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Xbox 360
Availability: Holiday 2005
Product Overview
The Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system places you at the center of the experience.
Available this holiday season in Europe, Japan, and North
America, Xbox 360 ignites a new era of digital entertainment that is always connected, always personalized, and
always in high definition.
Xbox 360 gives you access to the games you want to play, the people you want to play with,
and the experiences you crave—when and where you want them.
Key Highlights
Hardware, software, and services: Unveiled
to the world on MTV on Thursday, May 12, 2005, Xbox 360 represents a dramatic leap forward in high-definition gaming and entertainment
experiences. Fusing powerful hardware, software, and services, Xbox 360 fully engages you in a gaming experience that is more
expansive, dramatic, and lifelike, where the possibilities are limitless and your imagination knows no boundaries. The next
generation is here.
Industrial design: A merger of form
and function, Xbox 360 wraps powerful technology in a sophisticated exterior. Two of the most innovative design firms in the
world—San Francisco-based Astro Studios and Osaka, Japan-based Hers Experimental Design Laboratory Inc.—came together
to craft a sleek, stylish system that conveys the very essence of Xbox 360.
Xbox Gamer Guide: The Xbox Gamer Guide
is an entertainment gateway that instantly connects you to your games, friends, music, movies, and downloadable content. Available
at a touch of the Xbox Guide Button, the Xbox Gamer Guide gives you instant access to the experiences and content you want,
from the gamer card of the player that just invited you to play online to new downloadable content for the game currently
running.
Personalized interface: Xbox 360 lets
you create your own unique system and experience. With interchangeable Xbox 360 Faces, it's easy and fun to change the appearance
of your console. Switch on your system and customize the look and feel of the Xbox Gamer Guide and Xbox System Guide with
unique "skins." From sleek and sophisticated to fun and funky, pick the Faces and skins that show your personality.
Ring of Light and Xbox Guide Button:
Divided into four quadrants, the glowing Ring of Light and Xbox® Guide Button visually connect you to your games, digital
media, and the world of Xbox Live™, the first global, unified online
console games service. Featured on both the wireless and wired controllers, the Xbox Guide Button puts you in control of your
experience. In addition to bringing up the Xbox Gamer Guide and the Xbox System Guide, the Xbox Guide Button lets you turn
the system on and off without ever leaving the couch.
Xbox Live: Xbox
Live is where games and entertainment come alive, the only unified place
where you can play with anyone, anytime, anywhere. And the best just got better. Connect your Xbox 360 to your broadband connection
and get instant access to Xbox Live Silver. Express your digital identity
through your Gamertag and gamer card, talk with others using voice chat, and access Xbox Live
Marketplace—all right out of the box, at no extra cost. Upgrade to Xbox Live
Gold and enter the exciting world of multiplayer online gaming. With intelligent matchmaking, access to all your achievements
and statistics, video chat and video messaging, and an enormous selection of games, Xbox Live
Gold delivers your competition, on your terms.
Xbox Live Marketplace:
Keep your favorite games fresh with instant access to new content. Xbox Live
Marketplace is a one-stop shop to download new game trailers, demos, and episodic content, plus new game levels, maps, weapons,
vehicles, skins, and more. Accessible to everyone who establishes a broadband connection with their Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace lets you personalize and extend your experience, on demand.
Games: Xbox 360 redefines what games
look like, sound like, feel like, and play like to engage you like never before. With Xbox 360, epic worlds are alive with
detail, from thunderous skies rumbling over a mountain range to tiny blades of grass rustling together in the breeze. Vibrant
characters display depth of emotion to evoke more dramatic responses, immersing you in the experience like never before. You’ll
see all Xbox 360 titles at 720p and 1080i resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smooth, movie-like graphics
and multi-channel surround sound.
Digital entertainment: Amplify your
music, photos, video, and TV. Watch progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. Rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive
and share your latest digital pictures with friends. Make the connection, and Xbox 360 instantly streams the digital media
stored on your MP3 player, digital camera, Media Center PC, or any Microsoft® Windows® XP-based PC.
