Want to know about the Xbox 360?

Rainman wrote:The Xbox 360 will be utterly useless to me simply because it's a console.

Is it just a console? I read that MS may use the X-Box and its capabilities to deliver TiVo-like services and may be much more. I wouldn't put it past them.

Rainman wrote:The Xbox 360 will be utterly useless to me simply because it's a console.

Is it just a console? I read that MS may use the X-Box and its capabilities to deliver TiVo-like services and may be much more. I wouldn't put it past them.

The article says it can hook up to Windows Media Center to work like a multimedia PC. Not sure if that's close enough for you, but it is certainly interesting to me.

Edit:Backwards compatability?
Doesn't it look like a GCN controller?

The article says it can hook up to Windows Media Center to work like a multimedia PC. Not sure if that's close enough for you, but it is certainly interesting to me.

Edit:Backwards compatability?
Doesn't it look like a GCN controller?

Mottzilla wrote:From what I remember, the Xbox 360 doesn't use an X86 processor thus no backwards compatability that way.

Well, don't forget it also uses a different graphics processor too. The GPU is ATI now, not nVidia. So it couldn't do it that way either.

Mottzilla wrote:From what I remember, the Xbox 360 doesn't use an X86 processor thus no backwards compatability that way.

Well, don't forget it also uses a different graphics processor too. The GPU is ATI now, not nVidia. So it couldn't do it that way either.

Kairyu wrote:Doesn't it look like a GCN controller?

Looks just like a white X-Box controller to me... which happens to look a lot a Gamecube controller.

Kairyu wrote:Doesn't it look like a GCN controller?

Looks just like a white X-Box controller to me... which happens to look a lot a Gamecube controller.

Caught the end of the thing on a repeat here in cloudy ol' England. All I saw was the bit about Rare with Perfect Dark 0, and that was enough to put me off the system there and then. I never liked Perfect Dark N64, it was all too finiky and never grabbed me the way Goldeneye did, but the way they were selling it was just... raw power this and we can do what we always wanted too that. Yeah, and what has Rare done recently that's impressed?

On that note, has anyone played Conker - Live & Reloaded? I got the original for the N64 and loved it, but I'm curious to know what the remake is like.

Caught the end of the thing on a repeat here in cloudy ol' England. All I saw was the bit about Rare with Perfect Dark 0, and that was enough to put me off the system there and then. I never liked Perfect Dark N64, it was all too finiky and never grabbed me the way Goldeneye did, but the way they were selling it was just... raw power this and we can do what we always wanted too that. Yeah, and what has Rare done recently that's impressed?

On that note, has anyone played Conker - Live & Reloaded? I got the original for the N64 and loved it, but I'm curious to know what the remake is like.

Darth Marsden wrote:On that note, has anyone played Conker - Live & Reloaded? I got the original for the N64 and loved it, but I'm curious to know what the remake is like.

From what I've seen it's exactly like the original in terms of the single player game (of course the graphics look better). I haven't read anything about new chapters though. The multiplayer is where a lot of the work has gone I believe. There are new modes and maps, and it's X-Box live enabled.

Darth Marsden wrote:On that note, has anyone played Conker - Live & Reloaded? I got the original for the N64 and loved it, but I'm curious to know what the remake is like.

From what I've seen it's exactly like the original in terms of the single player game (of course the graphics look better). I haven't read anything about new chapters though. The multiplayer is where a lot of the work has gone I believe. There are new modes and maps, and it's X-Box live enabled.

Grasshopper wrote:Well, don't forget it also uses a different graphics processor too. The GPU is ATI now, not nVidia. So it couldn't do it that way either.

Initially I thought of this too, but remember, Xbox games are developed using Direct X, so there is no reason a superior card with all the features of the chip in the Xbox couldn't be used to run the Xbox games. I don't think the video card will be a problem.

Grasshopper wrote:Well, don't forget it also uses a different graphics processor too. The GPU is ATI now, not nVidia. So it couldn't do it that way either.

