The X-Box 360

[freebfrost]

I'm a little surpised they are only going with 512 of RAM, most gamers run a gig of RAM these days. More memory is always good.

But you also have to worry about the OS overhead for computers, which takes up a bunch of memory.

For a dedicated console build only for games, that's good.

 

[freebfrost]

No mention of backwards compatibility that I saw.

There is some nice commentary on this on IGN from their Xbox 360 FAQ.

 

[drothgery]

There is some nice commentary on this on IGN from their Xbox 360 FAQ.

Err... it's kind of brain-dead commentary, actually. It's a lot easier for a new ATi GPU to emulate a GeForce 3.5 (especially when all the calls are coming from a specialized version of DirectX) than it is for a PowerPC to emulate a Pentium III.

 

[DonTadow]

I'm not a ps2 head, but I am more excited about the new Cell techonology that the ps3 is going to use. I don't really see anything with the new xbox that a sooped up computer can't do. I do likea free online network though.

 

[drothgery]

I'm not a ps2 head, but I am more excited about the new Cell techonology that the ps3 is going to use. I don't really see anything with the new xbox that a sooped up computer can't do. I do likea free online network though.

Why is one medium-sized core and eight little cores with an nVidia GPU any more exciting than three big cores with an ATi GPU?

 

[DonTadow]

It's not just any big core. Thsi technology is light years above what is coming in the xbox. This is going to have further implications to other uses of our lives.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12523

 

[drothgery]

It's not just any big core. Thsi technology is light years above what is coming in the xbox. This is going to have further implications to other uses of our lives.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=12523

Note that the article you're linking to is two years old.

That's just Sony hype. You do remember what they said about the Emotion Engine, right? The Cell is the same kind of chip, except that the main core is a stripped-down PPC instead of a stripped-down Toshiba RISC chip, and it's got 8 little cores instead of 4.

The Cell's main core is just a stripped-down PPC, and it's less powerful than the one that's going in Xbox 360 (or the one that's in Macs as the G5, for that matter); the Xbox 360 cores are SMT-enabled (like the Pentium 4, and some of IBM's PPC variants that they use for mainframes and high-end workstation), and the Cell's is not.

 

[Arnwyn]

Interesting news, but ultimately meaningless. Console specs are general hogwash, and we won't know much about capabilities until the games are fully playable.

Because it's all about the games.

(Though it is nice to see that the controllers are wireless out of the box, and that it supports 4 of 'em.)

and is almost certainly more than PS3 and Revolution will have next year.

Oh?

 

[drothgery]

Oh?

That's just a wild guess, but since the original Xbox had by far the most RAM of its generation, and then they put 8 times as much in the Xbox 360, it seems likely. Microsoft, being run by software people, tends to favor throwing more memory at problems.

 

[DonTadow]

Interesting news, but ultimately meaningless. Console specs are general hogwash, and we won't know much about capabilities until the games are fully playable.

Because it's all about the games.

(Though it is nice to see that the controllers are wireless out of the box, and that it supports 4 of 'em.)

Oh?

I'd have to agree with taht as well, and though Xbox had the more powerful system, I dont think until this year that I've seen other great games (other meaning other than Halo- which for me, a pc user, is just an overrated first person shooteres that doesnt reach the levels of the stuff being produced for the PCs)

Microsoft needs to get agressive and buy some big franchises away from sony. that is what sony did when they released the ps and they bought the square franchise final fantasy. the new microsoft is going ot need more than halo, and though fable, kotor I and II and Jade Empire are strong franchises they can build (also Level 5's new MMORPG) they are going to need to get some name brand action stuff such as the GTAs, Devil may crys, resident evils ect .