Official Xbox 2 Thread

Lux Delux · **Posted:** Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:37 am **Post subject:**

This Xbox doesnt make me horny in the pants :outsider:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Mon May 08, 2006 10:22 pm **Post subject:**

There's a new book out about the xbox2 and microsoft in general.

Sounds like a fun read... apparantly microsoft passed up the opportunity to get GTA exclusive on the xbox and they spent vast amounts of money on Rare expecting them to make 5 or so games and they made one. ouch! :lol:

http://egm.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3150474
http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.off ... Id=3150432

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Tue May 23, 2006 10:34 pm **Post subject:**

DS worth more than xbox360 in japan:
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/23/ds-li ... -in-japan/

:lol:

Crazy japs :lol:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Mon Jun 05, 2006 6:34 pm **Post subject:**

Can't be arsed with Backwards Compatability
http://megagames.com/news/html/console/ ... nger.shtml

Quote:

Peter Moore's recent hint that Microsoft aims to stop working on enriching the list of XBox games that can be played on X360, along with his remarks on what the market is about have sparked gamer anger.

In a recent interview with Kikizo, Peter Moore made his views on backward compatibility very clear; ...nobody is concerned anymore about backwards compatibility, he said, adding that the process of making XBox games compatible for the XBox 360 is a lengthy and complicated one. Although Mr. Moore made it clear that more games will be added to the backwards compatibility list, he added ...at some point, you just go, there's enough, let's move on, or people aren't as worried about a game being backwards compatible.

It is this final statement, suggesting that Microsoft will not convert all of the original XBox games for the X360 that has upset gamers as it directly contradicts a promise made by the company, through PR manager Michael Wolf, before the next-generation console was launched. Additionally Microsoft has to consider that quite a large number of XBox 360 owners will have sold their original console in order to make room or raise the funds for the new MS offering.

If Microsoft decides to back down on its promise it runs the risk of alienating quite a few of its current users who own large libraries of XBox games. Sony, a company that greatly benefited by the backwards compatibility offered by its PS2 console will be eager for just such a Microsoft slip-up in order to gain some market share following the launch of the PS3.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:08 pm **Post subject:**

Old news and already refuted :

Quote:

Backwards Compatibility Update Coming Soon
>> Since the Kikizo interview with Peter Moore posted yesterday lots of articles have been posted about Microsoft halting backwards compatibility updates after reading Moore's words in that very same interview:

Quote:

Nobody is concerned anymore about backwards compatibility. We under promised and over delivered on that...
More are coming, but at some point, you just go, there's enough, let's move on, or people aren't as worried about a game being backwards compatible - and I like to think we've upheld our end of the bargain in making at least two or maybe three hundred games backwards compat.

The Team Xbox GamerScore Blog now posted an official response:

Quote:

Lots of talk about backwards compatibility online today. We wanted to get to the bottom of it all, so we went right to the team working on the next back compat update. We hear directly from them that they're in the testing phase of another update, and it should be out in the next few weeks. We saw the list they're testing, and it looks like they're hoping to add at least a dozen titles.

Long before the launch, we thought we might hit a few dozen titles, and we all feel pretty good about the list of well over 200 titles on the back compat list today, including many of the games that you've asked for. You all have heard us say the work isn't simple. Many games did unique things to take advantage of the processing power of the Xbox, and that makes it difficult to emulate, especially when we then have to make new code work with existing (and future) compatible titles.

But rest assured, we're not done yet.
We know for a fact that there are lots of people who continue to care about backwards compatibility, including the "Emulation Ninjas" who are working full time on the updates. nd those of us posting on this blog. And, of course, many of you.
Stay tuned for more information about the upcoming update...

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:50 pm **Post subject:**

Seems the HDDVD addon will be $200 which is $100 more than i was expecting.

