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Well, with all of the MTV hoopla out of the way, we've got the nitty gritty details as to what is going under the hood in Microsoft's next console, the Xbox 360 (or at least as nitty and / or gritty as the company is willing to get thus far).  Despite all of the high-end components going into the thing, the Xbox 360 won't just be about games, but will start making the console wars a battle for every facet of entertainment in the living room.  There are still some areas that are not yet clear about the console, like whether or not it will be backwards compatible with the original Xbox (it's looking quite likely, but as of now Microsoft isn't quite ready to confirm the feature).

So, with all of that in mind, here's the official party line of what the 360 hardware will be like from Microsoft's fact sheet:

Product Overview

The Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system places you at the center of the experience. Available this holiday season in Europe, Japan, and North America, Xbox 360 ignites a new era of digital entertainment that is always connected, always personalized, and always in high definition.

Xbox 360 gives you access to the games you want to play, the people you want to play with, and the experiences you crave—when and where you want them.

Key Highlights

- Hardware, software, and services: Unveiled to the world on MTV on Thursday, May 12, 2005, Xbox 360 represents a dramatic leap forward in high-definition gaming and entertainment experiences. Fusing powerful hardware, software, and services, Xbox 360 fully engages you in a gaming experience that is more expansive, dramatic, and lifelike, where the possibilities are limitless and your imagination knows no boundaries. The next generation is here.

- Industrial design: A merger of form and function, Xbox 360 wraps powerful technology in a sophisticated exterior. Two of the 

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most innovative design firms in the world—San Francisco-based Astro Studios and Osaka, Japan-based Hers Experimental Design Laboratory Inc.—came together to craft a sleek, stylish system that conveys the very essence of Xbox 360.

- Xbox Gamer Guide: The Xbox Gamer Guide is an entertainment gateway that instantly connects you to your games, friends, music, movies, and downloadable content. Available at a touch of the Xbox Guide Button, the Xbox Gamer Guide gives you instant access to the experiences and content you want, from the gamer card of the player that just invited you to play online to new downloadable content for the game currently running.

- Personalized interface: Xbox 360 lets you create your own unique system and experience. With interchangeable Xbox 360 Faces, it's easy and fun to change the appearance of your console. Switch on your system and customize the look and feel of the Xbox Gamer Guide and Xbox System Guide with unique "skins." From sleek and sophisticated to fun and funky, pick the Faces and skins that show your personality.

- Ring of Light and Xbox Guide Button: Divided into four quadrants, the glowing Ring of Light and Xbox® Guide Button visually connect you to your games, digital media, and the world of Xbox Live™, the first global, unified online console games service. Featured on both the wireless and wired controllers, the Xbox Guide Button puts you in control of your experience. In addition to bringing up the Xbox Gamer Guide and the Xbox System Guide, the Xbox Guide Button lets you turn the system on and off without ever leaving the couch.

- Xbox Live: Xbox Live is where games and entertainment come alive, the only unified place where you can play with anyone, anytime, anywhere. And the best just got better. Connect your Xbox 360 to your broadband connection and get instant access to Xbox Live Silver. Express your digital identity through your Gamertag and gamer card, talk with others using voice chat, and access Xbox Live Marketplace—all right out of the box, at no extra cost. Upgrade to Xbox Live Gold and enter the exciting world of multiplayer online gaming. With intelligent matchmaking, access to all your achievements and statistics, video chat and video messaging, and an enormous selection of games, Xbox Live Gold delivers your competition, on your terms.

- Xbox Live Marketplace: Keep your favorite games fresh with instant access to new content. Xbox Live Marketplace is a one-stop shop to download new game trailers, demos, and episodic content, plus new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, and more. Accessible to everyone who establishes a broadband connection with their Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace lets you personalize and extend your experience, on demand.

- Games: Xbox 360 redefines what games look like, sound like, feel like, and play like to engage you like never before. With Xbox 360, epic worlds are alive with detail, from thunderous skies rumbling over a mountain range to tiny blades of grass rustling together in the breeze. Vibrant characters display depth of emotion to evoke more dramatic responses, immersing you in the experience like never before. You’ll see all Xbox 360 titles at 720p and 1080i resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smooth, movie-like graphics and multi-channel surround sound.

- Digital entertainment: Amplify your music, photos, video, and TV. Watch progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. Rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive and share your latest digital pictures with friends. Make the connection, and Xbox 360 instantly streams the digital media stored on your MP3 player, digital camera, Media Center PC, or any Microsoft® Windows® XP-based PC.

 

Xbox 360 System Performance Specifications
Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU	Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread 1 MB L2 cache
CPU Game Math Performance	9 billion dot product operations per second
Custom ATI Graphics Processor	10 MB of embedded DRAM 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines Unified shader architecture
Polygon Performance	500 million triangles per second
Pixel Fill Rate	16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA
Shader Performance	48 billion shader operations per second
Memory	512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM Unified memory architecture
Memory Bandwidth	22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM 21.6 GB/s front-side bus
Overall System Floating-Point Performance	1 teraflop
Storage	Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB
I/O	Support for up to four wireless game controllers Three USB 2.0 ports Two memory unit slots
Optimized for Online	Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features with broadband service, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, gamer profile for digital identity, and voice chat to talk to friends while playing games, watching movies, or listening to music Built-in Ethernet port Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g Video camera ready
Digital Media Support	Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive Custom playlists in every game Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers
High-Definition Game Support	All games supported at 16:9, 720p, and 1080i, anti-aliasing Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported
Audio	Multi-channel surround sound output Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio 320 independent decompression channels 32-bit audio processing Over 256 audio channels
System Orientation	Stands vertically or horizontally
Customizable Face Plates	Interchangeable to personalize the console