http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7307

Allard to blow lid on Xbox 2 tonight
Tom Bramwell 15:35 09/03/2005
Mistimed press release makes big claims.

Microsoft executive J Allard will use his keynote address at the Game Developers Conference later today to unveil a number of key features of Xbox 2.

"In the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor," Allard will say. "New technology and emerging consumer forces will come together to enable the rock stars of game development to shake up the old establishment and redefine entertainment as we know it."

According to highly detailed information released by Xbox's Dutch PR firm Citigate today, Xbox 2 is designed to make life easier for developers - supporting familiar tech "such as DirectX, PIX, XACT and... XNA Studio", and wresting control of key Xbox functions like voice chat, Friends lists and custom soundtracks out of their hands in order to ease the production process and let them "focus on creating games, not developing for technical certification requirements (TCRs)."

In other words, things like voice communication, in-game Friends list management, custom soundtracks and the like will become standard features of the console - controlled, we're told, "at chip level" - and apply to every game regardless of whether or not the developer would have included them otherwise.

It says Xbox 2 will represent "a significant leap to high-definition graphics" - reflecting reports that the console will shoot for HDTV/progressive scan support as standard - as well as "multichannel, positional audio fidelity so clear and precise that players will be able to hear the faintest enemy footsteps sneaking up behind them" and "an abundance of on-demand content for game consoles".

It also refers to the Xbox 2 hardware in broad terms, promising "more than a teraflop of targeted computing performance" thanks to "a multicore processor architecture co-developed with IBM" providing "developer headroom and flexibility", and mentions the custom graphics chip from ATI which Microsoft has itself already announced.

That ties in with a second report that emerged earlier this week claiming to confirm that Xbox 2 will feature optional hard disks, dual-layer DVD-9 discs as standard, memory cards ranging from 64MB to 1GB, and 256MB of system RAM. Microsoft said it would not comment on "rumours and speculation" when confronted with those details.

Xbox 2 will also feature a central "Marketplace" resource where user and developer-made bonus game content is sold for sums as little as 99 cents, doing away with the clunky Downloadable Content facility currently used by Xbox Live titles, as well as "Gamer Cards", which sound like expanded Xbox Live profiles storing game preferences and other personal information input by the user to help people track down like-minded opponents, today's release declares.

The press release makes continual references to the "HD Era" - a potential umbrella term for the Xbox 2 platform and associated facilities - and the "guide", described as an "entertainment gateway that instantly connects players to their games, their friends and their digital media".

Microsoft UK has refused to comment on the document, as it always does on matters next-generation, and has for once pleaded total ignorance - with a representative this afternoon claiming never to have seen the release before. However we have been able to confirm that the document is genuine, erroneously released ahead of the keynote instead of afterward.

The information ties in with other reportedly leaked elements of Allard's speech that are circulating this afternoon, which state that the Microsoft executive will talk about the console's specifications, what the user interface might look like, and where Microsoft sees the future of its Xbox Live online gaming service. Allard will also reportedly refer to the console as "Xenon" - its internal codename.

When Allard unveils elements of Xbox 2 tonight, it will mirror to a certain extent the way Microsoft announced the original Xbox at CES - complete with a hastily constructed mock-up - rather than the traditional platform of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, this time E3 will almost certainly be the platform for the console's actual unveiling.

Citigate representatives declined to comment.

A full report on Allard's keynote will appear here later tonight.

The full text of the press release is available on Eurogamer here.


Chris

But will it render Toy Story in real time?


but seriously, I'm glad the custom sdtk is remaining as a feature.

Nice catch.

Nothing there that really excites me, especially since I don't plan on having an HDTV in the next 5 years.

There is a good 2 part article at Gamespy:

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/microso.../594331p1.html

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/microso.../594355p1.html

I confused by the "HD era" comments. The current xbox already supports 480p/720p/ and 1080i as well as in-game dolby digital. Are we talking 1080p here or what? Most tv's don't support anymore than the current system. Like Josh said, not everyone even has gone HD yet. Let's see the game lineup. What new innovations have they come up with in this department? An xbox with more memory and an optional hard drive do not sound like much improvements too me.

Current Xbox games are not required to have HD support. It's left up to the developer.

All new Xbox 2 games will be required to have 720p support, among other things:

And people without HD sets aren't going to miss out:

Let's see.. football, basketball, some kind of "exxxtreme" sports title, an FPS game or two, sixteen military spec-op games, and more movie and MTV license tie-ins than the mind could possibly imagine. Sound about right to you?

