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Juicy Xbox360 rumors
- Thread starter Wario64
- Start date
- Status
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Fight for Freeform said:
True and people will have a lot more PlyStation 2 software when PlayStation 3 launches than they did PSOne software when PlayStation 2 launched (both quantities will be enormous as you see PSOne titles selling even now).
Are you saying that Xbox 1 did not sell many games to its customers ?
Must be why the whole CPU SoC is included, the Sound processor is basically the same but duplicated and the GS received hardware fixes to help it and at the same time the EE is used to translate display lists on the fly, right ?
Fact: for 1994-1995 the PSOne used a heck of a proprietary solution for its CPU as well as its GPU, but especially the CPU which was its strongest asset IMHO: built-in table to accellerate Painter's Alorithm rendering (back-to-front rendering), 30 MHz custom MIPS R3000A, custom Vectgor Processor with fixed point math (GTE), custom M-JPEG decoding engine (MDEC), high speed DMAC engine, etc...
??? Uhm.... no.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
chespace said:
I would still take it: I want to play my older games even when my old consoles crap out.
Look at your PC: would you really give up backward compatibility each time you upgrade it
.Wario64 said:
All the Halo 2 stuff is a flaming crock of shit, made up by some pissed Halo hater.
And I don't see MS causing channel friction by selling games online at reduced prices. They need all the retail support they can get. Online DEMOS on the other hand have been nearly confirmed.
The rest seems like random speculation and "no shit" observations based on publicly known data.
Juicy, these are not.
Man, I'm cranky tonight.
You rock :DopeyFish said:Read my post on the last page...
http://forums.gaming-age.com/showthread.php?t=18663
AtomicShroom
Member
Wario64 said:
:lol :lol :lol :lol
Okay this is officially BS! :lol
Serious about the present day games industry. Not some industry that existed 4 years ago.
Not enough to warrent jacking up the cost of a brand new console. You people have to realize that launch price point is absolutely important to a console's success (whether short or long term, I think both).
It's a whole lot easier to emulate a proprietary CPU rather than a GPU. And if you read my point about my DC you'll see why.
Sorry, to cost AND performance! The original GB sound hardware was put in there, and the plan was to utilize it to take load and bandwidth away from other components. Do you expect MS to include the GPU used in the Xbox in every 360?
I would still take it: I want to play my older games even when my old consoles crap out.
Look at your PC: would you really give up backward compatibility each time you upgrade it
How much more would you be willing to pay for BC?
As far as PCs go...let's say that there is a new machine that is 128-bit and doesn't use x86 and is cheap, yet really fast. But you have to buy new software for it. And let's say it's primarily used as a games machine.
Would you refuse to buy it, because it lacks BC?
How does Chankast handle volumetric shadows?
The whole point is that with the built in technology that is BASED on hardware differences, you'll have issues.Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Must be why PlayStation 2 needed to have the PSOne CPU SoC and GPU emulation was done basically by translating the outputted display lists and some fixes to the GS
.Oh poor Nintendo... obliged to sell at $90 some product it cost them about $20 to manufacture: Povero Silvio... incompreso (no you won't get this, but it is ok, someone will
).
Backward-compatibility was quite cheap for them to add: do you think the GB CPU they added was so expensive they had to fall on software processed sound (for something more than PC Speakers like sound) ? :lol
Graphically they do not slow things down a bit... unless you want good music and sound effects that is
.It was their decision to keep things ultra simple and bar the use of the GB CPU when the system was in GBA mode: you know a dedicated chip sitting there doing nothing could have been useful helping out with sound processing.
Look at the Nintendo DS for better implemented backward-compatibility and better use of the secondary hardware (still the way they serialized things irks me a bit).
No, and likely they do not need to once they pay a fee to nVIDIA to use the old design and it is not like MS does not have the leverage to convince them to take the money
.Say, the manufacturers take the cost, find a way not to have the extra hardware sit idle and only be useful for backward-compatibility since I will have already to buy the new software at probably jacked up prices
.Yes, of course... I do not give a shit if it is fast... I have too much stuff for this PC to just throw it awayfor a new PC that does not let me re-use my software
.How does Chankast handle volumetric shadows?
