At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, Microsoft raised the bar on what has become one of the more interesting battles in the industry. Actually, it would be more accurate to say Microsoft has taken the gloves off and now — really — is going after the entertainment segment. A few months ago, MSN was brought back into the fold and made strategic again — so much so that there are rumors suggesting Microsoft may buy AOL from Time Warner. The GDC was the coming-out party for the Xbox group moving through the same process.
I suppose the fact that Jeff Benck, Vice President of IBM's systems and technology group, has stated plainly that the Xbox will use a Power-based chip is just a delusional dream concocted by crazy apple zealots? Just take a quick trip to cbs marketwatch.com for a Q&A where he says just that. I'm certain it's not a typo. You really can't help yourself but take a snipe at the Mac community and platform at nearly every opportunity (barring a few non-negative reviews) even when you are dead wrong. This article was pure macuser-bashing. It's unfortunate and unnessary. There's no reason to put down the power architecture. It's a great performer. The chips have been hailed by the microprocessor forum (the 970 winning best desktop processor this year). Did you write this on that gaudy ferrari laptop?
Based on retail sell through since launch XBox is number 2 in current generation Consoles with 13.7M sold world wide. With 8.6 in NA they are 2 there, and with 3.7 in Europe they are 2 there as well. They are a distant third in Asia with 1.4M. Trends show Nintendo down (we aren't counting hand helds which are doing fine). Sony is flat to declining I expect this is due to PS3 anticipation more than anything else.
These development kits have not been confirmed but even the rumors admit they are running x86 emulation which would mean they don't represent final hardware. The platform is to use the embedded version of XP (Possibly Longhorn) both are x86 native and for a 4 year platform they can't afford the perfomance hit emulation would create. .
The Xbox2 will be based on PowerPC. The early Dev Kits run on Mac G5s with a special WinNT kernal. There's no reason why MS would make developers use G5 Macs if it wasn't going to stay PowerPC. It may not be "the" Apple G5 970 chip, but it certainly will be a Power5 variant.
If the Xbox2 really is going with a x86 processor, then why are the development kits for the Xbox running on Mac G5 with a special Windows NT kernal? It's obvious the Xbox will be PowerPC based.. maybe not the G5, but some variant.
According to the IDSA sony is still a dominant stable number 1 and MS is in third place by a million or so i think. So Nintendo is still kicking around.
Actually Sony is a dominate number 1, and their marketshare is stable. Microsoft is not a strong second or even a weak second they are third world-wide with about 10 million sold Nintendo has about 11 million sold. In some territories Microsoft and Nintendo trade spots but still world-wide Sony is 1, Nintendo is 2 and Microsoft is 3.Nintendo is actually doing pretty good for having moronic bordering on developementally challenged managment. I'm not sure how or why any company would have an analyst like the guy who wrote this article as his information is incorrect in such a vital area. Personally I've found that most analysts when talking about the software industry seem to have no idea what they are talking about and mostly take the word of companies instead of groups like the idsa, who have all the above information and more.
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Xbox v. PlayStation: Microsoft Throws Down the Gauntlet
Posted by: Rob Enderle March 29, 2004 06:30 AMAt the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, Microsoft raised the bar on what has become one of the more interesting battles in the industry. Actually, it would be more accurate to say Microsoft has taken the gloves off and now — really — is going after the entertainment segment. A few months ago, MSN was brought back into the fold and made strategic again — so much so that there are rumors suggesting Microsoft may buy AOL from Time Warner. The GDC was the coming-out party for the Xbox group moving through the same process.
You really can't help yourself but take a snipe at the Mac community and platform at nearly every opportunity (barring a few non-negative reviews) even when you are dead wrong. This article was pure macuser-bashing. It's unfortunate and unnessary. There's no reason to put down the power architecture. It's a great performer. The chips have been hailed by the microprocessor forum (the 970 winning best desktop processor this year). Did you write this on that gaudy ferrari laptop?
The platform is to use the embedded version of XP (Possibly Longhorn) both are x86 native and for a 4 year platform they can't afford the perfomance hit emulation would create. .
There's no reason why MS would make developers use G5 Macs if it wasn't going to stay PowerPC.
It may not be "the" Apple G5 970 chip, but it certainly will be a Power5 variant.
I'm not sure how or why any company would have an analyst like the guy who wrote this article as his information is incorrect in such a vital area. Personally I've found that most analysts when talking about the software industry seem to have no idea what they are talking about and mostly take the word of companies instead of groups like the idsa, who have all the above information and more.