RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Games and Tech Xbox 2 details emerge before GDC

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Microsoft's J Allard will use GDC keynote address to announce key features of the next-generation Xbox.
The annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), which is being held in San Francisco this week, will get under way shortly with a keynote address from Microsoft's corporate vice president, J Allard, in which he plans to announce some of the key features of the next-generation Xbox. Allard will also comment on Microsoft's vision for the future of entertainment, which he believes will be fueled by demand for video game experiences that are always connected, always personalized, and always in high-definition.


"In the HD Era, the platform is bigger than the processor," reads a quote from Allard in a mistimed press release. "New technology and emerging consumer forces will come together to enable the rock stars of game development to shake up the old establishment and redefine entertainment as we know it."

The big news, of course, is that Allard will use the keynote address to announce key features of Microsoft's successor to the Xbox, which is referred to in the press release only as the "next-generation Xbox." Specifically, Allard plans to release the first details about the next-generation Xbox guide, which is described as a gateway that will instantly connect players to their games, their friends, and their digital media.

Key features of the guide, as described in today's press release, will include:

Gamer Cards: Gamer Cards provide gamers with a quick look at key Xbox Live information. They let players instantly connect with people who have similar skills, interests and lifestyles.

Marketplace: Browsable by game, by genre, and in a number of other ways, the Marketplace will provide a one-stop shop for consumers to acquire episodic content, new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins and new community-created content.

Micro-transactions: Breaking down barriers of small-ticket online commerce, micro-transactions will allow developers and the gaming community to charge as little as they like for content they create and publish on Marketplace. Imagine players slapping down $.99 to buy a one-of-a-kind, fully tricked-out racing car to be the envy of their buddies.

Custom playlists: This feature eliminates the need for developers to support custom music in games. The guide instantly connects players to their music so they can listen to their own tracks while playing all their favorite next-generation Xbox games.

By supporting features such as custom playlists, friends lists, and voice chat at a chip level, Microsoft hopes to allow developers to focus on creating games rather than on developing for technical certification requirements. The next-generation Xbox hardware is designed around a number of key principles, the following of which are taken straight from today's press release:

A well-balanced system that will deliver more than a teraflop of targeted computing performance.

A multicore processor architecture co-developed with IBM Corp. that provides developer "headroom" and flexibility for the HD Era.

A custom-designed graphics processor co-developed with ATI Technologies Inc. designed for HD Era games and entertainment applications.

In addition, familiar software technologies such as DirectX, PIX, XACT and the recently announced XNA Studio--an integrated team-based development environment tailored for game production--complement the new hardware to help game developers unlock increasingly powerful and complex silicon.

We'll bring you more information on the next-generation Xbox after J Allard's keynote, which, at the time of writing, is scheduled to start in a little under an hour.

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rex said:
I read a couple months ago that all three companies have given up on making a profit off the consoles.

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Bianca said:
Hey boys . . . can we get back to the actual topic of this thread?

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Bianca said:
can either of you translate this geek stuff for me so I can understand it? So, when the info starts coming out what I guess I want to know is . . . what'll be different, what'll be better and what will be gone.

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Bianca said:
Isn't the projected price for the PS3 somewhere close to $400?

If the XB2 is gonna be around $300 that's definately doable by Christmas time . . . as well as a game or two I hope.

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Rob Kamphausen said:
i wasn't counting the media for the gamecube profit -- just hardware. though a little too cutesy for the audience, the gamecube's design was amazingly efficient.

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Gates: Next Xbox coming "this year"

Microsoft's chairman confirms that his company's next-generation console will arrive in 2005; sends mixed multimedia messages.
For the better part of a year, the game industry has been working under the assumption that Microsoft will release its next-generation Xbox at the end of 2005. Now, it appears that has been confirmed by none other than the chairman of Microsoft himself, Bill Gates.


According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Gates let the console's ship date slip while speaking to the convention of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in Seattle. While discussing when the mainstream would begin adopting high-definition televisions, Gates posed the following rhetorical question: "What will the year of high-definition be? This year, because we're going to ship this next Xbox."

Though the wording of Gates' statement is clear, as of press time, Microsoft had not returned requests for further comment.

While speaking to the same conference, Gates also said the next Xbox, which he referred to only as "Xenon," would serve as a media hub. According to the Associated Press, he said its user interface would be akin to a pared-down version of that of Windows Media Center. "If you're used to that menu, when you use this Xenon you'll see a menu a lot like that that lets you get photos, TV, music, and all those different things," said Gates.

Gates' comments contradict somewhat those given in a one-on-one interview with tech site Engadget. There, he downplayed the "Xenon's" role, saying Windows Media Center PCs remain the cornerstone of Microsoft's home-entertainment strategy. "The high-end scenario for us is you've got Media Center PC, that's where your state is, but then you've got your Xenon out that are connecting up to that," he said. However, Gates did say that the console would "be able to do a lot of media things including storing music, playing music, connect up your player."

The next-generation Xbox, which will almost certainly be called the Xbox 360, will be formally unveiled next Thursday night on MTV.

Snapshot from taping of MTV special shows console, controller, headset, and camera add-on; Ourcolony.net pic shows hardware skins.

Though the MTV special showing off the Xbox 360 won't air until this Thursday, it was actually shot last Thursday in Los Angeles. And while the 200-odd attendees were asked not to reveal the secrets they were privy to at the event, naturally a few couldn’t help but spill the beans.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, those few were also armed with digital cameras, and snapped pictures of the Xbox 360 console. The photo of the console confirmed the authenticity of earlier earlier pictures, showing a silver, slightly concave shaped console which looks almost as though it is designed to sit atop the slightly convex current-generation Xbox. It also confirmed the so-called "ring of light" theory, which had said the device would sport an oversized power button surrounded by a ring of LEDs, as well as that it would sport two slots for 64MB memory cards and one for a 40GB hard drive on the console's side.

Besides the Xbox 360 itself, the leaked snapshot showed three peripherals, including its controller. The controller pictured was clearly the same as that shown in pictures "leaked" by the Microsoft-associated teaser site Ourcolony.net. That site also recently released another picture of the controller, which shows the controller in more detail, including what appears to be the new Xbox logo--the same globular insignia featured in a shot leaked months previous. It also shows what appears to be a charging port on the bottom of the console.

Besides the controller, the other Xbox 360 peripherals pictured in the leaked photo were an apparently wireless headset and an EyeToy-like camera. The latter recalls the add-on mentioned by Microsoft corporate Vice President and Chief XNA Architect J Allard at last year's E3, one which, as evidenced by Allard's demonstrative chit-chat with Jenny McCarthy, would allow Xbox Live subscribers to videoconference with each other.

Another photo leaked from the event shows a DVD remote for the Xbox 360 which, besides re-confirming the globular Xbox logo, appears to have some sort of Windows functionality. Beneath the traditional X/Y/A/B button configuration is a button with the distinctive Windows logo. Given recent comments by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, it is likely that the insignia means that at least one version of the Xbox 360 will have Windows Media Center functionality.

Last but not least, a new image leaked on Ourcolony.net indicates that the Xbox 360 will have customizable skins. The image shows five examples of the increasingly iconic power button--which is also featured as one of the rotating images on Ourcolony.net's home page--surrounded by multicolored patterns reminiscent of many currently available console skins. Such a feature would be in line with J Allard's keynote at this year's Game Developers Conference, in which he talked about the customization demanded by today's youth, which he deemed "Generation Remix."

While convincing, it must be emphasized that none of the images have been confirmed by Microsoft. As of press time, spokespersons for the company had still not officially commented on the pictures.

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Jeremy said:
What's the bottom image? The skins?

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