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Vejle is not only the name of a city in Denmark, it is also the codename of the new processor in Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Vejle is a combination of a compute processor and a graphics processor onto a single chip. By combining the two onto one chip, Microsoft and IBM are able to reduce the power, reduce the cooling needed, and to make it less expensive. VentureBeat has published an article on this new hybrid chip.

Redesigning a game console is important even though the redesigns do not make the game consoles faster. The console performance has to stay the same in general because it allows game developers to target a stable platform. But it’s important to reduce the costs, power, and size of the consoles because the rival console makers are in a constant battle to lower their prices and make their machines more appealing to gamers.

via Lifting the veil on the hybrid processor-graphics chip in the new Xbox 360 | VentureBeat

Hardware microsoft, xbox360

The Xbox360 and PS3 have both been around for a few years now, and have really raised the bar on gaming consoles.  But now that they’ve been out and developers have had a chance to get down-and-dirty with the details, what do they think?  The examiner compiles some numbers on the graphics capabilities and finds the PS3 lacking in several areas, but the most damning parts come from developer statements:

I think [PS3 is] a waste of everybody’s time. Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There’s nothing there that you’re going to apply to anything else. You’re not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they’ve created. I don’t think they’re going to make money off their box.

I’ve heard rumors in HPC circles that the Cell chip is dead, maybe they’re right?

via Xbox 360 better than PS3? Part one: hardware.

Hardware benchmark, microsoft, ps3, sony, xbox360

Another interesting tech-demo coming out of E3 is from Peter Molyneux’s “Milo”.  Combining the horsepower of the Xbox 360 with their new Project Natal motion tracking system, they’ve developed a “Virtual Person” that you can interact with.  Peter Molyneux has long had a reputation for pushing the barrier on games, with Black and White and again with Fable, but this is a whole new arena he’s entered.

More than a game, it’s a social experiment.  What is necessary to make the world seem real to a viewer?  What is Real?  Obviously Milo is not truly intelligent or self aware, but what tricks can be used to make the user think Milo is self-aware?  I suspect that there will be a slew of psychological papers published about this, if it ever makes it to market.

See a video of Milo after the break.  Also, you can see some of the neat tricks they play with the motion tracking, such as the User’s reflection in the water during interacting with it.

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Graphics, Hardware, Science artificial intelligence, e3, microsoft, milo, virtual environment, virtual reality, xbox360