XBox 360
 

Microsoft held a press unvailing of the XBox 360. They thought nothing would leak. Heheheheh....

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

Re: XBox 360
 

sweet :yikes:

Re: XBox 360
 

Is it just me or is MS trying to look like Apple?

Re: XBox 360
 

Im guessing the graphics are going to be like 50x more insane than X-box!!! :D

Re: XBox 360
 

Why wouldn't MS try to look like Apple, Apples look awesome!

Re: XBox 360
 

Darn, now I'm gonna have to shell out more money =/

Re: XBox 360
 

Wasn't anything "bad", you hear it on the PBS channel. I'll edit it anyways.

Re: XBox 360
 

Yet again, Microsoft succeeds at making something that doesn't match any part of a regular home theater system! :P

Re: XBox 360
 

If rumors are true, an upgraded version of the Xbox 360 will be your home theater system. Equipped with Windows Media Center, to be exact.

Re: XBox 360
 

:ahh: :ahh:

Re: XBox 360
 

PS3 will still rock the XBox 360. The rumor is that the PS3 has about 7x the processing power of the new XBox. Of course if the predicitons hold, it will come out about a year later as well.
Oh yeah, and that's FAR too ugly to be Apple. ;)
*looks at iPod and G5* :yikes:

Re: XBox 360
 

I personally think it looks better than the original. But thats just me.

Re: XBox 360
 

Thats looks really cool. When they come out with, it would be smart for them to come out with Halo 3 too.

Re: XBox 360
 

Xbox 360 has a tri-core processor, each core with about 3GHz of power. That's about 9GHz of power. I highly doubt PS3 will have 63GHz of power.

Re: XBox 360
 

What’s even more interesting is that the tri-core processor is a derivative of the PPC 970 (not the same though), which the G5's have.

In fact Microsoft even gave developers G5s with PPC versions of WinNT to develop the first games for the X-box 360.

Re: XBox 360
 

1.) I don't think so. I've heard dual-core, which IBM is developing, but TRI?

2.) The 3ghz PPC procs are still a bit aways away.

3.) Dual-core, or tri core, procs are still 3ghz, not 9ghz.

Re: XBox 360
 

I wouldn't believe all the rumors you hear. Besides, multiple cores != multiple processors...

As for the PS3 having 7x the processing power of the new Xbox, I would highly doubt it...that much of a power difference in the same generation would be incredible...

Re: XBox 360
 

Almost every single source out there is saying that Xbox 360 will use 3 64 bit processors, all multi-core based on IBM's 64 Bit POWER5 architecture. Each 64 bit processor will run at about 3 Ghz, and will share 1MB of L2 cache.

It's expected to have 256MB of RAM, more than plenty for a next-gen system.

The graphics card is gonna be phenomenal. It's being created by ATI, and will not only contain a graphics rendering core but embedded DRAM acting as a buffer that will be big enough to handle a 480i image, and can be 4x over-sampled and double buffered.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000600035065/

Re: XBox 360
 

Based on the article you provided, it sounds like it will be a single processor, but will have 3 cores that together share 1 mb L2 cache. Still, it doesnt sound like THAT bad of a system. :D

Re: XBox 360
 

Yeah, theres sooo many contradicting reports (1 processor 3 cores, 3 processors, etc.)

Not sure which to believe, probably 1 processor 3 cores.

Re: XBox 360
 

It's really hard to know exactly whats up when everything is a rumor, I guess we'll just have to wait til its "officially" revealed. Oh well.

Re: XBox 360
 

I suppose that all rumors will be put down at E3. I hope I can go!

Oh yeah, and there is an interesting preview of all three consoles at www.gamespot.com

Re: XBox 360
 

Check out teamxbox.com for the most up to date information on the XBOX 360. They've got quite a few photos, even some from the MTV reveal party, and other information regarding the XBOX 360.

Re: XBox 360
 

Here is a site with technical info on the Xbox 360

http://www.activewin.com/awin/commen...=29527&Group=1

Re: XBox 360
 

Ok, I don't like the downloadable game content, particularly the Premium downloads, this isn't good and its a FACT that the gaming industry is heading that way. Its like paying for ringtones for your cell phone, yeah its cool, buts its usually overpriced and a mark of Greed on the companies selling it.

Anything with "Additional Fees may Apply" is bad

I like all the input devices, and all the formats that the Disc Drive Supports is pretty handy. Also note the HD support, this will be fun Halo 3 in HD! I hope they make the games all compatible with standard TV's too, cause people tend to screw up stuff like that.

3 symmetrical cores?! I'm doubting this, but it looks solid, but I'll need to play it to really give my review.


