VGLeaks: First look as Durango XDK (always connected, kinect required)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

- Always on, Always connected

- Low powered mode

- Kinect sold with every console, wider FOV, no motors, better tracking

- Kinect is required to be plugged in

- Low latency controller with "improved ergonomics", simplified interaction with console OS

- Bluray drive

- All games must be installed on HDD [you can start playing few secs after installation starts], game data streaming from optical disc not supported

- Only digital audio out

The Durango console is designed to offer game developers modern hardware that is more powerful than the Xbox 360. It uses a familiar x64 architecture and tools, and compared with Xbox 360 development time and effort spent on perfomance optimization. Hardware accelerators, including "move engines" for common tasks, will be added to the console. Move engines can perform common game tasks like compression and decompression while moving data around the system. The console also has dedicated hardware support form common audio processing tasks that reduce the amount of CPU time that must be devoted to audio. The GPU provides considerable computing power, and supports Direct3D 11.

Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use. The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that console software and games are always current. With this 'Always On, Always Connected' design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates.

Every Durango console will be sold with a new high-fidelity Kinect Sensor, which will be requiered for the system to operate. The console will provide HD videos, and will use new depth sensor technology to provide better screen resolution and less noisy depth data. Active infrared illumination will provide high-quality monochrome images ever in low ambiente light conditions. A wider field of view allows play in smaller spaces and removes the need for a tilt motor.

System software will offer a full set of system API for Natural User Interface (NUI), and the API set will be corresponding API used by Xbox 360. Skeleton tracking, identity, and other NUI functions will be performed by the system and for that reason, titles no longer need to allocate title resources to NUI.

The Durango controller will make the best-in-class Xbox 360 controller ever better. It will have low-latency wireless connectivity to the console, and improve ergonomics. System interactions that use the controller will be simplified to make them easier for noncore gamers.

Every Durango console will have a hard drive, although its exact capacity has not been choosen. It will be large enough, however, to hold a large number of games. All games will be installed on the hard drive. Play from optical disc will be not supported.

Durango consoles will have Blu-ray Disc drive. Disc media will be used dor distributuion, but during gameplay, games will not use content from optical disc. An installation system is being designed that will allow gamers to begin playing while the game is being installed on the hard drive rather than waiting until insatallation is complete.

Audio from Durango will be all digital - 7.1 discrete PCM output through HDMIU and S/PDIF. Hardware accelerators will be included for decoding and decompressing common audio formats. There also will be a dedicated processor to perform common signal processing in hardware.

http://www.vgleaks.com/durango-xdk/

[TheGhostWalker]

Nvidia yells the PS4 is a bad gaming computer. But this sounds more like that to me?

You HAVE TO install the game to the harddrive, you can't play from the disc? wtf?

Kinect HAS to be plugged in?

I already decided what console to buy, unless something changes ofc -.-

[giantpotato]

This sounds like they're taking the same approach as Steam. Everything you buy will be tied to your account, and discs are not really needed, but can be used by people with limited bandwidth.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

D3D11, background updates, Blu-Ray and disk installs are all great to hear, Kinect I couldn't care less (I'm not 8 years old) about but I'm sure it'd come in useful for some things.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Seriously?

You HAVE to install ALL games, unless the HDD is like 1Tb you aren't going to fit many 35-50Gb games on a HDD. I bet they will require you to have the disc in the drive as well even though its installed and playing from HDD.

Always on, kinect mandatory, amazing how arrogant a company can be, PS4 definitely for me this generation.

[HawkMan]

The have to install is because of bluray and the slow read speed. And it doesn't say you have to do a full install like the 360 "installs", just that you have to do an install, which is likely a mini install.

And it'd be surprised if it wasn't 1TB. And since it's most likely a mini install, of course you need the disk, if you didn't you could just install and give it away. Unless every disk was signed and it could ony be played on your account.

[TheLegendOfMart]

It says streaming from optical disc not supported so its hardly going to be "mini" installs.

[spaceelf]

I know which console I'm buying too!

Both of em. PC gaming can dig itself out of the hole before I come back to it.

[HawkMan]

Sure it does. it's called pre-streaming. or pre-loading. the game knows where you are and loads up where you are. it's amazing what you can do with modern technology and programming...

either way it doesn't matter if it's big or mini installs, you can start playing from a few seconds after you pop in the disk, (hey that beats the PS3) and they say the HDD will be big enough to handle it. it's not like they're going to pop in a 350GB HDD and have 30-50GB games.... think about it.

I know which console I'm buying too!

Both of em. PC gaming can dig itself out of the hole before I come back to it.

I don't see the need to have both of them, not enough exclusives to be worth it. it those that are usually have "versions" on the other console anyway. also to much stuff to have to hook up everywhere for no good reason, and I don't have time to play all the games anyway. And MS has proven that they are much better at the very important software side, which they should be.

