|
Week of April 7, 2002
Pictures of an Xbox manufacturing facility
>> chip.de has a bunch of pictures from an Xbox manufacturing facility. Check it out here
Spread News: PermaLink
| Add us on: Twitter - Facebook - RSS
(Saturday 13 April 2002 22:39 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
)
The story of Seamus Blackley
>> Red Herring has an interesting look at Seamus Blackley, the Man behind the Xbox, and what it took to bring the console to market.
Bill Gates was showing off his new baby. It was March 2000, and thousands of people packed the room at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California, and the event was broadcast on TV worldwide. Standing on a dark, cavernous stage, Mr. Gates talked about the future of video games. He pulled a black shroud off a table and there was the machine, a shiny chrome box in the shape of the letter X, with a big green jewel in its center. "The modest tag line here is the future of console gaming," he said.
Read The Full Article
Spread News: PermaLink
| Add us on: Twitter - Facebook - RSS
(Saturday 13 April 2002 18:18 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
)
MS mounts massive Xbox kebab wrap ad push
>> From TheRegister
Next time you have a kebab - make sure you check the wrapper.
Today's offering from the kebab shop downstairs (small doner, extra chilli sauce and lashings of pickled chillies) came wrapped in paper advertising a certain games console.
It read: "Dead or Alive 3. It can be hard to adjust to reality. Xbox. Play more. Play Dead or Alive 3."
It also said: "Dispose of after use."
We assume that means the paper wrapper - not the game or console.
Spread News: PermaLink
| Add us on: Twitter - Facebook - RSS
(Thursday 11 April 2002 02:35 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
)
Xbox sales starting to flag in the US?
>> From TheRegister::
Reports of disappointing sales levels for Microsoft's Xbox in Europe and Japan have been compounded by an apparent easing off of demand in the US. Analysts yesterday said that production of the machines at Flextronics had slowed, and that Microsoft could well fail to meet its target of shipping 4.5-6 million units worldwide by the end of June.
If they're right, then Xbox is probably confirming to the classic Microsoft consumer sales profile. The company is generally extremely good at hyping a product at the start, and getting retailers fired-up and stuffed with stock, but tends not to be able to sustain the momentum achieved over the first couple of weeks. When it comes to Windows, of course, this is easily masked by 'sales' obtained via the OEM franchise, which is most of them.
Poor performance in Europe seems to be largely down to pricing, which is turning out to be higher than consumers want to pay, while in Japan Microsoft is on the back foot because some Xbox units seem to have been damaging discs. Sony, meanwhile, will have been much cheered by a Goldman Sachs claim last week that US retailers were clearly preferring Playstation 2 to Xbox.
Spread News: PermaLink
| Add us on: Twitter - Facebook - RSS
(Thursday 11 April 2002 02:32 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
)
XOnline news
>> We have been contacted by someone with "inside" information about the future Xbox Online services (XOnline).
It seems like it will all not be as wonderful as Microsoft has been telling us.
It will not only be expensive , but the network-performances won't be great either. (due several restrictions MS is imposing on developers).
Check the full article (by Dio di Morte and RustyBall) : The Problems w/ Xbox Online
Spread News: PermaLink
| Add us on: Twitter - Facebook - RSS
(Tuesday 09 April 2002 01:19 EST) - (Category: (default)) - (Posted by::
)
DVD Region X for Xbox (PAL version only)
>> The version of the DVD Region X for Xbox is here. This useful tool will allow you to play DVD Movies from around the world on your PAL machine. Now you can catch the latest DVD releases from the States months before they're released in Europe.
Using DVD Region X could not be easier, it doesn't involve any modification to your Xbox and will not void your warranty. All you need to do is load up the CD select the region you require and away you go, the perfect add-on for your Xbox and perfect if you love movies! Some older TVs may not support NTSC mode.
Buy it NOW for £17.99/29.28€ VAT included (ships to whole europe)
LPC Interface & Xbox Overclocking!
>> More updates from Pixel8 :
Interesting news about the LPC Interface :
" I had soldered on the missing LPC header right after I got my XBOX thinking it may be the way into the system. Well it has been discovered that this port may be the ticket to getting the XBOX hacked easily. In order to change the firmware on the XBOX you need to unsolder your TSOP flash ROM. But by tying data bit[0] the MCPX looks at the LPC port for the system ROM. So a small board could be made interfacing what ever Flash ROM, EEPROM, or masked ROM you'd like to use to the XBOX! :-)"
In the next couple of days Pixel8 will work on xbox overclocking. (not only CPU , but also GPU, MCPX, and DDR SDRAM). Be sure to check his website!
IC's in the xbox
>> Pixel8 has updated his spreadsheet of every IC in the xbox. It includes device number, location, description, and datasheet links.
Check it out here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
