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Sony Electronics' PlayStation and MS's Xbox game consoles may include digital video recording (DVR) technology in future versions, panelists said during a discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Despite lagging sales, DVR would be a hot consumer technology in the future, said speakers on a panel devoted to investigating future consumer electronics products and technology trends. In addition to MS and Sony bundling DVR technology into future game consoles, cable companies would be a major player in the DVR market as they added digital video recording capability into set-top boxes, panellists said.

Posted by:: XanTium
January 12 06:16 GMT+1

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Today we can confirm that the Xbox 2 CPU will be built using a 65-nanometer manufacturing process. “It’ll be built on a 65-nanometer process,” a source confirmed to TeamXbox. “IBM has already taped out experimental samples at its East Fishkill fab but it will take between 12 to 18 months for them to deliver commercial parts. Anyway, they’re way ahead of Intel.” “With the new 90nm manufacturing process, IBM broke the 2 Ghz barrier. The 65-nanometer technology will allow them to break the 3 Ghz barrier for sure and get closer to the 5 Ghz mark,” our source further clarified and was quick to add, “However, this is not just about clock speed. The more important thing here is what this baby and its specialized cores can do in a single clock cycle.” For those really technically savvy, you may have noticed the same inaccuracy that we perceived. He used the word “cores” instead of “units”, which left us wondering is Sony the only one coming with a CPU that is made of small groups of cores working together to process tasks in parallel? Only time will tell.

Go check the whole article on teamxbox.com! http://www.teamxbox....ews.php?id=5327
Posted by:: XanTium
January 16 15:48 GMT+1

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A post on MS's official site is seeking a Software Development Engineering Lead to create cutting edge Artificial Intelligence systems for the next version of the Xbox. The position, which is listed under the MS Sports Studio, will help in creating Artificial Intelligence that not merely reacts to the user's input, but will anticipate and adapt. They are looking to develop AI systems that will "allow users to become the best-of-the-breed players in the league, yet continue to challenge them play after play."

(Posted by:: XanTium)
(January 21 19:59 GMT+1)

Direct Link: http://www.xbox-scen...VZpHyjPCvfP.php

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MS's Xbox may be on the verge of a substantial price cut, falling from $179 to $99 by Labor Day, according to P.J. McNealy, an analyst with American Technology Research.
"It is our belief that the price on the consoles in North America could see a stepped drop this year, with both the PS2 and Xbox being cut to $129 between now and the May E3 trade show, with [MS] then cutting the Xbox further to $99 in the late summer," he wrote in a research note released Wednesday.

McNealy also believes MS will launch its next generation console in late 2005 – a year earlier than has been previously rumored. That would put the Xbox 2 on store shelves up to a full year before Sony's PlayStation 3.

MS, when asked about the report, said it does not comment on rumors and speculation.
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More on money.cnn.com : http://money.cnn.com.../column_gaming/
(January 28 16:33 GMT+1)

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When we told the world that long-time rivals MS and IBM were teaming-up for Xbox 2, everyone thought we were kidding or clinically insane. One month after that, the partnership was officially announced and we sat back and smiled. Now, once again, it’s our word against logic. Our cracked TeamXbox spies (they’re everywhere) recently came up with some interesting info in regards to Xbox 2. Believe it or not, the Apple G5s you see in this picture are going to Redmond, and they won’t be used by graphical designers or any other media content creators. They’re going to be used by programmers; not for MS’s MAC products, Virtual PC or any other Mac OS software. Instead, these three palettes of Dual 2.0GHz G5s are alpha kits; Xbox 2 alpha kits to be more specific. Yes, the forbidden Apple entering the MS paradise. Hard to believe, isn’t it? We know. No one will believe us, but don’t worry; time will tell. By the way, in case you're wondering; yes, the Xbox 2 will use a PowerPC architecture.

TeamXbox.com was forced to removed the story from their website.
Anyone who still has the picture (in the browser cache from example) -> mail it to me. Thx
(January 30 15:41 GMT+1)
(Posted by:: XanTium)


MS CFO: Xbox will never be profitable
>> From theinquirer.net:

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THE CHIEF FINANCIAL officer of MS told analysts earlier this week that the current Xbox console will never be profitable. In a very long presentation, John Connors told analysts in Boston: "There's no way to make money on the console in this first generation". He said: "The real crossover in terms of profitability delta is when we get to the next generation of the Xbox console." The key to making profits with the Xbox 2, he added, is how MS does the hardware and chipset design, and how it sets up the supply chain.

