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Digital Extremes, the Canadian developer that's worked hand-in-hand with the Epic Games to create versions of Unreal and Unreal Championship on various systems, announced today the development of a new and original game designed specifically for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 2. It's called Dark Sector. The trailer, we're told, is not CG, nor is it pre-rendered in any way. According to Digital Extremes, the footage shown here is entirely in-game engine. The new engine is built using potential specs from both future consoles, which are unofficially due sometime in late 2005 or early 2006.

BitTorrent links:
Windows Media 9 version: http://dwl.xbox-scen...ser.wmv.torrent

or

QuickTime 6.5 version: http://dwl.xbox-scen...ser.mov.torrent

Or

try to download it from one of the mirrors www.darksector.com.
(April 3 16:49 GMT+1) -

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'It's a great time to be in gaming,' boomed a confident Robbie Bach, MS senior vice president and chief Xbox officer, during his keynote speech at last week's Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Unveiling his company's next-generation software development package, XNA, Bach, assisted by chief XNA architect J 'Mr Xbox' Allard, laid bare comprehensive plans to ensure the continued success of the Xbox brand and eventual (Bach believes) victory over Sony in the next generation. Delusions of grandeur? Well, despite Sony's clear dominance in the market, the general consensus is that, with XNA, MS has struck a significant blow in the next-gen race; it's hard to fault the company's efforts to facilitate development on its future hardware platforms, something that is certain to give Sony cause for concern. Shortly after Bach's keynote address, we were fortunate to pin the elusive CXO down for a rare interview with the consumer press. Today we present the first part of the frank, far-reaching discussion, where Bach further explains the thinking behind XNA, the convergence of Xbox and PC online gaming, and the shock departure of ex-MS Game Studios head, Ed Fries.

They talk about the new XNA framework, the Playstation2/3 and the future of Xbox1/2 and LIVE.
Go read part1 of the interview on pcpro.co.uk[might require free registration].
Source: http://www.pcpro.co....ry.php?id=55740
(April 4 01:34 GMT+1)

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TAIPEI (Reuters) - TSMC, the world's largest contract maker of semiconductors, will make chips for future MS Xbox game consoles, the two companies said on Tuesday. TSMC now has a contract to make graphics chips for the second generation of Xbox game consoles through Canada's ATI Technologies Inc, the world's second-largest graphics chip maker. MS signed that deal with ATI, which outsourced manufacturing to TSMC. The next generation of Xbox is set for release late in 2005.

(April 6 16:40 GMT+1) -

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The second and final part of our in-depth interview with MS's senior vice president. March 2004 has been and gone, with MS attempting to make the month its own with a display of intent at last week's Game Developers Conference in San Jose. Despite going to remarkable lengths in order to avoid the specifics of next-generation hardware, MS did, to all intents and purposes, show the first Xbox 2 software demos, albeit running on a souped-up PC. Today we have the concluding part of our interview in which Bach makes startling claims for Xbox's future success, speaks on the possibility of a handheld console and outlines his vision for the future of gaming.

Go read Part2 of the interview on pcpro.co.uk[free registration might be required].
Those who missed the news posted earlier about part1, can still read it on pcpro.co.uk[free registration might be required].
(April 6 17:31 GMT+1)

Source : http://www.pcpro.co....ry.php?id=55804

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The likely fate of the game console's storage medium--the subject of ongoing speculation as MS closely guards details on the planned successor to the current Xbox--got a new twist this week from a patent granted to the software giant. U.S. patent 6,716,102, ( LINK granted Tuesday to MS, covers methods for storing data about games in progress. The patent specifically references "a gaming system (that) includes a hard disk drive for storing applications and other data," indicating MS may be more committed to equipping future Xbox configurations with onboard storage than previously thought.

