Report also says Microsoft aims to bring in Xbox 2 at a too-low-to-resist price point, and months ahead of PS3.

According to coverage in The San Jose Mercury News, the specifications for Microsoft's successor to the Xbox were revealed to veteran tech reporter and Merc writer Dean Takahashi. The coverage also suggests that Microsoft plans to capture a much larger share of the console market than it currently enjoys by keeping the cost of the console down, and by launching ahead of Sony's PlayStation 3.

The specs for the next Xbox, at least according to the Merc's report, are as follows:

Three IBM-designed 64-bit microprocessors, the same chips now used Apple Computer's high-end G5 PowerMac. According to the Merc, this will give the new Xbox "more computing power than most personal computers."

A graphics chip designed by ATI Technologies that will clock in with speeds faster than the upcoming R400. The Merc says, "This chip will help the next Xbox to display games with the resolution of high-definition TV." Compatibility with the original Xbox, which is based on Intel and Nvidia chips, isn't guaranteed

. Microsoft is concerned it would cost too much money in hardware or in licensing fees to enable the Xbox Next to play old Xbox games, says the Merc. This is risky in part because Sony's strategy has been to maintain compatibility with its old consoles.

According to the Merc, there is no mention of a hard disk drive for the new machine, and the Merc has even gone so far as to suggest that the next Xbox will instead rely on flash memory to store saved games and permanent data. The report also suggests that the possible inclusion of a hard disk drive and the amount of dynamic RAM available in the machine will depend on what Sony announces for its PS3. Microsoft had not commented on the report at the time of writing, and is unlikely to shed any more light on its plans until next month's Game Developers Conference in San Jose (where much talk in the industry suggests a major Microsoft announcement will be made), or E3 Expo in Los Angeles in May.

===========================================

No Way i am going BUY XBOX 2 if not compatability with orginal XBOX and it don't have Hard Disk Drive for XBOX Live & download

1. isn't guaranteed Compatibility with the original Xbox ??
2. no mention of a hard disk drive for the new machine ???
3. 215 MR RAM or 516 MB RAM still wait for PS2 Specs.l

IGN had talked about the XBOX2 not being compatible with the old console and I find that disgusting. Not only was backwards-compatibility one of the big reasons for the PS2's initial success, but MS is pinning all their current generation hopes and marketing on the concept of XBOX Live. To automatically charge people $50 for an annual subscription fee for a service that they intend on making obsolete doesn't make one bit of sense to me.
Maybe they can make the flash memory work, but at least in the short term, having no backwards compatibility will really hurt them.

Microsoft's Got Next
Rumors of the Xbox' successor kick into high gear. Details inside.

February 01, 2004 - The truth behind the Xbox Next and PS3 won't be known for some time, but that won't stop us from making educated guesses and jumping on rumors. Sony has, for some time now, been firm that PS3 will not ship until Fall 2006 at the earliest. Microsoft has waffled on a release date, always insistent they will ship first, but never quite bold enough to guarantee a 2005 launch. Over the next two (or more) years, speculation is going to be rampant. With each passing month, new rumors will circulate, new facts will emerge, and plenty of journalist's will bear false witness. So let the good times roll.


Sunday's San Jose Mercury News offered several well-regarded rumors that have already been reported. Xbox Next (the project name for the second iteration of Xbox) is going to use an ATI chip created specifically for the Xbox, will have laptop components to allow it to be smaller and lighter, and will almost certainly come out in 2005. The biggest question still remains on whether or not Xbox Next will include a hard drive. Indications from several sources lead IGN to believe that Microsoft is leaning towards the exclusion of a hard drive.

The article isn't particularly noteworthy for any new tidbits (as most of this remains conjecture and rumor), but indicates that Microsoft's primary concern is finding a way to trim costs so that, rather than supplanting Sony's PlayStation empire, they can co-exist with them in profitability. Some of the more interesting bits of info, though, are that the new console will have three 64-bit processors, 256MBs of RAM (though Microsoft will upgrade to 512MB if Sony's PS3 is said to have more), and a graphics chip will clock speeds rivaling today's high-end Radeon cards. The article also mentions that game prototypes are being created internally at Microsoft on Apple G5 machines. All in all, the article suggests that we'll be looking at console with speeds roughly equivalent to today's cutting-edge PC, and that Microsoft isn't shy about playing a wait and see game with Sony.

This may sound crazy, but consider the recent departures of some of Microsoft's key employees, with one of the Xbox founders, Ed Fries, being the most recent to step down. Could there be a fundamental shift in Microsoft's game philosophy? One that goes from market dominance to simply fattening the bottom line with as much green as possible? It's clear that the big MS is in the console war for the long haul, but it may be that even for the richest company in the world, losing money hand-over-fist just to beat down the competitor isn't smart business after all.

Remember how I mentioned that for the next two years you'd be hearing everyone's theories, rumors, and "facts"? Consider this just another salvo. What we do know for certain is that Microsoft plans to reveal some concrete details on Xbox Next at the Game Developers Conference this March in San Jose.

We'll bring you more on this story, of course, as it develops. We'll even get you cool quotes like "No comment" and "Microsoft is not going anywhere."

I told you guys a long time ago that Xbox 2 wouldn't be backward compatable... why so shocked? Also - the title is a bit misleading as I thought specs were revealed, but there's no new info (we already knew about the processors and the graphics chip). Good point about Xbox Live Decker - hadn't thought about that, but you know - 50 bucks for a year of Live access is cheap if you ask me. XBL is hella fun. I'm sure they'll continue to support Xbox and Live for awhile after Xbox 2 is released... it's not like it'll be instantly dead or anything upon Xbox 2 release.

