The Next XBox

The Next XBox
25th January 2012

The Next Xbox Will Play Blu-Ray, May Not Play Used Games (And Will Introduce Kinect 2)
Microsoft will upgrade its disc technology for its next Xbox from DVDs to Blu-Ray discs, catching up to rival Sony, games industry sources tell Kotaku.

Sony's PlayStation 3 currently supports Blu-Ray, which can contain 25 or 50GB of data compared to DVD's 9GB.

But that disc detail could be far less impactful to the next generation of game consoles than the assertion I've heard from one reliable industry source that Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720.
It's not clear if that means that the system wouldn't play used games or how such a set-up would work. Obvious approaches—I'm theorizing here—like linking a copy of a game to a specific Xbox Live account could seemingly be foiled by used-game owners who would keep their system offline. My source wasn't sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine.

A push in any way by Microsoft against used games would likely be cheered from publishers sick of seeing retailers like GameStop crow about their revenues from the sale of used games. But it could potentially anger consumers who rely on buying cheaply-sold used games or even pass games to relatives or friends.

One source familiar with Microsoft's plans for the new Xbox said Microsoft plans to ship their new Xbox with a new version of its red-hot Kinect hands-free sensor system. The new Kinect would contain an on-board processor, a feature originally intended for the first Kinect. That processor would enable a new Kinect to more effectively detect users' motions.

I'm also hearing that Microsoft is interested in making a smaller controller for its new console.

And what of gaming site IGN's report that the machine could be six times more powerful than the Xbox 360? From some industry sources I'm hearing that that's the right ballpark and that Microsoft is estimating they might even get to 8x the Xbox 360. But another insider clarified that no one in the industry has development kits yet and that any talk about specs right now is still hypothetical.

Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.

"Xbox 720" is being used as shorthand by reporters like me to refer to the next Xbox. It's not necessarily the name of the next device. Tech sites Semi Accurate and Fudzilla have reported that the first chips for 720 development kits are going into production, leading to a possible late 2013 release despite my earlier reporting which had pointed to 2014 as the year of the next Xbox and PlayStation.

Sony Planning PS4’s Arrival to Coincide With Next-Gen Xbox?

Sony Planning PS4’s Arrival to Coincide With Next-Gen Xbox?
26th November 2011

Sony's gaming division is tracking the growing rumours of a new Microsoft console, with the aim being to release its PlayStation4 as near to it as possible — so there won't be a huge headstart for Microsoft this time around.

PlayStation Europe president Jim Ryan, speaking to Eurogamer, said it would be "undesirable" for the gaming giant to launch a new console "significantly later" than any updated Xbox, to avoid handing Microsoft another huge lead. Sony's clearly hinting that it'd push through a "PlayStation4" announcement as soon as Microsoft fleshes out its plans for a new console.

Microsoft could even announce a new gaming console this January, with the most recent rumours pointing to some form of early hardware or spec announcement at the 2012 CES event.

Next Generation XBox To Arrive In 2012

Next generation XBox to arrive in 2012
25th November 2011

Ubisoft Montreal currently working with next-generation Xbox devkits; major Sony studio shifts focus to new PlayStation.

Ubisoft Montreal is hard at work on 'target boxes' based on the intended specifications of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 successor, according to an Edge source. Delivery of the first iteration of genuine devkits, running custom hardware, is expected to reach studios before Christmas, and all signs point to the finalised console arriving at retail in late 2012.

Ubisoft’s teams are said to be working on PCs containing off-the-shelf components provided by Microsoft, and it’s our understanding that several other major developers, including certain EA studios, are also in possession of these target boxes. While our source was unable to share precise specifications, it is believed that AMD is providing the bespoke GPU solution for Microsoft’s console. A Ubisoft spokesperson said: "We do not comment on rumour and speculation."

We can also reveal that one major Sony-owned studio has now ceased PlayStation 3 development, its entire focus having shifted to the console’s successor. The studio is also said to have been involved in the development process of the graphics technology adopted by Sony’s new hardware.

It is clear that both Sony and Microsoft have learned from their respective experiences this generation and recognise the importance of being first to market. Despite rushing Xbox 360's release - games shown at E3 2005 were running on overheating Power Mac G5s, just six months prior to the console's launch - Microsoft would no doubt view the billion-dollar loss caused by the RROD fiasco as more than justified by the console's eventual market share.

Sony, too, will have learned a painful lesson from coming to market a year after its competitor, with more expensive hardware. That the runaway leader of the previous generation is only now closing in on Microsoft's sales - 55.5 million PS3s had been sold by September 30, with Xbox 360 sales at 57.6 million - speaks volumes of the importance of not giving its competitor another head start.

