Nieuws over de Xbox 2!

Will the next Microsoft console be at E3 next week? All signs point to "yes".

Both Nintendo and Microsoft have admitted that Sony's head start this generation has given Sony an almost unfair advantage with the PS2. Both companies have openly admitted that they will not let Sony launch before them as next generation approaches. Said Microsoft's Xbox boss, Robert J. Bach, in a recent interview: "We'll be there when Sony is there." Looks as if "there" may be sooner than we all think.

BusinessWeek today claims that they have learned that Microsoft plans on launching their next generation console during the holiday season 2005. The new console, code named Xenon, would break the typical five-year life cycle that console typically follow. According to Sony, PlayStation3 (PS is scheduled to launch around the same time, however, Sony has not really finalized key technical details. Game developers claim that without those details they can not begin making games, which takes at least 18 months. For this reason game developer believe that Sony plans on launching the PS3 in Japan during the Spring of 2006 and approximately six months after in North America. This would give Microsoft a year lead on it's biggest rival, Sony.

If this news does turn out to be true, Microsoft's new console may be too appealing for developers to pass on. Many developers claim that having a full year jump on Sony will make Xenon more attractive simply because the user base will be bigger from the beginning. Second, Microsoft is actively attempting to make game development easier with new software. Said one developer "We can't believe this is Microsoft."

Could we see something from Microsoft at E3 next week? If BusinessWeek is correct Xenon could very well be there.

Bron: http://www.gametab.com/jump.php?94625

 

Mooi werk hoor. Ik wist dit nieuws al maar toch bedankt.

 

Dat maakt het wel spannend....

 

microsoft pakt het perfect aan met hun nieuwe develop manier. Die is echt zo goed. Itt tot de ontoegankelijke hardware van de ps2/ps3

 

Nou, we zullen zien wat het word

 

Wist het ook al. En ik vind ook dat ze die next Gen's nog wel even in de kast mogen laten liggen.

 

Xbox 2 Specificaties ?!?

Xenon Docs Leaked?

Basic Hardware Specifications
Xenon is powered by a 3.5+ GHz IBM PowerPC processor and a 500+ MHz ATI graphics processor. Xenon has 256+ MB of unified memory. Xenon runs a custom operating system based on Microsoft® Windows NT®, similar to the Xbox operating system. The graphics interface is a superset of Microsoft® Direct3D® version 9.0.

CPU
The Xenon CPU is a custom processor based on PowerPC technology. The CPU includes three independent processors (cores) on a single die. Each core runs at 3.5+ GHz. The Xenon CPU can issue two instructions per clock cycle per core. At peak performance, Xenon can issue 21 billion instructions per second.
The Xenon CPU was designed by IBM in close consultation with the Xbox team, leading to a number of revolutionary additions, including a dot product instruction for extremely fast vector math and custom security features built directly into the silicon to prevent piracy and hacking.
Each core has two symmetric hardware threads (SMT), for a total of six hardware threads available to games. Not only does the Xenon CPU include the standard set of PowerPC integer and floating-point registers (one set per hardware thread), the Xenon CPU also includes 128 vector (VMX) registers per hardware thread. This astounding number of registers can drastically improve the speed of common mathematical operations.
Each of the three cores includes a 32-KB L1 instruction cache and a 32-KB L1 data cache. The three cores share a 1-MB L2 cache. The L2 cache can be locked down in segments to improve performance. The L2 cache also has the very unusual feature of being directly readable from the GPU, which allows the GPU to consume geometry and texture data from L2 and main memory simultaneously.
Xenon CPU instructions are exposed to games through compiler intrinsics, allowing developers to access the power of the chip using C language notation.

