Well, that would certainly explain the lack of replies.
I’ll try to be more respectable by adding links to support my broad stroke views.
I’d like to also resume PS3 talks. But outside of PJB & nAo few people are really trying to listen and discuss outsider ideas. We should all be open to ideas that are unlike our own. (nAo, this includes me.
)
DeanoC said:
David_South#1 said:
I didn't read this thread too closely.
I saw some mentioning of XNA though, so maybe I can help.
The system that J. Allard had at E3 running the "Car Crash Demo" & is also being used by XNA Developers, Is an Apple G5 dual-processor PC with an ATI R420 graphics card.
Nope, The XNA demo's (at least at GDC) were standard Wintel PC.
That’s interesting. I don’t doubt it was MS Windows, but are you sure it was “Intel�
Do you have a reference for the actual hardware they were using?
1. The only official information I saw was from D. Lester & J. Allard.
Dean Lester said it was a Windows XP PC. XP is built on the Windows NT kernel.
J. Allard stated that the graphics card was one that wasn’t publicly available yet.
It was also a reasonable suspicion that the card was an ATI R420.
2. An MS employee got fired for photographing pallets of Apple G5s being received.
3. The very next month news of an MS + IBM PowerPC Xbox2 contract emerged.
4. This past February news/rumor of the Xbox2 developer SDK appeared.
1. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=103201
2.
http://www.michaelhanscom.com/eclecticism/2003/10/even_microsoft_.html
3.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1371393,00.asp
"based on the latest in IBM's family of state-of-the-art processors."
4.
http://www.theinquirer.net/Default.aspx?article=14407
DeanoC said:
David_South#1 said:
MS XNA is using a recompiled Windows NT kernal.
These PPC 970, ATI R420 workstations are The Standard for XNA Development.
Your really confused about XNA and other rumors about MS products.
XNA is simply the name of a pumped up DirectX, its works on standard PC's.
You are correct.
I so tightly associate XNA activities with the future of Xbox that I combine their intents.
This quoted statement is very much my error because of that existing mindset.
But my I add that you are also wrong about what XNA is or does encompass to do.
XNA brings together Xbox and PC software, services, and technology (hardware).*
And are also responsible for hardware design criteria and/or compatibility selection.
Example: XNA creating the Xbox 2 / PC controller (
& console spec) ETA 2Q 2005.
Let’s go to the source.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- March 24, 2004 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced XNA (TM) , a powerful next-generation software development platform. XNA empowers developers to deliver breakthrough games while combating rising production costs and ever-increasing hardware complexity. Games for future iterations of all Microsoft® game platforms -- including Windows®, Xbox® and Windows Mobile (TM) -based devices -- will be unleashed by tools and technologies from the XNA development platform.Games for future iterations of all Microsoft® game platforms -- including Windows®, Xbox® and Windows Mobile (TM) -based devices -- will be unleashed by tools and technologies from the XNA development platform.
Bill Gates "XNA underscores Microsoft's commitment to the game industry and our desire to work with partners to take the industry to the next level."
XNA initiative will be unveiled…by Microsoft's Robbie Bach, senior vice president of the Home and Entertainment Division, and J Allard, corporate vice president,
In charge of the Xbox platform, and chief XNA architect …
…responsible for overseeing and driving the XNA initiative companywide.
More than 20 game development and middleware companies already have recognized that XNA will drive advancements in the industry.***
The XNA development platform will serve as the foundation for future game platforms from Microsoft, including Windows, Xbox and Windows Mobile-based devices. Video games on future iterations of Microsoft game platforms will be powered by tools and technologies from the XNA ecosystem.
"We're excited to have been involved with XNA since its conception.
We design hardware for developers…†Andy Thompson, ATI
"The best thing a console provider can provide is a complete, robust environment where all the redundant generic stuff is taken care of.†David Wu, Pseudo Interactive Inc.
*
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/mar04/03-24XNALaunchPR.asp
XNA serves to create a Microsoft-built multi-platform,
But in the pyramid of things, XNA falls under Xbox guidence.
This includes XNA’s intellectual properties & technological specifications.
XNA is software platform. But software is made for hardware and the hardware systems it says it will serve do not yet exist. So a lot of what they are doing and saying fore shadows hardware systems yet to come. Chicken and the Egg.
You said “XNA is simply the name of a pumped up DirectX.â€
The exact same can officially be said for Xbox itself. = DirectX in a box.**
** http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=103229
Allard: Next time we do hardware with Xbox, it's going to be the best hardware components that we can put together, that powers XNA.
*** Coincidentally there were 24 G5s within the photo of MS receiving Apple PCs.
This circumstantial, but it makes as a fun note, and is how I construed my XNA workstation post.
IBM & MS Search:
http://www.google.com/search?num=10...8&newwindow=1&q=IBM+Microsoft+PowerPC
