Some XBox Next (CN: Xenon) Specs

[senocular]

GameSpy recently threw up some Xbox 2 specs. Nothing too detailed and not much we didn't already know or suspect, but it's looking nice. Check it out:

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/microsoft-xbox/594331p1.html

Part 1 of 2 (?)

[REEF·]

Dame, **** the specs I wanna the design, thas what I'm talkin 'bout :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:.

Reading the article, sounds pretty d*mn sweet :ogre:.

[morse]

I want a dual or tripple or quad core processor in my computer

[Mik3]

Personally, I'll be getting the PS3. I'm not rich like you guys lol, and from what I know the PS3 is going to come out after the XBox Next, therefor it'll be faster. And if it isn't faster than someone must have hijaked Sony because Sony knows better than that.

MY COMMENTARY:
CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.
PS3 will definately beat these specs.

The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease.
*drools* I've never thought of it that way!

System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine.

Ouch! 256MB isn't what I consider building the future of games. The amount of wide rendering will be limited to this low amount of memory.


Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X.
Once again, ouch! Huge mistake!"

Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver.
Great idea!

[EZEkiel]

man thats gonna killer cool!!
cant wait to see the actuall designs of the PS3 and XBOX - next!!

[:ninja:EZEkiel:ninja:]
//peace love and puppy dogs

[SmurfMX]

Three 3ghz powerpc cpus? Mmmm nice but will it be able to compete with the cell? Also we don't know what the PS3 GPU will be like it's kind of a shame that Microsoft snatched up ATI, but I think that nVidia will either make something as good if not better than the GPU in the XBox Next. Sony doesn't want to be trounced by Microsoft again and has made that pretty clear in interviews etc. I guess we all have to wait and see. Being a devout PS fan I'll wait for the PS3.

[evileks]

ooh... can't wait till tommarrow. I wonder what the xenon will look like........

[senocular]

1) Does faster mean better? Its all about the games. What do you prefer, Halo or to get GTA before any other system does? Xbox has better graphics than the PS2. Who has a larger chunk of (or basically dominates) the market? And which came out first? And yes, from what I've heard, the PS3 will be running at around 4.6 Ghz (or at least "over 4").

2) XBox "basically" http://www.senocular.com/smilies/quote.gif is a cell in using 3 cores (though not using cell technology). Both Xbox 2 and PS 3 are made by IBM so both are going to be more or less along the same lines of advancement technologically. Granted, Sony has something like, what is it, 8? "synergetic" or something chips working together... but what does that mean? Is that pushing more polys or is that just helping with their home multimedia center initiative in that multitasking is built right in? Plus from what I understand the clock speed is what came out of those running together (i.e. not 8 x 4.6 Ghz processors)

3) 256 Megs of ram is plenty for a dedicated console. It may not be much for your computer because all of the other junk it has to do, but if you're talking about a console that basically only has to play games (and maybe run an online process in the background) you're in the good.

4) I suspect the choice in media (optical drive) was for price. That's another thing I hear MS is working on with this console. I suspect they will try to keep it below whatever sony manages to get out with the PS 3 - probably launch at what the PS3 launches as and when the PS3 does launch, undercut by $50 or so (I presume). I dont know if that was a good idea or not :-/ - Id rather they just drop the camera instead, but we'll see.

[SureShot]

Another way they are going to compete price wise is having an optional hard drive. I dont know what this is going to do for backwards compatibility but it should be interesting.

Also, to battle the ps3 when it launches Bungie is supposed to have a little game entitled "HALO 3" ready for launch to go head to head with Sony.

To be honest though, I think sony is going to be a major player this time around again. As much as it pains me to say so :)

[berkoWitZ]

Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X.
Once again, ouch! Huge mistake!"


yes! huge mistake for them....this is definitely not a good media to stop piracy ;)

[SureShot]

To be honest though Berk, how long do you think it's going to be before we have hd burners and blu ray burners? As soon as the medium becomes mainstream it's all over. Look at when the xbox and ps2 were launched, dvd burners were crazy expensive.

Not to mention they have to find a way to chip the things too. I think it will be a little while before they get hacked like the current ones have. Just my opinon of course :)

[DevDreamer]

From what I've heard, PS3 will be able to play PS2 games, which means that will cut down on the graphics.


