[geeks] Ya-HoooooO!

[Joshua Boyd]

On Fri, Feb 01, 2008 at 01:12:41PM -0500, nate at portents.com wrote:

> > -- People like to bash the Xbox and Xbox 360, but in general I'd say
> >    the Xbox 360 (and related things like Xbox Live) seems to be doing
> >    well.  Not perfectly, but well.
> 
> The XBox is called the XBox because it started life as the DirectXBox. 
> It's the hardware implementation of an API Microsoft already had, hardware
> designed to make them more money and give them more platform control than
> if it just existed as a stand-alone software API on desktop computers.
> 
> The hardware itself is an IBM and ATI designed platform, with a PowerPC
> processor which only supports static, in-order execution (like older CPUs
> such as the original Pentium), only 1MB of shared L2 cache, and an ATI GPU
> that's a little better than the ATI X800 chip.
> 
> The backwards compatibility with the original XBox architecture through
> software emulation was developed I'm sure with the help of the VirtualPC
> staff who were transferred to Microsoft from Connectix with the sale of
> the product.
> 
> And regarding the XBox 360's success otherwise, it's at least partly
> thanks to Microsoft putting up $1 billion to cover extended warranties on
> their prematurely failing hardware.  Regarding the titles they have for
> the platform, that's as much due to Microsoft's purchase of key
> development studios (i.e. Bungie) and pouring lots of money and resources
> into key third-party developers to bring their products to the platform
> (often as exclusively as they can get them).

I keep hearing nice things about various games on Xbox Live Arcade.

I wasn't particularly tempted by the Xbox, but I'm starting to find the
Xbox 360 tempting. 

However, I still don't have the money and the red ring of death is even
scarier than a BSOD.

I hear more about good games for the 360 than I do the PS3, even though
the PS3 has cooler hardware.

But honestly, if I bought anything current, it would be a Wii.