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VG Leaks: BC for NextBox to be an add on, can play offline

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Can I have option 3 which is full blown native BC? Which MS and Sony are laying the groundwork for with their new systems.

If BC is going to be sold as an add on, lets go all in. Create fully integrated BC package for 100 dollars more than the base system.

That wouldn't let Microsoft sell a $99 mini box to compete with the Apple TV (or a theoretical Apple TV with full iOS functionality). The Durango by itself is probably priced out of that market.
 

surly

Banned
Yep, this is how I see it as well except the gap between 1 and 2 is far greater than the gap between 2 to 6.
For me it's about performance. The only downside to buying an add-on is it costs you a little more and you have some "module" plugged into your console which doesn't look as elegant as when it's built in. But if performance is identical, I wouldn't put the gap between 1 and 2 to be that great at all. I'd say the big gap appears directly below 2, as that's where you start to get a performance deficit.
 

spwolf

Member
But then it wouldn't be mini :p

yeah, but looking at PSP Go!, it is failed strategy... if it was possible add-on, i could see why decisions were made to ditch the disc drive - basically you have it in 720.

but on its own, its already proven that it will fail based on previous consoles.

so quite possibly, this rumor makes no sense and it will actually be an add-on.
 
yeah, but looking at PSP Go!, it is failed strategy... if it was possible add-on, i could see why decisions were made to ditch the disc drive - basically you have it in 720.

but on its own, its already proven that it will fail based on previous consoles.

so quite possibly, this rumor makes no sense and it will actually be an add-on.

Well that's because its not going to be marketed as a games console, it'll be marketed as a TV device - with the added bonus of playing games.
 

Minions

Member
Nice so if it is included inside the Nextbox (no mini needed), theres another $50-100 added to the price tag. Will be interesting to see if Microsoft ends up taking as big a loss as Sony did this generation. ($200-300)/console sold.
 

PG2G

Member
yeah, but looking at PSP Go!, it is failed strategy... if it was possible add-on, i could see why decisions were made to ditch the disc drive - basically you have it in 720.

but on its own, its already proven that it will fail based on previous consoles.

so quite possibly, this rumor makes no sense and it will actually be an add-on.

I think it, when standalone, is intended as more of a media and XBLA box that a full up game console that only supports Games on Demand.

That said, I am going to assume this means the media services won't be behind an Xbox Live Gold pay wall much longer, because this makes zero sense otherwise.
 
yeah, but looking at PSP Go!, it is failed strategy... if it was possible add-on, i could see why decisions were made to ditch the disc drive - basically you have it in 720.

but on its own, its already proven that it will fail based on previous consoles.

so quite possibly, this rumor makes no sense and it will actually be an add-on.

I don't think you can compare the mini to previous consoles, its more like an Apple TV/Roku/Etc. than a traditional console at least as far as I understand based on the rumors.
 

Shaneus

Member
so Mini will be 360 without disC drive and wont be needed by Durango? Sounds stupid then to not have the $5 disc drive.
But then, it sounds like you would be able to use the Durango's drive to play disc-based 360 games.

Also keep in mind that including a disc drive means they'd have to rejig the whole layout of the device. You could go from something that is the size of a small media device (a la WDTV) to something around the size of the HD-DVD drive. That's a big difference for a lot of people who struggle for home theater shelf space.
 
I would buy one of these new X360s if it allowed me to play Games on Demand titles too. It's be great for hauling to a friends house for Blops 2 sessions

maybe they're going to run with that idea and make it a semi portable console with the ability to connect any durango.
 

Sounddeli

Banned
Im hearing this also:

MS will choose the 8890 GPU and opt for dx-12 instead of DX-11 .

AMD will be at the MS unveiling of the 720 and announce a new partnership.
 
It's saying;
Xbox Mini is used for TV functionality, no disc drive, plays downloadable games (XBL and 360 digital), pared down dashboard
Durango - has the same software as the Mini inside so is BC with 360 titles

That you don't need to connect them, I believe.

So we've got a premium 720 with BC and cable, and a "frankenstein" mini with cable and play only through download.

See now this is an interesting unveil, better than "will they let us play offline?"
 

USC-fan

Banned
Stay off of misterxmedia & mistercteam blogs it's not good for your sanity.

wow just looked that blog, lol... man that guy is crazy. That blog reminds me of Deadmeat....

Funny watching that guy just spin the math. Hope he keep posting after the announcement. Love to see the spin. ;)
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
I wonder if they'll show off Fortaleza glasses at their unveiling. With them pegged to hit so soon after, I think they would to try and sell their vision.
 

Smash

Banned
He's been right so far has he??


