Nothing less than a full circle.
Recently, Microsoft announced the Xbox 360. This is a random speech on what I have to say about it.
It was "First reavealed" on MTV. According to MTV. I'd known how the thing looked for a couple weeks and the stats were a week old. Television can't keep up with the internet. The times they are a-changin'.
The console's stats are amazing, everything is incredibly fast. Some of the technologies used in the Xbox 360 aren't even available in PCs yet. It's 700 MHz FSB is faster than anything today. The single three-core 3.2 GHz-per-core with shared L2 cache PowerPC processor powering the Xbox 360 is much faster, much more efficient than a current Pentium 4. The video chip is spectacular, and runs faster than anything available today. It also has several things that most PCs have, some things only super-high-end PCs have, and some things no other console has. It has three USB ports. A liquid cooling system. A 4-layer motherboard. It has 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g built-in. An ethernet port. Free Xbox Live. It can connect to a PC, an MP3 player, pretty much anything. It fully supports HDTV and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Wireless controllers. Webcam. This console is a gamer's dream system and a dreamer's game system. At the moment, PCs are better than consoles. Even the most recently released system, the first Xbox, was using outdated parts. Four years later and everything is greater. And this time, Microsoft isn't holding back on the specs.
One of my few worries however is the near-universal connectivity. Somebody will obviously try to write a virus that might carry itself across the Xbox Live network to other machines. But Microsoft's specialty is software, and always has been. If there's a way to keep people from being jackasses and speading viruses Microsoft has a way.
Also using a PowerPC processor that uses a different instruction set than one of Intel's x86 processors like the Xbox's Pentium III will make backward compatibility more difficult. They could include an emulator chip, and I hope they do, because backward compatibility is one of the things that might make or break a system this generation. It's one of the reasons for PS2's spectacular sales numbers.
What made the PS2 in the current generation was the fact that it came out first, and it was backwards compatible, as well as having a huge library of games. The Gamecube and Xbox came later, and were statistically much better than the PS2. Gamecube however was using an entirely new system for them, small DVDs rather than the typical cartridges they tended to prefer, so wasn't backward compatible, and Xbox had no previous iterations, being the first of it's kind, it had no ability to be backward compatible.
This time it's changed. Microsoft's console is first, and it's a beast of a system. If they are backward compatible, and can get a good number of awesome games out for it, they'll be in the same position Sony gained in the current generation, and then some. This is boosted by the fact that the PS3 won't be backward compatible due to the new technology Sony is going to use, Blu-ray. Also, the Xbox 360 will have a superb online gaming system. And an almost prohibitively expensive price tag may have the side effect of people not having money to spend on other consoles. Sony is losing what made it great the first time around, and Microsoft is picking up what they dropped.
Sony appears to be relying on a less devoted fanbase than either Xbox or Nintendo has, to buy their new system. Sony's system is mostly under wraps, but it's processor, codenamed "Cell", will supposedly be extremely powerful. The Xbox 360's processor is a bit over-the-top at 9.6 GHz, if Sony is going to try to outperform that it will have almost no effect other than bragging rights.
Nintendo will always be a big gaming name, but very little is known about their new system. It's called the Nintedo Revolution, and if Nintendo can keep up with their ususal innovation, they'll have a good system. They have a fiecely loyal fanbase, and are the current choice system for parents with younger children because Nintendo's games appeal to all audiences, with very little that is inappropriate for kids. This may be one of the reasons for the devoted fanbase, as many kids are raised on Nintendo. Nintendo has a reputation to fall back on as well.
But enough about the competition.
Some people may be wondering, "What do you think of how it looks? What's your take on the thing?"
I hate answering subjective questions, but oh well, that's life. The Xbox has always been awesome in black. Black and green. I think Microsoft was trying to point to history with that color scheme, back to the days of monochrome monitors, to evoke a feeling of technology yet familiarity in it. This new system isn't just another system in the legacy of gaming, this system is the future of it. It needs a fresh look, a futuristic feel to it. Not everything is black and green anymore, that's all history, and that's all behind us now.
That said, I'm probably going to paint it black.
EDIT (4:44 PM May 19, 2005): I've learned that the PS3 actually will be backward compatible, but at the time of the original post, it looked like it wouldn't.
