@BrianK

Xbox 360 Vallhalla motherboard images.

Of course Microsoft is neither admitting nor denying the posts. Though it is time for the Vallhalla combined CPU/GPU die.

Looking at this motherboard it appears to have TOSLINK on the board instead of on the connector. Might be a fix as the HDMI and fiber can't be used together due to closeness of the connectors.


**Side note my 360 is back. Microsoft transmutated it to a new Jasper console. Return was flawless I shipped it out end of the day on Monday, slow boat. Microsoft received it and turned it out 2 days after receipt. 2 weeks, again on Monday, it arrived at my house but in the AM.

@BrianK

Quote:

BrianK wrote: @BrianK Xbox 360 Vallhalla motherboard images. Of course Microsoft is neither admitting nor denying the posts. Though it is time for the Vallhalla combined CPU/GPU die. Looking at this motherboard it appears to have TOSLINK on the board instead of on the connector. Might be a fix as the HDMI and fiber can't be used together due to closeness of the connectors. **Side note my 360 is back. Microsoft transmutated it to a new Jasper console. Return was flawless I shipped it out end of the day on Monday, slow boat. Microsoft received it and turned it out 2 days after receipt. 2 weeks, again on Monday, it arrived at my house but in the AM.

Congrats!
Wasn't the plan to combine the cpu and gpu announced a while ago?

@BrianK

You should have fixed it with a RROD repair kit only to have the graphics chip flake out a week later... like me! Doh.

I hope this Valhalla is out before it's time for me to get a replacement. However, it's the power-pack that gets me more than the console. I'd take a full-size 360 with the power-pack built-in over anything else, because I hate the clutter of power-supplies.

It's that reason I prefer the original PS2 (also the bizarre & infuriating lack of an on/off switch on the slim)

Chris

@lou
Quote:

Wasn't the plan to combine the cpu and gpu announced a while ago?

I don't believe Microsoft has ever announced changes. They are leaked via other sources. Once the new console hit the streets Microsoft stated the improved consoles are coming. It was a couple of years ago when the future of the 360 Vallahalla unified CPU/GPU die statements leaked.

If true Microsoft could cut the price of the 360 again for Christmas. But, if they continue the Feb #1 in sales events this year I can't see why they'd want to cut the price.


@clebin
Quote:

You should have fixed it with a RROD repair kit only to have the graphics chip flake out a week later... like me!

Sorry to hear that. I feel secure in my 10 year old nephew who is staying the week to do a proper burn in. I believe over the last 72 hours it's been gaming 50+.

I had a launch 360 that lasted 2 years. I bought an Elite and gave the launch return to a friend. That was 2+ years ago. So my first exchange of my first console is still going strong.

Clutter of power supplies? It all depends on the setup. Mine is behind the cabinet and isn't noticeable. Just upgrade your TV Stand.

Sony is being sued over the Other OS option removal.
I hope this is a wakeup call to anything requiring me to accept some ridiculous license agreement after I've already made my purchase.

If you don't like how I'm going to use something, don't sell it. EULA's are crap.

@Lou

Quote:

Sony is being sued over the Other OS option removal. I hope this is a wakeup call to anything requiring me to accept some ridiculous license agreement after I've already made my purchase.

The moral here is don't remove features. The PS3 is no longer Sony's PS3 it's the owner's PS3. The company sold a product saying it does X and no longer does X then the consumer is owner should be given some sort of remedy for losing something they didn't approve of. IMO if your majority use of the PS3 is for Linux then Linux should be restored. If it can't be then you should receive a significant refund.

@BrianK

Quote:

The moral here is don't remove features.

This is something Sony has categorically failed on in this generation.

Backwards compatibility: Added and then removed.

Linux Support: Added and then removed.

Mouse & Keyboard Support: Under used and support not actively encouraged with developers

Epic fail! Compared to the PS2 the PS3 is a confusing mess of a console without either a heritage to the 'Playstation' line nor a CD32 style upgrade route as originally envisaged!

I'll never forgive Sony for giving the PS3 limited RAM so that the Blu-Ray storage advantage cannot be equated into higher resolution textures compared to the '360'! Ghostbusters is a case in point. Once the Valhalla Xbox 360 is ready and ALL over-heating problems are eliminated, the PS3 will slowly begin losing ground to the '360' again.

