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GameSpot Rumor Control: Xbox2 Patent and Xbox Live Price
>> Here's GameSpot.com's popular 'Rumor Control' about some news items of this week:
[QUOTE]
* RUMOR: Microsoft has registered the Xbox Next's central processor with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
* Source: the US Patent and Trademark Office by way of Team Xbox.
* The official story: "We are, simply, not talking about future generation at this time."--Microsoft rep.
* What we heard: Though Microsoft still adamantly refuses to comment on its next-generation console, Team Xbox discovered the company has filed a patent for a "system and method for parallel execution of data generation tasks." The system's diagram (pictured) looks an awful lot like the diagram of the Xbox Next CPU that was allegedly leaked last April. Team Xbox found further proof that the patent--#20040263519, filed on December 30, 2004--was likely for the Xbox Next in the description of how the system worked, which was almost identical to the "procedural synthesis" Microsoft corporate vice president and chief XNA architect J. Allard described in a recent interview. Procedural synthesis will use parallel processors and Microsoft-supplied middleware to create repetitive, three-dimensional environmental objects like trees, freeing up designers to concentrate on gameplay and story. Team Xbox saw this connection as evidence the patent was Xbox Next-related. But, had they looked farther down on the patent description, they would have found definitive proof it was so. There, in black and white, in the "background" portion of the description, is a description of how the patented system will address the "difficulties [that] confront game developers." Subsection four of the background description addresses consoles specifically, saying how the patented system will "transfer of large amounts of data between the processing elements of the game console" (emphasis in the original). So unless Microsoft is planning an extremely revamped version of the current-generation Xbox, this patent shows what's at the core of its next-generation console.
* Bogus or not bogus?: Not Bogus.
* RUMOR: Microsoft is raising Xbox Live subscription rates later this year.
* Source: British Windows-followers ActiveWin.com.
* The official story: "This is a rumor and Microsoft doesn't comment on rumors"--Microsoft rep.
* What we heard: In what they claim is an exclusive scoop, ActiveWin claims to have gotten hold of the new pricing scheme for Xbox Live…in the UK. According to the site, prices will go up later this year to GBP 65 ($122), with a variety of increased surcharges for changing your gamertag ($4.68), entering tournaments ($4.68), and file sharing ($6.55). Presumably, the price hikes would be mirrored in the US. However, when queried by GameSpot, sources close to the Xbox Live team were quick to shoot down the article. According to said sources, Microsoft has been merely doing "pricing research" in the UK, and no increases are on the horizon. However, with Xbox Live traffic surging thanks to the Halo 2 phenomenon--6.5 million copies sold and counting-Microsoft will eventually raise prices.
* Bogus or not bogus?: Bogus for now, but prices will go up eventually.
[/QUOTE]
Read more 'rumor control' on gamespot.com ... there's also one about a portable version of Halo for ... the Gizmondo handheld console.
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