You can solve solvable issues and modifier volumes (which btw are used for more stuff than just shadows: btw, Shenmue does not use Modifier Volumes for shadows, but it calculates shadowing separately) are one of them: you are not cmparing a small emulation group against professional programmers involved with the design of the original hardware ?
Do you think that if the Hitachi/Renesas guys and the IMG Technologies guys were paid to develop a Dreamcast emulator for a current modern PC they would not be able to do it
?disabledHeliocentric
Member
I don't want to lug out my xbox to play Ninja Gaiden, PDO, and Riddick. I really hope they come through, give us BC. Seriously, this could be the differance between buying it at launch and waiting a year.(er...unless they have sexy launch games )
)Must be why PlayStation 2 needed to have the PSOne CPU SoC and GPU emulation was done basically by translating the outputted display lists and some fixes to the GS
Exactly, because the GPU wasn't using tech so propietary that couldn't be replicated.
Your statement also ties into my second point. The PSOne was also more than 5 years older than the PS2. The 360 doesn't have that luxury. The cost of including hardware such as say in the case of the 360, would go down to an extent. I think you're underestimating the costs of the Xbox GPU.
Perhaps cheap, but it was still an added cost, and for MS the added cost will be far greater. "Cheap" by no means.
No, and likely they do not need to once they pay a fee to nVIDIA to use the old design and it is not like MS does not have the leverage to convince them to take the money
I highly doubt it...but perhaps you considering things that I'm not...
Say, the manufacturers take the cost, find a way not to have the extra hardware sit idle and only be useful for backward-compatibility since I will have already to buy the new software at probably jacked up prices
Well...if you want the manufacturer to eat the cost, that means that you don't want to pay for it. Am I interpreting this right?
Yes, of course... I do not give a shit if it is fast... I have too much stuff for this PC to just throw it awayfor a new PC that does not let me re-use my software
So because your older games won't work...you won't buy a new games machine? Then maybe you really don't need a new console to begin with.
You can solve solvable issues and modifier volumes (which btw are used for more stuff than just shadows: btw, Shenmue does not use Modifier Volumes for shadows, but it calculates shadowing separately) are one of them: you are not cmparing a small emulation group against professional programmers involved with the design of the original hardware ?
Do you think that if the Hitachi/Renesas guys and the IMG Technologies guys were paid to develop a Dreamcast emulator for a current modern PC they would not be able to do it
I don't think current PCs would be able to run it at the same speeds. They could get everything down pat, but speeds are an issue. And though perhaps they can overcome some hurdles in 100% emulation...getting it to run at the same speeds is another. Artifically overclocking the SH-4 won't guarentee the same performance as the DC either.
You could try emulating the Xbox on the 360, but I seriously doubt that it would perform as well as an original Xbox.
I still think that the only solution for BC is including some of the original hardware, and that it's too costly to do so. You've brought some interesting points in relation to my earlier points, but in one sense they agree with what I said (I'm talking about propietary hardware being an issue and must be included...and you show me that yes it is included in the PS2.).
Why not think rationally than joke about it. I'm tired, maybe I'm getting grumpy and I'm not in a joking mood.
Look at the GC's launch. It didn't have BC...and the N64 was quite popular. It sold pretty well, the games sold pretty well.
And Nintendo is pretty "serious about the industry", as you put it, isn't that right?
So did they somehow show that they really didn't care about the games industry by releasing a GC console that wasn't BC? No...not at all.
Sure, the console could have emulated it...but the move from cartridges to optical discs was essential in moving technology forward. Sure, as a result, they've lost BC...but the cost to add a cartridge port would have jacked up the cost of the console. Can you imagine the console costing even $25 more dollars at launch? It would have really hurt the console in the eyes of many undecided consumers. Nintendo looked forward with new technology and didn't look back.