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Xbox
360 System Performance Specifications |
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Custom
IBM PowerPC-based CPU |
Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2
GHz each
Two hardware threads per core; six hardware
threads total
VMX-128 vector unit per core; three
total
128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
1 MB L2 cache |
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CPU
Game Math Performance |
9.6 billion dot product operations per
second |
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Custom
ATI Graphics Processor |
10 MB of embedded DRAM
48-way parallel floating-point dynamically
scheduled shader pipelines
Unified shader architecture |
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Polygon
Performance |
500 million triangles per second |
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Pixel
Fill Rate |
16 gigasamples per second fill rate
using 4x MSAA |
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Shader
Performance |
48 billion shader operations per second |
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Memory |
512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM
Unified memory architecture |
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Memory
Bandwidth |
22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
21.6 GB/s front-side bus |
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Overall
System Floating-Point Performance |
1 teraflop |
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Storage |
Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard
drive
12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB |
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I/O |
Support for up to four wireless game
controllers
Three USB 2.0 ports
Two memory unit slots |
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Optimized
for Online |
Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox
Live features with broadband service, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, gamer profile for digital identity, and voice chat to talk
to friends while playing games, watching movies, or listening to music
Built-in Ethernet port
Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
Video camera ready |
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Digital
Media Support |
Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW,
DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
Ability to stream media from portable
music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs
Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360
hard drive
Custom playlists in every game
Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media
Center Edition 2005
Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers |
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High-Definition
Game Support |
All games supported at 16:9, 720p, or
1080i, with anti-aliasing
Standard-definition and high-definition
video output supported |
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Audio |
Multi-channel surround sound output
Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
320 independent decompression channels
32-bit audio processing
Over 256 audio channels |
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Physical Specs |
Height: 83 mm
Width: 309 mm
Depth: 258 mm
Weight: 7.7 lbs. |
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System Orientation |
Stands vertically or horizontally |
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Customizable
Face Plates |
Interchangeable to personalize the console |
PlayStation 3 announced for 2006
[UPDATE 12] Sony unveils its next-gen
console in LA; Metal Gear Solid 4, Devil May Cry 4, Tekken 6, Gran Turismo 5, and Warhawk redux confirmed. First pictures
and video inside.
LOS ANGELES--Today saw the second of the big three console makers announce its next-generation
platform. At its pre-E3 press conference, Sony Computer Entertainment gave the world its first look at the PlayStation 3,
as it is now officially called. While the device's price has not yet been set, its release window--spring 2006--has. Flanked
by Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Kaz Hirai, SCE head Ken Kutaragi introduced it as a "supercomputer
for computer entertainment."
The name was not unexpected, since Sony had been running an extensive teaser-ad campaign
prepping the public for the PlayStation 3. The company had laid a blanket of posters around the Los Angeles Convention Center,
site of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3). Bus stalls and billboards around the convention center proclaimed "Prepare
for Chang3" in the distinctive PlayStation font with partial shots of the Dual Shock controller's square-circle-triangle-X
buttons.
{seeit_box id=6125124 type='Sony E3 2005 Press Conference' thumb='http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/images/misc/movies/gsm_2stream_sonypress_e305.jpg'
caption="The PlayStation 3 is revealed with much fanfare and even more tech demos."} Sony also confirmed the PlayStation 3
will use Blu-ray discs as its media format. The discs can hold up to six times as much data as current-generation DVDs. It
will also support CR-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R formats. Sony also confirmed that the machine will be backward
compatible all the way to the original PlayStation. It will also have slots for Memory Stick Duo, an SD slot, and a compact
flash memory slot. It will also sport a slot for a detachable 2.5-inch HDD, somewhat similar to the Xbox 360's. Sony did not
mention if the drive would be standard.
Sony also laid out the technical specs of the device. The PlayStation 3 will feature
the much-vaunted Cell processor, which will run at 3.2GHz, giving the whole system 2 teraflops of overall performance. It
will sport 256MB XDR main RAM at 3.2GHz, and it will have 256MB of GDDR VRAM at 700MHz.
Sony also unveiled the PS3's graphics
chip, the RSX "Reality Synthesizer," which is based on Nvidia technology. The GPU will be capable of 128bit pixel precision
and 1080p resolution--some of the highest HD resolution around. The RSX also has 512MB of graphics render memory and is capable
of 100 billion shader operations and 51 billion dot products per second. It also has more than 300 million transistors, larger
than any processor commercially available today. It will be manufactured using the 90nm process, with eight layers of metal.
