Xbox 360 thread

taeric said:
Looking over at gamespot it looks like what theac feared Sony would do is actually what Microsoft is going to do. The XBox will be able to stream data to a WMC machine. It will also thankfully be ditching the Intel line of chips for the processor. Not sure if using three 970s is going to save on power, but it would have to be better than three Pentium 4s. Of course, that will probably erase much of the ease of programming.
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Huh? From what I'm reading, I've hit it on the head. XBox 360 IS a MCE machine from this mornings reports. It's basically just a thin client. It can stream media from other MCE's on the same network. No surprise there. I knew they'd expand Live out for "other" content like movies. There isn't much new or innovative, but its being targeted as an entertainment center. I think the only thing I missed big on is I thought for sure it would have inputs to act as a DVR. I don't see that yet, but maybe it'll still happen.

taeric said:
Other than that... I don't see anything to be excited about yet. The idea of having a subscription console just doesn't appeal to me, so making a free Live service is a good idea. But.... I don't know how much I really care about online console games. (Though, I think they are going to be a big selling point.)
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Yeah, a definate lack of game demos are out there now. The few stills don't impress me, but maybe they're badass once you get to see them in motion. One thing I was thinking but forgot to mention is that wireless will be standard. XBox360 did it and I think Revolution will do it. Don't know about Sony.

taeric said:
Oh, and the removeable hard drive.... So long as it is a standard usb/firewire hookup, thats cool. If it is not.... we get back to what theac feared Sony would do.
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There's standard USB all over the box, so I'm guessing if you bought the "kit" to slam any HDD into, you're good to go. There's a USB port on the back and that'll probably be able to recognize removable media. They state at one point in the press release that you "your friend can bring over a drive full of media content and you can watch it with your 360". Since they mention some of that content is HD, 20Gb doesn't hold a shitload of HD. They've got something else planned for larger drives. Hopefully, its not propriatary.

The only thing I really didn't see coming was a free version of Xbox live. That's a surprise, but if you think about it, not really. "First one's free, kid ...".

Under the WTF does that mean catagory
The gamer profile will also denote which "GamerZone" the owner prefers. That's right: to separate the n00bs from the 733ts, the new Xbox Live is broken down into four zones: "R&R," for casual players; "Pro," for the hardcore; "Underground," for "those who take an alternative approach to gaming," according to Microsoft; and "Family" for all-ages gaming.
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WTF is the "Underground" category?
 
Oh shit, I hope this isn't true. If so, it is the first sign that N is going to fuck up on the Revolution

Nintendo has chosen GameSpy's backend technology for the online service they're developing
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Jesus, GameSpy sucks my ballsack hairless.
 
theacoustician said:
Huh? From what I'm reading, I've hit it on the head. XBox 360 IS a MCE machine from this mornings reports. It's basically just a thin client. It can stream media from other MCE's on the same network. No surprise there. I knew they'd expand Live out for "other" content like movies. There isn't much new or innovative, but its being targeted as an entertainment center. I think the only thing I missed big on is I thought for sure it would have inputs to act as a DVR. I don't see that yet, but maybe it'll still happen.
Click to expand...

Maybe this is my misunderstanding. You had said it could be a DVR. That is what I said you missed. It looks like it can be a DVR like device, but only as a repeater for an MCE. So... if you want DVR like capabilities from it, you have to have another Microsoft device. Isn't this exactly what you said Sony would do?

theacoustician said:
There's standard USB all over the box, so I'm guessing if you bought the "kit" to slam any HDD into, you're good to go. There's a USB port on the back and that'll probably be able to recognize removable media. They state at one point in the press release that you "your friend can bring over a drive full of media content and you can watch it with your 360". Since they mention some of that content is HD, 20Gb doesn't hold a shitload of HD. They've got something else planned for larger drives. Hopefully, its not propriatary.
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I can only hope your right on this. They do say the hard drives "snap into one end" of the console. Any pictures of the side of this thing?

theacoustician said:
The only thing I really didn't see coming was a free version of Xbox live. That's a surprise, but if you think about it, not really. "First one's free, kid ...".
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The only surprising thing about that to me is I didn't know there wasn't a free one already.
 
