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XBox (Games)

Xbox 360 & Next-Gen Live Specifications Leaked 226

Posted by Zonk from the some-tasty-gaming dept.
Tim Grube writes "Gaming Horizon is reporting that the Xbox Live 360 specifications and console specifications have been leaked. Xbox Live on the next generation is said to have two version, a free one and a subscriber one. The Xbox 360 iself will have a DVD-RW, be Wi-Fi Ready, contain 3 USB ports, and have 512 GDDR3 RAM."
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Xbox 360 & Next-Gen Live Specifications Leaked More

Xbox 360 & Next-Gen Live Specifications Leaked

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  • Looks impressive (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SlongNY ( 766017 ) *
    The specs look impressive, expecially with a custom kernel to take advantage of the hardware. I am just curious what the price point will be. I am going to grab it the day it comes out, mainly because i want to make use of my 45 Inch LCD Tv :) I wonder low long it will take after lauch for the 1st modchip.

    • Re:Looks impressive (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Guspaz ( 556486 )
      It will very likely be quite affordable... Microsoft will sell it at a huge loss hoping to make up the cash on xbox live, game licences, and so on.

      It will be quite funny, really, the hardware will be faster than any desktop (And most servers) on the market now or then by a long shot (It will even blow away the fastest Apple G5s), and yet it will probably sell for well under $1000.

      You can bet the xbox linux people are going to be scrambling to unlock this sucker. If the original xbox made for a nice cheap
      • ...it will be quite funny, really, the hardware will be faster than any desktop (And most servers) on the market now or then by a long shot, and yet it will probably sell for well under $1000.

        Isn't that how the original XBox was? Granted 700MHz wasn't that fast back in 2001, but it was a damn good deal to get that kind of hardware for $300 back then.
        • It was, but it was never amazing hardware (The CPU wasn't anyway, the GPU was nice at the time). It was just a good deal for what you are getting.

          The XB360 looks like it will be FASTER than any desktop, but at a console-like pricepoint. And while this wouldn't matter to anybody who wanted the XB360 for Linux, but as a console it's GPU is loads faster than ATI/nVidia's fastest. I suspect that the XB360 might launch at about the same time or after ATI's new desktop part based on the same core, however.
    • Actually I would hold back on modding it. Xbox live is not going to be available for modded consoles, and since (Aparently) is going to be free (or have a free mode at least) that could be a major handicap since all games are going to be compatible to live one way or another.

      Besides the dash is going to look and work like avalaunch or evolutionx (which are the best dashes to have in a modded xbox these days) The only thing I will be really missing is the ability to have games stored on the hard drive for e

  • What? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @12:47PM (#12489688)
    What are dots per second? I can't tell if they're better or worse than the 700 MNz (meganerdz?) memory.
    • You idiot. It's clearly Minnesotan's per second! If you can't speak the l33t speak, you shouldn't be on slashdot!

      Either that, or gaminghorizon needs to either wait for the email version of the press release to cut and paste or by a better OCR program for printed ones that can tell Ns from Hs.

      As for dots, they're clearly exploring new technologies like Nintendo is rumored to be doing with 3D. In this case it's evidently something based off of Dot Matrix technology. This assumption can be backed up by the n
  • The sources on this report are actually kind of iffy. The first place I saw the report was on endgaget [engadget.com], and they say that the specs "were posted and then quickly pulled from the TeamXbox forums." The thing that makes them interesting is the proximity to the actual release date, and the reaction once it was posted. But bottom line, it could be entirely fake.
    • Really big givaway is the DVD-RW. The "leaks" before the first X-Box release suggested that you could put games on the hard drive for faster load times, but that wasn't there in the final product. Console makers are having a hard enough time trying to thwart piracy without using drives that crap out a month after you buy them that I doubt they'll build the tools to do so into the console.

  • Single Profile and Mobile Device Music...Great! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @12:52PM (#12489755) Journal
    This is a really nice touch that seems not to get much attention. What it means is that rather than having to create a profile in every game (Halo, Halo2, GR, MechAssault, etc.) you can have a single profile. Hopefully the basic options, like aviator-absolute stick looking, will carry through, along with playlists.

    Also cool is the support for music from mobile players. I have a Dell Pocket DJ with the Napster2Go service. This will allow me to carry my 'library' of over a million songs over to the Xbox.

    I really can't see that they missed anything with this. Perhaps they will overprice is, but I'm looking for a 299 price point.

  • I thought that xbox360 was going to use the ageia physics card? (they said at least one console was going to use it) if the console using it is the ps3 or revolution (although I doubt it) I think my money is going elsewhere.

  • Yeah, but... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Shook18 ( 878947 )
    does it run Linux? No seriously this time; if this thing can be modded to run like the last one, this would be a SERIOUS desktop replacement... for a fraction of the cost.

    • Re:Yeah, but... (Score:2, Insightful)

      by jasonmicron ( 807603 )
      No, it doesn't run Linux. It runs games.

    • Re:Yeah, but... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jericho4.0 ( 565125 )
      The original XBox was basically an Intel PC. This device is not. The major problem this raises is that binaries will not work, so no flash, games or commercial apps. Still, at the probable price point it's peerless as a personal plaything.
  • I somehow doubt it'll have a DVD-RW drive, seems a bit odd for a console. It mroe looks like a list of formats the DVD drive can read, and DVD-RW isn't that odd, newer PS2s can read them as well.

    The new Xbox Live features sound a bit interesting, I hope they have it so you can have one Live account for Xbox 1 and 2, I don't want to pay twice for Live (not that I'll be getting an Xbox 2 that soon anyway)

    Otherwise, looks kinda like what everyones been saying anyway.

    [1] I really think Xbox 360 sounds silly.

  • 256+ audio channels... (Score:5, Funny)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:10PM (#12489930)
    Great, I'm gonna need more speakers and wire now, damn it.

  • Specs - scary specs. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Destoo ( 530123 ) <destoo@gmailLAPLACE.com minus math_god> on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:12PM (#12489950) Homepage Journal
    live specs are at the bottom. Sorry for the KH post. It seems I need more characters per line.

    1. Support for DVD-video, DVD-Rom, DVD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-Rom, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 cd, JPEG photo CD
    2. All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing
    3. Customizable face plates to change appearance
    4. 3 USB 2.0 ports
    5. Support for 4 wireless controllers
    6. Detachable 20GB drive
    7. Wi-Fi ready

    Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU
    - 3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each
    - 2 hardware threads per core
    - 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core
    - 1 MB L2 cache

    Custom ATI Graphics Processor
    - 500 MNz - 10 MB embedded DRAM - 48-way parallel floating-point shader pipelines - unified shader architecture

    Memory
    -512 MB GDDR3 RAM
    - 700 MNz DDR

    Memory Bandwidth
    - 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
    - 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
    - 21.6 GB/s frontside bus
    Audio
    - Mulitchannel surround sond output
    - Supports 48khz 16-bit audio
    - 320 independent decompression channels
    - 32 bit processing
    - 256+ audio channels

    Xbox Live, 2 types:

    Xbox Live Silver (no subscription required) and Xbox Live Gold (subscription benefits)

    Features for Gold service
    * Also for Silver # Also for Offline

    - Seamless transition to Xbox Live account from Xbox to Xbox 360
    - Access to MMOs (additional fees may apply) *
    - Free Xbox Live weekends *
    - Multiplayer online gameplay
    - Avatar for gamer profile * #
    - Motto for gamer profile * #
    - Personalized look for Xbox System Guide * #
    - Offline achievments * #
    - Online achievements *
    - Access to other players' Gamer cards via Live *
    - Cumulative gamer score * #
    - Location/language profile * #
    - Reputation *
    - Enahnced matchmaking using above
    - Skill level matchmaking
    - Gameplay style profile (casual, competitive, etc.)
    - Recent players list *
    - Free and premium download game content *
    - Free and premium downloadable movies, music, tv *
    - Downloadable demos/trailers *
    - Microtransactions *
    - Custom playlist in every game * #
    - Play music from portable devices * #
    - View images from digital camera * #
    - Strem media from Windows XP * #
    - Interactive screen savers * #
    - Track info for CDs * #
    - Communication with voice, video or text *

    • Re:Specs - scary specs. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MagicM ( 85041 )
      Interactive screen savers

      WTF?
    • "700 MNz DDR"

      OMG it has 700 Mega Nazi. That's a lot of Nazi!

      This machine will be a threat to World Peace and should be stopped before it is to late!
    • Those are scary specs, but just how much of a loss is MS willing to take on this thing??

      The ATI chip & that CPU even in a few months time would run hundreds and hundreds each. This thing is a powerhouse of a computer. If they can sell them cheap enough as a console why not sell them as clusterable workstations?
      • This thing is a powerhouse of a computer. If they can sell them cheap enough as a console why not sell them as clusterable workstations?

        I think we've had that conversation last iteration, and will have it again and again each time MS releases a console.

        They sell at a loss because the profit is in the games market.

        Hack their box to run Linux, and even though the box you just hacked is not profitable anymore, it still counts in the number of "active consoles", and when they show these numbers to the game
        • I know they take a loss on the Xbox's, but when the first one came out it was using a CPU and GPU that lagged behind what a desktop PC had.