Initially I thought of this too, but remember, Xbox games are developed using Direct X, so there is no reason a superior card with all the features of the chip in the Xbox couldn't be used to run the Xbox games. I don't think the video card will be a problem.

vegeta1215 wrote:Looks just like a white X-Box controller to me... which happens to look a lot a Gamecube controller.

vegeta1215 wrote:Looks just like a white X-Box controller to me... which happens to look a lot a Gamecube controller.

Just found this on a VERY reliable website. Have a gander:

The controller, the camera, the headset, the camera, and even the console itself...there have been a lot of Xbox 360 leaks so far.

Now, it seems a full list of Xbox 360 specs and Xbox Live details has been leaked. This list comes from a thread on the Team Xbox forums (the thread has since been deleted), and the TXB poster originally got it from another un-named forum.

2 types of Xbox Live:
Xbox Live Silver (no subscription required)
Xbox Live Gold (subscription benefits)

Features for Gold service
(S) Also for Silver
(O) Also for Offline

- Seamless transition to Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360
- Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply) (S)
- Free Xbox Live weekends (S)
- Multiplayer online gameplay
- Avatar for gamer profile(S)(O)
- Motto for gamer profile (S)(O)
- Personalized look for Xbox System Guide (S)(O)
- Offline achievments (S)(O)
- Online achievements (S)
- Access to other players' Gamer cards via Live (S)
- Cumulative gamer score (S)(O)
- Location/language profile (S)(O)
- Reputation (S)
- Enahnced matchmaking using above
- Skill level matchmaking
- Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
- Recent players list (S)
- Free and premium download game content(S)
- Free and premium downloadable movies, music, tv (S)
- Downloadable demos/trailers (S)
- Microtransactions (S)
- Custom playlist in every game (S)(O)
- Play music from portable devices (S)(O)
- View images from digital camera (S)(O)
- Strem media from Windows XP (S)(O)
- Interactive screen savers (S)(O)
- Track info for CDs (S) (O)
- Communication with voice, video or text (S)

The Hardware:
1. Support for DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 cd, JPEG photo CD
2. All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
3. Customizable face plates to change appearance
4. 3 USB 2.0 ports
5. Support for 4 wireless controllers
6. Detachable 20GB drive
7. Wi-Fi ready

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
- 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
- 2 hardware threads per core
- 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
- 1 MB L2 cache

CPU Game Math Performance
- 9 billion dots per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor
- 500 MNz
- 10 MB embedded DRAM
- 48-way parallel floating-point shader pipelines
- unified shader architecture

Memory
-512 MB GDDR3 RAM
- 700 MNz DDR

Memory Bandwidth
- 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
- 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
- 21.6 GB/s frontside bus

Audio
- Mulitchannel surround sond output
- Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
- 320 independent decompression channels
- 32 bit processing
- 256+ audio channels

To sum up the important stuff regarding XBL:

There will be two versions of Xbox Live. Silver is free (everyone gets it), and Gold is a paid subscription, like the current XBL. It looks like Xbox Live will be free on the weekends for everyone; Gold members will get it all the time, obviously. Current Xbox Live accounts will carry over to the 360 and become Gold Xbox Live accounts. Both Gold and Silver members will be able to download demos, trailers, and other content through XBL.

This info seems pretty legit, and some insiders have confirmed that this is indeed a real leak. At this rate, you have to wonder if Microsoft will have anything left to reveal at the MTV unveiling on May 12.

Just found this on a VERY reliable website. Have a gander:

The controller, the camera, the headset, the camera, and even the console itself...there have been a lot of Xbox 360 leaks so far.

Now, it seems a full list of Xbox 360 specs and Xbox Live details has been leaked. This list comes from a thread on the Team Xbox forums (the thread has since been deleted), and the TXB poster originally got it from another un-named forum.