However, in terms of HDDVD vs Bluray reviews, i'm pretty amazed to here that HD-DVD has been getting highger review scores. And with the major blow of the ps3 crapping out until march in europe, if HD-DVD got their shit in gear they could win the region. I aint seen shit about it though, although HDTV is finally here in the uk.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:07 pm **Post subject:**

that addon is cheap - standalone HD-DVD is expensive!

Blu-ray has so far been terrible according to all the reviews

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:44 am **Post subject:**

In all fairness though, many have said it might just be the players available. Bluray players have been crappy so far. For a fair test it really needs to be the same make and similar model to make sure the players are right.

I think HDDVD has worse DRM right? So I think that if it wins it will be good. Will probably also kill sony, who are a company i think deserve to die for the DRM shit they've pulled and the damage their involvement in the mpaa has done. Adapt or die

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:22 pm **Post subject:**

People didn't believe my prediction on a few sites that i posted internal hddvd being obvious with an xbox2 revision (well it seemed damn obvious if you ask me so it wasn't really a prediction, more of an inevitability)

MS To Offer Internal HD-DVD?
http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060913A6035.html

Quote:

Microsoft has started designing a new-generation of Xbox 360's equipped with an internal HD-DVD drive and is selecting manufacturers in Taiwan to build the drive, according to sources in Taiwan's optical disc drive (ODD) industry.

"Microsoft will offer an external HD-DVD drive for its Xbox 360 at around the end of this year, in an attempt to compete with the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), which will have a built-in Blu-ray Disc (BD) drive, the sources indicated. The external HD-DVD drive, however, can only play back movies, the sources noted."

If the process of selecting partner makers and subsequent certification goes smoothly, Microsoft may launch the Xbox 360 equipped with the built-in HD-DVD drive in the first half of 2007 at the soonest, the sources noted.

Hardly surprising.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 14, 2006 3:42 pm **Post subject:**

Still being rubbished by M$ - it's inevitable at SOME point though

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:37 pm **Post subject:**

lol, there's a shocker. I really don't understand why m$ would bother poo-pooing the thing, unless its some secret weapon... and a dvd player is hardly a secret weapon.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:20 pm **Post subject:**

I can, it will piss off all the people who bought one the day / or the day before they announce it

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:19 am **Post subject:**

1080p for Xbox2

Quote:

At their pre-TGS press briefing in Tokyo today, Microsoft announced that the Xbox 360 will support 1080p content through a software upgrade. The "p" stands for parity.

Microsoft's announcement -- which effectively parries Sony's bold claims regarding the merits of 1080p high definition content or, as Sony calls it, True HD -- is their latest move seeking to blunt the impact of the oncoming Sony PS3 hype-train. With the True HD cat de-clawed, Microsoft's mantra of choice will appear even more appealing. It's another bullet point taken out of the next-gen console war equation.

Joystiq spoke briefly with Shane Kim, General Manager of Microsoft Game Studios, about their announcements in Tokyo today. First off, Kim clarified that, while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability. He was similarly convinced that very few other developers would see the value in producing 1080p games, with the singular exception of Sony's first-party studios, eager to validate the value of the capability.

Similar to the way the Xbox 360 upscales original Xbox games from 480p to 720p/1080i, you'll be able to enjoy your existing Xbox 360 games at the new resolution. As if you needed more proof that Microsoft's adoption of high definition HD-DVD is little more than a strategic move to limit Blu-ray's potential sphere of influence, Microsoft's 1080p software upgrade will also remove some of the value of their upcoming HD-DVD add-on by upscaling your existing DVD movies to HD resolutions, including 1080p.

So, Microsoft just announced that the Xbox 360 will play your existing DVDs back in high-definition -- in addition to being able to play back legitimate HD-DVD content if you're interested -- and they're gonna do it in 1080p. In the bullet point war, Sony better hope that extra Blu-ray disc space is worth it; they'll have a chance to prove it at TGS this week.