Full speech on MS.com.
Thanks to Gamester17 for the news/links.
(January 30 15:38 GMT+1) - (direct link to article)
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Please remember this info isn't official and based on info from various sources. As the Mercury News article says, the Xbox 2 will use 3 64-bit processors. But we'll give you even more details. They'll be PowerPC processors, based on the PowerPC 976, the first dual-core 97x chip based on the POWER5 architecture, which will also be the first PowerPC built on a 65nm manufaturing process. Each core is capable of processing two threads, thus meaning the whole system can process six threads simultaneously. The graphic chip will be based on the the R500. This VPU has been in design at ATI’s Marlborough, Mass. office. It'll be fully compatible with PS and VS 3.0 and the next version of DirectX 9: DX10, the same api that will be used in Longhorn. What nobody is telling you and you'll know about this first, here on TeamXbox, is the revolutionary approach of the Xbox 2 to deal with today's biggest problem in graphics chips: memory bandwidth. The graphic chip will contain not only a graphics rendering core but up embedded DRAM acting as a frame buffer that is big enough to handle an image that is 480i and can be 4 times over sampled and double buffered. Yeah, we all remember Bitboys but this time you can bet this if for real. This solution will finally make possible HDTV visuals with full screen Anti-Aliasing on. The technology also supports up to 512 MB of external memory on a 256-bit bus. However, current specs plan to use 256 MB RAM, big enough for next-generation visuals which are all about computational power rather than large storage. Compatibility with the original Xbox, which is based on Intel and Nvidia chips, isn't guaranteed. MS is concerned it would cost too much money in hardware or in licensing fees to enable the Xbox Next to play old Xbox games. This is risky in part because Sony's strategy has been to maintain compatibility with its old consoles. The current Xbox has an eight-gigabyte hard disk drive. That drive is useful for online games and storing game art, but many developers chose not to make use of it. As a result, MS seems to have decided that saving the $50 the hard drive costs outweighs its benefits.

More on TeamXbox.com and mercurynews.com
(February 2 00:20 GMT+1)

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XBOX2 - Information or Disinformation?
>> UPDATE from www.teamxbox.com : http://www.teamxbox....ews.php?id=5388

Don't believe everything you read. This is certainly the case regarding a lot of speculation that is currently flying around regarding the specifics of the Xbox 2. However, by collecting various bits of information it is possible to establish a few more than possible predictions of what is to come. Many have been discussing the rumors that the Xbox 2 will lack a hard disk, but this may not necessarily be true. Others have also been saying that a waiting game is being played between MS and Sony, in which one side is merely waiting to see what the other does before making a decision. Again, this is most likely not true. Both companies are sure to have pretty solid ideas of just how they want their console hardware to be designed. Many of our questions are more likely than not already answered, and the question that remains is when will these facts be officially supported by the designers.

While we can’t give you any official information, we can give you a hint based on what we have come to know by deductive reasoning. Do you physically need a hard disc to store content? Consider this; in the case of Xbox Music Mixer, do you need the files to be stored in your Xbox?

Answer that for yourself and you might just have sufficient info to put this question to rest…at least for now.

It may also be a false claim that the Xbox 2 will not be backwards compatible. Well, sort of anyways...

The fact is that Xbox 2 could be backwards compatible using emulation. MS already owns VirtualPC, which allows PowerPC architectures to run MS Windows applications. However, the problem is that, although MS owns the DirectX API and the Windows kernel, it doesn’t own the nVidia chips found in the Xbox and since it is changing it graphics partner in favor of ATI, there are almost no chances of an agreement between the two companies being reached. This is more of a business problem rather than a technical issue.

