What would you do if you were in charge of Xbox 360 design?

[shaderguy]

There seems to be a lot of second guessing of the Xbox 360 design and strategy. Many people think the PS3 is going to win. So was Microsoft pre-destined to fail, or is there something they could have done different / better? What would you have done if you were in charge of the Xbox 360 design?

(Please consider compontent cost and time-to-market in your plans!)

 

[Farid]

They, just as Sony and Nintendo, should had waited end 2007 early 2008 and released a console that could produce graphics @720/1080p that are clearly, and without a doubt, superior to today's Xbox games.

But, well, economical realities decide what and what not do. so...

 

[ralexand]

Who cares. This forum is mostly for discussing technical aspects of the consoles not fanboy proclamations of who'll win.

 

[shaderguy]

Who cares. This forum is mostly for discussing technical aspects of the consoles not <bleep> proclamations of who'll win.

Huh? Did you mistakenly post this in the wrong thread? This thread is for discussing how you would have designed the Xbox 360 console, and the first reply is a reasonable response to that question. Your post seems sort of off topic to me.

 

[Guden Oden]

I would have made it heavy, round and with three strategically placed holes in the case so that if all the games for it suck, at least you could go bowling with it...

 

[pc999]

IM(very humble)O, I think that more BW, at least 2X (larger bus?), and more general power (even if it i s from GPGPU in a Fast14 version of R500), would make it (HW) almost perfect.

And (aat least as important) new tech from controlers/input (yes more than voice recg., camera...).That would make it almost perfect (overall).


BTW anyone knows if XB360´s camera can do the same thinghs than EyeToy2 do (i.e. those demos here you can "control" a virtual scenario)

 

[nelg]

Launch as is then when the Ps3 is released launch an upgraded version at $299 while lowering the original to $199. Add to the new version a HD optical drive and an HDMI output.

 

[Acert93]

Launch as is then when the Ps3 is released launch an upgraded version at $299 while lowering the original to $199. Add to the new version a HD optical drive and an HDMI output.

And a larger HDD. That is exactly what I think MS should do. But then again we do not see me running MS

 

[Pozer]

I think the 360 is very comparable to ps3 hardware wise. I think Mullti-console releases will look very very similar because neither system will have a memory advantage unlike today.

The only thing I think MS should consider is a slot loading drive.

 

[dukmahsik]

this thread is pretty cool, look at how many like 360 as is!

 

[shaderguy]

The only thing I think MS should consider is a slot loading drive.

A good point! Slot loading drives are pretty, and convenient, but also more expensive than tray loading drives. Top loading drives (like the Gamecube, PS1 and PSTwo use) are cheaper (and less convenient).

I wonder if the Xbox 360 will be considered old fashioned for having a tray based drive when the other consoles (PS3, Revolution) have slot loading drives?

 

[pc999]

Launch as is then when the Ps3 is released launch an upgraded version at $299 while lowering the original to $199. Add to the new version a HD optical drive and an HDMI output.

And a larger HDD. That is exactly what I think MS should do. But then again we do not see me running MS

I always thought that this is pretty obvios, IMO.

 

[Squeak]

I voted for the last option.
360 doesn't have anything special about it.
It's not the most powerfull, there isn't any killer games announced, the controller is very standard, it doesn't have any other alternate features that the other consoles doesn't also have.
Live is IMO not anything special, it's going to be quite easy top it, especially if Nintendos promises comes true.

And lastly who really *likes* microsoft? I mean it isn't exactly a great lovemark.

 

[jvd]

Keep it as is but with two changes


More l2 cache for the cpu , 1mb isn't enough


Then add more system ram . 1 gig

 

[Ty]

More l2 cache for the cpu , 1mb isn't enough

It isn't? What would you change it to and how would it make a difference?

 

[jvd]

More l2 cache for the cpu , 1mb isn't enough

It isn't? What would you change it to and how would it make a difference?

I would go with 3 megs . The more l2 cache would help reduce / hide the hit for going to main ram and reduce stress on that buss

 

[blakjedi]

Instead of tri-core use two dual core CPUs
Increased L2 (2MB shared)
Increased number of VMX (2 VMX128 per core) 8 VMX or
Pull the all VMX off CPU die and make a seperate "VMX coprocessor chip"
Higher clock rate in the GPU

Thats it. 5 changes and it becomes virtually unstoppable.

 

[Pozer]

Take out the PPU, It will suck up too much of the unified memory bandwidth.

 

[Ty]

More l2 cache for the cpu , 1mb isn't enough

It isn't? What would you change it to and how would it make a difference?

I would go with 3 megs . The more l2 cache would help reduce / hide the hit for going to main ram and reduce stress on that buss

Why stop at 3? Go for 16 megs at least.

 

[jvd]

heh because i think 3 megs would fit with good enough yields .