Topic: XboxOne ~News/Rumor/Speculation~ Biggest Console Released This Gen!!

[bhurak]

@Ian Sane


Do you ever wonder if the new games (even on physical disk) will still be playable?


1) Today's consoles have moving parts meaning they are much more likely to fail then your SNES (and mine too, thankfully!)


2) Many of today's games require patches, or some sort of online infrastructure to play and enjoy. 


I think its very likely that we cannot recover these experiences 20 years from now - even with the disk!  And already it's getting harder to connect the NES and SNES to TV's - and the experience is different then the original CRT's.


Just something I think about.

[TJ Spyke]

Most of the patches through Xbox Live are not REQUIRED to play the game, just to play on Xbox Live. The games would still be playable. I do agree about the online part though, I think it's shortsighted to focus a game so heavily on online play. I don't like games that require it to get the most enjoyment.

[Kytim89]

Microsoft will not adopt Blu-Ray for the same reason that Nintendo will not do it: Sony. Microsoft will most likely use some upgraded version of DVD and it might be similar to what Nintendo is using with the Wii U.

[Shorty McNostril]

Digital distribution has another hurdle to clear too.

Mention has already been made of a broadband connection. On top of that are plan caps. As far as I know caps are not a worldwide thing. Let's say a game next gen is about 15 to 20 gig. That is 25% of my limit gone for the month.

Most people are in caps lower than the 100gig that i have. So it would be impractical to have digital only.

[Kytim89]

Honestly, I have never liked optical media, so I kind of wish that the industry would return to cartridges. I would really like digital distribution, but the bandwidth issues are not going to get resolved any time soon. Cartridges are still too cost prohibitive at the moment, but the thing that rekindled my interest is the Vita. Overall, I do not want that as my gaming system, but I like the fact that it uses cartridges for games that look like those for console.

[Chozo Ghost]

Honestly, I have never liked optical media, so I kind of wish that the industry would return to cartridges. I would really like digital distribution, but the bandwidth issues are not going to get resolved any time soon. Cartridges are still too cost prohibitive at the moment, but the thing that rekindled my interest is the Vita. Overall, I do not want that as my gaming system, but I like the fact that it uses cartridges for games that look like those for console.

So what is the 3DS then? Dirt on the bottom of your shoe? The 3DS has been out for almost a year and has used cartridges since day one. You are acting like this is something new and revolutionary with the Vita, but Nintendo has always been doing it with handhelds.

[Kytim89]

Honestly, I have never liked optical media, so I kind of wish that the industry would return to cartridges. I would really like digital distribution, but the bandwidth issues are not going to get resolved any time soon. Cartridges are still too cost prohibitive at the moment, but the thing that rekindled my interest is the Vita. Overall, I do not want that as my gaming system, but I like the fact that it uses cartridges for games that look like those for console.

So what is the 3DS then? Dirt on the bottom of your shoe? The 3DS has been out for almost a year and has used cartridges since day one. You are acting like this is something new and revolutionary with the Vita, but Nintendo has always been doing it with handhelds.

Imentioned the Vita because of its raw power and the fact it has cartridge based games.

[TJ Spyke]

Power of the system really has nothing to do with the medium used for the games.

[Chozo Ghost]

 The 3DS is a pretty powerful system in its own right. Isn't it about roughly as powerful as a Gamecube? And the GC is of course a console, so there you go, a handheld which is as powerful as a console and uses cartridges.

[ThePerm]

i measure games in Resident Evil 5s

3ds is 0.92 Resident Evil 5 capable

[NWR_insanolord]

Not to mention that if someone bought Valve, the new owners might not have that same opinion.

Yes, because there's a real danger that Valve is going to be bought out. For that matter, if there's a giant solar flare that wipes out the internet you won't be able to log in to Steam and all your games will be useless.

It's in no one's best interest to take away digitally purchased games. Do you think anyone would ever support your company again if you did that? You'd destroy yourself and possibly the entire digital delivery market in the process. Just because they could doesn't mean they would or even would ever want to.

[TJ Spyke]

Much bigger companies than Valve have been bought out before. And if a company wanted just their IP's, they could continue selling them and still make money. You might have some PC gamers pissed, but I think they would still do well enough to profit from purchasing the company. Besides, I just mentioned that as a plausible possibility and why it's a terrible policy Valve has when it comes to licensing you the rights to play a game.

[NWR_insanolord]

Valve isn't publicly traded, though. They'd have to agree to being bought out, and that would require a massive change in their culture. And they'd have anyone paying attention to the situation pissed, which would include pretty much all their core audience. It would be suicide to take away people's purchased games. There's no realistic scenario in which doing so is a net positive. People who worry about that are overly paranoid.

