| rocketpig said: Sony has to allow MS to use Blu-ray. If they don't, Microsoft's angry hoarde of lawyers will rip them to shreds. Besides, Sony wants the licensing money. The PS4 is definitely a consideration for the upcoming Xbox. I disagree that the Cell is somehow better suited to scaling. After all, both the Xenon and Cell are based on the same architecture. MS could simply have IBM add more cores and call it a day. Or they'll use the Power6 platform (currently using Power5). Either way, it's still PPC architecture. PPC isn't going anywhere as long as the Cell exists. The next Xbox better be fuckin' bulletproof. I completely agree there. |
I am sure Sony would love to have BD in the next xbox, but I bet at a cost MS is unwilling to pay.
As for the putting more PPC's into it, the biggest issue with the 360 as it stands now is heat. To keep up with 3 CELL's, you would need at least 9 PPC's. (if you say both the PS3 and 360 are the same speed, and I personally think the CELL is faster then the Xenon.)
As for scaling, the PS3, by design, forces developers to distribute there code. The philosophy when the CELL was designed was to use the PPC as mainly a controller, and do all the real work in the SPE's. I think as time goes on, and libraries mature, this will be the norm. If that becomes the norm, 10 CELL's = 10 times the processing power. It's a 1:1 gain (well, 1:0.9, but let's not get too technical).
The Xenon is three general purpose CPU's, and the developers are left to do with them however they feel. The code (more importantly, the libraries) of the 360 do not lend themselves to scalability like the CELL, because they don't have to. If you put 10 Xenon's in a system, you would not get 10 times the usable power. While technically there is 10 times the processing power, the nature in which you try to utilize it is more cumbersome.
Besides, it's a moot point, as they will not just put more in the next xbox. power consumption and heat (kind of the same thing) will keep them from doing it.
They might go with a multi core Power6 solution, but that will cost more money then what the PS4 will cost, and generate a lot of heat as well.
It will be interesting to see what MS comes up with. They might go the way of the Wii if they really do stick to the DL concept.
