Eurogamer are reporting that Microsoft have licenced technology from NVIDIA to assist with backwards compatibility for the XBox 360. Since the original XBox used an NVIDIA GPU, while the XBox 360 uses an ATI chipset, this was always going to be one of the main problems in getting backwards compatibility to work. Microsoft seem to have solved this part of the puzzle, though at a price – they’ll have to pay licencing fees to NVIDIA for some years to come.

In the second part of their article on the Xenon CPU that will power the XBox 360, Ars Technica delve into the technical details of the three cores within the CPU, discussing the potential impact their design will have on the performance of games written for the next-gen console.

The article highlights that the design of the Xenon, while great for streaming media, has potential pitfalls when it comes to code that requires more branches, such as game control, AI, and physics. It will be in the hands of the programmers to optimise their code much more than with the original XBox, though with a great deal of control of the low-level performance of the CPU, they will have the tools to do so. This will take some time to happen, and the first few games for the XBox 360 are unlikely to take full advantage of the Xenon’s potential – apart from the graphics that is. So, expect games that are great to look at, but not so hot in other categories.

Major Nelson points out this article on Ars Technica that delves into the innards of the Xenon processor which will power the XBox 360. The article talks mainly about procedural synthesis, which is essentially using the CPU to generate vertex data for the GPU in real-time based on higher-level descriptions of objects that take up less memory and take less time and bandwidth to move from main memory into the CPU. Perhaps this could be one reason for the recent lack of posts in Mat Noguchi’s blog, and Bungie are working their tools programmer hard to take full advantage of this feature for Halo 3?

The Xbox 360 web site has been updated. The interface is now more interactive and encourages you to explore and experiment.

Among the things that you can find include downloadable images of the console and the controller, as well as other promotional images. More interestingly there is a new video segment featuring J Allard that is similar to the OurColony video. Amongst the hyperbole, J Allard talks about user-created content, implying that all games will allow the user to customise aspects of the game – for example car paintjobs, skateboard designs, etc. Now, some games allow you to do this to some extent already, but perhaps J’s mention of designing your own levels gives a better idea of just how much control users will have. We will have to wait till this Christmas to see if the reality lives up to these expectations.

The XBox 360 is to include the Neon lightsynth from Llamasoft – a name which might be familiar to gamers who grew up in the 1980s I believe that we got a preview of this in the MTV special, where there were large screens behind the bands that played in the show, and these screens showed images similar to the kind of visualisations you can get with Windows Media Player or iTunes – only much better! One intriguing aspect of Neon is that it can respond to controller input as well as music, so up to four people can “fly” it.

There’s a Neon demo movie you can download from the Llamasoft web site, and it does give some impression of what this can deliver. While the reaction of the images to the music was not all that obvious to me, it did hint at the graphical capability of the XBox 360.

According to Major Nelson, the backwards compatibility for the XBox 360 will not require re-compilation, nor will it require purchasing a new version of the games. Apparently the goal is that every XBox game will work on XBox 360.

What this says to me is that backwards compatibility will be implemented through emulation. Now, they may use pre-compiled binaries to complement this, however that could be more complicated than useful. I think that they will get the emulator working with the top titles (including Halo and Halo 2), and endeavour to get it working with as many other titles also. The games that bypass APIs and go direct to hardware will be the ones that cause the problems, and they may end up being impossible to emulate. In these cases, pre-compiled binaries may be the answer.

In the end of the day, whatever method they use, it means that you will be able to play Halo and Halo 2 on the XBox 360, without buying a new version of the game.

The Playstation 3 details have been announced at Sony’s press conference at the E3 expo. You can see the details for yourself over at Eurogamer. However, two items in the specs caught my attention. First, this:

Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)

Why would the PS3 need 2 Ethernet output ports? Does this mean it is effectively a 2-port hub? Along with its Wi-Fi capabilities, this is an interesting feature, though I can’t quite think of an exact use for it right now – except maybe daisy-chaining your Xbox and Xbox 360 through your PS3

Secondly, this:

Controller: Network (over IP)

This would appear to mean that you can control the PS3 over your LAN – somehow. Does this mean that it will be suitable for placing somewhere in a comms room in your digital multi-room multi-media home, and use the controllers over IP, well beyond the range of Bluetooth? Who knows – but it’s intriguing.

The XBox 360 is going to have a real fight on its hands.

At last night’s pre-E3 Microsoft press event about the XBox 360, it emerged that only the “best selling” XBox titles will be compatible with the XBox 360. Eurogamer has the details here. This sounds to me like the hard disk will include pre-compiled binaries of the most popular games. The program code for games such as Halo will be recompiled and made work for the changed hardware (both CPU and graphics chip have been changed for the XBox 360), and when the XBox 360 sees that you have inserted the disc from one of its “compatible” games, it will run the compatible version of the code from the hard disk, and read the game’s data files from the DVD as usual.

This approach is quite a good one. It means that you will still be able to play Halo and Halo 2 on your XBox 360, along with all the big name games from the XBox, ensuring that the XBox 360 has some existing games to compliment the relatively small list of launch titles so far announced. It is also possible that more games will become compatible over time via downloads over XBox Live. Publishers may be able to provide a XBox 360 “upgrade” for their existing games which can be downloaded as desired.

However, the PS3 details have been announced, and it’s looking very good. The XBox 360 will have a big challenge on its hands, and I don’t know if the Master Chief will be enough to win the contest this time round.

The MTV special on the XBox 360 was shown in Ireland on Friday night. Having read some comments about it, I wasn’t expecting much detail – and boy did I not get it! The sub-heading in MTV’s article about the XBox 360 says it all.

This was all about music, multimedia, changeable face-plates, and being cool. The console itself hardly featured at all, but then, that wasn’t really the point. This show was in essence a music show with a little product placement, and was all about image and brand. The target audience will mostly be Internet-savvy, and will be able to get the low-down on the console for themselves.

It is interesting to see how Microsoft are attempting to leverage the penetration of the XBox and transform their console into a Media Centre. You’ll be able to watch DVDs, listen to CDs, stream audio and video from network-connected Windows machines, and possibly also the Internet (or XBox Live anyway), chat to other XBox Live users via video link – and all XBox 360 users will have access to XBox Live included (though not to play games!), view photos from your digital camera, listen to MP3s from your portable music device, and the list goes on.

You’ll also be able to play games with it