Xbox 360 demos on Macs

MacRumors · May 14, 2005, 10:48 AM

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

As has been long reported, Microsoft's Xbox development system are PowerMac G5s. (photo)

Indeed, Xbox 360 demos being shown by Microsoft are running on PowerMac G5s.

Quote:

"We purchased a number of Apple G5's because very specific hardware components of the G5 allow developers to emulate some of the technology behind future Xbox products and services," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later."

Both the PowerMac and Xbox sport PowerPC-based processors from IBM.

mcadam · May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM

That's kind of hilarious, nice thing to throw in the face of your average mac-bashing friend... but I suppose there's not a bit of apple software on it though?!

A

buryyourbrideau · May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM

ha bill gates crossed over to the "dark side"

well i guess all those pics of G5's with microsoft stickers were not fake

Steven1621 · May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM

and now we see a flood of new games heading to the mac, taking away another reason why people think the pc is better.

ebunton · 11:01 AM

A bit of a oddity for Microsoft no? To have their latest weapon for world domination being developed with Apple computers?

Does this mean that it would be easy to port Xbox 360 games to Mac?

Slipperyskates · 11:02 AM

Talk about your irony...

Wouldn't it be cool if new Xbox games worked on Powermacs?

budugu · May 14, 2005, 11:07 AM

IBM might introduce a new PowerPC workstation based on Power5, Which supports virtualization? So is MSFT planning to make their OS for IBM Power (30% of the market share in Big iron) based servers (b'cos XP and server 2003 largely share the same code base)?

I doubt that these games will move to mac any more than what they do now. Most of the code will be based on MSFT - XNA (own api/Framework for gamedevelopment) + DirectX - so porting the code will to next to impossible!

Last but not the least Windows XP/Longhorn for Macs!

micvog · May 14, 2005, 11:09 AM

What's with the "Xenon Technology" mentioned both on the link and also on the Ars article? I thought Xenon was Intel, not IBM.

crees! · May 14, 2005, 11:10 AM

Quote:

This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later.

Sounds like faster PM's to me

Okay, I'm kidding... KIDDING!

*Y* · May 14, 2005, 11:14 AM

Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.

picklescott · May 14, 2005, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Y*

Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.

? are you kidding

Freg3000 · May 14, 2005, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by micvog

What's with the "Xenon Technology" mentioned both on the link and also on the Ars article? I thought Xenon was Intel, not IBM.

Xeon = Processor from Intel.

Xenon = Codename for XBOX 360.

budugu · May 14, 2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by micvog

What's with the "Xenon Technology" mentioned both on the link and also on the Ars article? I thought Xenon was Intel, not IBM.

Xeon - Intel (IA32 /x64)
Xenon - Some vague code word for "Technology" behind XBox 360

iindigo · May 14, 2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Y*

Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.

Gah, nasty! That leaves a rancid taste in my mouth...

danielboy · May 14, 2005, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Y*

Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.

I think you got it reversed.

OS X on a PC. Best of both worlds.

VicMacs · May 14, 2005, 11:23 AM

so we can run xbox games on the new pbg5?

CyberB0b · May 14, 2005, 11:25 AM

So, I guess for the operating system they have 2 choices:

1. Use OS X
2. Use a Windows port for PPC

Choice 1 would be awesome. The more likely choice 2 is kind of a downer. I purchase PPC hardware to block any chance of installing those archaic windows operating systems. Getting one step closer to polluting my mac makes me sad.

pimentoLoaf · May 14, 2005, 11:25 AM

The g5's are considered and "interim development tool" -- you know, Apple develops new stuff using a Cray supercomputer... I wonder if Billy-boy is finally going to take the plunge and liberate some of his cold cash for one of 'em.

arn · May 14, 2005, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VicMacs

so we can run xbox games on the new pbg5?

Seems it opens the door to good Mac-based Xbox 360 emulators in the future. If people can reverse engineer the final Xbox.

arn

iJon · May 14, 2005, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven1621

and now we see a flood of new games heading to the mac, taking away another reason why people think the pc is better.

I highly doubt this will mean more games for us. Plus from looking at these specs these consoles are going to be way more powerful in the game department then our G5's.

jon

javanate · May 14, 2005, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macrumors

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

As has been long reported, Microsoft's Xbox development system are PowerMac G5s. (photo)

Indeed, Xbox 360 demos being shown by Microsoft are running on PowerMac G5s.

Both the PowerMac and Xbox sport PowerPC-based processors from IBM.

So much for Powermac sales, why did they bother with that update when things so much better are obviously 6 months away

letsGoOn2 · May 14, 2005, 11:30 AM

"This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later."

So, in other words, they're waiting for the dual 3.0GHz G5 too?

darkmatter05 · May 14, 2005, 11:32 AM

MWAHAHAHH microsoft has to use the apple's g5!!! HAHAHAH thats so freakin funny!

