Smart People on XBox 360 Problems

[swivel]

You really must read both of these articles. Could explain Lynx's hands-on and the Oblivion delay:

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/edi...0&bJumpTo=True

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/edi...0&bJumpTo=True

Argh... if you aren't subscribers, you aren't going to get the full articles. I'll paraphrase a bit.

In the second one Carmack, the ID programming guru says that developers won't have the 360 mastered until the next generation of systems comes out. 5 years or so. He says that if you take the code they have written for x86 systems (Pentiums and Athlons), and "run it on either of the PowerPC's from these new consoles, it'll run at about half the speed of a modern state-of-the-art system"

Uh-oh.

also: "It's probably a good thing for us to be getting with the program now; the first generation of titles coming out for both platforms will not be anywhere close to taking full advantage of all this extra capability, but maybe by the time the next generation of consoles roll around, the developers will be a little more comfortable with all of this and be able to get more benefit out of it."

This mirror what Alex St. John says in the first link. The the "Whacky architectures" are a big mistake.

If you don't know who Alex St. John and Carmack are, then you are likely to dismiss these opinions and remain blissfully happy. If you are like me, and you know what these two guys have done for gaming, and how brilliant they are, you are getting worried right now.

There is a chance that the next-gen games which exist in our heads right now are a few years away.

[Reclaimer]

And you must be a subscriber to read both whole articles.

[swivel]

And you must be a subscriber to read both whole articles.

Sorry, I was editing while you were commenting.

[carlbme]

In the second one Carmack, the ID programming guru says that developers won't have the 360 mastered until the next generation of systems comes out. 5 years or so.

Yup, that's about normal. Although the normal curve is more like 3 years. But with a multicore design it'll take a little longer as almost no one has programmed to take use of this arcitechture yet.

He says that if you take the code they have written for x86 systems (Pentiums and Athlons), and "run it on either of the PowerPC's from these new consoles, it'll run at about half the speed of a modern state-of-the-art system"

Ummm....yeah and? Once it's actually optimized for the PowerPC then it will improve. Also forcing them to actually write for the PowerPC processor instead of just bringing the code over should help get rid of some of the crappy ports.

"It's probably a good thing for us to be getting with the program now; the first generation of titles coming out for both platforms will not be anywhere close to taking full advantage of all this extra capability, but maybe by the time the next generation of consoles roll around, the developers will be a little more comfortable with all of this and be able to get more benefit out of it."

Read my first portion...once again, it applies

This mirror what Alex St. John says in the first link. The the "Whacky architectures" are a big mistake.

I've read numerous people complaining about the multicore aspects and how it is such a huge mistake. But I see no mistake. So it's a steeper than normal learning curve to write stuff for the hardware. No biggie, it isn't like it's going to really stop anyone from actually doing it.

Secondly, despite the different architectures between PowerPC and x86 processors writting for multicore on one will help you with lessons learned on writting for multicore on the other. Considering that both AMD and Intel are pushing multicore I see this as a good thing. Within 5 years most processors will be multicore anyway.

[StudioAlex]

People made similar complaints when the PS2 came out. I'm not particularly worried.