Why do they need to remain living in the past...and how does living in the past relate to their seriousness to this industry?
Fresh Prince
Banned
I still cant beleive the xbox 2 is moving towards being called the xbox 360.
Put it this way I have never used my PS2 to play PS1 games and I will never play PS2 games on PS3. Really I don't see the point and i'd rather the saving thanks. An add on would be the perfect deal for me, I wouldn't have to pay for an useless function and people that did require backwards compatability would have to pay the extra cost, perfect. Oh and its almost certain to be Xbox 360 and it's just a name.
Bauer Action Hour
Member
BC hasn't been that important to me either. For PS2 I only used it extensively for replaying FFVII one time in the recent past. The only other time I used it was when I just got the PS2 and I tested games out to see what the texture blending looked like (a couple of days worth of novelty).
Maybe PS3 BC will be more important to me when considering the amount of PS2 titles that'll come out later this year and early next year (all the RPGs ...). I'll definitely have a backlog of games this time around ...
Maybe PS3 BC will be more important to me when considering the amount of PS2 titles that'll come out later this year and early next year (all the RPGs ...). I'll definitely have a backlog of games this time around ...
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
Fight for Freeform said:
I would not include the cost of the GPU: the problem for MS is a problem of IP's more than technological feasibility IMHO.
I won't buy it at launch at full price no, especially if there are alternatives that do support Backward-compatibility.
The kind of 100% emulation is what people aim with UAE set-up to emualte cycle-by-cycle every feature of Amiga systems and that yes it is expensive: what would be done on for DC emulation and on Xbox 2 emulation would be more akin to what some good N64 emulators do, that is replace API calls used by the original paltform with equivalent functions.
Do you think any N64 emulator bothers implementing texture filtering exactly as it is on N64 ? That would mean a slow software solution tom mimic the fact that the N64 GPU sampled 3 texels for bi-linear filtering instead of 4 and had a borked tri-linear set-up.
You do not emulate accurately in that case: you know the texture to be sample and you know the application wants it sampled with a bi-linear filter and you use your GPU's standard bi-linear.
Some thing you migth do in software or with custom Shader programs, but it is not like Xenon lacks the performance to do it: the CPU alone is like 72-80 GFLOPS.
The best thing would be to include the XCPU as I/O processor + other processor to sue for stuff
so that you avoid having to do JIT compilation for the general purpose code and can focus on using the Xenon CPU and the Xenon GPU to emulate the Xbox 1 GPU.It is not easy, but it is doable: especially if you get permission from nVIDIA coughing up money for it and getting more insights in how the low level functions of the NV2A GPU should be handled to do correct emulation.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
maharg said:
You were in that same thread as I was... I assume by serialized as pipelined... like the CLIP/CULL stage of a GPU is serialized to the VS stage.
It would make it for easier programming: some of the benefits of dual processing, but not all the programming/synchronization issues.
It might be like this or it might not... it is just a theory.
My point was not this, my point was that this time they did not merely put all the work on the shoulders of the Master CPU and leave the other sitting idle unless the console was in backward-compatibility mode.
Spider_Jerusalem
Member
Panajev2001a said:Povero Silvio... incompreso (no you won't get this, but it is ok, someone will
AHAHAHAH grande!!! :lol
look at your PMs ;-)
About BC, this is my personal point of view: I rarely go back on playing games I already finished, mostly because I've constantly got new games to play, and not much free time. So, BC isn't at all an issue for me. Moreover, I'm planning to keep my actual Xbox for at least one year after Xenon's release, so I'm not worried at all. I think BC is absolutely overrated here, and it will do less difference for the great public. When I switched to a DVD player, I didn't pretend it to be backwards compatible with my old VCR. Simply, I still have my VCR even if it's almost unused.
And coming back at the first post, the "server side geometry calculations" is absolute bullshit :lol :lol :lol
Only somemone that doesn't have basic technical knowledge could think such a thing to be feasible.
