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The Xbox 360 started off as Project Xenon over at Microsoft slightly after Xbox Live came out on the first Xbox. It represented a completely new start with new hardware partners. Rather than sticking with Intel x86 chips that they used in the Xbox Microsoft opted for a triple-core PowerPC-based CPU from IBM dubbed "Xenon". Not content to stick with Nvidia chips they hired ATI to develop a very powerful graphics chip called "Xenos". The console has 512 megs of 700 megahertz GDDR3 RAM and has a 21 GB/s front side bus, a built-in 100BASE ethernet port, three USB ports and high speed wireless controllers that can support two way voice chat. There is an detachable 20-gig hard drive technically optional.
The Xbox 360 started the era of high definition gaming on HDTVs or VGA monitors. There were some Xbox one games that had higher resolutions on a HDTV and the Dreamcast had a decent VGA cable but this is the first time all the games on a video game system are pushed beyond the NTSC 640x480 and PAL TV systems that have been limiting graphics on video game systems since the days of Pong and the Atari 2600. The old standard TV resolutions were long dismissed on PC games. No serious PC game would run a first person shooter at 640x480 on a large monitor so it is just about time that console video games moved beyond using the same damn limiting RCA video cables or a RF tuner.
I have small LCD TV that I have my Xbox 360 running at it's native 1024x768 using a VGA cable. You can use the Xbox 360 on a standard TV on most games but in order to really get all you can out of it you really should get a HD hookup. Now the PS3 is also going to be HD while Nintendo is going to stick with standard resolution video out put on the Wii! Microsoft requires all game developers to use a HD system when developing their game and there is a few problems when playing two 360 games on a standard resolution TV. The 360 version of King Kong comes off as too dark for standard TVs and does not really look better than the Xbox one version of the same game. The Capcom's zombie killing extravaganza Dead Rising uses a font for on-screen text that is way to small to read on normal TVs. This leaves the game mostly illegible and impossible to progress in on standard TVs. These two games might be the only ones to have these graphics problem and I am sure that game developers will test their games on standard old TVs in the future.
The graphics of the Xbox 360 are so gorgeous that you can't actually express it easily in words. I can tell you that it can easily pull off full screen anti-aliasing, has a hell of a lot of ram for super detailed textures, enough power to run some really awesome physics, object specific motion blurring, reflections, but that does not tell you the amount of depth and detail that game developers can pull off with this hardware. This system is not just about doing the exact same games but with better graphics but it can enable games that were not technologically possible using previous hardware platforms. Games like Dead Rising the player has to run trough a incredibly detailed shopping mall filled with tens of thousands of zombies in massive detailed crowds that react as intelligently to the players stimuli to the extent that the living dead zombies can.
I have not seen anything in the videos of the PlayStation3 that the Xbox 360 can't do and hopefully game developers will deliver a good number of cross platform games. I am excited that since Dead Rising has been selling so well in the US that Capcom is rethinking their PS3/ Xbox 360 game development strategy to include the first 80% of game development to be done platform independent to enable cross platform development work. Dispute packing a $200 more expensive price tag I don't believe that the PS3 is graphically superior to the Xbox 360 since I have not seen anything to back it up. I know that the Xbox 360 is pretty much doomed to obscurity in Japan because of marketing, games and nationalistic zeal behind the brands of Sony and Nintendo but it will be interesting to see if the Japanese game developers produce 360 games for the Western audience. It looks like game development on the 360 is a much easier experience than older game console platforms. It is still going to take a small army of graphic artists, animators, producers and programmers to make a top notch game but it looks like it is not going to be "Sega Saturn" difficult to make a good 3rd party game for the 360.
Since owning a Xbox 360 for a bit there is no way that I will ever want to own a windows PC just for gaming. I know this is strange but it is extremely liberating as a Mac user to have such and excellent gaming outlet such as the Xbox 360. I no longer feel as if my Mac is the red headed stepchild of gaming since the gaming bliss that I get from consoles such as the Xbox 360 is so damn good. I can use my Mac for other multimedia internet goodness and not feel that I am getting left behind because my Xbox 360 has my HD kick ass gaming needs covered.
Article By www.8bitjoystick.com
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