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Subject: Has anyone really heard about the Xbox 2/ Xenon?

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

The Xenon system south bridge also contains a key hardware component for audio—XMA decompression. XMA is the native Xenon compressed audio format, based on the WMA Pro architecture. XMA provides sound quality higher than ADPCM at even better compression ratios, typically 6:1–12:1. The south bridge contains a full silicon implementation of the XMA decompression algorithm, including support for multichannel XMA sources. XMA is processed by the south bridge into standard PCM format in RAM. All other sound processing (sample rate conversion, filtering, effects, mixing, and multispeaker encoding) happens on the Xenon CPU.

The lowest-level Xenon audio software layer is XAudio, a new API designed for optimal digital signal processing. The Xbox Audio Creation Tool (XACT) API from Xbox is also supported, along with new features such as conditional events, improved parameter control, and a more flexible 3D audio model.
Input/Output

As with Xbox, Xenon is designed to be a multiplayer console. It has built-in networking support including an Ethernet 10/100-BaseT port. It supports up to four controllers. From an audio/video standpoint, Xenon will support all the same formats as Xbox, including multiple high-definition formats up through 1080i, plus VGA output.

In order to provide greater flexibility and support a wider variety of attached devices, the Xenon console includes standard USB 2.0 ports. This feature allows the console to potentially host storage devices, cameras, microphones, and other devices.

Storage

The Xenon console is designed around a larger world view of storage than Xbox was. Games will have access to a variety of storage devices, including connected devices (memory units, USB storage) and remote devices (networked PCs, Xbox Live). At the time of this writing, the decision to include a built-in hard disk in every Xenon console has not been made. If a hard disk is not included in every console, it will certainly be available as an integrated add-on component.

Xenon supports up to two attached memory units (MUs). MUs are connected directly to the console, not to controllers as on Xbox. The initial size of the MUs is 64 MB, although larger MUs may be available in the future. MU throughput is expected to be around 8 MB/sec for reads and 1 MB/sec for writes.

The Xenon game disc drive is a 12× DVD, with an expected outer edge throughput of 16+ MB/sec. Latency is expected to be in the neighborhood of 100 ms. The media format will be similar to Xbox, with approximately 6 GB of usable space on the disk. As on Xbox, media will be stored on a single side in two 3 GB layers.

Industrial Design

The Xenon industrial design process is well under way, but the final look of the box has not been determined. The Xenon console will be smaller than the Xbox console. The standard Xenon controller will have a look and feel similar to the Xbox controller. The primary changes are the removal of the Black and White buttons and the addition of shoulder buttons. The triggers, thumbsticks, D-pad, and primary buttons are essentially unchanged. The controller will support vibration.

Xenon Development Kit

The Xenon development environment follows the same model as for Xbox. Game development occurs on the PC. The resulting executable image is loaded by the Xenon development kit and remotely debugged on the PC. MS Visual Studio version 7.1 continues as the development environment for Xenon.

The Xenon compiler is based on a custom PowerPC back end and the latest MS Visual C++ front end. The back end uses technology developed at MS for Windows NT on PowerPC. The Xenon software group includes a dedicated team of compiler engineers updating the compiler to support Xenon-specific CPU extensions. This team is also heavily focused on optimization work. The Xenon development kit will include accurate DVD emulation technology to allow developers to very precisely gauge the effects of the retail console disc drive.

Miscellaneous Xenon Hardware Notes


Xenon is a big-endian system. Both the CPU and GPU process memory in big-endian mode. Games ported from little-endian systems such as the Xbox or PC need to account for this in their game asset pipeline.

Tapping into the power of the CPU is a daunting task. Writing multithreaded game engines is not trivial. Xenon system software is designed to take advantage of this processing power wherever possible. The Xbox Advanced Technology Group (ATG) is also exploring a variety of techniques for offloading graphics work to the CPU.

People often ask if Xenon can be backward compatible with Xbox. Although the architecture of the two consoles is quite different, Xenon has the processing power to emulate Xbox. Whether Xenon will be backward compatible involves a variety of factors, not the least of which is the massive development and testing effort required to allow Xbox games run on Xenon.

  • 10.09.2004 9:30 PM PDT
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Read it all.

  • 10.09.2004 9:30 PM PDT

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

My hands hurt now.......

  • 10.09.2004 9:31 PM PDT
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its a realy good cheap PC for 500 dollars when it comes out sounds realy hot ill get one oh god i cant wait

  • 10.09.2004 9:32 PM PDT
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Please, you copy+pasted.

  • 10.09.2004 9:35 PM PDT

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

Posted by: ObbiQuiet
Please, you copy+pasted.


No -blam!- Dick Tracy. LOL. I was j/k.

  • 10.09.2004 9:36 PM PDT
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lol its sherlock not dick

and give him some slack hes drunk i think by now

  • 10.09.2004 9:38 PM PDT

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

Posted by: Kendoboy
lol its sherlock not dick

and give him some slack hes drunk i think by now


Do you even know who Dick Tracy is?

  • 10.09.2004 9:39 PM PDT
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isnt he a ditective on an old TV show

i know i know they are the same but sherlock is original

  • 10.09.2004 9:40 PM PDT

Devil is Double is Deuce and Joker always trumps Deuce.

Posted by: Kendoboy
isnt he a ditective on an old TV show


Close enough.

  • 10.09.2004 9:42 PM PDT
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The Xenon console is designed around a larger world view of storage than Xbox was. Games will have access to a variety of storage devices, including connected devices (memory units, USB storage) and remote devices (networked PCs, Xbox Live). At the time of this writing, the decision to include a built-in hard disk in every Xenon console has not been made. If a hard disk is not included in every console, it will certainly be available as an integrated add-on component.

It leaves you to wonder, WHICH networked PCs?

[Edited on 10/9/2004 9:56:01 PM]

  • 10.09.2004 9:55 PM PDT
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...drools...

  • 10.09.2004 9:57 PM PDT

I'll be on my own side.

i heard somewhere that a HD will be sold separately,like the HD for the PS2. wont that enable backwards comaptibility?

  • 10.09.2004 10:17 PM PDT
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No, because making the system backwards compatible is more than just saved file information. The Xbox Next has enough processor power to support it, but it just needs a few tweaks in the processing dept. Hard Disk information has no impact on the reading of the discs. You can swap out the hard disk at will.

Macs and PCs both have the same hardware, but it's the software that dictates compatibilty. Same concept. Kinda.

[Edited on 10/9/2004 10:59:00 PM]

  • 10.09.2004 10:50 PM PDT
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*drools/faints*

  • 10.10.2004 12:35 AM PDT
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easy look on game spy.com they will tell every thing about it and what it looks like its smaller than the gamecube its wierd

  • 10.10.2004 12:02 PM PDT
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Should've just given a link

http://www.gameinformer.com/NR/exeres/0E0A58AA-817F-437E-88E4 -FFC400502D83.htm

  • 10.10.2004 12:34 PM PDT
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I think Xbox 2 will be compatible with PC's on Xbox Live 2. They said somthing about introducing the Controller S to PC's, unless they already did that

  • 10.10.2004 1:07 PM PDT
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Just now reading this.

  • 10.13.2004 7:37 PM PDT

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