The Seattle Times: Leaks deflate MTV Xbox show

The Seattle Times: Leaks deflate MTV Xbox show: "

By Kim Peterson
Seattle Times technology reporter

Microsoft is taking the wraps off its next-generation Xbox console on cable television tonight, giving the world an early look at a system it hopes will define and dominate the future of video gaming.
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Although Microsoft has tried to keep a lid on the Xbox 360 until tonight's official unveiling, leaks about the console's power, speed and accessories have surfaced on avid gamer sites and online forums. Much of the leaking was spurred by a posting on the Engadget site, which showed a picture of the console taken at a pre-launch party last week.

According to numerous sites that focus on video gaming, the Xbox 360 will have wireless controllers and a remote control — features that could help the console land a coveted spot in living-room entertainment centers.

The technical elements of the console, if true, would make it about as powerful as many of the personal computers now in stores. According to such Web sites as Gaming Horizon, the Xbox 360 will have 512 megabytes of memory — eight times that of the original console — and three 3.2 gigahertz processors. The original Xbox had a 733- megahertz processor.

The new console, according to these sites, will have a 20-gigabyte detachable hard drive, compared with an 8-gigabyte hard drive for its predecessor.
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Such an advanced system is certainly going to cost Microsoft in the short run. It is expensive to produce and likely has a small profit margin, and its retail price — which has not been disclosed — may be so high that it deters potential buyers. But component prices will undoubtedly fall, and years from now the console could still hold its own technology-wise.

The setup also allows Microsoft to set the stage for the Xbox 360 to handle major upgrades in the future. A detachable hard drive, for example, could give Microsoft room in the future to upgrade to new hard drives that can also play music through a set of headphones or house a small screen for playing videos.
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Users would also be able to play music from portable devices and show photos from digital cameras.
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"That's not going to help Microsoft a whole lot, because what they want to do is when they reveal it on MTV or to the industry, they want to make a really big splash," said Dan "Shoe" Hsu, editor in chief of Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. "Now when people see it, what's going to be running through everyone's mind is, 'I've seen it already.' "

If it is the first next-generation console to launch, the Xbox 360 will beat the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Revolution by several months, perhaps even a year. Because of the timing, Microsoft will have the most to say about its console at E3, said Peer Schneider, senior publisher for IGN Entertainment.

But expect Sony to have plenty to say as well, Schneider said.

"They'll have to say something," he said. "Sony has to defend itself and it has to tell the gaming industry why it should care about the PlayStation 3."

MONEY! Billions!
MS is early with a replacement after 4 (not 5) years of XBOX v1 so to match the 2006 Playstation 3 they have to really reach on system power and performance.
Why?
Move too soon with a new game system and the incremental improvment in affordable hardware will not be compelling for upgrades but wait better hardware and maybe move too late, face a new market leader and play catch-up.
MS will move too soon but spend $$$. MS has money to throw at hardware to make a powerful, and expensive, XBOX 360 in 2005 that will equal 2006 class hardware in a Playstation 3. They'll sell these expensive systems well below cost by hundreds of dollars and bet on Moore's Law to bail them out over time so this device isn't a huge loss. This XBOX 360 is a high-end PC running a Power PC CPU core. (Apple runs on Power PC CPUs). 3 x 3.2 gigahertz processors and 512 MB RAM!

The addition is HDTV resolution for gaming which will appeal to some but face it, this is the PC experience on a TV, nothing extraordinary except more resolution. No fancy new way to play games - just more resolution and options to play lisenced audio and video media. Since HDTV is still not the dominate kind of TV sold today, they're ahead of the curve there. Note the HDTV is the monitor. That's become the most expsnsive component for a PC.

MS is basically selling a PC at a huge loss to capture marketshare and replace entertainment PCs with XBOXes. Oh and the multiple, PPC core CPUs make this XBOX the IA32 killer NT-RISC was supposed to be, SMP and all. Amazing. The loser here is DELL and all hardware manufacturers.

Nothing mentioned about backwards compatibility for XBOX games but this system can emulate a 800 mhz IA32 processor. It's a matter of making the software to do it.

Sony has it's own problems as does Nintendo but right now I betting on a lot of noise from MS, doom and gloom from the media and disappointingly small sales announced this time next year.