Guys this is either misterxmedia or Deadmeat. From post history:



I still think it will be a dual APU set up, gpu's will be boosted to 900mhz the cpu's at 2.0 ghz. A multi-CPU, multi-GPU system in which one combo is reserved for the Xbox platform (dashboard, video encoding/decoding) and one is reserved for applications (gaming). Just take a read of the Display Planes. Actually I think Sony's upgrades has been a reaction to what they know or heard MS is doing.

I heard something about another Durango meeting for March 4th.

The source is misterxmedia. I think he's posting in this thread now too.

Just to make this clear Im not misterxmedia

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=53605449&postcount=1889

My bro mynd made a good point.

"If" early rumors are correct, and if this thing has this "planes" chip, there is only one reason to do that and that's dual GPU's.
I would think the second GPU would be used in rendering, rather, as a system/app GPU.

It could be rendering say a youtube video in the corner of the screen while you play the game completely independently.
The dash/apps on one GPU, game running completely independently on the other.

In other words almost zero interaction between game chips and O/S.

Or I don't know maybe the illumiroom projector data if need be.

The 2nd APU wasn't for backwards compatibility, it is supposedly dedicated to the game OS, kinect 2 and apps, freeing up the other APU for game creation.

edit: The third SOCs was Xenon, which was suppose to make up a 3 SOCs in one system which MS dropped. So Im guessing this is the alternative form of that idea. Now it makes sense IBM, AMD and MS collaboration. I wonder will they be using Xenon 2 though??


In case you didn't know: They're both fucking nuts.
 
yeah, but looking at PSP Go!, it is failed strategy... if it was possible add-on, i could see why decisions were made to ditch the disc drive - basically you have it in 720.

but on its own, its already proven that it will fail based on previous consoles.

so quite possibly, this rumor makes no sense and it will actually be an add-on.

Except the PSP Go and this new 360 are completely different products serving completely different purposes.
 
Guys this is either misterxmedia or Deadmeat. From post history:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=53605449&postcount=1889

In case you didn't know: They're both fucking nuts.
What you just cited is not from MisterCteam or MisterXmedia. The post is reasonable and in line with what is being speculated for the PS4 also, there are two SoCs (depending on how you define SoC) in EVERYTHING PS4, Xbox 720, 32nm Xbox360/ARM and likely a 22nm PS3/ARM. The second ARM SoC takes care of low power STB features and provides Trustzone kernel booting and DRM tools for encrypting/decrypting. The compute ability in the ARM SoC is on the order of .5 CUs so adding that to the Speculated Durango 12 or PS4 18 CUs will have a marginal impact on playing games. It's more useful in providing UI and background tasks while the main GPU is running the game.

ARM Trustzone can provide a standard for DRM that looks like is required by Cable companies before they will "trust" Game Consoles to be secure to offer Pay-per-view and VOD services. After June 2014 (FCC rule) all TVs in the US will need to either be Smart TVs or be connected to a set top box to receive, via the home network and RVU (DLNA + encryption), Cable TV from a cable gateway device. PS4, Xbox720 Xbox360/ARM and likely PS3/ARM can provide this feature. RVU will allow 1080P & S3D to be displayed on 1080P TVs, provided they support S3D. Currently the TV tuner in 1080P TVs can't handle h.264 and the max resolution is 1080i unless you have a blu-ray player. XTV is coming also.

The diskless Xbox 360/ARM STB (Set Top Box) competes with Apple TV as a STB and can download Xbox 360 and Win8 RT games to a small internal flash or run games from the Durango Drive, likely both Blu-ray/DVD and Hard disk, over the network from a different room. Durango can also play Gakai like, Xbox 360 games served from the Xbox360/ARM. In this case the ARM SoC is converting frame buffer video to h.264 and streaming to the Durango.

Both Sony and Microsoft will be supporting RVU. A diskless PS3/ARM and Xbox 360/ARM will likely be able to control and display Video from a Blu-ray player in another room; this should also be true for a Sony Smart TV with ARM Trustzone or some ROT (Root Of Trust) that is considered secure (Video coming from the blu-ray player would have to be encrypted and unencrypted in the platform playing the video.

microsoft-sony.com might mean that Microsoft and Sony have agreed on a standard for secure sharing resources on the home network and have agreed to lowering the walls in their respective ecosystem walled gardens.

The “Xbox Mini” is not a 360 add-on, it is a stand alone product that contains Xbox 360 functions for gaming, and alone it is meant to compete with Apple TV. Since it is likely it will not have a disc drive, it is being designed with “always online” in mind, and with internet being required for Live functions. Xbox 360 Games can be played on it by purchasing Games on Demand on Xbox Live (for new purchases) or if already purchased, simply download it. This also applies to music and movies. To further clarify, the Durango will also have these (TV) functions, just with next-genration gaming hardware instead of Xbox 360 at a higher price.
Both have low power STB TV functions (ARM SoC) married to Xbox 360 SoC or AMD APU (SoC).
 

