***Official Xbox Next Discussion Thread - Broadcast Launch 3.12.05 Thread*** (2 Viewers)

[Doug Miller]

Matt --

When I said drivers I was thinking of needing to download a program to make the game compatible -- It sounds like I meant it in the "emulation" sense. I'm not a big tech guy, so I probably said it wrong.

Doug

 

[Matt C]

Ah, I gotcha, sorry about the mixup. In any case, hopefully a large percentage of games will be supported, and if Microsoft is willing to provide auto-updates via Live, any games that don't work quite right could theoretically be taken care of.

-Matt

 

[Sam Posten]

I DONT think they are going the emulation route. What I have read seems to indicate that the games will need a recompile. How they get that recompiled binary out to consumers is an interesting question. Obviously most of a game is in its production assets and not the engine, so its possible that you wouldnt need a replacement disk, just a download that runs the engine from hard disk and the assets from DVD.

If that is the route they wind up taking, I would be VERY surprised to see more than 20 games or so get such treatment.

Sam

 

[Robert Spalding]

What I'd like to know is what will the audio/video connector look like on the new box? I have a box called the vga2xbox that converts my xbox to vga so i can hook it up to my plasma and get progressive scan games with out using one of my HD connectors. I hope I can still use it.

also in response to the 480p comment on the games, only 720p and 1080i are HD, so at minimum, all games will do one of those. 480p is NOT HD, don't let those folks that wasted all that money on an ED plasma tell you otherwise.

 

[BrionL]

The head girl at Game Stop said that the 360 will be backward compatible with all games. She got the info from her Microsoft rep.

I've also read newsreports, sorry I don't have links, that it will be fully backward compatible.

Brion

 

[BrianB]

Generally, sales reps know next to nothing.

 

[BrionL]

Well, maybe this rep knew what she was talking about.

Brion

 

[Ken Chui]

Microsoft and Pepsi are collaborating on a promotion to give away 9000+ Xbox 360 consoles starting in late August. Here are the details from Reuters:

 

[Morgan Jolley]

But you have to drink Mountain Dew...

 

[BrianB]

Yeah, this one rep will know more about it than any of the other Microsoft people at E3

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Officially 480p also falls under the 18 or so resolutions categorized in the hi-def spec, are they not? But I agree with you that it's semantics - 480p is not in the same league as 720p and 1080i.

Re: backwards compatibility is this really important? This is my first console so I defer to those with previous generation systems. On the one hand it would definitely be nice to run only a single console, but on the other does it force any compromises for next-gen game development or console performance? Could the PS2 been more of a powerhouse if it did not need to support PS1 games (if I recall it was released backwards compatible)? All else being equal then I would definitely be in favor of being able to play my original games on 360, but only if it doesn't compromise performance of the new system.

 

[Robert Spalding]

Jay, you are still wrong:
Hi-def is only 720p and 1080i, 480p is digital Standard def. BIG difference. Here is an piece fro the ATSC standard (direct from their website)

At present, there are two pixel-by-line specifications for HDTV in the ATSC standard. The first calls for a picture with 1,920 horizontal pixels by 1,080 vertical lines, while the second calls for a picture with 1,280 horizontal pixels by 720 vertical lines. The aspect ratio of both formats works out to 16:9 (there's that magic number), and the vertical resolution of both formats exceeds the more than 480 lines now found in the NTSC system. Thus, these two formats are the only true HDTV standards on the table.

ATSC also proposed several digital standard definition television (SDTV) formats. The first measures 704 horizontal pixels by 480 lines, and the second 640 pixels by 480 lines. The 704 x 480 format is considered 16:9, although the math tells you it's more rectangular in shape. Of course, 640 x 480 is identical to the garden-variety 31.5 kHz VGA computer display.

Now, here's where things get tricky. A broadcaster can transmit one 1,920 x 1,080 interlaced signal within a channel, or several 480-line images. Or, he could combine two 640 x 480 signals with one 1,280 x 720 image. Yet another option would be just to transmit a slew of 480-line digital signals, all in 4:3 format. All of these options are possible because of the digital bitstream that characterizes HDTV.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Considering that only the PS2 and GameBoys/DS (and I believe an old Atari or Colecovision) are the only backwards-compatible devices made, I don't think backwars compatibility is a big issue. I have an X-Box right now, playing my games on one down the road isn't a big difference from right now. They might look a bit better through some use of the better hardware, but its still not a big deal when its basically the same game.

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Hi Robert

I agree. But 480p does exist under the new "digital TV" standard with all the other formats - enough of a loophole that companies can state 480p and HD compatibility in the same sentence with some measure of legitimacy. But standard/enhanced definition at 480p is NOT hi-def as you state.

 

[Robert Spalding]

I just want to make sure there is a stated difference between "Digital" TV and "Hidef". 480p is only Digital, not Hidef. You originally said 480p fell under the 18 or so resolutions of Hidef, which is not correct. 480p falls under the 18 or so Digital resolutions. glad we agree.

 

[Ken Chui]

I think it will be, at least for the first few months of a console's life cycle. We can expect, on average, 16-20 games to debut for a console launch. Let's say that the average consumer picks up 2, maybe 3 games on that day. With new games being somewhat expensive and with the timeline of other planned releases being uncertain, it's not uncommon for consumers to turn to their former libraries to fill the gaming void, as they wait in anticipation of a particular title(s). I can't speak for others, but for me, this was what I went through with the Dreamcast (except I turned to my PSOne). Shelf space availability is a concern, and I don't want to surrender one to a new console if it's going to be a paperweight for weeks at a time.