CES: Microsoft announcements leaked
There will probably still be some tricks up Microsoft’s sleeves, but Dean Takahashi, writer of several Xbox-related books and master of inside knowledge, has dropped some inside information by accident that was to be released this week on the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
According to Gizmodo, who quote a now-pulled TeamXbox post, Dean Takahashi has accidentally leaked on his blog that the Xbox 360 rev. 2: Zephyr information is indeed correct, including the fact that it will get a 120GB hard drive and HDMI output, but he also confirms that Microsoft kept their promise and shipped 10.4 million 360s before the end of 2006. Last but not least he also mentions that Microsoft will announce the 360 taking part in their IPTV plans.
Currently being tested in several countries, IPTV is possibly the most criticized project aiming to provide a worldwide standard for television broadcasting via broadband internet. While the current experiments use specialized set-top boxes, like British Telecom using a Philips box, the 360 should be able to take a similar position in the household, offering “instant channel change, multiple picture-in-picture, broadcast shows, video on demand, and DVR functionality”, where especially the last will definitely be far more usable with a 120GB hard drive. Bring it on, we say at Xboxic!
As CES progresses, stay tuned for more updates on Xboxic, including if and when Dean gets a spanking for leaking this. Meanwhile thumbs up for Danl who spotted this news in the nick of time!
IPTV eh? I’m excited by that. Sounds an intresting idea and one which should appeal to many people!
what the hell HDMI XBOX 360 version then why did I buy my 360 I want this version, godamn!
Perfect!
I can care less about the HDMI. My question is how the hell do i transfer my saves to the new HD, buy a memory card too??? jeeeez
Your best best would be the datel xsata, it will let you backup all your “stuff” to a PC, and if the IPTV with dvr is true then something with non size limited transfers would be the way to go,
I have two 360s, and one of them is connected to a TV that has HDMI support… but I’m already using VGA there, so HDMI support is kind of a “meh” for me. Glad they’re adding it, but this is not going to make me run out and buy a new 360.
The new 120 GB HD is definitely something I’ll get for my living room 360. They better make an easy way to transfer information from your old 20 GB drive to your new 120 GB drive, though. I really don’t want to have to buy some 3rd party item to copy all of my stuff off the old drive.
IPTV sounds cool, but we’ll have to see how this is going to work, exactly.
im fucking irritated. The xbox360 is the worlds first HD gaming machine and they leave out HDMI on the first xbox360’s. I bet there’ll be some feature that you can’t use unless the HDMI cable is plugged in- and 120gb harddrives only usable on the new machine
No, VGA can do all that HDMI can do, mainly 1080p resolution. There is no technical reason why the first revision would not be able to support 120GB drives. Hell, devkits and debugkits have been equipped with 80GB drives since the first release.
The reason HDMI was left out on first boxes is that the HDMI 1.3 standard, which increases the bandwidth to a level that supports 1080p, wasn’t finalized until June 22nd 2006. If Microsoft wanted to include HDMI and 1080p they would’ve had to wait until then, and then finish the machine. Xbox 360 would’ve been released in October 2006 at best.
Some other console waited, look what good it did them
ok how much does it cost???????????
i got 5 bucks what can that get me?
No word of a “Give us your old one and a 100 bucks and we’ll give you the new model” plan, huh..?
Hrm… no word from Robbie Bach about HDMI or bigger HDs on the 360. Could just be that that’s not “big picture” enough for a keynote address…
US only with this as well I guess
Guess you missed where the companies that are currently supporting IPTV are all OUTSIDE of the US.
Not really, there’s a list on MS’ site and half are US.
Hmm yeah I just watched the keynote, no mention of HDMI or 120GB HDD. Maybe later on in CES perhaps?
I’m interested in IPTV the most. I need more details on how exactly it’ll work, but I could definitely see myself utilizing that in the future.
One thing Major Nelson mentioned about this: Your “local provider” will have to offer this service. I am assuming that means your cable company or DSL provider… can you imagine the bandwidth that a second cable lineup (IPTV + the normal one) will consume?
Youtube Mirror:
(Divided into 10 minute Segments)
Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiwnbr-Lxrc
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JME87BrGwgA
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnf-uty4w58
Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbBTdUPTY8I
Part 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvHyLoZgp5w
Part 6:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_5BbThlx9U
Part 7:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbEeyWmJ3s
Part 8:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POzkyoamgiE
Damn this news is great…Microsoft keep it coming!
Interestingly the WinSupersite has the details that the ipTV part of this will only work with this new v2 Xbox 360, not with the ones we have at them moment, its reads like there is extra hardware in the new Xbox for this to be enabled.
10.4 million 360 owners…That’s all I care about….more people to play Rainbow Six Vegas against
As far as transferring data from your hard drive, the only thing that is worth transferring will be your game saves. Demos and TV shows could or would have to be downloaded again. Hopefully, MS will come up with a solution to upload those.