Microsoft promotes ATI as Nvidia Xbox 2 replacement

[tigerbait]

Link

ANALYSTS AT THE Dundee Securities Corporation said today that Canadian company ATI was "well positioned" to pick up future Xbox business.
Obviously, Microsoft is trying to lever Nvidia and ATI against each other ? both of them being suppliers, or would be suppliers.

It's sort of a Sendo thing, or maybe a Zsoft thing, all over again, we suspect.

David Hodgson, a senior analyst at ATI, reports that the Vole will do "everything possible" to compete against the Playstation 3, although Microsoft is not well known for designing chips in the past.

Dundee said it believed the GPU supplier to Microsoft's next console ? the Xbox 2, right? ? will be compensated through some kind of Byzantine licensing deal.

According to Hodgson, Microsoft is trying to drive down the BOM (bill of materials) so it can sell its future product cheaper.

But we wonder who is playing hardball here. Nvidia faced off Microsoft before. Will ATI crumble for the extra revenues the next Xbox will bring?

We suspect Microsoft thinks its power is as it was before. Tell its suppliers what to do, and wait for the fallout... µ

 

[gotsmack]

I doubt that ATI will get the business. Who is going to do the Gamecube graphics? and what would be the incentive of buying an X-box if the Gamecube has the same garaphics?

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: gotsmack
I doubt that ATI will get the business. Who is going to do the Gamecube graphics? and what would be the incentive of buying an X-box if the Gamecube has the same garaphics?

wtf? this is a next gen consol, what does the gamecube have anything to do with it?

it is not like they will be making anew graphics chip for the game cube. Also who to say ati will get future nintendo business?

 

[AU Tiger]

Originally posted by: Adul

Originally posted by: gotsmack
I doubt that ATI will get the business. Who is going to do the Gamecube graphics? and what would be the incentive of buying an X-box if the Gamecube has the same garaphics?

wtf? this is a next gen consol, what does the gamecube have anything to do with it?

it is not like they will be making anew graphics chip for the game cube. Also who to say ati will get future nintendo business?

What Adul said. This is for the next Xbox, to compete with Playstation3 and whatever Nintendo may produce.

ATI does currently provide the graphics for the Gamecube and were quite successful in doing so. I still marvel at what that little box can dish out each time I play it.

It would be possible for ATI to provide graphics chips to more than one platform in the future if needed, especially if they can provide the lowest price.

 

[gotsmack]

I ment game cube and Xbox in future tense as in next gen products.

I think it is going to be basically the same chip on 2 different platforms if the same company wins 2 different contracts. If not then one is going to me a modified version of the other with one being clearly superior or 2X 1/2 assed projects.

Intel should buy out Bit Boys and bankroll whatever they are working on now.

 

[Chadder007]

I guess Microsoft and NVidia didn't settle their pricing dispute for chipsets?

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: gotsmack
I ment game cube and Xbox in future tense as in next gen products.

I think it is going to be basically the same chip on 2 different platforms if the same company wins 2 different contracts. If not then one is going to me a modified version of the other with one being clearly superior or 2X 1/2 assed projects.

Intel should buy out Bit Boys and bankroll whatever they are working on now.

wait... if ms can switch suppliers why can't nintendo?

 

[Glitchny]

if ati lands the next xbox supplier the graphics will be better than the GC so comparing them is like the transition from snes - PS1
and ati doesnt really do the graohics on the GC, it was made by ArtX and right before the GC was released ATI bought ArtX, didnt actually have a say in design of the GC, and then just put their sticker on it for publicity

glitch

 

[DaveSimmons]

I wonder if this will break backwards compatibility with Xbox1 games? If developers are doing any low-level graphics coding their hardware assumptions might not transfer to an ATI GPU, just like the days of "Direct3D" games that really only ran on 3dfx chips.

 

[singh]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I wonder if this will break backwards compatibility with Xbox1 games?

That's an interesting question. I think that Xbox 2 will probably use software emulation to provide for features unavailable from Xbox 1's hardware. The DirectX API should take care of it behind the scenes.

 

[masterxfob]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I wonder if this will break backwards compatibility with Xbox1 games? If developers are doing any low-level graphics coding their hardware assumptions might not transfer to an ATI GPU, just like the days of "Direct3D" games that really only ran on 3dfx chips.

ohh, that would suck

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: singh

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
I wonder if this will break backwards compatibility with Xbox1 games?

That's an interesting question. I think that Xbox 2 will probably use software emulation to provide for features unavailable from Xbox 1's hardware. The DirectX API should take care of it behind the scenes.

xbox games should start coding to the metal soon if they already haven't. i'm not all that concerned about backward compatablity as far as consoles go (except for my GBA but thats more because my GB is dead)

 

[Shantanu]

Nintendo is not going to put out another console, except for maybe a handheld one. Sales of the Gamecube are plummetting worldwide, and Nintendo will be lucky just to ride out the failure of the Gamecube.

