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MS Xbox 360 demos at E3 powered by G5 Macs

updated 10:45 pm EDT, Thu May 19, 2005

Xbox 360 demos on Macs


Microsoft's Xbox 360 demo kiosks at the E3 gaming expo were not powered by actual console prototypes, but rather . According to a report by AnandTech, developers had to significantly reduce the image quality of their demos, resulting in "lackluster appearance" in some cases. "In Microsoft's own Xbox 360 booth, we saw tons of kiosks running upcoming 360 titles that were actually playable. Games like Top Spin 2 and Need for Speed were playable, but for some reason they didn't actually look all that great for a next-generation console." The demos apparently suffered from poor anti-aliasing, due to the PowerMacs' limited video cards (GeForce 6800 Ultra or an ATI Radeon X800 XT). The final Xbox 360 console will have 4X AA enabled on all titles. Still, "Apple should be quite happy."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. DannyMac

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

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    05/20, 12:01am | report spam | Reply |

    Muhahaha!

    It'd be funny if this caused XBox owners to buy Macs...

  1. yoji

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2005

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    05/20, 12:22am | report spam | Reply |

    Mac gamming glut?

    The better question would be since they are using Mac G5 development units one would assume that the games play on Macs and the possibility of porting them would be dead easy or retailing them straight-out for Macs would be there.

    This could be a great boon for Mac gaming as all the next gen consoles are using IBM's PPC chips. With a proper next gen video card for the Macs, gaming could look extremely rosy for our favorite fruity computer.

  1. james9490

    troll

    Joined: May 2005

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    05/20, 12:47am | report spam | Reply |

    3D gaming benchmark

    It is important to point out that Microsoft used G5 for development only, and it does not mean at all that PowerMac G5 is even appropriate as a high end gaming platform. You should note that the demos "apparently suffered from poor anti-aliasing, due to the PowerMacs' limited video cards (GeForce 6800 Ultra or an ATI Radeon X800 XT)." Benchmark clearly indicates that G5s are very weak compared to anything on the x86 side, and especially with the emerge of true 64 bit chips from AMD the gap is becoming larger and larger everyday of the week.

    In general high end 3D gaming is the best real world performance indicator, and the Mac has been traditionally extremely weak in this area. No other benchmarking methods match the abuse and intensity high end 3D gaming puts on a computer. Apple will continue to be virtually ignored by most high end game vendors due to its mediocre hardware performance. Apple must take 3D gaming very seriously and start optimizing their hardware for it (i.e. switch to AMD processor, Windows API, etc.), or they will be a thing of the past.

  1. alex_kac

    Grizzled Veteran

    Joined: Aug 2002

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    05/20, 01:46am | report spam | Reply |

    Right....

    Right - so Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft all chose the Power PC based processors for the next gen consoles because its weaker than x86....

    Right.

    If you look at actual game houses' comments, the only reason games play more poorly on Macs over PCs is because of the way they are written - in such a way to maximize DirectX and the Windows architecture.

    OS X on x86 would suffer the same issues with games as it does on Power PC.

  1. klinux

    Senior User

    Joined: Jul 2002

    0
    05/20, 02:22am | report spam | Reply |

    Yawn

    Yawn, old news.

    " It'd be funny if this caused XBox owners to buy Macs..."

    Yea, like a gamer who's interested in 360 that will be avaialable for $300 in 6 months and is many times more poweful than G5 will consider a Powermac is cost six times as much and not having many games on OS X.

  1. technohedz

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2000

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    05/20, 03:23am | report spam | Reply |

    *roll*

    Who built all the bridges? Lotta trolls out there.

    What does, MS using Macs for development, have to do with 'apple should switch to AMD Processor'...hmnn.. and 'Windows API'. That's the biggest load of nonsensical bovine excretion I've heard since the last time some windork posted it. XBOX Chip, not in available yet. If they don't have it, and it's a PPC, then it obviously isn't deployed in Macs either. When it's out then you might want to try comparing a personal computer to a gaming console again.

    In general, real world usage is the best real world performance indicator. Windows computers have traditionally been extremely weak in this area. No other benchmarking methods match the abuse and intensity that high END USERS put on a computer. Apple will continue to be literally ignored by most high end game vendors because they don't make games for personal computers, nor can they (high end game vendors) possibly hope to leverage the exquisite performance of an Apple computer without learning how to code with straightforward API's. Microsoft, and it's one hit wonder gaming subsidiaries, must take 3D gaming very seriously and start developing their hardware for it (I.E. SWITCH TO PPC PROCESSORS), or they will be the same oversized-controller making loss leading console subsidizing weakling copycats they have always been.

    I bet you have an IT job.

    Like games, buy a console.

  1. dancefreak

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2005

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    05/20, 05:01am | report spam | Reply |

    picture

    Took this picture at E3 today.....it's the set up for the playable version of Need For Speed Underground: Most Wanted on the xbox 360. The comments about microsoft needing apple computers was endless.

    http://img264.echo.cx/img264/44/xbox360g52km.jpg

  1. klinux

    Senior User

    Joined: Jul 2002

    0
    05/20, 05:01am | report spam | Reply |

    Easy boy

    "leverage the exquisite performance of an Apple computer"

    Easy boy. It's time you have a girlfriend.

  1. dancefreak

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2005

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    05/20, 05:04am | report spam | Reply |

    also...

    I heard the number 30% being thrown around by the microsoft people working the booth...meaning that the difference between the final hardware and what we saw today.

  1. Sydney Tsai

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2002

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    05/20, 05:21am | report spam | Reply |

    Microsoft can't code

    If they blame that the some reason is the G5 doen't have a good hardware, I believe that they are not optimized the games for the G5s.

    Take a look at those product in Mac OS X now, and you will notice they are not making crappy software. IE, MSN Messenger and WMP. Those apps are crappled or not really stable. I have a hard time to believe what I have seen, but I found there is no way a program will suck up all the processor cycle when they try to play a 320x240 movie (and it's not Anti-aliased!)

    I know that they don't use OS X as a base system for develop xbox360 's game. but I can bet that they haven't optimize their develop tools for G5s

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