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XBOX Hardware
The Console:
The Xbox Gaming Console has a sleek black case with its signature 'X' in the middle. In the Front of the Xbox, their are the four standard USB controller slots. Their are also two buttons on the front of the Xbox. The smaller of the two is the power, reset, and sleep button. The larger button is the eject button to open the DVD tray. The back of the console offers the standard power supply, the Ethernet connection, a Multi-A/V output for connections to televisions and HDTV's. You also will find a fan to help keep this state-of-the-art system from over heating.
The Controller:
The black controller matches the color and design of the Xbox system. The controller is large made to fit larger hands unlike past controllers (example, playstation, original nintendo). Absolutely the best part of the controller are in two great features. The first feature that it offers is not noticeable at first until you begin to play games. It is two integrated force feed back devices inside of the controller. This means you get the standard rumble effect without spending money for accessories. The second great feature will probably be the most appreciated feature on the controller by gamers. The controller's cord has been extended to 9.5 feet. This means no more yanking the system closer! The buttons on the controller are basic, start button, Joystick, D-pad, triggers, four basic buttons plus two buttons for switching the POV (like nintendo's c buttons), and a few other basic buttons. All of the buttons have 8-bit resolution for finer control over in-game play. In the rear are two expansion ports for things such as memory cards, and microphones, etc. At first, the controller set-up may seem strange, but trust us, this set-up gives a perfect control for the complex gaming system.
Game Communicator:
Not much has been released about this hardware so far. What has been released will be in this preview. The Xbox Game Communicator offers Online Communication via the Game Communicator, a headset microphone. The first game to take advantage of this gadget is Unreal Championship so this gadget might be out at Unreal's release. This microphone allows for continuous chatter between players, unlike with Alien Front Online where you could transmit only 5 seconds worth. According to Tim Hess, who is producer of Unreal Championship, it will allow players to mute themselves while they can hear others, talk to one person or their whole team. That is what you can expect on other games, and a lot more. What is known now is not much, however this gadget might be a great item to own when it comes out. So far from what is known I have to say this will be an awesome gadget.
Xbox Spec`s Chart:
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CPU
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733 MHz, made by Intel
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Graphics Processor
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250 MHz custom-designed chip by Microsoft and nVidia
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Total Memory
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64 MB
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Memory Bandwidth
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6.4 GB/sec
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Polygon Performance
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125 M/sec
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Simultaneous Textures
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4
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Pixel Fill Rate - No Texture
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4.0 G/sec
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Pixel Fill Rate - 1 Texture
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4.0 G/sec
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Pixel Fill Rate - 2 Textures
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4.0 G/sec
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Compressed Textures
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Yes (6:1)
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Storage Medium
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2-5x DVD, 8 GB Hard Disk, 8 MB Memory Card
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I/O Game Controller
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4, Ethernet (10/100)
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Audio Channels
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256
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3D Audio Support in Hardware
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Yes (64 3D Channels)
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MIDI+DLS Support
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Yes
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Hardware Audio Filtering and EQ
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Yes
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Broadband Enabled
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Yes
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DVD Movie Playback
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Yes (Remote Control Required)
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HDTV Movie Support
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Yes
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HDTV Game Support
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Yes
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Maximum Resolution
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1920x1080
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Maximum Resolution
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(2 x 32bpp fram buffers + Z) 1920x1080
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US Launch Date
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November 15, 2001
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