In some of the screens, the game looks almost photorealistic, mostly due to the use of depth-of-field techniques, but so far these screens are from a “god perspective”. Can we expect the game to look this good when actually playing?
Dan Blackstone: Yes, we’ve really been able to push the visuals to a new level. We also built in a new feature that lets you turn any individual part of the HUD on or off. So you can use the full readout, or a completely clean screen, or something ...
When we say the Xbox has headroom, it is through the ability to enable algorithms on the GPU, including interesting lighting and surface algorithm like subdivision surfaces. It would be impossible to implement these algorithms in real time without our unique features such as shader export.
After AGEAI unveiled its PhysX processor, everyone expected that at least one of the next-generation consoles would include a physics processor, but that didn’t happen. There have been rumors that the Xenos GPU, particularly its daughter die, could be used to accelerate physics. Is that true? If so, would it be practical or would the use of the daughter die to perform hardware accelerated physics have an impact in the Xenos graphics performance?
Bob Feldstein: It is certainly ...
When describing the Xenos GPU, it has been said that its capabilities go beyond the Shader Model 3.0, placing a plus symbol after the DirectX nomenclature. Can you give specific numbers (for example, the maximum number of shader instructions executed) that corroborate this Shader Model 3.0+ capacity?
Bob Feldstein: Among others impressive aspects, the Xbox 360 can execute 1000 instructions/programs, offers higher precision than required, and does shader exports. Also, as a uni...
The RSX has a 550 MHz clock speed. Does this 10% clock speed lead over the Xenos GPU necessarily mean that the PlayStation 3 GPU is more powerful than the Xbox 360 GPU? We won’t believe it until we see it, but if true, how is it possible that the PlayStation 3 can output 1080p video streams? That makes the RSX sound more powerful than the Xenos…
Bob Feldstein: No! These are inconsequential numbers that don’t reflect any reality concerning the system performance. The 1080p stre...
Is it possible to measure the Xenos performance against a PC part? Or does the fact that they have different shader architectures, run with different operating systems, and system hardware, make a comparison too difficult?
Bob Feldstein: It really is difficult to measure the environments against each other. You would tend to write an app to run well in its intended environment. I would discourage trying to compare them in these manners. That being said, the console has many advant...
When the Xbox 360 GPU features were unveiled, Nvidia expressed doubts about unified shader architecture, particularly about its performance. Do you think Nvidia’s comments are due to no Nvidia part, not even the RSX, having a unified shader architecture yet?
Bob Feldstein: Oh yes. Very much so.
People love numbers. How many transistors does the Xenos have? Can you break that down into the parent and daughter die? Explain some of the numbers that have been mentioned, such as the 2-terabit; the 32GB/sec and 22.4GB/sec bandwidths, etc.
Bob Feldstein: 235 million transistors parent die, 90 million transistors daughter die. Bandwidth for Intelligent Memory is derived from the following events occurring every cycle:
2 Quads of samples/cycle * 4 samples * (4...
Did Microsoft know exactly what it wanted for its GPU or did they just set the goals and you proposed the architecture and technology?
Bob Feldstein: Microsoft set broad goals for the GPU. They were especially concerned with memory bandwidth and overall system performance. They wanted a machine that could take advantage of CPU multi-processing through multi-threading, plus a machine that would be conceptually simple to program while providing head room for developers to stay c...
What were the goals and challenges that ATI faced in developing the Xbox 360 GPU?
Bob Feldstein: The challenges included creating on schedule a platform that can live for five years without enhancement. Microsoft’s aggressive performance specifications for the system forced ATI to once again think outside the box –in this case, the PC market. After making the breakthrough that we needed by thinking of this product as a console product only, the innovations -- Intelligent Memor...
Back in 2003, ATI Technologies and Microsoft announced a technology development agreement under which ATI would develop custom, leading-edge graphics technologies for use in the Xbox successor. This broke the previous relationship Microsoft had with nVIDIA and saw a new contractor taking care of the Xbox graphics.
Fast forward to 2005, Microsoft revealed that the Xbox 360 will feature a custom ATI graphics processor that clocks in at a blistering 500 MHz, with 48-way parallel ...
Although games like ‘Everquest’, ‘City of Heroes’, ‘Ultima Online’ and ‘Star Wars Galaxies’, just to name a few, turned out to be successful, it wasn’t until ‘World of WarCraft’ that a massively multiplayer game reached such a level of popularity and commercial success. What do you think is the reason for the success of WoW and what are the lessons learned?
Cindy Armstrong: I think it is a fantastic game. Well developed, created by a known group and a known franchise. They had ...
As someone who has worked for both Nintendo and Sony, what are your thoughts on Microsoft’s strategy for their online service.
Cindy Armstrong: I think Microsoft is way ahead of the group with their online strategy, and since our company is online, we believe it is evident in our support for the platform. We’ve invested a lot of money developing games knowing that Microsoft’s Xbox Live will be able to deliver and we have a platform to leverage. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing t...
After discussing both formats it is clear that each technology has its pros and cons, so it is difficult to say which one is superior. Blu-ray Disc has a larger capacity, but being incompatible with the previous generation implies that media and hardware will be more expensive to manufacture than their HD DVD counterparts.
Although HD DVD is backed by the DVD Forum, Blu-ray Disc has the support of a larger number of companies. That being said, if the support of movie studios w...
After discussing both formats it is clear that each technology has its pros and cons, so it is difficult to say which one is superior. Blu-ray Disc has a larger capacity, but being incompatible with the previous generation implies that media and hardware will be more expensive to manufacture than their HD DVD counterparts.
Although HD DVD is backed by the DVD Forum, Blu-ray Disc has the support of a larger number of companies. That being said, if the support of movie studios will ...
I would be surprised if it wasn't at least 5 million...but if you are right. That would mean xbox 360 is right on par to selling 10 million by November. They still have Gears of War, Prey, Lord of the rings middle earth, Saints Row, Fear, Splinter cell, Mass Effect, Fable 2, and 150 others that will definately pick up the console sales to get to that 10 million mark. There are some exclusive must have titles coming out before Christmas. It should be interesting to say the least. I love i...
Ken actually monitors our little news4games.com. Very interesting. That gives us a new insight on Sony. I agree with Dolby...I have always said competition is good. Thats what makes companies better and better and us as gamers win in the end. So, its good to hear sony's boss plays and likes the xbox 360.
You are too funny...but one thing I don't think you thought about in your grand scheme. lol...lol...lol...."Luke killed Darth vader in the end" "then darth vader turned into a good spirit and supported luke" lol.....That is pretty much whats going to happen.
the E3 Game Critics announced their nominees for the Best of E3 awards, and games on Microsoft’s platforms led this year’s nominations, garnering 52 nominations, more than half of those given. Specifically, Xbox 360 amassed more nominations than Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii combined with a total of 21, while the Windows platform led all platforms with 29 nominations.