[MorganX]

Seriously?

You HAVE to install ALL games, unless the HDD is like 1Tb you aren't going to fit many 35-50Gb games on a HDD. I bet they will require you to have the disc in the drive as well even though its installed and playing from HDD.

Always on, kinect mandatory, amazing how arrogant a company can be, PS4 definitely for me this generation.

I'll be considering a PS4 myself unless it also requires always on and Kinect. Plus it has better non-FPS games. If only it had the Xbox controller. :/

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

You can turn the next Xbox off if you want, they won't get mad at you if you do.

[spaceelf]

I don't see the need to have both of them, not enough exclusives to be worth it. it those that are usually have "versions" on the other console anyway. also to much stuff to have to hook up everywhere for no good reason, and I don't have time to play all the games anyway. And MS has proven that they are much better at the very important software side, which they should be.

I had a 360, and there were plenty of exclusives I liked (Gears of War, Crackdown) even though I couldn't care less about Halo. There's a lot of stuff on the PS3 side I wish I had played, but it's too late for me to get one (Uncharted, Persona off the top of my head...I'm sure I could find more.)

Also I really liked Kinect...it just needed a better console heh.

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

Nvidia yells the PS4 is a bad gaming computer. But this sounds more like that to me?

You HAVE TO install the game to the harddrive, you can't play from the disc? wtf?

Kinect HAS to be plugged in?

I already decided what console to buy, unless something changes ofc -.-

Anything Nvidia says at this point is way to biased to believe. They lost 2 of the biggest console contracts to their biggest rival in the graphics section, what did you think they would say?

Probably going to get both consoles myself as well. Just for the exclusives sake already.

[HawkMan]

I'll be considering a PS4 myself unless it also requires always on and Kinect. Plus it has better non-FPS games. If only it had the Xbox controller. :/

it doesn't say always on/always connected is required. just that it can be always on and connected. which means that even if your console is "off" updates and new content can be "pushed" to it. basically an extended version of the current background/half-off downloading the 360 does.

[spaceelf]

Anything Nvidia says at this point is way to biased to believe. They lost 2 of the biggest console contracts to their biggest rival in the graphics section, what did you think they would say?

Probably going to get both consoles myself as well. Just for the exclusives sake already.

I doubt they were really in the running anyway, since they couldn't offer a single chip solution like AMD can. There might be a way to do it in the future with the 64 bit ARM stuff and whatevers past that, but right now they've only really got mobile tech.

[Osiris]

I don't necessarily like the sound of some of these things but ill wait till I see the unveling as seeing how it all interacts will be the key.

[the better twin]

Everything we hear about the next Xbox just makes it sound awful. I don't want Kinect. I don't want an "entertainment hub" I don't want MS to tell me they are not abandoning the core while they roll out another Halo/Cod/Gears.

At this point I'm not even sure if I'm going to bother with next gen at all, the microtransaction, dude-bro, every multiplayer game must feature unlocks that give people who play the most ridiculous advantages, has ruined gaming for me.

Gaming was better when it wasnt popular.

[George P Global Moderator]

Why is everyone jumping the gun on the always-on bit? This is just another thing they already have to an extent on the 360 and sounds exactly like what my Windows 8 tablet does. I love the idea of it being able to stay updated when I'm not playing it so that when I do go to play a game I don't have to wait at all.

As for the mandatory install bit, talk about double standards with some of you, there are quite a number of PS3 games that already require a install before you play but that was fine enough for you, heaven forbid it's MS and you suddenly have a problem with it now?

We're still talking about rumors and reportedly outdated documents.

[TheLegendOfMart]

As for the mandatory install bit, talk about double standards with some of you, there are quite a number of PS3 games that already require a install before you play but that was fine enough for you, heaven forbid it's MS and you suddenly have a problem with it now?

Who says it was fine enough, along with the patches the caching game data is the worst thing about the PS3.

[Yogurtmaster]

First of all a lot of people are overreacting. This is old news. Because this is neowin, old news is new news.

We haven't seen anything yet and people are already overreacting big time.

1) We don't really have all of the facts.

2) Who cares if Kinect is needed for the OS, I think that's how it should be. Using a controller to navigate OS menus is archaic.

3) It's always on using low power (um like the Wii, big deal).

4) Always online (like a PC), this does not mean the games will always have to be online.

5) If it works using a progressive install and it uses the cloud for game saves I think that is fine.

It installs the game as you play it and you gain a lot of speed from the hard drive and you can switch to many different games almost instantly.

For so many people on this forum always talking about rationality, why is it when it comes to things that are not released yet rationality goes out the window?

Most of the people on this forum are a bunch of drama queens and Microsoft haven't even announced their console yet, let alone have an E3 Keynote for it and a lot of you are bailing out on something you don't even understand yet.

