April 2nd, 2012
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Xbox 720 has been fully detailed to some third-parties. That’s according to a recent report from VG247. Apparently Microsoft is shooting for a Christmas 2013 release for the system, and contrary to a report last month from MCV, sources claim the console WILL use a Blu-ray drive — which agrees with a report from Kotaku in January.
VG247 says their multiple sources have confirmed the console will have two GPUs. One source said, “It’s like two PCs taped together.” The console’s graphics cards are thought to be equivalent to AMD’s 7000 series GPUs, but “not CrossFire or SLI”. Rumors from last week and last month also say Sony will be using AMD graphics cards to help power their next system.
The report from VG247 continues by saying there will be “four or six” cores in the next Xbox, one of which will be reserved for Kinect (which will apparently be built into the device as standard), and one for the OS.
Finally, as an anti-piracy measure the system is said to require an “always-on Internet connection”. Just a few rumors ago we heard about a disc drive-less Xbox and a PlayStation that won’t play used games. If there is one similarity between almost all of these constant next gen system rumors, it’s the anti used/piracy measures. It will be interesting to what Sony and Microsoft ultimately decide on regarding these two topics.
Source: VG247
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Oh hey, what do ya know! Blu-ray is relevant and necessary all of the sudden! Thank god for that. At least multiplat games next gen won’t be locked by the 360′s shitty disc space.
Wasn’t the Xbox 360 released in Nov. 2005 while the first Blu Ray player was released a year later. Also the Xbox 360 began development in 2003, the same year that a Blu Ray prototype was even created.
Not sure if trolling or just ignorant.
Wootallica, so what? Yet another reason why MS was better to wait before to put in production that piece of junk. That could also give the time to both manufacturers to put in a more capable GPU. In any case MS chose the HD DVD path for its external HD optical drive (failing miserably). Which came out a bit earlier than the Blu Ray.
Also competition is good, but after the VHS vs Betamax massacre the industry could agree to go straight for the superior technology, which was the Blu Ray. So the result has been that MS came out with an incomplete console that was also plagued by the RROD probably because of a rushed design. And some dumbs still believe that the X360 is the best thing that ever happened to the console market.
PS3 + 360 = goodness.. Why bash on each other?.. Meh
@ MICHELASSO
“Also competition is good, but after the VHS vs Betamax massacre the industry could agree to go straight for the superior technology, which was the Blu Ray. So the result has been that MS came out with an incomplete console that was also plagued by the RROD probably because of a rushed design. And some dumbs still believe that the X360 is the best thing that ever happened to the console market.”
This I do not understand. Are you saying it’s because of the VHS v. Betamax that made MS choose DVD over an incomplete/unproven/competitors technology? Or that RRoD was from using a DVD drive in an attempt to rush the market.
All I’m saying is hindsight is 20/20.
What’s shitty about it ? PS3 has mandatory huge updates and installs where Xbox has smaller file sizes plug and play games and updates are smaller and means more time playing the game instead of always updating and installing
im tired of this crappy rumor!!
They didn’t choose NOT to use HD-DVD, Blu-ray just won out leaving M$ no option other than to use DVD., regardless of how hard they pushed. I agree. For years Sony fans have put up with M$ fanboys saying how irrelevent the Blu-ray is. Nice to see M$ are finally seeing what we all knew.
why is there a sketch of a pre-alpha original xbox up there? cause that thing has the same type of controller connectors as the original xbox rather than the usbs of pretty much all modern day controllers
@DIALGAMARINE
when the 360 came out Blu-ray wasn’t available (the first blu-ray player came out about 6 months after it’s release and was close to 600 bucks) so no, when it was released 6 years ago it wasn’t relevant. now that a new system is in the works more space is available at an affordable price so they can utilize it. are you seriously demanding microsoft use a time machine to build blu-ray capability into the system before it was available?
You’re forgeting the fact that could have used HD-DVD which would have provided more space, but they chose not to.
They probably could have used Blu-ray too if they pushed the release on the 360 back a bit. But NO, they went for the CHEAP route and not only produced a system with an inferior disc drive, but one that was CHEAPLY made period.
3 RED LIGHTS OF DEATH
I’ve been through at least 4 different 360′s (seriously lost count of actual amount though)
@HMWRX
once again do you know what it would have made the console? (I’ll give you a hint it starts with more and ends with expensive) heck picking up an external HD-DVD drive after the media was considered dead was around 120 bucks so tell me how much it would have cost to put that into the xbox a few years before then? the xbox would have certainly rivaled the PS3…in price.
@Bigburito
It’s true that it would have drove the price of the system up, but it might have been worth it.
Who knows what would have happened to HD-DVD if it was backed by the Xbox 360? It could have done the same thing for the format as the PS3 did for Blu-Ray arguably. It could have been the deciding factor, especially since the 360 had over a full year head start this generation.
