Firing Squad: The 11 mistakes of Microsoft's Xbox 360

["Nerve-Damage"]

After a month with the Xbox 360, I'm ready to talk about all the mistakes that the Microsoft Xbox 360 team made in developing their console. The feedback is designed to be constructive.

Mistake #1: Overheating CPU or GPU

Anyone could have seen this one coming. With today's high performance GPUs and multi-core CPUs drawing more and more power, thermal management has become a critical element of modern systems. In the Xbox 360, either the GPU or the CPU is to blame for most of the overheating problems. As our esteemed colleague and FiringSquad alum, Tuan Nguyen showed, the bulk of the Xbox 360's heatsinks are focused on cooling the IBM PowerPC CPU. This either means that the PowerPC runs too hot and needs all that cooling, or that the GPU is not being cooled well enough. Although there were initial rumors of the power supply overheating, we can find no evidence to support this claim other than the repeated story of "holding the power supply up by a string." It's either the CPU or the GPU’s fault. After making a modification to my console to boost the flow of air to the exhaust fans, the system has been exceptionally stable even in an enclosed environment such as my entertainment center.

There are several approaches that Microsoft could have taken to solve these problems. Obviously, a higher level of quality control was necessary. These system crashes are prevalent and I have yet to encounter a single Xbox 360 owner living in a temperate climate who has not experienced at least one system crash. Although Microsoft could have improved cooling through the use of better thermal paste, the fundamental problem is the inadequate flow of the two exhaust fans. In an effort to keep the system quiet, Microsoft is overly aggressive with running the fans slowly. The best approach for Xbox 360 stability is placing a small exhaust fan to augment the existing solution. An enterprising entrepreneur could probably make a small fortune selling an added exhaust fan for the Xbox 360 powered by the rear USB port. The Xbox 360 just needs a little extra boost – that's all.

With time, improvements in yield and manufacturing advances should produce cooler running PowerPC CPUs, minimizing the likelihood of crashing. In Microsoft's position, I would have run the fans at a more aggressive rate – again the difference is minimal, the fans just need an extra 20% boost or so.

Mistake #10: Poor DVD Playback Quality

Even if you say that all of my complaints about things left out of Xbox Live aren't fair, you'd have to agree that DVD playback is a fairly important part of the Xbox 360 as a Media Center device. The video processor in the Xbox 360 is terrible. It doesn't do good film/video detection and as a result, DVDs won't look as good as they can.

What adds salt to the wound is that ATI's algorithms are actually fairly good as can be seen with Catalyst 5.13. If Microsoft implemented these algorithms in the Xbox 360, it would probably end up being one of the best $400 DVD players on the market, despite the lack of DVI or HDMI connectivity.

We were unable to get sufficient information on the Xbox 360's GPU to make a determination if the full X1K AVIVO technology could be brought to the unit. Given the shader performance though, it should be possible to incorporate many of the most important features such as 3:2 cadence detection and possibly the diagonal filtering as well.

The main challenge is that the GPU is a Microsoft product designed by ATI. This means that ATI will not produce updated video drivers for the Xbox 360 GPU unless Microsoft commissions them to do so. Given all the other mistakes of the Xbox 360 I've discussed so far, it's unlikely to happen. Let's not forget that Microsoft completely ignored the need for high-quality music CD playback too.

I really do have to agree with number 10...The playback is kind of shi**y compared too my other standalone DVD players.

 

[Brimstone]

Mistake #2: No MSN Music


This was a no-brainer. Think about it, buy music using your Xbox 360 and Xbox Live and transfer it to your "Plays for Sure" Windows Media Player. Integrating MSN Music with the Xbox 360 would have helped Microsoft compete with Apple.

The technical infrastructure is there

Microsoft has stuff in the works already.

MTV, Microsoft band together for music service

After promising to launch a digital music service for several years, MTV said Tuesday that it is close to releasing an online music mart that will throw it into competition with iTunes and Napster.

Although offering few details, the company said it has worked closely with Microsoft to build a service called Urge that will let listeners experiment with new music, as well as offer "original, hand-crafted content" from MTV and its other cable channels.

...