Please, don't even lecture me about Rationality and Logic ever again. Let's wait and get confirmation by E3 of all of these fears so we can get the facts from the source on what all of this means.

Sony hasn't told you everything about the PS4, are you going to act like a drama queen and go Wii U next when you find out that they are doing many of the same things that Microsoft is doing?

[Yogurtmaster]

If things are the way that they sound. I have no problems with any of this. Welcome to 2013. This isn't the year 2000 anymore. This is progress and I am fine with it.

Most people here are a bunch of drama queens and are scared that their precious games that we have played for a decade are going to change. Good, I am happy. That is called change and change can be good.

Enough of the samey games that I have been playing for a decade. Installing games will make them faster allowing the games to load faster (so I don't have to wait to spin up a loud disk for no good reason. It also allows me to switch games at will, maybe even using my voice in the other room while I check my email. Allowing to go online and update my games online in realtime. Okay, so this didn't work out well for SimCity, that is one game, stop panicking. Maybe we can have some cool MMO's on consoles now instead of playing WOW for 10 years.

Having the console on low power is great because just like the PS4 there is some amazing things you can do with it in low power. Respond to your voice to do different tasks or to instantly resume to play a game using your voice. In the future maybe using it to control items in your house.

The hardcore always disappoint me because if it was up to them, we would still be using the old game-pads from years ago. They just want to keep the status quo forever.

You are still getting your game-pad, you just now also have a Kinect in the box. OMG it's the end of the world! Get over yourselves you whiny brats. The world is changing and it's the 21st century and this is progress. If you don't like it go back to your SNES and cry.

As much as I can't stand this Internet Meme... "First world problems"

Could you imagine the first generation (with TV's with remote control in the box) kids that thought a TV remote was useless. "Waaaaaa, I want to get up to change the channels!"

[MorganX]

>>We haven't seen anything yet and people are already overreacting big time.<<

Including you. With your opinions. Just like everyone else here, and as we all know, everyone has an opinion and no one thinks theirs stinks. You're no exception.

>> 2) Who cares if Kinect is needed for the OS, I think that's how it should be. Using a controller to navigate OS menus is archaic.

Please give a real world example, other than a smartphone for which there is no controller, in which using a controller to navigate OS menus is archaic?

Archaic

• Very old or old-fashioned.
  
• (of a word or a style of language) No longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavor.
  

>>3) It's always on using low power (um like the Wii, big deal).

4) Always online (like a PC), this does not mean the games will always have to be online.<<

A PC absolutely is not always online. Your internet connection may be, but not your PC. And being online is not require for it to fully function. You can block whatever communications you want with a firewall or even disable your network adapter. This is a ridiculous analogy.

The issue for many isn't power or being online, it's the requirement to be online connected to big brother for the console to function. And if people don't like it, the don't have to and may not buy it. It's that simple.

[George P Global Moderator]

>>We haven't seen anything yet and people are already overreacting big time.<<

Including you. With your opinions. Just like everyone else here, and as we all know, everyone has an opinion and no one thinks theirs stinks. You're no exception.

>> 2) Who cares if Kinect is needed for the OS, I think that's how it should be. Using a controller to navigate OS menus is archaic.

Please give a real world example, other than a smartphone for which there is no controller, in which using a controller to navigate OS menus is archaic?

Archaic

• Very old or old-fashioned.
  
• (of a word or a style of language) No longer in everyday use but sometimes used to impart an old-fashioned flavor.
  

>>3) It's always on using low power (um like the Wii, big deal).

4) Always online (like a PC), this does not mean the games will always have to be online.<<

A PC absolutely is not always online. Your internet connection may be, but not your PC. And being online is not require for it to fully function. You can block whatever communications you want with a firewall or even disable your network adapter. This is a ridiculous analogy.

The issue for many isn't power or being online, it's the requirement to be online connected to big brother for the console to function. And if people don't like it, the don't have to and may not buy it. It's that simple.

My PC is always online, connected to different services and often downloading things, anyways that's not the point. Your jumping to a conclusion here. They say always on and always connected. This fits with the idea of it being able to check for updates and install them automatically, it's connected standby on a console. It's not stated that you have to be always online to use it or play games. I expect to see more of a app store in the next Xbox, it's also looking like we're getting more of a true multitasking system. If you want the apps you have to stay up to date like on your pc or smartphones then the system has to have the same connected standby option there.

[MightyJordan]

The have to install is because of bluray and the slow read speed.

But it's been over six years since the PS3 launched with its 2x (9MB/s) drive; surely Blu-Ray drive speeds have improved to more usable levels in that time? Looking at the PS4's specs, the answer is

"yes", as it's going to have a 6x (27MB/s) drive.

[TheLegendOfMart]

First of all a lot of people are overreacting. This is old news. Because this is neowin, old news is new news.

Considering it was only posted yesterday on VGLeaks, hardly old news.