From gamezine.co.uk: You may not know it, but Microsoft shipped a new Xbox 360 development kit to studios earlier in the year. One striking difference was the inclusion of one-gigabytes of RAM. No, this does not mean that Microsoft will be releasing a new Xbox 360 with more memory; the new kit instead makes development a little easier. Like the PlayStation 3 1GB development kits, the extra memory can be used to properly test your game. This was a problem for Xbox 360 developers before now, since extra memory from the 512MB pool would have to be put aside to test their game engine. Developers could of course disable these test features in order to use this spare memory, but that would mean that they wouldn't easily be able to test their game. Something else might have surprised developers when they received their new Xbox 360 development kit; a new set of tools, or more accurately a new engine. According to our insider source, Microsoft has been on working a new internal Xbox 360 engine, which has been nick-named the X-Engine. Our source explains that Sony's PlayStation 3 tools (named Edge) have been picking up steam, and are now taking true advantage of the platform's make-up, especially the consoles CPU, Kutaragi-san's infamous Cell. As for the Xbox 360, it was lacking an engine that took advantage of it in the same way; a hole Microsoft hopes to plug with their new X-Engine. We're told that the engine isn't just a new set of special effects; it's actually a whole new way to develop for the system: a new first party engine design. i thought those people who have devs would like to read.
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't swap the chips for a larger size but pin for pin compatible. Been tempted to try it on a retail unit but I don't quite have the cajones to do so yet.
Actually, the different memory size was supported since ages (256MB, 512MB, 1024MB). Retail units are limited to 512MB, i'm not sure what happens if it detects 1024MB - i *think* it will just run with 512MB, and not fail. Linux, for example, could then use the full GB. This is especially interesting with the new Jasper/Falcon/Opus devices which have only 4 memory chips - you could "just" solder 4 more chips to the bottom. A problem - which I don't know how it was solved, I'm no XDK developer - is the virtual memory map, which is full (with 512MB), because there many aliases (mainly page size and cache properties).
First off: POST IS NOT WHITE THEME READY! 2nd: I'm a little confused by what the mean engine, like a software graphics engine? Are they just giving away a graphics engine that any developer could use? or is more like a springboard for optimizing a developers existing engine and/or making their own as well? If its the latter, then Xbox 360 games are going to start looking awfully similar. If its the former, I hope they include it in XNA so I can play with it.