I agree, there is no way MS drops a billion or so into something that is really starting to catch on, then just drop it.

I would think that they would just make one subscription work for both game systems. I do not know how, but I assume it would be a very cost effective way to keep people happy.

The hard drive is the biggest plus for XBox loosing it will greatly affect the way I look at the console.

Funny that the design team is using Apple computers to work on the new stuff. Microsoft employees developing the technology of tomorrow with a competitors product.

What in the article is making you conclude that X-box Live is going to be obsolete? It doesn't require a hard drive to work.

Also, I really don't see the importance of backwards compatibility...it was nice for the PS2 because of the huge library of PS1 games, but how many PS1 games have you played on the PS2? And if you have PS1 games to play, you probably still have the original Playstation laying around. It would be interesting to see how many people actually USE the backwards compatibility.

FS

It's not a huge deal since I wouldn't be getting rid of mine anyways, but it seems with DVD based games (vs. cartridge) that backwards compatibility would be a lot easier to swing. I guess if you change up the programming and system architecture it could be a hassle. Anyone have an article explaining this sort of thing better?

I'll wait for the price drop

No hard drive = from me.

My hard drive crashed and I lost all my saves.

Now, if they include an easy way to backup ALL saves (such as a CD burner), I'll reconsider.

Ever heard of a little app called VIRTUAL PC?

Guess who owns it now?

The "too low to resist price point" makes me fear the pay-per-play pricing scheme that Microsoft has been pushing for years now.

...must....resist.... arggghhhh.... posting...

Common tale for MS. Look at Windows. They bought the GUI interface from Apple (dumb, dumb, dumb, apple) for 3.1. And XP is pretty much based on OSX....

no....more..... comparisons..... in vg forum... arrrrggghhh.

I agree with FlashStash! Not having a Harddrive is no big deal, and it does not mean that I can't play LIVE since I everyone is able to make a backup onto their memory card. I'd like to see a compact flash slot anyays (Less moving parts).

Good point, except that Microsoft would have to pay royalty fees to nVidia while emulating the graphics card for the original X-box. Sure they can emulate the processor well enough, but paying to emulate the graphics card could cost them plenty (especially if nVidia wants to overcharge for it).

You seem to forget that IBM and Apple were once at opposite ends of the computing spectrum as well. The rift between PC's and Macs all goes back to when IBM chose to let people make clones of their design.

No hard drive = NO SALE SUCKERS!

I own all three systems, and the hard drive is the only reason I buy multiplatform games for the Xbox.

Microsoft "owns" part of Apple folks.

No they didn't. MS did not pay a dime to apple to "buy" a GUI interface. Apple showed their GUI to MS in hopes that MS would back them up with some software applications. Bill Gates ran home and started his own GUI for the IBM's.

Side note: Apple stole the idea of GUI and a mouse from Xerox, just as MS did from Apple.

No backwards capability sucks. Don't really care about the HD as no developers have taken advantage of it. It's great for sports game saves, but they could do a large internal flash memory and solve that problem. I haven't ripped a single song to the disk so I don't care about that.

Developer's have taken advantage of it! There are a ton of games that let you play ripped songs from your harddrive (just like you stated). Just because you don't care to use it doesn't mean they haven't taken advantage of it.

Did you see that thread about using a USB thumbdrive to store savegames?



I wonder how much faster stuff would load on a flash memory card rather than a traditional HD.

No backwards compatability is a big thing for me. I expected all three to at least have this feature. They will have to start all over again by building a brand new user base. And I am pretty sure their killer ap Halo will not be back for another installment on launch. How many XBoxes did Halo sell? Can lightning strike twice? I think non backwards compatability will affect people thinking of upgrading and those who would buy it to catch up on the previous generation.

I don't think it is a coincidence that the two biggest success stories in video games are backwards compatable.

Didn't MS unveil some new product to link the Xbox with a PC? A HD failure is my greatest fear - not just for game saves, but for downloadable content and music as well. Even with the USB drive, I read on this forum you still can't backup saves that couldn't be backed up with a conventional memory card.

Jeremy

Man, I liked the hard drive. I hope they don't get rid of it. I mean how much can an 8gb hard drive cost? It's not like they would need a bigger one next gen.

I wouldn't care as much for backwards compatability on any other console, but for the Xbox I think it is essential. I don't think I'm alone in saying I've made a sizable investment in the console, DVD remote, games, and XBL account. Now, the Xbox has a lot of hardware components. If one of these breaks and my Xbox stops working (HD failure scares me the most), then all that investment is just as good in the garbage. By having the Xbox Next be backwards compatable, I'll have a backup system.

Another argument for backwards compatability is, as someone mentioned, it gives life to current XBL games. I know all online games have a "shelf-life", where servers for specific games are "retired" after a period of time. But I'd like to think in five years I would be able to play a good nostalgic game of Counter Strike or Ghost Recon with my friends. I can still do this with my PC games, and undoubtedly I'll be able to do this with PS2 games. Microsoft will be at a disadvantage at this point.

And another reason - the Xbox is huge, as we all know. I still have my various consoles out and available in case I want to play an old game now and then. But the Xbox takes up so much space, it's almost impossible to keep that out with another console. I don't care if the Xbox Next is just as big - if it's backwards compatable, it's only one console I have to have out instead of two.

I know there's tons of technical and financial reasons why it would be near impossible for Microsoft to make the Xbox Next backwards compatable. But the reasons for making it backwards compatable are just as compelling and come from the consumers themselves, who actually chose to buy their product. Not having this option makes it look less attractive of an investment, and might give consumers a reason to look at the other two consoles instead.

Jeremy