Sure, you might've seen the purported
Xbox 360 Valhalla motherboard leaked yesterday... but have you ever really
seen it? There's a subtle difference, one that requires you gaze through the ocular receptors of our dearest old friend (he hates when we call him that)
Ben Heck.
Joystiq sat down with him to deconstruct the pictures and get his take on all the hardware nuances. First and foremost, there appears to be no connectors that "look remotely like a Xbox 360 memory card reader," which lends credence to the thought process they might be
going the way of the dinosaur. WiFi is still missing in action, and as for
Project Natal integration, Heck's highly doubtful that's in the cards, though he shares our mindset that a bundle would make sense. The big question is
size reduction, and to that our game console laptop guru suggests that, given the constraints due to a DVD drive, the best we can expect is a one-inch drop in height (standing console), 0.5 inches in depth, and just "slightly thinner." Sorry folks, looks like even in your wildest dreams, it'll still tower over the Nintendo Wii. A great read, don your thinking cap, give yourself 15 minutes, and hit up the source.
posted March 18th 2010 9:29PM
Microsoft should seriously consider working on their next console to get a head start like last generation. They really need it now that Sony has got their game together and people are still Wii-crazy.
@Rick Goodman
*Sorry, of course they have been working on it. I meant releasing their next console soon.
@Rick Goodman
Sony may have gotten their game together, but that doesn't mean they own the game now. And with Microsoft, the marketing of Natal is going to make sure the 360 is going to be around for much longer.
@Rick Goodman
I'd be happier if they just got this one right, I enjoy XBL but games usually look alot better on my PS3. I still play xbox more however.
@Aurailious - Agreed. The next console shouldn't even be mentioned at this point, we're only 5 years into this current gen of consoles. It should be mentioned around year 8. People will literally hold out and I don't think M$ wants to damper sales in anyway.
@Aurailious
Yes, Microsoft needs to work out the many bugs Natal has and come up with a good advertising campaign. From what we've seen with this Playstation Move AD http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/17/playstation-move-ad-pulls-no-motion-controlled-punches-against-w/ and the fact that the Kevin Butler ads are actually interesting to most people, Microsoft will need some pretty good advertising.
I hope in the end all the products are successful and push motion-gaming through competition to be better than the crap it is today.
@Rick Goodman
Their using Natal as an extension to keep their current counsel alive longer. They still think they can keep the 360 alive longer.
@tobsmonster2 Yeah I agree, I have all three but I def play my PS3 alot more lately. After two and a half years I let my Live Gold Pass cancel. I really am kinda sick of paying for every little thing. Come on XBOX give us wifi and Live for free. The PS3 might be playing catch up but I really think that they will surpass 360 in sales soon just because it has Blu Ray, wifi, and PSNetwork. YOu have to pay $79 just for wifi and so much a month for Live. Although live is a lot better than PSN I think that could change. Plus God of War III is one of the coolest/funnest games ever made.
@Rick Goodman good that you aknowleged that the only good think ms did was rushing to the market.and was helped that the ps3 was 500/600 dollars...
i dont think it will happen again.
@Plazmic Flame - You do realise that on average a new generation comes out every six years, right?
@Shokz
Its generally accepted that this generation is going to be around a decent bit longer. I'm sure it won't last much longer than 8, but I've heard estimates that put this generation lasting ten years. I think a 10 year lifespan is HIGHLY unlikely, though 8 and maybe even 9 is possible, if not probable.
@BigJayDogg3 Normally I would be all for keeping the current generation alive longer, but as long as the Xbox uses dvd's, the opportunities for higher-end graphics (cross-platform) will be hampered. Because most developers port over to PS3, they use the Xbox's media as a basis for the limits of their game. Hopefully the next-gen xbox will use blu-ray, hd-dvd or some other high-capacity media for so we can push the graphical limits of the systems. And releasing games on multiple disks isn't a practical option (I'm looking at you FF13).
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
A BR drive would be a nice addition, but until PCs require one, it has absolutely no weight in the graphics department.
@engadgetcomexcludeengadget
What makes it impractical? You put one disc in play for XX hours, put the next in...
And as for as disc storage vs graphics is concerned, I honestly do think that we won't see much more graphically out of the 360. Have the limits been pushed? Probably not, but I haven't seen a game recently that really wow'd me.
And as you've said, most multi-platform games are ported to the PS3.
@Aurailious
buying a 200$ add-on for a old console will not do that
What Microsoft needs to add is Wi-Fi that doesn't cost an extra $80 or so.
@Hoppesangen
AND, they need to do something about that ungodly LOUD DVD-DRIVE. Or is their no escaping the lawnmower like spin ups?
@Hoppesangen
You can get the Wi-Fi N Adapter on Amazon for $50 and other places online for that amount too.
@FrankTheCrank you can download the game to the hard drive to greatly reduce noise and the game will run faster.
@abedinthehouse My point is that Wi-Fi shouldn't even cost extra. It should have been built in from the get-go. I know you can 'just' use an ethernet cord but what about people like me whose connection is upstairs and my Xbox is downstairs. That's the reason I returned my Xbox and got a PS3. I really wanted to keep it but if Microsoft adds built in Wi-fi for no extra cost in the next "update" or so in the 360, I'll consider buying it again.
@Hoppesangen
ds=wifi
psp=wifi
ps3=wifi
wii=wifi
360=wifi addon
yes,its obvious that ms is taking for fools some ppl...
@steliosco
Not me. ;)
@abedinthehouse Even $50 is too much.
The Wii has WiFi, and if you want LAN it costs you a whopping $20!
MS's lack of WiFi shows their lack of vision.