taeric said:
Maybe this is my misunderstanding. You had said it could be a DVR. That is what I said you missed. It looks like it can be a DVR like device, but only as a repeater for an MCE. So... if you want DVR like capabilities from it, you have to have another Microsoft device. Isn't this exactly what you said Sony would do?
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Ok, I see where you're going now. The answer is maybe. They say you can stream content from another MCE box. Its unknown yet if that means it will ONLY stream from MCE or it'll stream from any box. Microsoft hasn't been terribly inventive thus far and I'm guessing its all done with standard protocols. Here's the thing: 95% of the people in the world use Windows. At what point do you say they're making a monopoly (like I predicted with Sony) or that they're simply doing the smart business thing and not wasting loads of dev money on a small portion of the market. I don't know the answer to that. Guess we'll see as it gets closer to launch.

I'm still really shocked it has no video inputs.

As for the "snap in thing", here's what I'm guessing : you can buy they're little HDD sled with a drive in it. People will be able to figure out how to pop out the drive and be able to put anything they want in there. I also think the USB in the back might allow you to connect any USB HDD in.

I think the fact its a Windows box running on a PowerPC chip is funny as hell.
 
taeric said:
Looking over at gamespot it looks like what theac feared Sony would do is actually what Microsoft is going to do. The XBox will be able to stream data to a WMC machine. It will also thankfully be ditching the Intel line of chips for the processor. Not sure if using three 970s is going to save on power, but it would have to be better than three Pentium 4s. Of course, that will probably erase much of the ease of programming.

Other than that... I don't see anything to be excited about yet. The idea of having a subscription console just doesn't appeal to me, so making a free Live service is a good idea. But.... I don't know how much I really care about online console games. (Though, I think they are going to be a big selling point.)

Oh, and the removeable hard drive.... So long as it is a standard usb/firewire hookup, thats cool. If it is not.... we get back to what theac feared Sony would do.
Click to expand...

Its a console. Proprietary connections are standard. The USB connectors for peripherals is a great concession to third party developers. The Windows Media Center streaming is available on the current Xbox.
 
theacoustician said:
Huh? From what I'm reading, I've hit it on the head. XBox 360 IS a MCE machine from this mornings reports. It's basically just a thin client. It can stream media from other MCE's on the same network. No surprise there. I knew they'd expand Live out for "other" content like movies. There isn't much new or innovative, but its being targeted as an entertainment center. I think the only thing I missed big on is I thought for sure it would have inputs to act as a DVR. I don't see that yet, but maybe it'll still happen.

The only thing I really didn't see coming was a free version of Xbox live. That's a surprise, but if you think about it, not really. "First one's free, kid ...".

Under the WTF does that mean catagory

WTF is the "Underground" category?
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Underground = gay gamers. And the free part of Live doesn't allow you to play games online.
 
Oh my god the debut was TERRIBLE - they gave the celebrities playing the system more face time than the games being played

and honestly, the graphics looked THE SAME
 
taeric said:
Maybe this is my misunderstanding. You had said it could be a DVR. That is what I said you missed. It looks like it can be a DVR like device, but only as a repeater for an MCE. So... if you want DVR like capabilities from it, you have to have another Microsoft device. Isn't this exactly what you said Sony would do?



I can only hope your right on this. They do say the hard drives "snap into one end" of the console. Any pictures of the side of this thing?



The only surprising thing about that to me is I didn't know there wasn't a free one already.
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www.xbox360.com
 
elpmis said:
Oh my god the debut was TERRIBLE - they gave the celebrities playing the system more face time than the games being played

and honestly, the graphics looked THE SAME
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I was impressed by the cars in the driving games. Other then that, I wouldn't even put them on par with Half Life 2/Doom 3
 
smileynev said:
I was impressed by the cars in the driving games. Other then that, I wouldn't even put them on par with Half Life 2/Doom 3
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have you played Forza Motorsport for Xbobx yet? It looks every bit as good as those 360 games they showed
 
theacoustician said:
Ok, I see where you're going now. The answer is maybe. They say you can stream content from another MCE box. Its unknown yet if that means it will ONLY stream from MCE or it'll stream from any box. Microsoft hasn't been terribly inventive thus far and I'm guessing its all done with standard protocols. Here's the thing: 95% of the people in the world use Windows. At what point do you say they're making a monopoly (like I predicted with Sony) or that they're simply doing the smart business thing and not wasting loads of dev money on a small portion of the market. I don't know the answer to that. Guess we'll see as it gets closer to launch.