Today, a handful of other services, including Napster, MusicNow and Microsoft's own MSN Music, are available through the Windows Media Player. In its recent antitrust settlement with RealNetworks, Microsoft agreed that it would promote no other music service more heavily than that company's Rhapsody service.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5993125.html

 

[pegisys]

well a few points I could care less about, and things like a music store, dvd playback, Video Calibration, and WMV-HD DVD playback can be done with a software update anytime

well the overheating is a problem, but hdmi is pointless without a hd media format, and I don't think the xbox360 will be powerfull enough 3 or 4 years down the road to worry about 1080P

 

[Pozer]

it would probably end up being one of the best $400 DVD players on the market,

I guess if you have a $400 dvd player you would be disappointed with 360 dvd playback. But for me going from a $50 Apex player/ps2/xbox1 as playback sources the 360 looks a heck of alot better. Even my girlfriend mention her dvds looked better.

 

[ninelven]

Well, the best DVD player (video quality wise) that can be had is $200 - the OPPO. Of course, I don't really buy the idea that many 360 owners obsess over the image quality of the unit. If you can afford a decent HDTV and 360, surely you can afford a $200 DVD player, especially if your obsessed with video quality.

 

[Dural]

I have a Hitachi progressive scan dvd player (component), Media Center PC (DVI), and the 360 (component) hooked up to my DLP projector projecting a 70" wide image and cannot see a difference between the 360 and PC, both of which look better than the Hitachi. I'm not sure what problems they're having with the playback, but if I can't see a difference at 70" I don't think there is a problem with the dvd playback.

The only thing I agree with are the overheating processors and microtransaction issues. I've had my 360 freeze up a few times and I've also had artifacts pop up while playing PGR3 from what I assume is an overheating cpu/gpu. As for microtransactions, my four year old nephew was playing with the dashboard and ended up using ~1000 of my points on some Live Arcade games I wouldn't have bought. There really should be some sort of confirmation for using the points, like the old confirmation for logging into Live on the Xbox by pressing four times on the d-pad.

 

[Deepak]

As for microtransactions, my four year old nephew was playing with the dashboard and ended up using ~1000 of my points on some Live Arcade games....

What?

 

[Nicked]

Agree with them all, but all consoles have their mistakes.

Only #1, 3, 4 and 8 are really worth bitching about though IMO.

 

[deathstar121]

I am not big on MSN music, or MS media, sorry i think MS media SUCKSSSSSSSSS, as for the rest of issues like over heating that will be fix in time, I am happy i didn't buy it at launch.

 

[pipo]

There really should be some sort of confirmation for using the points, like the old confirmation for logging into Live on the Xbox by pressing four times on the d-pad.

There is. Maybe not four times, but still.

A guest account would be the best solution I guess. I know I created one when I brought my machine over to my friends...

 

[Bad_Boy]

I guess if you have a $400 dvd player you would be disappointed with 360 dvd playback. But for me going from a $50 Apex player/ps2/xbox1 as playback sources the 360 looks a heck of alot better. Even my girlfriend mention her dvds looked better.

I think the slim "PStwo's" play DVD's in progressive scan. How it compares to the x360's DVD playing, I'm not sure.

 

[expletive]

well the overheating is a problem, but hdmi is pointless without a hd media format, and I don't think the xbox360 will be powerfull enough 3 or 4 years down the road to worry about 1080P

IMO, none of the next gen consoles are powerful enough now to warrant scarificing other effects for 1080p.

 

[Sis]

I didn't vote because there wasn't an option for "The article is a waste of time". I just can't stand reading these kinds of articles where the writer believes that the only reason why feature X is missing is because nobody thought of feature X.

In the writer's world, there's an infinite amount of development resources, what they'll produce will be perfect for everyone, additional features all fit seamlessly together, hardware costs do not increase with additional/expanded components, third party software is easy to license/consume, everything is magically secure, etc. etc.

.Sis

 

[NavNucST3]

Much ado about nothing!

I disagreed with over half the points, so I went with Totally disagree.

While I have had my four-year old son buy a game from Arcade! at least it was gauntlet, something everyone in the household loves to play.
I guess I did my biggest eye-roll when the author mentioned that there is security in place, but he is too lazy to enter a password. Or, the fact that you CAN browse the web from the 360, with the caveat that there needs to be a Media Center PC in the loop somewhere.

Also, XM radio already has a Media Center ready browser, from which you can listen to your favorite stations, assuming you have XM all that is required is you XM online username and password, which judging by this author, he would be too lazy to enter in all of that information in the first place.

 

[Dural]

There is. Maybe not four times, but still.

Really? I guess I just don't have password protection turned on in the dashboard.