Reply With QuoteWhat is meant by the first quarter of next year?
First, it seems it will be backwards compatible after all. According to Gamespot:
Second, according to Gamespot, the Xbox 2 GPU will be ready for Q1 2005:The Xbox 2 will use Virtual PC 7 for backward compatibility for original Xbox games. According to Geek.com's Apple Insider subsection, the reason for the delay of the latest version of Virtual PC 7 is that "Microsoft has given this project exclusively to the Xbox team." Why would they do such a thing? "Because the next Xbox will include an IBM PowerPC 970, and current Xbox game developers are shipped G5 PowerMacs," says Geek.com. While not confirmed by Microsoft, it sounds like a much more plausible scenario than last week's Xbox 2-backward-compatiblity rumor, which had a Silicon Valley startup providing universal emulator middleware for the next-gen console.
Now lets hope IBM will be able to roll out enough CPU's at that time.Citing market sources, IT news Web site DigiTimes reports that ATI is prepared to "roll out" its Xbox 2 GPU, code-named the R500, in the first quarter of next year. According to the report, the R500 will be based on ATI's next-generation R520 desktop graphics processor, and semiconductor foundry TSMC will produce the chip using a 90nm manufacturing process.
What is meant by the first quarter of next year?
I assume it means sometime between january and april 2005.
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
Backwards compatibility
Hopefully it will work better than the current PS2 backwards compatibilty. Sure games run, but you can't play more than 2 players because the multi-taps aren't compatible. I was really dissappointed when I couldn't go 4 player Crash Team Racing on the PS2.
"Luck's last match struck in the pouring down wind." - Chris Cornell, "Mindriot"
Take a guessOriginally posted by Verto
What is meant by the first quarter of next year?
I *MIGHT* get Morrowind finished then!Originally posted by BustaMike
Backwards compatibility
Wooo.. backwards compatibility.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 (NRSV)
Very positive news. Makes me actually contemplate getting an x-box2
Getting another computer? No thanks, I have enough already.
Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. -Isaiah 41:10
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17
Super!
I've been telling people this for months (or if not a year+), that the reason MS bought the VirtualPC software was obvious. Within a month they announced the purchase of Virtual PC (x86 emulation on PowerPC), and then announced Xbox2 would use PowerPC...wasn't rocket science.Originally posted by nostromo
Now lets hope IBM will be able to roll out enough CPU's at that time.
Also, I would be surprised if the CPUs weren't done already. If it's just dual-core PowerPC 970s, that's rather trivial (seeing as dual-core PowerPC 970s minus altivec with a whole shitload of cache is called the "Power4"
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "
Now the important question: HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
Sony is pushing Blu-Ray and said it will be used by PS2, which means 60 million people will have Blu Ray players in their homes. They also purchased MGM, which alone owned IIRC ~4,000 titles. 20th Century Fox has just recently announced they will also be pushing Blu-Ray as the successor to DVD.
Doesn't IBM have important yield problems for G5s?Also, I would be surprised if the CPUs weren't done already. If it's just dual-core PowerPC 970s, that's rather trivial (seeing as dual-core PowerPC 970s minus altivec with a whole shitload of cache is called the "Power4" )
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
Neither one, I think. Plain vanilla DVD.Now the important question: HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
There would be little point in coming out when an Xbox2, then, since PS3, using Blu-ray, would boast games that could run circles around anything Microsoft had.Originally posted by nostromo
Neither one, I think. Plain vanilla DVD.
Blu-ray discs could have anywhere from 2x-10x as much storage space as current DVDs; Sony is also working on a lens that would be backwards compatible and read DVDs.
If you ask me, current DVDs have plenty of storage space as it is. Anyway, aren't hd-dvd and blu-ray players über expensive?
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
They are right now, but so were DVD players when that was the new thing.
And it's not just storage capacity that is fueling the change from DVD.
DVDs right now lack the ability to show true High Definition - in other words, the DVDs are limiting the quality, not televisions or consoles. You can get better quality watching HD satellite, than DVDs.
