Vanguard confirmed for Xbox360

[nam37]

Originally posted by 0hz
I understand what you're trying to say but the comparisons are just plain wrong and bordering on ridiculous.

Like Eomer said above, pure specs just don't tranlslate into sensible comparisons.

A PC has SO much more overhead, and possible hardware types, that you really cannot make any comparison between PC and console hardware.

[Qhue]

The PC version of KOTOR was being worked on before the Xbox version...

Halo was originally a Mac game...

Never underestimate Microsofts ability/desire to increase revenue by making a title exclusive to the larger money-maker. Afterall a PC game that gets ported to a console typically doesn't sell very well (its seen as old merchandise on a shelf and doesn't get big buzz in industry media) whereas a PC-quality console title sells like hotcakes on the console and then ALSO sells like hotcakes on the PC.

KOTOR and Halo's PC sales were not overly diminished by being released on the Xbox first. They might be thinking "why not make Vanguard a Xbox 360 exclusive for awhile, get PC enthusiasts to shell out cash for Xbox 360s and pump the much much more lucrative console retail channels and then release for the PC afterwards to sweep up those holdouts and purists who refuse to buy consoles but still hunger for the game."


Vanguard isnt going to outsell WoW on the PC, but make it into a launch title for Xbox 360 and a driving force behind a premium value version of Xbox Live (which we know is coming) and it might end up with greater $$

Originally posted by Esmo
If anything, it is more likely the PC version will be released before the console version for the sole reason that the PC technology was available prior to the xbox tech when they initiated development.

It's no secret that Vanguard was being designed for the xbox in addition to PC ... they've had a job opening for Console Programmer up for months now. Anyone who bothered to do any research has known this for a long time.(http://www.sigilgames.com/displayope...p?openingid=12)

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Vanguard was made with XNA tech, so its compatible on both systems at once, the word "port" doesn't even really work here.

[Gryzx]

Originally posted by Nebuchadnezzar
Vanguard was made with XNA tech, so its compatible on both systems at once, the word "port" doesn't even really work here.

As a developer I find that pretty hard to believe, even using the same api for everything (controls/network/graphics/etc) there's almost always at least some little gotcha's.

And generally if there aren't any little gotcha's you haven't optimized it enough, especially for game consoles.

[Braen]

The Xbox runs on a version of Windows. I believe the original is a watered down version of Windows CE and the X-Box360 is a version fo XP.

I do know that they use a Windows version so the gotchas are a little less than you would think. Especailly if the XNA is native to the X-Box360 as it is to PC Windows

[Gryzx]

Originally posted by Braen
The Xbox runs on a version of Windows. I believe the original is a watered down version of Windows CE and the X-Box360 is a version fo XP.

I do know that they use a Windows version so the gotchas are a little less than you would think. Especailly if the XNA is native to the X-Box360 as it is to PC Windows

Yeah the current xbox runs on a customized version of windows ce, or at least it did when I was working on games for it.

The big gotcha's generally come around when you try to do some of the more specialized things with the processors or graphics processors. With the xbox/gamecube/ps2 generation they all ran on customized versions of popular os's (gamecube and ps2 on a linux type), even the dreamcast was on windows ce, but the guys making those processors can't resist (or at least haven't in the past) making stuff abit better (which is where the gotchas come in hehe).

A good example I can think of off the top of my head is that the gamecube used a PowerPC chip, which to the consumers looks like it should be similiar to a mac's processor, well the reality is that the Gamecube's PowerPC chip was highly modified, the memory subsytem for that was very neat if I remember correctly the memory was shared between cpu and gpu, and you could access it quickly from either place allowing you to do some neat effects.

It's probably "possible" to write code that will work without any modifications on either side now for the new xbox 360, I'm just saying that I would be very very surprised if there were not features on the Xbox 360 that are simply not available to pc's. If the xbox 360's market isn't a big concern for vanguard (no idea, but generally console markets are much better for your game than pc) then they may not care to use any of those features whatever they may be.

Although it may be unavoidable because sometimes those "features" are the fast way to do things for the console, and the perception of slow running software on a console is never the "consoles" fault like it is in the pc world, it's the games fault.

[Fronn]

XNA has overhead.. Fuck even DirectX alone has a ton of overhead -- anything the comp does for you costs a lot... thats why C# sucks ass a lot of things (managed code is the devil).

