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Just in case you misread that, once again a Microsoft announcement has neglected to mention anything the people really want to know about: the specs of the Xbox 2. Instead, Mr Allard’s speech at the GDC concentrated on some of the ways in which Microsoft’s console will be a digital experience.
Citing the fact that we are soon to enter a “HD Era” (which refers to the ‘high definition’ graphics on the console), Allard said, “In the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor. New technology and emerging consumer forces will come together to enable the rock stars of game development to shake up the old establishment and redefine entertainment as we know it.”
Allard went on to share details of some of the things Microsoft are implementing in the up-and-coming console, which are interesting more for what such features could be telling us about the console, rather than what it is telling us. The following concepts were revealed, though:
Gamer Cards. Gamer Cards provide gamers with a quick look at key Xbox Live TM information. They let players instantly connect with people who have similar skills, interests and lifestyles. These details tally-up with the Gamespy.com Xbox 2 specs, which indicated that all games must be Live aware.
Marketplace. Browseable by game, by genre, and in a number of other ways, the Marketplace will provide a one-stop shop for consumers to acquire episodic content, new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins and new community-created content. In theory this would allow developers to create games in chunks, or at least allow people to buy them in stages.
Micro-transactions. Breaking down barriers of small-ticket online commerce, micro-transactions will allow developers and the gaming community to charge as little as they like for content they create and publish on Marketplace. Imagine players slapping down $.99 to buy a one-of-a-kind, fully tricked-out racing car to be the envy of their buddies.
Custom playlists. This feature eliminates the need for developers to support custom music in games. The guide instantly connects players to their music so they can listen to their own tracks while playing all their favourite next-generation Xbox games.
What the above tells us is that Microsoft will continue to push the Live experience into our homes, expanding on what is generally considered to be an already excellent service. With the likes of downloadable content that publishers can release as and when at a price they choose, it could be the incentive developers need to actually produce some additional content (something that has generally been lacking on the current generation hardware).
Also mentioned was that Microsoft are trying to keep as many things as they can at chip level, meaning integration of the features should be as painless as possible. And it was finally confirmed that the Xbox 2 is to have a multi-core processor and custom ATI graphics chip, both of which were speculated correctly many moons ago.
Still, as I said, this is more interesting for hinting at what we may be getting from Xbox 2, and the hint comes from the custom playlists. As reported last month, there have been rumours abound that the Xbox 2 will ship in a basic and enhanced set-up, with the hard-drive being an optional extra for the basic, and standard in the enhanced. Now the existence of custom playlists means that a mass-storage solution will be required. Could this point to the fact that a hard-drive will be making an appearance after all? Whether flashcards or hard-drive will be used remains to be seen, but it does point to the fact that whatever is used, it will need to hold a reasonable amount of data.
We’ll continue to report details on all of the upcoming consoles as we get them, so watch this space!
