AMD, the company behind the Xbox 360’s GPU, has said this week that the upcoming next-gen Xbox model will offer graphics on par with those seen in the blockbuster film “Avatar.”
The company says the Xbox will launch with those graphic capabilities, making it much more powerful and advanced than current gaming consoles and PCs, even those with the most expensive video cards.
Director of ISV relationships at AMD Neal Robison would not confirm that the company is working on the hardware for the Xbox, but it would make sense for Microsoft to keep their existing relationships in tact.
Furthermore, Robison says AI in games like Grand Theft Auto will be given individual mentalities, removing them from the unrealistic “mob mentality” of current games.
For example, Robison notes (via Examiner), that in current games, if someone is shot, the entire group around will likely run away and yell in a mob. In the future, each pedestrian will have their own mindset and perform their own action.
Result for: capabilities
HTC has invested $40 million in cloud video gaming service OnLive, in an effort to strengthen gaming capabilities on smartphones (and likely tablets).
The Taiwanese company has quickly become a very profitable smartphone maker, bringing in $500 million profit for the last quarter, alone, on revenue of $3.6 billion.
HTC was the phone maker behind the first-ever Android device, the T-Mobile G1 and has increased its lineup significantly since.
CEO Peter Chou said earlier this year it wants to use its $2.5 billion it has in cash to boost “strategic investments” in digital content, and it appears, cloud-computing.
Earlier in the week, HTC invested in Saffron Digital, a mobile and Web-based media company.
More details of the OnLive investment are upcoming at the MWC next week.
Result for: capabilities
Samsung will launch its first true rival to the market leading iPod Touch at the CES event next month, dubbing the device the Galaxy Player.
Just like the iPod Touch is almost identical to the iPhone (without the phone and 3G capabilities), the Galaxy Player will be based on the popular Galaxy S smartphone.
The Galaxy Player will run on Android 2.2, come in 8, 16 and 32GB models, and include a standard 3.2MP camera and a 1.3MP front-side camera.
There are no current media players running Android, so the Samsung player should have an advantage over those competitors right out of the gate, due to the Android Market and its 100,000 apps. Apple, on the other hand, will be no pushover.
Samsung lacks retail presence like Apple has, as well as a brand-loyal fanbase. Furthermore, Samsung lacks a music/movie store like iTunes so it is unclear what store will come built-in.