They'll have to do optimizing (and possibly a lot of rewrites) -- of course the GPUs in the next gen consoles are all a generation or so ahead of the 6800s/x800s, so that helps things.

Another thing of note, as eomer alluded to...(on top of comparing consoles to PCs being silly)... the triple 3.2ghz CPUs going into the xbox2 aren't quite comparable (apples to apples) to x86 cpus (whats in your PC, also what was in Xbox1). In-order cores are an entirely different beast. They are much simpler transistor count wise (theres no need for ondie instruction ordering), but they require much more complicated and efficient compilers to work well (or a ton of cpu cycles end up wasted). x86 has the advantage of working very well with sloppy/complex code without wasting many CPU cycles (which oddly enough is what a lot of game code is). Ghz don't really mean much now days; in the x86 market where cpus are at least comparable, Ghz doesn't really mean squat (athlon64 2.6ghz vs P4 3.8ghz for example).

Consoles are sold at a loss almost until the end of their lifetime. Sony/MS/Nintendo make the profit in licensing fees. The best deal hardware/dollar is always going to be a console -- PC parts are sold for profit.

[Samus Aran]

So was this actually confirmed?

All I saw was some guy who said: "omgomgomgomg I gotz teh proof, but I CAN'T SHOW YOU!!!"

[Gryzx]

I missed the specs post, the bandwidth alone in the xbox 360 will allow you to do things you can't do on a pc. That's some crazy nuts bandwidth, and for a PowerPC type architecture thats some crazy fast processors.

I'm pretty surprised they can pull that off all in a little box, that sucker is prolly gonna run hot as heck.

[Kolle]

Ok I'm not a smart guy about this kinda thing. Can anyone lay it down simple and easy? Here's some questions...


Given Xbox 360 specs:

1. Will Vanguard look better or worse than on your average pc? (If you built one now with $1000-1800)

2. Will they be able to upgrade it as much as on a pc with new content, models, art, etc...

3. Is it going to perform worse, especially with things like crowded cities and raids?

[Zefah]

I haven't read this whole thread yet, so someone might have posted this before me, but if Vanguard is an Xbox 360 launch title, then it will be coming out in about half a year. The new Xbox has been confirmed for a November release. Is this game even in alpha yet? I can't see how they can clean everything up and get the game optimized in 6 months...

[Mkopec1]

Originally posted by Zefah
I haven't read this whole thread yet, so someone might have posted this before me, but if Vanguard is an Xbox 360 launch title, then it will be coming out in about half a year. The new Xbox has been confirmed for a November release. Is this game even in alpha yet? I can't see how they can clean everything up and get the game optimized in 6 months...

who said it was a Xbox launch title?

Beta is supposed to start shortly after E3 and I expect a mid 2006 release, maybe summer? Brad said somwhere that they want a thurough and longer beta period with VG

[Gryzx]

Originally posted by Kolle
Ok I'm not a smart guy about this kinda thing. Can anyone lay it down simple and easy? Here's some questions...


Given Xbox 360 specs:

1. Will Vanguard look better or worse than on your average pc? (If you built one now with $1000-1800)

2. Will they be able to upgrade it as much as on a pc with new content, models, art, etc...

3. Is it going to perform worse, especially with things like crowded cities and raids?

If it's optimized properly for the xbox 360 it should run much better than on any pc at the moment.

And if that happens I wouldn't be surprised if the xbox version includes extra effects etc just because it can handle it.

[Element]

This is suprising how?

[Fronn]

Originally posted by Kolle
Ok I'm not a smart guy about this kinda thing. Can anyone lay it down simple and easy? Here's some questions...


Given Xbox 360 specs:

1. Will Vanguard look better or worse than on your average pc? (If you built one now with $1000-1800)

2. Will they be able to upgrade it as much as on a pc with new content, models, art, etc...

3. Is it going to perform worse, especially with things like crowded cities and raids?

1. Better most likely. Depending on when you decided to buy the comp.

2. They'll probably patch console version same time as pc version (unless they forced console players to play on different servers than pc players). It will definitely require the HD addon, regardless.

3. I'd say it would handle it better, they are more able to test this kind of thing -- especially since there is gauranteed hardware for all users, so keeping the framerate loss to a minimum will be 'easier' to test for.