I'm still really shocked it has no video inputs.

As for the "snap in thing", here's what I'm guessing : you can buy they're little HDD sled with a drive in it. People will be able to figure out how to pop out the drive and be able to put anything they want in there. I also think the USB in the back might allow you to connect any USB HDD in.

I think the fact its a Windows box running on a PowerPC chip is funny as hell.
Click to expand...

Video inputs and a DVR service would add cost to the system. I don't think most gamers are asking for that right now. And, assuming that they are going to use it as a client to an MCE box, the MCE box itself will do all that.

I am also not 100% certain that you have to have an MCE box to stream content to it. And I'm sure if thats the case someone will find a workaround in no time.
 
elpmis said:
have you played Forza Motorsport for Xbobx yet? It looks every bit as good as those 360 games they showed
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Meh, I'm not really into racing games.
 
theacoustician said:
Ok, I see where you're going now. The answer is maybe. They say you can stream content from another MCE box. Its unknown yet if that means it will ONLY stream from MCE or it'll stream from any box. Microsoft hasn't been terribly inventive thus far and I'm guessing its all done with standard protocols. Here's the thing: 95% of the people in the world use Windows. At what point do you say they're making a monopoly (like I predicted with Sony) or that they're simply doing the smart business thing and not wasting loads of dev money on a small portion of the market. I don't know the answer to that. Guess we'll see as it gets closer to launch.
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The only thing that is dumb about that is that that is exactly what is illegal. They are using a monopoly in one industry to leverage customers in another. In this, they are actually hitting several markets. They are using their monopoly of desktop computers to gain share into both the video game and the DVR markets. How is that at all better than Sony trying to create a monopoly? (To be clear, I dispise both.)

theacoustician said:
I'm still really shocked it has no video inputs.

As for the "snap in thing", here's what I'm guessing : you can buy they're little HDD sled with a drive in it. People will be able to figure out how to pop out the drive and be able to put anything they want in there. I also think the USB in the back might allow you to connect any USB HDD in.

I think the fact its a Windows box running on a PowerPC chip is funny as hell.
Click to expand...

I don't know as that I would bank on the USB meaning you can use it for hard drives. I mean, the PS2 even has a USB input. Still, I am hoping/betting you're right.

As to the PPC chip. That doesn't surprise me. Remember I was surprised when you said it was going to be Intel chips. Intel just hasn't developed a good SMP system in a long time.
 
smileynev said:
Video inputs and a DVR service would add cost to the system. I don't think most gamers are asking for that right now. And, assuming that they are going to use it as a client to an MCE box, the MCE box itself will do all that.
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I still would have thought it had the ability you just had to buy the right accessory (like the remote and DVD thing on the current XBox). I thought MS would want to hit where most of the money is, the parents. If they can build a box that plays games that make the kids happy but the parents can also get some use out of the box, then they'll sell a shitload of them.

smileynev said:
I am also not 100% certain that you have to have an MCE box to stream content to it. And I'm sure if thats the case someone will find a workaround in no time.
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That's what I'm thinking
 
elpmis said:
and what's this about no specs? I thought they said in the debut 512mb of ram and 3.2 Ghz
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I didn't see it on the show. I missed the first 30 seconds or so because MTV offsets their shows.

And, to be honest, I don't care whats powering it.
 
elpmis said:
and what's this about no specs? I thought they said in the debut 512mb of ram and 3.2 Ghz
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There's a press package available online out there that has real specs. I think Gamespot even C&P'ed most of them in the article linked to earlier.
 
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