A 2012 release would also do much to stop Wii U gathering momentum. While Nintendo's new console is significantly more powerful than its predecessor, it boasts little improvement over the current generation of HD consoles in terms of raw processing power.

Wii U has been positioned to developers as a suitable home for Xbox 360 and PS3 ports, and putting new consoles on shelves next year could leave Nintendo scrambling for thirdparty support. Reports this week claim that Microsoft could announce its console at CES in Las Vegas in January; Nintendo is not to reveal the finalised Wii U hardware until E3 in June.

Evidence of an approaching new generation of consoles has been building for some time. Square Enix announced its next-generation Luminous Engine in August, and showed it off last month, while Epic Games demonstrated an enhanced version of Unreal Engine 3, which VP Mark Rein said brought "unprecedented levels of realism and demonstrates what the next generation of gaming will be", at GDC in March.

Internet sleuth Superannuation last month found four Microsoft employees whose LinkedIn pages referenced the next-gen Xbox, and just last night discovered a casual forum reference to Kinect creative director Kudo Tsunoda's "NextGen team at MS".

Square Enix's worldwide technology director Julien Merceron told us in June that companies prepare for new hardware by moving their best talent off current projects. "In the next year and a half or so we'll see a drop in innovation," he said, "because the talent is moving on to something else."

Ubisoft Montreal is currently recruiting for a senior animation programmer, with one of the job's responsibilities the creation of a "next-generation animation system." Yves Jacquier, executive director of production services at the studio, said in July that AI, rather than better graphics, would be the "real battleground" of the next generation.

"Our challenge with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox [360] is that we're extremely limited in what we can do," he said. "It's a challenge for the engineers to provide nice graphics and nice AI and nice sound with a very small amount of memory and computation time.

"We think that the next generation of consoles won't have these limits any more." It appears Jacquier knew more than he was letting on; there is now a very real possibility that all three platform holders will have new consoles on sale this time next year.

Windows 8 with Xbox Live

Windows 8 with Xbox Live
30th September 2011

Microsoft is planning to jack its Xbox Live online gaming and entertainment service under the bonnet of its Windows 8 operating system. Mike Delman, vice president of global marketing for Microsoft’s interactive entertainment unit, told the LA Times Xbox Live will be used as the central application through which consumers will buy media across a variety of devices. At the same time, Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 will get a look which uses Vole’s “live tile” design seen on Windows Phone 7 handsets, which it has said will be central to the look of Windows 8. Delman insists that Xbox Live has done well on the Windows Phone. If it is put into a PC, it will be the service where you get your entertainment. It means that Xbox Live will work across devices similar in a way to Apple’s iTunes. Vole has twigged that consumers want to be able to navigate through multiple devices in a certain ecosystem easily. Vole will also be going through its “assets” and unifying them under the Xbox Live label.

Hilarious Bugs From FIFA 12

Hilarious Bugs From FIFA 12
22nd September 2011

FIFA 12 features an all new Player Impact physics engine, and EA claims that it "processes decisions continuously in real-time at every point of contact on a player's body."

YouTube user Kennybastards has found that the engine doesn't have a 100% success rate.

See the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAR6I_T-uVc

Microsoft Asks: “Do We Even Need to Build a Better Xbox?”

Apparently, big game producers are quite happy with the plateau console development has hit, and big names in the industry like Frank Gibeau, of EA said there’s not any kind of urgency for Microsoft or Sony to develop a new gaming system. His exact words were “It’s hard for me to conceive what you would do on a PlayStation 4,” according to oursource. “The displays are already 1080p, you’re already connected to the Internet. … You could make it faster, you could have more polys and you could up the graphics a little bit … but at what cost?”

Gibeau refers specifically to the fact that thanks to add-ons like Microsoft’s Kinect or Sony’s Playstation Move, added to the frequent updates and almost photo-realistic graphics seen in some games, there’s not much a current generation console couldn’t do. This can be contrasted to the PC gaming current situation, though. Because the PC is an open platform, hardware development never stops and most high-end computers are already technically more powerful than current gen consoles, but there’s more to gaming than just pretty graphics. Granted, Crysis looks much better on PC’s than consoles, but then again, isn’t Crysis just your standard Sci-Fi FPS?

This generation of consoles has already had its share of classics, but we have to admit it took a while for developers to catch on, arguing that producing for the (at the time) next-gen consoles was just too expensive and not worth it. Now that pretty much everyone has caught on, is it worth it to go back to the previous situation just to have a new Call of Duty that looks slightly better?

