XBox 2 - 3.5GHz PowerPC?

[Jaz]

Buy Now! Pay while you wait for next-gen

any idea when Xbox2 will be released? I'd like to buy some sort of game console, like Xbox or PS2, but I'm afraid something new is going to come out in the next few months or so. Isn't Nintendo coming out with a new system (beside DS) too?

Odds are that all the new consoles will be intro'd and demo'd at E3 next May. Microsoft and Nintendo are keen to avoid giving Sony a 1-2year headstart like last time. Likely to go on sale Oct 05 or Mar 06.

In terms of buying a console? No-one has said backwards compatibility is for certain yet, but look how it benefitted PS2. HOWEVER, there is *always* a gap from the launch to when great titles start appearing regularly.

I just bought a new Xbox to play Halo 2 from next month, which looks awesome. I picked up Halo, GTA double pack, Project Gotham Racing 2 all for AUD$50 each (about US$30). Next up in the coming months are Jade Empire, KOTOR 2, Starcraft: Ghost, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Brothers in Arms, Conker:Live and Reloaded etc.

That's benefit of buying in the middle to end of console's lifespan. Existing AAA titles are cheap, new titles are great as developers have had time to explore and figure out all the consoles features, and even if a new console appeared tomorrow it would be max price again and several great games are at least six months to a year away.

 

[9hundred]

plasma resolution

I think that in order to take advantage of the high resolution a plasma screen would be suitable. Normal tv's have crapy resolution and using plasma is the only way to beat a pc or maybe mac for gaming.

 

[Xtremehkr]

It should lower the price of high end G5 processors. Is Apple waiting for the benefit of it's loyal buyers? (through economies of scale). Introducing higher speeds at the same or a lower price would be somewhat of a coup.

 

[Jaz]

I think that in order to take advantage of the high resolution a plasma screen would be suitable. Normal tv's have crapy resolution and using plasma is the only way to beat a pc or maybe mac for gaming.

Many Plasma/LCD screens have not yet solved the problem of ghosting, so for high speed games they may not be the best. Maybe in a year or two when all the next-gen are out that might not be the case, but from what I have seen it is still very much so for the majority of screens except the high-end where it seems to be solved. Also Plasma is much more susceptible to burn in.

"Bigger is better" is not always true and at least one big manufacturer is betting that people want something else:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041104-4370.html

I use HD in my work, but for general viewing I would only buy a high quality HD CRT (Toshiba make excellent ones, progressive plus full 1080i/720p, 36" widescreen) or Projector (very nice, but major price increase for a true 1080i and native 16:9 with great brightness). LCD and Plasma are still developing to solve these and other problems

 

[Pixeled_Apple]

Xbox 2 on PowerPC - Cool!

In the Video Games world (In which I hate...) I was a Sony Person. And a Basher. Not Any more... Halo 2, PowerPC = Me Buy

 

[jared_kipe]

I can't believe this thread is still around. I think it is laughable that people were actually debating weather or not a 3.5GHz ppc chip would be used in the XBOX 2, I can't imagine what such a machine would cost, firstly. And secondly, who is going to make such a chip? This was a bad rumor from the start. And if it happens, which I doubt, then I will go out and buy the $1500 monstrosity.

 

[slooksterPSV]

The first time I heard about the Xbox 2, it was a chinese site and it had some english text on it, it was saying that it would use a 3.5GHz G5 IBM Processor. it would have 2GB of RAM, a 120GB HDD, and a 512MB Video card. Well, we don't have 3.5GHz and we don't have 512, I think this will be released (if it does release) in 2006 or 2008 between there.

 

[torayama]

However, - I've heard it is true

I can't believe this thread is still around. I think it is laughable that people were actually debating weather or not a 3.5GHz ppc chip would be used in the XBOX 2, I can't imagine what such a machine would cost, firstly. And secondly, who is going to make such a chip? This was a bad rumor from the start. And if it happens, which I doubt, then I will go out and buy the $1500 monstrosity.

I have heard from a very reliable source that the new X-box will feature 3 3,5Gig G5s. Whether that is a triple core or three single core, I don't know, but the guys I have it from are game developpers here in DK.
I believe them. When, - I don't know.

 

[slooksterPSV]

Now to be honest, that will cost more than most people will buy. The would probably cost upwards of about $3000 if not more. I really, honestly, don't believe Microsoft could do that and still make a profit.

 

[Jaz]

I can't believe this thread is still around. I think it is laughable that people were actually debating weather or not a 3.5GHz ppc chip would be used in the XBOX 2, I can't imagine what such a machine would cost, firstly. And secondly, who is going to make such a chip? This was a bad rumor from the start. And if it happens, which I doubt, then I will go out and buy the $1500 monstrosity.

Jared, you miss two points that about consoles and CPU's.

1. CPU's and any type of chip have a big fall off in price. Say on day one they cost $500 each in 1000 unit lots, by day 1092 (three years into a consoles life they are costing $45 each in 1000 unit lots. Don't believe me? Read this article for example:
http://zdnet.com.com/2102-11_2-500953.html
Sony sold 75 million PS2 units so I think it was a non-issue. Sony or MS will amortise the cost difference across the life of the console so even if it costs a lot to make the chip that is simply a cost of being in the console business with its consumer price point, which leads to my second point ...

2. Consoles are a loss leader. Get them into homes at a marginal profit (Nintendo) or a loss (MS, Sony) THEN sell them GAMES routinely for the next 3-5 years. For every game sold, they get a licence fee as they own the platform. We pay for it (got an Xbox, sold my Gamecube a while back) as its part of the price of a game. Consoles even if they cost twice what they sell for are a land grab in order to become the biggest software publisher on the market. MS know this and that is why that they are persevering, sales of Halo 2 show what happens to a mature console with great games; lose on the hardware, make it up BIG on the software.

