Xbox 720: New console rumored to be powered by 16 core processor
Whenever there is an impending generational change in consoles, there are bound to be an angry swarm of rumors surrounding the unrevealed console. Once the console is actually revealed, the swarm of rumors turn into either positive buzz or negative talk regarding how underpowered or disappointing the new console will be.
That’s just the nature of the video game business. No console manufacturer can possibly live up to the wild explosion and diversity of expectations console fans have. A lot of the frenzy behind the rumors are merely wishful thinking and outright fantasies by fans. That’s why you need to take the rumors of a 16 core processor for the Xbox 720 with a big block of salt. Let’s think about this rumor for a second-16 cores? That would easily make the rumored Xbox 720 more powerful than most of the extreme high end PC machines on the market. According to Xbox World magazine, developer kits sent to game developers back in March featured a 16 core IBM Power PC CPU and a graphics processing unit that was similar to the AMD Radeon 7000 series. While a 16 core processor would truly mark a huge leap forward for games, the rumor rumor runs head first against the Hard Wall of Reality. First, most game developers already have to struggle to fully utilize three cores and the new Xbox will offer them 16 cores?
The Xbox Controller (Credit: flickr.com/ Alfred Hermida)
Second, consoles have to stay within a distinct price range for it to be successfully viable in the highly competitive game console market. Including a 16 core might boost the price of the Xbox 720 past the $299 market sweet spot. It’s one thing to dream and wish for awesome technology, however, one must dream while grounded to some basic realities like economics and developer infrastructure.
- Share article with other networks
