In an interview in the online version of UK newspaper Guardian, Jeff Minter has gone on to reveal some of the secrets of the non-gaming options available for the XBox 360 console and hints at Microsoft's master plan for the console.
For those of you not aware of Mr. Minter's credentials, he is considered an eccentric of the industry, although some would argue that serves as a euphemism for hippie. He is one of the innovators who has always looked for something more and his various projects over his 20 year career are proof that if you dare to try you will, eventually, be rewarded. His main contribution has been the creation of light synthesizer applications which are now being adopted by Microsoft for the XBox 360, in the guise of Minter's Neon software. For images of Neon at work follow the screens tab above.
According to Mr. Minter, MS heard about his work on the GameCube and became interested; enough to send Llamasoft an XBox 360 alpha dev kit (based on a dual-G5s). After that the deal was sealed and Microsoft is now the proud owner of XBox 360 embedded light synthesizer software.
Asked about the next-generation's hardware Mr. Minter claims: I really like the hardware - especially important to us is the monster shader performance. Typically in the kind of work I'll be doing, you want a lot of computational power available for generating effects and meshes procedurally in realtime, and the X360 delivers a hell of a lot of grunt in that area. I think the ability to explore procedural methods is important to people like me who don't want to use teams of artists producing literal textures and pre-defined models, but wish to explore the more abstract possibilities afforded by generative methods. ...we were working with alpha hardware and still managed to achieve staggering performance with just that, and the alpha kits probably operate at only about 30 percent of the capacity of the final hardware. I'm really looking forward to doing more on final hardware and really pushing the thing as hard as we can.
Neon will go beyond most current light synthesizer applications as it will not just serve as a light show but will have aspects of its effects under the gamer's control with up to four controllers manipulating different effects at any one time. Any layers not controlled by users will be under the control of an audio-driven autopilot system.
When asked about the possibility of connecting an iPod to the XBox 360 Mr. Minter said, The 360 will be able to utilise a variety of different audio sources, and any of those sources can be used to drive Neon.
The hint at Microsoft's secret plan for world domination comes from Mr. Minter's own plans for the console: When the x360 is installed as the media hub then users will be doing far more with it than just running games. I know that as soon as I get mine it'll be hooked up to my music server and my plasma telly and I'll never again listen to music at home without a lightsynth accompaniment. I am sure that many more non-game applications will emerge as game consoles transition into media hubs.
Two of the most important news bits to come out of the interview include the fact that official short-spell for the console seems to be x360 and that Jeff Minter's favorite game is Toshio Iwai's Elektroplankton on the Nintendo DS.
