Wikipedysta:Holek/brudnopis/gry/Xbox 360
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Xbox 360 to następca oryginalnej konsoli gier wideo firmy Microsoft, Xbox, nazywana podczas tworzenia "Xenon", "Xbox 2" lub "Xbox Next". Konsola została wydana 22 listopada 2005 w USA, 2 grudnia 2005 w Europie oraz 10 grudnia w Japonii. 2 lutego 2006 ma zostać udostępniona w Meksyku, 24 lutego 2006 w Korei oraz 2 marca 2006 w Australii, Nowej Zelandii, Hong Kongu, Tajwanie oraz Singapurze.
Xbox 360 zajmuje miejsce w nadchodzącej generacji konsol, wraz z produktami Sony PlayStation 3 oraz Nintendo Revolution. Pierwszy raz szerszej publiczności została ukazana w telewizji MTV 12 maja 2005 roku, tydzień przed festiwalem E³.
W większości krajach konsola sprzedawana jest w dwóch konfiguracjach: "Xbox 360" oraz "Xbox 360 Core System". Podstawowa wersja Xbox 360, nazywana często "Premium Edition", zawiera dysk twardy (potrzebny do uruchomienia gier z oryginalnej konsoli Xbox), bezprzewodowe kontrolery gier, słuchawki z mikrofonem, kabel sieciowy, srebrną subskrypcję Xbox Live i kabel umożliwiający podłączenie konsoli pod telewizor HDTV.
Procesor zasilający konsolę to trójrdzeniowy IBM PowerPC, nazwany w konsoli "Xenon". Tworzeniem obrazu zajmuje się bazowany na procesorze graficznym R500 firmy ATI "Xenos". Konsola wyposażona jest w 512 MB pamięci RAM, a nośnikami danych są płyty DVD-ROM.
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[edytuj] Sprzedawane konfiguracje oraz ceny
Aktualną strategią handlową firmy Microsoft jest udostępnienie graczom dwóch konfiguracji konsoli Xbox 360 w większości krajów.
W Europie konsola pojawi się w wersjach Xbox 360 Core System oraz Xbox 360, nazywany często "Xbox 360 Premium Edition". Core System nie będzie dostępny w Japonii, zamiast tego Microsoft udostępnił wersję Xbox 360 za ¥37 900 (1370 zł). Xbox 360 jest sprzedawany w Ameryce za $399,99 (ok. 1600 zł), a w Polsce dostępny jest po cenie 1699 zł. Cena japońska wywołała falę krytyki, że w Japonii klienci mogą kupić konsolę po mniejszej cenie niż w innych krajach.
Decyzja Microsoftu pozwala również myśleć japońskim producentom gier nad całkowitym wykorzystaniem sprzętu, ponieważ wersja z większą ilością opcji jest jedyną dostępną na ich rynku. Jednakże z powodu istnienia Xbox 360 Core System, wiele gier udostępnionych na razie nie wymaga dysku twardego.
Magazyn BusinessWeek stworzył raport, w którym szacuje całkowity koszt części składowych "Premium Edition" na wartość $525 USD (ok. 2100 zł), nie wliczając dodatkowych kosztów produkcji, co oznacza, że Microsoft traci na każdej sztuce nowej konsoli sprzedanej w Stanach Zjednoczonych co najmniej 126 dolarów i przynajmniej tyle samo w Japonii. W przemyśle gier konsolowych powszechne są strategia sprzedaży konsoli po cenie niższej niż cena produkcji oraz spodziewanie się producentów konsol na zrobieniu zysku ze sprzedaży gier produkowanych jedynie za licencją. A ponieważ firma Microsoft jest właścicielem patentów na wszystkie dodatkowe komponenty używane w Xbox 360, może w przyszłości łatwo przejść na nowy sposób tworzenia lub zmienić dostawców, redukując tym samym koszty produkcji. Ta elastyczność stoi w kontraście do sytuacji oryginalnego Xboxa, który zawierał procesor firmy Intel (nieznacznie zmodyfikowany Pentium III) i GPU firmy nVidia (zmodyfikowany GeForce 3). Obydwa te procesory były bardzo podobne do swoich sklepowych wersji, więc były sprzedawane firmie Microsoft po podniesionej cenie rynkowej. Właśnie z powodu tych procesorów i dodatkowego wydatku w postaci dysku twardego, Microsoft nie mógł obniżyć kosztów produkcji Xboxa do ceny wyrównującej wydatki z przychodami. Microsoft's home entertainment division posted a loss through nearly every quarter of the console's lifecycle as a result. Microsoft hopes to avoid such a predicament with its new console, the company is predicting that a greater market share and falling hardware costs will make the Xbox 360 a profitable venture.
| Porównanie konfiguracji | Xbox 360 Core System | Xbox 360 |
|---|---|---|
| Komponenty | ||
| Przenośny dysk twardy (20 GB) |  |
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| Kontroler | Przewodowy (długość kabla: 270 cm) | Bezprzewodowy działający na częstotliwości 2,4 GHz |
| Słuchawki z mikrofonem dla Xbox Live | |
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| Kable | Standardowy kabel AV | Dodatkowy kabel HD-AV |
| Srebrny pakiet Xbox Live | |
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| Możliwość korzystania z Xbox Live Gold przez miesiąc | |
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| Kabel sieciowy | |
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| Pilot zdalnego sterowania | |
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| Ceny przy wydaniu | ||
| Australia (dolar australijski) | $499.95 | $659.95 |
| Kanada (dolar kanadyjski) | $399.99 | $499.99 |
| Europa (Euro) [1] | €299.99 (€309.99 w Finlandii, Irlandii i Portugalii) | €399.99 (€409.99 w Finlandii, Irlandii i Portugalii) |
| Japan (jeny) | Niedostępny | ¥39,795 |
| Meksys (pesos) | $3999.99 | $4999.99 |
| Nowa Zelandia (dolar nowozelandzki) | $549.95 | $719.95 |
| Wielka Brytania (funt szterling) | £209.99 | £279.99 |
| Stany Zjednoczone (dolar amerykański) | $299.99 | $399.99 |
[edytuj] Szczegóły premier
[edytuj] Daty
Xbox 360 oficjalnie pokazany został w telewizji MTV 12 maja 2005, tydzień przed festiwalem E³. Pierwszym kontynentem, w którym wydana została konsola, była północna Ameryka, w której wydano ją 22 listopada 2005 oraz Europa która otrzymała Xbox 360 tydzień po amerykańskiej premierze.
| Data | Miejsce premiery |
|---|---|
| 22 listopada 2005 | Północna Ameryka |
| 2 grudnia 2005 | Europa |
| 10 grudnia 2005 | Japonia |
| 2 lutego 2006 | Meksyk |
| 24 lutego 2006 | Korea Południowa |
| 2 marca 2006 | Australia, Hong Kong, Singapur i Tajwan |
[edytuj] Dostępne tytuły
Osiemnaście tytułów zostało wybranych jako tzw. launch titles - czyli tytułów dostępne w sprzedaży w okresie kilku tygodni poprzedzających i następujących po premierze konsoli - na premierę amerykańską. Debiutując w Europie wydano jednocześnie piętnaście tytułów, natomiast podczas japońskiej premiery dostępnych było jedynie sześć tytułów. Ten brak zgodności jest częściowo spowodowany czasem potrzebnym na lokalizację gier.
| Tytuł | Północna Ameryka | Europa | Japonia |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amped 3 | |
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| Call of Duty 2 | |
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| Condemned: Criminal Origins | |
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| Every Party | |
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| FIFA '06: Road to FIFA World Cup | |
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| Gun | |
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| Kameo: Elements of Power | |
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| Madden NFL 06 | |
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| NBA 2K6 | |
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| NBA Live 06 | |
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| Need for Speed: Most Wanted | |
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| NHL 2K6 | |
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| Perfect Dark Zero | |
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| Peter Jackson's King Kong | |
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| Project Gotham Racing 3 | |
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| Quake 4 | |
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| Ridge Racer 6 | |
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| Tetris: The Grandmaster Ace | |
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| Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 | |
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| Tony Hawk's American Wasteland | |
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[edytuj] Komponenty i akcesoria
[edytuj] Kontroler
Xbox 360 ma możliwość obsługi maksymalnie czterech bezprzewodowych gamepadów. Konsola może również obsłużyć dwa przewodowe kontrolery podłączane pod 2 porty USB na przodzie konsoli oraz jednego kontrolera przewodowego przed port USB na tyle obudowy, czyli razem może obsłużyć trzy przewodowe kontrolery. Przewód gamepada mierzy 274 cm długości oraz przypomina wyglądem zwykły sznurek. Bezprzewodowy konrtoler zasilany jest bateriami NiMH, które można ponownie ładować (opcjonalne, lecz rekomendowane), podtrzymującymi energię na 25 godzin pracy, a rekomendowany zasięg pracy kontrolera wynosi 9,14 metra (jednakże kontroler sprawdzał się również w odległościach powyżej podanej).
The controller for the Xbox 360 is a similar version of the Type-S gamepad for the original Xbox. The Xbox 360 controller adds an Xbox guide button, which has the appearance of the Xbox 360 emblem and is surrounded by a ring of green LEDs. Pressing the Xbox guide button will bring the Xbox 360 out of sleep mode, turn the console on or off, and bring up the "Xbox Guide" for access to digital movies, music and games libraries. The ring of light lights up the quadrant (on the controller as well as the console) that correlates with the quadrant of the screen you will be playing on (if more than one person is playing the game). The black and white buttons have been redesigned as shoulder buttons, now referred to as bumper buttons ("LB" and "RB"), located above the left and right triggers. The rear of the controller includes a port where the player can connect a headset. This port replaces the two non-standard USB connectors on the front of the Xbox controller.