_________________
"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@BigD

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/it-used-to-do-more-sonys-flip-flopping-history-with-the-ps3.ars

and 2 more lawsuits:

http://www.edge-online.com/news/two-more-suits-filed-over-ps3-other-os-removal

Last edited by Lou on 10-May-2010 at 07:01 PM.

littleBIGPlanet 2:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-littlebigplanet-2/100037

Playstation Move tech demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dazII4w3wA

LittleBigPlanet on PS move:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B584ytUdxrs

Hands-on impressions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnggr-ycbro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B584ytUdxrs

Removed first part, reason: Flame baiting /tomazkid

Remember Batman: Dark Night which sold an amazing 2.5 million copies in 18 months on Blu-Ray in the United States?

Well Avatar on Blu-Ray sold 2.7 million copies in just 4 days for the United States!

Meanwhile Media Control GfK again anticipates a 70% increase of Blu-Ray movie sales this year!

Last edited by tomazkid on 13-May-2010 at 09:48 PM.

Onto to high profile PS3 exclusives vs 360 exclusives wars:

Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves

Just 2 years after the highly acclaimed Drake's Fortune Naughty Dog released a sequel in such a quality unlike we have ever seen before.

vs

Alan Wake

5 years in development by the amazing guys at Remedy of Max Payne fame, Microsoft did another amazing job keeping a highly anticipated PC game from release for Widows gamers (like earlier Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Halo 3, etc.)

Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves ran away with Game of the Year awards for 2009.

For example last year Uncharted 2 received no less than 10 Academy Of Interactive Arts & Sciences 2009 awards:

1) Outstanding Achievement in Animation award

2) Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction award

3) Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering award

4) Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering award

5) Outstanding Achievement in Original Story award

6) Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition award

7) Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design award

8) Adventure Game of the Year award

9) Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction award

And thus of course last but not least:

10) Overall Game of the Year

It outshadowed every other good game released last year, sadly that meant Killzone 2 got few rewards, it did get various best shooter, best online competitive multi-player awards and last but not least was voted at AiGameDev sporting the best AI.

In comparison:

Technically Uncharted 2 has no tearing at all unlike Alan Wake, is rendering in high definition unlike Alan Wake (960 x 540, instead of 1280x720) , sports better HDR, sports better animation, sports better lip-syncing, sports more polygons and much higher quality textures. Uncharted 2 also sports well more varierty in its graphics and includes awesome online gameplay as well (which is of course free on the PS3, thus worth mentioning).

In addition Uncharted 2 tells a better story and sports better gameplay according to the experts.

Last edited by MikeB on 11-May-2010 at 05:02 PM.

Remember the flamewars from XBox 360 fans when discussing XBox 360 failures in the past, with some following Microsoft's claims of the failures being "well within industry standards" before lawsuits pressed Microsoft to admit problems to its shareholders?

Not so positive news with regard to this. A recent study amongst half a million console owners covering 280 days in 2009 and 2010 showed 42% had their console replaced or repaired!

On a more positive note regarding the XBox 360.

Remember when the news hit that Berthesda used data duplication on the version of much better looking Oblivion PS3 version (which on the 360 is SubHD, even for the Game of the Year edition)? That caused quite some turmoil amongst XBox 360 fanboys despite Berthesda stated they did the same with the XBox 360 DVD. Data duplication makes more sense on a high capacity Blu-Ray disc which can hold more than 7 times as much data than a 6.8 GB dual layer XBox 360 DVD.

Well the positive news is that Microsoft released a XNE firmware update which further removes data duplication from some more games when you install it to the XBox 360's overly expensive harddrives.

For example King of Fighters XII installed on the harddrive is reduced from 3.4GB to a little over 700MB; Raiden Fighters Aces dropping from 3.4GB to 484MB; and a decline for Left4Dead from 5GB to 3.7GB.

As pointed out above in 2009 Uncharted 2 is considered to be the stunning game released, but the year we saw the release of God of War 3 which according to many reviews took over the crown in the visual department very early in the year!

One interesting aspect with regard to this game regards discussions we had here on AmigaWorld in the past regarding what the Cell's SPUs can be used for. Some people didn't agree with me that the SPUs could be used for anti-aliasing, but that's exactly what Santa Monica studios did with God of War 3 with superior results!

Eurogamer, Digital Foundry:

"The more flexible nature of the CPU means that while such tasks can be more computationally expensive, you get a higher-quality result. The increased latency incurred can be reduced by parallelising across multiple SPUs.

In the case of God of War III, any given frame typically takes between 16ms and 30ms to render, give or take a millisecond or two. The original 2x multisampling AA solution took a big chunk of rendering time, at 5ms. Now, the hugely more impressive MLAA algorithm takes a total of 20ms of CPU time. However, it's running on five SPUs, meaning that overall latency is a mere 4ms. So the final result is actually faster, and that previous 5ms of GPU time can be repurposed for other tasks. "

Apart from post rendering effects and superior anti-aliasing the following also runs on the Cell's SPUs in God of War 3:



Especially the scale in God of War 3 is unrivalled:
http://i45.tinypic.com/25r2r0x.gif

Removed first part, reason: Flame baiting /tomazkid

Of course we remember how SCEA clarified that blockbuster multi-platform games sales actually sell better in the United States, far beyond one would expect considerin differences in installbase there.

Well more data is coming in, the PS3 is selling amazing amounts of software:

From Capcom's fiscal year report:

Platform --- FY 3/2008 ----- FY 3/2009 ---- FY 3/2010 ---- FY 3/2011 Projection

PS2 ---------- 3.10m --------- 1.55m --------- 0.60m --------- 0.40m

PS3 ---------- 1.75m --------- 4.45m --------- 2.70m --------- 6.00m

PSP ---------- 3.15m --------- 3.25m --------- 2.40m --------- 5.00m

GC ------------ 0.14m --------- 0.10m

Wii ----------- 2.93m --------- 1.70m --------- 3.20m ---------- 1.60m

DS ----------- 2.40m ---------- 1.35m --------- 1.00m ---------- 1.70m

Xbox -------- 0.02m

X360 -------- 1.62m ---------- 4.30m --------- 1.70m ---------- 4.80m

PC/Other --- 0.49m --------- 0.60m ---------- 0.90m ---------- 0.50m

From Nintendo's Fiscal Year report regarding European software sales in early 2009 and 2010:





Big LOL at the fanboys.

Last edited by tomazkid on 13-May-2010 at 09:51 PM.
Last edited by tomazkid on 13-May-2010 at 09:51 PM.
Last edited by MikeB on 11-May-2010 at 10:51 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 11-May-2010 at 10:19 AM.

Quote:

littleBIGPlanet 2: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-trailer-littlebigplanet-2/100037

LittleBigPlanet is confirmed to be using superior MLAA just like God of War 3 as well.

Amazing game this is going to be, you can even create a RTS (a Command & Conquer clone is already created) or even a FPS!

Boy...somebody's ban must have expired.

Mike, why list BluRay sales of new releases when HD DVD doesn't exist anymore?

By the way, how does your PS3 feel now that Sony has ripped you linux install away? So much for potentially installing OS4, aye?

Toodles.

@BigD

Quote:

This is something Sony has categorically failed on in this generation. Backwards compatibility: Added and then removed. Linux Support: Added and then removed. Mouse & Keyboard Support: Under used and support not actively encouraged with developers Epic fail! Compared to the PS2 the PS3 is a confusing mess of a console without either a heritage to the 'Playstation' line nor a CD32 style upgrade route as originally envisaged!

Sony started failing this before launch. Dual HDMI ports claimed to be coming and removed. Ethernet switch claimed to be coming and removed. And don't forget the removal of USB ports and media readers.

As for the 360 overtaking the PS3. I think the NATAL acceptance will be greater than the copied Will controller for the PS3.

@BrianK

Quote:

BrianK wrote: As for the 360 overtaking the PS3. I think the NATAL acceptance will be greater than the copied Will controller for the PS3.

They didn't even finish the job as it lacks pin-point pointing ability...