          This thing is beyond any desktop PC, I'm just curious how much of a loss they take on this box.
  • Those specs are HUGE! What is the price again? Compare that to a pc with comparable specs, maybe take off 25-40% for buying in bulk... It doesn't seem very plausable to me. Can anyone justify the price vs. hardware to me?

    • Re:Massive Specs (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Retric ( 704075 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:53PM (#12490443)
      Don't forget:

      There selling it at a loss.

      It's not in stores yet so PC prices will drop by the time it's out.

      Or this could be a lie.

    • Re:Massive Specs (Score:2, Insightful)

      by chman ( 746363 )
      The console market these days works on selling the hardware at a loss, and the software at a huge profit.

      MS had a problem with the original Xbox launch in that their hardware was going to cost a fortune compared to the PS2 (which had been out for some time already and I think had come down in price), and it would still lose them money. So they had the idea that they would bundle the console with a load of games and get customers to leave Wal-Mart some $400-500 lighter. That's why around the launch time t
      • Onething they have going for them is that Xbox has the highest attachment rate of any console. If the same continues, it means they can take a bigger loss than the competitors and still make the same money.
        • You obviously didn't read the GP. He/she mentioned the attach rate, and a lot of that attach rate has to do with MS forced bundles at launch (at least 3 games from most specialty retailers, that inflates the attach rate a lot), and many people are pretty sure the free game Xboxes have their free games counted towards that attach rate (as well as the free XBL games with a XBL starter kit).

          As for them making the same amount of money... they aren't making any right now on the current Xbox. The Xbox is arou

    • Specs for consoles always seem large before they're released. I remember when they announced the specifications for the PS2 and X-Box, it all sounded impressive enough at the time, but a year or so later? Not quite so earth shattering.
      • The Sony hype machine was in full gear when they announced the specs for the PS2. I don't remember off the top of my head things they claimed it could do (but couldn't), but it served it's purpose in the end. The Dreamcast never got a chance to take off because people decided to hold off a year and wait for the PS2.
    • Easy. Sell the console at a loss, with some kind of mechanism to ensure that only things we approve run on it, and make up the balance in game sales.

      This has been the strategy in the console industry for a long time, and one reason why a easy to install, full featured Linux (or other OS) is anathema to the manufactures.

  • CD-RW?! Yeah right... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ThePolkapunk ( 826529 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:28PM (#12490144) Homepage
    I highly doubt that MS would be including a writeable CD with this. That would only make piracy easier, which MS has been fighting from day one of the XBOX. In fact, with all the hardware changes to mod chips, and booting people from xbox live, I'd say they've been putting up a bigger fight than any other video game hardware company. No, I really don't believe that there's a CD-RW. Frankly, this sounds like just more stupid fud that slashdot is tossing around. Why don't you stop posting random guesses and lies that anyone sees on the web?
    • "I highly doubt that MS would be including a writeable CD with this. That would only make piracy easier..."

      Uh. How would that have the slightest effect on piracy? Even XBOX 1 games exceed the size of a CD by ridiculous amounts. That'd be like saying the PS2's memory card will only make piracy easier.

      (Heh amusingly, it does, but not for that reason.)
      • Sorry, made a mistake, it actually reads DVD-R/RW. Seeing as how the XBOX 360 uses a DVD drive, that should be large enough to stick a game on two DVD's. More than easy enough to make pirating through the system worthwhile.
    • You're forgetting that Microsoft will control the hardware on this device, and it will have strong Digital Rights Management. The ability to burn copies of stuff MS sold you onto a CD/DVD (that maybe only plays on an XBox?) then looks more likely.

  • "Leaked?" Please. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Some people are so naive.
    • Regardless of a source, these specifications are completely unrealistic considering that a launch price will have to be around $500, with a launch date at the end of this year. It's one thing to argue that 'consoles are sold at a loss' but another thing entirely to believe that a console is going to ship with hardware significantly better than anything available on consumer PCs today.

      If you look at those CPUs, each of them will be faster than the fastest single-core chip available from either AMD or Intel

  • so only one version, then? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by muel ( 132794 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:37PM (#12490265)
    Does this put the rumors of "multiple versions of XBox 360" to rest? This spec sheet says the hard drive is "removable," not "optional"......
    • I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. It could be removable simply so they could sell a low cost model that lacks the hard drive and a higher cost model that offers the hard drive. Then they could sell the hard drive as a seperate add on and gives you all of the "HDD Required" features that games may offer.