If "Xbox 2/XBox Next/Xenon" has 3 PPC at 3.5Ghz, then you can be sure that MS have it backed by a business plan to get to market first, sell a lot of consoles at whatever price, then move an absolute ton of software over the following years to justify the upfront risk of a loss leader.

 

[Krevnik]

I have heard from a very reliable source that the new X-box will feature 3 3,5Gig G5s. Whether that is a triple core or three single core, I don't know, but the guys I have it from are game developpers here in DK.
I believe them. When, - I don't know.

Okay, I have one huge problem with your 'reliable source'... 3 3.5Ghz processors on one motherboard? No. As someone finishing up my degree in the field of electrical engineering and system design, this is not something that makes any sort of engineering sense. The bus chipset for such a device would have to be custom-made and be at least as expensive as a chipset designed for 4 processors (due to the nature of digital design, powers of 2 are a more efficient use of transistors, thus money and power). I don't see a console pushing the type of technology to break out of classical engineering design by taking existing processors and adding on a whole different method of running the bus (which is a possibility to make it cheaper, but not for the first run of the chipset, it would still be far too expensive).

To do this they would have to take an entirely different tack to designing the system bus beyond something like HyperTransport which is expensive enough as it is now. A dual G5 console? I could see that, it would be expensive as all get out unless it started manufacturing in 2006-2008, especially at speeds not publicly available (average chip costs for a new PPC processor per unit in bulk are 200$ I believe, so 2 processors in a new generation would be 400$) yet. I don't think even microsoft would be willing to eat nearly 400$ per console (since you also need to consider the cost of the other parts), that is a lot of money to make up in software licensing fees.

 

[corywoolf]

I can't believe this thread is still around. I think it is laughable that people were actually debating weather or not a 3.5GHz ppc chip would be used in the XBOX 2, I can't imagine what such a machine would cost, firstly. And secondly, who is going to make such a chip? This was a bad rumor from the start. And if it happens, which I doubt, then I will go out and buy the $1500 monstrosity.

i agree, it will be at tops 1.8 ghz, tops!!!

 

[ACED]

The BIG picture, makes sense to me...

Guys, this is Big Bill's master plan...the PC/OS war has been fought and won. Now it's Sony and Nintendo, and Dell and co.

Arguing over CPU type, speed, OS nicities is soon going to be pointless. Buying any sort of PC, or Mac, will seem expensive in comparison to buying a Xbox2, 3, etc...

I think Bill wants the entire PC hardware market, the Apple (Mac & iPod) market, the small business workstation/LAN market ( think of the moral boost if staff could play networked games on their office Xbox2s- in their lunch time) and the Hollywood movie market!

We're being told that the games industry is far bigger than Hollywood ... People increasingly want to play the starring roles in their own movie, away from noisy and expensive cinemas in their own home with optimal surround sound, their own selective interuptions, with fresh home made popcorn and beer/coke - at the right price, without the threat of your not-so-friendly neighbour terrorist/s intent on blowing you and your family to tiny pieces...for the Glory of God.

M$ is big enough, and shrewd enough to carry huge losses on a KICK ARSE gaming console (that makes all other PCs look sick and obsolete), just to get it into everyones homes to sell and hire them KICK ARSE games, with internet access, and spinoffs. Taking on all these markets will open these otherwise untapped markets to make it enormously viable. Throw in a optional copy of Office and Longhorn to do the paperwork, and with a worthy adversory like Sony (no anti-trust issues), M$ will achieve world domination, again.

This IS the next killer app. There is no future in endless upgrades of OSes, browsers, word, & spreadsheet apps ... it all been done, to death.

Look at the fact that MS Office is still 2003, XP is still, 2002. No I think MS is throwing it's efforts into Xbox2, 3, etc. the real home media centre. Even the development of PC games has taken a back seat.

Apples iPod, whilst looking like a world beater at the moment, will become obsolete I believe, once M$ bring out their own proprietry docking unit with music and video and photos, maybe even phone.

Wonder if OSX will run on it, wonder if it will matter...

 

[iJon]

I think Microsoft would have already put out Apple if they could. They tried and failed, now they are back to the drawing boards along with every other company.

There is a quite a big difference with Apple being big with the iPod and them being big with computers just to be beat out by Microsoft back in the day. iPod is simply just music and Apple has the market wrapped around their finger. There was so much more the computer and Apple screwed up and Microsoft dominated. Apple is in the lead now and I don't think this will be a history repeat.

jon

 

[ACED]

No, I think Apple has, once again, just primed the market for M$.

If you think Apple has the music market all sewn up, that is what people thought when IBM and MS entered the PC market. I believe it is still very early days.

The fact that iPod won't be able to dock to the new Xbox will be it's death knell, IMHO.

 

[stevehaslip]

No, I think Apple has, once again, just primed the market for M$.

If you think Apple has the music market all sewn up, that is what people thought when IBM and MS entered the PC market. I believe it is still very early days.

The fact that iPod won't be able to dock to the new Xbox will be it's death knell, IMHO.

? no docking to the xbox will kill the iPod? well not everyone has an xbox or will get the new xbox? I don't think it will kill the iPod but i do agree with you that it is still early days. Sony and Microsoft keep talking up the next generation consoles saying that they'll be this, that and the other. They will be soooo powerful etc, I just wanna play cool games?

maybe the new xbox or ps3 will make toast or scramble eggs?

Anyway only a very small percentage of the people who own a ps2 or an xbox will buy a next gen one straight away, and no one will choose them over a pc if they cost the earth. The pc gaming market isn't exactly on its arse is it? half life 2 anyone?
they will have to have a sensible price point. There really won't be that much of a revolution.

It's HYPE people!!