IBM Getting More Work from Nintendo

The Big N and Big Blue look like they're going to be collaborating again.

EAST FISHKILL - IBM East Fishkill workers were called to an all-hands-on staff meeting Thursday evening where they were told more work is coming their way.
Employees were told work will come to the Systems and Technology Group from Nintendo, Freescale and Sony.

[Blasphemy]

So not only Nintendo but it looks like Sony will have them design their next processor too. That's good news.

[Iamback]

Didn't sony and IBM co-develop CELL?

[qface64]

yes they did i think someone else was involved as well i think samsung?

[Ju]

^^^ "STI" Sony-Toshiba-IBM.

[ChickeyCantor]

And so it begins.
I guess its purely research now. Development is obviously on its way later on=P

[DeadlyFire]

They could easily assemble a processor in 2 years. Only takes a year or two now to put one together. Unless they aim for all powerful chips. Cell 2 is already coming along for Sony. 2010 is the likely public debut of Cell 2 though so its still a year away. Nintendo's design on the other hand. Noone could tell you. I say by 2011 we will know what projects these guys have in store for us.

[ChickeyCantor]

But bringing out a new system so fast is not so smart.
And not fair to developers =P.

So i guess its research now before actual development starts.

[divideby0]

MS is also on board...

[--joshua--]

was mentioned nowhere in this small article

[Ju]

MS will wait like they did before. And then show up with a bag full of money and buy into whatever project IBM has going on at the time.

[N4g_null]

Ms will be using larrabee I'm pretty sure about it. Hey but that is just a rumor siggrah is tomorrow. Larrabee will be there and they will be talking about why this chip is better than every thing else using real world advice on coding it. Should be good fun. SONY is up in the air right now and since the price has dropped on the PS3 look for them to be back in the game next year and post a profit.

Nintendo will need to first get the zelda team up to snuff about their own chip and how did capcom do what they haven't yet? The old nintendo is getting that graphic whore itch agin from what I'm hearing. This could be really cool but I hope they understand where graphic are today and the price level that is the sweet spot.

The wii is the closest to a SOC design right now and I'm sure they can reduce the cost of the Wii even futher yet this also means that the next system could come out near the same price and be a beast.

[kesvalk]

well, we are on the 3rd year of this console gen... they tend to last 5~6 years... i think in 2011 we will already see the successors of our beloved consoles...

well, maybe sony will hold 1 or 2 years befores announce theirs, they have a more powerfull console...

[EvilTwin]

I agree, but it's worth noting that many people disagree with this POV now, thinking this gen could last significantly longer (sorta falling in line with Sony's 10-year strategy).

But technology moves faster now than ever. The technological arms race could move even further toward alternative control schemes, though, instead of raw graphical prowess.

[kaveti6616]

I think Microsoft will have to have some more foresight for the next generation. It looks to me like Nintendo will be aiming to create a more powerful console next time around. A friend of mine speculates that with all the money Nintendo has made off of the Wii, there's no where else for them to go but up in terms of power. Sony's Cell 2? Sounds intriguing. Microsoft should be very scared of the future, or else what they should do is wait for Sony to announce the PS4 and then wait to see the specifications of the Cell 2, and then create a more powerful system.

That's what I would do if I controlled MS.

[N4g_null]

The larrabee is going to crush the cell 2. IBM is on their own with that chip right now. MS made a profit and nintendo is swimming in cash. I think SONy is going to be late to the game again and intel and MS are going to be the scary guys on the block but but AMD/ATI are not slouch. If MS does go with intel then AMD will put their all into nintendo to fight for one of their last money trains.

Next gen is going to be fun.

[kaveti6616]

I'm not so sure. The Cell 2's specs are unknown. Who knows what Sony will do?

[N4g_null]

No I'm pretty sure after looking at the larrabee and even how the compiler works there is no chance in hell the cell can touch the larrabee.

You can use C++ code on it and the compiler can use at least 3 different ways to optimize your code. On top of this the Larrabee does what IBM will never be able to do own their own including SONY, make a graphics processor that can actually compete with Nvidia and Ati.

