XBOX360

XBOX360















Beating Sony and Nintendo to the unveiling of the next-generation consoles from gaming's arch nemeses, Microsoft has lifted the veil on the successor to the wildly popular Xbox, to be dubbed the Xbox 360. Due out in time for Christmas, the 360 improves vastly on the graphics capabilities of its predecessor, whilst adding new media functionality, wireless controllers and integrated Xbox Live.

To offer a degree of personalization with interchangeable face plates, the all-white and concave 360 was designed for use with high-definition, wide-screen televisions yet remains compatible with older, 4:3 sets. Fitted with a 20 GB exchangeable, upgradeable hard drive, the Xbox 360 boasts a 12x dual layer DVD-ROM drive and wireless controllers, of which one will come bundled in the sales package. Users will then be able to purchase up to three additional controllers, as well as accessories including a digital camera and Wi-Fi adapter.

Based around three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz with 1 MB of Level 2 cache, Microsoft lists the Xbox 360 as being able to perform 48 Billion shader operations per second. Coupled with a 500 MHz ATI graphics processor with 10 MB of embedded DRAM, the 360 also boasts a rate of 500 million triangles per second, joining 512 MB of DDR3 RAM operating at 700 Mhz for a total claimed performance of approximately a Teraflop.

Audio output capabilities have also been improved over the original Xbox, with the 360 offering multichannel, 16-bit surround sound output at 48 KHz. Other in/out options include three USB 2.0 ports allow streaming of media from digital cameras, portable audio players and other USB storage enabled devices by the 360. Additionally, the unit also offers two memory unit slots with cards now starting at 64 MB capacities.

Networking is comprehensive in the Xbox 360, which offers an integrated Ethernet port and is also Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g ready should users want to add wireless connectivity through accessories purchased either from Microsoft or other manufacturers. Either wired or wireless connections can be used to stream media from Windows XP PCs, and the console is also equipped with Microsoft's Media Extender platform, which links up with Media Center PCs to further improve media capabilities.

In addition, the Xbox 360 can also rip audio directly from CDs or DVDs to its hard disk, allowing users to create custom playlists for every game or alternatively settle for full-screen 3D visualizers.

With High Definition a key aspect of the Xbox 360, a number of high-profile titles supporting 720p and 1080i resolutions are being prepared for the launch of the unit including 2K Sports' "NBA 2K6"; Activision Publishing's "Call of Duty 2" and "Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland", along with id Software's "QUAKE 4"; Electronic Arts' "Madden NFL 06," "Need for Speed Most Wanted" and "Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 06"; Majesco Entertainment's "The Darkness"; Microsoft Game Studios' "Perfect Dark: Zero," "Kameo: Elements of Power," "Project Gotham Racing 3" and "Gears of War"; THQ's "Saint's Row"; and Ubisoft Entertainment's "Ghost Recon 3."

Tearing down the separation between the Xbox and its Live online multiplayer service, the Xbox 360 comes with integrated Xbox Live Silver access, enabling online multiplayer sessions with improved functionality. Players can set up and manage their Gamer Profile; audio chat; send and receive text and voice messages; and access the Xbox Live Marketplace to download demos and trailers along with new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, classic arcade and card and board games, community-created content, and more to the detachable Xbox 360 hard drive.

Composed of user-generated information such as Achievements (rewards players have earned in games), Gamerzone (style of play), and a custom-created Gamertile (a visual icon to represent the gamer online), the Gamer Profile provides a foundation for intelligent matchmaking, a feature only found in the Xbox Live Gold service.

Available for an added monthly subscription fee, the Xbox Live Gold intelligent matchmaking feature lets players of similar skill levels and interests connect. Also with Live Gold, gamers in possession of the Xbox Live Camera peripheral will be able to video chat and leave video messages, whilst other upgrades include online tournaments and ladders; original programming such as playing with celebrities online and joining sponsored tournaments to win prizes.

Behind The Shell

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

CPU Game Math Performance

* 9 billion dot product operations per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor

* 10 MB of embedded DRAM
* 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines
* Unified shader architecture
Polygon Performance
* 500 million triangles per second

Pixel Fill Rate

* 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA

Shader Performance

* 48 billion shader operations per second

Memory

* 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM
* 700 MHz of DDR
* Unified memory architecture

Memory Bandwidth

* 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
* 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
* 21.6 GB/s front-side bus

Overall System Floating-Point Performance

* 1 teraflop

Storage

* Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive
* 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
* Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB I/O
* Support for up to four wireless game controllers
* Three USB 2.0 ports
* Two memory unit slots

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

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

High-Definition Game Support

* All games supported at 16:9, 720p, and 1080i, anti-aliasing
* Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported

Audio

* Multi-channel surround sound output
* Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
* 320 independent decompression channels
* 32-bit audio processing
* Over 256 audio channels

System Orientation

* Stands vertically or horizontally
Customizable Face Plates
* Interchangeable to personalize the console

Current Developers Working On Games For XBOX360
2KGames
Activision Inc.
Atari Inc.
Bandai Co. Ltd.
Bethesda Softworks LLC
Buena Vista Games Inc.
Capcom Co. Ltd.
Codemasters Software Company Ltd.
Eidos Inc.
Electronic Arts Inc.
FromSoftware Inc.
InterServ International
KOEI Co. Ltd.
Konami Corp.
LucasArts
Majesco Entertainment
Midway Games Inc.
Namco Ltd.
Phantagram Co. Ltd.
Rockstar Games
SCi Games Ltd.
SEGA
Tecmo Ltd.
THQ Inc.
TWP Corp.
Ubisoft Entertainment
Vivendi Universal Games Inc.
Webzen Inc.

Credits : iSW, Xboxyde, TXBOX