I think that the Revolution will possibly have the best launch of all the next gen consoles just for the controller.

Games, Pilky.  Launch titles.

Apparently nealr all the Xbox 360 games have gotten good reviews.  IIRC IGN said the quality of Xbox360 launch games is higher overall than those of any other console launch in recent times although there is no revolutionary title like Halo, Gran Turismo, MG2 etc.

A lot of people don’t like the fact that five of the 18 games are first-person-shooters.

Call of Duty 2 looks awesome.

Yep.  They weren’t lying when they said they would be scarce.  The only place that you can be sure will have any is ebay.
http://product.ebay.com/Microsoft-Xbox-360- Game-console_W0QQfvcsZ1452QQsoprZ46859558

I think Microsoft saw how the PS2 became super-popular because it was the “must-have-but-can’t-find” gift during the christmas season and decided to do the same thing.  They basically made the Xbox 360 into this year’s Furby or Tickle-Me-Elmo.

From what I hear, the downloadable games are the shiznit.  Gauntlet Online is supposedly the hot ticket right now.

Ebay is nutz.  Premium systems are going for over a grand now.  I just saw one go for $1300US with no games, no extra controllers or anything.  Just the regular premium system (with HD).

Why are there such supply constraints? Is Microsoft unable to get enough PowerPC processors?

Gaming was down 10.5% for PCs in the first half of 2005. I suspect that this Xbox 360, the PS3, and Nintendo’s Revolution will create more losses for PC gaming in 2006.

Why are there such supply constraints? Is Microsoft unable to get enough PowerPC processors? 

That’s interesting that you brought that up because Microsoft was able to ship 700,000 Xbox 360’s in the first day even though both the processor and video card are beyond “cutting edge”.  Yet Apple, had problems shipping even 100,000-200,000 machines in the first quarter and the processors weren’t nearly as cutting edge and the video card was run of the mill.

If Microsoft gets out 2 million machines before the end of the year as they are hoping to do then it lends even more credibilty to all the talk about Apple actually being the cause of the supply problems and not IBM.

If Microsoft gets out 2 million machines before the end of the year as they are hoping to do then it lends even more credibilty to all the talk about Apple actually being the cause of the supply problems and not IBM.

And the only problem with that logic is they aren’t using the same processor. But I guess in your mind, all processors from IBM have the same yield.

The other problem with that logic is Apple sold over 6 million iPods last quarter alone.

And what talk are you talking about?

And the only problem with that logic is they aren’t using the same processor. But I guess in your mind, all processors from IBM have the same yield.

Well it’s your logic… Remember…
“Why are there such supply constraints? Is Microsoft unable to get enough PowerPC processors? “

Besides, those processors are similar enough that yields of xbox 360 processors shouldn’t be up to 20 times better than yields of Apple’s PPC procs.  And consider that IBM fabs the ATI processor as well.
The processors are also similar enough that you can develop Xbox 360 games on PowerMacs so obviously there are great similarities.

iPod’s have nothing to do with the conversation because they don’t use PPC’s or IBM manufactured or designed processors.

Well it’s your logic… Remember…
“Why are there such supply constraints? Is Microsoft unable to get enough PowerPC processors? “

It was a joke. I wasn’t serious.

Besides, those processors are similar enough that yields of xbox 360 processors shouldn’t be up to 20 times better than yields of Apple’s PPC procs. 

How do you know? Explain, in detail, the differences between the two, the fab used for them, etc.

iPod’s have nothing to do with the conversation because they don’t use PPC’s or IBM manufactured or designed processors.

iPods have everything to do with your notion that Apple was able to receive all the G5 processors they wanted from IBM but were unable to manufacture a relatively small number of G5 computers.

Look, IBM’s troubles with the PowerPC 970 are well documented. This isn’t speculation.

And the fact that the 970MP only goes to 2.5 Ghz with 2 cores and the PowerPC used in the Xbox 360 is at 3.2 Ghz with 3 cores should tell you that the yields of these things are completely different.

You want us to believe that IBM actually has no problem getting over 3 Ghz yields with the 970, they just choose not to?

Read this:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/cpu/ xbox360-2.ars

And the fact that the 970MP only goes to 2.5 Ghz with 2 cores and the PowerPC used in the Xbox 360 is at 3.2 Ghz with 3 cores should tell you that the yields of these things are completely different.

Yields may be different but there’s no way in hell that almost 3 years after they started making 970’s that they can’t make more than 50,000 or so at a time.  Yield is ultimately a percentage.  So if the yield is 10% and that nets you 50,000 chips but you want 300,000 then you increase the batch size by dedicating more of your fab to making those chips.  The yeild does not change (percentage wise) but you can get more chips if you really want them.  IBM’s manufacturing capabilites are astounding considering they will make over 100 million processors for game consoles in the coming years, 40-60 million chips for ATI (not including the ones for the consoles), and probably even more than that for AMD.  I think they handle Nvidia stuff as well.  But, of course, some people would have us believe that they can’t make Apple’s 3 million or so chips.

http://arstechnica.com/columns/mac/mac-2005 0710.ars
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200507 08-5073.html

You want us to believe that IBM actually has no problem getting over 3 Ghz yields with the 970, they just choose not to?

No, I didn’t say that.  My point is that every time a new PowerMac comes out it runs into supply problems.  This happened at 2ghz, 2.5ghz, 2.7ghz, and now 2.5 dual core.  These are supply problems at 50,000 or maybe 100,000 procs.  That’s absolutely laughable compared to everything else that IBM fabs for other companies.
It’s not clear on whether or not IBM can get over 3ghz with the 970 but it is clear that their “problems” and limited supply of the 970’s they do manufacture is just because they don’t care enough to dedicate more of their FAB(s) to making it.  That’s true irregardless of yeild percentage.

In the article above it states that Apple has treated Motorola and IBM in a manner that made them not care as much.

http://www.siliconstrategies.com/article /showArticle.jhtml?articleId=18901714

From the horses mouth:

One of the problems is ongoing yield issues within the company’s 300-mm fab in East Fishkill, N.Y. For months, IBM has been struggling with yields in the fab, a 130- and 90-nm plant. “We do see demand, but we need to make the products,” Joyce [senior vice president and chief financial officer at IBM] said. “We need to improve our yields in our 300-mm plant. Our yields did see some improvement, but not as fast (as the company had hoped).”

http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/21/H Nibm_1.html

Here’s another tidbit for you:
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/feature s/onlineextras/story.html?id=9025308d-8bf9-4f67- b472-920febe6ca5e&k=99239

All stores are getting new units each week. Can we make as many as people want’ The answer is no, but not because we don’t want to. In these new consumer electronics devices based on new chips, there’s always the question of what yield will you get out of the manufacturing process of the new chip. We’re getting a little less, but not much less than the yields we expected, and we know that the yields we expected will probably outrun supply. But we decided to go ahead and launch rather than wait until post-Christmas and get a few million units out into the hands of users. We’re doing our best.

That was Ballmer saying they aren’t getting enough PowerPC processors from IBM, BTW.