Mistimed press release makes big claims.

[Tami]

Mistimed press release makes big claims.
by Tom Bramwell

Microsoft executive J Allard will use his keynote address at the Game Developers Conference later today to unveil a number of key features of Xbox 2.

\"In the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor,\" Allard will say. \"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.\"

According to highly detailed information released by Xbox\'s Dutch PR firm Citigate today, Xbox 2 is designed to make life easier for developers - supporting familiar tech \"such as DirectX, PIX, XACT and... XNA Studio\", and wresting control of key Xbox functions like voice chat, Friends lists and custom soundtracks out of their hands in order to ease the production process and let them \"focus on creating games, not developing for technical certification requirements (TCRs).\"

In other words, things like voice communication, in-game Friends list management, custom soundtracks and the like will become standard features of the console - controlled, we\'re told, \"at chip level\" - and apply to every game regardless of whether or not the developer would have included them otherwise.

It says Xbox 2 will represent \"a significant leap to high-definition graphics\" - reflecting reports that the console will shoot for HDTV/progressive scan support as standard - as well as \"multichannel, positional audio fidelity so clear and precise that players will be able to hear the faintest enemy footsteps sneaking up behind them\" and \"an abundance of on-demand content for game consoles\".

It also refers to the Xbox 2 hardware in broad terms, promising \"more than a teraflop of targeted computing performance\" thanks to \"a multicore processor architecture co-developed with IBM\" providing \"developer headroom and flexibility\", and mentions the custom graphics chip from ATI which Microsoft has itself already announced.

That ties in with a second report that emerged earlier this week claiming to confirm that Xbox 2 will feature optional hard disks, dual-layer DVD-9 discs as standard, memory cards ranging from 64MB to 1GB, and 256MB of system RAM. Microsoft said it would not comment on \"rumours and speculation\" when confronted with those details.

Xbox 2 will also feature a central \"Marketplace\" resource where user and developer-made bonus game content is sold for sums as little as 99 cents, doing away with the clunky Downloadable Content facility currently used by Xbox Live titles, as well as \"Gamer Cards\", which sound like expanded Xbox Live profiles storing game preferences and other personal information input by the user to help people track down like-minded opponents, today\'s release declares.

The press release makes continual references to the \"HD Era\" - a potential umbrella term for the Xbox 2 platform and associated facilities - and the \"guide\", described as an \"entertainment gateway that instantly connects players to their games, their friends and their digital media\".

Microsoft UK has refused to comment on the document, as it always does on matters next-generation, and has for once pleaded total ignorance - with a representative this afternoon claiming never to have seen the release before. However we have been able to confirm that the document is genuine, erroneously released ahead of the keynote instead of afterward.

The information ties in with other reportedly leaked elements of Allard\'s speech that are circulating this afternoon, which state that the Microsoft executive will talk about the console\'s specifications, what the user interface might look like, and where Microsoft sees the future of its Xbox Live online gaming service. Allard will also reportedly refer to the console as \"Xenon\" - its internal codename.

When Allard unveils elements of Xbox 2 tonight, it will mirror to a certain extent the way Microsoft announced the original Xbox at CES - complete with a hastily constructed mock-up - rather than the traditional platform of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, this time E3 will almost certainly be the platform for the console\'s actual unveiling.

Citigate representatives declined to comment.

The full text of the press release follows

SAN FRANCISCO — March 9, 2005 — Today at the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC), Microsoft Corp. announced the first details of its next-generation Xbox® video game system platform, highlighting how hardware, software and services are being fused to power enhanced game and entertainment experiences.

Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Chief XNA™ Architect J Allard further outlined the company’s vision for the future of entertainment, citing the emergence of an “HD Era” in video games that is fueled by consumer demand for experiences that are always connected, always personalized and always in high-definition.

“In the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor,” Allard said. “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.”

Building on 10 years of innovation with the DirectX® API, the Microsoft® Windows® and Xbox platforms will enable ground-breaking game experiences in the HD Era. Illustrating what that means for gamers, Allard shared the first details about the next-generation Xbox guide. Persistent across all games and media experiences, the guide is an entertainment gateway that instantly connects players to their games, their friends and their digital media.

Features of the guide include these:

Gamer Cards. Gamer Cards provide gamers with a quick look at key Xbox Live™ information. They let players instantly connect with people who have similar skills, interests and lifestyles.

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.

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 favorite next-generation Xbox games.

Typifying the HD Era game experience, the guide requires hardware designed with software in mind. System-level features of the guide such as custom playlists, the Xbox Live Friends list and voice chat are enabled at the chip level, liberating developers to focus on creating games, not developing for technical certification requirements (TCRs).

To support consumer demands for the HD Era, the next-generation Xbox is designed around key principles that let developers maximize real performance, using concepts they are already familiar with.

The next-generation Xbox hardware design principles include the following:

A well-balanced system that will deliver more than a teraflop of targeted computing performance

A multicore processor architecture co-developed with IBM Corp. that provides developer “headroom” and flexibility for the HD Era

A custom-designed graphics processor co-developed with ATI Technologies Inc. designed for HD Era games and entertainment applications

In addition, familiar software technologies such as DirectX, PIX, XACT and the recently announced XNA Studio — an integrated team-based development environment tailored for game production — complement the new hardware to help game developers unlock increasingly powerful and complex silicon.

The HD Era gaming platform will strike an elegant balance of hardware, software and services to power the new experiences consumers demand. Games and entertainment features such as the next-generation Xbox guide represent a shift toward more immersive and integrated consumer experiences. This shift will be further illustrated by a significant leap to high-definition graphics, where character movements and expressions are intensely vibrant and nearly indiscernible from real life; by multichannel, positional audio fidelity so clear and precise that players will be able to hear the faintest enemy footsteps sneaking up behind them; by richer online communications; and by an abundance of on-demand content for game consoles.

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