(February 2 05:11 GMT+1)

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MS is keeping many (most?) details about its next-generation Xbox console under wraps, but at least one of the choices that Redmond has made public is stirring a spirited debate. Will Xbox Next, as it's now being called, play games designed for the original Xbox? Your answer depends on who you ask. Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, says his guess is that the next Xbox won't be compatible with the old one. "It's virtually impossible on many levels," he adds. "On an intellectual-property level. On practical levels, too." When asked to explain (might this be sour grapes talking?), Huang says for cost reasons, MS isn't likely to be willing to put additional chips in the box to ensure hardware compatibility. Moreover, he suggests that current Xbox games make use of Nvidia's proprietary graphics shaders and that MS might have to license them to use them again. By contrast, Dave Orton, president of ATI, says, "It's not outside the realm of possibility to make a compatible Xbox." He didn't discuss specific products his company is making for MS, but he says that if you just consider the timing (about five years) between the consoles, then Moore's Law dictates that the new machine will be eight times as fast as the old one. With such an increase in raw processing speed, Xbox Next should have plenty of horsepower to emulate the old games via software. That is, the new hardware will be fast enough to execute the old games even if they have to run through software translation. On the processor side, MS might have to employ its Connectix software to get the Intel code to run on the IBM PowerPC. That problem raises the prospect of additional costs and engineering efforts. "It's not a trivial amount of work," says Dean McCarron, an analyst at PC chip market researcher Mercury Research in Scottsdale, AZ. "It will be a massive task of integrating different technologies."

Read more on 1up.com. http://www.1up.com/a...,1511179,00.asp
Thanks to Vegita and JSmith for the news.
(February 5 03:43 GMT+1)

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Flash memory maker M-Systems announced on Wednesday that it has signed a contract to provide storage products for future versions of the Xbox, bolstering speculation that MS may ditch the game console's hard drive. M-Systems said in a statement that it has signed an agreement with MS to develop "customized memory units for future Xbox products and services." Ronit Maor, chief financial officer at Israel-based M-Systems, said the company could not discuss details of the contract. But Maor said the devices under development would be of significantly higher capacity than the 8MB Xbox memory units MS currently sells to save game and user data. "What we're going to offer for the Xbox doesn't currently exist," Maor said. Jay Srivatsa, a senior analyst at research firm iSuppli, said the Xbox hard drive so far has been used mainly for ancillary functions like saving progress in a game, not to improve the way games work. Sacrificing the hard drive could be a relatively painless way to trim $10 or $20 per unit from production costs. "I can see why they'd attempt to do that--the hard disk usage on the current Xbox has been pretty minimal," he said. "At some point, this has got to be a profitable business for MS. They have to draw some lines; look at what can they take out."

Update: gamepro.com has more info about which type of memory will be used: http://www.gamepro.c...ews/33775.shtml

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According to M-Systems, the memory will be "based on the Smart DiskOnKey platform," sharing the "same firmware and software components."

(February 25 23:28 GMT+1)

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WE'VE JUST got word that the Software Development Kit (SDK) for MS’s forthcoming Xbox 2 has now been released to Developers. As we reported earlier, IBM processors are indeed the Xbox 2 development platform of choice. The big news to us is that the XBOX 2 SDK has been seeded to developers on dual Apple Power Mac G5 systems running a custom Windows NT Kernel. The Apple Power Mac G5 is based upon two of IBM’s 64-bit Power PC processors and features ATi RADEON 9800 Pro (R350) graphics. However the R350 is believed to be an interim solution and will, in due course, be superseded by the forthcoming ATI R420. Interestingly the SDK apparently also features an Apple logo on a side bar within the application. What we don’t yet know is whether the custom Windows NT Kernel for the 64-bit capable IBM Power PC processors is 64-bit or 32-bit. Though as ATI is so clearly behind with even its iAMD64 device drivers for both Intel and AMD x86-64 platforms, we suspect that it’s 32-bit.

Thanks to recondite and Dylan for submitting this news item.
(February 28 22:24 GMT+1)

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In an interview with Globe, M-Systems President and CEO Dov Moran confirmed what gamers have been speculating for months. Xbox 2 won't have a hard disc. When asked about its technology development agreement with MS Corporation, Mr Moran said: ”It’s a cooperation agreement. The potential isn’t clear, but it’s in the billions of dollars. MS has taken the hard disk out of its Xbox. The only thing left will be a CD; that’s all. At some point, when users want to save their e-mail messages, copy music, or anything like that, the only storage they’ll have is what we give them. It’s worth hundreds of millions to the company, spread over a few years, and we’ll be the main supplier for it; and I hope the sole supplier.