The RSX is more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra video cards, which would cost roughly $1,000 total if purchased today.
The PlayStation 3 will also sport some hefty multimedia features, such as video chat, Internet access, digital photo viewing,
and digital audio and video. Speaking of video, Sony Computer Entertainment's chief technical officer Masa Chatani was on
hand to show off the PS3's panoramic video functions. Since the console has two HD outputs, it is can be hooked up to two
side-by-side HDTVs to projecting video in a 32:9 extra-widescreen format (think Cinemascope in your living room). Like a gigantic
version of the Nintendo DS, the dual digital outputs also allow for an extended game display, with the action on one screen
and either game information or video chat on the second.
Out of the box, the PS3 will have the capability to support seven
Bluetooth controllers, which can be used for nearly 24 hours before they require charging. Later, pictures of the controllers
themselves were released, showing their almost boomerang-like shape. It will also have six USB slots for peripherals: four
up front and two in the back. As rumored, it will also have Wi-Fi connectivity to the PSP, which can be used as a remote screen
and/or controller.
Dr. Richard Marx, the inventor of EyeToy, was on hand to show off the PS3's wireless HD IP Camera.
The demo recalled rumors that the machine will have Minority Report-esque motion-sensing capabilities. Marx held two small
cup-like objects in his hands, which moved the cups on the screen in real time.
To show off the PlayStation 3's graphical
brawn, Sony showed several game demos, including an Unreal 3 engine show-off of what appeared to be Unreal Tournament 2007.
In what must come as a relief to developers, Epic Games' Tim Sweeney was on hand to vouch for the PS3, saying it was "easy
to program for" and that Epic had received its first PS3 hardware two months ago. He proved the tech demo was real-time by
showing it again and by manipulating the camera and zooming in.
Sony also showed off several other tech demos. One was
a next-gen remake of the famed "duck demo" first shown when the PlayStation 2 launched. Except this time, instead of one duck
in a bathtub, the demo showed a whole flock of ducks milling about, as well as several toy battleships. Another demo showed
grass and foliage growing while another showed Gran Turismo cars racing with Spider-Man swinging overhead. Speaking of Spider-Man,
another demo showed highly detailed renders of Alfred Molina as Dr. Octopus recreated from the film Spider-Man 2.
However,
Sweeney's words were only the beginning. Later, Sony trotted out a whole host of publishers that are backing the PlayStation
3. And in the process, it confirmed several games for the console. Hideo Kojima introduced Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, Capcom
showed off Devil May Cry 4, Namco unveiled Tekken 6, Polyphony Digital trotted out a fifth Gran Turismo, SCEE showed off the
next Killzone, and Rockstar Games showed a new Western title.
EA President Larry Probst was also on hand to show off a
demonstration of the next Fight Night game, which will presumably be called Fight Night Round 3. When one of the two fighters
took a blow, his skin rippled realistically. Kudo Tsonoda from EA's Chicago studio was on hand, and said that the goal is
to make the facial animation convey the amount of punishment a pugilist has suffered.
And still the games came. SCEE had
three on display: A third Getaway, with an even seedier, nastier version of London; a new off-road racing game called Motor
Storm from Evolution Studios; and a shooter called Heavenly Sword. Sega is readying Fifth Phantom Saga, and Bandai is prepping
another Gundam game. Ubisoft is continuing to innovate in the first-person shooter field with an all-new IP named Killing
Day. Koei enlightened the crowd with a demo of Ni-oh, a new martial-arts-themed brawler about Buddha's monk bodyguards. Incognito
is developing a sequel to Warhawk, the acclaimed actioner for the original PlayStation.
However, one of the night's most
impressive tech demos will likely be the most disappointing for fans of the Final Fantasy series. After showing some footage
from the upcoming Final Fantasy XII for the PlayStation 2, Square Enix Yochi Wada showed a very impressive demo called "Final
Fantasy VII: Technical Demo for PlayStation 3." The visually impressive demo showed a sequence of a cityscape, culminating
with fan favorite Cloud jumping out of a train. However, Wada said the clip was "merely a sample" and Square Enix currently
has no plans to release a remake of Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 3. However, he did say the series would arrive on
the console in "some form."
