Originally Posted by DrAwesome

M$'s Xbox 2 console - aka Xbox Next - will be powered by three IBM PowerPC G5-class 64-bit processors, with graphics driven by ATI's next generation of accelerator
chip.

All important link

Originally Posted by ic14

Will it take advantage of the processing power though.

And do games really need that much power? No IMO.

Originally Posted by Boom

Only unfortunate part of the Next Xbox, is the fact that everyday it's looking more likely that the next Xbox will NOT have a hard-drive on release. Whether a HD is supplied as an add-on, is still uncertain.

Originally Posted by ic14

Will it take advantage of the processing power though.

And do games really need that much power? No IMO.

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

Why? How do you know?

Surely if the power is there, they'll take advantage of it. Why not?

Or do you think that there is no need for any consoles that improve on the current generation? Maybe all future games should just forever stay at the same XB/PS2/GC tech level that they are at now?

Besides, the 1st initial dev kits have already started to go out (although they don't utilise the actual XB2 hardware as it doesn't exist yet), so I'm sure that by the time the console itself has been finished & released, there will be stuff that takes full advantage of its power.

Originally Posted by Boom

Only unfortunate part of the Next Xbox, is the fact that everyday it's looking more likely that the next Xbox will NOT have a hard-drive on release. Whether a HD is supplied as an add-on, is still uncertain.

Originally Posted by Zorilla

My bet is that if there is no inbuilt hard drive as standard then either:

1) There will be an enhanced Xbox2 available for those that need/want the extra storage (leaving the basic model for those who want just the console)
[Not sure on this, but it has been rumoured somewhere]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Eh heh? Am I the only one who's thinks it will have a HD?
LINK!!!(an all-important one, of course! :D )
http://xbox.gamespy.com/articles/519/519579p1.html

Cya!

Originally Posted by CNN-Money

CNN/Money staff writer Chris Morris

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Two months ago, Microsoft spoke glowingly of bridging the gap between the PC and Xbox. Now the company is considering erasing that gap completely.

While Microsoft has publicly avoided discussing its next generation machine, it has been quietly conducting studies on the consumer appeal of a hybrid device that would play both PC and Xbox games.

"We would be remiss if we didn't look at consumer scenarios that take advantage of our strengths," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of worldwide marketing and publishing for Microsoft's home and entertainment division. "[But] this is one amongst many, many other consumer scenarios that we're looking at."

The B/R/S Group, a California-based market research company that lists Microsoft and the Xbox division specifically as clients, has been gathering consumer feedback on a device it refers to as Xbox Next PC †“ "a videogame console system with a hard drive and a built-in fully functional PC." Mention of the device came on one of several slides shown to focus groups

(snip)

The point of the study that included the Xbox Next PC was to determine what consumers want to see in next generation machines †“ and what they're willing to pay for those features. Gathering pricing sensitivity data for products is one of the most challenging market research projects for hardware developers.

It's important to note that any product looked at in these sorts of studies is conceptual and may undergo dramatic feature changes before hitting the market †“ if, in fact, it manages to emerge from the doors of the R&D labs.

"If you put two and two together, there's no doubt there's a great opportunity to put the two platforms together," said Moore. "Obviously with a company like Microsoft this is something we have to look into and ask about. Is it actionable today? Probably not, but it's something we need to look at."

There is, of course, a greater question of whether consumers would have any interest in a console/PC hybrid. Game machines, historically, have evolved rather slowly. Large leaps haven't been rewarded. Sony learned this lesson with the introduction of the PSX, a combination PlayStation 2/Digital Video Recorder, which sold poorly in Japan and has yet to receive a U.S. launch date.

(snip)

Should Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) move forward with a hybrid machine, it will likely come after a standalone Xbox 2 unit is released. As for when we'll see next generation Xboxes on store shelves - officially, Microsoft isn't commenting, but it has been giving publishers guidance to plan for a 2005 launch.

(snip)

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

And backwards compatibility with XBox1....Doubtful, I think.

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

Interesting :)

Where'd you hear that?

I think XBox2 would certainly have the power to emulate XBox 1, but I'm sure I remember reading something about how there would be licensing/patent issues 'cos of e.g. XBox1's NVidia GPU etc?

I do think it would be best if XBox2 is backwards compatible.

Guess we'll just have to wait & see.

Originally Posted by gamesindustry.biz

Rob Fahey 16:15 21/06/2004

Because two boxes under the TV are as good as one, apparently

Sources close to Microsoft's senior Xbox executives have confirmed that the company does not intend to make its next-generation console, which is set to be launched by late 2005, backwards compatible with existing Xbox software.

Speculation about the backwards compatibility functionality has been rife since it emerged that Xbox 2 - codenamed Xenon - will have radically different hardware to the original system, with a non-x86 processor, no hard drive and an ATI, rather than NVIDIA, graphics chipset, all of which would make running Xbox titles on the platform very difficult.

It was widely believed, however, that Microsoft had retained a team of hardware emulation experts to work on the problem - although concerns over the viability of such an endeavour were voiced by some experts, especially regarding the company's ability to emulate the functions of the graphics unit in the Xbox without violating NVIDIA's intellectual property rights.

GamesIndustry.biz has now learned that Microsoft does not plan to provide any backwards compatibility in the next-generation Xenon platform - and indeed, that senior executives at the company don't believe backwards compatibility to be an important feature for consoles.......

(big snip)

Originally Posted by Tezcatlipoca

Agh!

"No Backward Compatibility in XBOX2"

Originally Posted by yorkiex