Kutaragi Sounds Off on the Xbox 360
In another interview with Impress PC watch, Ken Kutaragi once again voiced his opinion that when the Xbox 360 launches, it will kill the current generation Xbox console.
Commenting on the Xbox 360 backward compatibility implementation, which will be performed by software, Kutaragi said:
As for Xbox, when the new generation comes out this November, the current Xbox will become the old generation. So when that happens, the Xbox will be killing itself. The only way to avoid that is to support 100% [backward] compatibility from the first day. But Microsoft won’t be able to commit to that, it is technically complicated.
Kutaragi also commented on the Xbox 360 unified shader architecture, downplaying Microsoft’s approach:
As for ATI’s architecture, the vertex and pixel shader are unified and that looks good at first glance but I think it will have some difficulties. For example, where will the results of vertex processing be placed and how will it be sent [back] for pixel processing? If at one point it gets congested, everything is going to slow down. Reality is different from what is drawn in a picture. If we're taking a realistic look at performance, I think nVIDIA's approach is superior.
ATI’s Director of European Developer Relations, Richard Huddy, thinks quite the opposite and believes that the Xbox 360 unified architecture will give the Xbox 360 the edge when it comes to graphic performance.
This is the third time that the President of Sony Computer Entertainment has sounded off on the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s Xbox platform. So far, the father of the PlayStation has criticized the Xbox 360 architecture, claiming that the new console is simply an extension of the current Xbox, suggesting the Xbox 360 is more of an Xbox 1.5. According to Kutaragi, Microsoft has only improved the graphic performance and increased the output resolution with the Xbox 360 and its multiple core architecture will only “increase the machine's capabilities as an all-purpose computer, but it won't change the type of entertainment.”
Kutaragi also said last week that the Xbox 360 is “going after” the PlayStation 2 basing his words on the fact that the PlayStation 3 is still in development and it will launch after the Xbox 360.