Xbox(v1) compared to Xbox 360

[Pengu]

Um. the g5 "sdk" machines that ms used before had a 9800pro or something in them, because they're using an ati gpu in it. so it isn't gonna be a 6800. maybe a x800, but not likely.

[Lycander]

Originally Posted by nixgeek

Now if only the games would take advantage of the raw power that is the G5 processor in current Macs.

Sometimes I wonder where the brains of all these gaming companies are. I guess that's what happens when you become assimilated...

Blame Apple's OpenGL implementation, not very game friendly. Afterall, that's where the grunt of a game's work goes on.

Originally Posted by Pengu

Um. the g5 "sdk" machines that ms used before had a 9800pro or something in them, because they're using an ati gpu in it. so it isn't gonna be a 6800. maybe a x800, but not likely.

And that's a very important point because I don't believe the 9800 chip supports Shader 3.0 spec (assuming MS ported DirectX to PPC) I almost want to say that those G5 dev kits had the 6800 card in them just for that shader version so developers could get started early using that shader spec. That would have made more sense, but minus the ATI specific extensions.

[Pengu]

Blame Apple's OpenGL implementation, not very game friendly. Afterall, that's where the grunt of a game's work goes on.

You're assuming the code was equally optimised for PPC/OpenGL/Mac. Most windows games use DirectX, so it isn't out of the question to blame the creators for not properly optimising for a) OpenGL, b) PPC, c)Altivec, d) Multi-cpu

as for the 6800 thing.

The big news to us is that the XBOX 2 SDK has been seeded to developers on dual Apple Power Mac G5 systems running a custom Windows NT Kernel.

The Apple Power Mac G5 is based upon two of IBM’s 64-bit Power PC processors and features ATi RADEON 9800 Pro (R350) graphics. However the R350 is believed to be an interim solution and will, in due course, be superseded by the forthcoming ATI R420.

[Lycander]

Originally Posted by Pengu

You're assuming the code was equally optimised for PPC/OpenGL/Mac. Most windows games use DirectX, so it isn't out of the question to blame the creators for not properly optimising for a) OpenGL, b) PPC, c)Altivec, d) Multi-cpu

You're missing my point. I know I've been beating the "Doom3 Mac port sucked" drum over and over, I'm sorry. But that's a perfect example of a game, designed with OpenGL and NOT DirectX, and was very heavily GPU bound. But given the same video cards, the Mac version performed worst. It was already proven that the culprit is mainly the OpenGL implementation, and the video drivers. Apple designed OSX with a layer of seperation for OpenGL, they also write the graphics drivers, whereas on the Windows platform Nvidia/ATI deliver the drivers.

Do you see what I'm getting at? This is not about "oh DirectX is faster than OpenGL" I'm not saying that at all. The API alone doesn't impact performance, it's how they are implemented and carried out.

EDIT: By the way, hardware drivers execute in kernel space in Windows. All other *nix OSes that I know of do not run drivers in kernel space because a buggy driver would bring the whole system down. That's mainly why people get those "blue screen of death" that everyone makes fun of. But given stable drivers, the bonus is lower latency.

[Lt Major Burns]

the current array of macs, especially powermacs, are optimised for creativity/research - they are much more suited to a huge photoshop file, or working in motion, or scientific research - thats what they're marketed at, that's who the market is. if you want a games machine, build yourself a pc - you said yourself, it runs Doom3 far better than any mac. and i can run illustrator far better than any pc. the way i like it, personally. sure i'd like to play half-life 2, but i can do that on my parents machine, if and when i go home...

[AuDioFreaK39]

That picture that you have of the Forza Motorsport demo isn't actually a screenshot from actual gameplay...it is from a movieclip in the game (you know how most video games have a little intro movie at the beginning or something that are just comp-generated graphics in a movie clip not actual gameplay, making them look better than what you are actually playing). Also, the Need for Speed Most Wanted doesn't even utilize half of the XBOX360's potential, which means that games in the future for the next-gen system will have even better visual quality than what we have seen so far in the first couple weeks of the new system's introduction.

[Lt Major Burns]

halo had graphics which everyone thought was pushing the xbox to it's limits. then halo 2 came out.

[DevilRocks]

I find it funny how the subject of the thread tottally changed lol. Well i will go back to it, they do pretty much look the same to me. I am not an Xbox person, more of a playstation guy so i dont know alot about it though.