quote:
Tom's Hardware Guide wrote this stupid crap:
If you actually forked out the money for an Xbox, youre probably not taking it apart to see what makes it go, but several other hardware sites have done that dirty deed along with a company called Chipworks Inc., a company that does reverse engineering for the semiconductor and electronics market. The company just put out a press release with comments on the lack of technical innovations in the console. By now, you probably know that the XBox is built around an Intel Pentium III processor running at 733 MHz, but Chipworks goes as far as saying that "The whole console is in fact a stripped down medium end PC with high end graphics." Here are the details Chipworks uncovered (some of which you also probably know). Produced by nVIDIA, the graphics processor is a custom chip starting from a GeForce3 core running at 250 MHz. The system memory consists of 64 MB DDR-SDRAM running at 200MHz. nVIDIA's graphic chip performance is 125 Mpolygon/sec with a memory bandwidth of 6.4 GB/sec, which Chipworks says is better than both Sony Playstation2 and Nintendo Game Cube and is the only significant difference between Xbox and its competitors. The second chip from nVIDIA's chipset has an IDE interface capable of Ultra DMA 100, a serial interface for 4 USB ports (the controller ports) and an Ethernet 10/100 interface. The 8MB memory cards share the USB bus with the controllers. The IDE bus connects a 10GB hard disk and a DVD reader. The disk contains a modified version of Microsoft's XP OS but cannot be read if hooked to a regular PC IDE interface. An additional PIC microcontroller produced by Microchip handles the front panel and some control signals for the IDE drive and DVD. The highest video resolution is 1920x1080 with HDTV capabilities and 64 audio channels with 3D support. The Xbox does not have a shared bus since it's a system with a strong interaction between only two chips: the Intel processor and the XGPU nVIDIA chip (as a North bridge chip). Bear in mind that we here at THG havent taken one of the things apart, but that this particular company did and may have uncovered a few details you werent aware of. This account makes it sound like the Xbox is just a wimpy PC thats been purposely set up to keep you from loading and playing other PC games you already own.
Damn you, MS.
quote:
This account makes it sound like the Xbox is just a wimpy PC thats been purposely set up to keep you from loading and playing other PC games you already own.
And this is different from every other console on the market how? [ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: Koska Kintaro ]
quote:
Koska Kintaro had this to say about Pirotess:
And this is different from every other console on the market how?
The presence of a hard drive on the X-Box?
quote:
JooJooFlop had this to say about Captain Planet:
The presence of a hard drive on the X-Box?
Exactly. The only difference is that the X-box could, in theory, install and play PC games.
How does that make the X-box look bad? I don't get it.
Think of it this way. Unlike a PC, you will never have to upgrade an Xbox, because the games will always be made to that systems specs.
Edit: I own a PS2, cannot afford an X-box, probably will never get one, yet here I am defending it. I need more coffee... [ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: KaLourin DthBlayde ]
quote:
KaLourin DthBlayde stumbled drunkenly to the keyboard and typed:
Think of it this way. Unlike a PC, you will never have to upgrade an Xbox, because the games will always be made to that systems specs.
Which also leads to smarter game devs getting innovative to make better looking games.
quote:
Lenlalron had this to say:Gamecube forever!
I humbly pass on the words of The Gord.
I know you are joking about the Gamecube Len, but this is to funny to not pass on for all the console jockeys that have not been to Gord's site.
For the sin of underestimating the mature gaming crowd, they're doomed to cater to the pokemon niche for all eternity.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
quote:
Koska Kintaro had this to say about (_|_):
Kinda sad really. Nintendo will never again be a serious game developer.For the sin of underestimating the mature gaming crowd, they're doomed to cater to the pokemon niche for all eternity.
If you consider 'doomed' controlling 3 out of the top 5 selling games for the past 2 years...them damn I want to be doomed too =)
quote:
Koska Kintaro had this to say about Punky Brewster:
Kinda sad really. Nintendo will never again be a serious game developer.For the sin of underestimating the mature gaming crowd, they're doomed to cater to the pokemon niche for all eternity.
