NExt Gen at IBM

[hey69]

somebody whispered me something...

XBox next. custom G5 (triple procesors) + ATI custom next generation grafix 512+ memory and here comes.. no harddisk but a 256flasrom.

Sony is rumored to start an online network together with IBM


take this as rumour or put it in a trashcan

 

[gurgi]

I really, really, really hope that Xbox2 and other consoles use flash hdd tech instead of traditional drives. I want use my consoles for years to come and dread the day my Xbox dies.

Here's hoping Xbox2 is backwards compatible and uses a flash drive!! =)

 

[megateto]

no harddisk but a 256flasrom.

Would that be exchangeable? And upgrade ready?

 

[hey69]

don't ask me details at the moment. word goes that the xboxnext hardware specs are finalised (or about to these days/weeks)

 

[Magnum PI]

xbox next going to drop the HDD, the thing that seems so much necessary for gaming to some ppl since xbox carried one..


why not xbox next using panasonic SD cards ? how ironic..

 

[MfA]

What is an online network?

 

[Sonic]

It should be common knolwedge by now that IBM and Sony have been working on a network of some sort for the last couple of years. While it may not have been officially announced anywhere, it's more of a given than just about anything else. GRID anyone?

Now as for Xbox Next or Xbox 2. I'm pretty sure it will use a harddrive for storage and such things. How big the drive is will be an all together different story but it shouldn't be that bad. Maybe having a flash memory for backup or for neccessary internal functions that can be saved once the HD goes would be a good idea. A triple processor? Why do that when you can go quad? I'd be expecting 512 MB of memory and no less with regards to the size. What I'm interested in is the type of memory and the bandwidth it will provide. We also alrady know that the XGPU2 will be based off of R500 and that it should be modified to better fit th eneeds of a console.

 

[kaching]

They'd really be tossing out the idea of backwards compatability if they went with 256 flash ROM, wouldn't they?

Anything else mentioned in that "whisper"? Any mention of writeable optical media?

 

[Qroach]

aye, i can't see them going without a harddrive. You'd loose the entire idea of downloadable content, music storage, and any sort of advanced television recording goes right out the window. I dunno, sounds odd...

 

[hey69]

well maybe there is a harddisk on top of the rom or something.
IBM is making the chipset to use also later in future macintosches /

(think nvidia xbox > nforce chipset PC world)


well, that triple cpu thing. don't quote me on that i doubt that also

 

[Qroach]

hmmm, a harddrive, flashrom and RAM? it's probably be cheaper to go with a few gigs of flashram over a hard drive... well posibly not. I dunno...

 

[cthellis42]

Sony is rumored to start an online network together with IBM

Mentions of this have been around for a while in various forms, and got a bit of more solid press around February. (Such as here or here or here.)

I haven't really heard any news since then, though, so I don't know what stages anything is at, or what it represents.

 

[MfA]

It should be common knolwedge by now that IBM and Sony have been working on a network of some sort for the last couple of years. While it may not have been officially announced anywhere, it's more of a given than just about anything else.

Common knowledge? For that to be true there should be knowledge involved, rather than an empty phrase with a common pretense of meaning.

Meh, chtellis ... just some decentralized hosting sounds about right, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[gurgi]

I dunno, sounds odd...

If I'd have told you a couple months ago that Xbox 2 would be PPC...


..and perhaps I'm just not seeing how a big flash hdd ruins backwards compatibility.

 

[hey69]

the IBM+sony network will call butterfly or something like that

Butterfly.NET


hmmm look what I Found ...

EDIT:
http://www.butterfly.net/partners/index.html

E3 IGN about butterfly.NET

http://pc.ign.com/articles/403/403488p1.html?fromint=1

EDIT:

 

[ChryZ]

Maybe they are going to sell the HD as a peripheral ... j/k

 

[Cyborg]

I find the solid state memory over the HDD rather illogic for xbox next, its something i would have expected from nintendo, not microsoft. MS will likely make XN as close as they can to a multimedia hub for the home, TiVO alone would need a large HDD.

 

[Sonic]

Ok, maybe not common knowledge. Maybe nothing concrete also. You got me there, I was being too lazy and didn't bother to look up information or confirm information that I've seen elsewhere. Perhaps I am wrong and Sony and IBM are not working on a network of some sort.
But I could swear that it has been reported at least in a few places.

 

[DeadmeatGA]

...

And the cost reasons; the solid state drive is not ready for mass market.

 

[speng]

Butterfly.NET has got nothing to do with Sony and IBM doing any network partnership.

Butterfly.NET is associated with IBM because it uses it's hardware and GRID computing technology.

It's marketted mainly as a Massive Multiplayer infrastructure.

Speng.