GPU
The Xenon GPU is a custom 500+ MHz graphics processor from ATI. The shader core has 48 Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) that can execute 64 simultaneous threads on groups of 64 vertices or pixels. ALUs are automatically and dynamically assigned to either pixel or vertex processing depending on load. The ALUs can each perform one vector and one scalar operation per clock cycle, for a total of 96 shader operations per clock cycle. Texture loads can be done in parallel to ALU operations. At peak performance, the GPU can issue 48 billion shader operations per second.
The GPU has a peak pixel fill rate of 4+ gigapixels/sec (16 gigasamples/sec with 4× antialiasing). The peak vertex rate is 500+ million vertices/sec. The peak triangle rate is 500+ million triangles/sec. The interesting point about all of these values is that they’re not just theoretical—they are attainable with nontrivial shaders.
Xenon is designed for high-definition output. Included directly on the GPU die is 10+ MB of fast embedded dynamic RAM (EDRAM). A 720p frame buffer fits very nicely here. Larger frame buffers are also possible because of hardware-accelerated partitioning and predicated rendering that has little cost other than additional vertex processing. Along with the extremely fast EDRAM, the GPU also includes hardware instructions for alpha blending, z-test, and antialiasing.
The Xenon graphics architecture is a unique design that implements a superset of Direct3D version 9.0. It includes a number of important extensions, including additional compressed texture formats and a flexible tessellation engine. Xenon not only supports high-level shading language (HLSL) model 3.0 for vertex and pixel shaders but also includes advanced shader features well beyond model 3.0. For instance, shaders use 32-bit IEEE floating-point math throughout. Vertex shaders can fetch from textures, and pixel shaders can fetch from vertex streams. Xenon shaders also have the unique ability to directly access main memory, allowing techniques that have never before been possible.
As with Xbox, Xenon will support precompiled push buffers (“command buffers” in Xenon terminology), but to a much greater extent than the Xbox console does. The Xbox team is exposing and documenting the command buffer format so that games are able to harness the GPU much more effectively.
In addition to an extremely powerful GPU, Xenon also includes a very high-quality resize filter. This filter allows consumers to choose whatever output mode they desire. Xenon automatically scales the game’s output buffer to the consumer-chosen resolution.

Memory and Bandwidth
Xenon has 256+ MB of unified memory, equally accessible to both the GPU and CPU. The main memory controller resides on the GPU (the same as in the Xbox architecture). It has 22.4+ GB/sec aggregate bandwidth to RAM, distributed between reads and writes. Aggregate means that the bandwidth may be used for all reading or all writing or any combination of the two. Translated into game performance, the GPU can consume a 512×512×32-bpp texture in only 47 microseconds.
The front side bus (FSB) bandwidth peak is 10.8 GB/sec for reads and 10.8 GB/sec for writes, over 20 times faster than for Xbox. Note that the 22.4+ GB/sec main memory bandwidth is shared between the CPU and GPU. If, for example, the CPU is using 2 GB/sec for reading and 1 GB/sec for writing on the FSB, the GPU has 19.4+ GB/sec available for accessing RAM.
Eight pixels (where each pixel is color plus z = 8 bytes) can be sent to the EDRAM every GPU clock cycle, for an EDRAM write bandwidth of 32 GB/sec. Each of these pixels can be expanded through multisampling to 4 samples, for up to 32 multisampled pixel samples per clock cycle. With alpha blending, z-test, and z-write enabled, this is equivalent to having 256 GB/sec of effective bandwidth! The important thing is that frame buffer bandwidth will never slow down the Xenon GPU.

Audio
The Xenon CPU is a superb processor for audio, particularly with its massive mathematical horsepower and vector register set. The Xenon CPU can process and encode hundreds of audio channels with sophisticated per-voice and global effects, all while using a fraction of the power of a single CPU core.
The Xenon system south bridge also contains a key hardware component for audio—XMA decompression. XMA is the native Xenon compressed audio format, based on the WMA Pro architecture. XMA provides sound quality higher than ADPCM at even better compression ratios, typically 6:1–12:1. The south bridge contains a full silicon implementation of the XMA decompression algorithm, including support for multichannel XMA sources. XMA is processed by the south bridge into standard PCM format in RAM. All other sound processing (sample rate conversion, filtering, effects, mixing, and multispeaker encoding) happens on the Xenon CPU.
The lowest-level Xenon audio software layer is XAudio, a new API designed for optimal digital signal processing. The Xbox Audio Creation Tool (XACT) API from Xbox is also supported, along with new features such as conditional events, improved parameter control, and a more flexible 3D audio model.

Input/Output
As with Xbox, Xenon is designed to be a multiplayer console. It has built-in networking support including an Ethernet 10/100-BaseT port. It supports up to four controllers. From an audio/video standpoint, Xenon will support all the same formats as Xbox, including multiple high-definition formats up through 1080i, plus VGA output.
In order to provide greater flexibility and support a wider variety of attached devices, the Xenon console includes standard USB 2.0 ports. This feature allows the console to potentially host storage devices, cameras, microphones, and other devices.

