The 360’s edge: ANA the scaling chip

During Ars Technica’s recent interview with Microsoft‘s Aaron Greenberg and Scott Henson, it has become apparent that despite being a full year older than its competitors, the Xbox 360 may actually still have a definite edge. And so we introduce to you, ANA.

ANA is not a part of the MS staff, but is instead the scaling chip which can be found inside the Xbox 360. According to Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera, this may just be the Xbox’s secret weapon in one-upping its seemingly more powerful competitor, the PS3 which doesn’t have its own internal hardware scaler.

Playing a game at the wrong resolution has long been a problem for a lot of gamers, especially for those who own older HDTVs which are unable to go up to 1080p or 1080i, and thus end up scaling everything down to a mere 480p instead. According to Kuchera, this may just be the biggest challenge which the PS3 faces at the moment.

Meanwhile, MS’ Greenberg noted that adding ANA into the box “was a critical design decision; we wanted the 360 to be high-definition, not just 1080p or some other standard”. Because of this move, Xbox owners who also own HDTVs are able to enjoy their games the way that they were meant to be enjoyed, which is in glorious high-definition.

Want to know more about ANA, how it works and how it holds against the competition? Then just click on the “Read” link below.

During Ars Technica’s recent interview with Microsoft‘s Aaron Greenberg and Scott Henson, it has become apparent that despite being a full year older than its competitors, the Xbox 360 may actually still have a definite edge. And so we introduce to you, ANA.

ANA is not a part of the MS staff, but is instead the scaling chip which can be found inside the Xbox 360. According to Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera, this may just be the Xbox’s secret weapon in one-upping its seemingly more powerful competitor, the PS3 which doesn’t have its own internal hardware scaler.

Playing a game at the wrong resolution has long been a problem for a lot of gamers, especially for those who own older HDTVs which are unable to go up to 1080p or 1080i, and thus end up scaling everything down to a mere 480p instead. According to Kuchera, this may just be the biggest challenge which the PS3 faces at the moment.

Meanwhile, MS’ Greenberg noted that adding ANA into the box “was a critical design decision; we wanted the 360 to be high-definition, not just 1080p or some other standard”. Because of this move, Xbox owners who also own HDTVs are able to enjoy their games the way that they were meant to be enjoyed, which is in glorious high-definition.

Want to know more about ANA, how it works and how it holds against the competition? Then just click on the “Read” link below.