Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Deepblue on May 27, 2005, 12:40:02 pm
-
First up, the retail kiosk (supposedly):
(http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/4/xbox360/Xbox_360_kiosk.jpg)
I'm not sure I trust that... It could be a fan creation especially considering that the shot on the TV is sideways and the controllers look like the old ones... (perhaps there will be a "duke" style controller available for those that like them?)
Second, the price and release date:
The dwindling fog around Microsoft's launch plans for the Xbox 360 dissipated further yesterday when the likely price of the Xbox 360 was revealed. Speaking to the financial news site TheStreet.com, Microsoft corporate vice president and chief XNA architect J Allard was asked if the Xbox 360 would launch with the same $299 price tag as the original. "It's going to be in the neighborhood [of $300]," he said, apparently dispelling fears of a $399 or even $499 machine, although $350 could still be possible. However, Allard also stressed that any final decision on the 360's price was "about two months away."
Meanwhile, further north, the Canadian daily The Globe and Mail ran an article profiling Cimtek, a small company specializing in quality assurance testing at a Chinese electronics plants. Burlington, Ontario-based Cimtek recently landed a monster contract to help oversee production of the Xbox 360 in Guangdong Province, in the south of China.
Speaking to the The Globe and Mail, Cimtek vice president of operations Craig Thornton outlined the Xbox 360 manufacturing plan, saying that the console would be in " preliminary build stage until July," after which the console will enter the product-validation phase before "hitting full-scale production in September."
Then Thornton let slip the Xbox 360's target ship date, saying of Microsoft, "They have a huge mandate for getting [the Xbox] out for Thanksgiving this year." His comments appear to confirm the November launch date accidentally posted on MTV prior to the May 12 Xbox 360 unveiling on the network. It also further cements speculation that the console would hit the market in mid-November, around the anniversary of the release of the first Xbox in 2001.
-
Originally posted by Deepblue
First up, the retail kiosk (supposedly):
(http://pictures.xbox-scene.com/4/xbox360/Xbox_360_kiosk.jpg)
I'm not sure I trust that... It could be a fan creation especially considering that the shot on the TV is sideways and the controllers look like the old ones... (perhaps there will be a "duke" style controller available for those that like them?)
Second, the price and release date:
meh... 350 is way too much for a game console. That's like what... 1/5 of a new computer which can do so much more? They should do what nintendo is doing with the Revolution, 129.99. I don't have the link with me but it was in some interview that 129.99 is going to be the cost.
-
My geuss is that it is going to be $300, not $350... Though the Revolution will be extremely attractive with such a small price tag.
-
Apparently the Revolution is going to offer all the old nintendo games (NES-N64) as free downloadables (although 3rd party titles are up to the discretion of the publisher). Which is nice.
-
links? Please?
-
http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36071&subsectionid=1587
Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.
(snip)
Third-party developers could charge for the privilege to download though.
-
Sweet.
-
Originally posted by aldo_14
http://gamesradar.msn.co.uk/news/default.asp?pagetypeid=2&articleid=36071&subsectionid=1587
Harrison then confirmed that past-gen, Nintendo-created titles will indeed be downloadable for free.
(snip)
Third-party developers could charge for the privilege to download though.
only that'd be worth twice of whatever they'd ever charge for the rev. I'm definitely getting one on (european) release day.
-
cool!
I wonder we will get access to the hard drive... Because then you could drop your own roms off in it.
-
Very yummy...I'm feeling more and more that the Revolution is at the top of my list. I don't know if I'll even bother with the other two. :)
-
HOT DAMN!!!
(http://img81.echo.cx/img81/9777/brumakcanyon12808zi8ol.jpg)
Thats the best screenshot for GoW I have seen yet...
About the exclusive thing, considering J. Allard said that it would be on the PC as well...
Official statement by Epic V.P (in response to people questioning about J. Allards comment):
[q]Gears of War is an Xbox360 exclusive. We're developing it specifically to take advantage of the power and features of the console. All of the work on Gears between now and when we ship is toward creating the ultimate Xbox360 game.
Could we, in the future, adapt Gears for Windows just as Microsoft did with Halo? Sure we could and, as you can see from J Allard's comments, Microsoft is clearly cool with that idea. But we're a long way off from thinking about that. Right now our only goal is to make Gears one of the "must have" titles for Xbox360 and judging by reaction to our relatively early showing at E3 we're well on our way toward achieving that. One major web site, 1UP.com, already voted us their Best Xbox360 Game in their Best of E3 roundup![/q]
-
Why can no one get trees right...