I do so wish that MS would let you copy games to your HDD, i dont even mind if they make you stick the disc in to run it from the HDD (to stop people just renting & copying) every game i get these days i immeadiatly copy to the HDD, ever since i tried to play James Bond Everything or nothing and realised it was more load time than game.
Especially as they are going with DVD again, the transfer rates are just not good enough.
Especially as they are going with DVD again, the transfer rates are just not good enough.
Crankenstein
Banned
"I won't buy it at launch at full price no, especially if there are alternatives that do support Backward-compatibility."
My sentiments and intentions as well.
My sentiments and intentions as well.
MightyHedgehog
Member
For a handheld, BC is very important. I mean, who wants to lug around more than one system?
For a home console, I just can't see the great importance it has. Then again, I don't hold off on buying the major consoles because I'm getting them day-one for all the shit that gets me excited about getting them in the first place...the new console-shit.
For a home console, I just can't see the great importance it has. Then again, I don't hold off on buying the major consoles because I'm getting them day-one for all the shit that gets me excited about getting them in the first place...the new console-shit.
We only need more than 40gig if they are gonna let us put games on it. All the video/music content can be streamed via media center.
The cost of it depends on the form factor, sure a PC 80gig HDD is less than a 40gig one but things a bit different if you are looking at smaller drives.
The cost of it depends on the form factor, sure a PC 80gig HDD is less than a 40gig one but things a bit different if you are looking at smaller drives.
I noticed today while doing used game hunting in Japanese game stores that BC is a lot more important and less important at the same time in Japan.
Currently in Japan, PS1 software is still moving a large amount of units through used game sales (and even new game sales from PS one book collections). Tons of people are buying and selling PS1 games each day for both collectors items and to play old classics that they may have missed (remember, there was probably 5x the amount of software released on the PS1 in Japan than the US and games are $10-20 more there). Now maybe some of these people are playing their games on their PS1, but I'm pretty sure the majority are using the PS2. Heck I picked up five PS1 games tonight because they had finally dropped below the $15 price range. I've gotten a ton of PS1 games in the last 4-5 years and my PS1 laser died like 3 years ago, so I depend on my PS2's BC to play all these awesome rpgs and stuff that I'm just finding out about now. I think this applies greatly to the average Japanese gamer too, and so to them BC is a very important item.
But at the same time, the PS1 had like thousands of games released during its lifetime in Japan. Whereas the Xbox shelf at the local gamestore has maybe 30-40 games max, so maybe while BC would be incredibly important for PS3 (thousands of PS2 games out here, and in 5 years they'll finally be hitting the sub-$15 prices), it may not be very important for Xbox360 as there might not be anything Xbox360 owners will have cared about missing on Xbox.
Just a thought.
Currently in Japan, PS1 software is still moving a large amount of units through used game sales (and even new game sales from PS one book collections). Tons of people are buying and selling PS1 games each day for both collectors items and to play old classics that they may have missed (remember, there was probably 5x the amount of software released on the PS1 in Japan than the US and games are $10-20 more there). Now maybe some of these people are playing their games on their PS1, but I'm pretty sure the majority are using the PS2. Heck I picked up five PS1 games tonight because they had finally dropped below the $15 price range. I've gotten a ton of PS1 games in the last 4-5 years and my PS1 laser died like 3 years ago, so I depend on my PS2's BC to play all these awesome rpgs and stuff that I'm just finding out about now. I think this applies greatly to the average Japanese gamer too, and so to them BC is a very important item.
But at the same time, the PS1 had like thousands of games released during its lifetime in Japan. Whereas the Xbox shelf at the local gamestore has maybe 30-40 games max, so maybe while BC would be incredibly important for PS3 (thousands of PS2 games out here, and in 5 years they'll finally be hitting the sub-$15 prices), it may not be very important for Xbox360 as there might not be anything Xbox360 owners will have cared about missing on Xbox.