Wada's presence at the PS3 launch was ironic, given that Microsoft announced Final Fantasy
XI for the Xbox 360 just hours later. In fact, much of Sony's conference seemed designed to one-up the features of Microsoft's
new console point by point.
Sony also emphasized that the PlayStation 3 would have similar online connectivity and services
as the next generation of Xbox Live. Calling it "an always on, always connected device," Chatani said the PS3 would be constantly
in touch with a "PlayStation World" network "fundamentally based on a on community, communication commerce, and content."
He said that subscribers could "exchange unique characters and items through the network," much like Microsoft's Xbox Live
Marketplace.
PLAYSTATION 3 SPECIFICATIONS
CPU: Cell Processor PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
--1 VMX vector unit per
core
--512KB L2 cache
--7 x SPE @3.2GHz
--7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
--7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
--*1 of 8 SPEs
reserved for redundancy
--Total floating point performance: 218 gigaflops
GPU RSX @ 550MHz
--1.8 TFLOPS floating
point Performance
--Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
--Multi-way programmable parallel Floating point shader pipelines
--Sound Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)
MEMORY
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3
VRAM @700MHz
System Bandwidth Main RAM-- 25.6GB/s
VRAM--22.4GB/s
RSX-- 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB2.5GB/s
(write) + 2.5GB/s (read)
SYSTEM FLOATING POINT PERFORMANCE:
2 teraflops
STORAGE
--HDD Detachable 2.5" HDD
slot x 1
--I/O--USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
--Memory Stickstandard/Duo, PRO x 1
--SD standard/mini x 1
--CompactFlash(Type
I, II) x 1
COMMUNICATION
--Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
--Wi-Fi IEEE
802.11 b/g
--Bluetooth--Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
--ControllerBluetooth (up to 7)
--USB 2.0 (wired)
--Wi-Fi (PSP)
--Network (over IP)
AV OUTPUT
Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI out x 2
AV multi out x 1
Digital out (optical) x 1
DISC MEDIA
CD
PlayStation CD-ROM
PlayStation2 CD-ROM
CD-DA
CD-DA (ROM),
CD-R,
CD-RW
SACD Hybrid (CD layer),
SACD HD
DualDisc (audio side)
DualDisc (DVD side)
PlayStation
2 DVD-ROM
PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM
DVD-R
DVD-RW
DVD+R,
DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc
PlayStation
3 BD-ROM
BD-ROM
BD
SONY PSP
Specs:
Sony PSP
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General |
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Controller |
D-pad |
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Weight |
8.36
oz |
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Form
Factor |
Portable |
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Dimensions
(WxDxH) |
6.7
in x 2.91 in x 0.91 in |
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Graphics Processor and Memory |
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Video
Memory |
2MB
EDRAM |
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Fill
Rate (pixels) |
664
Mpixels/s |
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Fill
Rate (triangles) |
33
Mtriangles/s |
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Product Identification |
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Manufacturer |
Sony |
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Product
Line |
Sony
PSP |
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Video Output |
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Display |
4.3
in 16:9 widescreen LCD |
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Resolution |
480
x 272 |
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Colors |
16.77
million colors |
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Brightness |
200
cd/m2 |
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Expansion and Connectivity |
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Game
Media Format |
1.8GB
UMD disc |
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I/O
Connectors |
1
x audio out, 1 x microphone, 1 x control connector, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x Memory Stick Pro Duo, IrDA, IR remote |
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Integrated
Communications |
802.11b
Wi-Fi |
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Processor |
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Processor
Clock Speed |
1-333MHz |
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Processor
(2nd) |
MIPS
R4000 |
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Processor
Clock Speed (2nd) |
1-333MHz |
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Processor |
MIPS
R4000 |
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System Memory |
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Main
Memory |
8MB
EDRAM |
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Storage |
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Media Drive |
UMD Drive |
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Audio |
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Speakers |
Built-in
stereo speakers |
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Power |
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Battery |
Lithium-ion
battery |
Be sure to let me know what you hear and I'll add it to this page!
Saint's Row Xbox 360 Q & A
Move over GTA -- Saint's Row is aiming to dethrone
the sandbox king.
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