Xbox 360 demos running on Macs

The nifty clips of video games supporting Microsoft's new Xbox 360 console are running on Apple machines, Microsoft confirmed on Friday.

"We purchased a number of Apple G5's because very specific hardware components of the G5 allow developers to emulate some of the technology behind future Xbox products and services," an official Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "This is an interim development tool that will be replaced with a more powerful and comprehensive solution later."

The current systems shown at product introductions are prototypes. Final systems are expected to come out in all three major regions--North America, Europe and Asia--by the end of the year.

The prices for the new consoles have yet to be announced, but executives have said they won't be released until after the E3 game conference in Los Angeles next week.

http://news.com.com/Xbox+360+demos+...3-5706658.html?part=rss&tag=5706658&subj=news

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

a day after Gates bashed Ipods, his company admits they're using Apples to run their video game systems

it cracked me up also....... a number of g5s because.........

Makes sense to me, if they needed a PowerPC platform it was probably cheaper to just buy Apple systems.

was that irony?

mynameis said:

Makes sense to me, if they needed a PowerPC platform it was probably cheaper to just buy Apple systems.

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or just the powerPC talking?

Yes this is funny but i wouldnt exactly apple and microsoft are enemies. They are competitors that from time to time bash each other but they get along quite nicely Microsoft makes office mac and apple supports windows drives and networks.

ya thats hilarious its gonna have a powerpc proc with 3 cores and sell for 300 dollars while the apple g5 is 1300 dollars-3000

Echo_ said:

ya thats hilarious its gonna have a powerpc proc with 3 cores and sell for 300 dollars while the apple g5 is 1300 dollars-3000

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Well that explains why they needed to use g5s to do the job that the powerpc will do for a cheaper price.

yeah thats the ticket.

IChing said:

Well that explains why they needed to use g5s to do the job that the powerpc will do for a cheaper price.

yeah thats the ticket.

Click to expand...

Gates wants to make Xbox profitable and competitive. Thus, the G5. Xbox does not run on the Windows O/S, mind you.

IChing said:

Well that explains why they needed to use g5s to do the job that the powerpc will do for a cheaper price.

yeah thats the ticket.

Click to expand...

The G5 is a PowerPC. Specifically, the PowerPC 970.

That's why Microsoft is using Apple's G5 systems. Microsoft needs PowerPC 970 systems so that it can develop the net-gen XBox's software.

For now, there is no PowerPC system cheaper than an Apple G5. Thus, rather than spending the time and money needed to design and build it's own custom PowerPC development rigs, it just bought some G5s and started there.

Understand it now? Microsoft may be many things, but wasteful isn't one of them.

I wonder who'll have priority of chips down the road? MS or Apple? The Xbox 360 is likely to sell quite well....

Echo_ said:

ya thats hilarious its gonna have a powerpc proc with 3 cores and sell for 300 dollars while the apple g5 is 1300 dollars-3000

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The game console market is very different than the computer market. Videogame consoles have always been sold with a lossy price, means the manufacturer did sell it at a price which would not even be enough to cover development costs. They make all the money with the games. That's why their efforts for copyprotection are so much higher than in the computer software market...

It's like the low-end printer market. The printer itself is extremely cheap, while the cartridges are way overpriced. 2 cartridges are as expensive as a new printer of the same type.

The other reason they're using G5 derivatives (they're not actually the G5's we use) is their closed architecture. XBOX was basically a PC running a version of windows. This allowed the hardware to be modded and the OS to be hacked the **** out of quite easily. With a closed architecture and custom OS, although not impossible, XBOX 360 will be much more difficult for people to mess with.

From the looks of the launch campaign, it seems that Microsoft are beginning to follow more in Apple's footsteps. Although I would never subject myself to using a Windows PC unless I was paid to, I will be getting an XBOX 360. It looks like a decent looking piece of hardware with a nice design, impressive spec and Perfect Dark Zero.

I'm sold!

About The Xbox 360 <=- " We Make it All Wireless Like Nintendo , We make it Stand up like Play-station two , We Make The power Button Like Apple Mac.. , We Steal The Best Ideas From The Best Companies ! .. Sight

Ill be buying one as well.

when do we find out a release date?

Yah, there's a big point that a lot of people miss here. All G5s are PowerPCs however NOT ALL PowerPCs are G5s. It's not the same chip that is in the Apple CPU so those who use the XBox 360 as an "example that Apple is overpriced" are incorrect.

PowerPC-based with 3 cores running at 3.06ghz for $300-$400? If it is G5 or not is not the problem to me.
Now, i wonder what would this mean in the future for Mac users, the new Xbox WILL be hacked, is just a matter of time, would this make Macs less secure?
Also, if the new Xbox is everything that it is supossed to be, Microsoft will be showing the power and possibilities of the PowerPC to everyone. Will, somehow, this affect Apple?
I could be talking about this, but i have to go to work....

The rumor is that the new xbox is goign to have powerpc and bluetooth(mainly for controllers) and that als you will need to do is buy a contoller and an xbox game and you can play on your mac which will be awsome.

Well,the idea of the Xbox using a powerpc chip inside is already fact. Microsoft documented it all over their site.

Additionally, I remember that back around January this year apple created a devision for gaming, which may be related to releasing an update to allow OS X users to play Xbox2 Games.

Of course, this is just speculation based on the facts we have now.

ApplejustWorks said:

Well,the idea of the Xbox using a powerpc chip inside is already fact. Microsoft documented it all over their site.

Additionally, I remember that back around January this year apple created a devision for gaming, which may be related to releasing an update to allow OS X users to play Xbox2 Games.

Of course, this is just speculation based on the facts we have now.

Click to expand...

If the new xbox 360 games would be able to be played on a Mac it would be awsome. I cant wait until 360 is released to be able to play the top video games on my mac(when I get it)