Just a thought.
How does this matter? Seriously. It's not like the alternatives can play the games you'd most likely want Xbox BC for in the first place. This works for DVD player and such but not game consoles. Still. As chespace said. Having BC certainly cant hurt from a consumers standpoint.
I most likely wont buy a 360 at launch either (I never buy systems at launch). But that decision will be made based off of the games available and not whether the competition has BC or not.
truffleshuffle83
Banned
if it has updated maps and stuff for halo 2 but isnt backwards compatable how would that work???
Two things.
1. It's funny that the huge variety of options MS could go with for the Xbox 2 make speculation for how it'll end up being so much wilder than Revolution whose whole claim to fame is uniqueness.
2. Whatever features Xbox does or does not have is pointless. The addition or lack of any feature won't make or break the Box. If it has must have games then the gamers will come. That's all there is to it. SOFTWARE people, not hardware.
Truffle: the specualtion is that the whole game will be on the harddrive. You won't need Xbox Halo 2 to play. It's all spurious though.
1. It's funny that the huge variety of options MS could go with for the Xbox 2 make speculation for how it'll end up being so much wilder than Revolution whose whole claim to fame is uniqueness.
2. Whatever features Xbox does or does not have is pointless. The addition or lack of any feature won't make or break the Box. If it has must have games then the gamers will come. That's all there is to it. SOFTWARE people, not hardware.
Truffle: the specualtion is that the whole game will be on the harddrive. You won't need Xbox Halo 2 to play. It's all spurious though.
truffleshuffle83
Banned
thats what i figured but the way it read was they were just including maps and other goodies.
personally i could care less about bc. i already have xbox and ill probably play it a handful of times next gen. so in the closet it will go
personally i could care less about bc. i already have xbox and ill probably play it a handful of times next gen. so in the closet it will go
Hiro_Kunimi_80
Member
DVI is more diffuse ( monitor widescreen and tv hdtv )Yusaku said:
truffleshuffle83
Banned
fingers crossed it comes with an hdmi cable. i dont want to drop 100 bucks on a cable
Fight for Freeform said:Why not think rationally than joke about it. I'm tired, maybe I'm getting grumpy and I'm not in a joking mood.
Look at the GC's launch. It didn't have BC...and the N64 was quite popular. It sold pretty well, the games sold pretty well.
And Nintendo is pretty "serious about the industry", as you put it, isn't that right?
So did they somehow show that they really didn't care about the games industry by releasing a GC console that wasn't BC? No...not at all.
Sure, the console could have emulated it...but the move from cartridges to optical discs was essential in moving technology forward. Sure, as a result, they've lost BC...but the cost to add a cartridge port would have jacked up the cost of the console. Can you imagine the console costing even $25 more dollars at launch? It would have really hurt the console in the eyes of many undecided consumers. Nintendo looked forward with new technology and didn't look back.
Why do they need to remain living in the past...and how does living in the past relate to their seriousness to this industry?
You're argument is severly flawed about Nintendo...
A) They have added backwards compatibility to every version of Gameboy.
B) They know how important BC is because their newest systems (read: DS and Revolution) will play older games.
It all comes down to what type of gamer you are. You're entire argument is filled with "quit living in the past" shit which, pardon my french, is fucking stupid. Just because a game is old, does not mean it still isnt worth playing. Do you not watch older movies / listen to older music because they are "too old" and you want to "stay with the times"? I played a shitload of PSOne games I missed the first time around on my PS2 (Suikoden 2 being one that stands out greatly) that I probably would've never played had PS2 not played PSOne games. It's also nice to know that I can presumably shelve my PS2 once PS3 comes out but I still have every Playstation brand game to play at my finger tips. That adds a LOT of value for me.
