News & Rumors: Xbox One (codename Durango)

[Cranky]

I think we knew there was custom silicon in Kinect 2 and we knew MS had hired a bunch of people from IBM and elsewhere for their internal semiconductor design group, but I guess we haven't had confirmation the new IC was designed totally in house.

It seems unlikely to me that most of the 200 people working on chip designs as quoted in the Bloomberg article were working on the Kinect sensor, especially given MS' purchase of 2 TOF companies prior to launching Kinect 1.0.

It seems likely that those other guys are involved in modifying the jaguar and VI chip designs.

 

[Rangers]

Is Kinect always lit up like that? There better be a dimmer button.

Most exciting console launch.

He said on twitter the camera makes it look a lot brighter than it is, and i think also that they're still tweaking it or something.

Seemed like the most commented thing on twitter was the boxed up Wii U, hah.

edit:

Albert Penello ‏@albertpenello 7h

I should point out - the three lights in the center (the IR lights) are barely visible in person. The camera for some reason picks them up.
View conversation
Albert Penello ‏@albertpenello 7h

@SpeedyBlueDude the camera accentuates the light. Also, we're tuning for final.

 

[brasnial]

Now come on who in this post would not give there right arm to have a ps4 or Xbox one sitting under there TV right now .
Just imagine trying to play a game on Xbox live or psn ....message after message from friends wanting to know what there like .

You be the most popular kid on the block for a week or two until release day at least

 

[PixResearch]

Is Kinect always lit up like that? There better be a dimmer button.

Yes and no.

It very likely is lit up like that all of the time.
However, you won't need a dim option as you won't be able to see it - IR is outside the range of the human visual system.

A lot of low end cameras aren't very good at blocking out infra red. You can't see them but the camera on your phone can. If you want to try it out just point a TV remote control at your phone when you're looking through the camera preview and press a button. If your camera's good you'll see nothing. If it's average you'll probably see a purple LED light up. If it's crap it'll look like you're pointing a torch at the phone.

 

[expletive]

Has anyone confirmed Media Center (or the media center "App" now) will be on XBO?

 

[AzBat]

Remember that additional port we seen on the motherboard? It's back & it gets pointed at in the video below. Tech Radar aren't even sure what it is. Anybody got an idea? Since it's not labeled I assume it's a developer port.

http://youtu.be/rUSsCVnust0?t=2m0s

Tommy McClain

 

[Nesh]

Now come on who in this post would not give there right arm to have a ps4 or Xbox one sitting under there TV right now .
Just imagine trying to play a game on Xbox live or psn ....message after message from friends wanting to know what there like .

You be the most popular kid on the block for a week or two until release day at least

Without my right arm I would be wondering too how it would be like playing a PS4 or an XB1

 

[Scott_Arm]

Remember that additional port we seen on the motherboard? It's back & it gets pointed at in the video below. Tech Radar aren't even sure what it is. Anybody got an idea? Since it's not labeled I assume it's a developer port.

http://youtu.be/rUSsCVnust0?t=2m0s

Tommy McClain

I don't see anything abnormal on the back of the unit, except for a type-B USB connector on the far right. I'm not sure why they'd need one of those, but that looks like what it is.

 

[AzBat]

I don't see anything abnormal on the back of the unit, except for a type-B USB connector on the far right. I'm not sure why they'd need one of those, but that looks like what it is.

Yes, that's the port I was asking about. In previous motherboard pics we saw the extra port, but when looking at the "final" case it was never there(covered up/blank). This is the 1st time we've seen what it looks like. I guess it does look like a type-B USB port, interesting.

Tommy McClain

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yes, that's the port I was asking about. In previous motherboard pics we saw the extra port, but when looking at the "final" case it was never there(covered up/blank). This is the 1st time we've seen what it looks like. I guess it does look like a type-B USB port, interesting.

Tommy McClain

Actually, it is kind of weird because I just looked up USB 3.0 and they standard type-B plug has changed. What's on the Xbox One looks like a USB 2.0 type-B receptacle. No idea what it would be for.

