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http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/5962/Xbox-2-Development-Secrets-
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xbox 2 Development Secrets Revealed
By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar"
May. 19th, 2004 05:42 pm
J Allard had the following words before introducing the latest XNA
advancements at the Microsoft Pre-E3 press briefing held in Los
Angeles last week: "Now, every time I talk, people ask me why I don't
say a little bit more about hardware. It's always software, software,
software, software. So tonight you guys win. Let's talk about
hardware."
And to the disappointment of the crowd expecting Xbox 2 related
information, the Saleen S7 featured in the second Crash demo made by
Pseudo Interactive was unveiled. It is not that the XNA demos aren't
impressive, but it isn't exactly the Xbox 2 hardware specs everyone
was anticipating. In this first interview, J Allard confirmed to
Computer and Videogames (CVG) that although the Xbox 2 hardware is
"locked down", Microsoft has decided not to talk about next generation
hardware this year.
Luckily, CVG caught J Allard the morning after the Microsoft briefing
in an effusive moment, in which the Corporate Vice President and Chief
XNA Architect revealed some information about the Xbox 2 development.
"There's some stuff that's just knocked my socks off," stated Allard.
"The thing we're looking at in the next generation is just an
unbelievable amount of raw computing power - the architecture will be
much more specialized."
Showing his excitement, Allard continued: "Right now you have your
audio chip and you graphics chip and your CPU, and you're constantly
trying to figure out the balances. In the next generation we're going
to have so much silicon, so much raw computing horsepower - developers
are going to be able to use this in interesting and exciting ways."
By now it was too late for Allard to stop talking and he continued to
reveal additional details to CVG: "I've seen demos of terrain and
worlds, with no textures in them whatsoever and no geometry - it's
just a program that's creating a scene for you," and then Allard had
to explain what procedural synthesis is all about:
"Art is the highest cost component of game development, and so much of
the art is really repetitive and really intensive, and then doesn't
come out to be very realistic. You know, bricks in a wall - very
repeated textures."
"Let's go write the brick program and run the brick program to make a
room full of bricks, lose the art expense and gain a more realistic
looking room, because now we can focus on having the bricks there in a
really realistic way. I get really excited about that kind of stuff."
"There are a lot of new techniques," Allard continued. "Like what
shaders have done for 3D, there are a lot of new next-generation
techniques for procedural synthesis that's really going to change how
game construction is done, but also what the environment looks like so
it feels a lot less 'cookie cutter'."
Sounds cool, eh? Coincidently, the latest issue of MIT's magazine,
Technology Review, has an article on Microsoft Research Asia's Beijing
lab. A division launched late last year that works on the Xbox and
Longhorn (next version of Windows) is the focus of the article with
some juicy quotes from experts around the world:
"Microsoft Research is by far the biggest contributor to graphics in
the corporate world. It's a powerhouse," says Paul Debevec, a graphics
expert at the University of Southern California's Institute for
Creative Technologies. "The Beijing lab, in particular, has achieved
"some amazing results," he adds. "It's not just, ‘How can we make a
better Xbox?'"
Then the article continues: "But in fact, a better Xbox is ultimately
part of the lab's mission. Reminders that this is a business, not a
researcher's playground, are never far away. In an adjoining hallway,
a large corner room has its windows plastered over with opaque sheets
of paper. The sign on the locked door reads, "Xbox: Confidential."
Baining Guo, a former Intel researcher and now Microsoft Research
Asia's graphics research manager, isn't allowed to talk about what's
going on inside. "Some of our best people work in there," is all he'll
say."
Could this be the place where the latest developments in "procedural
synthesis" are being conducted? We'll have to wait a few months to
find out the truth, but the excitement J Allard expresses while
talking about next generation technology is easily contagious when you
read information such as this.
For the entire Beijing lab article, click here. Stay tuned; we'll have
much more on the next wave of gaming technology as it becomes
available.
_______________________________________________________________________________
^
very interesting read IMO. Xbox 2 is sounding much better than Xbox
for its time. no more PC-derived architecture, with Intel out of the
picture. Xbox 2 will be getting a custom ATI graphics processor and
several IBM PowerPC or Power4/5 CPUs on one die. (look at Allard's
comments on raw computing power). Plus, probably, very fast flash
memory for storage, which will also probably better facilitate
streaming data compared to a HDD. Xbox 2 is shaping up to be the most
reliable nextgen console as far as power, features, image quality,
ease of development, etc. I'm not as confident about PS3 or
Nintendo's next system.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Xbox 2 Development Secrets Revealed
By: César A. Berardini - "Cesar"
May. 19th, 2004 05:42 pm
J Allard had the following words before introducing the latest XNA
advancements at the Microsoft Pre-E3 press briefing held in Los
Angeles last week: "Now, every time I talk, people ask me why I don't
say a little bit more about hardware. It's always software, software,
software, software. So tonight you guys win. Let's talk about
hardware."