Will lack of BC stop me from getting Xbox 360? No... I doubt it will really effect many people's purchases once they see the graphics and whatnot and I'm sure that's why MS doesn't care if it's in or not. For me it will devalue the Xbox brand, however, in a couple ways:
A) Once I have all 3 next-gen systems there will be no room for that big ass xbox. And once it's put away I highly doubt I will be pulling it out that much. Eventually xbox games will be packed up and/or sold never to be played again and any older xbox game I might have missed will not be purchased. (maybe ill buy a shitty PS2 port, if exists, instead)
B) I'm going to figure that Xbox 360 also has a 3-4 year shelf life and xbox 720 will not play 360 games.... with that in my head any multisystem game will be purchased for PS3 because I will figure I will still be able to play them on PS4 once it comes out.
But like I said, I highly doubt this will effect sales so in the end everyone will be ok. But this just secures which system, for me, will remain the one in which I will buy the most games for.
Everything Wario posted is from a credible source from a VERY popular development company. I was involved in the conversation.
The next Xbox will be called Xbox 360. "3" so it doesn't sound inferior to the Playstation 3 and "360" for a full revolution, since Nintendo's system is called the "Revolution". This is almost 100% guaranteed. My source has told us new marketing slogans have already been passed around the game industry with the name "Xbox 360", such as.... "Xbox 360.... the real revolution"
The Xbox 360 WILL be launched in the US in November. That is a GUARANTEE. MS wants to have 1 million units sold BY holiday for large holiday game sales.
The Xbox 360 WILL have multiple outputs. 1 being HDMI and the other for VGA (among other typical outputs). I recall a total of 4 outputs. The multiple outputs is to alleviate playing split screen. You will be able to hookup to different outputs to one Xbox and play on 2 different screens.
Online COOP for Halo2 made it though Alpha and Beta testing. It ran flawlessly and "as smooth as silk". At the last minute it was taken out. My source has went as far as saying "all the code is in there... it's just turned off". That would explain all the menus that make it appear that you can play COOP on Live. It was removed and NO explaination has been given to why.
Halo 2 was dismantled in the middle of development. As everyone knows, Bungie wanted Halo2 to be the last in the series and move onto other games for Xbox 360. MS went to Bungie 2/3 of the way through the development and told Bungie that they did NOT want them to end it because the want Halo to be a franchise. Since Bungie had the story already written to end with Halo2, they had to remove alot and fill it with fluff to save something for Halo 3. This is the rumor why online Coop was removed... they need to save something "innovative" for Halo 3. It is true... the Ark board was supposed to be in this game. Look at the Limited Edition Halo DVD. You will a story board showing the Ark on Earth.
Dual wielding Jackal shields was also removed. You were supposed to be able to pick up a Jackal shield and use the Left Trigger to block shots. He also talked about the Hog and how you could shoot while you drove it.
The new Halo 2 DLC will be coming in 2 weeks time. It will include patches for grabbing flags through the base, dropping bombs through the base, standby glitch fix, flag bouncing among other glitches. It will also decrease the space available for melee attacks. I'm not sure if that meant a simple melee or with the sword... but regardless, making it so you have to be closer for a melee. Something will also be included so you can combo melee attacks to get double kills with melees (not sure what he meant by that). Also... if someone goes into "standby", he will be IMMEDIATELY booted from the game and the next best connection will take over.
The first 2 Halo 2 multiplayer maps will be free and coming in 4 weeks time. The next to will be $2.99 each and the rest will come later, at a download price of $12.99. They will be free by the end of the summer, but who wants to wait until September when Xbox 360 will be out in November.
Hard drives for Xbox 360 is still up in the air. If they can get the costs down, they MAY include it, but it doesn't look likely. IF they do include it, it will be another 10 gig drive. They will offer an optional 40-60 gig hdd that will include and upgraded Hi-Def Halo 2 that can be played on Live. This is an incentive since Xbox 360 will NOT include backwards compatability. MS is also tossing around an idea of just creating an add-on case that would allow users to use their own purchased hdd so they can choose what size they want. This is highly unlikely though. Whatever they choose, it WILL be Serial ATA.
