Next Generation Hardware Speculation with a Technical Spin [post E3 2019, pre GDC 2020] [XBSX, PS5]

[Jay]

Not sure I'd use video of indication if on time or not.
A lot has changed media wise since the XO reveal.
Also MS approach to consoles and there reveals has obviously changed since then also, not taking into account if they was flying high in sales that may affect their approach also.

 

[iroboto]

Not sure I'd use video of indication if on time or not.
A lot has changed media wise since the XO reveal.
Also MS approach to consoles and there reveals has obviously changed since then also, not taking into account if they was flying high in sales that may affect their approach also.

A lot has changed for sure; with their focus entirely on games now; they don't need to divert their resources into building out kinect and the OS to support kinect commands.
Kinect really hamstrung XBO in this regard, it should have been something they could have released later in the console's lifetime and they should have put the focus down on their API/driver support or on backwards compatibility or getting the basics nailed down.

Recall
a) no internal power supply
b) an overengineered cooling solution at increased cost
c) as a result of B, they were able to clock the chip higher than design specification.
Was behind on OS, the rest of the strategy (for content and TV) was largely promised but failed to materialize.

This was also a big burden for them to create a lower cost model despite having a weaker and more cost effective (esram is cheaper than GDDR) setup.
So as we can see, delays were costly for MS.

We are seeing similar information-release timing in Scarlett as we did with Scorpio. I think as of this moment, they are on track for that pre-holiday 2020 release. Given the past, for the sake of discussion, I think it's valid to use the chips shown in this promotion as being close to release chips. I wouldn't wave off hidden hints here and there as just being 'because marketing'.

 

[Jay]

Thing is they could knock up a video regardless of state. Promotional vids doesn't have to represent the finished product. It just so happened that they used the scorpio render.
We don't even know for sure what that board in the Xbox next vid was, shelved prototype? Could do a vid and not show any board at all.

Not to dwell on things, but as per MS MO, kinect was good but everything about how it was handled was bad. I. E. It should've been targeted at the casual, like the 360's and not bundled in.
All their media related functionality never surfaced, or was worse than 360 for many years.
So wasn't even a good media player out the gate, they probably ended up having to spend a lot of development effort pulling the online and detangling kinect instead of spit and polish on the OS

 

[Globalisateur]

I think people are looking to much into that render and are seeing mirages, literally.

Microsoft did that video because they had nothing else to show about next gen which was actually running on a devkit. After Sony real demonstration they had to show something, so they did a CGI render and showed isolated pieces of research / development hardware.

 

[AlNom]

What if the shots of the hardware were RayTraced renders by proto-hardware.

I do recall a controversial MS something where they randomly put 6 > 4 forget where though.

Cringey scorpio ad.

 

[iroboto]

Microsoft did that video because they had nothing else to show about next gen which was actually running on a devkit. After Sony real demonstration they had to show something, so they did a CGI render and showed isolated pieces of research / development hardware.

Their format follows their Scorpio reveal in both timing and in both content. It would be a stretch to indicate that they had nothing else to show, when they didn't change up their reveal from Scorpio. Which part was a CGI render? I'm almost 100% sure all of that is real recorded footage. Scorpio had a CGI render.

There are (what looks like) 2 optical outs, 2 HDMI/2USB + 1 ethernet on the rear side (blue mobo). If this is revealed in the final version, this board was very far along.
An unknown port on the opposite side (I'll call it the debug side) that I am not familiar with (if it is even a port - in 1 shot there is something inside it, in another it's empty), and also a USB type B interface port.

The blue mobo has a different configuration from the green mobo. The green mobo; with the limited knowledge, the ports are on the same side of where the CPU is placed; this is opposite to the blue mobo.

The idea that all of this is pure CGI renders/not work in progress seems very unlikely. Just saying. I get skepticism, but basically you're saying that either MS wants to throw everyone off, or MS is nowhere close to their 2020 deadline for next gen.

 

[Globalisateur]

Their format follows their Scorpio reveal in both timing and in both content. It would be a stretch to indicate that they had nothing else to show, when they didn't change up their reveal from Scorpio. Which part was a CGI render? I'm almost 100% sure all of that is real recorded footage. Scorpio had a CGI render.

There are (what looks like) 2 optical outs, 2 HDMI/2USB + 1 ethernet on the rear side (blue mobo). If this is revealed in the final version, this board was very far along.
An unknown port on the opposite side (I'll call it the debug side) that I am not familiar with (if it is even a port - in 1 shot there is something inside it, in another it's empty), and also a USB type B interface port.

