Umm Czar aren't most of the stats of the PS3 out already? it'll sport 3 Cell processors, a next gen Nvidia video card prolly a derivative of the NV85 (I think thats the notation). It will once again use RDRAM memory technology, etc? At least thats what i've read from more than one site.
XBox 360 to sport 48 unified graphics pipelinesStick that in your pipeline and smoke itBy Fuad Abazovic: Thursday 26 May 2005, 22:46XBOX 360 REMAINS the centre of everyone's attention and we have some more juicy things to say about its graphics. We even have a diagram!As most of you know by now, ATI developed the XBox chip and the it's codenamed R500. It took ATI two years to finalize this design and this chip is unlike any other graphics chip yet seen. It will be even more advanced than the soon-to-be-announced R520, aka "Fudo".If we remember correctly, the R500 is an advanced version of a chip once codenamed R400 - the one that ATI was working on after R350, Radeon 9800PRO. You can see here that ATI cancelled it but I am sure that we wrote about it on the INQ before.R400 was supposed to have unified Shaders and to be heavily programmable and that’s exactly what the R500 is. It has three blocks each having 16 pipelines that can do pixels or vertices at the same time. This gives you a total number of forty eight pipelines that can process either pixels or vertices.Each block of 16 pipelines has its own vertex cache to store some data while processing vertices and they all together communicate with 10MB of EDRAM memory connected with ultra fast bus of 256 GB/s. This memory allows ATI to have "Free" FSAA and it sounds like Xbox might end up with amazing graphics anti aliased at the same time.ATI built this chip with 90 nanometre marchitecture but we don’t yet know how many transistors you actually need to make such a chip.Compared with desktop parts this chip will be more advanced than the R520 and it should be comparable with the R600 generation of cards - the one scheduled for autumn of 2006. This one will have WGF 2.0 compliance and will be able to deal with Shader model 4.0 at the same time.
The next-gen boasting, bashing, and boosting continued today in London; hometown boy Peter Moore says Xbox 360 will sell 10M in year one on advantage from early release date.The fiery-mouthed Moore from Microsoft tossed another taunt toward the competition today. Using the visibility of the opening keynote address at this week's ELSPA Games Summit, Moore predicted that Xbox 360 sales would reach 10 million units before the end of the console's first 16 months at retail.The BBC Online today is reporting that Moore, Xbox corporate VP of worldwide marketing and publishing, expects "first-mover advantage" to be one of the console's key ingredients for success.That number seems not to have been concocted out of thin air. Corroborating that figure is a report published today from analysts at Kagan Research. Kagan sees the 360 selling 11 million units by 2007--a figure consistent with Moore's statement."The target of 10 million units gives tremendous momentum to a platform," Moore testified to the audience this morning. According to Microsoft, the 360 will be available to US gamers before the end of the year.However, Kagan sees any first-mover advantage eventually succumbing to the PS3.Further on a statement released today promoting the report, a Kagan analyst says: "We believe Sony PS3 will be the strongest seller of next-generation video game consoles. However, Microsoft's Xbox 360 will narrow the gap with Sony to come within 28 percent of the PS3 installed base--selling almost twice as many next-gen consoles as Nintendo Revolution by 2010."Moore himself knows a little about how first-mover advantage can turn into a story with a very unhappy ending. The once-marketing boss (and then COO) of Sega of America saw firsthand the lead held by the Dreamcast--released some 13 months before the PlayStation 2--evaporate in the heat of PS2 sales.
Xbox 360 GPU to be manufactured by TSMCConfirmedBy Fuad Abazovic: Wednesday 13 July 2005, 10:37OUR KNOWLEDGEABLE friends confirmed that only the CPU for next generation Xbox 360 console will be developed by IBM in its Fishkill factory. This facility will not play with a GPU design as it's not ready for good yields on a 90 nanometre process.But now we have confirmation that Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC), will take care of R500 production for the Vole. This decision was easy as TSMC is in a much better position with its 90 nanometre yields and production and as we said many times before Microsoft needs millions of those chips as soon as possible.Imagine that all ATI and Nvidia graphic chips are now manufactured at TSMC and at the same time Microsoft will manufacture its chips at the same factory as well. Only Playstation 3 GPUs will be produced at a different Japanese factory.Microsoft will keep TSMC busy and will definitely drive its business as those consoles are high volume jobs, at least for those kinds of chips, but it cannot be compared with low-end product orders, as TSMC will pump out millions or MX4000, Geforce 5200, 6200 or Radeon 9250 or X300 based cards. This is where the money is, not with the SLI and Crossfire chaps.If the Vole wants to get enough chips to market in October and November, it should be going into final production as we write.