Think about it.
Microsoft made a mistake.
I’ll admit that it’s easy to say that now, but I honestly thought it was a mistake back in 2005 when I first read in Game Informer magazine that they were going to use DVD-9 for the 360 because they felt it was sufficient.
@HMWRX
the problem is that the reason it did so well was because:
1. it had the year head start (if they tried to implement HD-DVD it would have delayed it)
2. it was a cheap console (it was cheap enough and graphically stronger than the last generation that it felt like it was a good deal, if the price had been raised 100-200 bucks to include HD-DVD less people would have bought it and it wouldn’t have been as successful (it would have gone the way of the…what was that thing called again? that nokia handheld that was a phone two and was supposed to be the gameboy killer? the 360 could have ended up like that)
3. DVD was enough at the time, they never thought games would require vaster amounts of space during the console cycle (and for the majority of it they were right, last year was the first time the xbox had any 2-disc games
4. it loads hella faster, there’s a reason that most PS3 games require a mandatory install, the Blu-ray drive is only 2x while the DVD drive is 12x (I can’t remember the conversion between read speeds from dvd to blu-ray but I do know that DVD 12x is quite a bit faster than the Blu-ray 2x. I can’t imagine the horror of a 2005 HD-DVD drive trying to load textures *shudder*
in conclusion while it would certainly solve the current space issue at the time it would have been far worse if they had attempted to implement it. (oh it was called an N-Gage! I knew it was something silly!)
@Bigburito
I understand what you’e trying to say. I know that there would have been disadvantages to using a HD-DVD drive over a standard one.
But you’re missing my point almost entirely.
What I’m saying is that Microsoft could have spear-headed the HD-DVD format by making it 360′s main drive and thus giving Blu-Ray a run for its money.
The PS3 was priced very high mainly because of the Blu-Ray drive but that didnt stop it from being successful. In fact, it helped Sony win the HD-disc format war EASILY.
Imagine if Microsoft designed the 360 around the HD-DVD format, it could have been interesting. IMO, If that happened, the format war could have gone either way, especially with the 360′s 1 year head start.
BTW, you’re wrong about 360 not having to use multiple DVD’s for games prior to last year.
I remember Lost Odyssey spanning 4 DVD-9′s when it was released in 2007. You’re also forgeting Final Fantasy XIII in 2010, which needed 3 discs to fit the game in and it STILL had compression issues.
Those games are just off the top of my head, there might be more.
@HMWRX You seem to think there is a good reason that the HD-DVD format should have been saved. The HD-DVD format only had a 15/30 gig storage capacity, vs Blu-Ray at 25/50 gig capacity. I’m all in favor of the larger format winning out, and probably would have in the end anyways even if Microsoft/Toshiba pushed it harder. Microsoft was probably smart in saving costs by not pushing HD-DVD too hard, imho.
The “always-on internet connection” requirement would just be stupid.
Even though this is 2012, not everyone has an internet connection or care to have one for their console. It would be stupid limiting possible system purchasers like that just for anti-used game/piracy.
Besides those are just rumours I find this is the way to keep their warehouse full cause they will not sell a tenth of their forecasts for “always connected” and “unable to play used games” console. Ok, Sony and Microsoft, just produce them, store and watch them season up on the shelf.
Always on internet connection? I’ll chip/mod it so that I can play when my internet is down.
And while at it – maybe I’ll pirate some games…
Most ridiculous requirement ever. As with Diablo III (which I will also pirate).
People without internet connections and concerned parents that don’t want there kids connected to the Internet, guess what, NO GAMES FOR YOU!
“Darn you hackers, this is all your fault.”
@FARENHEIGHTS Yeah because people without internet connections and young children are all hackers.
I do see the humour in your comment.
@NextGenIsPC
Well, this was not a humor,
secondly, sorry I didn’t get what you wrote. Is it another humor?
Blu-Ray is last-gen-technology and a simple commitment to low production costs concerning hardware and software and of course compatibility to current gen. I still favor the expensive cartridge solution.
what I believe at the moment is that both Sony and Microsoft learned their lessens from PS3 and Xbox 360, so now both of them know very well what the future of gaming wants from them in term of hardware and software. so they better do it well this time.
two GPUs=Epic Win
The company that eases off these measures will be the one to succeeds. If both implement anti-used games measures then I will milk the current gen systems for many years to come, and consider jumping ship to Nintendo.
Blurays are going to be outdated anyway, 50Gb of storage and Killzone 3 already used ALL of it.. so how are you meant to put on an ultraHD game on a 50GB disk? Sony are already working on a 1TB disk. that’s next gen. but doubt it would be in ps4.
ps1 – cds
ps2 – dvds
ps3 – bluray
ps4 – ?