Some people describe the Xbox 360 as a watered down version of the PlayStation 3. Those people are more right than they imagined. A new book reveals that the Xbox 360's tech was built around the technology of the PS3's Cell processor.
Some people describe the Xbox 360 as a watered down version of the PlayStation 3. Those people are more right than they imagined.A new book, entitled "The Race For A New Game Machine" reveals that the Xbox 360's tech was built around the technology of the PS3's Cell processor. The book was written by David Shippy and Mickie Philips, two major figures behind the design of the Cell.
The book reveals that back in 2001, Sony partnered with Toshiba and IBM to make the Cell chip. During its development, Microsoft approached IBM to have their own chip built around components of the Cell chip. From Wall Street Journal:
All three of the original partners had agreed that IBM would eventually sell the Cell to other clients. But it does not seem to have occurred to Sony that IBM would sell key parts of the Cell before it was complete and to Sony's primary videogame-console competitor.The result was that Sony's R&D money was spent creating a component for Microsoft to use against it.
Mr. Shippy and Ms. Phipps detail the resulting absurdity: IBM employees hiding their work from Sony and Toshiba engineers in the cubicles next to them; the Xbox chip being tested a few floors above the Cell design teams.
Mr. Shippy says that he felt "contaminated" as he sat down with the Microsoft engineers, helping them to sketch out their architectural requirements with lessons learned from his earlier work on Playstation.
You may be wondering, if they both had the same tech, how did the Xbox 360 get to the market first? Explains WSJ:
Both designs were delivered on time to IBM's manufacturing division, but there was a problem with the first chip run. Microsoft had had the foresight to order backup manufacturing capacity from a third party. Sony did not and had to wait another six weeks to get their first chips.
So Microsoft actually got the chip that Sony helped design before Sony did. In the end, Microsoft's Xbox 360 hit its target launch in November 2005, becoming its own success. Because of various delays, the Playstation 3 was pushed back a full year.
Probably the most painful part for Sony is that they paid US$ 400 million for the technology.
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