Cell Chip Designer Felt 'Contaminated' by Xbox
New book reveals how Sony helped Microsoft with consoles... by accident.
A new book from the designer of the heart of Sony's PS3 - the Cell processor - reveals how Sony inadvertently worked with Microsoft on games consoles. The book, The Race for a New Game Machine, details how Sony, working with Toshiba and IBM to produce the powerful processor found itself in bed with arch-gaming rival Microsoft due to business alliances.
Two authors produced the book: Mickie Phipps who worked with David Shippy. The latter was chief architect for the power processing unit for the Cell processor at IBM in Austin, Texas. Prior to this he had worked on the G3 PowerPC.
The Race for a New Game Machine details how Sony, Toshiba and IBM formed the Cell partnership in 2001, each committing several hundred million dollars. It was agreed that IBM would be able to sell the Cell to third-parties. Everybody gathered at IBM's Austin HQ.
Then, in 2002, Microsoft approached its old ally-cum-adversary, IBM, with a view to Big Blue creating a chip for a new game console.
This lead to what could be seen either as a comedy or a tragedy depending on your loyalty. Agreements meant that engineers within the IBM team could not share knowledge with Toshiba or Sony colleagues regarding their Xbox 360 chip design. This lead to work being hidden while simultaneously the Sony Cell was in test just below the room where the Xbox 360 internals were being put through their paces.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Shippy "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".
While Shippy may have felt that way about a Microsoft chip designed with money from Sony, Microsoft's ahead planning was uncontaminated by amateurism. The chips for both consoles arrived on time at IBM's manufacturing facility... but errors occurred in the first batch leaving Sony hanging. Microsoft had arranged for a third-party facility as back-up. Sony had not.
Xbox 360 went on sale in 2005... PlayStation 3 (due to problems with diodes in its Blu-ray drives as well as Cell delay apparently) arrived a year later.
The full title for the book is: The Race for a New Game Machine: Creating the Chips Inside the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3, published by Citadel, due out tomorrow.
Two authors produced the book: Mickie Phipps who worked with David Shippy. The latter was chief architect for the power processing unit for the Cell processor at IBM in Austin, Texas. Prior to this he had worked on the G3 PowerPC.
The Race for a New Game Machine details how Sony, Toshiba and IBM formed the Cell partnership in 2001, each committing several hundred million dollars. It was agreed that IBM would be able to sell the Cell to third-parties. Everybody gathered at IBM's Austin HQ.
Then, in 2002, Microsoft approached its old ally-cum-adversary, IBM, with a view to Big Blue creating a chip for a new game console.
This lead to what could be seen either as a comedy or a tragedy depending on your loyalty. Agreements meant that engineers within the IBM team could not share knowledge with Toshiba or Sony colleagues regarding their Xbox 360 chip design. This lead to work being hidden while simultaneously the Sony Cell was in test just below the room where the Xbox 360 internals were being put through their paces.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Shippy "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".
While Shippy may have felt that way about a Microsoft chip designed with money from Sony, Microsoft's ahead planning was uncontaminated by amateurism. The chips for both consoles arrived on time at IBM's manufacturing facility... but errors occurred in the first batch leaving Sony hanging. Microsoft had arranged for a third-party facility as back-up. Sony had not.
Xbox 360 went on sale in 2005... PlayStation 3 (due to problems with diodes in its Blu-ray drives as well as Cell delay apparently) arrived a year later.
The full title for the book is: The Race for a New Game Machine: Creating the Chips Inside the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3, published by Citadel, due out tomorrow.
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Comments
SuperSaiyan4 31 Dec 2008 11:16
1/11
I wonder if Microsoft will approach AMD for the next processor in the next Xbox would be interesting.
Da_ALC 31 Dec 2008 14:26
2/11
This is pathetic. it never was Sony's Cell, it was completely IBM's, Sony PAID their way into having their name attached to it, and a year after the ps3's release have pulled all funding from it altogether, they are no longer aloud to put their name to it. But of course the "damage" is done, and everybody, like this article, refers to it as their own.
Sony are LIARS. Money grubbing LIARS who will do and say anything to their investors to hide the fact that they are very quickly loosing everything they ever had. This includes manufacturing their own reviews and fan sites, and saying they are from independent reviewers, and twisting sales figures and publishing them without saying what they actually mean.
In contrast, since the release of the first Xbox, Microsoft have bought endless hardware firms with the future aim of making the console 100% themselves.
They are working on a hardware version of Direct X, (Direct XBox), and this will allow their games to be playable on both their console and PC, 1 disc, any machine.
This will ultimately lead to Microsoft doing very well in the gaming world.
Nintendo, of course, will always be around. They are on their own safe track.
Sony are LIARS. Money grubbing LIARS who will do and say anything to their investors to hide the fact that they are very quickly loosing everything they ever had. This includes manufacturing their own reviews and fan sites, and saying they are from independent reviewers, and twisting sales figures and publishing them without saying what they actually mean.
