ericl
05-13-2005, 04:20 PM
Microsoft unveiled the Xbox 360 on Thursday at the XXX trade show and on a televised special on cable network MTV.
Microsoft launched its latest offering in the gaming war on Thursday as it showed off its new Xbox 360. Billed as more than just a gaming console, the Xbox 360 looks to make itself into a complete home entertainment solution, able to serve up high definition games as well as movies, music, photos and internet connectivity. A 20gb hard drive will be standard for storing all your media. It will be upgradeable to provide wireless internet access, and several accessories such as a webcam and a headset will be available so you can talk to your fellow gamers during games.
Some Technical Details from InformationWeek.com (http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163101799) :
SAN JOSE, Calif. � Microsoft Corp. shifted up from the X86 to a custom triple-core, dual-threaded PowerPC for its Xbox 360 which the company claims delivers 1 teraflop of system-level, floating-point performance. The system marks a further step in the evolution of video game consoles into powerful home entertainment servers.
Officially launched Thursday (May 12), the Xbox 360 uses three custom 3.2 GHz PowerPC cores, each handling two threads. Each core includes a 128-bit vector graphics unit sporting a full 128 registers and 1-Mbyte cache.
In addition, the console includes a graphics chip from ATI Technologies that processes 500 million triangles per second. The ATI chip packs 10 Mbytes of embedded DRAM and 512 Mbytes of external GDDR3 memory running at 700 MHz.
Another innovation is a liquid cooled processor (http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/1145/The-Xbox-360-Dissected/p7/) to keep the overachieving CPU quiet, small and cool:
One of the surprises we found when checking the Xbox 360 innards was its cooling solution. To keep things quiet and cool, Microsoft has designed a liquid cooling system that dynamically adjusts the flow of the liquid and the speed of the fans depending on the temperature and power consumption.
Microsoft seems to be making up for the late release of the original X-Box (which debuted one year after the PlayStation 2) by releasing the X-Box 360 a year before Sony and Nintendo release their next generation consoles. Sony and Nintendo are expected to provide peeks at their new systems at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles next week. Microsoft is also expected to release more details about their system at that time.
Xbox 360's release date (http://www.talkxbox.com/article1114.html) appears to be just in time for Christmas 2005:
MTV accidentally revealed the launch month of the Xbox 360 with their On-Air schedule featured in MTV.com . The schedule’s description reads:
”This special highlights the exciting new generation of XBOX. Packages include: Tours of the design labs Interviews with the designers Behind-the-scenes and inside scoop Never-before-seen footage of new videogames. Trailers of the newest games that are due out in November for the new XBOX. The next generation will be revealed at an event at the Avalon club in LA, hosted by Elijah Wood and featuring performances by The Killers and Snow Patrol.”
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1141/1115927661.jpg
Photo from http://www.TeamXBox.com
Microsoft launched its latest offering in the gaming war on Thursday as it showed off its new Xbox 360. Billed as more than just a gaming console, the Xbox 360 looks to make itself into a complete home entertainment solution, able to serve up high definition games as well as movies, music, photos and internet connectivity. A 20gb hard drive will be standard for storing all your media. It will be upgradeable to provide wireless internet access, and several accessories such as a webcam and a headset will be available so you can talk to your fellow gamers during games.
Some Technical Details from InformationWeek.com (http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163101799) :
SAN JOSE, Calif. � Microsoft Corp. shifted up from the X86 to a custom triple-core, dual-threaded PowerPC for its Xbox 360 which the company claims delivers 1 teraflop of system-level, floating-point performance. The system marks a further step in the evolution of video game consoles into powerful home entertainment servers.
Officially launched Thursday (May 12), the Xbox 360 uses three custom 3.2 GHz PowerPC cores, each handling two threads. Each core includes a 128-bit vector graphics unit sporting a full 128 registers and 1-Mbyte cache.
In addition, the console includes a graphics chip from ATI Technologies that processes 500 million triangles per second. The ATI chip packs 10 Mbytes of embedded DRAM and 512 Mbytes of external GDDR3 memory running at 700 MHz.
Another innovation is a liquid cooled processor (http://features.teamxbox.com/xbox/1145/The-Xbox-360-Dissected/p7/) to keep the overachieving CPU quiet, small and cool:
One of the surprises we found when checking the Xbox 360 innards was its cooling solution. To keep things quiet and cool, Microsoft has designed a liquid cooling system that dynamically adjusts the flow of the liquid and the speed of the fans depending on the temperature and power consumption.
Microsoft seems to be making up for the late release of the original X-Box (which debuted one year after the PlayStation 2) by releasing the X-Box 360 a year before Sony and Nintendo release their next generation consoles. Sony and Nintendo are expected to provide peeks at their new systems at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles next week. Microsoft is also expected to release more details about their system at that time.
Xbox 360's release date (http://www.talkxbox.com/article1114.html) appears to be just in time for Christmas 2005:
MTV accidentally revealed the launch month of the Xbox 360 with their On-Air schedule featured in MTV.com . The schedule’s description reads:
”This special highlights the exciting new generation of XBOX. Packages include: Tours of the design labs Interviews with the designers Behind-the-scenes and inside scoop Never-before-seen footage of new videogames. Trailers of the newest games that are due out in November for the new XBOX. The next generation will be revealed at an event at the Avalon club in LA, hosted by Elijah Wood and featuring performances by The Killers and Snow Patrol.”
http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1141/1115927661.jpg
Photo from http://www.TeamXBox.com