They are tossing around the idea of allowing people to download games at a discounted price to be loaded to the hdd. This way, if you accept a game invite from someone else, you will be prompted "would you like to switch games" and the other game will immediately launch, without having to swap games.
The Xbox friends list will be a part of the Xbox itself. This way all XBL friends list will look the same. The are basing the design of Bungie's implementation of this. This way, it is all uniform on how you send and receive invites etc... This is the same for custom soundtracks. It will all be a part of the system, not the game, therefore allowing custom soundtracks in all games.
The source also claimed that this is going to be the BEST E3 in a long time. If I recall correctly, all 3 developers will be showing off their consoles.
Also, Xbox 360 will pretty much be an Apple G5 running on the new Windows Longhorn.
Obviously, these are all "rumors". I believe them to be true. Our source knew WAY too much to be just making this stuff up. This all came from a 90 minute conversation. Believe it or not.... I believe it.
I will post more as I remember...
The next Xbox will be called Xbox 360. "3" so it doesn't sound inferior to the Playstation 3 and "360" for a full revolution, since Nintendo's system is called the "Revolution". This is almost 100% guaranteed. My source has told us new marketing slogans have already been passed around the game industry with the name "Xbox 360", such as.... "Xbox 360.... the real revolution"
The Xbox 360 WILL be launched in the US in November. That is a GUARANTEE. MS wants to have 1 million units sold BY holiday for large holiday game sales.
The Xbox 360 WILL have multiple outputs. 1 being HDMI and the other for VGA (among other typical outputs). I recall a total of 4 outputs. The multiple outputs is to alleviate playing split screen. You will be able to hookup to different outputs to one Xbox and play on 2 different screens.
Online COOP for Halo2 made it though Alpha and Beta testing. It ran flawlessly and "as smooth as silk". At the last minute it was taken out. My source has went as far as saying "all the code is in there... it's just turned off". That would explain all the menus that make it appear that you can play COOP on Live. It was removed and NO explaination has been given to why.
Halo 2 was dismantled in the middle of development. As everyone knows, Bungie wanted Halo2 to be the last in the series and move onto other games for Xbox 360. MS went to Bungie 2/3 of the way through the development and told Bungie that they did NOT want them to end it because the want Halo to be a franchise. Since Bungie had the story already written to end with Halo2, they had to remove alot and fill it with fluff to save something for Halo 3. This is the rumor why online Coop was removed... they need to save something "innovative" for Halo 3. It is true... the Ark board was supposed to be in this game. Look at the Limited Edition Halo DVD. You will a story board showing the Ark on Earth.
Dual wielding Jackal shields was also removed. You were supposed to be able to pick up a Jackal shield and use the Left Trigger to block shots. He also talked about the Hog and how you could shoot while you drove it.
The new Halo 2 DLC will be coming in 2 weeks time. It will include patches for grabbing flags through the base, dropping bombs through the base, standby glitch fix, flag bouncing among other glitches. It will also decrease the space available for melee attacks. I'm not sure if that meant a simple melee or with the sword... but regardless, making it so you have to be closer for a melee. Something will also be included so you can combo melee attacks to get double kills with melees (not sure what he meant by that). Also... if someone goes into "standby", he will be IMMEDIATELY booted from the game and the next best connection will take over.
The first 2 Halo 2 multiplayer maps will be free and coming in 4 weeks time. The next to will be $2.99 each and the rest will come later, at a download price of $12.99. They will be free by the end of the summer, but who wants to wait until September when Xbox 360 will be out in November.
Hard drives for Xbox 360 is still up in the air. If they can get the costs down, they MAY include it, but it doesn't look likely. IF they do include it, it will be another 10 gig drive. They will offer an optional 40-60 gig hdd that will include and upgraded Hi-Def Halo 2 that can be played on Live. This is an incentive since Xbox 360 will NOT include backwards compatability. MS is also tossing around an idea of just creating an add-on case that would allow users to use their own purchased hdd so they can choose what size they want. This is highly unlikely though. Whatever they choose, it WILL be Serial ATA.