In contrast, since the release of the first Xbox, Microsoft have bought endless hardware firms with the future aim of making the console 100% themselves.
They are working on a hardware version of Direct X, (Direct XBox), and this will allow their games to be playable on both their console and PC, 1 disc, any machine.
This will ultimately lead to Microsoft doing very well in the gaming world.
Nintendo, of course, will always be around. They are on their own safe track.
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Themanwhoknewtomuch 31 Dec 2008 16:38
3/11
To Da_ALC.
Your a 360 fanboy, goodluck with the rrod and disc scratching.
Microsoft hasn't done anything to further gaming, the best thing it came up with was live, which isn't bad.
As for Calling Sony being liars, your incorrect.
Sony does partly own the cell, with toshiba and ibm. Sony spent 400million on it.
Meanwhile, Microsoft from the beginning kept on releasing 360's with defective disc drives, defective cooling, defective gpu, and last but not least, didn't have the brains to even fix it, and it still isn't fixed today nearly 3 years on.
They sell it lower and lower because it's not worth anything, you don't even get wifi with it, rofl.
You have backed a dead horse. Microsoft will finish 3rd again and will not re-enter the console business again.
SONY have built tech that lasts, you have games coming out not even possible on the 360, processor just does not cut it.
360 is utter fail. Congrats on your purchase.
Your a 360 fanboy, goodluck with the rrod and disc scratching.
Microsoft hasn't done anything to further gaming, the best thing it came up with was live, which isn't bad.
As for Calling Sony being liars, your incorrect.
Sony does partly own the cell, with toshiba and ibm. Sony spent 400million on it.
Meanwhile, Microsoft from the beginning kept on releasing 360's with defective disc drives, defective cooling, defective gpu, and last but not least, didn't have the brains to even fix it, and it still isn't fixed today nearly 3 years on.
They sell it lower and lower because it's not worth anything, you don't even get wifi with it, rofl.
You have backed a dead horse. Microsoft will finish 3rd again and will not re-enter the console business again.
SONY have built tech that lasts, you have games coming out not even possible on the 360, processor just does not cut it.
360 is utter fail. Congrats on your purchase.
direx 31 Dec 2008 16:45
4/11
Becouse of fanboys like U I am starting to hate my self. How can U say that Sony is a liar if everything that M$, Bill Gates, owns is acquired becouse of old lies. Just think of Steve Jobs, Gates robbed him. If U want to play only 360, fine, that's your thing, but don't make other people feal bad about likeing other consols. Happy New Year BTW:-)
Deadmeat 31 Dec 2008 18:26
5/11
3rd-gen Xbox features what's known as "forward compatibility". It's fully backward compatible with Xbox 360 yet runs its code much faster, allowing Xbox 360 games to run enhanced on it.
Accordingly, 3rd-gen Xbox is expected to be powered by a Power7-derived CPU and ATI R1000 DX12-class GPU, due out in November 2011.
Accordingly, 3rd-gen Xbox is expected to be powered by a Power7-derived CPU and ATI R1000 DX12-class GPU, due out in November 2011.
Jay 31 Dec 2008 19:18
6/11
The true weight of the PS3 business plan will show it self in a few years. Microsoft never intended on switching Sony PS3 fans to the Xbox. They went after the well spring of 12 year old male gamers. These boys number well above 10 million (and growing) and are camped around this spring playing Halo and Gears. Who cares what the 24 year old has in his fancy appartment when you own the tap that created him in the first place. Even if Sony drops the price tomorrow they still have to deal with that army of small minded 12 year olds and the peer pressure to conform. Its beyond hardware into the social arena. Honestly how many kids are active on Home? How many kids got PS3s for xmas. With each passing day Sonys fans are turning to dust. This has been going on for three years, if it reaches out past five years Sonys PS3 will have broken the back of its game division. The Xbox 720 will be timed to take full advantge of these young men and their first job. (quad core SCALEABLE) will full backwards compatibility and enough resources to sink a ship. All this talk about today is to ignore the obvious... the future belongs to the kids. The kids play Nintendo and Xbox.
How many kids are talking up bluray in the playground? I will give you a hint its the roundest number of all.... 0%
How many kids are talking up bluray in the playground? I will give you a hint its the roundest number of all.... 0%
nice try 31 Dec 2008 19:56
7/11
but you fail to acknowledge the fact that DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT is anything BUT a kid's pasttime now. A friend of mine bought a PS3 for his father (who happens to be in his 60's) for playing games primarily. Just as Sony's competition was DEAD WRONG 8 years ago, they're just as DEAD WRONG 8 years later.
ChrisWanker 1 Jan 2009 02:03
8/11
The arguments here are pathetic!
1. Xbots calling Sony liars?
2. Sony Sheep still beating a dead horse with RROD and disc scratching?
3. And last but definitely not least, multitudes of 10years plaguing Live?
Come on people!
1. Sony is not a bunch of liars... And while I love MS for their evil ethics, they are in fact the LIARS! Remember back stabbing and evil ethics are the mainstream in multi-billion dollar corporations! Of course, Sony does have a couple instances where they could be questioned, but NO where near as bad as MS.