2 types of Xbox Live:
Xbox Live Silver (no subscription required)
Xbox Live Gold (subscription benefits)

Features for Gold service
(S) Also for Silver
(O) Also for Offline

- Seamless transition to Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360
- Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply) (S)
- Free Xbox Live weekends (S)
- Multiplayer online gameplay
- Avatar for gamer profile(S)(O)
- Motto for gamer profile (S)(O)
- Personalized look for Xbox System Guide (S)(O)
- Offline achievments (S)(O)
- Online achievements (S)
- Access to other players' Gamer cards via Live (S)
- Cumulative gamer score (S)(O)
- Location/language profile (S)(O)
- Reputation (S)
- Enahnced matchmaking using above
- Skill level matchmaking
- Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
- Recent players list (S)
- Free and premium download game content(S)
- Free and premium downloadable movies, music, tv (S)
- Downloadable demos/trailers (S)
- Microtransactions (S)
- Custom playlist in every game (S)(O)
- Play music from portable devices (S)(O)
- View images from digital camera (S)(O)
- Strem media from Windows XP (S)(O)
- Interactive screen savers (S)(O)
- Track info for CDs (S) (O)
- Communication with voice, video or text (S)

The Hardware:
1. Support for DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 cd, JPEG photo CD
2. All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
3. Customizable face plates to change appearance
4. 3 USB 2.0 ports
5. Support for 4 wireless controllers
6. Detachable 20GB drive
7. Wi-Fi ready

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
- 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
- 2 hardware threads per core
- 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
- 1 MB L2 cache

CPU Game Math Performance
- 9 billion dots per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor
- 500 MNz
- 10 MB embedded DRAM
- 48-way parallel floating-point shader pipelines
- unified shader architecture

Memory
-512 MB GDDR3 RAM
- 700 MNz DDR

Memory Bandwidth
- 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
- 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
- 21.6 GB/s frontside bus

Audio
- Mulitchannel surround sond output
- Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
- 320 independent decompression channels
- 32 bit processing
- 256+ audio channels

To sum up the important stuff regarding XBL:

There will be two versions of Xbox Live. Silver is free (everyone gets it), and Gold is a paid subscription, like the current XBL. It looks like Xbox Live will be free on the weekends for everyone; Gold members will get it all the time, obviously. Current Xbox Live accounts will carry over to the 360 and become Gold Xbox Live accounts. Both Gold and Silver members will be able to download demos, trailers, and other content through XBL.

This info seems pretty legit, and some insiders have confirmed that this is indeed a real leak. At this rate, you have to wonder if Microsoft will have anything left to reveal at the MTV unveiling on May 12.

To be honest, I saw the XBox 360 presentation last night, and although the hardware looked impressive, I really didn't see many games that really stood out at me. I kept seeing hints of Perfect Dark Zero, which got me excited, and Oblivian was really neat, but none of the other titles really jumped out at me. 25 titles at launch, though, does sound awesome.

However, what surprised the hell out of me is the Xbox getting Final Fantasy XI. It's a shitty MMORPG, but it's a major step in getting Japanese developers to take the Xbox seriously. And what better company to make the jump to Xbox than fanboy favorite SquareEnix. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that in this thread.

Blonde799 wrote:Here's what I found from a few posters at one of the forums I frequent in regards to the MTV showing:

Here's a little hint, your forum friends are fucking idiots. However, they're right on the money about how the MTV special was practically devoid of information.

The E3 presentation that took place last night was tons more informative. And unlike the PS3, which just showed bargraphs, lots of trailors and cutscenes, and lots of questionable promises (HEY, THE PS2 CAN RENDER TOY STORY IN REAL TIME), the Xbox 360 presentation actaully had some ingame footage. It was pretty neat looking, but then again the stream was not very high quality, so it was hard to tell how much better it actually was. Dead or Alive 4 looked amazing, and so did Oblivian.

