IBM 3-Core PowerPC CPU Powers Next-Gen Microsoft Xbox
Online staff -- EDN, May 13, 2005
With much fanfare, Microsoft Corp. televised the unveiling Thursday of its Xbox 360 game and entertainment system on MTV.
A three-core IBM PowerPC-based CPU delivers more than one teraflop of system floating-point performance for artificial intelligence and physics processing, while a custom ATI graphics processor and more than 512MBytes of memory provide visual fidelity, Microsoft said.
The Xbox also contains software that Microsoft claims is so smart that it remembers what gamers have achieved to continually evolve and enhance the game experience.
The Xbox 360 can be connected to a broadband service through a wireless controller to access online gaming communities.
The system has built-in progressive-scan DVD movie, CD music and photo playback support along with the ability for MP3 players, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs with USB 2.0 ports to be plugged in for streaming music and photos.
A built-in Media Center Extender function allows access to recorded TV and digital movies, music, video and photos stored on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PCs through any Xbox 360 system in the house.
Finally, Xbox 360 is to be able to stream high-definition TV and movies stored on Media Center PCs.
Microsoft’s Xbox 360 system is set to launch in North America, Europe and Japan this holiday season.