[edytuj] Przenośny dysk twardy
A detachable 20 gigabyte hard drive is used for the storage of games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos, player preferences, and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace; it may also be used to transfer such content between Xbox 360 units. A hard drive is also required for the user to be able to play backward compatible Xbox games. The individual drives will come pre-loaded with a promotional video about the making of the Xbox 360, additional Dashboard skins, songs, additional Xbox Live Gamertag images, and Hexic HD, an Xbox Live Arcade game from Tetris creator Aleksej Pajitnow. This content will be included on both the bundled hard drive and the stand alone product. This drive will not be included in the Core System bundle at launch, and also will not be sold separately in Japan.
According to J Allard, the chief of Microsoft's Xbox division, Microsoft may sell larger capacity detachable hard drives for the Xbox 360 in the future, and territories outside of North America may have a differently sized hard drive in the retail unit.
[edytuj] Obudowy
The default faceplate (Xbox 360's Chrome or Core System's Chill) can be replaced with a range of custom designs, each to be sold separately. Microsoft has also distributed two promotional faceplates, one for those present at the E3 2005 unveiling and one for VIP X05 attendees. The price of these custom designs are around $20 with more to be released by third party manufacturers.
[edytuj] Kable AV
- Xbox 360 Component HD-AV Cable
- This set provides component RCA and composite video cables, along with 2-Y RCA stereo audio connectors for both high and standard definition output to TVs. All the connectors also offer an optical audio output jack for connection to surround sound systems.
- This set of cables connects to high-definition as well as standard-definition TVs that have S-Video or composite video inputs. The SCART AV Cable allows an RGB connection via the SCART connector.
- Xbox 360 D-Terminal AV Cable (Japan only) This cable is included in the Japanese Xbox 360 System.
- VGA HD AV Cable
- This set of cables allows for high-definition on flat-panel TV or computer monitors that have a VGA connector. It has 2-Y RCA male jacks for audio connection.
[edytuj] Inne
- Zestaw odnawialnych baterii: This nickel metal hydride battery pack provides up to 30 hours of continuous gaming for the wireless controller. It is recommended in place of disposable AA batteries (which differ slightly in voltage). It also ships as part of the Play & Charge Kit.
- Zestaw Play and Charge: allows the controller to be recharged while playing. Also includes the rechargeable battery pack.
- Pamięć przenośna: a portable 64MB device which allows the transfer of saved games, in-game achievements and unique gamer profiles to other Xbox 360 consoles.
- Kontroler sieci bezprzewodowych: The Wi-Fi (802.11a, 802.11b i 802.11g) adapter is sold separately and will be sold for $100/€80/£60/C$130/¥8,925. Using an official or third-party wireless bridge the console will automatically detect and link up with other Xbox 360 consoles that are within range and form a mesh network.
- Słuchawki z mikrofonem: allows gamers to talk to each other when plugged into the controller and connected to Xbox Live, and has an in-line volume control.
- Pilot: allows the user to play DVD movies and music, and offers controls for a TV or Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PC. The universal media remote is a bigger version of the media remote that will initially be shipped with the Xbox 360 version of the console. Both remotes allow basic control of games, along with being able to navigate the dashboard. The remote controls interface with the XBox 360 via IR.
[edytuj] Specyfikacja sprzętowa
Specyfikacja jest również dostępna na oficjalnej stronie konsoli Xbox.
[edytuj] Procesor
The central processing unit (CPU), named Xenon, is a custom IBM triple-core PowerPC-based design. x360cpu
- 90 nm process, 165 million transistors
- Three symmetrical cores, each one SMT-capable and clocked at 3.2 GHz
- One VMX-128 (IBM's branding for AltiVec) SIMD unit per core
- 128×128 register file for each VMX unit
- 1 MiB L2 cache (lockable by the GPU)
[edytuj] Procesor graficzny
The graphics processing unit (GPU) is a custom ATI R500-based "Xenos"
- 337 million transistors total
- 500 MHz parent GPU (90 nm process, 232 million transistors)
- 500 MHz 10 MB daughter embedded DRAM framebuffer (90 nm process, 105 million transistors)
- NEC designed eDRAM has internal logic for color, alpha blending, Z/stencil buffering, and anti-aliasing.
- 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically-scheduled shader pipelines
- 4 arithmetic logic units per pipe for vertex or pixel shader processing
- Unified shader architecture (This means that each pipeline is capable of running either pixel or vertex shaders.)
