Archived from groups: alt.games.video.xbox (More info?)
Some of this I've seen before but there are a few surprises...
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11246
The Interesting bits:
Interface/Functionality
* The pages of the Xbox 360 user interface are called "blades".
(Only a matter of time before some marketing wonk starts calling it a
"Blade Server".)
* The System blade offers greater control over your individual
settings. You can specify, for example, that you prefer to invert the
right analogue stick camera control and this will then be picked up on
in any game you play.
(This could be really cool and it would save the options menu from
being my first trip every time I start a game. But I can't help but
wonder if the developers are required to use it.)
* On the issue of cooling - Satchell said he thought the system had
three fans (he said he wasn't sure but thought it was three, so we'd
open to correction on that one), and we couldn't hear them at all as he
spoke. When you play a DVD, it powers down to just one fan. It's "a
lot" better than the "wind tunnel" alpha kits, he said.
(That's good news and I like that they can ramp down the cooling for
DVD playback... still no word on if it's progressive video or not
though...)
Xbox Live
* Marketplace is also accessible through the Live blade. As you
know, this is where you can download premium content and, in the
future, content created by users and sold to other users via a
micro-payment system.
Whoah... People will be able to create their own content and re-sell it
to other people?!?!!!! The Clans will be out of hand...
Multimedia
* DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control,
unlike Xbox 1.
(Excellent!)
* DVDs will play back in progressive-scan, with the Xbox 360
up-sampling to prog-scan in the case of DVDs that don't support it.
(Finally! First confirmation I've seen on this... now if we can just
get them to see the light on DVI/HDMI.)
* When ripping music to the hard drive, album information is now
stored on the HDD, with a huge amount there by default and more
available from an online source - presumably something like CDDB, which
will be familiar to people who rip their own CDs already.
(Nice, but I'd still like to transfer everything already ripped to my
Xbox 1.)
* For now, you can play music and access photographs on the PSP,
but you can't do video yet. That may happen, but Satchell joked that
Sony wasn't exactly giving them a helping hand there.
(That's the killer ap for UMD, it would be funny if Microsoft did it
first. Maybe they should talk to Sony Pictures for an assist instead of
SCEA.)
* Interestingly, you can actually have that slideshow draw
photographs from another external device, so - as in our demo - you
could play music from an iPod while using a slideshow of photos from a
PlayStation Portable simultaneously.
(That's a neat trick!)
* You can also plug in a laptop or PC (or not plug it in - if
you're using wireless networking) and play content direct from that.
This is through Windows Media Player Extender, the software for which
is pre-installed on the Xbox 360. In our example, Satchell first
streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then
drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II
apparently captured on his home TV.
(Again, what about Xbox 1 content?)
Official Peripherals
* While the Media Remote will be bundled with Xbox 360's GBP 279.99
offering, this will apparently only be for a limited time based on
available units. We'll get more details on that when we can.
(Hmm... that would reduce the value of the bigger pack later on.)
Offline Content
* Microsoft also plans to have kiosks available - presumably in
game stores and other public locations - where you can download
content. Whether this will be to the detachable hard disk itself or a
memory card is a detail that wasn't clarified.
(They need to make this clear. My guess would be through a credit card
payment and an e-mail address or something.)
- Jordan
Some of this I've seen before but there are a few surprises...
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=11246
The Interesting bits:
Interface/Functionality
* The pages of the Xbox 360 user interface are called "blades".
(Only a matter of time before some marketing wonk starts calling it a
"Blade Server".)
* The System blade offers greater control over your individual
settings. You can specify, for example, that you prefer to invert the
right analogue stick camera control and this will then be picked up on
in any game you play.
(This could be really cool and it would save the options menu from
being my first trip every time I start a game. But I can't help but
wonder if the developers are required to use it.)
* On the issue of cooling - Satchell said he thought the system had
three fans (he said he wasn't sure but thought it was three, so we'd
open to correction on that one), and we couldn't hear them at all as he
spoke. When you play a DVD, it powers down to just one fan. It's "a
lot" better than the "wind tunnel" alpha kits, he said.
(That's good news and I like that they can ramp down the cooling for
DVD playback... still no word on if it's progressive video or not
though...)
Xbox Live
* Marketplace is also accessible through the Live blade. As you
know, this is where you can download premium content and, in the
future, content created by users and sold to other users via a
micro-payment system.
Whoah... People will be able to create their own content and re-sell it
to other people?!?!!!! The Clans will be out of hand...
Multimedia
* DVDs can be played even if you don't have the remote control,
unlike Xbox 1.
(Excellent!)
* DVDs will play back in progressive-scan, with the Xbox 360
up-sampling to prog-scan in the case of DVDs that don't support it.
(Finally! First confirmation I've seen on this... now if we can just
get them to see the light on DVI/HDMI.)
* When ripping music to the hard drive, album information is now
stored on the HDD, with a huge amount there by default and more
available from an online source - presumably something like CDDB, which
will be familiar to people who rip their own CDs already.
(Nice, but I'd still like to transfer everything already ripped to my
Xbox 1.)
* For now, you can play music and access photographs on the PSP,
but you can't do video yet. That may happen, but Satchell joked that
Sony wasn't exactly giving them a helping hand there.
(That's the killer ap for UMD, it would be funny if Microsoft did it
first. Maybe they should talk to Sony Pictures for an assist instead of
SCEA.)
* Interestingly, you can actually have that slideshow draw
photographs from another external device, so - as in our demo - you
could play music from an iPod while using a slideshow of photos from a
PlayStation Portable simultaneously.
(That's a neat trick!)
* You can also plug in a laptop or PC (or not plug it in - if
you're using wireless networking) and play content direct from that.
This is through Windows Media Player Extender, the software for which
is pre-installed on the Xbox 360. In our example, Satchell first
streamed a high-definition Project Gotham Racing 3 trailer, and then
drew upon a high-definition recording of Star Wars: Episode II
apparently captured on his home TV.
(Again, what about Xbox 1 content?)
Official Peripherals
* While the Media Remote will be bundled with Xbox 360's GBP 279.99
offering, this will apparently only be for a limited time based on
available units. We'll get more details on that when we can.
(Hmm... that would reduce the value of the bigger pack later on.)
Offline Content
* Microsoft also plans to have kiosks available - presumably in
game stores and other public locations - where you can download
content. Whether this will be to the detachable hard disk itself or a
memory card is a detail that wasn't clarified.
(They need to make this clear. My guess would be through a credit card
payment and an e-mail address or something.)
- Jordan
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