-
Strange, I thought the trees looked pretty neat...
-
Lame shivan head ropoff. :nervous:
-
I don't remember shivans having that many teeth...
-
The eyes, f00... ;)
-
Yea, I saw that. :D
But you said head, which includes the mouth, which in this case, is chalk full of pointy teeth.
-
Maybe shivans have pointy teeth too? Go grab carl, and look in his mouth. If he tries to bite you, give him this fish.
*Raa hands you a fish*
*You place it in your back pocket*
-
That's the Unreal Warfare 3 engine. It's coming to the PC at the very least in the form of the next UT game.
-
if that's a screenshot, it didn't render properly. The creature's front foot is missing almost completely, like as if it's been vaporized or something.
-
Um, there's a cloud of dust... If you look carefully, you can see it right above the "Xbox 360."
-
Another bog-standard Unreal3 engine shot, though. Those things start to look really same-y after a while. Technically it's nice, but artistically it gets dull.
-
I'm glad aldo pointed that one out before I did. That monster is nothing new, it was previewed for the Unreal3 engine on the PC some time ago. Saying that Gears of War is XB360 exclusive is all good and well, but the engine was still originally developed with the PC in mind. All in all - it's no reason to get too excited right now. This is nothing strides ahead of what we've seen coming already.
Not that I'm trying to put a downer on the thing, but I'd rather one of these games followed through with gameplay and storyline now. What we've seen is a lot of what amounts to a tech demo - excellent lighting, shadows, models and textures - but nothing of any real substance just yet.
-
it looks pretty and all, but until i see it in actual motion with my own eyes, i'd be nonplussed..
and i agree with Kal, after playing pariah, i'd like some actual game with my eyecandy
-
actually, they all seem too blatantly cg for my likeing. GoW, Halo2, all these games that try to simulate reality with over bump mapped models, all wind up looking like plastic toys. :blah:
-
Oh... and that beast, I'm confused about it. You see the beast in that shot is apparently in GoW which is exclusive to the XB360, yes?
Well it's also the showpiece of the Unreal Engine 3 which isn't XB360 exclusive at all. Also, the preview of the engine - including that monster - was around long before the XB360 was even announced.
Voila: http://www.unrealtechnology.com/screens/p_beast.jpg
So what's the story behind that?
-
Originally posted by Kalfireth
Oh... and that beast, I'm confused about it. You see the beast in that shot is apparently in GoW which is exclusive to the XB360, yes?
Well it's also the showpiece of the Unreal Engine 3 which isn't XB360 exclusive at all. Also, the preview of the engine - including that monster - was around long before the XB360 was even announced.
Voila: http://www.unrealtechnology.com/screens/p_beast.jpg
So what's the story behind that?
Pretty simple, really; they either were planning on making this for a long time and had assets in the works, or they used the models for the Unreal3 tech demo for this GOW thing. IIRc there were rumours of some new unreal game for several years, perhaps this is it or an offshoot of it.
Either way, I'd scarcely be surprised that they'd reuse models for a technical demo, for an actual game; as well as saving time, it helps validate the value of the tech demo as an illustration of the game graphics.
Incidentally, the Unreal 3 engine should be easily surpassed by the consoles in due time; apparently (according to Epic) the PS3 devkits were able to render the engine in realtime using only 40-50% of their potential 'power'. Regardless of the exact details of relative performance between the PS3 and Xbox360 (which is a matter of debate), I'd take that to mean both are capable of far better.
-
Originally posted by Kalfireth
I'm glad aldo pointed that one out before I did. That monster is nothing new, it was previewed for the Unreal3 engine on the PC some time ago. Saying that Gears of War is XB360 exclusive is all good and well, but the engine was still originally developed with the PC in mind. All in all - it's no reason to get too excited right now. This is nothing strides ahead of what we've seen coming already.
Not that I'm trying to put a downer on the thing, but I'd rather one of these games followed through with gameplay and storyline now. What we've seen is a lot of what amounts to a tech demo - excellent lighting, shadows, models and textures - but nothing of any real substance just yet.
On gameplay stuff, the story was written out by Eric Nuyland, the guy who did a absolutely fantastic job on the 1st and 3rd Halo books.
@Kal's second comment:
The Unreal 3 tech demo was the early stages of GoW, they just hadn't actually announced it yet. So, tech demo is based of GoW rather than GoW being based off of tech demo. Hope that clears up some confusion.