Read the full article on news.com. http://news.com.com/...ml?tag=nefd.top
Thanks to mathieuly and B.H. for the news.
(April 8 01:32 GMT+1)

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Inventors:  Whitten; Jon Marcus Randall (Sammamish, WA); Pirich; Christopher M. (Seattle, WA)  Assignee:  MS Corporation (Redmond, WA)  Appl. No.:  802798 Filed:  March 9, 2001

I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed.. that the application was originally may in early 2001. That puts this story in another light.

It was likley meant to cover the first XBOX.. and future incarnations.. and not excusively XBOX2/NEXT/whatever.

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Here is what I'm fairly sure of: In less than five weeks, MS will start talking about its next generation home console. Here's what I'm not ruling out: In less than five weeks, Sony and Nintendo could have a few things to say about their own next generation consoles. May is never a calm time for the gaming industry. It's when the annual madness known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo (the gaming industry trade show) occurs. It's when holiday line-ups are revealed. And it's when a lot of deals get started. But it's only every fourth or fifth May that new console and handheld hardware gets introduced.

Go read the full article on CNN.com with a roundup of what we already know about the new generation console and some speculations.
(April 8 12:51 GMT+1)

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MS Corp. this week was issued a patent (#6,716,102) for a hard-drive like storage device for a game console, according to Globtechnology.com. However, on closer inspection, the patent, while issued on April 6, 2004, was filed in March 9, 2001 -- several months prior to the debut of the first Xbox, not the second one. The patent filing, named "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPLAYING INFORMATION REGARDING STORED DATA IN A GAMING SYSTEM" and the concurrent image display the means for saving a game in progress storage. The lengthy patent further discusses the needs for improved storage and a device very much like the Xbox's hard drive. Again, on closer inspection of the detailed image of said device, it's clear the image is that of the Xbox itself. The first Xbox. As it remains, MS is still rumored to be in the process of finding a cheaper save-storage medium, and has an agreement with M-Systems to produce high-capacity removable storage devices suitable for Xbox Next. We'll have more on Xbox Next as soon as possible.

(April 8 21:03 GMT+1)

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RUMOR: The Xbox Next will come with an external, palm-sized hard drive which can be used like the Apple iPod. Source: Tech-toy enthusiast site Engadget.com. http://www.engadget....69878333365299/ The official story: No comment. What we heard: Besides being a juicy rumor, this one is also an amusing story. Apparently, Engadget was contacted by a snowboarder who claims he had an interesting après-shred chat with none other than MS's J Allard in Whistler, British Columbia. According to the snowboarder, the newly dubbed Chief XNA Architect got quite gregarious after several rounds of Red Bull and Tequila concoctions, called "Hey Zeuses," and started gabbing about the Xbox Next. Allard supposedly said MS was planning to sell its next-gen console's hard drive separately, have it be self-powered, and infuse it with MP3 and WMA playback functionality. He allegedly boasted it would be an "iPod killer," as MS would sell it at a loss for a mere $100. While optional HDDs are undesirable from a development perspective (just look at all those PS2 HDD-compatible games!), the thought of a $100 handheld 40GB MP3 player and game storage device sounds like a geek's wet dream. However, a source at MS laughed the story off. "Any story told over 'Hey Zeuses' is most definitely a rumor," said the source. Bogus or not bogus?: We really hope it's not bogus.

(April 10 05:55 GMT+1) -

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Interview with J. Allard
>> ComputerAndVideoGames.com has a interesting exclusive interview with J. Allard of MS.
The Xbox supremo goes in-depth on his company's plans to revolutionise game development on console and PC, ably assisted by Windows top brass Dean Lester.

Go read the interview on ComputerAndVideoGames.com[might require free registration].
(April 8 21:35 GMT+1)

Story: http://www.computera...p(que)id=103201

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2nd part of J. Allard interview
>> The 2nd installment of Computer & Video Games interview with MS's J. Allard is now online:
"Will Xbox 2 have a hard drive? Will Xbox and PC gamers clash online? All this and more inside."