- Support for DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0, limited support for future DirectX 10 shader models
- 2 Shader operations per pipe per cycle
- 96 Shader operations per cycle across the entire shader array
- Shader performance: 48 billion (48,000 million) shader operations per second
- 16 Filtered & 16 unfiltered texture samples per clock
- Maximum polygon performance: 500 million triangles per second
- Pixel fillrate: 16 gigasamples per second fillrate using 4X MSAA
- Dot product operations: 9.6 billion per second theoretical maximum, 33.6 billion per second theoretical maximum when summed with CPU operations.
[edytuj] Pamięć
- 512 MiB 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM (Total system memory is shared with the GPU via the unified memory architecture.)
[edytuj] Szybkość przesyłu danych
system bandwidth comprises:
- 22,4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth (700 MHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) on a 128 bit bus)
- 256 GB/s eDRAM internal logic to eDRAM internal memory bandwidth
- 32 GB/s GPU to eDRAM bandwidth (2 GHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle on a 64 bit DDR bus)
- 21,6 GB/s front side bus (aggregated 10.8 GB/s upstream and downstream)
- 1 GB/s southbridge bandwidth (aggregated 500 MB/s upstream and downstream)
[edytuj] Overall System Floating-Point Performance
- 115 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance for CPU
- 1 TFLOPS theoretical peak performance of CPU and GPU combined
[edytuj] Dźwięk
- Wszystkie gry będą obsługiwały przynajmniej sześciokanałowy (5.1) dźwięk standardu Dolby Digital.
- Konsola obsługuje dźwięk 48 kHz 16-bit.
- Dostępne są 320 niezależne kanały dekompresji.
- Przetwarzanie 32-bitowe.
- Do dyspozycji są co najmniej 256 kanałów audio.
- Konsolę cechuje brak echa dźwięków z mikrofonu podczas gry. Głos słyszany jest jedynie w konsolach innych graczy. (gra wieloosobowa - Xbox Live)
- Komunikacja głosowa dostępna we wszystkich programach i grach poza tymi, które go nie obsługują.
- Konsola używa autorskiego kodeka XMA (zaawansowana technologia dźwiękowa firmy Microsoft).
[edytuj] Obraz
- Rozdzielczości VC-1 i nie-HD NTSC i PAL
- Do odtwarzania danych strumieniowych używane będą VC-1 lub WMV
- VC-1 obsługuje obrazy jakości DVD oraz HD
- Bink Video jest używany do odtwarzania filmów z gier
- Dodatkowy dekoder MPEG2 do odtwarzania filmów DVD
[edytuj] Napęd DVD
W konsolę wbudowany został napęd DVD-ROM dwunastokrotnej prędkości, umożliwiający odtwarzanie jedno- lub dwuwarstowych płyt DVD+R/RW. Inne obsługiwane formaty to CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, WMACD, MP3CD oraz JPEG Photo CD.
Microsoft powiedział również, że być może następne edycje Xbox 360 będą obsługiwać płyty HD DVD, co spowodowaneby było współpracą firmy Microsoft z firmą Toshiba. Źródłem tej informacji jest stanowisko, jakie zajął Bill Gates 28 czerwca w Japonii:
- "Pierwsze edycje Xbox 360 będą obsługiwały dzisiejsze formaty DVD. Sprawdzamy, czy późniejsze reedycje konsoli powinny włączyć dodatkowo możliwość odczytania płyt HD DVD lub innych."
Tak czy inaczej, Yoshihiro Maruyama, dyrektor japońskiego oddziału ds. Xbox, powiedział, że Microsoft nigdy nie będzie wydawać gier w formacie innym niż DVD. [2]
Gry na Xbox 360 są zapisywane na standardowych dwuwarstwowych płytach DVD mieszczących 8,5 GB danych. This storage space limitation is a concern to developers, and some games made for the system may span multiple discs. Nintendo Revolution będzie używał dysków o podobnej wielkości, podczas gdy PlayStation 3 będzie używał 25- lub 50-gigabajtowych dysków Blu-Ray (aczkolwiek specyfikacja Blu-Ray nie została jeszcze ukończona).
[edytuj] Charakterystyka fizyczna
- Waga: 3,5 kg (7,7 lb)
- 30,9 cm (dł.) x 25,8 cm (wys.) x 8,3 cm (szer.) (12,15 x 10,15 x 3,27 cali)
[edytuj] Różne
- Obsługa WMV HD oraz odtwarzanie zapisanych progresywnie lub interpolacjonalnie płyt DVD.
- Media Center Extender capability
- Używanie blokady regionu. Gry kupione w danym regionie będą mogły działać jedynie na konsoli z tym samym regionem. Scott Davis of Pleasant Prairie has the choice if he wants to release a region free Xbox 360 title. Odtwarzanie płyt DVD ma te same ograniczenia.
