unforum

[rufo]

It looks like AnandTech's pulled the Xenon vs. Cell article... at the moment it's not clear exactly why they did. The going consensus seems to be that the article was rather sensationalist, and while much of what the article stated was based on true facts and that performance isn't where developers hoped it would be, Anand sort of hammed it up (which is rather unusual for Anandtech, usually I find them to be rather accurate).

There's a pretty good article over at ArsTechnica that sort of sums things up.

[SuperJerms]

Good article, rufo. I also want to echo what that article said at the end, to clarify my own position. I'm not saying this design direction is the right one or the wrong one...only time and progress will tell that. All I am saying is that developers who are unhappy with the new design is because its different and nobody likes change (more to the point, nobody likes the extra work associated with change).

Rufo is right that the branch prediction is the major sticking point. Future code will have to be more efficient and work around the archeticture. What I meant by saying it's more PowerPC-ish is that, even with a better compiler, devs still would have needed to make new tools for adapting to the multicore and ungeneralized processor environment. Some folks have been decrying that change as the end of the world for a while now (without any info about the quality of the compiler).

The simple fact of the matter is that computing will change in fundamental ways in the future. This change absolutely will involve a switch to multiple, multi-core, and more specialized processors than we have had in the past (looking at where we've come from, we see that we go to today's standards via that route--just look at all the specialized hardware developed in the last 15 years). Again, the new console designs might be spot-on, and they might be all wet. Only time will tell. Still, when someone comes along and says it's just marketing hype, that's laughable.

Would Sony, MS, or IBM oversell us on the product? Of course they would, that's their job. But these designs directions are obviously an agressive change from the current marketplace. There's no question about the theoretical power of these designs, so the sticking point is: will developers be willing to play along and will they be able to tap that power? This ISN'T a question of lying marketing, it's a question of how much money and effort programmers are willing to put into making applications.

[water10]

[Grifter_7]

Because there still seems to be some interest in the 360 and some rumors are showing up in the Beekeepers on LIVE thread....

I'm BACK with more updates about the Xbox 360!!!


[trumpets flair]

Here's the latest...

Xbox 360 to launch in Europe on November 25
From GamesIndustry.biz:

[INCyr]

Good to hear that the dual pricetags are in effect again.

I still want to know what happened to the rumor that Halo2 was going to be bundled on the HDD....

[Grifter_7]

here's some interesting stuff.. Just think.. Halo 3 with 64 players.... OUCH.

Time to get a better Internet Connection...

Next-Gen Broadband Requirements
From gear.ign.com:

[Grifter_7]

Yes.. I did just quote myself.

Xbox 360 Wireless Controllers
From me:

[vortech]

[vortech]

[Grifter_7]

[VMVash]

I can't wait to see if I can get one by spring. Till then I'll be playing Half-life and cs:source

[vortech]

[Grifter_7]

More goodies..

Xbox 360 pictured, does a million polygons
From TheInquirer.net:

[Grifter_7]

Two price points for Xbox 360 at Launch
From GameDaily.com:

[ubersaurus]

So I'm confused.

If you already have Live, do you need to get a new account for the 360, or will yours continue to work on that platform as well?