I just read it on the frontpage of GameDev... After Microsoft sucked PC and Commodore (Amiga), they now feel like screwing consoles too!!!! lol I know i''m out of subject, but i can''t help it Imagin starting the SomeAwesomeGame on the XBox, when suddenly a green screen appears (well... they might think to change it from blue to give people hopes ). PS: Don''t flame me. Some out there might actually enjoy Microsoft''s Windows... (XBox... the first crashing console!!! ; Sorry, i just can''t help it PS: Is there something wrong???? MS broke up with Intel???? I read about an AMD processor!!!! Whatever... c ''ya

Boy, you've really set your mind to that all Microsoft does is crap, huh?. I think that's pretty lame. You don't even know what technology it will use, do you? Does NV25 ring a bell?

"MS broke up with Intel????" - What kind of relationship does Microsoft have with Intel other than compatible software? Win98 supports AMD, Intel, Cyrix and MIPS among others.

About MS X-Box using AMD processor, as far as I know, they haven't decided if they should use AMD or Intel yet.

Here's a list of features from Microsoft pressrelease:

========================
600 MHz x86 compatible CPU
Custom 3-D NVIDIA graphics processor
64 MB of RAM (unified memory architecture)
Custom 3-D audio processor
8GB hard drive
4X DVD drive with movie playback
Four game controller ports
Expansion port
Proprietary A/V connector
100 MBps Ethernet
========================

Nvidia co-developers say 300 million polygons/second - PSX2 is about 70.

Go to http://www.xbox.com for more info

============================
Daniel Netz, Sentinel Design
"I'm not stupid, I'm from Sweden" - Unknown

Edited by - Spiff on 3/10/00 8:43:07 AM

About the crashing OS, the X-box will be based on the Win200 kernel, and who says that isn't stable? Also, do you really think they would make a console that hangs? Really? The difference between a console OS and a PC OS is huge!

Read this you non-X-box-believers: http://www.gamedaily.com/news/march_00/3_9/xboxinfo.shtml

Kevin Bachus has some really great issues here, for example the x86 architecture, PAL and NTSC RAMDAC, unified memory architecture and a harddrive.

============================
Daniel Netz, Sentinel Design
"I'm not stupid, I'm from Sweden" - Unknown

Edited by - Spiff on 3/10/00 9:00:55 AM

All technical merits aside there is one reason Microsoft is trying to get into the console market. Sony. Microsoft has positioned itself to become the best provider of information in the networked world, or so it thought. They bought set-top box technology, WebTV, built MSDN as an eventual delivery network, and purchased content providers such as MSNBC and a host of others to provide content for this network.

Along comes Sony with its highly acclaimed PS2. Sony does movies. Sony does music. Sony does games and software. Their content is far better than anything Microsoft has produced ever. They are now going to use the playstation 2 as a set-top box in your home. With the broadband network behind the system, Sony is positioned rather nicely to become the company you look to for digital entertainment on demand.(video games, movies, music, and web browsing) The PS2 is expected to exceed the 10 million homes the PS is in. When you think about it it is rather exciting. This is a direct threat to everything Microsoft wants to do.

Microsoft is not going sit by idle, while Sony ursurps everything that Microsoft is planning for itself over the next few years. Sony''s threat in this marketplace has forced MS to come out with an X-Box. To meet that demand Microsoft has to build off of their current strengths which are Windows and PC based computing. Here''s to hoping it is a good battle, because everyone wins with healthy competiton. While I too remain skeptical about the stability MS can achieve with a console market, I am sure everyone will feel the effects of what they learn from the experience on their desktops. Console for the most part are rock solid. This has to scare the shit out of the Windows CE developers at MS.

Kressilac
ps Did you notice the stuff on gamasutra about DirectX for CE. I bet this plays an important factor in the X-Box.


pps BTW my bets are on Sony to win this race as I think MS has bitten off more than it can chew here. Sony is no where near an AOL or a netscape. It is by far the largest company MS will try to take down and if they though Janet Reno was tough, they are in for a suprise.