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The boring nature of the architecture is notable as it puts the focus back on software, which is what people care about. That devs this generation can just make
by lukeman 13y ago
The boring nature of the architecture is notable as it puts the focus back on software, which is what people care about. That devs this generation can just make shit without discovering the complexities of custom hardware is a good thing.
- ewzimm 13y agoThat's probably true for Playstation, but I think developing for Xbox was already pretty much like developing for Windows, even with different hardware architectures. Most game devs don't looking too deeply at the hardware but just use the tools they're given. The ones who want to understand what's going on in hardware will still study the details of the CPU/GPU.
- Arelius 13y agoThe endianess of the Xbox 360 made "already pretty much like developing for Windows" not quite accurate. And causes a lot of problems relating to I/O.
- wmf 13y agoDoesn't the 360 run little-endian?
- ewzimm 13y agoIt does both.
- wmf 13y agoWhat, does MS let game developers choose?
- ewzimm 13y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC#Endian_modes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC#Endian_modes
- Arelius 13y agoNo, the machine always runs big-endian.
- ewzimm 13y agoAll current software does this, but the switching capability means the motherboard could be modified to allow it to run little-endian. This means that if someone wanted to repurpose old Xbox hardware to run a little-endian operating system it would be entirely possible. Certainly not a practical process considering the cheapness of CPUs, but it could make for a fun experiment.
- Arelius 13y agoIt's possible, but also keep in mind that the 360 chip was a custom PowerPC, that had high manufacture numbers. It's entirely possible that the little-endian functionality was somehow broken to save money or otherwise. But the point was originally about what the Xbox360 runs, and before that, how it affected development. Not about what the silicon in a particular chip in the 360 has the capability of doing.
- Arelius 13y agoIncorrect, the powerPC may be capable of both, but not the xbox360 in practice.
- ewzimm 13y agoYes, this is correct. Although it is capable if switching, this would cause problems that require a motherboard fix which is not implemented, so the machine runs big endian in practice. I included a wikipedia link to explain.
- Arelius 13y agoNope, the 360 runs big-endian.