Go read the 2nd part on computerandvideogames.com[free registration might be required].
Those who missed the first part can read it here[free registration might be required].
(April 13 17:19 GMT+1)

http://www.computera...p(que)id=103229

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Sources at a number of key Xbox developers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have confirmed that when the company originally revealed the outline specification for Xbox 2 late last year, the company surprised its partners by suggesting that the new hardware would be in shops for Christmas 2004. The system has since slipped from that schedule - which also called for an unveiling of the specification at GDC, at the high-profile press conference which the company eventually used for the launch of the XNA development platform - but MS apparently still has hopes to get the new console out in mid-2005, ahead of the Christmas 2005 release anticipated by most commentators. "I think they underestimated how hard it was going to be to build a console that wasn't using PC architecture," one source familiar with the firm's console development efforts told us today. "But they're racing to get to the market as soon as possible - they really want to reverse the head start that Sony had last time."

Read more on gamesindustry.biz. http://www.gamesindu...me=pub&aid=3348
(April 26 21:44 GMT+1) -

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A visitor of a Chinese BBS ( http://bbs.gzeasy.co...howtopic=149175 )revealed information that, he thinks, mirrors some architecture peculiarities of the MS’s Xbox 2 console in addition to the date when the world’s largest software maker is expected to release the official details of the console. MS is expected to formally announce the Xbox 2 (the 'Xenon') on the 2nd of June 2004. The firm may adjust some parameters but will not change the overall structure of the console, the China-based web-site GZeasy.com ( http://www.gzeasy.com/ ) believes.

Read more on xbitlabs.com
Thanks to J.d.K. for the news.
(April 26 22:08 GMT+1)

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"It's not impossible that it's a MS document," one expert told us this afternoon. "But some of the figures seem very suspect, and the information included on the diagram looks to me like it reflects the available information about Xbox 2 rather than being a sensible set of information to put on a document for developers." He voiced particular concerns over the fact that while the document notes "256+ Mb" of main RAM, it doesn't start what kind of RAM will be used - a vital technical point - and also noted that the CPU diagram doesn't mention that the CPUs used will be dual-core (effectively making Xbox 2 into a six processor unit), another important factor. "There's a lot of detail here about stuff you could just guess or which we already know from public announcements, like some performance information about ATI's graphics chips. And then there's some really surprising missing detail, like the twin-core architecture and a few other really crucial things which MS has already talked to developers about but are missing from this diagram. I'd have to guess it was a fake," he concluded. Other developers familiar with the Xbox 2 architecture also voiced misgivings about the diagrams, with one pointing in particular at the information about the processor cache on the document as being inaccurate. "We've seen stuff about the cache on those CPUs from MS, and this isn't it," he said. "If this isn't a fake, the only thing I can think of is that it's an old internal document that was a work-in-progress and never meant to be seen outside MS."

Read more on gamesindustry.biz. http://www.gamesindu...me=dev&aid=3364
(April 27 22:17 GMT+1)

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MS started work on the next version of Xbox right after the original shipped, to be ready when the next console cycle began. Said MS's Xbox boss, Robert J. Bach, in a recent interview: "We'll be there when Sony is there." Turns out he may have been underplaying his hand. BusinessWeek has learned that MS is planning to launch the next version of Xbox, code-named Xenon, in time for the holiday season in 2005, shaving a year off the typical five-year console life cycle. And while a Sony partner says the Japanese company is aiming for the same launch window, game developers say Sony hasn't yet nailed down the key technical details of its next PlayStation. Without that data, developers can't begin coming up with games, which typically takes 18 months. While Sony will not publicly discuss launch plans, developers believe PlayStation 3 will likely land on store shelves in Japan in the spring of 2006, and in North America six month later. If they're right, Xbox could hit the market as much as a year ahead of its biggest rival -- giving MS a big advantage. Says David Cole, an analyst with researcher DFC Intelligence: "That could push Xbox into the lead."

More/Full News: businessweek.com http://www.businessw...19/b3882048.htm
Thanks to The_Titans for this link
(May 5 22:07 GMT+1)