More on teamxbox.com: http://news.teamxbox...ent.php?id=5518
Thanks to BiCx for the news.

Update from gamespot.com: http://www.gamespot....ws_6090737.html

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When contacted by GameSpot, Xbox group product manager David Hufford said Moran was "talking way over his head." He continued, "Mr. Moran is aimlessly speculating, and we never comment on speculation. We've made no such announcements about future Xbox products and services. And we don't intend to for quite a while. Until we do, we suggest people take guesswork for what it is." However, if Moran's statements are true, the Xbox Next will likely not be backwards compatible, since it would be almost impossible for it to emulate how some games dump data onto the Xbox's hard drive.

(March 5 01:19 GMT+1) -

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TOKYO--The consensus in the industry is that the Xbox Next probably won't be released until 2005--at the earliest. However, it looks like attendees of the 2004 Game Developer's Conference might get a sneak peak at the next-generation console's games in two and a half weeks. Bloomberg quoted MS Japan's Asako Miyata as saying that Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach will appear at the San Jose, California, conference on March 24. According to Miyata, Bach will outline MS's software strategy for the Xbox Next by discussing games that will run on the console and revealing some technical aspects about the console's format. Miyata also commented that MS has not yet decided when to reveal the specs for the Xbox Next. However, he did hint that the console's hardware will most likely not be unveiled during the Game Developer's Conference.

(March 5 23:21 GMT+1)

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Xbox Next Specs Will NOT Be Announced at GDC 2004
>> Source: www.xbox365.com & GamesIndusty.biz : http://www.xbox365.c...mplate/prof/dev

Speaking with Bloomberg, MS Japan's Asako Miyata stated that Robbie Bach will appear at GDC and will discuss the company's software strategy for Xbox Next, talking about games for the console and some technical aspects of its format. Miyata also stated that the console's actual hardware will probably not be unveiled at GDC, and that a decision had not yet been taken to as to when the technical specifications of the system should be released.

Some commentators have suggested that MS is holding back from a final decision on the RAM, and possibly on the inclusion of a hard drive, until it finds out what Sony is planning to do with the PS3 - so that the spec for the Xbox Next can be adjusted to out-perform Sony's system, at least in these areas.

It's already known that Xbox Next will feature six next generation IBM PowerPC processing cores, spread across three discrete CPUs, and an advanced graphics hardware solution provided by chipset manufacturer ATI. It's expected that the system will dispense with the hard disc drive in favour of a high capacity removable flash memory solution - effectively a large memory card.

Thanks to Nolga/System-Mods.com for the news.
(March 9 15:06 GMT+1)

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M-Systems claims 90GB fast flash disk breakthrough
>> Xbox 2 firm says it's a breakthrough

By INQUIRER staff: Wednesday 10 March 2004, 15:34

ISRAELI FIRM M-Systems, which has a deal to provide technology for the Xbox 2, said today it has released a 2.5-inch ultra ATA 90GB solid state drive that can transfer data at 100MB/sec burst rate.
In sustained read/write rates it delivers 40MB/sec.

The ATA-6 flash disk supports Ultra DMA 5 transfer modes, and will work at high altitudes, as well as in industrial and military applications.

The device is intended as a drop in replacement for ATA and SCSI mechanical hard drives. It complies with a number of military standards from the DoD, the NSA, the USAF, the US Army and the US Navy.

The products are already available, M-Systems said

News-Source: www.theinquirer.net : http://www.theinquir.../?article=14635
Thanks to kl0wn (irc)
(March 10 17:00 GMT+1)

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After remaining silent on the topic at GDC, MS is to finally unveil the next incarnation of Xbox this summer, according to a senior development source. Speaking to our correspondent on the GDC show floor today, the source revealed: "MS has told us, and other developers that it doesn't plan to show anything of Xbox 2 until the summer." Development kits, based on Apple's G5 hardware, are already in circulation, but MS has allegedly ordered devs not to allow them out of their studios, such is the firm's determination to keep a lid on information leaking out about its next move in the console race. "They've been incredibly strict about it," the source added.

More on gamesindustry.biz.
(March 25 16:01 GMT+1)