  • from TFS (Score:5, Funny)

    by Reignking ( 832642 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @01:49PM (#12490393) Journal
    The Xbox 360 iself will have a DVD-RW, be Wi-Fi Ready, contain 3 USB ports, and have 512 GDDR3 RAM.

    The iself? That sounds more like an Apple name. I call shenanigans!

  • I, for one, ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Phu5ion ( 838043 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @02:25PM (#12490785)
    welcome our new PS3 overloads.

    What you expected me to welcome an XBox?

  • Economies of scale (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Corpus_Callosum ( 617295 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @02:32PM (#12490870) Homepage
    Microsoft does have a lot of latitude because of the economies of scale that the XBox 360 will offer. If Microsoft knows for a fact that they will sell 20 million consoles (or 30 million, or whatever), then it gives them pricing power.

    Not only power, it gives them the ability to practically dictate prices for parts. Everyone seems awestruck that MS might use DDR3 or a 3core PPC or toss in a DVD burner. Why? Because they are expenseive at frys?

    Once past a certain volume, manufacturing DDR3 won't be any more expensive than any other ram. Same with a new processor or even a DVD burner.

    This is where economies of scale can be used to crush competitors. MS may have figured out that it can leapfrog the current state-of-the-art by guaranteeing volume to manufacturers of new technology. If so, watch out - they might use this to springboard a play out of Apple's book.

    Imagine if Longhorn is released at the same time as a PC that is built out of the same contracted parts (but perhaps more of them and higher clocked) as the XBox 360. MS getting into the hardware business with a system a generation ahead of everyone else?

    Frankly, the idea terrifies me. But I wouldn't put it past Bill. He is watching Apple and doesn't want his old nemesis to stomp on his pride anymore.

    Whatever the case, this should be interesting...
    • 30 Million consoles? No way, thats around 1 X-Box 360 for every 10 people in the United States, including the homeless. If I remember correctly (somebody can google if they want) X-Box reached it's 20 million mark globally in January 2005. You are correct that mass production can lower costs significantly, but unless they build millions and millions of X-Box 360s this year and just keep them in a warehouse until they run out, mass production will not lower costs as much as you believe. It's not just about
      • Also, FYI don't believe that X-Box 360 will sell as fast as the original X-Box, at least where I live most people were severly disappointed with the X-Box and don't plan to buy an X-Box 360, this is also the feeling I get from talking to friends in other parts of the country.

        Interesting. Where I live it's the exact opposite. The Xbox convinced a lot of people that MS was for real in this whole console business. Even just compare the amount of respect it tends to get now on Slashdot of all places (vacation

  • Not a DVD-RW drive (Score:5, Informative)

    by TD-2779 ( 840642 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @02:47PM (#12491051)
    Support for DVD-R/RW does NOT means a DVD-RW drive.

  • DVD-RW?! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by tootbrush ( 878155 )
    Do we have to save on DVDs now?
  • "...and have 512 GDDR3 RAM."

    that would be 512 M GDDR3 RAM i presume

    else i'd be really impressed *grin*

  • Improved Disc Speed? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by robbway ( 200983 ) on Tuesday May 10, 2005 @04:52PM (#12492408) Journal
    As I play Forza, I wonder about disc read speed. Forza loads forever. If complicated and detailed games will be common--and I'm all for it--some optimization needs to be done. Also, in the realm of PS2 downward compatability, will the improved speed enhance load times of XBox games?
  • Yeah those specs are freaking amazing, but uh, it's a console right? How much are they debuting this at? $900?

  • Noise (Score:4, Funny)

    by KrunZ ( 247479 ) on Wednesday May 11, 2005 @04:15AM (#12496813)
    "3 symmetrical cores at 3.2 GHz each"
    The heat is on. I guess the Xbox fanboys finally will live up to their name.
  • Assuming that this info is correct. It looks like xbox live will require the HD. Considering how integrated the HD looks, what makes you think that all 360's will not have an included HD? But ahh here is the kicker could a dvd/rw be used instead of the HD????? hmm folks could it work? So I guess the 360 hd is still up in the air. There is nothing about backward combatibility... but I will bet that MS will have it, the backlash will be to big not to have implemented it. As for the speed vs the cell. W
  • The source for these specs? The TeamXbox forums. Now I like the staff of TeamXbox. They have created a pretty reasonable and reliable site. But the forum? Let's take a random sample of thread titles:

    "a guy where at the mtv show!!!"
    "doom 3 @ 400k!!!!!!!!"
    "If I have too buy Batterys to play my games on xbox360"
    "Can Permanant Marker Wreck Discs?"
    "I dreamed I owned an xbox 360 last night"
    "Fisher Price is manufacturing the X360 consoles!"
    [huge sic]

    We need only wait 24 hours before we know the rea

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