X-box-next will stick to brand new XBN games, thus making these graphics great... and if you havent seen a preview for the graphics for next generation X-box... *droools* gooodly!

The graphics are so detailed that you can see the stubble of a 5'O'Clock shadow on the soldiers, the clothes ripple with the wind, blood drips nicely off of their faces... and omg... lol.

[kirupa]

I'll have to see how it is once it is released. This could be the console to replace my top-of-the-line Super Nintendo ;)

[GreenLantern]

Wow. I don't even know what to think of that. Those are some impressive numbers and Ghz, and caches, and all kinds of whirly gigs.

I think that something like that is going to require a whole new kind of game to be built around it, the question is: What kind of games will they be?

[DevDreamer]

I think that something like that is going to require a whole new kind of game to be built around it, the question is: What kind of games will they be?


Halo, duh... :azn:

[evileks]

I was thinking, why should I waste another $200-$400 dollars on another system that will get out dated. Then I read this article and I remembered why.

[senocular]

I think Sony and Microsoft will be the big players in the next generation of consoles. I think between the 2, there will be some good competition.

It's hard to tell where Nintendo will be, but I have a bad feeling we might get another N64 here (or something worse). Nintendo is trying to be innovative and I think they aren't going to be putting much emphasis on graphics. Yes, gameplay is what is *most* important, but that doesn't mean graphics aren't also important. It looks like Sony and Xbox have been working on some technologically advanced hardware that should be able to get a lot done - but what does Nintendo have to show for themselves? There's no hype - no indication that we'll get a truely powerful system that can stand up to the demands of this "next generation." All I know is that they have something "different." Do we want something different? Sure the power glove was cool, but I wouldn't want to play all my games with it. I'm scared that if the console itself is too different that it will simply suck. Despite my devotion to the big N, Im thinking they'll be out of this one.

Xbox is looking to be in a good position though. It'll be coming out early enough to get the early wave of next generation console adopters and will certainly have the backing of the halo fans. Halo is to Xbox as Final Fantasy was (is still?) to Sony as Zelda is to Nintendo. I think many of the Nintendo franchises are getting too old to hold their own. Xbox is holding strong with their halo and should be off to a great start

Sony, however, has "The Cell" which is hype enough in itself. They also have a huge fanbase and more importantly, which someone brought up, backwards compatibility (thats still the case, right?). That is a HUGE thing PS has going for it meaning that PS owners won't have 50 consoles in their entertainment centers, just one (I still have every one of my nintendo consoles in mine - including the irreplaceable SNES). Hype, power, installed fanbase with a collection of classic playable games, developer support and the means to incorporate the system to be a functional media player and you got yourself a winner. The only thing I dont see for Sony is a dedicated franchise that makes the console a must own.

[berkoWitZ]

To be honest though Berk, how long do you think it's going to be before we have hd burners and blu ray burners? As soon as the medium becomes mainstream it's all over. Look at when the xbox and ps2 were launched, dvd burners were crazy expensive.

Not to mention they have to find a way to chip the things too. I think it will be a little while before they get hacked like the current ones have. Just my opinon of course :)

yea ur right...soon or later theyre gonna find a way to hacked everything...I wonder why Sony or MS do nothing to prevent piracy...well some things of course but the only company who could fight against it was nintendo, I think thats why I sold my GC :lol:

[Disco-Stu]

Okay, here is the low down (I'm back after a long hiatus!)

PS3 vs. Xbox

1) Graphics
Hard to say. Nvidia might pull something crazy out of their sleeve, but I don't think so. It's probobly going to be along the same lines as the Xbox chip (next gen, shader 3.0, etc). Where I think the kicker is for Xbox, is the "16:9 HD, FSAA, 6.1 and Online" requirements. The cool thing about triple BEEFY cores is that you can dedicate 2 processes per cycle of a 3.5*GHZ CPU towards physics processing, and still have two others and some change left over for AI, and gameplay. Couple that with a 500mhz ATI post-x800 gen card, and you'. That's going to lead to some VERY cool games (running a combined at 1 teraflops at full speed :drool: ). Mequon (Duke Nukem Forever) and AEGIS (Unreal 3) look amazing. Here's hoping sony has something to compete against this.

