Rumour: The Xbox will have nothing but pc ports.
Fact: The majority of the top console developers (ie EA, Activision, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Acclaim, Square etc) have signed on with the Xbox and many have already announced projects. The Xbox does have a lot of formerly-PC developers, but Microsoft is stressing to them that anything made for the Xbox needs to work well with the Xbox controller (see below). There are no plans at present for an Xbox mouse or keyboard.

Rumour: The Xbox controller is bulky/uncomfortable/hideous/a ripoff/etc.
Fact: Although the style issues cannot be held as a fact, many websites (gamespot, dailradar, etc) have been allowed to try it out and have all been complimentary. While the pad does borrow a lot of features from other consoles, I can't recall ever stopping playing a game because the controller wasn't innovative enough, but I do recall stopping because it wasn't comfortable or functional enough.

Rumour: The Xbox will launch at $500
Fact: No launch price has been announced. A 'competitive' price has been promised, which hints at $300, but does not confirm anything. Very few people are prepared to pay more than $300, and I'm sure that Microsoft have gotten amongst the gamers and found this out, like they have for most aspects of the console.

Rumour: The Xbox wont have any original games.
Fact: Many original games are already in progress. I believe this was the rumour that lead to Munch's Oddysee and Malice being selected as the showcase titles at CES. These two, plus Halo, New Legends, X-Isle and surely many more to come (don't forget the console wont be out for over half a year) will provide some beautiful games you can't get anywhere else.

Rumour: The Xbox will have patches.
Fact: The Xbox, even with its windows OS, has no more need for patches than any other console. Put simply, a fixed hardware setup eliminates the need for patches.

Rumour: The Xbox will crash occasionally.
Fact: As above, the lack of hardware conflicts, plus the fact that every game will go through certification, will help to ensure that the Xbox will only crash as much as any other console, not as much as windows.

Rumour: The XBox will not be ready for internet gaming straight from day one.
Fact: I can't confirm this one, but Microsoft already have a PC gaming network in place and have done for ages. To make the changes required to host Xbox games will not require much work on their part. The Xbox has broadband internet out of the box, and for those of you that don't have broadband internet access, Microsoft may even offer the Xbox for a discount if you sign up with Microsoft's ISP, like Sega did with the DC.

Rumour: Microsoft are evil and have just entered this industry to make money. They have been buying up developers and paying everyone to make Xbox games.
Fact: I can't confirm that they aren't evil, and to think that anyone would be making a console for reasons other than financial gain is stupid. They have bought a few developers, but only in order to have first/second party software, like Sega and Nintendo have done in the past. They are not paying anyone to make Xbox games. The developers are paying Microsoft to make games for the Xbox, that's how console producers make money.

Rumour: The Xbox isn't capable of anywhere near what Microsoft are saying it is.
Fact: This may be true, it's a bit too early to tell. However, there were real time demos of Malice and the new Oddworld game being played at CES and the screenshots taken during REAL TIME GAMEPLAY are more impressive than anything I've ever seen from a console. The screens from Nintendo's Gamcube were pre rendered except for the Star Wars one.

Rumour: The Xbox has no 'killer app'
Fact: As of now, the Xbox has no 'app'. Maybe a little closer to launch it may become apparent whether or not there's one or more titles that everyone will want. Three months after launch the PS2 has yet to get a really killer game (SSX comes close), so expecting one this far from launch from the Xbox is expecting a bit much.

Rumour: The XBox will launch in September
Fact: No launch date has been announced. The 'fall 2001' estimate covers a lot of time. However, since the European launch has been pushed back into 2002, something closer to December seems more likely.

Rumour: The Xbox wil have crappy games due to a lack of licensing fees.
Fact: The Xbox has licensing fees, just like any console. I don't know where people got the idea that it didn't, though possibly because they thought it was a PC. Just like any console, every game released must go through the maker of the console first.

Rumour: The Xbox is just a computer that plugs into a tv
Fact: Anything with a processor can be called a computer. Since the Xbox doesn't play DVD movies out of the box it can be thought of as even more of a 'pure gaming console' (something Nintendo really likes to promote) even more than the PS2. The use of windows, pc parts and a hard drive doesn't make it a PC, it's what you do on a PC that makes it a PC. The Xbox is a fixed platform for gaming, so it's a console. No one called the Dreamcast a PC, but that has internet access and a version of windows built in.