I took it to mean 720p/1080i for every game, which is a very good thing.

I'd still say we miss out some, as I'm not a fan of letter boxing in games. It bugged me in Beyond Good and Evil.

Love it for movies (as I want the original aspect ration) but for games I'd rather them be designed in 4X3 until 16X9 becomes the norm. And by norm I mean the vast majority of homes having them.

Until then games should be 4x3 with 16x9 as an optional mode as is the case now.

Exactly. I'm not expecting much innovation next gen. I imagine even Nintendo's "Revolution" will offer much knew, but I'd love to be surprised.

But I imagine all three systems lineups will be very similar to this gen.

As a general FYI for everyone: 2005 is being called the "Year of HD", as the year progresses there is going to be a solid push by industry to create buzz and get consumers in to buy the units. The proposed plan for the switch over to HDTV was supposed to be complete in 2005, not just starting, but thats where we are at. So you are going to see a lot of ads, devices, PR, pushing HDTV.

Hmm.. the problem I see with this is that most games don't really look that good letterboxed unless they were built that way from the ground up as an artistic choice (Beyond Good & Evil, RE4), and even then it's questionable. I've ran a few of my Xbox games in 16:9 mode since my TV has an anamorphic squeeze feature, and each time I did it all that opened up was massive dead area on the sides and just overall looked better full size in 4:3. Hopefully this doesn't mean that all games are FORCED into letterbox mode, but rather have the option to be displayed that way.

I'm just curious... Those of you with an XBOX, do you think the time is right to release Xbox 2? Seems too soon to me, but I was wondering if people that bought Xbox's planned on buying the next one so soon after their initial purchase...

Hmmmm, looks like I may have to get a 720P supported TV.

My 55" Mits only supports 480P or 1080i

We'll see......I don't think any games really take advantage or 1080i on XBOX (maybe 1 or 2...not sure)

Owning both Gamecube and Xbox I feel it is to early for a new console. It seems like they could still do more with the system, they have Forza coming but thats all I'm really looking forward to. When I look back at my time on the xbox I really only used it for FPS (Halo) and Racing (Rallisport) I have spent much more time on my gamecube. I think if MS keeps the path and keeps building worthy franchise games they will succeed, its what keeps my playing gamecube.

Assuming Xbox 2 gets launched in November, I don't consider 1,461 days between consoles too soon.

I think it's too soon. 5 years has been the psuedo standard for the past few generations and this give the X-box a 4 year span.

I can see why people like Flay who are big PC gamers don't mind, as they're used to upgrading, buying new video cards etc. more often than every 5 years.

But as a console only gamer, I don't like to see lifespans shortening, and hope it backfires on MS and the PS3 kills it when it comes out next year a full SIX years after the PS2 launch.

Thank goodness that attitude didn't prevail when Sega was able to break up Nintendo's monopoly by releasing the Genesis a mere three years after the Master System.

The statements in the original article seem like they might conflict.

If they're saying that critical text has to fit 4x3, then there has to be more going on than just letterboxing. If they're letterboxing, positioning wouldn't matter, right? Or are they saying that the text has to be a certain size so that if it's letterboxed, it won't be shrunk down to the point of being unreadable?

Maybe it's saying that the content will be letterboxed by default, but the system will let you center-crop if you want, and the text will be safe within that area...

It hasn't been mentioned if the console will be capable of interlacing/scaling from 720p to 1080i, which might solve the problem.

According to HDTVArcade.com, Atari Anthology, Dragon's Lair 3-D, Enter the Matrix, MX Unleashed, MX vs. ATV Unleashed, and Syberia support 1080i. Still a lot fewer than the 29 games listed that support 720p, tho'.

The current systems have plenty of juice left in them, 1-3 years in my opinion. The graphics and sound of the new systems are only going to be margainally better to the naked eye/ear and even then, it's only going to be from the developers that actually make full use of new system's capabilities.. there are still plenty of companies shitting out games now that look like high-res PS1 titles.

More about the "HD era" comments: in addition to the new system requiring HDTV support, the upcoming generation will be the first that HD can be standard due to the power of the consoles. Although you can do HD on Xbox, it doesn't mean you always should, since it requires more horsepower to do so. Some games don't support it because the frame rate would drop to an unacceptable level.

Either way sucks IMO. Either I'd have to put up with black bars, or center crop which would likely stink.

If you have a 4x3 "safe area", it's not any different than virtually every show on network television shot that way or the number of games you almost certainly have in your collection that have common height/less width in 4x3 mode.