Software giant Microsoft has announced the release for the new SoC (System-on-chip) processor of the new Xbox 360 250GB Slim Kinect-ready model.
Microsoft has designed the processor particularly to counter the market threats from AMD’s next generation Bulldozer and Bobcat processor technology.
The processor has been manufactured with the IBM/GlobalFoundries 45nm process and is the first production desktop-class processor which will combine CPU, GPU, memory, and I/O logic onto a single silicon and can be a tough competitor for AMD’s Fusion and Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors.
Officials at Microsoft announced that the combination has been made to allow better power efficiency. The processors are expected to be cheap as manufacturing will be inexpensive due to fewer chips. The heat management has also been enhanced and the sizes of the motherboard and the power supply unit have been drastically reduced.
Microsoft has announced the Microsoft Rewards app on Xbox will be discontinued in April and has confirmed that weekly streaks will also be coming to an end.
It feels like the video game console is at a crossroads. With Xbox Series X and S floundering in the ‘console war’, Sony suggesting PlayStation 5 is approaching the second half of its life after missing sales targets, and uncertainty around the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, there is growing concern that the traditional video game console business could be under threat.
It's obvious that MS is leaving the console biz. MS may have tons of money, but that doesn't mean they want to keep losing money on the gaming division to prove a point. Thanks Phil
Good article and this is not a duplicate. The link that @Maximus Prime shared is just a small portion of the full interview. This post is the full interview.
Times are changing quick, the same ol way the industry been is changing. Where people play is changing.
“What I think Phil is doing is setting up some smoke signals that we're thinking very differently”
I’m surprised how slowly Microsoft is moving toward Xbox as a software platform. They usually don’t care so much about upsetting their customers with unpopular changes like they do with every other version of Windows.
This "console market hasn't grown narrative " is overblown. The market has grown just not as fast as say smartphones. But so what? There is still money to be made in the business and just because Microsoft has failed doesn't mean the entire industry is facing sudden collapse. Gaming will be fine, every industry has to go through periods of restructuring. AAA games are made becuase its what attracts gamers the most and is where they spend the most money. (Demand/supply) Microsoft abandoning hardware should have happened years ago, they clearly lost interest at a base level in producing games and/or paying 3rd parties to back during the tail end of the 360 generation. Tired of hearing about the future of gaming, just make great games and/or invest in one's made by other to attract people to your platform.
"All signs point to the hardware becoming less and less important to Microsoft."
Less innovation and competition. People act like if MS went away life would be better but it would just mean you have one less choice as to where to spend your money. If Sony became the defacto home console provider and Nintendo the handheld, then these companies could limit what you get and you would ultimately have very little choice but to support them if you want to play games.
I was a video that suggested that Steam could potentially get into the console market if Xbox ceases to exist. They already had the Steam Machine(?), and they have the Steam Deck for the portable market. I’m not in the pc space at all so I wouldn’t know if that would be a realistic statement.
No Xbox future I am going to guess Microsoft will go down the path Sega choose and be a publisher/game developer with their in house studios. Or sell off their in house studios and just go back to making os for PC's. I highly doubt the second part. Microsoft like any company wants to make money. So if Microsoft did say pull the plug on Xbox I see them going down the path Sega went. And utilize Xbox as a brand and not just as a console. I can see the name of XBox being mainly a brand after that. And maybe with the game you see published by or developed by Xbox studios.
That sounds like a price cut in the wings for the future.
Impressive, they took the 360 its hardware to max efficiency.
Small, cool and cheap to produce.
Sounds promising for the next xbox, they learned a lot on making efficient hardware with the 360.
They took the system from unreliable, to as reliable as a system can possibly become.
wtf... I'm confused.. Isn't this already available? You know.. That new "slim" redesigned model?
Sounds like a Cell processor..
@Sin151
The Cell processor can also act as a GPU and rendered Graphics on its on. This is what Microsoft are pushing right now. A processor and GPU on the same chip.
http://lanl.gov/orgs/hpc/ro...
I think u are the one that needs homework and research.
I really like SoC design. I think AMD is going to kill it with Fusion. So this is really neat. But doesn't SoC in its truest sense include memory as well?