Many people waited for IBM/SONY's magical compiler that was sup[pose to unlock the cell and it came and people still had to break the bank to write code for it.

The Larrabee is basically a bunch of P4 with powerful FP vector units on each core with a way better memory setup also. We are also talking about intel the guys that took apple from IBM. The guys that had to fight off amd on the cpu side and the guys that are going up against N vidia and are expected to win.

The cell does not have a chance simply because they may not have any one to fund the development.

Sure the cells specs are unknown but there is not a chip in development as of right now. Siggraph is on the 4th and I don't expect to see the cell2 cpu or GPU variant at all. You know what this means is people will be learning the Larrabee before any one even knows about the next cell if they even make it. On top of this is the fact that the cell is a failed attempt at being a GPU/CPU combo. What makes you think it is ready to run direct x 11 graphics now?

Some one at sony better gett hyping soon because the last thing I heard was that SONY was going to use the larrabee. It would make sense since it is way better than the cell cpu right now even. What is funny is intel could even drop the cell into the larrabee that is how modular it is. Yet I'm sure the die size would be crazy.

Seriously the cell is a power PC chip with a few SPEs that are self contained vector processor which acts as an independent processor yet they are not. The Larrabee is a bunch of P4s with their own brand new vector processor that have x86-64 support, each core supports 4-way simultaneous multithreading, each Larrabee core contains a 512-bit vector processing unit, able to process 16 single precision floating point numbers at a time. This is similar to but four times larger than the SSE units on most x86 processors, with additional features like scatter/gather instructions and a mask register designed to make using the vector unit easier and more efficient. Larrabee derives most of its number-crunching power from these vector units.

The Cells SPE are just great at guess what FP math and video decoding... this chip is the real deal. Intel equipped it to be a problem for discrete graphics firms. SONY nor IBM have any real expertise with this.

On top of this intel can drop any type of extra logic they want on to this chip just to keep heat down or just put it on the MB with the chip. You have to ask your self when was the last time SONY or IBM made a GPU?

[kaveti6616]

Obviously you've spent more time thinking about this than I have. Nevertheless, even though Larrabee will be easier to learn, I think that by the time the Cell 2 is released programmers will have had plenty of experience with the Cell. Also, if I had to put it all into speculation I still think that Microsoft would choose convenience over power, like they did with the 360. Another thing to question is whether Microsoft will still want another headstart next generation. This time around they needed it because Playstation is a more popular name brand than Xbox. But now that the 360 is a household system, I think we will see the Xbox 3 after the PS4. So by the time Xbox 3 comes out maybe MS will desire a modified version of the larrabee, or else who the hell will they work with for the CPU? IBM?

[N4g_null]

It is part of my job to stay up on these things. People already understand how to use the cell right now yet they choose to make their games based on what they want rather than what the cell can do well. Like all chips the cell is going to have it's short falls. The cell has alot of them. There is a reason why SONY and IBM has not dumped the cell out on the open market for PC add in cards. That along would have paid sony's way out of their losses yet we all know that the cell can not stand with any GPU at all.

Seriously the cell is good at crunching numbers but you do understand the normal 486 processor did things the same way that cell is doing them. IBM just added vector units yet their use is very limited... which is the main problem. The reason why the larrabee will beat the cell period is because IBM doesn't have a chip small enough to turn into a spe... intel has basically turned a P4 into an SPE and added an additional supped up vector unit to it also. The thing is bored line over kill.

IBM has been very silent about making a System on a chip lately and on top of that they are not going to enter the GPU/CPU war right now simply because they are not good at GPUs yet.

Yes cell would be interesting if SONY was drowning right now. Then on top of that I don't think no one can compete with Intel on this level.... the amount of money they have spent is ridiculous. Way beyond what the cell cost I believe.

To sum it all up you have a lot of capable coders that are having a problem with the PS3 because they are not catering to PS3 owner only they are catering to ex PC owners...

[kaveti6616]

thanks for the info.