The blue mobo has a different configuration from the green mobo. The green mobo; with the limited knowledge, the ports are on the same side of where the CPU is placed; this is opposite to the blue mobo.

The idea that all of this is pure CGI renders/not work in progress seems very unlikely. Just saying. I get skepticism, but basically you're saying that either MS wants to throw everyone off, or MS is nowhere close to their 2020 deadline for next gen.

Didn't claim that.

 

[iroboto]

Didn't claim that.

You literally wrote this:
so they did a CGI render and showed isolated pieces of research / development hardware.

There was no render of the board shown.

 

[PSman1700]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1178176656877465601

Don't know what to think about that feature, doesn't sound like anything thrilling atleast. If it's optional it can't hurt.

 

[Scott_Arm]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1178176656877465601

Don't know what to think about that feature, doesn't sound like anything thrilling atleast. If it's optional it can't hurt.

I can see it being a great tool for accessibility. Lots of people with accessibility issues that this may help in some way.

 

[PSman1700]

I can see it being a great tool for accessibility. Lots of people with accessibility issues that this may help in some way.

Why do they need to patent it though? Things like this have been avaible for some time on all sorts of platforms.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think people are looking to much into that render and are seeing mirages, literally.

Not literally, unless you think there were optical artefacts caused by different density materials the light passed through that were caught on camera. I think you mean people are imagining things or experiencing pareidolia. Or lose the 'literally' and you'd be okay calling it a mirage.

After Sony real demonstration...

What demo? The last-gen Spider-Man streaming quickly? Why would MS feel the need to show a motherboard in response to that?

 

[iroboto]

Why do they need to patent it though? Things like this have been avaible for some time on all sorts of platforms.

off the top of my head; I think it's just due diligence. You don't want to make something, not patent it, and have someone else make the exact same thing, patent it, and charge you license fees for the very thing you invented.

 

[PSman1700]

off the top of my head; I think it's just due diligence. You don't want to make something, not patent it, and have someone else make the exact same thing, patent it, and charge you license fees for the very thing you invented.

Ok yes makes sense. I can imagine gaming on ps5, next xbox, pc etc are going to try something with this.

 

[AlNom]

off the top of my head; I think it's just due diligence. You don't want to make something, not patent it, and have someone else make the exact same thing, patent it, and charge you license fees for the very thing you invented.

Should I be shocked that Amazon or Google or Apple or MS haven't patented something already considering their work in assistants?

I haven't read the patent link yet though. Replace "game" with well... something more general

 

[iroboto]

Should I be shocked that Amazon or Google or Apple or MS haven't patented something already considering their work in assistants?

I haven't read the patent link yet though. Replace "game" with well... something more general

I’m 100% positive they have patented their own assistants.

The patent shouldn’t be on functionality provided; but how they it becomes functional.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

off the top of my head; I think it's just due diligence. You don't want to make something, not patent it, and have someone else make the exact same thing, patent it, and charge you license fees for the very thing you invented.

Technically, if patents worked the way they were supposed to, if you've invented something and use it and it's public, and then someone else patents it, their patent should be nullified due to prior art, rather than you getting charged fees. In fact, their patent shouldn't even be granted due to prior art, but that parts never enforced these days.

I honestly wonder that companies have just developed this culture and mindset of patenting without it really being about anything these days.
"I've got an idea."
"Okay, let's patent it."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why patent it?"
"I don't know. It's just what you do."
"Okay."

 

[DieH@rd]

Why do they need to patent it though? Things like this have been avaible for some time on all sorts of platforms.

This is a bit different from other helping services that just load a walkthrough webpage.

This assistant knows about player's position in the gameworld, and can point him to the nearby in-game destinations, even displaying real-time distances to nearby vendors. That kind of integration inside the game will require some fancy APIs and work.

Spoiler

I could have frankly used this during my Witcher 3 playthrough. Some endgame potion/oils required specific ingredients that were sold by few merchants/innkeepers. This service would have helped me to waste a lot time traveling to every vendor.

 

[PSman1700]

Yeah will see if future games are going to use this, if they do i assume other platforms will use something similar too. If this becomes a thing.

 

[AlNom]

I could have frankly used this during my Witcher 3 playthrough. Some endgame potion/oils required specific ingredients that were sold by few merchants/innkeepers. This service would have helped me to waste a lot time traveling to every vendor.

Sounds like something that could be solved with better design, but I guess that's the point isn't it. Letting the machines do the legwork.