Xbox 360 Fall 2008 update list (post #23)

I'm assuming that halo 3 wallpaper is like a theme.

i like this design but using buttons to switch between blades isn't something i like.

 

There are a bunch of problems that prevent that interface design from being adopted. First, it doesn't maintain the consistent double concavity style which is the 360's trademark. Secondly, if that advertising space is being paid for by advertisers, then you can't change the size, type, and location of ads without negotiating new agreements. Thirdly, I don't think that design would translate well to SD 4:3 screens because of the size of the fonts and organization of the elements. The article however does present some good ideas and are presented very logically.

 

I wonder how much of the design of the dashboard is dictated by the older SD TVs out there. I am sure that if they knew that the users would almost 100% for sure the xbox with an HDTV that they would have a maybe a bit more efficient design...

 

Hm.... any good reason they don't use their Silverlight tech (vector graphics) It'd sure get rid of the 'limited' 720p resolution of the dashboard graphics and icons etc.

 

I'm not exactly sure of the size footprint of Silverlight, but Microsoft implemented a quasi-Flash animation language for the dashboard. It had to be small enough in order to fit into the small NAND flash memory. Even though they might have enough room in flash memory, I still see them making this _supposed_ optional 2nd UI as an application that sits only a hard drive. With the more storage available they could make it a HD-only experience. But I agree a vector style interface would be a neat to see.

Tommy McClain

 

1) How is it different from any other commercial site?
2) They very often inform when something has not been verified and update the original story when more info is known.
3) Previous source was some anon guy sending his wishlist and they were clear about the source.
4) So?
5) You are trying to prove, that no source info is a problem because... there's no source. And then there's "heard from sources a little closer to the matter that the GUI parts" - how much more info is needed?

I'm not defending this rumor or Kotaku. I just disagree with your attitude: rumor is rumor. Just because it's from Kotaku doesn't make it any worse than a rumor from NeoGaf or Newsweek.

@AzBat: these mockups have two flaws. One - less adv space which is probably a no-no. Two - people with SD receivers won't see a thing. Silverlight is 1.3MB and dash UI seems to be 100% bitmap-based.

 

Interesting. What is "Silverlight tech"?

 

Flash-wannabe:
http://silverlight.net/

 

Thank you ConayR.

 

so

so there is a update?

 

Ummm... No. Read above.

Tommy McClain

 

I didn't want to start a new thread, but here's a video showing the new dash interface, settings, and a game installation to HDD.

http://www.vimeo.com/1479143?pg=embed&sec=1479143

 

More sources:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6e5nb_2008-fall-dashboard-preview_videogames and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gti2FAK8SqQ

 

So gta4 is only 6.8 gigs. Very interesting

 

After the QuakeCon 2008 and the John Carmack interviews, there was some talk on this forum regarding a loss in storage capacity per disc on xbox 360 dvd. Apparently there is a loss of up to 2gb per dvd which itself usually should be able to store up to around 8.5gb when using dl. It was talked about, that this loss in storage capacity is due to some mandatory data or something like that which microsoft forces to be on the disc and/or because of transfer speed or something like that. So likely grand theft auto IV and other games aren't able to use much more than those 6.8gb per dvd on xbox 360. No confirmation known for this storage capacity loss and so on though.

 

The 2GB figure was a misinterpretation IIRC. You ought to check out these old slides on disc capacity for 360 development: http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1088222#post1088222. The 8.5GB DL figure is based on the assumption that there are 1 billion bytes per gigabyte which is different from true binary storage. You should know this from marketed hard drive storage and actual formatted storage. DL-DVD storage is ~7.9GiB, (the "8.5" is rounded-up after conversion) so developers actually lose ~1GiB.

 

No, it isn't. Not only did Rockstar mention that they maxed out the DVD and that they thought that the DVD space limitation was going to be an issue in the future (though they also seemed to know Microsoft was working on something at that time), but in the powerpoint that you yourself quoted in the thread it says:

Unless of course the powerpoint itself misquoted that figure? But seeing that almost all 360 games max out at under 7GB, including games from developers that have indicated that they ran out of space (like COD4, PGR4, GTA4, etc.), I think it's the right figure.

Since the Dual Layer DVD game Champions of Norrath on PS2 did really amount to just over 9GB, I think it seems fair to say that you lose about 2GB on the 360's DVD disc.

 

And if you add a 1.1 billion binary bytes you get about 8.47*10^9 ~= "8.5GB". I'm not sure what part you think I'm contradicting other than your claimed disc usage for CoN...

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1200826&postcount=104

 

Ahh, ok. Now I understand! You had me puzzled there for a moment. Thanks.

EDIT: Seems I'm wrong about Champion's size too, at least for the US version. Here's a list of Dual Layer PS2 discs I just came across (on a HD Loader site):

8.05GB USA Xenosaga
7.93GB USA God of War
7.74GB USA Champions of Norrath
7.55GB USA The Guy Game
6.47GB USA Madden 2005 Collectors Edition
5.99GB USA Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
4.95GB USA Gran Turismo 4

EDIT2: Ah, this is what I remembered

Champions of Norrath (SLUS_205.65)
(Size = 9,249,659 bytes)
Disc ID = XX XX 03 30 14
(source: http://tehparadox.com/forum/f76/ntsc-pal-ps2-dnas-list-30808/)

 

So am I correct in assuming that if MS changes their encryption or drm they can gain another gig or so of space on a disc ?