 39 percent of the gamers surveyed have said that they plan to buy a PLAYSTATION 3. The number follows closely behind the 40 percent who said that they will buy a Nintendo Wii. The Xbox 360 currently remains the underdog, with only 16 percent says that they would like to buy it.
The report follows a survey done by Japanese gaming magazine, Gamaga, in which 20 percent said that they will be buying a PLAYSTATION 3 and 60 percent said that they will buy a Nintendo Wii. However, even though Gamaga's survey is older, we should point out that their readership is far more gaming-focused than ITmedia.
Various sources have attributed the rise in interest to Sony's recently announcement that the price of the console has been slashed. If true, we certainly hope that Sony will follow their own example and drop the price tag in other regions as well.
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