It was "First reavealed" on MTV. According to MTV. I'd known how the thing looked for a couple weeks and the stats were a week old. Television can't keep up with the internet. The times they are a-changin'.
The console's stats are amazing, everything is incredibly fast. Some of the technologies used in the Xbox 360 aren't even available in PCs yet. It's 700 MHz FSB is faster than anything today. The single three-core 3.2 GHz-per-core with shared L2 cache PowerPC processor powering the Xbox 360 is much faster, much more efficient than a current Pentium 4. The video chip is spectacular, and runs faster than anything available today. It also has several things that most PCs have, some things only super-high-end PCs have, and some things no other console has. It has three USB ports. A liquid cooling system. A 4-layer motherboard. It has 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g built-in. An ethernet port. Free Xbox Live. It can connect to a PC, an MP3 player, pretty much anything. It fully supports HDTV and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Wireless controllers. Webcam. This console is a gamer's dream system and a dreamer's game system. At the moment, PCs are better than consoles. Even the most recently released system, the first Xbox, was using outdated parts. Four years later and everything is greater. And this time, Microsoft isn't holding back on the specs.
One of my few worries however is the near-universal connectivity. Somebody will obviously try to write a virus that might carry itself across the Xbox Live network to other machines. But Microsoft's specialty is software, and always has been. If there's a way to keep people from being jackasses and speading viruses Microsoft has a way.
Also using a PowerPC processor that uses a different instruction set than one of Intel's x86 processors like the Xbox's Pentium III will make backward compatibility more difficult. They could include an emulator chip, and I hope they do, because backward compatibility is one of the things that might make or break a system this generation. It's one of the reasons for PS2's spectacular sales numbers.
What made the PS2 in the current generation was the fact that it came out first, and it was backwards compatible, as well as having a huge library of games. The Gamecube and Xbox came later, and were statistically much better than the PS2. Gamecube however was using an entirely new system for them, small DVDs rather than the typical cartridges they tended to prefer, so wasn't backward compatible, and Xbox had no previous iterations, being the first of it's kind, it had no ability to be backward compatible.
This time it's changed. Microsoft's console is first, and it's a beast of a system. If they are backward compatible, and can get a good number of awesome games out for it, they'll be in the same position Sony gained in the current generation, and then some. This is boosted by the fact that the PS3 won't be backward compatible due to the new technology Sony is going to use, Blu-ray. Also, the Xbox 360 will have a superb online gaming system. And an almost prohibitively expensive price tag may have the side effect of people not having money to spend on other consoles. Sony is losing what made it great the first time around, and Microsoft is picking up what they dropped.
Sony appears to be relying on a less devoted fanbase than either Xbox or Nintendo has, to buy their new system. Sony's system is mostly under wraps, but it's processor, codenamed "Cell", will supposedly be extremely powerful. The Xbox 360's processor is a bit over-the-top at 9.6 GHz, if Sony is going to try to outperform that it will have almost no effect other than bragging rights.
Nintendo will always be a big gaming name, but very little is known about their new system. It's called the Nintedo Revolution, and if Nintendo can keep up with their ususal innovation, they'll have a good system. They have a fiecely loyal fanbase, and are the current choice system for parents with younger children because Nintendo's games appeal to all audiences, with very little that is inappropriate for kids. This may be one of the reasons for the devoted fanbase, as many kids are raised on Nintendo. Nintendo has a reputation to fall back on as well.
But enough about the competition.
Some people may be wondering, "What do you think of how it looks? What's your take on the thing?"
I hate answering subjective questions, but oh well, that's life. The Xbox has always been awesome in black. Black and green. I think Microsoft was trying to point to history with that color scheme, back to the days of monochrome monitors, to evoke a feeling of technology yet familiarity in it. This new system isn't just another system in the legacy of gaming, this system is the future of it. It needs a fresh look, a futuristic feel to it. Not everything is black and green anymore, that's all history, and that's all behind us now.
That said, I'm probably going to paint it black.
EDIT (4:44 PM May 19, 2005): I've learned that the PS3 actually will be backward compatible, but at the time of the original post, it looked like it wouldn't.
posted by Keti 'Kotaree at 6:15 PM
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