Rumours are flying around the net about what Microsoft will announce at its E3 press conference in just a couple of weeks time. Pre-E3 rumours are always overblown, but it will be interesting to see what turns out to be true.
First up :
The 360 will get a price cut come October, just before the PlayStation 3 hits the shelves. The Premium system, currently at $399, will get a $100 price drop down to $299. The Core system, which comes in at $299, will get $80 knocked off the price and will then be at $219. Compared to the anticipated retail price of the PS3, which is around $499, these look like pretty good prices.
Second :
A HD-DVD add-on drive for the system will be announced at E3 and will cost $100. This was announced back at CES, but has been a long time coming. With the first stand-alone players hitting the shelves this week, the 360 version doesn't seem far off.
Third :
Halo 3 will arrive in March, with footage to be shown at the show. Gears of War to arrive in October.
Fourth :
A virtual console that will allow you to place old-skool Sega games to arrive soon.
There's a few more items on the list that are posted over at Beyond3D.
Chartered to produce 65nm Xbox 360 CPUs for Microsoft
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft to manufacture CPU products using 65nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game consoles. This announcement follows Chartered’s manufacturing of 90nm SOI CPUs for the Xbox 360 through an agreement with IBM.
The 360 will get a price cut come October, just before the PlayStation 3 hits the shelves. The Premium system, currently at $399, will get a $100 price drop down to $299. The Core system, which comes in at $299, will get $80 knocked off the price and will then be at $219. Compared to the anticipated retail price of the PS3, which is around $499, these look like pretty good prices.
Second :
A HD-DVD add-on drive for the system will be announced at E3 and will cost $100. This was announced back at CES, but has been a long time coming. With the first stand-alone players hitting the shelves this week, the 360 version doesn't seem far off.
Third :
Halo 3 will arrive in March, with footage to be shown at the show. Gears of War to arrive in October.
Fourth :
A virtual console that will allow you to place old-skool Sega games to arrive soon.
There's a few more items on the list that are posted over at Beyond3D.
Chartered to produce 65nm Xbox 360 CPUs for Microsoft
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft to manufacture CPU products using 65nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game consoles. This announcement follows Chartered’s manufacturing of 90nm SOI CPUs for the Xbox 360 through an agreement with IBM.
“Chartered’s ability to demonstrate the manufacturability of IBM’s advanced SOI technology in Fab 7 was key to our selection,†said Larry Yang, general manager of Xbox development at Microsoft. Microsoft plans to continue sourcing chips from Chartered and IBM’s fabs for consistent product quality and flexibility concerns, Yang said.
Kay Chai Ang, senior vice president of fab operations at Chartered stated that the expanded partnership and the close tie with IBM to enable manufacturing compatibility and dual-sourcing capability to ensure a reliable manufacturing source to Microsoft.
), Xbox 360 premium slahsed by 100 and basic by 80$ when PS3 comes out