One obvious purpose for this could be doing local firmware upgrades from a PC. I don't know why it would be the USB 2.0 shape, but that could be a reason for it. If you can upgrade the firmware, software on a devkit from your PC, or maybe push your game or app to it from your SDK on the PC, then that would explain it. Also maybe the SDK can pull log files off the Xbox One dev kit that way. There's a lot of possibilities. I'm just not sure why it wouldn't be USB 3.0.

 

[expletive]

Actually, it is kind of weird because I just looked up USB 3.0 and they standard type-B plug has changed. What's on the Xbox One looks like a USB 2.0 type-B receptacle. No idea what it would be for.

One obvious purpose for this could be doing local firmware upgrades from a PC. I don't know why it would be the USB 2.0 shape, but that could be a reason for it. If you can upgrade the firmware, software on a devkit from your PC, or maybe push your game or app to it from your SDK on the PC, then that would explain it.

Why would you need an external PC to do a firmware update? They push those types of updates today via XBL don't they?

 

[Scott_Arm]

Why would you need an external PC to do a firmware update? They push those types of updates today via XBL don't they?

We're talking about dev kits, not retail units. I don't think that port is on the retail unit. I could be wrong. Even if it is on retail, that could still be there for that purpose if you were to send it back for RMA or something. Sometimes on development devices it's nice to have a non-network option for doing those kinds of things. It could be any kind of communication between the SDK on the PC and the dev unit.

 

[expletive]

We're talking about dev kits, not retail units. I don't think that port is on the retail unit. I could be wrong. Even if it is on retail, that could still be there for that purpose if you were to send it back for RMA or something. Sometimes on development devices it's nice to have a non-network option for doing those kinds of things. It could be any kind of communication between the SDK on the PC and the dev unit.

I guess my point was that the means already exist to flash firmware online via a file regardless of the unit's primary purpose so why would they need a port. Online 'beta' firmware updates would probably only be available to an XBO if the unit was provisioned as a dev unit with MS. If they need an offline method, couldn't they pop in a USB stick with the new firmware on it?

Whitten implied that there's no difference between retail and dev kits and I wonder if there's really any sort of SDK breakout box or PC connection that they can't accomplish over Ethernet or USB.

Anyway, you're probably right, its probably a specific dev kit and this is some sort of diagnostic port. I'm just hoping for something "cooler." For example, is there a similar unexplained port on the back of the new 360 slim?

 

[dagamer]

Shouldn't final assembly have started by now?

 

[dobwal]

I don't see anything abnormal on the back of the unit, except for a type-B USB connector on the far right. I'm not sure why they'd need one of those, but that looks like what it is.

Its either for a printer. LOL

Or for connecting to a pc/laptop for capturing and editing video.

Hauppauge has a gaming PVR for consoles that has similar ports (hdmi in, hdmi out and usb 2.0 type B).

 

[Rockster]

That connector is for the Xbox 360 stingray back compat unit.

 

[McHuj]

That connector is for the Xbox 360 stingray back compat unit.

Damn. I was hoping it was for the extra 4GB RAM stick.

 

[tuna]

Cede what territory? I have not been able to find a list of PS4 launch territories anywhere. The only word I've seen is "PS4 will launch in at least one country in 2013" and "PlayStation 4 (PS4), which is scheduled to be available during the 2013 holiday season in the US and Europe". For all we know it'll launch US and UK only, or only 5 or 8 countries.

We don't know. So why are we so sure the PS4 will have a territory advantage at launch?

I'm assuming Sony will announce european launch countries at Gamescom, so maybe we'll have something to talk about then. Until then, talk of who will have first-mover advantage in which territory is pure speculation.

Sony has been quite active doing in-store promos and such in Sweden at least, so everyone assumes it will launch here this year.

MS also had such promotions.

 

[BRiT]

Remember that additional port we seen on the motherboard? It's back & it gets pointed at in the video below. Tech Radar aren't even sure what it is. Anybody got an idea? Since it's not labeled I assume it's a developer port.

Tommy McClain

Backwards compatibility control port for xb360...

 

[dobwal]

Backwards compatibility control port for xb360...

Are we talking a backward compatibility port for 360 controllers?