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/20/tgs-x ... let-point/

The italic bit i don't get, but someone says its a dig at sony or something. p obviously stands for progressive.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 21, 2006 7:11 am **Post subject:**

It's to bring them in line with Sony :

Dictionary.com wrote:

par‧i‧ty1 /ˈpærɪti/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[par-i-tee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. equality, as in amount, status, or character.
2. equivalence; correspondence; similarity; analogy.

Just puts them on an even footing with the PS3

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:12 pm **Post subject:**

oh right, so it was some lame ass "biz speak" they made up. Should have figured it was business men trying to be funny :lol:

Question though, erm maybe its just me but do you spot an obvious point of moronic hardware development on M$'s part? It only has composite output doesn't it? Surely they need HDMI for real 1080p?

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Sep 21, 2006 5:40 pm **Post subject:**

Apparently it's not an issue, I think "wait and see" might be appropriate on that front.

God only knows, 1080p is a total irrelevance at the moment anyway

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Wed Sep 27, 2006 11:18 am **Post subject:**

It's max 1080i over component or 1080p over VGA. Which is good, because my DVD is on component and 360 on VGA. 1080p is totally irrelevant as you say, there's only a handful of TV's in the Uk that can display it at present.

Anyhoo:

360 HD-DVD Drive - £119?

http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.p ... d&t=758131

Quote:

Tommorow is the X06 conference in Barcelona. Some info has been leaked including some big surprises. Here is a list of what is going to be anounced tommorow. Tune in for the confernce at Xbox.com from 6pm GMT.

Gears of War single player and multiplayer videos shown. Playable on show floor.

HD-DVD anouncement. Release date and price for Europe and United States. £119.99/E149.99 and December 1st release in Europe.$199.99 USD and November 24th release in US.
All will be bundled with Universal Media Remote.

A new Halo 3 trailer is shown. Some multiplayer info revealed. Aiming for 50-64 player online. Announce that Halo 3 will be the first game to run natively on 1080p. They will make full use of this update. Available in 2007. Playable behind closed doors.

More info about 1080p and how it will be done. New dashboard announcement. Release date revealed for late November. Will allow users to try out homebrew content made with XNA game express.

More news on Live Anywhere and how it will function. Talk about function with Zune and XBLA titles.

Rare show off new version of Killer Instinct for the 360. Will support 4 player tag matches. Playable on show floor.

Alan Wake shown and fully playable. Will also be availble on Windows Vista. Coming this Spring.

Fable 2 trailer shown. Multiplayer confirmed.

Black Xbox 360 anounced. Available this Christmas around the world. New Xbox 360 core and premium bundles shown. Xbox 360 Classics game list. Kameo, PDZ included. More this spring including Oblivion.

Many more videos and games are playable. I have just listed some of the major ones.

Now here is a list of downloadble content on Xbox Live. As you know its Bringing it Home period. Much of what was shown at X06 will appear. This is from the 27th to midnight on the 29th.

Demos:

Splinter Cell Double Agent multiplayer
Crackdown
Forza Motorsport 2
Sonic the Hedghog
Viva Pinata
Need for Speed Carbon
Call of Duty 3
Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Mass Effect
+ MORE

Videos:

GOW single player and multiplayer
Halo 3 trailer
Fable 2
LOTS MORE....

Picture Packs and themes

Fable 2
COD3
Crackdown
X06
Community Pack
MUCH MORE

DONT FORGET TO WATCH THE CONFERENCE.

If that's true, I'm pre-ordering now. :lol:

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 8:42 am **Post subject:**

OK, they weren't far off. £130 including a media remote and th HD-DVD version of King Kong.

I'm pre-ordering this as soon as it's available. Mid-November for release. :beerchug:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:10 pm **Post subject:**

Or you could wait 6 months until there's more than two HD-DVDs out that aren't men in black 2 and get it for less than half the price :lol:

ViSCeRaL · **Posted:** Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:38 pm **Post subject:**

As there's no region coding on HD-DVD now, or for the forseeable future, the entire USA catalogue is available.

http://www.dvdpacific.com/AdvancedSearc ... 1&HDonly=1

Official Xbox 2 Thread

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