In a recent interview with German magazine Gamestar, ATi has made some of the boldest claims to date regarding the base-level power of the Xbox 360 console, for which ATi is the GPU supplier.
 
Perhaps offering the most in-depth look at how the 360 chip operates, ATi head of developer relations Richard Huddy said, “First and foremost we have a 'unified shader architecture'. No other console or PC chip can boast this. And what, in short, it means is that the hardware is always able to run at 100% efficiency. All previous hardware has separate vertex and pixel shaders. That means that that previous hardware just had to hope that the vertices and pixels came in just about the right ratios. If you got too many pixels then the vertex engines would be idle, and if you got too many vertices then the pixel engines would starve instead. It’s not uncommon for one part of the chip to be starved of work for a large majority of the time – and that’s obviously inefficient. With a unified architecture we have hardware that automatically moulds its-self to the task required and simply does whatever needs to be done. That all means that the Xbox 360 runs at 100% efficiency all the time, whereas previous hardware usually runs at somewhere between 50% and 70% efficiency. And that should means that clock for clock, the Xbox graphics chip is close to twice as efficient as previous graphics hardware.”
 
Huddy went on to explain how memory can be accessed from these shaders: “Next on my list is the hardware support for directly accessing memory from within the shader units. This makes the Xbox graphics chip work in a much more flexible way than has ever been possible before. Now it’s relatively simple for a games developer to write code to do anything inside the graphics chip that they could do elsewhere. Accessing memory in arbitrary ways sounds like a very esoteric thing to do within a graphics chip, but actually it allows you to do some amazing things which mean that Xbox 360 games will be more like movies than you ever imagined. It’s so powerful that I’d say that this feature alone makes the Xbox 360 technically superior to any other console planned for the next five years.” Not a comment to please Nintendo, to whom ATi is the GPU supplier for the upcoming Revolution console, hands-on impressions of which you can read here.
 
And moving on to the question of the Revolution, it appears from the interview that ATi sees it’s long-term (two generations at least) console partner as something of a poor relation, hinting that it will not see a chip delivered with the same level of internal expectation. “It would be very handy for ATI to share [Xbox 360 GPU] information around between its various groups – but doing so would undermine the relationships that we have with the individual console companies. It’s important to Microsoft that it they suggest or request a feature in their graphics chips for their console that this doesn’t automatically mean that Nintendo get that for free too. And of course, it applies the other way round too, Nintendo need to be able to make their hardware design without fear that it could simply be copied by Microsoft. No console company would work with us without these rules.”

Microsoft corporate VP sets out targets for forthcoming next-gen platform
 
Speaking at the ELSPA International Games Summit in London, Microsoft corporate VP Peter Moore has predicted that the company's first-mover advantage with Xbox 360 will allow the console to reach 10 million installed base "very quickly."
 
Asked what position he expects the Xbox 360 to be in by the time Sony's PlayStation 3 arrives on the market, Moore commented that it was "difficult to say until we know what 'Spring' means," referring to Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi's stated launch window for PS3 of Spring 2006.
 
However, he went on to say that Microsoft has a target of 10 million units, explaining that the firm believes that historically, reaching that threshold has given consoles "tremendous momentum" in the marketplace.
 
"I'm not in any way saying that he who gets to 10 million first wins," he continued, "but that's a target that we in Redmond believe that we can get to very quickly."
 
Pressed on his expected timeframe for reaching that goal, Moore went on to say that as the company expects "unconstrained demand" for the Xbox 360, the question becomes a supply issue - but he did say that 12 to 16 months was his expected timeframe.
 
Also during his talk, Moore said that he expects the games market to grow to 160 to 180 million hardware units in the next-generation; at present, the combined installed base of the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube is around 130 million units.
 
He reiterated his colleague J Allard's comment, made at E3 last month in Los Angeles, that the next-generation could touch a "billion consumers" - but clarified slightly, saying that he was referring to the industry as a whole, including all three next-generation consoles, rather than simply to Xbox 360.
 
Speaking about the factors which will drive the growth of the next generation, Moore talked about the industry's need to broaden its audience, both geographically and demographically - and highlighted the growth of high definition television as a key factor which will drive next-gen consoles to new consumers.
 
Addressing European concerns specifically, he said that while Europe lags behind in HDTV adoption at present, he expects the HD broadcast of the World Cup in 2006 to be a "tipping point" for the uptake of the standard here.
 
However, he also revealed that the Xbox 360 will be compatible with the VGA connector used by computer monitors and many LCD panels, which are very popular in Europe and will allow consumers to enjoy HD-like resolutions without buying new equipment.
 
Moore also spoke directly to Microsoft's critics who have likened the Xbox 360 to the Dreamcast, which also had a significant first mover advantage over Sony's PlayStation 2 in the current generation, but was ultimately withdrawn from the market.
 
The former Sega of America boss, who oversaw the launch of Dreamcast in that territory, argued that the issues with the Dreamcast were totally different to the situation with Xbox 360, and that its mistakes "won't be repeated" by Microsoft.  
 
Zero momentum at launch, an underfinanced company, poor ongoing support from publishers and what he described as "an atrophied brand" were to blame for the failure of Dreamcast, along with the online gaming premise simply being too early, he said.
 
"There is no linkage between [Xbox 360 and Dreamcast]," he concluded.

Ce matin, Peter Moore a déclaré à l'ELSPA International Games Summit de Londres que Microsoft avait pour objectif de vendre 10 millions de Xbox 360 à travers le monde en l'espace de 12 à 16 mois. De telles ventes signifieraient un bien meilleur départ que celui de la Xbox première du nom qui a eu besoin de davantage de temps pour atteindre cet objectif. Naturellement, la firme de Redmond compte sur son avance programmée sur la PS3 (qui ne sortirait qu'au printemps 2006) pour écouler un maximum de machines et se doter d'un parc installé confortable avant le choc frontal. Interrogé sur la similitude entre cette gestion du calendrier et celui de la Dreamcast qui avait elle aussi une bonne avance sur la PS2, avec le résultat que l'on connaît, Moore a affirmé que les deux situations étaient totalement différentes et que Microsoft ne commettrait pas les mêmes erreurs que Sega. Moore peut parler en connaissance de cause, puisqu'il était à l'époque l'un des plus hauts responsables... de Sega.

Mon petit doigt avait bien raison de rester sceptique à l'annonce de ne pas développer World of Warcraft pour Xbox 360.  
 
En effet un étrange retournement de situation a eut lieu aujourd'hui même, à tel point que que Paul Sams réetudierait la question de très près. "World of Warcraft à été développé principalement pour PC, mais l'adapter sur Xbox 360 n'est pas un challenge irréalisable, et c'est pourquoi nous réetudions cette possibilitée d'extrêmement près avant de prendre une nouvelle décision qui sera définitive cette fois".  
 
Et oui chers amis, la question est actuellement en suspens mais cette fois au moins nous serons fixés, et nous pouvons commencer à faire renaître l'espoir !

D'après un site de vente en ligne américain assez controversé, le prochain titre de Ubi Soft Ghost Recon 3 sur Xbox 360 aurait un nom définitif, et une date de sortie quasi-officielle.  
 
En effet le titre se nommerait ainsi Ghost Recon 3 : Advance War Fighter et serait disponible pour le 1er Décembre 2005 ou du moins avant la fin de l'année. Une rumeur qui sera certainement confirmé ou infirmé très prochainement par Ubi Soft.