Storage
The Xenon console is designed around a larger world view of storage than Xbox was. Games will have access to a variety of storage devices, including connected devices (memory units, USB storage) and remote devices (networked PCs, Xbox Live™). At the time of this writing, the decision to include a built-in hard disk in every Xenon console has not been made. If a hard disk is not included in every console, it will certainly be available as an integrated add-on component.
Xenon supports up to two attached memory units (MUs). MUs are connected directly to the console, not to controllers as on Xbox. The initial size of the MUs is 64 MB, although larger MUs may be available in the future. MU throughput is expected to be around 8 MB/sec for reads and 1 MB/sec for writes.
The Xenon game disc drive is a 12× DVD, with an expected outer edge throughput of 16+ MB/sec. Latency is expected to be in the neighborhood of 100 ms. The media format will be similar to Xbox, with approximately 6 GB of usable space on the disk. As on Xbox, media will be stored on a single side in two 3 GB layers.

Industrial Design
The Xenon industrial design process is well under way, but the final look of the box has not been determined. The Xenon console will be smaller than the Xbox console.
The standard Xenon controller will have a look and feel similar to the Xbox controller. The primary changes are the removal of the Black and White buttons and the addition of shoulder buttons. The triggers, thumbsticks, D-pad, and primary buttons are essentially unchanged. The controller will support vibration.


en wat vinden we ervan als het waar is ?

 

Wat voor hardware er in een console zit interresseert me niet zoveel maar 256 MB is wat aan de lage kant voor een console die eind 2005 moet gaan uitkomen Rond die tijd zal de standaard in pc's wel zitten op 1024 MB, en consoles kunnen zich in de eerste debuut maanden toch makelijk meten met een pc.
Misschien is het geheugen wel net zo snel als 1024 MB want ik snap heel het verhaal niet over hoe hij berekeningen maakt enzo Blijf erbij dat 1024 MB beter zou staan, waarom een 256 opfokken als 1024 rond die tijd toch in prijs is gedaald?

 

De xbox 2 moet zeker van mij, een harde schijf hebben, dat je xbox 1 games op de xbox 2 kunt spelen, starter kits blijven hetzelfde en natuurlijk de console zelf.
Ik wacht zowieso een half jaar nadat hij uitkomt. Is geoedkoper.

 

Jammer dat er maar 256 mb in zit. Zeker aangezien het gedeeld geheugen is ben ik er niet blij mee. Voordeel hiervan is de hogere bandbreedte dus daarom zullen ze dat wel gedaan hebben. en geen 512 vanwege de kosten.

 

Zoveel scheelt 256 MB niet in kosten. De inkoop van zo'n stripje ligt op (ik schat) een 20 tot 30 euri. Microsoft koopt in grote oplage, dan kost ie 15 tot 20 euri. Voor de prijs hoeven ze het niet te laten.

 

Onzin.. je zit jezelf alleen maar gek te maken als je elk papiertje gelooft dat opduikt.

 

Idd, hoe mooi het ook allemaal klinkt, ik geloof het pas als ik het uit de mond van Microsoft hoor.

 

Ik las in de Veronica blad dat je op de XBOX-2 geen XBOX-1 spellen zal kunnen spelen. Weet iemand hier misschien iets meer over?

 

Ik heb het ook ergens gehoord en dat zou ik behoorlijk jammer vinden.

Ik denk echter dat de meeste mensen geen behoefte hebben om xbox-1 spellen niet op xbox-2 console te spelen vandaar deze beslissing.

 

De grafische kaart en processors zijn al zeker en deze speculaties zijn natuurlijk niet helemaal op lucht gebaseerd. Het meeste klopt naar alle waarschijnlijkheid wel. Denk dat 512 MB technisch niet lukt ivm de bandbreedte... Dat was ook een probleem bij dat plaatje van deze mobility kaart, geheugen er rechtstreeks op plaatsen...

 

MS zit idd gene nut for backwards compatible
maar 10% van de gamers wil het en technish is het te lastig om uit te voeren, als het wel zo zou zijn, zou de prijs stijge van wege extra ontwikkelings kost en technische uitdagingen

 

waarom zou je backwards compatibileteit willen hebben? dat is echt de domste functie ooit. Of je nog halo 1 speelt als je halo 3 kan spelen. Of pgr 1 ipv pgt 3. Echt zo`n domme functie. net als bij de psx/ps2 dat gebruikt echt niemand. Je kan wel allemaal zeiken dat dat moet, maar daar maak je toch nooit meer gebruik van.

 

Omdat als je een Xbox 2 koopt zonder dat je de eerste Xbox in je bezit heb, toch een ruime aanbod van games heb voor een zacht prijsje. Ook zijn er games die het zeker nog waard zijn om te spelen, ook al heb je de vervolgen. Ik vind het zonde als ze het niet zouden doen, maar het is wel de enige manier tot verniewing.

 

(samenvattend)bron PU: