May 16th, 3pm PST: PS3 Launches. May 16th, 6pm PST: Xbox2 Launches

[Asher]

Amazing tech demo: http://www.xboxyde.com/news_1610_en.html

1) It is running in real-time on an Xbox 360 beta unit (ATI was the only company with one at the show)
2) The beta unit is not running at full-speed
3) It was actually designed for ATI's upcoming PC GPU (R520), of which the Xbox 360 GPU shares no common design. It was ported to the Xbox 360 from the PC in "under a week".

So it's not even close to tapping the full power. It was a quick and dirty port with hardware running at limited speeds. And it's still amazing.

A lot of people on Day 1 insisted it was pre-rendered. On Day 2, ATI set it up for interactive mode, so it was very clearly not pre-rendered.

[Nostromo]

Pretty impressive

[Asher]

Also, the Ghost Recon 3 demo. Running in real-time on the "alpha" kits (read: custom G5s w/ Radeon X800s and dual G5 2.5GHz CPUs...)

WMV: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=6044&type=wmv
Quicktime: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=6044&type=mov

wowza.

[Asher]

And it supports the iPod and PSP.

Here's what you can do with an iPod hooked up (well, you play it through the home theatre):


More screenshots:

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
Please read the thread, I've even posted pictures.

I don't know about you, but I have seen mock-ups before.

Originally posted by Asher
And I don't know why he would feel vindicated, people were *****ing about the poor game performance on the things.

Because Microsoft uses these machines to run Xbox2 demo games instead of Wintel boxes? What does that tell you?

Originally posted by Asher
What is more interesting is that the WinNT 5.1 kernel was running on the things.

On PowerMacs?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Because Microsoft uses these machines to run Xbox2 demo games instead of Wintel boxes? What does that tell you?

That there are no other commercially available multi-core PowerPC machines that use Radeon graphics cards?

I don't understand what point you think you're making.

On PowerMacs?

Yes.

Xbox 360 uses an NT 5.1-based OS. The Xbox dev kits (modified PowerMacs) are running that OS.

[Verto]

Jesus Christ, could we go one day without a ****ing ****fest about Apple and Windows?

The Ghost Recon footage resembled the Final Fantasy movie, as far as graphics go. Very impressive; I certainly hope X360 games are all produced with such a high level of quality.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Verto
Jesus Christ, could we go one day without a ****ing ****fest about Apple and Windows?

Urban Ranger is just displaying massive ignorance again, don't mind him. He's just confused why MS isn't using "Wintel" boxes.

The Ghost Recon footage resembled the Final Fantasy movie, as far as graphics go. Very impressive; I certainly hope X360 games are all produced with such a high level of quality.

If they can do that kind of quality with alpha kits and hardware, I'd think most would.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Asher


Urban Ranger is just displaying massive ignorance again, don't mind him. He's just confused why MS isn't using "Wintel" boxes.


If they can do that kind of quality with alpha kits and hardware, I'd think most would.

Well, when you look at how great some current Xbox games are (Ninja Gaiden, for example) and compare them to others, especially ports, there is quite a difference.

[Asher]

Ninja Gaiden is a game that is developed by people with years of Xbox experience using an engine they worked on for 1.5 years before Xbox was launched (DOA3 engine), and was refined with subsequent game releases before Ninja Gaiden.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Asher
Ninja Gaiden is a game with awesome graphics

Exactly. Then you have other games that are shoddy, with no effort put into them.

[Nostromo]

Also, the Ghost Recon 3 demo. Running in real-time on the "alpha" kits (read: custom G5s w/ Radeon X800s and dual G5 2.5GHz CPUs...)

Nice cutscene. I doubt the actual game will look that good, though. The gameplay footage shown at the Microsoft conference is probably more representative. Its still looks damn good.

http://www.gamespot.com/x360/action/tomclancysghostrecon3/media.html

[Asher]

Matt from IGN (the Nintendo editor) on the Xbox 360 controller:

http://cube.ign.com/articles/618/618105p1.html

I played Need for Speed Most Wanted 360 this afternoon. It was my first chance to use the 360 controller. Having done so, I can honestly write that it's my favorite pad ever. Better than Wave Bird, even, which is a huge accomplishment. Wait until you try it.

[Asher]

edit: n/m

[Asher]

Xbox Live on the Xbox 360: http://www.betanews.com/video/xbox360live.mov