Key2001

Member
Perhaps I am just confused or misunderstanding it, but it appears he is claiming that the Xbox Mini SoC (CPU/GPU/memory on one die) is also in the Durango.

Wouldn't this mean that the Durango is fully backwards compatible with 360 games and able to do everything the Xbox Mini can do? If so, what would be the point of having the 2 devices communicate? Wouldn't a Xbox Mini just be redundant if you have a Durango?
 

Key2001

Member
Unless DX12 is built around the 720 first and that filters to PC's once they announce it?

If they are working on DX12 for the next box apparently no one outside of MS knows about it.

Advancements in PC graphics technology could be on the verge of a slump, according to GPU major AMD. In an interview with German publication Heise.de, AMD vice president of global channel sales, stated that his company doesn't believe there will be a DirectX 12 API, at least not as far as the company can see. The timing of this statement is particularly important, as both AMD and NVIDIA are expected to unveil next-generation graphics products by the end of the year.

Neither Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system, nor the rumored Windows "Blue" 8.1, could ship with a newer DirectX version. Taylor was responding to a question from Heise about next-generation GPUs and technologies they could be built around, to which he replied that normally, new DirectX versions stimulate introduction of new GPU architectures, but there won't be a DirectX 12, and so the company's next-generation GPUs will integrate other technologies. Answering another question, Taylor hinted that Battlefield 4, EA's upcoming entry to the hit online FPS multiplayer franchise, could be part of the company's next "Never Settle" bundle.

http://www.techpowerup.com/182416/T...4-Part-of-Next-Bundle-AMD-Vice-President.html
 
My best friend's sister who once worked at Microsoft said that she had a friend that worked there before too but is now related to a guy who currently works at MS has told her the following things:

All leaked specs from before were true, no revisions.
Kinect-heavy games will be the main selling point.
XMini will cost $199 has to be plugged into the receiver or TV with HDMI.
Halo HD remakes are their main launch title.
New IPs in development went third party about four months ago.
$659 price point, comes with two Kinect cameras.
Zombie launch game is actually WarZ.
Family title is Kinectimals 720.
Always-on means "what Kotaku said".
XBLG will now be "free" but you will have to sit through 5 minutes of commericals every 10 minutes.
 
Perhaps I am just confused or misunderstanding it, but it appears he is claiming that the Xbox Mini SoC (CPU/GPU/memory on one die) is also in the Durango.

Wouldn't this mean that the Durango is fully backwards compatible with 360 games and able to do everything the Xbox Mini can do? If so, what would be the point of having the 2 devices communicate? Wouldn't a Xbox Mini just be redundant if you have a Durango?
Yes it would. There are several possibles here and likely the cites that are considered rubbish by Smash are accurate; Microsoft decided to not support BC in the Durango.

Consider that homes in the US have multiple TVs. All will either have to rent Cable company STBs to receive RVU or buy multiple Apple TV or Roku box @ $99 or they can buy a Xbox360/ARM for $149 or less. With a home network REQUIRED by RVU, resource sharing on the network becomes a possible for CE platforms like RVU blu-ray players, DLNA servers with 2 Tbyte hard disks, PCs with Windows 8 AOAC, network connected printers, etc.

The Xbox360/ARM can share the disk drives in Durango or in a PC allowing a diskless Xbox360/ARM. The issues in this would be DRM security for the game and when the Disk game data is streamed; so new PCs (or Durango) with AMD APUs that include ARM Trustzone and Windows 8 can share resources with Xbox360/ARM (with Trustzone).

Sony and Microsoft deciding to create standards for secure sharing of resources over the network falls in line with Sony deciding to use Microsoft's Playready DRM as a standard used for IPTV streaming over networks.

The domain registration by Microsoft of microsoft-sony.com and sony-microsoft.com indicates that something will be eventually discovered and reported. There have been multiple speculations on what this means, the above is just another and likely accurate only because we are running out of possibles as most of the other speculations have proven false.
 

Reiko

Banned
My best friend's sister who once worked at Microsoft said that she had a friend that worked there before too but is now related to a guy who currently works at MS has told her the following things:

All leaked specs from before were true, no revisions.
Kinect-heavy games will be the main selling point.
XMini will cost $199 has to be plugged into the receiver or TV with HDMI.
Halo HD remakes are their main launch title.
New IPs in development went third party about four months ago.
$659 price point, comes with two Kinect cameras.
Zombie launch game is actually WarZ.
Family title is Kinectimals 720.
Always-on means "what Kotaku said".
XBLG will now be "free" but you will have to sit through 5 minutes of commericals every 10 minutes.