@FrankTheCrank
Speaking of the DVD drive, as the internal connectors are SATA, maybe Blu-ray isn't completely out of the picture... sure would be nice.
@Hoppesangen Yes but if its built in, then idiots won't go out and spend $80 on an adapter!
@Hoppesangen
Eh, wifi is susceptible to interference from microwaves and cordless phones. Maybe part of the reason Xbox Live is so much more successful than the competition is because there are so many more people on their service using wired connections. The more people who use wi-fi with Xbox Live the worse experience I will have playing online even if I'm using a wired connection, so I'm kind of glad they haven't made wifi standard at this point.
I have a 35Mb/s FiOS connection and with the router that Verizon makes you use I only get 20Mb/s over wi-fi as opposed to 35Mb with a wired connection. The router also disconnects half the time someone uses the cordless phone. Wi-fi hurts online gaming overall. Don't get me wrong it works, but it is inferior to wired connectivity. Pushing people towards using a wired connection is probably to Xbox Live's benefit. I'm not saying that's why MS doesn't include wi-fi, but there is definitely an up side to them not including wi-fi.
@cool8man
I haven't heard of any unusual complaints of not being able to connect to PSN. And even if there were, Sony probably has a network utility to check internet access. It would probably also mention to try a wired connection.
@cool8man
All you have is crappy hardware there... I was early adaptor of Wi-Fi and never had any problems with it. Have used it with all my phones, computers and even had some had calls :P
@Slick
1) The previous motherboard used a SATA connector for the DVD Drive.
2) Why would a SATA port indicate Blu-Ray? BD Drives come in IDE or SATA.
3) Expect your Xbox to cost $600 with BD included...
@Hoppesangen they need to have it built in
@steliosco
The DS and PSP are hand-held devices, they don't entirely count when you're talking about a console that will largely be kept in one spot for its entire life-span.
I think I see Foxconn on the "Standard rear USB/Ethernet port"; I'm hoping that it's at least Gb Ethernet, I was dreaming of port-channel enabled dual Gb Ethernet. Maybe the taller "Not sure" is a 4 USB port stack, and the smaller is a proprietary Natal hookup a-la Nintendo's IR hookup? I am happy that it looks like optical audio is on-board, though.
@Oli D
You can get a BR drive from Newegg for $55. I'm sure there will be some licensing to use it at some point, but I can't see that causing a $600 360.
@Hoppesangen agreed. its not really a problem for me seeing as i have a wifi adapter, but still. i dont really hear the noise from the dvd drive so its not really a problem. other than that i cant really think of anything besides blu ray, but i really dont care if it has ir or not
Lolz @ Coolmasters.
Thermaltake all the way! :P
Will it *Run* games quieter now without the new of installing them in the HDD?
@ILLEGALWARRIOR - No, I have a feeling MS will still use the same DVD drive.
Slimmer RROD
@godsAngryTesticles If the chip was built using 45nm tech, the power usage should go down quite a bit. They might even replace the power brick with a smaller 105W or 95W one. Heck some computer CPU's alone use that much or more alone and they don't break like that.
@inu My i7 eats up 130 watts at stock... probably closer to 200 at 3.6GHz... never had a problem out of it.
My bro's xbox on the other hand....
Water cooling. I'd be down.
@Nitesh
yea, that wouldn't increase the price at all... ./sarcasm
Anyways i'm looking forward to see what the new 360 will look like..
@Nimer55 Bleh, the manufacturing cost of a water cooling system wouldn't be much higher than the coolers in the 360 now. Maybe even less.
@Nitesh
I actually had a water cooling 360 I made (everything was housed together, so no separate unit), sold it on ebay for $120 [=
@Nitesh
Riiiight... yeah, a water cooler is going to be only a little higher than a simple heatsink and fan. Keep dreaming.
There is a reason that watercooling is almost exclusively the realm of individual modders only, and not actually mass-produced on mainstream systems.
If MS is using a smaller nm chip process, the heat produced should be dramatically lower than the original design. Barring some major fubar, heat should not be a problem with this new design at all.
(key words in that sentence are "SHOULD NOT" but we all know that things can get screwed up along the way)
@Hazdaz Fine, peltier cooling then. Maybe ship LN2 canisters to your house every day.
-Internal hard-drive? So I guess MS won't be releasing a stand-alone 250GB drive then. They will be forcing users to buy a new 360.
-Built-in TOS link optical audio out. That's nice.
I'm hoping for a built-in wifi, and gigabit ethernet, and maybe bundle in an HDMI cable. I mean come on, if MS wants to force users of older 360s (especially those with only 20GB drive) to buy a new one, make it worthwhile.
@pika2000
just because it's labeled an "internal hard drive" doesn't mean that it can't be like the PS3 hard drive and have a door accessible from the outside which will allow you to upgrade if needed.
@PeRFeCKt Considering MS previous business model on the 360 (proprietary hard-drive, expensive wifi dongle, not allowing backing up to external hard-drive), do you really think MS will suddenly allow a standard user-upgradeable hard-drive? Unlikely.
@PeRFeCKt - With that kind of connector it's not going to be like the PS3. I don't understand why there is a second SATA port because an internal HD just doesn't make sense for the 360...
Then again, MS does seem to be dumping the memory sticks (effectively screwing everyone who uses them now), so why not do it with the HDs too?
@MRCUR "MS does seem to be dumping the memory sticks (effectively screwing everyone who uses them now)"
I've heard a few people complaining about this, but I don't know why. With the upcoming update that includes support for USB drives, you can just use a USB stick in place of the memory units.
I use a Memory Unit all the time so I can take my GamerTag to other people's houses. I don't see any problem transferring my GT from the MU to a USB stick. Then I'll be able to use my GT on both older models and the new slims.