Microsoft promotes ATI as nVidia Xbox2 replacement (1 Viewer)

[Kami]

Found this today...
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7204

ANALYSTS AT THE Dundee Securities Corporation said today that Canadian company ATI was "well positioned" to pick up future Xbox business.
Obviously, Microsoft is trying to lever Nvidia and ATI against each other – both of them being suppliers, or would be suppliers.
It's sort of a Sendo thing, or maybe a Zsoft thing, all over again, we suspect.
David Hodgson, a senior analyst at ATI, reports that the Vole will do "everything possible" to compete against the Playstation 3, although Microsoft is not well known for designing chips in the past.
Dundee said it believed the GPU supplier to Microsoft's next console – the Xbox 2, right? – will be compensated through some kind of Byzantine licensing deal.
According to Hodgson, Microsoft is trying to drive down the BOM (bill of materials) so it can sell its future product cheaper.
But we wonder who is playing hardball here. Nvidia faced off Microsoft before. Will ATI crumble for the extra revenues the next Xbox will bring?
We suspect Microsoft thinks its power is as it was before. Tell its suppliers what to do, and wait for the fallout... µ

Well, competition is good if they start competing for this but personally I see MS sticking with nVidia.

 

[Joel Mack]

Well, competition is good if they start competing for this but personally I see MS sticking with nVidia.

God, I hope so.

 

[Masood Ali]

I hope they use ATi in their next console. ATi is the current king of consumer graphics cards with their 9700 Pro, their All-In-Wonder series of cards have been highly regarded since their inception, and they have made high quality DVD playback a priority for the last few years.

Microsoft is looking to position the next Xbox as a console/PVR, and ATi's technology in that area is more promising than Nvidia's.

Besides, I think what they did for the Gamecube was simply amazing from a design/cost-effectiveness standpoint.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

As long as backwards compatibility is no problem, I say go with ATi.

 

[Joel Mack]

and they have made high quality DVD playback a priority for the last few years.

Yeah, at the expense of putting out decent drivers for 3D gaming. Pass.

Although I suppose if they get their part in Xbox Next (or whatever it's called), they'll be forced to do it right the first time...

 

[GlenHaag]

As long as backwards compatibility is no problem, I say go with ATi.

Well, if they do this... I would think that backwards compatibility would be a problem.

There could be some specific calls to the Nvidia hardware that they couldn't get around. Unless they put the old chipset in the new box as well. Which I believe is what Sony did with the PS2, but I may be wrong.

Glen

 

[Kami]

I hope they use ATi in their next console. ATi is the current king of consumer graphics cards with their 9700 Pro, their All-In-Wonder series of cards have been highly regarded since their inception, and they have made high quality DVD playback a priority for the last few years.
Microsoft is looking to position the next Xbox as a console/PVR, and ATi's technology in that area is more promising than Nvidia's.
Besides, I think what they did for the Gamecube was simply amazing from a design/cost-effectiveness standpoint.

Well, nVidia's next gen card will surely blow the 9700 out of the water. And since Xbox Next will use hardware one or two generations ahead of THAT, then it's all speculation at this point.
ATI makes great hardware, but they still lack in the software department. Their drivers have come a *long* way, but it's still below nVidia's reliability and efficiency.
And as for the GameCube, didn't ATI just buy the company that made the GC's graphics chip? IIRC they didn't actually develop it but slapped their name on it once they bought the company (forget the name of said company ).
OH well, time will tell.

 

[Masood Ali]

ATi did purchase ArtX, which had a lot to do with the development of the Flipper graphics chip, and can only be viewed as an incredible asset for ATi to possess.

As far as the issue about drivers...it's completely moot. Driver issues don't occur in the realm of console gaming. Unlike developing drivers for a PC, which comes in infinite hardware configurations, infinite software variations, and must be compatible with various game APIs, game engines, etc., developing a graphics chip for console use is a relative cakewalk.

 

[Kelley_B]

nVidia's next gen card will surely blow the 9700 out of the water.

From the early benchmarks I wouldn't say that at all.

 

[Joel Mack]

Since ATI has a storied history of using specially cooked-up drivers for benchmarking purposes, it wouldn't surprise me that nVidia's "real" numbers for the GeForceFX would fall below theirs.

But I'll stop my usual anti-ATI rant here, as everyone's already heard it before...

Sorry...

 

[Ammon]

The only reason I like ATI is that they come out with a good card and it forces nVidia to come out with a better one. I personally stick with nVidia and yes, I too think the next generation nVidia's will kill the 9700. I've found te ATI's seemed to be geared more towards video editing and other functionality while nVidia sticks to making a killer gaming graphics card, IMO.

 

[James T]

Didn't MS want ATI for the original Xbox? I thought they were considering it after there was a fee discrepency with Nvidia?