Xbox 360 unveiled

After previous speculation about the xbox 360 (recent sneak pictures and hardware design leaks) the device has been unveiled on MTV.

The next issue of Edge magazine which goes on sale this Tuesday (17th May) is to feature a massive eight-page expose of Microsoft’s next console. As well as confirming that Xbox 360 will house many of the functions that had been rumoured, the magazine also exclusively reveals a slew of hitherto unknown information about the machine

As you can see from the final design the previously leaked images were genuine.

It’s an aesthetic that greatly improves on the charmless black lump of the original Xbox. But if you’re not taken with the distinctly iPod-esque stylings - and as hinted at by recent ourcolony.net imagery - there will be a cavalcade of separate fascias available, which will replace the entire front panel of the machine.

Early prototypes include a wood-veneer effect, a design that squeezes the word ‘console’ in red lettering along the length of the panel (presumably in case you’re not sure what the 360 actually is), and some abstract patterns created by snowboard designers.

The console itself - which, like PS2, can be stood either vertically or horizontally - houses a disc drawer, two memory card slots, an IR receiver for a DVD remote, an outsize power button and three hidden USB ports.

The wireless controllers (which can be recharged by being plugged into the USB sockets) closely resemble Xbox’s Controller S. The key difference is that the Black and White buttons have been converted to two shoulder buttons.

Also on the interface front - and as revealed by the images leaked on Monday from the MTV Presents party - 360 will be compatible with a camera that will offer 640×480 video and high-quality stills.

Edge also puts the endless hard drive speculation to rest: every launch machine will come with a 20Gb removable hard drive (the only configuration available - to begin with, at least), which will sit at the top of the console.

As expected, the machine will also be optimised for online, with instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live, an Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, Gamer Profile for digital identity and voice chat, along with a built-in ethernet port and WiFi readiness.

Multimedia support includes being able to stream media from portable music devices and Windows XP PCs; ripping music to the hard drive; and creating custom playlists in every game.

Under the bonnet, 360 will boast three symmetrical IBM PowerPC 3.2GHz cores combined with a custom ATI 500MHz GPU with 10Mb of embedded DRAM, all supported by 512Mb of GDDR3 RAM. All of which delivers a teraflop of overall performance.

As for whether Xbox 360 can actually turn a profit for Microsoft, the company’s chief Xbox officer Robbie Bach is already confident. “With Xbox,” he says, “we were late, which meant we had to be powerful, and that meant we just had to pick the most powerful components straight off the shelf. And that’s about the most expensive way you can do it. If Xbox 360 gets to scale, we make money. “Last generation we were thought leaders. This generation we plan to be market leader.”

Source : Gamesradar Announcement

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