- All games must support a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a minimum of 720p HD resolution with 2x full-scene anti-aliasing enabled. The GPU can downsample 720p to lower display resolutions (including 480i SDTV and 480p) and dynamically crop or scale 16:9 to fit 4:3 screens. Some games will optionally support native 1080i and 480p video resolutions as well.
- 3 porty USB 2.0
- Microsoft claims all games will support custom music. (This requirement may have profound effects on the business model for music video games.) There are several ways to utilize the custom soundtrack option: by ripping music from audio CD's, stream music directly from your PC (Windows Media Center Extender), plug in a USB Flash Drive, or plug in an MP3 player that is USB-capable (including any Apple iPod models which support USB) into the system to use custom soundtracks. However, you can only store music on the system's hard drive by ripping your audio CD's.
[edytuj] Produkcja oprogramowania i gier
[edytuj] XNA
In March 2004, Microsoft announced a new game development software strategy dubbed "XNA", which Microsoft claims would enable game studios to cut development times by up to a third if developing across multiple Microsoft platforms, by means of tools created with the increasing difficulty of programming for a machine with three processor cores in mind. The Xbox 360 game development will be centered around the XNA Studio game development platform. XNA Studio covers three areas: Content Creation, Production Processes and Game Technologies. XNA Studio will enable collaboration between content creators, programmers, management and QA staff to speed the game production process. Based on Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the XNA Studio is the Visual Studio for game development; an integrated, team-based development environment tailored for game production. XNA Studio will provide versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. These tools are designed to work together to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. XNA Studio will allow team members to collaborate using familiar techniques and tools, even when elements of the team are distributed geographically, an increasing trend in game development. Microsoft believes that this will give developers more time to generate unique content and reduce time running the content process. To date, some developers have endorsed XNA Studio. For example, John Carmack stated at QuakeCon 2005 that the Xbox 360 had "the best development environment" he has seen for a console.
[edytuj] Procedural synthesis
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Zobacz więcej w osobnym artykule: Procedural synthesis.
For the Xbox 360, Microsoft has drawn on recent research in computer graphics to enable a new method for game programming. In traditional games, all content is statically stored and generally immutable; that is, textures, meshes, and other game content is stored on a storage medium. As complexity in each rises, the demand for storage rises as well. A newer approach to generating content is utilised for Xbox 360 titles, a method referred to by Microsoft as procedural synthesis. Procedural synthesis is an approach to generating game content via algorithms. For example, trees are one of the most complicated objects to render in a game, due to their organic complexity. A game with only one model for a tree will appear odd, as nature is far more random; the game loses some of its immersion as a result. Instead, a general recursive algorithm will generate the tree's model and textures, so that each tree looks different from the next, and do so with high efficiency. The Xbox 360's architecture was designed with this approach in mind.[3] When running procedural synthesis algorithms, one of the Xenon CPU's cores may "lock" a portion of the 1 MB shared L2 cache. When locked, a segment of cache no longer contains any prefetched instructions or data for the CPU, but is instead used as output space for the procedural synthesis thread. The Xenos GPU can then read directly from this locked cache space and render the procedurally generated objects. The rationale behind this design is that procedurally generated game content can be streamed directly from CPU to GPU, without incurring additional latency by being stored in system RAM as an intermediary step. The downside to this approach is that when part of the L2 cache is locked, there is even less data immediately available to keep the 3 symmetric cores in the Xenon CPU running at full efficiency (1 MB of shared L2 is already a rather small amount of cache for 3 symmetric cores to share, especially considering that the Xenon CPU does not support out-of-order execution to more efficiently use available clock cycles).
Procedural synthesis is also found outside of the Xbox 360 in the advanced freeware FPS game .kkrieger, where such techniques have reduced the size of the visually stunning game to a mere 96 kilobytes. Other interesting examples of procedural synthesis are shown in various demoscene demos. The Playstation 3 also has impressive procedural synthesis capabilities, but the technical implementation differs significantly.
[edytuj] Kompatybilność wstecz
- Zobacz też: Lista gier na platformę Xbox zgodnych z kosnolą Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is partially backwards compatible, being able to play certain Xbox games through emulation at the CPU level [4]. Hard drives purchased separately or as part of the console package will include a certain number of "emulation profiles" for games, including Halo and Halo 2. Games are treated to more than just playability in the form of minor graphical enhancements due to Full screen Anti-Aliasing and games being transmitted in 720p and 1080i resolutions, with the 'AA' turned on graphical 'jaggies' become less apparent or do not show up at all. Another small improvement is slightly farther draw distance in some games, possibly due to the system's memory bandwith. Other profiles are available as auto-updates over the Xbox Live network, provided that there is a hard drive component to store them to. Users may also download the profiles from Xbox.com and transfer them to the console via a burned CD, or order such a CD from Microsoft for a nominal fee.
