Technology Xbox 360 Goes 1080p

[iCON216]

The fall software upgrade expands resolutions.
by Charles Onyett

September 20, 2006 - According to an official release by Microsoft at their Tokyo Game Show 2006 press briefing, the Xbox 360 will be able to support 1080p games and videos. According to the press release, the fall update will usher in the upgraded resolution capability.

"[Microsoft's] fall software update, scheduled for release later this year, will allow all Xbox 360 consoles around the world to output game and movie content in 1080p resolution."

Which games will be released in the future that will support the higher resolution is still unannounced. 1080p, or 1920 by 1080 progressive, is a visual upgrade over the Xbox 360's current maximum resolution output of 1080i, or 1920 by 1080 interlaced. We'll update as more details become available.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/733/733658p1.html

Great news for Xbox 360 owners with $1,500+ HDTVs....

 

[bigmack]

"while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability."

It's software rendered 1080p upconversions only,that's why ms has stated that they have no plans to make 1080p games. Software renders look like crap and are not as smooth. This is only good for upconverting your old dvds or xbox 1 games. If devs were to use real 1080p on the 360 games, they would have too low framerates.

 

[Jeremy]

I got excited for a minute.

 

[BIG NASTY]

the xbox 360 hd dvd drive is going for UNDER 200 bucks in japan when it's released. i'm pretty happy because that's pretty fucking cheap seeing as I already have a 360

 

[iCON216]

"while the software patch would upscale all content to resolutions as high as 1080p, Microsoft themselves had no plans to produce gaming content taking advantage of this ability."

It's software rendered 1080p upconversions only,that's why ms has stated that they have no plans to make 1080p games. Software renders look like crap and are not as smooth. This is only good for upconverting your old dvds or xbox 1 games. If devs were to use real 1080p on the 360 games, they would have too low framerates.

Its progress for now...once they sell the HD-DVD add on it will be all good...

 

[iCON216]

Sony: We've Got the Real 1080p

In the wake of yesterday's 1080p news from Microsoft, Sony has responded by downplaying the Xbox 360 upgrade. Sony also said it is "unfortunate" that the upcoming HD DVD player for 360 won't improve gaming on the console. [Update: Microsoft responds]

Yesterday we reported on Microsoft's HD DVD plans (in Japan) and the somewhat surprising news that with the fall software update the Xbox 360 will be 1080p capable.

Many industry observers have viewed these moves by Microsoft simply as "me too" announcements. Sony has invested a lot in the PlayStation 3 and Blu-ray, and you can bet their marketing team will soon be emphasizing the Blu-ray functionality and 1080p output. Microsoft surely doesn't want to be buried by all this talk, and so they can now claim to have a high-definition movie player and 1080p output as well—at least that seems to be the general thinking.

So what is Sony's reaction to this latest Microsoft news? Brian Crecente of the popular Kotaku blog heard from Dave Karraker, senior director for corporate communications at Sony Computer Entertainment America, who harped on the fact that the HD DVD player won't improve the gaming experience on the 360 (MS still insists it won't be used for games).

"It's unfortunate that Microsoft's external HD-DVD drive will not enhance the experience at all for the gamer," said Karraker. "Sony realizes that to truly take gaming into the next generation requires a larger data format for both games and movies. PS3 uses the Blu-ray format for gaming, giving developers 50 GB of high-definition storage on a single disc, while Microsoft's 9 GB DVD gaming format is an obstacle for storing HD content."

As for Microsoft's 1080p announcement, Karraker noted that the software update still doesn't enable true HD on the Xbox 360. "Furthermore, Microsoft's announced HD games patch is really just a compatibility feature -- upscaling lower-resolution content does not make it Full HD (1080p), something that PS3 can do out of the box," he said.

[UPDATE] After getting word of Sony's comments Microsoft told GameDaily BIZ that contrary to the SCEA statement, "The facts are that with this software update, video and game content developed for 1080p will be output at 1080p -- native, not upscaled. Only content developed for lower resolutions will be upscaled."

http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=13877

 

[bigmack]

[UPDATE] After getting word of Sony's comments Microsoft told GameDaily BIZ that contrary to the SCEA statement, "The facts are that with this software update, video and game content developed for 1080p will be output at 1080p -- native, not upscaled. Only content developed for lower resolutions will be upscaled."

OK,they said game content developed for 1080p will output at native 1080p,but they also said they have no plans to have 1080p games. Wheres the logic in that?

As for video,sure it will output 1080p,but it is still software rendered,not nearly as good as the real thing. what software render means is, the graphics card inside the 360 does not support 1080p. Since it is not supported by the hardware,a little software program is loaded and emulates what the graphics card is supposed to do if it supported 1080p. Instead of the graphics card doing all the rendering, the cpu(which is not designed for that) and software does all the work instead. The end result doesn't turn out as great.

I'm not knocking on ms,but i think they are just throwing this 1080p thing out there just to say "hey,we have this too". If the graphics card could have handled real 1080p,then the support would have been there out of the box,not a year later with a software upgrade, what the hell is that?

 

[Valeoz]

As for video,sure it will output 1080p,but it is still software rendered,not nearly as good as the real thing. what software render means is, the graphics card inside the 360 does not support 1080p. Since it is not supported by the hardware,a little software program is loaded and emulates what the graphics card is supposed to do if it supported 1080p. Instead of the graphics card doing all the rendering, the cpu(which is not designed for that) and software does all the work instead. The end result doesn't turn out as great.

Maybe the hardware can support it. I don't think MS is that stupid to release something that gives bad results especially something that you can't uninstall like a computer.

I'm not knocking on ms,but i think they are just throwing this 1080p thing out there just to say "hey,we have this too". If the graphics card could have handled real 1080p,then the support would have been there out of the box,not a year later with a software upgrade, what the hell is that?

They could have spent the time on improvising. It probably wasn't even a thought then. The devs probably said,"Hey, look at what we can do. It makes things cooler and the hardware CAN support it."

So we just have to wait and see.