Darth Marsden wrote:Once again... it sounds more like a PC then a games console... It can go in both horizontal OR vertical postures? Wow, that's a load of my mind. [/sarcasm]

It does look powerful, but power is not always what makes a great console. The most important thing you need is games, and I didn't see a whole lot of those. All I did see was people bragging about how powerful the system was. I'm interested, but Microsoft need to do a whole lot more to convince me the new system is worth getting.

It's simply being par for course with the PS3 (taking Sony's inevitable inflation of specs into account). You don't need good specs to have good games, but you do need good specs as to not alienate developers. Nintendo had the hardware this generation, but the proprietary media format (that held less than a normal DVD) really put a damper on third party support. Nintendo might be able to survive on it's own, but the lack of solid third party support durring the Gamecube era really took a toll on it. I don't want to wait three months between really awesome games.

I mean, having good specs and having great games isn't mutually exclusive. As much as you people hate to admit it, the Xbox has a solid library of games, and plenty of stuff to play in between blockbuster titles Halo 2 or Jade Empire.

I don't agree with the statement that the Xbox 360 is going to feel like a PC. If anything, it's going to feel like an all in one media center, with a major major gaming component (friend invites durring movies sounds neat).

To be honest, I saw the XBox 360 presentation last night, and although the hardware looked impressive, I really didn't see many games that really stood out at me. I kept seeing hints of Perfect Dark Zero, which got me excited, and Oblivian was really neat, but none of the other titles really jumped out at me. 25 titles at launch, though, does sound awesome.

However, what surprised the hell out of me is the Xbox getting Final Fantasy XI. It's a shitty MMORPG, but it's a major step in getting Japanese developers to take the Xbox seriously. And what better company to make the jump to Xbox than fanboy favorite SquareEnix. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that in this thread.

Blonde799 wrote:Here's what I found from a few posters at one of the forums I frequent in regards to the MTV showing:

Here's a little hint, your forum friends are fucking idiots. However, they're right on the money about how the MTV special was practically devoid of information.

The E3 presentation that took place last night was tons more informative. And unlike the PS3, which just showed bargraphs, lots of trailors and cutscenes, and lots of questionable promises (HEY, THE PS2 CAN RENDER TOY STORY IN REAL TIME), the Xbox 360 presentation actaully had some ingame footage. It was pretty neat looking, but then again the stream was not very high quality, so it was hard to tell how much better it actually was. Dead or Alive 4 looked amazing, and so did Oblivian.

Darth Marsden wrote:Once again... it sounds more like a PC then a games console... It can go in both horizontal OR vertical postures? Wow, that's a load of my mind. [/sarcasm]

It does look powerful, but power is not always what makes a great console. The most important thing you need is games, and I didn't see a whole lot of those. All I did see was people bragging about how powerful the system was. I'm interested, but Microsoft need to do a whole lot more to convince me the new system is worth getting.

It's simply being par for course with the PS3 (taking Sony's inevitable inflation of specs into account). You don't need good specs to have good games, but you do need good specs as to not alienate developers. Nintendo had the hardware this generation, but the proprietary media format (that held less than a normal DVD) really put a damper on third party support. Nintendo might be able to survive on it's own, but the lack of solid third party support durring the Gamecube era really took a toll on it. I don't want to wait three months between really awesome games.

I mean, having good specs and having great games isn't mutually exclusive. As much as you people hate to admit it, the Xbox has a solid library of games, and plenty of stuff to play in between blockbuster titles Halo 2 or Jade Empire.

I don't agree with the statement that the Xbox 360 is going to feel like a PC. If anything, it's going to feel like an all in one media center, with a major major gaming component (friend invites durring movies sounds neat).