AidenShaw · May 14, 2005, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberB0b

1. Use OS X
2. Use a Windows port for PPC

Microsoft sold and shipped Windows NT 3 and NT 4 for PowerPC computers. Windows NT runs (or has been supported on) x86, PPC, Alpha, MIPS, Itanium and x64.

Support for PPC was dropped at the time Service Pack 2 for NT 4 was released. There were very few applications for PPC NT systems, so little interest.

I would imagine that Microsoft kept a few people busy keeping the PPC code running for Win2k and XP. It would be worth it, just to make sure that the code base stayed more portable.

The idea that XP has always run on PPC also makes the decision to go to PPC for xb360 much more reasonable. They already had the portable OS, so switching ISAs wouldn't be a huge problem.

AidenShaw · May 14, 2005, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkmatter05

MWAHAHAHH microsoft has to use the apple's g5!!! HAHAHAH thats so freakin funny!

Or maybe it just shows that Microsoft is a mature corporation, not one that makes decisions based on "religious" issues or the ego of the CEO.

May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM	#2
mcadam macrumors 6502a Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: københavn	That's kind of hilarious, nice thing to throw in the face of your average mac-bashing friend... but I suppose there's not a bit of apple software on it though?! A __________________ If you live every day as if it was your last, one day you are most certainly gonna be right - Steve

May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM	#3
buryyourbrideau macrumors 65816 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: 48152	ha bill gates crossed over to the "dark side" well i guess all those pics of G5's with microsoft stickers were not fake __________________ And when it all goes to hell....

May 14, 2005, 10:51 AM	#4
Steven1621 macrumors 6502a Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Connecticut (Ankara, Turkey for the next year)	and now we see a flood of new games heading to the mac, taking away another reason why people think the pc is better. __________________ -15" MacBook Pro, 2.4 GHz, 200 GB HD, 4 GB RAM -Dell 20" 2005FPW -16 GB iPod Touch -Nikon D40 w/ Nikkor 18-200mm VR

May 14, 2005, 10:58 AM	#5
ebunton macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Sydney	A bit of a oddity for Microsoft no? To have their latest weapon for world domination being developed with Apple computers? Does this mean that it would be easy to port Xbox 360 games to Mac? __________________ How d'you like them apples? Last edited by ebunton : May 14, 2005 at 11:01 AM.

May 14, 2005, 11:00 AM	#6
Slipperyskates macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2004	Talk about your irony... Wouldn't it be cool if new Xbox games worked on Powermacs? Last edited by Slipperyskates : May 14, 2005 at 11:02 AM.

May 14, 2005, 11:07 AM	#7
budugu macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Boston, MA	OR .... IBM might introduce a new PowerPC workstation based on Power5, Which supports virtualization? So is MSFT planning to make their OS for IBM Power (30% of the market share in Big iron) based servers (b'cos XP and server 2003 largely share the same code base)? I doubt that these games will move to mac any more than what they do now. Most of the code will be based on MSFT - XNA (own api/Framework for gamedevelopment) + DirectX - so porting the code will to next to impossible! Last but not the least Windows XP/Longhorn for Macs!

May 14, 2005, 11:09 AM	#8
micvog macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2003	What's with the "Xenon Technology" mentioned both on the link and also on the Ars article? I thought Xenon was Intel, not IBM.

May 14, 2005, 11:14 AM	#10
Y macrumors regular Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: VA	Windows XP on a Mac. Best of both worlds.

May 14, 2005, 11:23 AM	#16
VicMacs macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dominican Republic	pb so we can run xbox games on the new pbg5? __________________ @ MacWorld

May 14, 2005, 11:25 AM	#17
CyberB0b macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2004	So, I guess for the operating system they have 2 choices: 1. Use OS X 2. Use a Windows port for PPC Choice 1 would be awesome. The more likely choice 2 is kind of a downer. I purchase PPC hardware to block any chance of installing those archaic windows operating systems. Getting one step closer to polluting my mac makes me sad.

May 14, 2005, 11:25 AM	#18
pimentoLoaf macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: The SimCity Deli	The g5's are considered and "interim development tool" -- you know, Apple develops new stuff using a Cray supercomputer... I wonder if Billy-boy is finally going to take the plunge and liberate some of his cold cash for one of 'em. __________________ A pate is nothing more than a French meat loaf that's had a couple of cocktails....Carol Cutler

May 14, 2005, 11:30 AM	#22
letsGoOn2 macrumors newbie Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Rochester, NY	Interim development tool? "This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later." So, in other words, they're waiting for the dual 3.0GHz G5 too?

May 14, 2005, 11:32 AM	#23
darkmatter05 macrumors newbie Join Date: May 2005	mwahahah MWAHAHAHH microsoft has to use the apple's g5!!! HAHAHAH thats so freakin funny!

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