And to the disappointment of the crowd expecting Xbox 2 related
information, the Saleen S7 featured in the second Crash demo made by
Pseudo Interactive was unveiled. It is not that the XNA demos aren't
impressive, but it isn't exactly the Xbox 2 hardware specs everyone
was anticipating. In this first interview, J Allard confirmed to
Computer and Videogames (CVG) that although the Xbox 2 hardware is
"locked down", Microsoft has decided not to talk about next generation
hardware this year.
Luckily, CVG caught J Allard the morning after the Microsoft briefing
in an effusive moment, in which the Corporate Vice President and Chief
XNA Architect revealed some information about the Xbox 2 development.
"There's some stuff that's just knocked my socks off," stated Allard.
"The thing we're looking at in the next generation is just an
unbelievable amount of raw computing power - the architecture will be
much more specialized."
Showing his excitement, Allard continued: "Right now you have your
audio chip and you graphics chip and your CPU, and you're constantly
trying to figure out the balances. In the next generation we're going
to have so much silicon, so much raw computing horsepower - developers
are going to be able to use this in interesting and exciting ways."
By now it was too late for Allard to stop talking and he continued to
reveal additional details to CVG: "I've seen demos of terrain and
worlds, with no textures in them whatsoever and no geometry - it's
just a program that's creating a scene for you," and then Allard had
to explain what procedural synthesis is all about:
"Art is the highest cost component of game development, and so much of
the art is really repetitive and really intensive, and then doesn't
come out to be very realistic. You know, bricks in a wall - very
repeated textures."
"Let's go write the brick program and run the brick program to make a
room full of bricks, lose the art expense and gain a more realistic
looking room, because now we can focus on having the bricks there in a
really realistic way. I get really excited about that kind of stuff."
"There are a lot of new techniques," Allard continued. "Like what
shaders have done for 3D, there are a lot of new next-generation
techniques for procedural synthesis that's really going to change how
game construction is done, but also what the environment looks like so
it feels a lot less 'cookie cutter'."
Sounds cool, eh? Coincidently, the latest issue of MIT's magazine,
Technology Review, has an article on Microsoft Research Asia's Beijing
lab. A division launched late last year that works on the Xbox and
Longhorn (next version of Windows) is the focus of the article with
some juicy quotes from experts around the world:
"Microsoft Research is by far the biggest contributor to graphics in
the corporate world. It's a powerhouse," says Paul Debevec, a graphics
expert at the University of Southern California's Institute for
Creative Technologies. "The Beijing lab, in particular, has achieved
"some amazing results," he adds. "It's not just, ‘How can we make a
better Xbox?'"
Then the article continues: "But in fact, a better Xbox is ultimately
part of the lab's mission. Reminders that this is a business, not a
researcher's playground, are never far away. In an adjoining hallway,
a large corner room has its windows plastered over with opaque sheets
of paper. The sign on the locked door reads, "Xbox: Confidential."
Baining Guo, a former Intel researcher and now Microsoft Research
Asia's graphics research manager, isn't allowed to talk about what's
going on inside. "Some of our best people work in there," is all he'll
say."
Could this be the place where the latest developments in "procedural
synthesis" are being conducted? We'll have to wait a few months to
find out the truth, but the excitement J Allard expresses while
talking about next generation technology is easily contagious when you
read information such as this.
For the entire Beijing lab article, click here. Stay tuned; we'll have
much more on the next wave of gaming technology as it becomes
available.
_______________________________________________________________________________
^
very interesting read IMO. Xbox 2 is sounding much better than Xbox
for its time. no more PC-derived architecture, with Intel out of the
picture. Xbox 2 will be getting a custom ATI graphics processor and
several IBM PowerPC or Power4/5 CPUs on one die. (look at Allard's
comments on raw computing power). Plus, probably, very fast flash
memory for storage, which will also probably better facilitate
streaming data compared to a HDD. Xbox 2 is shaping up to be the most
reliable nextgen console as far as power, features, image quality,
ease of development, etc. I'm not as confident about PS3 or
Nintendo's next system.