And this takes us to our final point: there just haven’t been many new franchises this generation, and save a couple gems, we’re still playing the same games we played on our Playstation 2 and original Xbox, only with prettier graphics. Cranking the graphics up and releasing a new console before anything truly revolutionary comes along to warrant a new console is just gonna make games staler, and gamers will end up with just new sequels while indie developers will again be left out of the latest innovations being that the price would go up again.

Apparently, though, Microsoft, and Sony seem to understand this, and seem to be holding out for 2015 for their respective new systems (the 10 year life-span so many blogs talk about). In the meanwhile, Nintendo seems to be trying to catch up with their long-due Wii U which should make for some interesting competition.

Article by XBoxFreedom.com

Playstation 4: What We Know So Far

Playstation 4: What We Know So Far

Many expect this year to be the final swan song for the current generation of consoles with Nintendo already announcing their nextgen console, but what about Sony and Microsoft? Many insiders expect them to start making moves toward the next generation in 2012 – we run down what we know so far about the PS4.

Rumours Of Its Existence.
There’s already been wild spread speculation with regards Xbox 720( or whatever they call it), but the PS4 is rumour mill has been somewhat slower on the uptake. Apart from the odd slip up from the top brass. But Kaz Hirai said earlier in the year: “We’re not deliberating on a PS4 or a next generation machine.”

But in May, Sony began to make different noises about the follow-up to the Playstation 3 – when Executive Vice President and Chief Financial officer Masaru Kato apparently confirmed that Sony is working on the PS4.

The revelation took place during a conference call to investors where he was asked about increased R&D costs – usually associated with when a company is knee-deep in the creation of new technology products. There’s no doubt that a lot of money will have been splashed on Vita – but many speculate that it’s also PS4 related.

This was confirmed when speaking to Eurogamer “This is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we’ll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there”.

But as usual the Sony exec tried to back track blaming his quote be misinterpreted, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on 31 May 2011, Kato denied that he was specifically referring to the PS4, saying “Some people misread what I said.” Ok we believe you Kato.

The Tech.
It’s thought that Sony will continue to use the same chip architecture that is found in the PS3; the advanced, multi-core, incredibly hard-to-develop-for Cell processor.

Now this would be great news for many developers who have continually criticise the difficulty of developing for the Cell. They won’t have throw away all they have learned over the years when it comes to making games for the tricky Cell processors.

Throw in the fact that Sony has sunk $3 billion on the tech and if that stay the course it would allow for easy backwards compatability with the PS3. And, most importantly, Sony bought the Cell factory from Toshible for £400 million. So it seems very unlikely that they will abandon this tech having invested so much money already.

It’s thought that Sony will stick to their tried and tested distribution channels of Blu-Ray and, of course, a greater emphasis of digital distribution But we still expect them to keep physical media.. Especially after what they learnt from the defunct PSP Go which dropped physical media altogether and failed in the process.

As Kaz Hirai told Develop, “we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope. There’s always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium.”

Playstation Network To Be Improved ?
According to Reg Hardware, It would be a decent idea to remodel the Playstation Network as Xbox Live is much more pleasant place to be and generates a lot revenue than the PS Network. We expect a compulsory paid service with a greater emphasis on social aspects which would replace the current freemium model they currently have now with Playstation Network.

What about a PS4 release date?
Sony has always claimed that there is more than enough untapped power left in the Ps3 for the console to have 10 year life cycle. But this isn’t the only factor: If the competition jumps the gun they might not have a choice to move their forward plans. And if sales of the current console drop like it with the Wii – market forces might play their role too.

Speaking to PSM3 magazine, the Bethesda exec said that gamers were happy with the current generation of console tech and that he didn’t expect to see an Xbox 720 or a PS4 before 2014.

“Where we go after this is an interesting one,” says Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire. “The online side is very interesting and is a big part of our business going forward. But in terms of what sort of technology we’ll be using, it’s far too early to say yet because we’re only half way through the lifecycle of PS3 – there are many years to come on that machine.”

So quite when we will see successor remains to be seen. It may well be the case that Sony’s hand might forced if Microsoft and Nintendo get a head start on them. Sony wouldn’t want to be the last out of the blocks again. We all remember the slow start the PS3 had – and we’d imagine they wouldn’t want a repeat of this again. Even if there’s plenty of life let in the ol’ girl yet.

When do you think we’ll see the PS4 ? Will they ditch physical media to keep the cost down ? Let us know below.