Rumour: Microsoft is just trying to monopolise the videogame industry.
Fact: Microsoft would love to be so successful that they would be the only one left in the industry, but the videogame industry is not like the PC industry. In fact, very few industries are. The console market completely changes every half decade. So no matter what happens in one generation, as we have seen, the next can be completely different. The only way any company could consistently block entries to the market is by consistently offerring the best product available. No company has won even two generations in a row before, but if they do, it's because they have the best product two generation in a row. And the best console is better for us. If anyone out there thinks that the best console doing best is unfair, please speak up.

Wow, you've really done your homework Bataar. Thanks for posting what you know for those of us who don't. Very informative.

Yeah good post Bataar. One thing you gotta realize is that Halo is not exclusively for the XBox. I posted an interview with the developer and when they are done with the XBox they will port it to pc and possibly other systems. I am not as excited about the XBox as I am the Gamecube, but I will admit this, this time next year, I think the ps2 wont be so hot. I think the XBox and Gamecube will fight it out.

However, the Gamecube and XBox are really two tottally different types of systems. I cant wait till E3 to see all the games.

quote:Originally posted by Sol:
...but I will admit this, this time next year, I think the ps2 wont be so hot. I think the XBox and Gamecube will fight it out.

LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMBBBBBBBBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

(Hopefully that guy doesn't see this post and ask for his 50 grand! )

quote:Originally posted by Bataar:
Rumour: The Xbox will have nothing but pc ports.
Fact: The majority of the top console developers (ie EA, Activision, Namco, Capcom, Konami, Acclaim, Square etc) have signed on with the Xbox and many have already announced projects. The Xbox does have a lot of formerly-PC developers, but Microsoft is stressing to them that anything made for the Xbox needs to work well with the Xbox controller (see below). There are no plans at present for an Xbox mouse or keyboard.

Rumour: The Xbox controller is bulky/uncomfortable/hideous/a ripoff/etc.

Yada yada yada

Where, exactly, did you get your information from? Did you get it from Microsoft's website? Maybe their Comsumer relations guy? I would like to know.

A partial dev list can be found here: http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2630702,00.html This was before EA and Square came on with FFXI though.

The information about console gaming and stressing that games be fun with the controller was announced at CES.

quote:Originally posted by Bataar:
A partial dev list can be found here: http://www.zdnet.com/gamespot/stories/news/0,10870,2630702,00.html This was before EA and Square came on with FFXI though.

The information about console gaming and stressing that games be fun with the controller was announced at CES.

Well, I'd wait till the system comes out before declaring things fact and rumour. Somehow, in the console industry, MANY things change before the actual release of the system.

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:
Well, I'd wait till the system comes out before declaring things fact and rumour. Somehow, in the console industry, MANY things change before the actual release of the system.

Yeah, I would take that advice. Most of the FACTS are not really facts. Seems to me, and I have read a few articles and when I get the links i will paste them, but the specs that MS is releasing is the top end specs. Compare them to the Gamecube and it looks like the XBox will dominate, but the Gamecube specs are low estimates. who knows... i cant wait though.

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:
Well, I'd wait till the system comes out before declaring things fact and rumour. Somehow, in the console industry, MANY things change before the actual release of the system.

This is just what we know for sure right now. Until something is announced that is contrary to what I have posted above, this is what we have to go on. I did not mention anything about its specs or performance being better than any other console. Everything I posted IS fact and is not based on speculation.

----------------
AMD Athlon 800
256megs PC133 SDRAM
Twin WD 20.5 gig 7200rpm
GeForce 2 GTS
Sound Blaster Live Platinum
Pioneer 16x DVD
HP CDR
21" Mintusbishi Monitor

quote:Originally posted by Bataar:
This is just what we know for sure right now. Until something is announced that is contrary to what I have posted above, this is what we have to go on. I did not mention anything about its specs or performance being better than any other console. Everything I posted IS fact and is not based on speculation.

----------------
AMD Athlon 800
256megs PC133 SDRAM
Twin WD 20.5 gig 7200rpm
GeForce 2 GTS
Sound Blaster Live Platinum
Pioneer 16x DVD
HP CDR
21" Mintusbishi Monitor

My main concern is with the patches and the crashing thing. anytime you introduce a hard drive, coupled with internet access and a Microsoft proprietary OS, then you have
the chance of getting viruses. Which would make patches necessary and crashes much more frequent than "never."
Plus, a lot of the companies are computer game developers. And compared to console developers, pc developers aren't
as thorough with their testing. Could be that some of their games will crash. Patches might be needed.

Couple questions though, maybe you could answer:

1) Will you need to install games on the HD b4 you play them?

Okay, maybe I just had one question.