2. Sony Sheep will never stop beating this dead horse! WHY? Hell, now we even find out that RROD is because of Sony's, I mean, IMB’s Cell technology! The only thing saving Sony right now is that they took an extra year to refine it. If Sony released at the same time as MS did, you would also have a 33% bricking rate. Be lucky Sony took the extra time!
3. Every console has their 10 year old pre-pubescent Nazi retards. There's a reason why PS3 doesn't have as many, but I won't get into that! Anywayz, remember the average gamer is actually 25-35!!! And with every console and almost every game, you can MUTE those tards!
1. Xbots calling Sony liars?
2. Sony Sheep still beating a dead horse with RROD and disc scratching?
3. And last but definitely not least, multitudes of 10years plaguing Live?
Come on people!
1. Sony is not a bunch of liars... And while I love MS for their evil ethics, they are in fact the LIARS! Remember back stabbing and evil ethics are the mainstream in multi-billion dollar corporations! Of course, Sony does have a couple instances where they could be questioned, but NO where near as bad as MS.
2. Sony Sheep will never stop beating this dead horse! WHY? Hell, now we even find out that RROD is because of Sony's, I mean, IMB’s Cell technology! The only thing saving Sony right now is that they took an extra year to refine it. If Sony released at the same time as MS did, you would also have a 33% bricking rate. Be lucky Sony took the extra time!
3. Every console has their 10 year old pre-pubescent Nazi retards. There's a reason why PS3 doesn't have as many, but I won't get into that! Anywayz, remember the average gamer is actually 25-35!!! And with every console and almost every game, you can MUTE those tards!
Dr. Nobody 1 Jan 2009 17:48
9/11
The next xbox (720 or 1080 ?) is likely to be based on the same PowerPC architecture as the current xbox 360, to take advantage of MS's existing investment in this technology, and to ease compatibility. AMD don't currently have a PPC processor design so are very unlikely to make the CPU of the next xbox.
The 360's RROD problem has nothing to do with the CPU, or Cell or Sony. It is because Microsoft cut costs with the design of the GPU by producing it in-house (but based on an ATI design) without paying enough attention to heat dissipation*. They did this after their experience with nVidia and the original xbox, where nVidia fabbed the GPU for MS and would not reduce the cost in line with the rest of the components.
* this is an over-simplification so I'll happily stand corrected on the details.
The 360's RROD problem has nothing to do with the CPU, or Cell or Sony. It is because Microsoft cut costs with the design of the GPU by producing it in-house (but based on an ATI design) without paying enough attention to heat dissipation*. They did this after their experience with nVidia and the original xbox, where nVidia fabbed the GPU for MS and would not reduce the cost in line with the rest of the components.
* this is an over-simplification so I'll happily stand corrected on the details.
asdf 2 Jan 2009 03:02
10/11
"Contaminated" doesn't mean what you think in this context. Since the two teams had to be kept isolated from each other, by working with Microsoft any engineer had gained knowledge that prevented them from working with the Cell team.
Roblc 3 Jan 2009 02:57
11/11
He felt like he was "Agent 006 Alec Trevelyan(Goldeneye fame)" in that fiasco IMHO.
You know, even AMD may not have anything similar to PPC architecture, they do have triple and quad core Phenoms. Every app that is designed, is designed for the Core Duo/Core Duo Extreme, which isnt a TRUE Quad core chip. It just have 2 "Domino" designed Dual core DUOs inside of it. I am sure AMD have their processors, but it would be funny to see a AMD branded PPC chip show up out of the blue for any type of machine. Can you imagine a PPC chip developed by AMD based of of the 10h(K10) architecture ? I would have you know that a AMD-K8 650 made my brand new P3 1.0 ghtz look like a GameBoyColor in speed, and would probably do the same to a P4 with HT. And Phenoms(both triple and quad) are of the K10 gen. Too bad that most major apps are based off of Intel's Core Duo series of chips. So yes SuperSaiyan4 it would be intersting, but I am not sure how likley it would be, but I wish AMD would get into PPC architecture or console design and get their rep back.
You know, even AMD may not have anything similar to PPC architecture, they do have triple and quad core Phenoms. Every app that is designed, is designed for the Core Duo/Core Duo Extreme, which isnt a TRUE Quad core chip. It just have 2 "Domino" designed Dual core DUOs inside of it. I am sure AMD have their processors, but it would be funny to see a AMD branded PPC chip show up out of the blue for any type of machine. Can you imagine a PPC chip developed by AMD based of of the 10h(K10) architecture ? I would have you know that a AMD-K8 650 made my brand new P3 1.0 ghtz look like a GameBoyColor in speed, and would probably do the same to a P4 with HT. And Phenoms(both triple and quad) are of the K10 gen. Too bad that most major apps are based off of Intel's Core Duo series of chips. So yes SuperSaiyan4 it would be intersting, but I am not sure how likley it would be, but I wish AMD would get into PPC architecture or console design and get their rep back.