Sound:
Microsoft chose not to go with DirectSound, which is actually a bold move. They realized that their own proprietary system was flawed, and went with a better one. There is no hardware accelleration, but with 18 processes per cycle at 9-10.5GHZ, i think they'll find a way. I'm mainly excited about every game requiring 6.1 surround sound. I think it would be cool if Sony did something with Creative, or atleast liscenced some tech. No one can touch them in the computer audio department.

Gameplay:
We'll see. This is always where the console lives or dies. Xbox, (I think) will have the trump card. They just hired 150 more people to the Halo 3 team (they now almost quadruple the Halo 2 team), Microsoft picked up Hironobu Sakaguchi, (creator of the Final Fantasy Series) who is working on 2 RPG's already, Unreal 3 tech is already liscensed by Microsoft (see the videos: http://www.1up.com/do/download?cId=3138759), and freaking Elder Scrolls: Oblivion!
We'll see.

Storage:
The Sony will definitly be able to pack on the data. But at what cost? Reports are still out that Blu-Ray discs need trays. Xbox will have 9GB discs. I'm fine. If they need more data, just burn 2 - 3 DVDs. It will be cheaper than making an ultra-sensitive Blu-Ray, and it won't kill the game if the DVD gets a tiny scratch.

Ugh. Anyways, enough from me. I'll report back later.


*=Developers are sending posting reports that these are infact 3.5GHZ cores, and that they are working with 512MB of RAM on the current Xenon builds. All of the current data is "unconfirmed".

[senocular]

concerning the disks, is there a drastic difference in speed of data access between the two (Xbox2 vs PS3)? Or does anyone know how loading times might compare between the two?

[Disco-Stu]

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/dvd-comp-1.jpg
HD-DVD (left) vs. Blu-Ray (right)

Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD site:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dvd-comp.htm

[wizard]

4) I suspect the choice in media (optical drive) was for price. That's another thing I hear MS is working on with this console. I suspect they will try to keep it below whatever sony manages to get out with the PS 3 - probably launch at what the PS3 launches as and when the PS3 does launch, undercut by $50 or so (I presume). I dont know if that was a good idea or not :-/ - Id rather they just drop the camera instead, but we'll see.What I've heard is that MS will launch an Xbox2/PC at the same time as the PS3 is set to launch... the rumor is that that version of Xenon will be able to play both Xbox2 games as well as PC games, but of course that is only a rumor -- though it might be asking for too much. :beam:

You can also see more Xbox2 news from the GDC here: IGN: Xbox (http://xbox.ign.com/articles/594/594738p1.html)

And as Stu mentioned: Mistwalker is already working on two RPG's for the Xbox2.

[Mik3]

1) Does faster mean better? Its all about the games. What do you prefer, Halo or to get GTA before any other system does? Xbox has better graphics than the PS2. Who has a larger chunk of (or basically dominates) the market? And which came out first? And yes, from what I've heard, the PS3 will be running at around 4.6 Ghz (or at least "over 4").
I'm a power whore. :P For me, faster means better. The PS3 will be based on the Cell processor. (currently they've gotten it at the 10.5 Ghz area.) Also, the Cell has a stronger architecture with a central central processing unit. Also, the Cell is on one chip, this increases speeds like crazy. The smallest spec of wire makes a difference these days in speed. It's like the old PPC versus x86 thing, the PPC may have lower numbers sometimes, but it runs faster.

2) XBox "basically" http://www.senocular.com/smilies/quote.gif is a cell in using 3 cores (though not using cell technology). Both Xbox 2 and PS 3 are made by IBM so both are going to be more or less along the same lines of advancement technologically. Granted, Sony has something like, what is it, 8? "synergetic" or something chips working together... but what does that mean? Is that pushing more polys or is that just helping with their home multimedia center initiative in that multitasking is built right in? Plus from what I understand the clock speed is what came out of those running together (i.e. not 8 x 4.6 Ghz processors)
Yeah, but like what I said earlier it's going to be faster than 4.6 ghz, but enough of the PS3....

3) 256 Megs of ram is plenty for a dedicated console. It may not be much for your computer because all of the other junk it has to do, but if you're talking about a console that basically only has to play games (and maybe run an online process in the background) you're in the good.
I understand this, but I don't agree. With all that processing power which will be able to process wide area rendering I believe that there should be more RAM to take complete advantage of the processing power.