For people making the the PC comments, its pretty much time to give it up. Both Sony and Microsoft are going down that road by offering more multi-media capabilities. And if thats what you guys mean in saying its a PC, then its going to be like that and probably will stay like that for generations to come. I defend the PC as my own, so stop comparing it to the likes of these mortal consoles. 😉

For people making the the PC comments, its pretty much time to give it up. Both Sony and Microsoft are going down that road by offering more multi-media capabilities. And if thats what you guys mean in saying its a PC, then its going to be like that and probably will stay like that for generations to come. I defend the PC as my own, so stop comparing it to the likes of these mortal consoles. 😉

Grasshopper wrote:For people making the the PC comments, its pretty much time to give it up. Both Sony and Microsoft are going down that road by offering more multi-media capabilities. And if thats what you guys mean in saying its a PC, then its going to be like that and probably will stay like that for generations to come. I defend the PC as my own, so stop comparing it to the likes of these mortal consoles. 😉

Grasshopper wrote:For people making the the PC comments, its pretty much time to give it up. Both Sony and Microsoft are going down that road by offering more multi-media capabilities. And if thats what you guys mean in saying its a PC, then its going to be like that and probably will stay like that for generations to come. I defend the PC as my own, so stop comparing it to the likes of these mortal consoles. 😉

What add ons or upgrades are you talking about? Hard drives? Modems? Those aren't required. Those are pretty trivial too. The only thing you needed a hard drive for was FFXI, and who would want to play that game. 😉

Seriously though, other than that, none of the games get any beneficial purpose when getting those. So only people who really want them can get them. To me, getting the added harddrive for PS2 is just like buying those monstrosities known as the 1019 memory cards for the Gamecube. The official brand is $35.

The modem doesn't count anymore, because both companies have them built in. I think internet is just a natural progression of multiplaying. Now I can play against you in our favorite games without having to be in the same house. And with the next generation of consoles, EVERYTHING has connectivity or announced connectivity. PSP, DS, 360, Revolution, PS3... It's just bound to happen.

Rest assured, I still think we have a while before a console will be a PC. I like a PC because it can not only play games, but mod games, and still run other applications. A console has one purpose, and all three companies are still abiding by that rule. It still only plays games, it doesn't run word processing apps, or imaging or modelling programs. PC's have interchangable parts so a person can pay maybe $50 to get a performance boost, while consoles don't.

In fact, if we go by that definition, I guess the Nintendo 64 could have been a PC because you could buy more RAM for it. Sure someone could take a console and mod it to do more things, but thats wasn't its original intention, and shouldn't be taken into account.

Don't get me wrong, I know where you're coming from. I understand what you mean. Its just that thanks to Microsoft and Sony, the definition of a console has changed and we pretty much have to just go with it. Each company wanted to find some way to make their console unique and reach out to a broader market.

What add ons or upgrades are you talking about? Hard drives? Modems? Those aren't required. Those are pretty trivial too. The only thing you needed a hard drive for was FFXI, and who would want to play that game. 😉

Seriously though, other than that, none of the games get any beneficial purpose when getting those. So only people who really want them can get them. To me, getting the added harddrive for PS2 is just like buying those monstrosities known as the 1019 memory cards for the Gamecube. The official brand is $35.

The modem doesn't count anymore, because both companies have them built in. I think internet is just a natural progression of multiplaying. Now I can play against you in our favorite games without having to be in the same house. And with the next generation of consoles, EVERYTHING has connectivity or announced connectivity. PSP, DS, 360, Revolution, PS3... It's just bound to happen.

Rest assured, I still think we have a while before a console will be a PC. I like a PC because it can not only play games, but mod games, and still run other applications. A console has one purpose, and all three companies are still abiding by that rule. It still only plays games, it doesn't run word processing apps, or imaging or modelling programs. PC's have interchangable parts so a person can pay maybe $50 to get a performance boost, while consoles don't.

In fact, if we go by that definition, I guess the Nintendo 64 could have been a PC because you could buy more RAM for it. Sure someone could take a console and mod it to do more things, but thats wasn't its original intention, and shouldn't be taken into account.

Don't get me wrong, I know where you're coming from. I understand what you mean. Its just that thanks to Microsoft and Sony, the definition of a console has changed and we pretty much have to just go with it. Each company wanted to find some way to make their console unique and reach out to a broader market.