They are tossing around the idea of allowing people to download games at a discounted price to be loaded to the hdd. This way, if you accept a game invite from someone else, you will be prompted "would you like to switch games" and the other game will immediately launch, without having to swap games.
The Xbox friends list will be a part of the Xbox itself. This way all XBL friends list will look the same. The are basing the design of Bungie's implementation of this. This way, it is all uniform on how you send and receive invites etc... This is the same for custom soundtracks. It will all be a part of the system, not the game, therefore allowing custom soundtracks in all games.
The source also claimed that this is going to be the BEST E3 in a long time. If I recall correctly, all 3 developers will be showing off their consoles.
Also, Xbox 360 will pretty much be an Apple G5 running on the new Windows Longhorn.
Obviously, these are all "rumors". I believe them to be true. Our source knew WAY too much to be just making this stuff up. This all came from a 90 minute conversation. Believe it or not.... I believe it.
I will post more as I remember...
Spider_Jerusalem
Member
ATJaguarX said:
You've said nothing that hasn't been rumored before (except for the full games downloads, but demos was already rumored). Your source could simply have mixed together some rumors, hoping in a lucky guess ;-) The same process spong seems to use in its "scoop articles" :lol
And yes, there's that "server-side geometry" think about which Wario wrote in his post, but I really hope noone will believe such and absurdity....
I call bullshit on all of this. Bungie admitted to basically scrapping the game halfway through the project because it wasn't running well and wasn't fun. Now, on top of that, they had additional time to remove content from the game that they had already built to please MS? Give me a break. Throw in the idiotic statement about graphics rendering being handled on the server side (who was the idiot who wrote this?) and you just have a bunch of rumors that are screaming "bullshit".
chespace said:
Ah, but "essential" is a very relative thing. To someone who'd rather not keep their old XBox around, they'll need to repurchase XB1 games that are ported to XB2 (assuming both that they want them and they're ported.)
This *kinda* kicks Halo fans in the nuts. Having the series on two seperate systems that are just plain incompatible with each other is a hassle, at the very least. Thanks to Sony and Nintendo (and to a lesser degree, Sega), backwards compatibility may not be necessarily required, but I think a good argument can be made that it's now expected.
Well, when your less tired, maybe you'll realize that jokes can have rational points tooFight for Freeform said:Why not think rationally than joke about it. I'm tired, maybe I'm getting grumpy and I'm not in a joking mood.
Your comment made BC out to be some arbitrary feature added on a whim to support "some industry that existed 4 years ago", like it had nothing to do with the here and now, nevermind the same industry. It was a bizarre attempt to marginalize BC.Who gives a crap about early adopter sales in this case? Ultimately the GC looks set to sell roughly half as many units as the N64 did in its lifetime, putting its appeal roughly even with the Xbox which also didn't have the support of a back catalog, coincidentally.
But, hey, if those are the kind of lifetime sales that Nintendo and MS can be happy with then more power to 'em.
They showed that their technology roadmap of the time didn't have the foresight to span generations of hardware and they were unwilling to account for the oversight, presumably hoping other factors could make up for it. Not unlike MS seems to be doing with Xb0x 1->2 transition. Bottom line: not being able to allow for BC is a screw up and its just a question of whether you have enough other features/content to make up for it. Time will tell.
Sure I can, but I'll grant you that I have more disposable income than others. How that $25 might affect the purchasing decisions of others ultimately depends on what the total asking price is. What if MS is pitching to sell the xbox 2 at $200 this fall, without BC? Would bumping the the price tag to $225 or even $250 to add BC really hurt sales when two generations of console hardware have shown that you can successfully start selling to a mass audience for as much as $300?
Alternatively there's always the option for MS to just eat the additional cost, accepting the fact that they botched the generational transition by making it harder for themselves to include BC in the first place, making amends for it, and chalking it up to buying better leverage for their marketing in the process.
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