4) I suspect the choice in media (optical drive) was for price. That's another thing I hear MS is working on with this console. I suspect they will try to keep it below whatever sony manages to get out with the PS 3 - probably launch at what the PS3 launches as and when the PS3 does launch, undercut by $50 or so (I presume). I dont know if that was a good idea or not :-/ - Id rather they just drop the camera instead, but we'll see.
Yeah, dropping the camera and putting in HD-DVD or Blu Ray would be a good choice.

[Mik3]

the rumor is that that version of Xenon will be able to play both Xbox2 games as well as PC games, but of course that is only a rumor -- though it might be asking for too much.
Yeah I think that is probably not true. That sounds like one of those non-well thought out rumors that some kid made up and told his friend, then his friend posted it all over online.

[wizard]

Yeah I think that is probably not true. That sounds like one of those non-well thought out rumors that some kid made up and told his friend, then his friend posted it all over online.Yeah, but an Xbox(2) that doubles as a PC (somewhat, with certain functions) does sound more likely... either way, I'll make sure to get both systems! :thumb:

[Mik3]

Yeah, but an Xbox(2) that doubles as a PC (somewhat, with certain functions) does sound more likely... either way, I'll make sure to get both systems! :thumb:

Yeah, I'll probably buy both too. I always end up doing that lol. But I really don't think that rumor is true. PC games will get too good and require too good of a system and the XBox will never be upgradable. It would be a temporary yet expensive to produce solution.

[UNFLUX]

I know these 2 products are meant to compete with each other in the market, but why do we as consumers have to CHOOSE? I personally play all platforms for various reason, and have no intention of making it a Coke vs. Pepsi or Ford vs. Chevy debate. Each one, like most things, have it's advantages and disadvantages. I for one, would rather enjoy all the gaming I can without the rhetoric of debate.

*shrug - that's just me, but i just like to enjoy the games themselves and the platform is pretty much irrelevant in most cases. At least for me.

[McGuffin]

The amount of processing power, the amount of RAM, the amount of graphics power. They're all secondary. You want to know whats the primary thing that makes a console succeed? Developer kits. Thats right, the development kits that game companies get to make their games for certain systems almost always make or break a platform. Xbox and PS2 are both relatively easy to develop for. GC is not so easy to develop for, and it gets less third party games, and therefore sells less than its potential. The Xbox2 dev. kit is supposed to be sick. Plus the addition of custom-content developed by the user being able to be used in games, thats going to be great.

I don't know about PS3. I'm lead to believe that the only reason PS2 is ahead right now is because it had an early launch cycle, and a lot of the people I've talked to are fed up with the errors early release PS2s spit out. If Sony doesn't deliver a very solid product with solid features and get it out around the Xenon's launch, they're in a tough situation.

[3d Nirvana]

dude this thing is gunnaq have amazing graphics!

the current xbox has 1 400mhz prossesor right now i think. what can it do with 3 3ghz prossors?!?!

[Mik3]

The amount of processing power, the amount of RAM, the amount of graphics power. They're all secondary. You want to know whats the primary thing that makes a console succeed? Developer kits. Thats right, the development kits that game companies get to make their games for certain systems almost always make or break a platform. Xbox and PS2 are both relatively easy to develop for. GC is not so easy to develop for, and it gets less third party games, and therefore sells less than its potential. The Xbox2 dev. kit is supposed to be sick. Plus the addition of custom-content developed by the user being able to be used in games, thats going to be great.

I don't know about PS3. I'm lead to believe that the only reason PS2 is ahead right now is because it had an early launch cycle, and a lot of the people I've talked to are fed up with the errors early release PS2s spit out. If Sony doesn't deliver a very solid product with solid features and get it out around the Xenon's launch, they're in a tough situation.

Oooohhh, yeah, dev kits, that's a new way of thinking about everything. There must be a radical dev kit for PS2 because even though it's really weak it's still pushing on.

[wizard]

I don't know about PS3. I'm lead to believe that the only reason PS2 is ahead right now is because it had an early launch cycle, and a lot of the people I've talked to are fed up with the errors early release PS2s spit out. If Sony doesn't deliver a very solid product with solid features and get it out around the Xenon's launch, they're in a tough situation.I'm sure Sony will not disappoint... their fan base is too big now to where a launch after the Xbox2 (most likely) will not affect their sales. :worried:

[McGuffin]

I can tell you for one that I will not be getting the PS3 right away. Tired of the crap hardware errors in the PS2, like the disc read errors.