Next gen consoles are due out next year, or so they say. And hd-dvd and blu-ray will not become mainstream anytime soon. (Maybe five years from now, if they ever become mainstream.) So their prices will not come down anytime soon, not soon enough for the next gen consoles. I don't know how Sony will pull this off.
Yes, movies are limited at 480p. But not games. You can play some current Xbox games at 480p, 720p or even at 1080i (Dragon's Lair) if you want. Xbox 2 will fully support high-def games. You just won't be able to watch hd-dvd's with it.DVDs right now lack the ability to show true High Definition - in other words, the DVDs are limiting the quality, not televisions or consoles. You can get better quality watching HD satellite, than DVDs.
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
At 2.5GHz @ 90nm, yes.Originally posted by nostromo
Doesn't IBM have important yield problems for G5s?
The plan is to have the chips @ 65nm, IIRC. They're also adding stuff like strained silicon @ 65nm, which helps.
The problem isn't so much with the yields, but with Apple promising to have 3GHz G5s by summer, and the chips not wanting to scale very well -- forcing IBM to overclock them to 2.5GHz, which not many chips can do.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "
I'd be surprised if Sony carries through with putting blu-ray on their consoles. The cost would be prohibitive.Originally posted by Verto
There would be little point in coming out when an Xbox2, then, since PS3, using Blu-ray, would boast games that could run circles around anything Microsoft had.
Blu-ray discs could have anywhere from 2x-10x as much storage space as current DVDs; Sony is also working on a lens that would be backwards compatible and read DVDs.
"The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "
I'd be surprised if they didn't.Originally posted by Asher
I'd be surprised if Sony carries through with putting blu-ray on their consoles. The cost would be prohibitive.
well, well, well... it seems the HD-DVD association wants Xbox2 on board
NEC and Toshiba are trying to persuade Microsoft to use their next-gen media format for the next-gen games console.
TOKYO--The HD-DVD association is attempting to persuade Microsoft to adopt its media format for use in the next Xbox console, Bloomberg Japan reported today. The news was revealed today during the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies Conference by Ryoichi Hayatsu, chief of Storage Division 1 at NEC.
"Microsoft is competing around first or second place in the North American [game] market," Hayatsu said. If the format were to be adopted for the next Xbox console, the association could "expect mass production [of HD-DVD reading units], which will lead [the format] to have a stable price from an early stage."
The HD-DVD association is competing to take the lead on the next-generation media standard against the Blu-ray Disc Founders association, which has made some major strides in recent weeks. Sony, a member of the Blu-ray Disc Founders association, announced last month that it will adopt the Blu-ray format on its next-generation game console succeeding the PlayStation 2.
Boooo!
Microsoft, go Blu-ray!
I'm kinda happy with my xbox.
Not only does it have a couple of decent titles, but it also gives me comfort that i can brain any would-be burgler/house breaker with it.
I wont be buying an xbox2 even if it had super-greenRay of death
Heck my VHS player still shows a good enough movie.
Now if the xbox2 had a load of killer games that promised more than 12 hrs of gameplay(for example) - then i might reconsider
'The very basis of the liberal idea – the belief of individual freedom is what causes the chaos' - William Kristol, son of the founder of neo-conservitivism, talking about neo-con ideology and its agenda for you.info here. prove me wrong.
Bush's Republican=Neo-con for all intent and purpose. be afraid.
I use my Xbox for watching DVD's. It's pretty good. Its a lot better than VHS. You should try it! That said, I also don't care about high definition DVDs: like most people, I can't afford a high definition tv set.Heck my VHS player still shows a good enough movie.
Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – Lessing
Yep, with the price of an XBox being what it is, you could *almost* buy one as a DVD player and regard the games console as a freebie.
except you can get a decent dvd player for 50 bucks. Granted, won't have the frills. And you can get a crappy one for 30Originally posted by reds4ever
Yep, with the price of an XBox being what it is, you could *almost* buy one as a DVD player and regard the games console as a freebie.
ergo *almost*
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