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Forums - Microsoft - What Natal Really Is!

Alby_da_Wolf on 22 November 2009
darklich13 said:
"The ps3 wasn't desined to do this, it has normal usb ports, and thy've locked themselves in with a design combo that doesn't add power to the system but takes it away."

Normal USB ports??? How are the USB ports on the PS3 any different than the ones on the 360?

And even the fastest external buses are one or more orders of magnitude slower than internal ones, a distributed computing approach is good for server applications and most supercomputing ones, but for a client's needs multiprocessing is a much better one.

 



Stwike him, Centuwion. Stwike him vewy wuffly! (Pontius Pilate, "Life of Brian")
A fart without stink is like a sky without stars.
TGS, Third Grade Shooter: brand new genre invented by Kevin Butler exclusively for Natal WiiToo Kinect. PEW! PEW-PEW-PEW!   


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elticker on 23 November 2009
Tenkin said:
ZorroX said:

Get Natal for only 199$, if you want optional 1080p@60Fps in games. It`s the only way.

Though, if Natal will cost 99$, then i think every x360 owner will upgrade to it.
In this case, in 2011 we are going to see not only just 1080p@60Fps but instead improved textures and other stuff(in exclusives).

But, what about 6GB DVD space limit?

Exactly, thats the flaw in his theory what are they going to do about the DVD space limit. 


install disc 2 and play te game from disc 1 thats what turn 10 did with forza and please don't bring arcade owners into this cause its not my prob they don't have a hhd and they are not gonna stop me from enjoying the full game.



 

 

elticker on 23 November 2009
DarthRat said:

 

Well....

Anybody notice the unusually large "hard drive" on top there ;)

it is increased ram that is 1024 mb instead of 512 mb.



 

 

Dr.Grass on 23 November 2009

It was a really nice read thanks.

I'm thinking that this is seriously contradicting the $50 price point for Natal rumour we had a few weeks ago.

"...imagine games on the x360/natal platform that look waaaaay better that uncharted2 because of the added cpu and memory of natal ..."

That's going to cost a hell of a lot more than $50. If you're theory is correct then they'll have to launch for at least $150 imo, and that's just too much to blow Sony out of the water at this stage.

My take on the OP: That was quite a brainstorm. Don't know if you put it all together yourself or what, but I think it's one hell of an idea. I'm just not sure if it would be practically possible. In any case, Kudos.



non-gravity on 23 November 2009
ZorroX said:

Get Natal for only 199$, if you want optional 1080p@60Fps in games. It`s the only way.

Though, if Natal will cost 99$, then i think every x360 owner will upgrade to it.
In this case, in 2011 we are going to see not only just 1080p@60Fps but instead improved textures and other stuff(in exclusives).

But, what about 6GB DVD space limit?

OMG They're putting an extra DVD player in Natal so they can have bigger games as well.



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MakoInfused on 23 November 2009

Oh boy...shame that Microsoft is turning home gaming consoles into PCs...upgrading often and forgetting about those that bought it "last year".


RIP good'ol console gaming....



NightAntilli on 23 November 2009

hm... Interesting.. Might have some truth to it. Guess we'll have to wait and see...



Truth does not fear investigation

selnor on 24 November 2009
JaggedSac said:
I seriously doubt Natal will add to the 360's power. Natal will only have the necessary components to process the visual and audio data that the sensors provide. In this way, developers can utilize it just like any other controller and without sacrificing the 360's computing power to do it. Specialized chips like that will not add much to the cost of the device. It will definitely be released at a reasonable price.


I think what you missed was that the USB ports on the 360 connect directly to the CPU and GPU on the 360 already. So essentially developers can can ask Natals CPU and memory to take on some responsibility. I guess the article is saying there is that possibility as M$ made the 360 USB different from ALL other USB ports. So there must have been a reason? Also clearly if Sony's wands take up SPU's to work, then clearly 360 Natal games will LOOK better, as it adds processing power not taking it away. 



Joryn on 24 November 2009
Alby_da_Wolf said:

and even the fastest external buses are one or more orders of magnitude slower than internal ones, a distributed computing approach is good for server applications and most supercomputing ones, but for a client's needs multiprocessing is a much better one.

 

This ^. Natal will add nothing to currently existing games and the only reason they are NDA'ing the crap out of everyone is because it is way more complicated than I think many of you realize to capture, in real-time, 3-dimensional images and process them in such a way that the console can make use of the information. 

Natal is a late generation add-on.  How many times in the history of gaming has a late-gen add-on done well?  I can't think of a single one.  The Playstation wand thing is also going to do crappily imo.  Even something like the wii-motion plus hasn't sold very well considering the gargatuan install base of the Wii.  Although Nintendo is doing the right thing by bundling the accessory with some of its console packages. 

To be honest, I just wish that sony, microsoft and nintendo would just focus on getting games out, or working on their next gen hardware instead of wasting time with these dopey mid-life add-ons. 



Joryn on 24 November 2009
selnor said:


I think what you missed was that the USB ports on the 360 connect directly to the CPU and GPU on the 360 already. So essentially developers can can ask Natals CPU and memory to take on some responsibility. I guess the article is saying there is that possibility as M$ made the 360 USB different from ALL other USB ports. So there must have been a reason? Also clearly if Sony's wands take up SPU's to work, then clearly 360 Natal games will LOOK better, as it adds processing power not taking it away. 

It's either USB or it's not.  If it was a custom port dedicated to a high-speed CPU bus it would Not be USB.  Every USB port out there has some hardware associated with it, as well as strict guidelines dictating how that hardware interacts with both the internal cpu and external devices.  Since we all know that these ports work as USB, that's what they are, don't fancy it up.