The list of backward compatible games for the U.S. market was released on November 11, 2005 and is maintained at Xbox.com. Although the U.S. list includes over 200 games, fewer games are listed as backward compatible in the European markets, and the Japanese Xbox site shows only 12[5]. Note that these figures are current as of November 2005, more emulation profiles will be made available in the future.
[edytuj] Xbox Live na Xbox 360
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Zobacz więcej w osobnym artykule: Xbox Live na platformie Xbox 360.
With the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live will go through a major upgrade adding a basic non-subscription service (Silver) to its already established premium subscription-based service (Gold). Xbox Live Silver is free of charge and allows users to create a profile, join on message boards, access to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and talk to other members. Silver members are not allowed to play any games online, aside from massive multiplayer games like Final Fantasy XI. Microsoft has also announced there will be trial weekends for Silver members to access the full features of Gold service temporarily.
Xbox Live Gold will have the same features as Silver plus online game playing capabilities and video conferencing. However, video conferencing will not be available when the console is first released. Microsoft has allowed for previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, buddy lists, and games history when they make the transition to Xbox Live Gold. To transition your account you have to sign up for a .net account on Xbox.com and link it with your gamer tag. Then when you turn on your 360 console you will be asked for your .net account and your information will transfer. An Xbox Live Gold account will cost $49.99 USD, £39.99 Pounds Sterling, €59.99 Euro per year.
[edytuj] Xbox Gamer Guide
The Xbox Game Guide is a tabbed user interface that can be accessed instantly by pressing the Guide Button on any Xbox 360 controller. It offers the following selections:
- Xbox Live
- Marketplace
- Favorites List
- Custom Playlists
- Friends Lists
- and others
[edytuj] Marketing
The official unveiling of the system occurred on Thursday, May 12, 2005 on MTV in a program called MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed hosted by actor Elijah Wood with a musical performance by the band The Killers. The Xbox 360 was also featured on the cover of Time magazine's May 23, 2005 issue with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates holding up one of the units. In the article he says "It's perfect...The day Sony launches [the new PlayStation], and they walk right into Halo 3." [6] Read more at wikiquote. Microsoft executive Robbie Bach later clarified this statement, saying "Philosophically the point Bill was trying to make is that we're not just going to ship and not have great stuff coming up."[7]
The system, along with some playable games, were shown off at E3 2005. The demos were running on "Xbox 360 Alpha Development Kits" which were Apple PowerMac G5s, chosen due to the PowerPC processor architecture that machine shares with the Xbox 360. Microsoft claims that most of the games were running at 25-30% of full capacity because they were not running on actual systems.
In October/November 2005, North American Target and Wal-Mart stores received kiosks to demonstrate games like Call of Duty 2 and Kameo: Elements of Power. In the first week of November, the #Xbox 360 screen of death was reported.
Certain EB Games locations began displaying the Xbox 360 in their stores just over a week prior to its release.
[edytuj] Xbox 360 Lounge
To boost marketing and Xbox 360 awareness in Japan, an "Xbox 360 Lounge" has been constructed for $410,000 and officially opened on November 2 2005 [8]. It is situated in the Aoyama district in Tokyo, close to Omotesando, a popular upscale shopping area. The lounge has three main areas: a 256 square meter event space that offers five large display screens, an area containing Xbox 360 game kiosks, and a 70-seat café. Doors are open daily from 10:00am to 11:00pm.
[edytuj] Viral advertising and alternate reality games
The promotional campaign for Xbox 360 began on March 14, 2005 with the opening of an alternate reality game called OurColony. Throughout March and April OurColony.net offered challenges to its community, rewarding solutions with cropped pictures of the console and game screenshots. On May 12 the ARG section of OurColony closed, visitors were instead greeted with a promotional video hosted by J. Allard.
OrigenXbox360.com was the next viral marketing campaign from Microsoft. Unveiled on September 27, 2005 the website, hosted by talking rabbits Boss and Didier offers visitors an opportunity to enter in various contests. The initial contest was a raffle that required participants to answer three trivia questions regarding the Xbox 360 for a chance to attend a promotional pre-launch event. New contests include a Halo 2 tournament and a competition to design a "Gamertile" (an avatar icon). Design for the website employs flash animation of a Bonsai tree and bland elevator music to create a serene environment that is punctuated by visually intense psychedelic episodes involving the host rabbits.
October 2005 saw the of "Hex168", another viral marketing campaign commissioned by Microsoft and executed by the Marden-Kane advertising agency. On October 13, 2005, members of the TeamXbox forums were directed to the Hex168.com website through mysterious messages posted by someone called "Lutz". [9] This website hosted a number of images that appeared to perpetuate obscure conspiracy theories, but sometimes contained obtuse references to Xbox 360. The campaign was later revealed to be a U.S. contest that offered participants a chance to win one of three hundred and sixty Xbox 360 console bundles six days before the official launch.[10]
[edytuj] Premiera konsoli
[edytuj] Stany Zjednoczone i Kanada
Prelaunch reports assume that Microsoft intentionally restricted supply [11], although there is no evidence to support this and Microsoft has said they are releasing all units into supply chains as quickly as possible [12] [13]. Evidence indicates that Microsoft launched with all consoles available at the time, and operating at maximum production capability (i.e. they did not withhold produced consoles). They did not, however, build up a significant supply of consoles prior to the launch, as would be typical in the industry, creating an artifical shortage, allowing them to launch several months earlier than would otherwise be possible.
Peter Moore, Microsoft corporate vice president, predicted that shipments will reach 10 million units worldwide by the end of 2006. [14]
Immediately after the launch, reports about the new machine's technical glitches started coming out. Some reported the Xbox 360 crashing with errors, some reported the hard drive does not respond in certain situations while others report error messages during various games or unusually fast overheating. The manual contains warnings about not placing the Xbox 360 on soft surfaces or in enclosed spaces to avoid heating problems. Microsoft claims that these problems are to be expected on a large scale release for a console and the number of reports versus the number of consoles released was "very minimal". Some online polls, however, indicate that up to 16% of Xbox 360 consoles are faulty out of the people that voted, however overall exact numbers cannot be verified and are believed to be in the 3% to 4% range, well below the average for new hardware (of 10%). [15] Microsoft has stated that they will look into the reports and have offered assistance reachable by phone.
The high demand for the Xbox 360 led to some owners almost immediately re-selling their console for vastly inflated prices. eBay in particular was a popular location for such offers with thousands of consoles going up for auction, some selling for many times the original retail price.
Microsoft has stated they intend to ship 3 million Xbox 360s within the three months following its launch, and supplies will likely be limited until early 2006 due to high demand.
[edytuj] Europa
Microsoft confirmed that 300,000 units of the Xbox 360 would be available for launch in European markets. As in North America, there were extreme shortages, with one HMV in Dublin (one of the largest in Ireland), for example, getting only 15 consoles. Like the North American launch, hundreds of Xbox 360s soon appeared on auction websites like eBay, many selling for more than twice their retail price. The shortages led to some consumers criticising retailers (especially Amazon), and others attacking Microsoft itself for failing to fill demand. In turn, some retailers blamed Microsoft for failing to provide enough consoles in the Christmas period. Microsoft stated that more Xbox 360s would arrive on the UK market at the beginning of December but, as in North America, supplies will likely be limited until 2006 due to high demand.
A total of 15 games were available for launch, including critical hits Call of Duty 2, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Perfect Dark Zero.
[edytuj] Polska
W Polsce ze względu na brak oficjalnego przedstawiciela konsolowego oddziału firmy Microsoft, Xbox 360 będzie początkowo dostępny jedynie u dystrybutorów, którzy na własną rękę kupią sprzęt za granicą i wystawią go do sprzedaży w Polsce.
[edytuj] Japonia
No specific number of console shipments have been made but it is confirmed that the games Dead or Alive 4 and Enchant Arm will miss the Japanese Xbox 360 launch which is scheduled for December 10, 2005. The highest rating launch game reviewed by Famitsu is Namco's Ridge Racer 6 which scored 35 out of 40 stars.
Microsoft Japan executive Yoshihiro Maruyama stated that he expects sales of Xbox 360 in Japan to hit 1 million sometime next year. Maruyama is widely credited for attracting support from Japanese game developers.
[edytuj] Korea
Xbox 360 launch in Korea is scheduled for February 24, 2006.
[edytuj] Australia
Xbox 360 launch in Australia is set for March 2, 2006, with the Core package selling for $499 and the Premium for $650.
[edytuj] Hong Kong
Xbox 360 launch in Hong Kong is set for March 2, 2006.
[edytuj] Tajwan
Xbox 360 launch in Taiwan is set for March 2, 2006.
[edytuj] Singapur
Xbox 360 launch in Singapore is set for March 2, 2006.
[edytuj] Problemy techniczne
[edytuj] Ekran śmierci Xbox 360
Ekran śmierci Xbox 360 (w skrócie X360SoD z ang. Xbox 360 Screen of Death) is an error screen displayed by the Xbox 360 game console. It was discovered in Wal-Mart stores days before the official console launch. Microsoft placed kiosks for demonstration in some stores and the error began appearing. The error stops the console and requests that the player contact technical support.
It is speculated that this error is caused by a faulty heatsink, which causes the Xbox 360 to overheat places like the confined area of the Wal-Mart shelf. Best Buy has installed their Xbox 360's on special endcaps which house the Xbox 360 inside of a plastic container which lets the air flow. Microsoft recommends using the Xbox 360 in a well-ventilated area, just like a computer or any other electronic device.
