They Call It A Comeback: Xbox 2 Revealed!
PS2 was the top dog this time around but what about in 2006, does MS have what it takes?
by: John Olin
You may have read a few articles on the other Xbox sites, or multiplatform sites claiming they have the real deal on the next Xbox and what it is about. Well all of those sites all they do is go around in circles giving you what-ifs and a bunch of technical jargon that barely anyone can understand, although a lot of people will claim to understand it. I mean what the hell does 32 GB a sec in VRAM mean anyways? Why would I care in the first place? In this soon to be bi-weekly editorial on Xbox 2 facts, speculation, games, and so forth we will touch up on subjects such as competitors, hardware, dates, and so forth. I warn you that we approach most of these topics as facts from inside sources that will always remain disclosed, however, these are not official facts from Microsoft unless otherwise noted.
Official Name: Xbox 2
Why?: Why not? Xbox is now a worldwide recognized brand, and if you were to deviate to far from the name then it may confuse people who are interested in purchasing a gaming system. Microsoft uses this sort of branding with all of their products, putting some sort of version number after the subject product (i.e. Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP). Sony must also use this method to better distinguish the areas of all their products. Nintendo on the other hand doesn’t necessarily have to do this because Nintendo’s majority of products are videogame related whereas it is very different for Microsoft and Sony.
Other names we have heard include Xenon, Xbox Next, Nextbox, Next Xbox, and so forth. Xenon is probably the official codename for the Xbox 2 project at Microsoft, but it wouldn’t make a very good name for a system especially since it is a totally new name from a company that creates many kinds of products, and the name sounds like “Intel Xeon” a processor from the company making the current Xbox CPUs, but not the next one.
Price: $299.99 (US)
Why?: The Xbox was originally released on November 15th, 2001 for the price and it would be following the tradition of other home consoles. All Nintendo home consoles have been $200, all Sony $300 so it is a no-brainer.
Release Date: Late 2006
Why?: Steve Ballmer has said a lot of things regarding the next Xbox. He believes it will “take” PS3. He said to a Chinese newspaper before that the Xbox 2 would be out in 2005—then he said at a recent conference that Xbox 2 wouldn’t be out within the 2005 area. While this is open to interpretation and could be said that he is taking about business years and not calendar years there are some official facts that stand. Microsoft has officially said before that the Xbox 2 would be released in the same time frame as competitors (PlayStation 
and Sony representatives have time and time again been quoted to saying the PlayStation 3 will not be ready until late 2006—a few months after their joint venture with IBM and Toshiba finally produces the “Cell” processor.
To better put it into perspective, Nintendo (Revolution) and Sony (PlayStation have officially announced they want their systems to be shown at E3 2005 while Microsoft has said no such thing which could lead you to believe that Xbox 2 might even come out a little later then competitors.
Hardware Where it Counts
CPU: IBM Processor (official)
Microsoft released a statement to investors that explained the successor to the Xbox would have a IBM processor. IBM is known for their PowerPC processors used in Apple Macintosh computers and to a less extent the Nintendo GameCube. There have been many rumors from different sources that this process would in fact be the PowerPC790—better known as the 64-bit G5 processor. This would make sense because within the span of the Xbox 2’s life we will see 64-bit processing become more and more mainstream to PCs. It also coincides with the rumor Nintendo is using the exact same processor, and it has been confirmed Nintendo’s next system will be using an IBM PowerPC processor as well. The CPU would probably be a lower end PowerPC G5 such as a 1.6 Ghz, or 1.8 Ghz. There is also rumors are multiple processors but these would be within the one main CPU probably, and would control various different functions.
The CPU does not have to be very powerful though because it is not taking on multiple task like a PC is. The Xbox is in fact using a 733Mhz Intel Celeron and can handle games like Halo and Doom 3 for example with ease. The same couldn’t be said for their PC counterparts which need 2Ghz Intel Pentium 4 at the least to run decently.
Video Card: ATi Technologies (official)
ATi will be creating a video card compatible with all the new DirectX features, a kind of graphic language made by Microsoft and used by Xbox, and later Xbox 2. The video card itself may not have RAM rather share its ram with the main memory similarly to Xbox to keep production cost down. ATi has also licensed a third party to create the Xbox drives similar to what they do with their PC cards to keep production cost down. While the specs of the card would be very hard to predict they probably will not be completely on par with today’s latest 256mb ram wonders because the card would not have to split its resources amongst other programs. It would however be able to easily handle today’s top PC games such as Doom 3 and Half-Life 2—even though these aren’t coming to Xbox 2 those games at full effects on would be no problem for the system. The technology in these cards may make things like HDTV games far easier to do on Xbox 2, and in fact all Xbox 2 games may be HDTV compatible by default.
Drive Media: Blu-Ray
Why?: It would make sense to make a drive media such as Blu-Ray into the Xbox 2. Sony has officially announced the PlayStation 3 will use the media. The media has far larger capacities then current 8 GB Xbox DVD disc, the Blu-Ray media can in fact hold up to 50 GB! The Blu-Ray project itself is the next evolution of DVD, and the Blu-Ray recorders will all be able to read CD and DVD formats, something Xbox 2 will need to do for sure. They also make it far easier to store HDTV content onto a disc. Xbox DVD driver suppliers Samsung, and Phillips are also in fact companies investing great deals of money into making blu-ray media a reality to the masses.
Xbox Compatible: Yes
Several reports coming from the Mercury news and other reliable sources a year ago suggested that the Xbox 2 would not play Xbox games, and this would definitely be a weakness in comparison to Xbox 2’s main competitor PS3 which is expected to at least play PS2 games. Later a job posting on Microsoft’s site suggested that they were looking for ways to make backwards compatibility for the Xbox 2 system efficient enough that it would not drain the sources of the console, similar to how PS2’s sources are used to make it compatible with PS1 games. Microsoft is also a company who listens to their fans and suggestions, and no amount of logic to not put the feature in would change the minds of millions of gamers. If it drains sources or not it will have to be compatible.
Hard Drive
The hard drive is interesting subject and supposed official reports from a Flash media provider for the Xbox 2 suggest that it would not have a hard drive rather; it will just be using massive media cards for the system. While the system will definitely use these flash cards those could just be for memory card purposes. Microsoft could take Sony’s approach and offer the hard drive separately and give people the option if they want it, but then it would just make many people mad. So your guess is as good as mine.
In our next article we talk about the games of Xbox 2, can anyone say Joanna Dark?
Laatst bewerkt: 20 feb 2005