EIGHT DAYS UNTIL WE FIND OUT FOR REAL

and I just a different set of Specs, http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000600035065/

and a better picture http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000293041091/

Re: XBox 360
 

I really hope you don't have to buy the hard drive to download stuff from Live, hopefully it'll come with a small hard drive and you can upgrade, or you can download Live stuff onto a memory card. $300 for a new system is a lot, never mind spending $75-$100 extra just so I can play some new Halo maps.

Re: XBox 360
 

-I believe there is going to be a hard drive, it may be a sub 20 gig hard drive, but its a hard drive, the proposed different models probably will have varying sizes.
-Forget spending 75-100 bucks on new halo maps, they'll do that to our favorite maps like Blood Gulch and Cooagulation, and other greats like that.

Re: XBox 360
 

Rumor is Xbox Live Silver will be for everyone to play online on weekends, and will be free.

Xbox Live Gold will be a pay service for full time play.

Re: XBox 360
 

yeah I don't know what the deal is with them changing up xbox live but I have looked at the schematics and it did have multiple processors and a onboard HD. I will have to dig up the schematics on my machine but it will be a beastly machine. I intend to get at least one or two depending on the prices when it comes out. I have also heard rumors. Halo 2 supposedly will already come preinstalled on the HD. Halo 2 will be remade the way Bungie really wanted it to turn out for the xbox 360. I have also heard a price range of 250 to 400 dollars depending on models. Once again I will dig up the schematics for you all.

Re: XBox 360
 

I find it unlikely that Halo 2 would come preinstalled on the XBox 360. They'd lose a lot of money that way, they could just sell it seperate.

The lanuch title is going to be Perfect Dark Zero, or whatever the sequel to Perfect Dark is. They've got my vote, I loved Perfect Dark.

Re: XBox 360
 

Here is a prize image from the ourcolony.net website. It may have something to do with Perfect Dark.

Re: XBox 360
 

Really Clark? j/k

Man, I really can't wait now!

Re: XBox 360
 

A little Tidbit-
The graphics chip inside the X-box 360 is done by ATI this time. This means it will be far less powerful in that field, and it will be not near the amount of power that Nvidia could put in it. An interesting fact is that Nvidia is still making money off of the 360 even though they aren't involved. ATI doesn't have the skills to create the graphics shaders to fit the 360, so they were forced to pay Nvidia for their patented shader tech.

Re: XBox 360
 

I would actually buy this XBOX....and I'm a loyal Playstation2 guy. :rolleyes:

Re: XBox 360
 

they are releasing PERFECT DARK ? .. is that true? thats a nintendo game tho!!! if thats true.. i will jst have to download a xbox 260 emulator and perfect dark rom and play taht on my pc :D :P .. only game ide play .. :P

and yes.. it looks WAY too appleish.. i didnlt like xbox to begin with.. now i will dont like it even more :D! ps2 for life!

Re: XBox 360
 

Everyone check out MTV tonight, 9:30 EST. Remember all those leaked pictures? Came from the taping of the show thats airing tonight!

Re: XBox 360
 

Just finished watching the MTV special, waste of 30 mins of my life. They said nothing about the technical specs, nothing about the release date, nothing about the launch price. On MTV.Com you get some specs, not that much though. What I have so far: http://www.mtv.com/games/video_games/xbox/console.jhtml

EDIT: From what I'm reading, a HDD comes stock :D

Re: XBox 360
 

That made G4 look like TechTV.

What an udder waster of a half-hour. Only good part was the prior designs of the 360. Too much celebs, too much music, too much ADD-camera, too much stupidity, too little games, too little tech, too little information.

Here's a recap of the segment....

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000617043196/

I totally agree with the final line, with the crossed out word myself.....

Re: XBox 360
 

Gathering info right now:
512 MB RAM
3 Symmetric Cores
1 Trillion Floating Point Operations / Second
Every Game in High-Def
Every Game in Surround Sound
Horizontal / Vertical Setup
Water Cooled CPU
2 Memory Unit Ports
Wireless 802.11B, A, and G
Swappable Faceplates
Stock HDD
**Really quick they mentioned "You can download new games", no details**
Custom Music Playlists
Video Chat
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Connects to your home network
Streams video/pictures from camcorder/camera/etc.
** Quick clip of someone spinning around on a Segway **
Live enabled out of the box
No mention of Halo, but sooo many clips with them playing what seemed to be Zanzibar. Maybe this is the fabled Halo 2.5?

I saw all this through the video at www.ourcolony.net

EDIT: https://www.xbox360.com/agecheck.aspx?lang=en-us

Oops, looks like Microsoft can't code and just gave away their machine key!

EDIT 2: http://www.xbox.com/en-us/xbox360/console.htm
Release date Holiday 2005, still no price yet :(

Re: XBox 360
 

Just a few personal opinions

* I am really surprised that they are only using DVD's and not Blue-Rays. It seem that when the HD disks are coming out later this year the X360 will already be obsolete before it hit the shelves.

* ATI is just as good, and sometimes even better than NVIDIA. But I am surprised that that graphics processor has only 10 mb of onboard RAM. My old computer has more than that.

*I am wondering how the water-cooling is going to work out for the Xbox. Many water cooling systems suffer leaks overtime, which is especially not good for an enclosure that small

* I am also wondering how these are going to look on SD (Standard definition) televisions. HD can scale down to SD, but it would be in widescreen, and many details will probably be blurred out.

* There was no mention of backwards compatibility with the Xbox. But I know Microsoft was definitely working on it. The same team that is trying to make an emulated video card for Virtual PC, is also the same group working for backwards compatibly with the X360

*The X-box live camera seems like a cool idea, but since there is no uniform standard out for video conferencing this seems like it will mostly be X-box to X-box configuration.

Re: XBox 360
 

Wow, after seeing some of the MTV special and checking out teamxbox.com I'm really excited to get a hold of one of these consoles. They say holiday release, which means the price will probably be jacked up a little for the holiday season, so I'll probably wait till after the first of the year to pick one up.

Re: XBox 360
 

Yes the original Perfect Dard was on the nostalgic N64, but the developer for the game was Rareware. Nintendo and Rareware eventually went their separate ways and Nintendo sold the lisencing rights to Microsoft EXCEPT for Nintendo characters. For instance the Banjo Kazooie line, and the Donkey Kong games that will/maybe released are going to be for the Nintendo console since Nintendo owns the rights to those characters. Therefore sine Microsoft owns Rareware they have ownership of the new Perfect Dark title.

It's all political mumbo jumbo, but that's the way it is.

Can't wait for it either way

Re: XBox 360
 

The best news I've heard about the XBOX 360 since it's launch.

Backwards compatible with top selling XBOX games.

Compatible with just "top selling" xbox games? Well this is better then nothing, especially since I usually only buy the best selling/highest rated games.


and ooohhh the PS3. http://ps3.ign.com/

Re: XBox 360
 

Whats the difference between the "top selling" games and the not-so-good selling games?

Re: XBox 360
 

"Top-Selling" will be like HALO + HALO2 and some of thier sports games and i would say most of the XBOX LIVE games too...

Re: XBox 360
 

Also... WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BUZZ ABOUT THIS DAMNED SYSTEM!?!?!

it will not compete with either PS3 or the Nintendo Revolution *if it gets the games*

Re: XBox 360
 

XBOX 360 will get the games, that why it will probably be the best selling out of the 3 new systems. Look, they already started to take the Final Fantasy series from Playstation . And with a most conveniently timed "Halo 3" release, at the same time as PS3, Microsoft is ensuring the XBOX 360 stays hot all the way into 2006. And anyone that thinks the Nintendo Revolution is gonna be a seller is just crazy, look at the Gamecube and how it got owned by the Playstation and XBOX. :) I really don't think the question should be, what next-gen console will be the best, but more like "Which next-gen console is going to put an end to PC gaming".

Re: XBox 360
 

According to the Associated Press, the PS3's Cell processing system is "10x more powerful than your home computer's". So I stand by my earlier statement of it being 7x as powerful as XBox 360s'.
And Square Enix may be giving FFXI to XBox, but FFXII and the rest will most likely being staying with Sony. I doubt Sony will let go one of its best series. I mean FFXI flopped on PS2 in America, but FFX, and the other more traditional Final Fantasies have dominated American gaming.

Re: XBox 360
 

That's the biggest load of junk I've ever heard. If any system won't compete, it's Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo is surviving on its fan base, its few trademark games, and that's it. I used to be die hard Nintendo back in the SNES days. The gyro controllers that Revolution is reportedly going to use... I'm sorry, but it's just stupid. Can you see any hardcore gamer playing with something like that? I sure can't.

PS3 and Xbox 360 will dominate the market. Halo 3 is going to be nothing short of amazing, and I will definitely be purchasing the Xbox 360 before any other systems.

Re: XBox 360
 

Just to be fair here are the specs for the PS3.

Official PS3 Specs

Here are the official technical specifications for the PS3, taken directly from Sony:

CPU
Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS

GPU
RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines

Sound
Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)
Memory
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

System Bandwidth
Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)

System Floating Point Performance
2 TFLOPS

Storage
Detachable 2.5" HDD slot x 1

I/O
USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1

Communication
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller
Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)

AV Output
Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1

Disc Media
CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE

Here is the website I got the specs from.

Re: XBox 360
 

Up to 7 controllers for the PS3!?! Wow, thats impressive.

Re: XBox 360
 

i have heard word from a guy doing E3 that 360 will be $249.00. and will have 3 kinds, white, silver and gold. i can't wait!

Re: XBox 360
 

I would love for the XBOX 360 to be only $249. That would make my day, although I am ready to pay as much as $350-400. By white, silver, gold do you mean different packages available at different price levels?

Re: XBox 360
 

3 Processors at 3.2GHZ EaCH!

Re: XBox 360
 

are these specs confirmed!?!? even if so... the PS3 games looked so much better than the xbox360 games...

Re: XBox 360
 

This is interesting too.....

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/8296/Xbox-360-More-Power/

Re: XBox 360
 

I think it's important to remember that Sony has unveiled far more information about their hardware architecture than Microsoft has. Saying that PS3 will be faster is premature.

In fact more SPEs, threads per CPU, or CPUs does not indicate that the games will be any better; all it means is developers will have more processing power available to them. To take advantage of this new power developers will have to write their software with multiple software threads. Currently, most games are written to run in a single thread. Games that have been written in two threads for multiple CPU computers have shown a negligible performance gain.

The real problem is not general purpose CPU power. That's why the original Xbox could get away with a 700MHz Celeron. The bottleneck in today's games are the GPUs. The console with the better designed GPU will have the best games.

XBox 360 and Poor Image Quality-
At the E3 trade show Xbox games are not running on console hardware they are being run on Apple Powermac G5s. Image quality will be better when the Xbox is delivered. Link

Re: XBox 360
 

The alpha kits are PowerMac G5s running 2.7ghz. The procs are dual, and the graphics card is not as good as the one that is being developed for the 360. Ironic that Microsoft needs Macs to run it's keynote and booth, eh?

Re: XBox 360
 

NOTE: This is only pure speculation

I believe that there are two main reasons why the demos looked cruddy with the G5

1. There are basically running a 10 year old OS with little modifications to it

2. I think that the GPU isn't even being used, and that all the graphics are being produced by the CPU instead.

Those demo boxes were running a special version of Windows NT for the PPC. These version of Windows NT was shortly discontinued right after NT was announced around 10 years ago. Since its such an old operating system, it probably doesn't take advantage of a lot of the G5's features.

I also believe that the graphics cards are not even being used in these demos (except to draw the image). The video cards in Macs are built only for OpenGL, and not DIRECT X. The DIRECT X then must have been done by the CPUs

But of course nothing runs as well as on the real thing
.

Re: XBox 360
 

I agree, emulators screw everything up...

Re: XBox 360
 

TODAY!!

oh yeah baby! i left here at 2:45, waited in line as the third person. got one of the premium 360's. one of the guys who got a core model comes up to me and goes i will give you $200 for the premium one and I'll give you the core. so basically i have already made $200 off this system. It soon will be up on ebay. wahoo!

Re: XBox 360
 

If you have a 360 you can make a killing on ebay right now as they are going for about 1,100 a piece. Going to get mine on Friday for the second shipment and sell it on ebay. just from the profit i could buy a pretty good LCD monitor, some games and accessories. :D

Re: XBox 360
 

tis correct! i sold my first 360 for $675. i made around 350 profit from that. and i am just on my way out to go pick up another one and that too will go on ebay.

by any chance where will you be going to get this "second shipment" of 360's from? i have heard things of the next shipment being in 06 around February.

Re: XBox 360
 

It's almost as profitable as Tickle Me Elmo!

That's crazy, people will pay that much for a gaming system that you can wait a couple of months and pay 1/2 or a 1/3 as much as you bought it for. Or you can go into the store and play them for free!

Re: XBox 360
 

Has anyone here had any problems with their Xbox 360? There's been reports of crashing. I just wanted to get a feel for how widespread the problem is.

Slashdot coverage

Re: XBox 360
 

honestly, i have no clue about crashing. I have two xbox 360's in my posseion but i can't open them up and play with them sadly. but they are making me a good buck of two. I havent really heard about it anyway.

Re: XBox 360
 

I wish I remeber where I heard this rumor, but a store only got 5 360s, but specifically told their employees not to tell anyone in the 200 person and growing line...so only the first 5 people got one. I have to say I wouldda been a little upset. But I think the people who really wanted one would have reserved one...like they would for the release of any other popular item.

