Linkie

 SPECULATION FROM INDUSTRY insiders has it that Intel is having significant trouble getting publishers and developers to programme for Larrabee.

As with any new architecture, Larrabee is considered a risk, and a potentially costly one at that, scaring developers into uncertainty about whether or not to put the work in.

It seems that the only real way to force the developers’ hands, would be if Intel were to win a contract for a major console, meaning publishers would then have to programme for it.

This means Chipzilla is now under immense pressure to get itself a console deal. And apparently all roads lead to Vole.

And our well-placed if publicity-shy sources claim Intel has offered Microsoft a very sweet deal indeed in exchange for pushing AMD out of the running for Mightysoft’s upcoming Xbox 720.

Offering everything from chips to chassis, Intel is purportedly wooing the Vole right down to designing its thermals and pimping the Larrabee chipset out to Microsoft to subcontract out as it pleases. Needless to say, this gives the Vole some rather hefty bargaining power, and leaves both AMD and Nvidia quivering in their boots.

Intel also appears to be heding its bets by wooing Sony by going after the Playstation 4, which won’t be out until at least 2011. The Xbox720 will be out in the market a fair while before that.

Word out of the games convention in Leipzig appears to be that, in all likelihood, Larrabee version one will barely take off, but with the right console deal, Larabee Two – which should be making its first appearance somewhere around 2010 – could be a big player.

Not getting a console deal could potentially stifle Larabee in the short term, as most games these days are written for consoles before being ported to a PC. This means that even if PC users have ten times the power, they’re still stuck using games developed for DX9."

In laymens terms Larrable is a cross between a CPU and a GPU, its as close to a CELL chip as you could possibly get without actually having a CELL. Its main purpose is to act as a GPU, but its architecture and layout is very similar to the CELL, it just has graphics specific units to make it work specifically as a GPU rather than a CPU though it could be used as one.

INQ sources reveal Chipzilla is offering to shell out millions of dollars to anyone who will bravely take the plunge into the great Larrabee unknown, an incentive which still doesn’t seem to be doing the trick, say some.

PS4 with 4 Cell chips with each having 8 SPUs and 32 to 48 core larabee GPU... that will be insane... but hugely expensive too i think.

You got the insane part right, and thats why they wouldn't do it.

But if Sony do that than i believe more multiplatform games will start using PS4 as their lead platform because it will allow them easy porting to PC granted that Larrabee is atleast a mild success on PC too by that time.

would this be a good deal for microsoft or are there better options?

They could make Intel give them a pretty nice CPU as part of the deal and get it CHEAP. It would be quite an awesome deal if it did go through for both parties.

Intel gets one of the biggest/best software tool development companies in the world working on their chip and gains mass market adoption. Microsoft gets a cheap deal. So its a win/win if they can agree really.

While I know it said specualtion, why are they so sure about this? They seem to present it almost like a fact.

If the Larrabe is similar to the Cell, it'd be better for Sony to get it than MS, for the current gen anyhow.

If MS takes the deal, developers this gen will focus more on learning the Cell to prepare for the next gen's Larrabe that has similar structure.

In the long run, it's probably better for both sides to take it, if this thing really is supposed to be that badass and powerful.

But short term, MS loses some support. Not that MS should care about this gen more than the next gen (the opposite, really), but I'm just pointing out that it's not all gravy.

Except it could put Microsoft in the position so well known from the PS3, with complaining developers. And as far as I understood, Larrabee is a combined CPU and GPU..?

Except Microsoft makes excellent tools and has an awesome developer relations. If they had made it, most likely the tools available in 2005 would have been much better.