Xbox 2 is shaping up

Xbox 2 is shaping up thanks to news that IBM will supply the CPU, ousting Intel whose Pentium III chips reside inside the current herd of Xboxen. This joins prior news that ATI's graphics processor will replace nVidia's. What's the big deal? Apart from suggestions that Microsoft and Intel are on the outs, this means playing Xbox games on the Xbox2 -- currently expected in 2005 -- will be unlikely unless the new chips are so fast that Microsoft can build in Xbox emulation. Let's hope the units will at least stack...