Microsoft still losing money on XboxGaming 360 not likely to make much eitherBy Aaron McKenna: Friday 22 July 2005, 12:04DESPITE posting a 22% increase in revenue for its Home & Entertainment division Microsoft continues to make an operating loss on the arm amounting to $179 million, bringing the yearly loss to $391 million. This is down from a loss of $1.2 billion last year, so not too bad, but the Xbox remains a big money loser for Microsoft. When I asked Stephen McGill, head of UK marketing for the console, if Microsoft was expecting to make money on the Xbox 360 he shrugged and told me: “We’re thinking long term.” Microsoft figures that the console market is a highly lucrative one, especially when mixed in with its larger home entertainment designs, and is willing to pocket a loss in the short to medium term for a long-term money spinner.If it pays off, then Microsoft could stand to make back losses on the Xbox inside a few years, though it is still surprising that it is willing to bankroll the console at a loss through more than one generation.
Microsoft to side with HD DVD for Xbox 360Fighting Sony on another frontBy Aaron McKenna: Saturday 30 July 2005, 15:56WITH MICROSOFT and Toshiba having jumped into bed together it has come as no great surprise that Bill Gates announced that the Xbox 360 is to incorporate HD-DVD, one of two formats vying for the position of the successor to DVD. This will heat up the war for the succession of the throne as Sony have sided with the other contender, Blu-ray, and so if one format loses the war in no doubt magnanimous fashion then it could spell trouble for the console that has sided with it. Of course the same is true vice versa, and so both companies are taking calculated risks in making their decisions.Microsoft’s choice to go with HD-DVD has come a little late in the game for the Xbox 360 though, and so they plan to include "old fashioned" DVD drives on the first batches of 360’s when the console launches for Christmas.How Microsoft plans on handling upgrading everyone to HD-DVD afterwards we can’t wait to hear about.
As the Big Three (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) planned their business tactics for the next-generation console wars, none have been willing to divulge their strategies, lest competitors get the scoop. All that was left was for industry media, fans, and analysts to speculate on what would be of the new consoles. In its quest to get the console out in time for the holiday season, Microsoft hasn't exactly kept the shutters drawn on its secrets of its next-gen contribution, the Xbox 360. Pictures of the console surfaced before its debut on MTV, its name was exposed before the company could spin it itself, and the prospect of standard wireless controllers came with no strings attached.Today, Microsoft laid down new facts about its upcoming console at the Games Convention in Leipzig, and they sounded awfully familiar to analyst predictions and forum posters' speculations. Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will be released in two SKUs, the "Xbox 360 Core System" and the "Xbox 360." The two products will be sold at $299 and $399, respectively. The two systems break down as follows:Xbox 360 Core System - $299 (299 Euros, 209 GPB)-Xbox 360 console-Wired controller-Detachable faceplate-Xbox Live Silver membership-Standard AV cablesXbox 360 - $399 (399 Euros, 279 GPB)-Xbox 360 console-20GB detachable hard drive-Wireless controller-Wireless Xbox Live headset-High-definition AV cables-Ethernet cable-Xbox 360 Media Remote Control (limited time)-Detachable faceplate-Xbox Live Silver membershipPeter Moore, Xbox corporate vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Publishing, reiterated that the Xbox 360 is still on schedule to launch simultaneously in North America, Europe, and Japan this holiday season. Details on the specifics of the Japanese release will be disclosed at this year's Tokyo Game Show, which begins September 16.Michael Pachter, of Wedbush Morgan Securities, sees the $299 model as a "publicity stunt." "They're doing it to say they are launching at $299. The hardcore guys will absolutely not buy the $299 model...Only a complete idiot would buy the $299 model." Pachter references Sony Computer Entertainment president Ken Kutaragi's statement saying the PlayStation 3 would "be expensive" as an attempt to "psych Microsoft into charging $399." But, he sees the $399 price point as providing Microsoft with breathing room to lower the price once the PS3 is released, which is projected to be in 2006, or even 2007.Regarding the release date, Moore said there have been no announcements made primarily for competitive reasons, but also because Microsoft was still monitoring the production flow of the console's components and localization of launch titles. "One thing we won't do is underserve the market and leave retailers high and dry. That never works, that just leaves more people who are P.O.'d at us than happy with us."There are also still no games that are definitely launch titles. But Moore does outline the strategy Microsoft is approaching. "So much is going to happen in the next couple of months...My view is simple, you need to make sure that you have the key genres covered at launch. Take care of sports, racing, action-adventure, fantasy, first-person shooters. I think there are check marks that need to go in boxes to make sure that gamers have games they are looking for in a particular genre. We're still tracking 24 to 40 Xbox 360 games for release before the end of the calendar year. I think you'll see that all the titles we got excited about at E3 are still firmly in that launch window [90 days from the release of the Xbox 360]."But what about gamers who aren't ready to jump into the next generation? Moore seems pleased with the current success of the original Xbox, and doesn't see any price drop with the console. "We’re selling all we can get [made]. Our biggest challenge is to meet demand and what is typically a very quiet time of year. So no, I don't see any plans to change any pricing as we currently stand on the Xbox."
