What the "Xbox 2011" Could Be & More
Tech.co.uk has posted an article discussing what kind of technology will be available in 2011 and 2012, which are the most likely release years for Microsoft’s next console (I’ve always believed it’ll be 2011 and so does the article). Here are some excerpts:
CPU Speed
The CPU clock speed quadrupled between the Xbox and Xbox 360, so that might imply that the 2011 CPU would be running at 12GHz.
But Intel is claiming its 32nm Sandy Bridge architecture will arrive at 4GHz in 2010, and clock speeds for the top desktop CPUs have remained steady at around 3GHz since the tail end of 2003. So we can’t see a console processor hitting 12GHz, even in 2011. The core clock would well be a fairly minor leap forward - it could be running at just 5GHz.
Processors
One thing the Xbox 2011 CPU will have, however, is processing cores - lots of them. The Xbox had one core, and the 360 has three. Looking at current trends, we predict there will be at least eight processing cores in the next version, possibly as many as 16 - and there could even be up to 32. After all, desktop PC chips with eight cores are due at the end of 2008 in the shape of Intel’s Nehalem architecture.
RAM
Since we expect the console’s operating system to be a 64-bit environment, memory in excess of 4GB would be perfectly feasible. But we suspect the amount of RAM will remain well behind desktop PCs, for cost reasons - maybe just 8GB?
The Rest
The chances are that the next consoles will be very much network-connected devices, something Microsoft has pioneered with Xbox LIVE.
So the Xbox 2011 will more than likely come with a big hard disk - or even gigabytes of Flash storage - and your games will download straight onto this. It’ll destroy the second-hand trade-in market, of course. But maybe we’ll all be selling our electronic license keys on eBay instead!
Our prediction for the next Xbox is…
So here’s the bottom line for the Xbox in 2011, based on current trends and what we know is happening over the next few years. Check back here in 2011 to see if we were right!
- CPU/GPU - Integrated chip with 16 x 5GHz processor cores, 32 x 2GHz graphics cores
- Memory - 8GB GDDR8
- Media - Dual-format HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive for backwards compatibility and movies
- Storage - 4TB hard disk for online game (and movie) delivery
- Built-in camera - for gesture-based control
- Built-in microphone - for voice-recognized control
In other news, Microsoft announced another feature of next week’s Fall Dashboard Update. One of the new features will be the ability to…look at your friend’s friends list. My first and only reaction to this was expressed over on Unscripted360.com’s post on this.
This is the dumbest feature I have ever heard of.
Not only is it pointless, but it’s going to cause nothing but problems for those who don’t disable it or don’t even know you can. If someone is friends with someone and wants you to meet one of their friends, they will tell you their Gamertag, there’s no reason you need to be able to see people’s friends list. An absolute waste of time.
A feature I want, and will begin pushing for once the Fall Update comes out and most likely doesn’t include it, is an“Achievement/Invite” Notification only. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, there are little pop-up notifications for when friends come online, you get Achievements, or you get invited to a game, Currently, you can either disable them all, or turn them all on. What I want though, is to be able to only have a pop-up when I get an Achievement. This would come in handy especially when playing through a new game where I don’t want to be distracted by my maxed-out friends list constantly having people come online. I would like a list of checkboxes that would go something like this:
[] All Notifications
[] Friends Online Only
[] Game Invites Only
[] Achievements Only
[] Disable All
Anyway, we’ll see how popular the idea of the feature is and maybe someday it’ll be implemented.
Also, there is supposedly a big announcement for the newly released Rock Band coming sometime soon, and on a personal note, I will begin Mass Effect tonight!
Oh yeah, and Asteroids Deluxe is coming to the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday!