3D Web Surfing On Your Xbox?

 What next!  



VRML is known as one of the highest known coding language right after HTML/XHTML. However only 1/10,000 sites use it. VRML means: Virtual Reality Modeling Language.

Just imagine this: A website about you but instead of boring HTML and Flash pages, you would see 3D pages and all sorts of 3D text and the download time is 1/5 that of Flash and Shockwave!

Here is the entire article as it appeared on Yahoo News as of March 2, 2002:

"The Web3D Consortium this week debuted a new specification it hopes will succeed where past efforts have failed and make 3D graphics a mainstream part of the Web.

A draft version of the new X3D -- or Extensible 3D -- standard was unveiled this week. It will be submitted to the International Standards Organization (ISO) later this year.

Backers hope X3D will have more success than VRML (virtual reality modeling language), which garnered plenty of attention but never took off. Developers envisioned using VRML to build 3D shopping malls, branded online characters, and interactive product models, among other applications.

Whether such uses ever catch the imagination of the everyday Web user remains the big question. Clearly, game boxes like PlayStation 2 and Xbox have made 3D graphics a mainstream phenomenon.

But VRML was also just as clearly ahead of its time. Bandwidth was not as plentiful several years ago as it is now, graphics accelerators were not widely deployed, and slower PC processors often choked on large 3D models. Also, the VRML community suffered the constant headache of trying to get VRML viewers bundled with ever-newer versions of Netscape and Microsoft browsers -- too often without success. That was made even more difficult because VRML browsers often checked in at several megabytes. X3D viewers, by comparison, start at a relatively lightweight 300 kbytes.

In a boost to the fledgling standard, the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) has chosen X3D as the basis for lightweight 3D graphics in the MPEG-4 standard.

X3D is built using a Java-based toolkit and XML schemas for lightweight delivery and fast performance. Source code is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License, which could also help the standard take hold."

Link:  http://www.xboxaddict.com/main.php#3D%20Web%20Surfing%20On%20Your%20Xbox?

and exactly how do you plan on web surfing without a keyboard?

Originally posted by Chrono
and exactly how do you plan on web surfing without a keyboard?

Duhhhhhhhh

the same as with a PS2 ...with a USB keyboard
the X box has 4 of them after all

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

why the hell do companies dump money into gimmicks like this?

who wants to surf the intenet on thier xbox, when they got a pc in the next room!

how about taking that money and putting it into some decent frickin games.  no wonder my xbox is collecting dust

>"the same as with a PS2 ...with a USB keyboard
the X box has 4 of them after all"

When I see the keyboard, then i\'ll agree to that comment
But MS, in their all knowing wisdom, does not want a keyboard on the system

Originally posted by mm
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

why the hell do companies dump money into gimmicks like this?

who wants to surf the intenet on thier xbox, when they got a pc in the next room!

how about taking that money and putting it into some decent frickin games.  no wonder my xbox is collecting dust

tell me about it it must of been though up by the same people who though we would use or Digital TV\'s and WAP phones to surf the net.

I thought you needed a adapter to get a USB port?

Originally posted by mm
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

why the hell do companies dump money into gimmicks like this?

who wants to surf the intenet on thier xbox, when they got a pc in the next room!

how about taking that money and putting it into some decent frickin games.  no wonder my xbox is collecting dust

I have to agree with you 100% on this one. I can\'t understand why companys want to add all these little frills to their gaming consoles. Nevermind the web surfing or the ability to play DVD movies. I want a great gaming console with great games and that\'s it. Like you said we have our PC\'s for surfing the web and I have my DVD player for watching movies. Give us the games, that\'s where the money is anyway. Don\'t these guys want to make money?

please dont agree with me, i might look bad

im joking, shoot me!

Sony is investing big bucks in this area because it will come out big in a few years from now. There are heaps of people that don\'t want to buy a PC, but enjoy playing games. By getting a PS2, BBA & HDD (or an Xbox), people won\'t have to get an additional PC they don\'t want/need. Sony started this (and it\'s a threat to Microsoft and their monopoly) - so logically, Microsoft will follow just to compete.

Soon every electronic gadget will be hooked up to the internet in some way. Today you can already get cell-phones and PDA\'s. Soon, you\'ll have digital-cams, fridges.. all hooked up to a wireless network. This is just the beginning.

as long as microsoft aint controlling this revolution its fine by me!

Personally, I think web-browsing via console is just, pretty stupid. As said above, you got your PC to do that.

And to add some more fuel to the flames, I think the online gaming scene as far consoles go, shouldn\'t concider it groundbreaking til they\'ve converted everyone to at LEAST broadband, although I\'d like to see Fiber Optic in the future.

56k gaming is horridious. No offense to Sega, but when you guys over hyped on the modem gaming thing (I know, the broadband adapter was eventually released, but was humbled alive by price/availablilty) thinking we\'d be satisfied playing a game like Daytona USA on modems. It\'s funny when you see your opponents car floating on the sceen. Or playing NBA/NFL/NHL/WSB series when theres just too much lag. :evil: :evil: :evil:

How about MDGL?

Make a
Damn
Game
Language

Sony is investing big bucks in this area because it will come out big in a few years from now. - seven

Sony has been investing in VRML technology for quite a long time now... even back before the PSX was a hit. Hell, they practically layed the first REAL building blocks of this technology. With the userbase of the PSX reaching such unprecidented heights, and the wave of support comming the PS2\'s way.. I think Sony was geared up to make the PS2 into their machine which would reveloutionize the net. Anyone else remember how insistant Sony was on "Broadband only" technology for the PS2? How all that hype about the PS2 being a truely reveloutionary device came on so strongly before the PS2\'s launch? I don\'t think it was hype, I think they had a very real reveloution in mind... and that was an internet reveloution.

However, as time went on, Sony realized that worldwide broadband saturation was proceeding at a MUCH slower pace than they first anticipated. This shot their online plans all to hell and made them rethink their strategy. Now, setting their goals five years farther in the future with PS3, they\'re already talking about servers which render and download games to your system through broadband technology.

It\'s also no small coincidence that Microsoft entered the market at the same time. Not to say that MS is only here to defend their dominance of the http://WWW... because most of their effort so far has been focused squarely on making a top-notch console which can really compete for videogaming market share. This is a classic *two birds with one stone* situation. MS has a chance to branch (perhaps successfully) into a new market.. and they also have a common ground to fight Sony\'s internet reveloution. In fact, the only glaring mistake about the Xbox is it\'s broadband only online plan.. which essencially cuts 80% of their potential market off from Online gaming. It DOES, however, give them the first foot in the door to a VRML market. Even if the Xbox isn\'t a success, the appearance that their VRML reveloution as being an original idea will mark their place in videogame history.. as well as tarnish Sony\'s image when they launch their intended plans 5 years from now with the PS3... making it appear as if they "ripped off" another technology like the Dual Shock.

Here\'s a few links you may find interesting. One is to Sony\'s Community Place browser download site, and the others are to posts I\'ve made about this subject in the past and to miscelanious info about Sony\'s involvment in VRLM that I looked up real quick.


http://www.sony.co.jp/en/Products/CommunityPlace/

http://www.sdsc.edu/siggraph96vrml/

http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/vrml/default.html

http://www.psx2central.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=17272&highlight=Community+Place+VRML

http://www.psx2central.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=5949&highlight=Community+Place+VRML

^^^^^^^^------- Expecially read THIS one.