Well, they've still got the handheld market under an iron fist, and they finally seem to be figuring out what I've been ranting about for years, that RPG's are ideally suited to handheld consoles (long playtimes, intense graphics not necessary), so if we're lucky we may yet see some real gems in the handheld market.
Douglas Adams, 1952-2001
quote:
KaLourin DthBlayde had this to say about Duck Tales:
Think of it this way. Unlike a PC, you will never have to upgrade an Xbox, because the games will always be made to that systems specs.[/small]
You may not upgrade, but I will place my bets you will *PATCH* the XBox. 10GB Hard Drives are not needed on a console, that is WAY overkill. Oh wait, this is Microsoft, that 7 GB of data is going to be patches for the games and the XBox itself...
quote:
And I was all like 'Oh yeah?' and Reynar was all like:
If you consider 'doomed' controlling 3 out of the top 5 selling games for the past 2 years...them damn I want to be doomed too =)
...and they were all pokemon games.
Just for spite...
They'll eventually add back in the standard com ports or jack in an ethernet port....
The only thing that harddrive would probably function as is a memory card. What the hell's the problem here? The X-box sounds like a damn nice console. Remember, these things are optimized for gaming. You aren't going to have programs running in the background, and you don't need to be able to play PC games even though it's built like a PC. I really fail to see how this is different from any other console out there.
Somebody enlighten me?
quote:
Koska Kintaro had this to say about John Romero:
...and they were all pokemon games.
Point being? Nintendo is just as popular as ever, only with the younger crowd. Nintendo has always had kids as their target audience.
Nothing has really changed, you just grew out of it, as did many of us.
quote:
Pesco had this to say about Captain Planet:
You may not upgrade, but I will place my bets you will *PATCH* the XBox. 10GB Hard Drives are not needed on a console, that is WAY overkill. Oh wait, this is Microsoft, that 7 GB of data is going to be patches for the games and the XBox itself...
Mmm, point well taken. An aspect I hadn't considered.
Nintendo's got it in the bag with hand helds.
Sounds OK to me.
quote:
We were all impressed when Suddar Williams wrote:
Erhm...wasn't the Playstation a 166 MHz system or something? And we continued using this 166 MHz and loving it even though we've broken the 1 GHz mark for computer processors?
Playstation was 66mhz. Even the PSOne is 66mhz. They really should have increased the power a bit for the PSOne...
quote:
Reynar had this to say about Optimus Prime:
Point being?
quote:
Originally posted by Me:
they're doomed to cater to the pokemon niche for all eternity.
One thing has changed: Any hope of anywhere near as much third party developer attention as a "real" game console.
And no, they aren't as popular as they ever were. Gamecube's japan release was officially the most indifferent reception of a game console in the history of game consoles.
This is bad because its microsoft.
Had the system said Sony or Nintendo on it instead, it would be hailed as the new era in gaming.
But since its microsoft its evil.
Fal
Cooler head prevail And it is kinda his business and all.
quote:
Koska Kintaro had this to say:
I go with The Gord on this one.Cooler head prevail And it is kinda his business and all.
The Gord is all knowing. Respect The Gord.
I am still rereading his stuff...
quote:
Kegwen Tabibito had this to say about John Romero:
This is so sad.Damn you, MS.
What the hell were you expecting to be inside the XBox? Confetti?
quote:
Mr. Parcelan had this to say about dark elf butts:
*reads Drysart's post, sighs, cancels his order for the Xbox and looks for other arrangements for his birthday party.*
I'm enjoying the hell out of my XBOX. I could care less what people say the specs are. I think it looks and runs great and I've got no complaints.
And it's flying over Bajah's head!
quote:
Mr. Parcelan had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! NO! It's THE JOKE!And it's flying over Bajah's head!
hahah, I guess it would have helped if I read Drysart's post, too
/shame
*cough* http://www.bigbluebox.com/images/game/eurolaunch_04.jpg http://www.bigbluebox.com/images/game/eurolaunch_05.jpg http://www.bigbluebox.com/images/game/eurolaunch_10.jpg *cough*
quote:
Drysart had this to say about Cuba:
What the hell were you expecting to be inside the XBox? Confetti?
That'd be nice, sure.