[TJ Spyke]

It's a company offered Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington some huge number like $1 billion for Valve, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't accept. I admit that it's not likely that anyone owning Valve would stop people who licensed their games from keeping them after.

[Chozo Ghost]

It's in no one's best interest to take away digitally purchased games.

It is if its some rival platform that wants to force people to buy those games all over again so they can rake in more money.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's in no one's best interest to take away digitally purchased games.

It is if its some rival platform that wants to force people to buy those games all over again so they can rake in more money.

Not if people refuse to buy from the companies that took away the games. In that case, the company did long-term harm to their brand.

[nickmitch]

Valve isn't publicly traded, though. They'd have to agree to being bought out, and that would require a massive change in their culture.

Publicly traded companies would still have to approve of being bought, even if the amount of money was disproportionately huge.

[TJ Spyke]

With a publicly traded company, all the takeover company has to do is manage to get enough of the shareholders (50.1% of the total stock) to say yes.

[nickmitch]

Most companies have far too many shareholders to actually track down on an individual basis and buy out, even if it's just for one more than half of the total outstanding shares. What actually happens during a buyout where the two companies consolidate (or make a parent/sub reality) the board approves and the shareholders exchange their stock in the acquiree (which is now worthless) for new stock either in the parent or the newly created going concern.

[BlackNMild2k1]

2 rumors surface... one supporting the other. I've been sitting on the first one for a few days (tabs been open in my browser) but I guess I'll post it now since there is a follow up to it already.

neXbox 720 chip is codenamed Oban? ... oh that's the old story?
http://semiaccurate.com/2012/01/18/xbox-nextxbox-720-chips-in-production/
then what is new? The chip is finished and starting a production run?

Now for the new stuff. The XBox Next/720 Oban chip is in initial production. Sources at a foundry with a blue logo, confirm that Oban wafers started running in the final days of 2011. Sources on the other side of the continent in Redmond when questioned, said, “Who the f*&$ told you that? I am going to f#*&ing rip someone’s head off”. We at SemiAccurate take this as confirmation that the initial sources were in the right ballpark.

ok, that quote is funny but probably didn't happen. I'm not buying it.

But fudzilla seems to be hearing more about it.
http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/25619-oban-initial-product-run-is-real
HD7000 class chip and dev kits out before E3 (Mar/Apr) for release in 2013

It seems now that recent speculation that the new main System on a Chip (SoC) for the Next Xbox (or Xbox 720, if you like) began production is apparently accurate; the SoC did indeed start production in late December of 2011. Sources tell us that the code name for the chip is Oban, and it is being produced by both IBM and Global Foundries for Microsoft.

If speculation is correct, which our sources believe it is, the power behind the next Xbox will be a PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU, or modified 7000 series. Continued rumors of an x86 compatible CPU seem to be bunk, just based on where the chip is being fab’d.

This first run of these 32nm Oban chips will be destined for developer consoles, so any hope for a holiday console release in 2012 seems unrealistic, according to our sources, but an announcement perhaps before the end of the year might be possible. It would seem Microsoft’s strategy of getting it in 2013 is all but assured. We do think that the chips will be in production by the end of the year for consoles destined to be sold in 2013, which seems to agree with what others are saying.

There are still many unknowns, but those in the development community seem to be clued in at least a high level. From the shadows we hear whispers of expecting development kits as early as March, but more than likely April, if all goes well.

While we expect these development kits to shed some light on what Microsoft will be doing with the Next Xbox/720, it is very likely that we will see at least couple of revisions before everything is settled as they get closer to an actual production unit.

Sounds plausible.

[Chozo Ghost]

neXbox 720 chip is codenamed Oban?

Sounds like a cross between Obi and Wan. So if that is the case, what about the Kenobi? Perhaps Kinect is the Kenobi. Oban Kinecti?

[Ceric]

HD7000... What did we establish the Wii U was on?

Though I can't believe they are starting more than limited production runs.

[Ymeegod]

Rumor was the WII U was using a custom HD 4000 series chipset.

Another rumor, which is going be the deal breaker for me, MS is going add some sort of DRM on the system to pervent used games/borrowing/renting ect from being played.  I figured it was only a matter of time before someone tried this on consoles (PC's been this way for years) but if MS does this then I'm out.  I'll just stick with Nintendo and Sony next generation.

 

[Chozo Ghost]

I'll just stick with Nintendo and Sony next generation.

And what if they do it too? What then?

[Ymeegod]

Nintendo isn't at least not for the wii u.  As for Sony, I think they already learned their leason with the PSP GO and if MS does do this and Sony doesn't that instant fanbase increase because alot of people will not buy a console with DRM.

MS would be basically shooting themselves in the foot at this point.  Developers won't make any more money when people don't buy the console to begin with.