On another note...If 360s are going for the much on ebay, imagine the PS3 hype...I definitely might considering buying one or two and just ebaying them.

Re: XBox 360
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=w...ge=1&t=t&f =b

I found this surfing the net :ahh:
ehh ill wait a year or two.
Microsoft rushed that thing out. I think Sony is playing it smart taking their time to develop the PS3. I doubt the PS3 will have many problems. I bought a PSP and its running well no problems so far!
Microsoft can do better than this!

Re: XBox 360
 

Microsoft has said that the crashing is "only a small fraction of the sold XBoxes" but refuses to release numbers and that the reports were "not unexpected" :ahh: :eek:.

Also, some people report that there power converter over heated, causing the crash so by lifting it off the ground and letting the air circulate around it giving it better cooling, the crashign can be prevented.

I wonder how those vaccum cleaners are coming... :rolleyes:

Re: XBox 360
 

I've heard from people who work at Best Buy that they have received anywhere between 50 and 75% of the consoles back becuase they malfunction (CRASH). :ahh:

Re: XBox 360
 

interesting, now if ya bought one from ebay your out of luck unless they give you the receipt from where ever they bought it.

Re: XBox 360
 

Yeah, good luck getting that to happen.

Re: XBox 360
 

The idiot assistant-manager at our local Wal-Mart got small town Elkton, Maryland on the national news. While the crowd of patrons lining up for XBOX 360's were managing themselves (even the prior shift manager was outside talking and joking with them), the assistant-manager of the midnight shift came out and she told the folks that the store would not honor their decorum. She insisted that the line begin in a different location, "first come, first served". Then a melee breaks out as all folks tried to rush to her designated spot. The store has to call in the local police (small department, so county and state police respond as well), because of her poor decision.

The store makes an announcement that they will not be selling the XBOX's after all, and the police make all folks leave. One hour after they leave, the XBOX's are put out on the shelves and sold quickly.

No, I wasn't standing outside waiting for one of these prized units. I was about 4 blocks up on top the hill comfortably watching some old movies on the television.

Elkton is famous for its' Wedding Chapel, and is referred to in many movies from the 30's and 40's. The town slogan is "Memories are made in Elkton". I guess memories were made that night also, but not really very pleasant ones.

Here's the article from our local rag:
http://www.cecilwhig.com/articles/20...23/news/01.txt

Re: XBox 360
 

http://stuntcook.com/index.php?i=18976

lm@o

Re: XBox 360
 

Wow. I wonder what Petey would say...

Re: XBox 360
 

what a retard! man he could have sold that on ebay for $6000! But still, it's a bash on microsoft, so thumbs up from me.

Re: XBox 360
 

It was a display model that was defective, but still it is awesoem to watch them do that infront of all the people who are waiting for it and don't know it doesn't work.

Re: XBox 360
 

Yep

Re: XBox 360
 

I'm still trying to get myself a xbox 360. So far i have gone to CompUSA stood in line, caled Wal-Mart a few tiems, looked on the interent numerous times and now joining the xbox forums to get a edge over the other people. i just want a xbox 360.

Re: XBox 360
 

At this point I would just wait a few months. Plus there gona be changing the way they make 360s anyway. theres talk about using a different hard drive and a price drop.

I know I'm just gona wait till they get the overheating problem fixed and I also hear the way they interlaced the graphics cards you get black lines on your screen sometimes. idk but im gona wait plus :yikes: $400 :yikes: (U.S. $) is alot of money.

Re: XBox 360
 

well the $400 is no issue with me, becuase i made more then that in profit from selling two of them already.

Re: XBox 360
 

Yeah I'd like to buy one too. I just can't justify spending more than $400 for it. It's already expensive. Buying one of eBay or Craigs List for $750 to $1000+ is extremely expensive. Initially I would think it was a good idea, after about a week I would feel like an idiot.

I figure if I wait a few months I will get it for $400 or less, plus many of the bugs will be cleaned up. Right now it seems smarter to wait.

Re: XBox 360
 

I'm keeping a look out, but I'm not actively pursuing getting one of these things. I'm too busy to spend hours at a time stalking from one store to the next looking for video games. My regular old XBox still works and I still play Halo 2 more than just about anything else, so I'm satisfied to wait until I find one easily.

There's no way I'm paying more than MSRP for the thing, if I pay even that much. $400 is ridiculous for video games and I'm only buying one because I'd otherwise waste the money on things that wouldn't last as long.

Re: XBox 360
 

Im waiting out on buying one till either FFXI comes out for it or Halo 3. Until then my regular xbox suits me just fine :)

Besides their having some problems with overheating in most of them I heard. :(