I don't mean to ride you about this. Obviously, you pumped about the system. And it looks to be a strong contender.
But just be careful to take everything that microsoft says verbatim. They might let you down.

No patch? lol, nvidia said themselves that you will be able to download drivers/patch with the xbox.

About the computer thing, yes every thing with a cpu can be considered a computer, but xbox is using the SAME x86 architecture! the 15 years old PC architecture! i dont know, they could of done better than that.

It is my understanding that the Operating System will be located on the CD (or DVD) just like any other console, which would eliminate the need to download new drivers.
As for patches, who knows, but I think it would be who of any game company to recall a game with major bugs and replace it rather than require a patch to be downloaded, especially on a fixed hardware setup.

I really don't understand what that 8 gig harddrive is for. Are save files really going to be that big?

quote:Originally posted by Klashe:

My main concern is with the patches and the crashing thing. anytime you introduce a hard drive, coupled with internet access and a Microsoft proprietary OS, then you have
the chance of getting viruses. Which would make patches necessary and crashes much more frequent than "never."
Plus, a lot of the companies are computer game developers. And compared to console developers, pc developers aren't
as thorough with their testing. Could be that some of their games will crash. Patches might be needed.

Couple questions though, maybe you could answer:

1) Will you need to install games on the HD b4 you play them?

Okay, maybe I just had one question.

I don't mean to ride you about this. Obviously, you pumped about the system. And it looks to be a strong contender.
But just be careful to take everything that microsoft says verbatim. They might let you down.

Remember that the only files you will be able to download/run on the Xbox will have been certified by Microsoft to prevent the posibility of crashes and viruses. Since the Xbox OS is proprietary viruses will have to be written specifically for the Xbox. It seems odd to me that someone would go through that much trouble just to erase/corrupt someone's saved games. The reason that it seems PC games aren't as thoroghly tested is because of all the various types of hardware available. I had a friend who did testing for Nintendo for about a year, and then went over to Sierra and did testing. He told me that the testing was even more thorough because there were so many more issues that needed to be tested because of hardware configs and min config systems. With a unified system, that need will be eliminated and the testers will only have to worry about testing issues in gameplay and not config.

In answer to your question, no. Games will be run straight off the disk using the hard drive as a buffer to eliminate loading times.

it will be the equivilent of a 2 gigahertz pc with a nv30. Just a rumor. But i can believe it.

It's a P3-733. It uses a nv25 for graphics. I don't know where you got this 2GHz w/ nv30, but you're way off base.

equivilent

it runs on a tonned down win 2k operating system, so it runs much faster. And it is an NV2A.

quote:Originally posted by The_Sharq:
it will be the equivilent of a 2 gigahertz pc with a nv30. Just a rumor. But i can believe it.

This statement confuses me. What do you mean by this?

The xbox has a tonned down win2k os on it. Everything that has nothing to do with gaming was taken off of the os, meaning it only has to focus on games, so it will move faster. Win2k was built to do much more than play games. The xbox has 1 set of hardware, in some ways this is good and in some ways this is bad. It is good because they can tweak everything to run on this one set of hardware, meaning it will move faster. PC's have to focus on 1000's of different types of hardware. The xbox has a dedicated processor on the NIC, on the sound card, and the video card focuses on everything that has to do with graphics. The processor is simply left to do calculations in game. The pc processor has to process sounds, nic, some of the graphics, and other background programs while running the game. The xbox video processor is clocked at 250 mhz and has chipset features of the nv25 and nv30, that is why it is called the nv2A. Some call it the NV27.5. In all the xbox will run much faster than a comparably equiped pc. I know i sound like a xbox advertisment. PC's will eventually catch up in graphics, even at the end of the year there will be games out that rival dreamcast/ps2. And i have always liked pc's more than consoles because they offered more depth than the console, gameplay-wise.

ok. Thats what I thought you were saying I just wanted to make sure. yeah, I heard the Windows 2000 os wont be large at all for the Xbox. I will wait and see what the games are like though. With the ps2 and gamecube I know there will be some quality games, but the xbox, i am going to wait and see.

it will be the equivilent of a 2 gigahertz pc with a nv30. Just a rumor. But i can believe it

Hmm in a way "yes" and in another way "no"
Yes the console will run faster than the same PC with the same parts, simply cause windows is a shitty OS. but it STILL have the hardware bottlenecks. It will be better for games than a pc with the same cpu/gpu but nowhere near what the 2ghz nv30 will be able to push.

P.S. the p3 on xbox is a downgrade version of what you would get on a PC, 128k cache, meaning its a celeron in a way