You could have tried to make it sound realistic.
 
My best friend's sister who once worked at Microsoft said that she had a friend that worked there before too but is now related to a guy who currently works at MS has told her the following things:

All leaked specs from before were true, no revisions.
Kinect-heavy games will be the main selling point.
XMini will cost $199 has to be plugged into the receiver or TV with HDMI.
Halo HD remakes are their main launch title.
New IPs in development went third party about four months ago.
$659 price point, comes with two Kinect cameras.
Zombie launch game is actually WarZ.
Family title is Kinectimals 720.
Always-on means "what Kotaku said".
XBLG will now be "free" but you will have to sit through 5 minutes of commericals every 10 minutes.

rofl
 

Roki6

Banned
So will this Mini be without HDD ?

I see some say it will be discless and others say diskless.
English is not my native language so i might be wrong, but for me disc=cd/dvd/br and disk=hdd

If it is w/o hdd that would mean flash memory? Wouldnt that drive price up for any reasonable amount of storage space
 

Shadders

Member
So will this Mini be without HDD ?

I see some say it will be discless and others say diskless.
English is not my native language so i might be wrong, but for me disc=cd/dvd/br and disk=hdd

If it is w/o hdd that would mean flash memory? Wouldnt that drive price up for any reasonable amount of storage space

It's a weird one.

Compact disc is correct. Hard Disk is correct.

People will generally know what you mean if you interchange them so I wouldn't worry too much.

In the case of this machine it is discless, it will have a hard disk.
 

surly

Banned
So will this Mini be without HDD ?

I see some say it will be discless and others say diskless.
English is not my native language so i might be wrong, but for me disc=cd/dvd/br and disk=hdd

If it is w/o hdd that would mean flash memory? Wouldnt that drive price up for any reasonable amount of storage space
Nobody really knows yet, but it sounds like it will have no optical disc drive or hard disc drive. My guess is that it will have a small amount of flash memory built in, but you can expand it with USB sticks like you can with the Xbox 360.
 
Another bonus thing about the xbox mini and a purely anecdotal story; my neighbor and I were talking and I mentioned that my boy loves Minecraft and plays on the 360, his son loves it and plays on his tablet. He said he wants to get hima 360 to play it on, I told him to wait for the mini, buy that and when he's ready to go next gen he can buy a Durango, plug in the mini and still have access to 360 games.

tl;dr First time 360 buyers get a mini now (they exist), upgrade to Durango later.
 

mocoworm

Member
My best friend's sister who once worked at Microsoft said that she had a friend that worked there before too but is now related to a guy who currently works at MS has told her the following things:

All leaked specs from before were true, no revisions.
Kinect-heavy games will be the main selling point.
XMini will cost $199 has to be plugged into the receiver or TV with HDMI.
Halo HD remakes are their main launch title.
New IPs in development went third party about four months ago.
$659 price point, comes with two Kinect cameras.
Zombie launch game is actually WarZ.
Family title is Kinectimals 720.
Always-on means "what Kotaku said".
XBLG will now be "free" but you will have to sit through 5 minutes of commericals every 10 minutes.


Haha... whatevs.
 
My best friend's sister who once worked at Microsoft said that she had a friend that worked there before too but is now related to a guy who currently works at MS has told her the following things:

All leaked specs from before were true, no revisions.
Kinect-heavy games will be the main selling point.
XMini will cost $199 has to be plugged into the receiver or TV with HDMI.
Halo HD remakes are their main launch title.
New IPs in development went third party about four months ago.
$659 price point, comes with two Kinect cameras.
Zombie launch game is actually WarZ.
Family title is Kinectimals 720.
Always-on means "what Kotaku said".
XBLG will now be "free" but you will have to sit through 5 minutes of commericals every 10 minutes.

Day one!!!
 

Dabanton

Member
Another bonus thing about the xbox mini and a purely anecdotal story; my neighbor and I were talking and I mentioned that my boy loves Minecraft and plays on the 360, his son loves it and plays on his tablet. He said he wants to get hima 360 to play it on, I told him to wait for the mini, buy that and when he's ready to go next gen he can buy a Durango, plug in the mini and still have access to 360 games.

tl;dr First time 360 buyers get a mini now (they exist), upgrade to Durango later.

Quite a canny way to get people locked into the ecosystem.
 
I told him to wait for the mini, buy that and when he's ready to go next gen he can buy a Durango, plug in the mini and still have access to 360 games.
.

My only problem with this is that his son could be enjoying Minecraft now for months, instead you told him to wait on a (at this point) fictional product that might not even release before the end of the year.
 
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