 

[DaveSimmons]

xbox games should start coding to the metal soon if they already haven't. i'm not all that concerned about backward compatablity as far as consoles go (except for my GBA but thats more because my GB is dead)

I would be, because once you have a library of xbox 1 games you need working hardware to play them. If the games won't play on xbox 2 you'll have to keep your xbox running which could be expensive -- a choice between giving up the games or paying a $100 repair bill.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

xbox games should start coding to the metal soon if they already haven't. i'm not all that concerned about backward compatablity as far as consoles go (except for my GBA but thats more because my GB is dead)

I would be, because once you have a library of xbox 1 games you need working hardware to play them. If the games won't play on xbox 2 you'll have to keep your xbox running which could be expensive -- a choice between giving up the games or paying a $100 repair bill.

i've never had to repair a console. if the xbox is that badly engineered that alll of them die that soon, i don't think i want one.

 

[Tripleshot]

Playstation 2 is backwards compatible with playstation 1. You can bank on the upcoming Xbox2 to be backwards compatible. Using a different graphics chip won't alter things that much. I play games on my pcs with Gforce and ATI and the games still play the same, albeit there are differences in frame rates and aa.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: Shantanu
Nintendo is not going to put out another console, except for maybe a handheld one. Sales of the Gamecube are plummetting worldwide, and Nintendo will be lucky just to ride out the failure of the Gamecube.

do you have anything at all to back that up?

 

[Storm]

I'd think it would be funny if ATI to MS turned out to be true then Nvidia went to Nintendo.

 

[Dragnov]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

Originally posted by: Shantanu
Nintendo is not going to put out another console, except for maybe a handheld one. Sales of the Gamecube are plummetting worldwide, and Nintendo will be lucky just to ride out the failure of the Gamecube.

do you have anything at all to back that up?

No he doesn't because hes just a blind fanboy. Nintendo has repeatedly said that they are making another home console. As for his mysterious sales numbers...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Tripleshot
Playstation 2 is backwards compatible with playstation 1. You can bank on the upcoming Xbox2 to be backwards compatible. Using a different graphics chip won't alter things that much. I play games on my pcs with Gforce and ATI and the games still play the same, albeit there are differences in frame rates and aa.

The difference though is that the developers planned in advance and throughout testing to run on multiple graphics and sound cards, intel and AMD, different versions of Windows.

Console developers write to one fixed machine that for the xbox happens to be running a fixed version of windows. They develop and test against only the one fixed configuration, much like Windows developers did when the voodoo1 was the only credible 3D hardware.

I'm not saying xbox 2 won't run xbox 1 games, I just pointed out the odds of having problems will go up if MS switches graphics chip suppliers.

 

[BD231]

Has MS put any sort of time frame on the XBox 2? I'd imagine it would be easy for them to switch to their next gen console since they're selling their current console at a loss. Talk about cut throught buisness though, cutting off N-Vidia is like stabbing a good friend in the back. It's amazing what company's will do to get a leg up on their competitors.

 

[Storm]

Originally posted by: BD231
Has MS put any sort of time frame on the XBox 2? I'd imagine it would be easy for them to switch to their next gen console since they're selling their current console at a loss. Talk about cut throught buisness though, cutting off N-Vidia is like stabbing a good friend in the back. It's amazing what company's will do to get a leg up on their competitors.

Im guessing late 2005, because MS cant kill off their fan base of the regular old Xbox if they release a new system in 2004.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Shantanu
Nintendo is not going to put out another console, except for maybe a handheld one. Sales of the Gamecube are plummetting worldwide, and Nintendo will be lucky just to ride out the failure of the Gamecube.

Uhh... the GC has been very successful for Nintendo. MS is the one taking the beating, selling the XBox for less than production cost. And GC sales have actually been increasing of late, not declining.
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[RaynorWolfcastle]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: Shantanu
Nintendo is not going to put out another console, except for maybe a handheld one. Sales of the Gamecube are plummetting worldwide, and Nintendo will be lucky just to ride out the failure of the Gamecube.

Uhh... the GC has been very successful for Nintendo. MS is the one taking the beating, selling the XBox for less than production cost. And GC sales have actually been increasing of late, not declining.
Text

All 3 companies sell the hardware at a loss, that's the business model. Also, Microsoft projected a a large loss on the XBox even before it was launched. The XBox was only to get their foot in the door, they will likely attempt to turn a profit with XBox2, now that they have a customer base in the gamer market. Recall that when Microsoft started talking of the XBox, there were many, many people saying that they would get eaten alive and that the XBox would be a huge flop; evidently this hasn't happened.

 

[Rudee]

I have shares in ATI, thus I' encouraged by this. Actually, ATI closed with a small gain today. Better than most of tech stocks today.