The screen contains the text "System error. Contact Xbox Customer Support." in a variety of languages and the code E 74 in the bottom.
Microsoft hasn't officially released a solution for this yet, though there are rumors that in some cases the cause is due to an overheated power supply. The problem may be solved by putting it on a cool surface (such as wood or tile instead of a rug) or raising it from the ground. It remains to be seen, however, if the problem is present in the European version, as, if the problem is indeed power-related, it is very possibly limited to North America. No problems have been reported (or at least known to have been reported) regarding the demo-kiosks in Europe.
A recent report from BBC News states that the crashes were "isolated", and that the amount of reports that they were receiving were in line with what Microsoft expected. Microsoft spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell would not detail how many reports the company had received but did say the calls involved a "very, very small fraction" of all the consoles sold. The volume of calls was in line with Microsoft predictions, she said. She urged users with problems to call the Xbox help line and if that did not fix the console, Microsoft would repair or replace the unit.
Although Microsoft has not released any specific figures, it is believed that 3% or less seem to be experiencing issues.
[edytuj] Crashing
Since its initial release date, some Xbox 360 customers have complained that the 360 occasionally freezes, apparently due to overheating because of high environment temperatures or a limited airflow around the 360 (and as such the problem can be lessened by allowing a better airflow or cooler environment). Given the lack of independent statistics, it is hard to say whether the 360's tendency to overheat is severe enough that it is to be considered a flaw in the product. It is also unknown how widespread the problem is because many Xbox 360s are likely to be unused until after the holiday season.
[edytuj] Disk Scratching
Since the release of the Xbox 360, a small number of users are complaining of heavily scratched and damaged disks caused by misuse of the Xbox 360. The actual problem comes from a user moving the Xbox 360 from its vertical position to its horizontal position and vice-versa while the system is playing a game. The spinning disk has a high angular velocity and when the console is rotated, angular momentum causes the disc inside the drive to warp, touching the drive's pickup-assembly and scratching the disc. This is why the instruction manual that comes with the unit specifically states not to move the Xbox while it is in operation. A video has been posted on the web, which depicts a user tilting the Xbox 360 while in operation causing a loud scratching noise. [16]. Microsoft is refusing to replace the scratched disks. [17] There have been no reported scratched discs while leaving the unit stationary during gameplay.
The Xbox 360 manual states the following:
IMPORTANT: To avoid jamming the disc drive and damaging discs or the console:
• Remove discs before moving the console or tilting it between the horizontal and vertical positions.
• Never use cracked discs. They can shatter inside the console and jam or break internal parts.
[edytuj] Zasilanie
There is some criticism regarding the size and consumption of the power supply for the 360. It draws 160 watts, over twice as much as the original Xbox (74 watts) and over three times as much as a PS2 (50 watts). It is notable that the processors within the Xbox 360 are considerably faster and more powerful than previous consoles which contitutes a higher power requirement, much like many of the new high-power gaming PCs. In comparison, the power draw of the 360 is greater than most home A/V equipment with the exception of bigscreen HDTVs. [18].
[edytuj] Linki zewnętrzne
| Wybrane konsole gier wideo |
|---|
| Pierwsza generacja |
| Magnavox Odyssey | Pong | Coleco Telstar |
| Początek drugiej generacji |
| Fairchild Channel F | Atari 2600 | Astrocade | Videopac (Magnavox Odyssey²) | Intellivision |
| Druga połowa drugiej generacji |
| Arcadia 2001 | Atari 5200 | ColecoVision | Vectrex | SG-1000 |
| Trzecia generacja (8-bitowce) |
| NES/Famicom | Master System | Atari 7800 |
| Czwarta generacja (16-bitowce) |
| PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 | Mega Drive/Genesis | Super NES/Super Famicom | Neo-Geo | CD-i |
| Piąta generacja (32- i 64-bitowce) |
| Amiga CD32 | 3DO | Jaguar | Saturn | PlayStation | PC-FX | Nintendo 64 |
| Szósta generacja |
| Dreamcast | PlayStation 2 | GameCube | Xbox |
| Siódma generacja |
| Xbox 360 | PlayStation 3 | Wii |
- Oficjalna strona Xbox 360 (en)
- Xbox 360 w portalu IGN (en)
- Xbox 360 FAQ - IGN (en)
- Xbox Reaktywacja - Wired Magazine (en)
- Odrzucone projekty konsoli Xbox 360 (en)
[edytuj] Zobacz też
- Lista gier na platformę Xbox 360
- Lista gier na platformę Xbox zgodnych z kosnolą Xbox 360
- Xbox Live
- Xbox Live Arcade
Kategoria:Microsoft Kategoria:Konsole siódmej generacji Kategoria:Xbox Kategoria:Konsole gier wideo
